Last week I took my first foray into the art of mixing prints. It was a small start–a patterned jacket combined with a patterned scarf, inspired by a look Marlene Dietrich first wore in the 1930s. The outfit itself is not one I would normally wear, though. It’s a bit serious for my lifestyle and personality. …
Lessons of Feminine Fashion from Truman Capote Did you ever read the book Breakfast at Tiffany’s? Maybe you saw the movie? They were two very different presentations of the world Truman Capote created, but they both had a very feminine rebel at their core in the form of Holly Golightly. As I work through this month of …
Nothing says Spring like a Breton top. Each year, this long-sleeved striped shirt returns to clothing stores and catalogs as faithfully as pink blossoms pop out of the tips of tree branches. The design of it is somehow linked deep down in our minds to Spring. Because it’s such an iconic piece for the season, I’ve chosen it to begin this …
“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.” ~ Coco Chanel Coco Chanel was one of the first designers to bring sportswear into everyday wear. She saw the necessity (and luxury) in comfort. One of the many values of making comfort a priority was the freedom it gave women to move like normal people. …
It’s hard to argue with the fact that Coco Chanel was a fashion genius. She single-handedly changed how women dress in the modern Western world. We went from wearing nearly 20 pounds of corsetry and underwear to freeform drop waists and wool jersey almost overnight, all thanks to Chanel. We can also thank her for gifting us …
Trying on the iconic styles of the 1920s has been a lot of fun. It is an era that apparently speaks to me because I’m still working on it. Up until now, I’ve been moved by the finer looks of the era — the fabrics, the beading, the fringe. It seems blasphemous to consider wearing …
Let’s thank our great grandmothers for getting excited about the blouse. Why? Because instead of having to switch out whole dresses to change our look, we can simply put on a different top or bottom. Before separates came along, dresses and something like 14 pounds of underwear had to be changed in order to be suitable …
Fashion makes you think deeply sometimes. Yeah, I know, it’s full of surface-level judgments and there are some who would suggest fashion is all vanity, but when you take on a project of revamping your ideas about what style and fashion are, it can get you to thinking. There was a time in my 20s …
It’s the weekend! Need something to wear while you’re out and about? (If you can get out and about with the storm hitting the East Coast!) How about a cute, feminine look that has elements of the 1920s? The feminine drop-waist tunic and jacket pair up with the colorful scarf and tote to tickle the …