The Last Time I Saw Paris

On the weekend I settled in front of the fireplace, with my beautiful siberian husky napping on the rug and began watching "The Last Time I Saw Paris". A great 1954 movie with quite the cast!

Elizabeth Taylor
Van Johnson
Walter Pidgeon
Donna Reed
Eva Gabor
Roger Moore....yes, even before "The Saint" - handsome devil.

A traditional love triangle loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited. A gem of a movie I had not heard about.

The point here is that I was drooling over the short hairstyles worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Gabor and Donna Reed. So much so that I am seriously considering chopping my locks off. How elegant they are!

  

 

Of course, it helps to have Roger Moore standing behind you pouring champagne, while you recline in a stunning chiffon gown...but I digress.

Ah, the freedom and ease of short, sassy, sexy hair. I have been growing my hair long for so many years, that I have become weary with all the 'in-between stages'. It can be a traumatic event to cut one's hair short. I have done it in the past and it looked fabulous. Looking back however, these shorn haircuts also coincided with major changes in my life - as is often said, 'a change is as good as a holiday'. Perhaps I'm ready for a shakeup - or maybe I will just board a plane and take a holiday. It may be less stressful.

Have you ever made a major change and did it turn out the way you wished?

40 & Over-the-Hill? I Don't Think So!

I had a moment the other day while shopping - of feeling old. Needing some basic t-shirts I ventured into a store I never go into. You know the ones...large, disorganized, loud music playing with all the shopgirls about 18 years old. The store was Urban Planet.

The early 80s were my high school years and a time of wardrobe experimentation - usually resulting from the latest thrift store finds. Pop culture icons of the day were Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Boy George, so our fashion cues came directly from them. The style? Slouchy pirate boots, long tees with 2-3 belts around the waist at a low angle, lots of layers under cardigans, leggings and hats. Sound familiar anyone?

While browsing through Urban Planet, this is all I saw! I realize the 80s are back, but absolutely everything is borrowed, right down to the last detail. Now I know how my elders feel when I raid their closets and fall in love with their 50s swing dresses. How many times I get a funny look from them along with, 'you like that?'. I'm sorry, I just made them feel old - and now I have just been given a taste of that same medicine.

You are as old or as young you feel and at 40 I have never been in better shape. Although I still enjoy the fashions of the 80s, it will not do to wear them again. Well, perhaps those pirate boots....

Do you have a favorite look from the 80s?

 

 

'Vintage' Black Slouchy Boots from Dear Golden Vintage on Etsy

This Will Leave You in Stitches

Isaac Merritt Singer invented the first practical home sewing machine around the middle of the 19th century. There had been many failed attempts before Singer to produce a machine that would speed up the process of hand sewing. In fact, the inventor Barthelemy Thimonnier was almost killed by an enraged group of French tailors who burnt down his garment factory because they feared unemployment as a result of his new invention.

The only reason Singer was actually successful was he had the foresight to patent his machine. It's all in the marketing - not much different than today. I will bet he did not think sewing would lead to the 1935 verbal expression, 'to have someone in stitches'. A result of laughing so hard one would have sudden stitches of pain in their sides.

Some days Some Like it Vintage will leave you in stitches too.

Some sewing inspiration.

Retro Butterick '35 Pattern

 

Vintage McCall's

It's Hip to be Square

I know I did a post not too long ago about plaid and tweeds, but I simply could not help myself today. It's a perfect autumn day here - not too cold, the sun is shining enough to warrant wearing funky shades and I just want to be outside.

Someone asked me recently what is the difference between plaid and tartan. There really isn't a difference here in North America; it makes more of a difference in Scotland where tartan denotes the pattern and plaid means a tartan blanket.

Burberry is probably the most recognizable plaid, and it happens to be one of my favorites. Authentic Burberry is produced in London, England. The black, tan, and red pattern known as the haymarket check was first used as a lining for the Burberry trenchcoat in 1924. It was not until 1967 that the Burberry Check, now a registered trademark, was widely used. The Novacheck was introduced for the younger market by making the pattern bigger and slanted in a diamond style.

Modern Novacheck Pattern

 Classic Burberry Pattern

1960s Burberry Coat

Tempted by the fake Burberry? Who isn't. There are some very obvious signs of forgery and some not so obvious...buyer beware.

• If the tag says "Made in China".....
• The patterns on authentic scarves are perfectly symmetrical from one end to the other.
• Make sure Burberry is spelled correctly and the letters should all be capitalized. It's not Burrburry, or Burbury, or Burbery or Burberries....you get the idea.
• The Burberry symbol is the Equestrian Knight. If it is on the item, both horse and rider should be clear and easily defined. If it is blurry it's a fake.
• Check for craftsmanship. There is a reason high end items are expensive. They use excellent quality materials and spend time in the manufacturing process. If there are loose or uneven stitches, glue marks, defective zippers or buttons, then it's a fake.

 

Gentlemanly Dress

"The well-dressed man is always a paradox. He must look as though he gave his clothes no thought and as though literally they grew on him like a dog’s fur, and yet he must be perfectly groomed. He must be close-shaved and have his hair cut and his nails in good order (not too polished). His linen must always be immaculate, his clothes “in press,” his shoes perfectly “done.” His brown shoes must shine like old mahogany, and his white buckskin must be whitened and polished like a prize bull terrier at a bench show. Ties and socks and handkerchief may go together, but too perfect a match betrays an effort for “effect” which is always bad.

  The well-dressed man never wears the same suit or the same pair of shoes two days running. He may have only two suits, but he wears them alternately; if he has four suits he should wear each every fourth day."

Sounds high maintenance doesn't it? I'm not certain this fastidiousness of men's dress would be welcome today - if my man took longer than me to get ready for an evening out I think I would become irritable. However, I certainly appreciate the idea of a gent who looks naturally put together.

There was only one style of dress that was appropriate for a man. Anything European. Bond Street simply set the standard for men as Paris set it for women's couture. Everything else is a bad copy. Ms. Post unequivocally preferred English tailoring to American - actually referring to American suits as "the freak American suit" . As is her way, the gloves are removed when sparring:

"It would seem that some of our great clothing establishments, with an eye to our polyglot ancestry, have attempted to incorporate some feature of every European national costume into a “harmonious” whole, and have thus given us that abiding horror, the freak American suit."

She insists a gentleman must be educated in the art of choosing a good suit and/or a good tailor; English tailors of course, being the best. If you can find a good American tailor, it is only because his clothes are identical to those of an English tailor.

Funny, one of her pet peeves is clothing that is worn too tightly. Well fit clothes are perfect in line and shape, not worn too tightly. The same holds true today, but more for the ladies fashions. Just because something is worn tightly around the body, does not mean it is sexy.

Dreadful.

I think I could fill Ms Emily Post's shoes. My irritations with bad etiquette seem very close to hers!

Queen of the Cannibals

There are those who do not know the difference between ostentation and extravagance. Ostentation in fashion happens to people when, according to Emily Post, "...no matter what the fashion of the moment may be, are always too elaborate for the occasion; too exaggerated in style, or have accessories out of proportion. People of uncultivated taste are apt to fancy distortions; to exaggerate rather than modify the prevailing fashions..."

Certain amounts of extravagance are perfectly acceptable. I enjoy my glass of port before going to bed....or that piece of chocolate cake after dinner. But extravagance can become dishonest if carried beyond one’s income.
 
"The woman of uncultivated taste has no more sense of moderation than the Queen of the Cannibals. She despises sensible clothing; she also despises plain fabrics and untrimmed models. She also cares little (apparently) for staying at home, since she is perpetually seen at restaurants and at every public entertainment. The food she orders is rich, the appearance she makes is rich; in fact, to see her often is like nothing so much as being forced to eat a large amount of butter—plain."

And I like my butter...should I switch to margarine?

No. Beautiful and valuable items are extravagant for most of us. Not in the sense that they are overdone, but in the sense that they are meaningful. My collection of vintage clothes may be extravagant, but it is a collection, something of value to me.

Emily Post describes extravagance thus:

"To always to wear new gloves is an extravagant item for one with a small allowance—but scarcely vulgar! A laundry bill can be extravagant, flowers in one’s city house, a piece of beautiful furniture, a good tapestry, each is an extravagance to an income that can not easily afford the expenditure. To one sufficient to buy the tapestry, the flowers are not an extravagance at all.

To buy quantities of things that are not even used after they are bought is sheer wastefulness, and to buy everything that tempts you, whether you can afford to pay for it or not, is, if you can not afford it, verging on the actually dishonest."

It is so refreshing to read that wastefulness was not appreciated back in 1922. Just as the war made people realize that luxuries can be taken too far, so too our recent global recession has scaled back our tastes. Sales in luxury goods are down - not because we do not like them, but rather, is it necessary?

Well, if you insist on buying that ballgown, just don't wear it to breakfast.

John Galliano's Christian Dior's 2007 Fall Couture Collection

Suitably Chic

What exactly is a chic woman? Ask five different people and you will most likely receive five completely different answers. According to Ms. Emily Post, "the woman who is chic is always a little different. Not different in being behind fashion, but always slightly apart from it."

To continue with the last post, not all the new fashions are necessarily suitable for everyone. The chic woman may embrace the latest and greatest fashions, but will adapt it to her own body type, age, color, etc...Anyone who has any clothes sense "knows more or less the type of things that are their style—unless they have such an attack of fashionitis as to be irresponsibly delirious."

Fashionitis?!?! Now that's a great word. Next time you spot a woman (or man) mixing more than 2 fashion styles together, or wearing something completely unsuitable to their person, you can officially use the word 'fashionitis'.

Katie Holmes, Anna Wintour and Britney Spears have had 'fashionitis' attacks.

 Not age appropriate, not stylish, awkward fit, not suitable....just to name a few points.

Ms. Post expands on her fashionitis theory. Clothes that are not age appropriate or non-flattering to one's appearance is equally important as buying beyond your means. "One must not buy clothes out of proportion to your income, or out of keeping with your surroundings." In other words, unless you can afford that Hermes bag because it goes with your Chanel suit and your Laboutin heels, do not pretend you can shop like Victoria Beckham.

More on that in the next post.