Every Woman Needs a Uniform

Leave it to the French to devise a simple, yet chic answer to the eternal question of “what shall I wear?”

As documented by Bill Cunningham’s “On the Street” column for the NY Times, the French are sporting an oversized dress shirt in white, olive, or navy with trousers (cropped and full-length) and black leather skirts.

On the surface it may seem boring, especially after being brainwashed by seasons of embellishment, until you see Cunningham’s photographs. The French demonstrate there are so many delicious ways a shirt and a pair of pants or skirt can be combined.

Every woman needs a uniform and mine varies according to season and taste. This fall I am pairing oversized shirts with cigarette/skinny pants, a statement necklace, a black leather jacket, and jeweled flats or leopard heels.

What’s your uniform?

Sort of Book Review --Ellements of Personal Style

I'm on the fence about "The Ellements of Personal Style: 25 Modern Fashion Icons on How to Dress, Shop, and Live".

Published by the editors of Elle magazine (hence the extra “l” in the title), the book is a collection of interviews of 25 subjects ranging from R & B singer Estelle to Mad Men Costume Designer Janie Bryant. It features beautiful photos and layouts that suggest a peek into the life and the closets of its famous subjects. The book also distills the subject’s style into a few key elements and tips the reader can use to inspire her own style.

As I’ve said before, I am a sucker for any book that promises to help me unearth my personal style. But there was something about this book that kept me from shelling out $30 minus the 25 percent coupon from Borders to buy it.

Celebrities are modern archetypes. It’s appropriate to use them to illustrate a point. But it seems unfair on some level to show women photos of famous people with a wealth and resources and suggest that they too could look like Olivia Wilde, Alicia Keys, or Dita von Teese. These women have carefully crafted images whose style decisions are made by other people – record label executives, stylists, hairdressers, make-up artists, etc.

Style is personal. It’s something at which a woman arrives after years of “what was she thinking” outfits and bad hair days.

I wish personal style guides and magazine articles would help regular women distinguish what qualities in themselves they would like to enhance and express through fashion. For example, how would a curvy woman who loves menswear or rocker chic express her personal style? How does a mother of three who is equal parts bombshell and tough girl express herself? Annnnddd….the suggestions should offer women a range of suggestions for under $200.

That’s a lot to ask, which is why my dream book hasn’t been published. Will I buy Ellements of Style? Maybe. I could always use another fashion coffee table book.

In search of signature style

I have tried to answer the essential question of “who am I” through clothes.

I am a sucker for any book, magazine, or website that promises to unearth my signature style. I believe that if I could finally wrestle my aspirations and deeply personal clothing choices into an abstract category like “classic”, “bohemian” or “rocker chick”, that I could drill down to the essence of who I am. I could make small and large decisions based on what clothes I chose to wear and how I choose to present myself to the world.

Anna Sui

Balmain

Michael Kors

Honing in on a signature style is also a practical concern. Once I figure out who I am, I don’t have to waste time or money on clothes that are only going to end up in the charity pile.

Some would counsel me to look within for signature style. However, there is a chasm between what I like and what looks good on my body.

Let’s take minimalism for example. I love its strictness and austerity. There is also a purism, sincerity and clarity that don’t tolerate silly embellishment. It begs the observer to take the wearer as she is.



Jill Sander



Nevertheless, I haven’t found a way to make minimalism to work with the architecture of my body which demands adornment. I’ve even tried minimalism through color…say rocking a monochromatic look with a mix of textures. But I somehow want to add something to it, a cuff bracelet, a statement necklace or peacock feathers on the shoes.

Magazines often encourage a woman to look in her closet for style inspiration.

When I look at my closet, I find that I am many women. The leather leggings sit on the shelf just beside the pink floral skirt from Talbots. The multi-strand gray pearl necklace perches beside the mixed metal choker in my jewelry box. My closet is the proverbial onion with each layer promising to get closer to the core.

After hundreds, perhaps, thousands of dollars later, I’m no closer to the answer to my question than when I was a teenager endlessly searching for myself in the pages of fashion magazines.

But maybe there is no answer to the question. Maybe it’s the journey (and the sequins) that counts.

Giddy Up

Unlike most little girls, I didn’t want a pony. I wanted to be a horse, a Palomino to be exact.

Jean Paul Gaultier provided the next best thing in his last collection from Hermes. Gaultier will forever be remembered in the pop culture imagination for the conical bras he designed for Madonna during her “Blonde Ambition” tour. That’s a shame because, as this collection proves, Gaultier is an expert tailor with a sense of Hermes’ history as a French saddle-maker.

Sure, some of the clothes bordered on costumey or fetishistic. In addition to provide wearable clothes, fashion should also take us on a journey. In Gaultier’s swan song for Hermes, I definitely felt the call and rush of a sophisticated, Argentine woman who owned a sprawling cattle ranch.

Dissecting the clothes there were plenty of wearable pieces, gorgeous suits, and sumptuous dresses. As Tim Blanks writing for style.com  put it:

“Gaultier is a master tailor, and here he maximized his talent to create an austere but sensuous glamour. His singular twist was to build interest into the back of a garment, baring skin with jackets and tops that crisscrossed like wings. If they might be classified as a fashion bridge too far—along with the body harnesses, the jodhpur shorts, and those basques—there was temptation aplenty elsewhere. See the ultra-high-waisted pants, chic leather-fronted cardigans, gorgeous suede jackets, and leather skirts, not to mention some splendidly sleek accessories that were worthy additions to the classic Hermès carryalls.”

Gaultier will continue to design a signature line while Christophe Lemaire, formerly of Lacoste, will take the reins.

Dangerous Curves Ahead

After chowing down on my friend Eve's scandalously delicious fried chicken, we retired to the living room for one of our great rap sessions.

The subject of fashion came up, as it always does, with the attendant question: How do you dress a sexualized body?

If the fried chicken didn’t give it away, I’ll say it plain: Eve and I have curves, the dangerous kind. Neither of us is plus-sized. But we both have larger busts, narrow hips, and slim legs and over the years, I’ve grown some junk in the trunk. This is a body type where the usual fruit, alphabet, and artist muse categories usually used to describe a woman’s body need not apply.

Dressing a sexualized body has its challenges. I look like I’m in drag, for example, when attempting the menswear trend. Minimalism, with its tailored silhouette and palette-cleansing color, just looks boring on me.

I have to plan the placement of a ruffle on my body with the ruthlessness and precision of an army general or mother-of-the-bride. There is no room for mistake here. One false move and I go from romantic to bozo-the-clown.

Eve suggested looking to Marilyn Monroe as a solution. Structured jackets, pencil skirts, body-hugging knits, cardigans, full-skirts and heels were hallmarks of her look. While being covered up, Monroe was still enormously sexy.

Modern updates include Grecian draping a la Donna Karan, tailored pants by Stella McCartney, and long and lean looks offered by Marc Jacobs of Louis Vuitton.



Donna Karan Draping



Tailored at Stella McCartney




Long and Lean Louis Vuitton



Of course I can’t afford these clothes and will search for lower-priced versions at the mall. But these options do allow me to dress for my shape and have my fried chicken too.

Loving Minnie

I heart Minnie.



No, not that Minnie






THIS Minnie

 I found these last weekend during my search for the perfect pair of black pants for the fall. The silhouette on the black pants I already own felt dated. I wanted something new and fresh and found these at my friendly, neighborhood J Crew.

J. Crew has issued the Minnie for the past couple of seasons. I tried on a pair and they felt like harem pants. But there's something different about the city fit version. The side zip and no pockets allow me to show off my small hips and balance my larger bust. You can wear them with flats or dress them up with heels. In other words, I want a pair in every color and permutation.

I know, I know. In the last post I extolled the virtues of long and lean as a directional look. But a girl has to go with what works for her. Besides, most mall retailers where I shop aren't offering long and lean yet. Until then, my new best friend is Minnie.

No Mini-Skirts After 35

Most fashion edits are frivolous.

Sometimes less is less and removing one thing before leaving the house can leave you naked. And whoever dreamed up “no white after Labor Day” has never my friend’s mother, Lucille, in winter white.

But after trying on several mini-dresses last weekend, I have to submit to the “no mini-skirts after 35” rule. Far from looking glamorous a la Gwyneth Patrow showing off her gams at Iron Man 2 premier, I just felt ridiculous and slightly vulgar.

Fortunately, the fashion zeitgeist is moving away from short and tight and toward long and lean. Designers have combined 30s Hollywood glamour and the resurgence of 70s silhouettes, best epitomized by the Charlie perfume ads, to create a new elegance that is fresh without looking mumsy. Donna Karan, Celine, and Chloe had the best takes on the trend.

Donna Karan



Chloe



Celine

While fashion designers are moving in this direction, it will take awhile for America to catch up. Starlets are still clinging to short and tight and while most retailers are offering a range of pant options, cropped pants are still in.