Tally Ho!

I love Carolina Herrera on general principles. She's classy, she's beautiful, and she makes gorgeous, gorgeous clothes. (I also strongly approve, of course, of her love of a good white blouse, a trait she and I share.)

Herrera's clothes are always impeccable, and if you've ever had the good fortune to examine them up close, you know that they are incredibly well-constructed. There's usually a lot more going on that meets the eye -- her evening gowns can be impressive feats of engineering. Her look is typically clean, crisp, Upper East Side chic, but for her collection shown in NY last week she headed out to the hunt country (by way of Sherwood Forest) and got all tweedy.

Of course, being Carolina Herrera, it's sophisticated, polished-until-it-gleams tweedy, as opposed to the rumpled, muddied kind. Suits me just fine.

I love the melange of textures in this look -- that smooth wool (my guess would be cashmere), the gleaming satin, the pants look like soft leather, and the shining patent boots. A great outfit made up of great separates that could be used & re-used for many seasons to come.

Separates seem to be the big story in New York this season, after several seasons of dresses, dresses, dresses. I love the easiness of a dress, but if you're thinking about a budget (and who's not?), spending a lump of money on two or three pieces rather than one does amortize out in a more financially-friendly way. You can wear a good tweed pencil skirt for the rest of your stylish life. Remove the hat and go with dressier shoes and the entire outfit above could be worn for a cocktail party.

There seems to be some consternation over the hats. I love the hats. No, one doesn't wear a hat like this with everything, but I think they're a lovely look. Also, I looooooove the feathers. Feathers seem to have really become a thing with me lately, I just can't get enough of 'em.

Now, before you get all huffy and start saying things like, "For pete's sake!! No way would I wear that!" let's take this apart. What's really throwing you, probably, are the hat and the big spray of feathers at the neck of the blouse (again I say -- hooray for the feathers!). But that outfit is really just a silk blouse, a tremendously useful flat-knit sweater vest, and a pair of really dreamy chestnut-brown pleated trousers. I might never take off those trousers if I obtained them -- they are fantastic. And tell me you're not salivating over these boots:

Good googly-moogly, those are some fantastic boots. Still the patent keeps marching down the runways and still I clap my hands with glee. I keep expecting it to vanish in a puff of shiny smoke, but everyone still seems to be in love with it, and so I'm going to keep purchasing as long as I can. I am a Patent Gal.

And this coat...

If you can't find it in your heart to love this coat... well, I'm not sure if we can be friends anymore. Look at the beautiful lining peeking out at the bottom. ::sigh::

More feathers, on rusty-red silk jersey. The weather would have to be just right, because I can't quite figure how you get a jacket or wrap over those without crushing them, but oh, so pretty, and that dress would be an effortless and flattering dream to wear.

Love the subtle pattern of this fabric, and the way it plays with the texture of the feathers. The bodice of this dress is one of my favorite shapes, too. (It's best for women with a medium-to-small bust.)

Excellent bow. It looks like a magnolia blossom, doesn't it?

I think this is fantastic for evening. I love the tailored sharpness of the vest (another very wearable separate) over the volume of the skirt, and the color contrast is so pretty.

Another great dress for those of us who are smaller on top. The bow is always lady-like and elegant. Also, I am mesmerized by this fabric. Is it actually appliquéd? Or just printed to look appliquéd? It looks three-dimensional in these photos -- I really need to see this in person.

I just love it. The color, the shape, the float of the fabric, the feathers... There does seem to be more of a trend lately, despite what our Hollywood mannequins continue to squeeze into for the red carpets, of evening wear with a less-constructed and less-constricting shape. It's so much more sophisticated that painting on some lycra sheath that reveals every bit of your external anatomy, not to mention you can actually sit down and eat that $1000-a-plate charity dinner you shelled out for.

So. That's Carolina. Of the tiny handful of shows I've managed to look at so far (I am hopelessly behind, as usual) I think I've liked this one best. Beautiful clothes that would be flattering and easy to wear, and look of-the-moment but would remain useful for many years to come. These clothes fall under the heading of Style rather than Fashion -- they're the sorts of things you use to build a long-term wardrobe and look. I've heard people complain that Carolina only seems to design clothes for herself, but hey --

I can think of worse things than looking like that, can't you?

Photos: Style.com

I Love It When the New York Times Agrees With Me

Evidently I am not alone in bemoaning the waifish state of male models in the fashion industry. Guy Trebay at the NY Times noticed, too.

Shopportunity -- February 5

eLuxury.com is offering free shipping on orders of $150 or more. Not that most of us need any added incentive to shop the goodies on that site, but I just thought I'd ever-so-nonchalantly throw it out there. They've added a bunch of stuff to their sale selection, too.

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Privè Bag

I've had a crush on this bag since it first appeared several seasons ago. Just love that "trench" styling, and it's available -- be still my heart -- in red.



These little flats are sweet, sweet, sweet. I came a whisker away from buying the pump version a few weekends ago. This color is called "Frappe," and it's the loveliest rose gold, and the glitter is very small and dense. Really beautiful.

Pedro Garcia Glitter Ballet Flat

Here's the heeled version of that shoe, and ayayay, it is a sexy mama. This is very, very Shirley-MacLaine-hanging-with-the-Rat-Pack. It's fabulously retro and super-sexy on the foot. This color is called "Fiesta," and it looks like a cooler silver tone than the rose gold. Still. Hot shoe. Very hot.

Pedro Garcia Glitter Pump

I have always thought this shoe was great-looking. I do love that snub toe.

Marc Jacobs Collection Charms Patent Pump

Aaaaaaahh... Excellent dress, Michael.

Michael Kors Crepe Jersey Wrap Dress

How adorable is this? I grant you, you'd have to be just the right shape to wear it (not too curvy), but that is a great dress. Really love it with the gloves, too.

Tracy Reese Printed Bodice Shift Dress

More great stuff from the Fall 2007 Marc Jacobs collection that I adored so much:

Marc Jacobs Collection Runway Colorblock Dress

I am seriously entertaining thoughts of buying this sweater. It's great-looking, the colors are perfect for me, it's from a collection I was ga-ga for, and it is on sale. Very tempting.

Marc Jacobs Collection Runway Long-Sleeve Sweater

Great, easy dress, also available in black. It looks a little short, but most of these models are eleven feet tall, so it might be a more reasonable length on a regular person.

Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti Keyhole Trapeze Dress

Excellent all-purpose white blouse with great shoulder detail. No one has too many white blouses, and this is a great price.

L.A.M.B. Bubble-Sleeve Blouse

So, go! Shop!!

Ciao e Grazie, Signore

Valentino Garavani's clothes are beautiful. Relentlessly, unrelievedly, unapologetically beautiful. Valentino cares not so much for the trendy, the sexy, the hip. He cares about making you the most gorgeous creature you can possibly be, and my friends, he is damn good at it. He has been good at it for 45 years now, and last week he drew his career to a close with his final haute couture show.

I am very sad to see Valentino go. While he's not ever mentioned in the same breath as fashion-forward trendsetters like Marc Jacobs or Raf Simons, it is no small accomplishment to have spent 45 years dressing women impeccably. Beyond impeccably -- beautifully. One doesn't look to Valentino to see where fashion is going. Valentino is comfort food -- if your idea of comfort food is foie gras and champagne (and mine is, thankyouverymuch). I love challenging fashion, I love Rei Kawakubo and Miuccia Prada and other designers who make me think and wonder and want to know more. But I also adore Valentino, who allows me to indulge in my warmest, sweetest, creamiest, fondant-and-spun-sugar girly-girl fantasies of what it is to be capital-B Beautiful. Sometimes I just want pretty, and I'm okay with that. And so has Mr. Garavani been, for 45 years. He is a maestro, and he will be missed.

Some looks from the Spring/Summer 2008 Haute Couture show:

This seems to me so classically Valentino -- you could wear this dress (provided you had the occasions for it, lucky you) for the rest of your life and it will never, ever be out of style.

The way this sets off the shoulders...

Look at the folded back origami pleats around the bottom and the sleeves. Delicious.

His floral chiffons have always been the loveliest in the business. Sweetness and light.

It will surprise no one that this is a coat I would die for.

You want bows? Valentino is famous for his bows. In her coverage on Style.com last week, Sarah Mower called them "succulent." I think that's a perfect choice of words.

Oh, would you look at the detailing on this dress??? Just stunning.

I am, naturally, devastated by these gloves. Where can I get some, and which kidney should I sell?

Unbeknownst to me, there is a new Valentino boutique in Northpark Mall in Dallas. Unbeknownst, that is, until last weekend, when I was strolling through the mall with my dear friend Ms. Jody. Said new Valentino boutique is plenty beknownst to me now -- Jody & I were stopped dead in our tracks by the glorious window display and we were drawn in as though a tractor beam had locked onto us.

Oh, my. Oh my, oh my. That is a lot of really beautiful things in a small space, let me tell you. And it was positively salutory. Ms. Jody was feeling a little crabby about fashion due a pair of $600+ Manolo Blahnik flat sandals, glorified flip-flops, really, that she had run across in Neiman Marcus. ("There is NOTHING," she stated vehemently, "that you can do to a flip-flop to make it worth $600." I must say, I'm inclined to agree with her.) But you cannot be crabby while surrounded by that much gorgeous fashion, and you cannot quibble about the prices when you see the amazing quality and detailing in every single piece.

One of the beautiful things staring at us was the wonderful red dress recommended to me by my reader Billy last week, and I have been kicking myself for a week solid now because I didn't try it on and get a photo. There is a tissue-thin, black pleated silk skirt bearing the same cut-outs around the bottom, and I very nearly burst into tears when Marion, the fabulous SA who treated us so nicely, pulled it off the rack and showed it to me. I need that skirt.

Also available for perusal was this

gorgeous Grecian goddess of a dress and this hallucination

which I assure you this photo in no way does justice to. It is a fantasia of flowers and crystal pleats (an inset at the front of the skirt, you can't tell in this photo) and satin ribbon and beading.

Marion enjoyed our enjoyment for a bit, and then, clever man, he played his trump card. The fall shoes were 60% off.

Which is how I wound up with these:



Classic Valentino red, the color most associated with him (and me, I might add). Beautiful pleated silk satin. A tiny bit of an interior platform. And the bow -- the famous, incomparable, succulent Valentino trademark bow. How could I resist? Now, I need another pair of red heels like I need... well, I just don't. But soooo beautiful. And as I told Ms. J, the idea of taking them off and leaving them there gave me a tummy ache. I couldn't bear to be parted from them. And don't my feet look pretty in them? As Marion said, "Your feet are glowing in those shoes." (He's good, that one.) He was right.

And they're sentimental. From Valentino's final fall ready-to-wear collection. We may never see their like again.

Pshew. Writing about them right now, I'm having a difficult time resisting the urge to run into my closet and put them on. Oh, what the hell...

There. That's better. My feet are glowing. I feel... succulent.

Photos: Style.com, Style Spy

Clean and Sober, Donatella-Style

In the spring of 2004, Donatella Versace checked herself into a rehab facility and after around 20 years as a legendary party girl, got herself cleaned up. It's an amazingly difficult thing to do, and I applaud Donatella, who has by all accounts stayed clean & sober ever since.

And if this is what drying out does for you, then it's just one more reason to lay off the party powder and the jolly juice. Versace has been stronger and stronger ever since her first collection post-rehab. Time was, there wasn't a single thing that came down a Versace runway I was even remotely interested in wearing -- it seemed like everything was slit up to here and down to there and dripping with bling and had those goofy Medusa heads all over it. The baroque prints, the skin-tight shiny pants -- it all looked as if it was intended to be accessorized with breast implants and over-processed hair. These days, though, that is definitely not the case. Donatella has discovered the virtues of simplicity.

She hasn't given up glam, or sexy, or her love of color, thank goodness. (I don't think she's capable of it, I think it's coded into her DNA.) And I'm not even going to go into the over-the-top-itude of her own personal style (except to say that if there's a world-wide Restylane shortage the authorities know where to look). But there's been a real-life sexiness to Donatella's clothes the last few years, as opposed to the mid-priced-cognac-advertisement sexiness that used to be there. A lot of these clothes I can even imagine myself wearing, even though I am not twelve feet tall and carved out of bronze.

These are from the Spring/Summer 2008 collection. Real freshness there, and ease, despite the heavy use of charmeuse, a.k.a. The World's Most Unforgiving Fabric.

But at the couture shows in Paris last month, Donatella really pulled out the stops. Behold some serious gorgeousness:

I am a complete pushover for both this mille-feuille effect AND the ombré coloring. I've been shopping for wedding dresses with a friend of mine and am devastatingly bored by most of what I see, but I'm thinking I could stand to walk down the aisle in this baby.

Oh, this color. This COLOR!

Really love the way she's playing with volume in this collection.

Many people feel the back is the sexiest part of any woman. It sure would be in this dress. And hey, wearing this you'll save money on jewelry; because what could you possibly wear that could compete with it? Little pearl studs in your ears would be all you'd need.

This is my favorite. There's a little Balenciaga (the real Balenciaga, my favorite designer ever) in this. He was fond of pockets (although there is a part of me that doesn't much see the point of pockets on evening wear) and that voluminous back and the curved seam that lead from the bodice down into the pocket strike me as very Cristobal. Those ruffles have enough presence and substance that they don't come off as frilly or fussy -- those are bold, assertive ruffles. Of course, I wonder about the sitting-down thing, but that's the magic of haute couture. I expect that this gown is engineered in such a way that it's easy to maneuver. Nevertheless, probably they should send me one to try on so I can report back. Donatella, hon, just e-mail me & I'll happily give you my shipping address and measurements.

The ready-to-wear shows are starting in NYC this weekend. Take your vitamins and get lots of rest, there are nine squillion and three fashion shows scheduled over the next week. (Okay, I'm exaggerating. A bit.) Have a great weekend, everyone!

Photos: Style.com