Now that you’ve seen how we do pinstripes in Seattle (here, here, and here), take a look at how we do another menswear style: the shirttail hem. The Solo Pleat Tunic Dress by Lizz Basinger of Portland is another great find from Sassafras. It may have the hem of a men’s dress shirt but it is made of sweater knit …
Extending Summer Into Fall with a Twiggy Dress
Now that we’ve turned the clocks back, the sun sets around 4:30 in Seattle. From where I sit, the bottom of the sky is pink, the water and overhead sky are steel, and the hill rising up from the Alki Peninsula sparkles with lights of people living past dark. Here in Seattle, early darkness generally means chilly evenings. To …
Great Gatsby on a Budget
Another Halloween has come and gone for another year. Did you dress up? I didn’t dress up this year, but it used to be something I did every year. These days, I put that energy into creating modern styles using elements from past decades of fashion. My goal is to create real style, something I would …
Fab Collab: Celebrating Summer in a Sundress at 40-Plus
Hey, all you beautiful people! Jodie, Nancy, and Charlotte from JTouchofStyle.com are back this week to join me for our second Fab Collab! This time, we’re featuring that summer staple, the sundress. If you were in on our first Fab Collab, you know that each of us represent a different decade in life. I’m in …
Leaping into Feminine Fashion with a Rebellious Spirit
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 …
Breton Stripes Kick Off “April in Paris” Month
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 …
Girling Up La Garçonne
If last week was about embracing my masculine side with the 1920s “tomboy” trend known as La Garçonne, this week is about going girlie on the guy look. Below is a photo of a woman who would fit right in to Coco Chanel’s La Garçonne era. Isn’t she gorgeous? I thought about recreating this look for my …
Let’s Hear It For La Garçonne
Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. ~ Coco Chanel It’s hard to imagine a time when women’s apparel wasn’t inspired in some way by menswear. Trousers, blazers, the button-down collared shirt, oxford …
Going Casual in a Chanel-Inspired Little Black Dress
“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. …
Jazz Age Chic with an Unbuttoned Shirtdress
I’m off to travel a small section of the globe, but will be back soon with lots of ideas for how to dress “Jazz Age Chic” in the modern world. For now, I give you this as an idea for what’s to come. I have an outfit (almost) identical to this one and will share it …