High-waisted Jeans Fans Unite

After watching some old 1970s reruns of Charlie’s Angels, we realized the 1970s-born high-waisted jean really IS a flattering cut and would like to thank designers for FINALLY bringing it back this season. Really. Comfortable, flattering high-waisted jeans. We’ve been waiting. What was the point of low-waisted jeans anyway? Why are they even still in stores? For some reason the trend of the last few years became 1) buy low rise, low-waisted jeans 2) buy baggy unflattering tunic top to cover your waist in such jeans. What is that?


Ashley Greene, Anne Hathaway, and Katie Holmes with 2011 high-waisted cuts.

All Good Things Must Not Come To An End

I recently had the privilege of catching a Screen Actors Guild preview screening of Kirsten Dunst’s and Ryan Gosling’s upcoming film All Good Things. Set in the 1970s and early 1980s, the film is saturated with slick costumes representing the spectrum of upper class couture all the way down to blue collar class chic. Aside from the costumes, the good performances are enough to warrant catching this film, but if you’re a fan of watching how fashion morphs from class to class and decade to decade, this film is a must-see. The film is currently scheduled for an official release on December 3, 2010.

Buy Vintage, Stay...Wealthy?

A recent Yahoo headline article listed the top five reasons wealthy people stay wealthy. Reason number five? Wealthy people pay less than they have to for things they want. An obvious answer, but interestingly enough the article gave buying pre-owned vintage couture clothing as the example of how wealthy women save money—many women who have the money to pay retail prices for luxury designer fashion choose instead to save money by buying vintage and pre-owned pieces.

And when you think about it, does it really matter if the piece is pre-owned—worn once or twice if at all? To some it matters, but the reality is that with some of the big retailers you never really know if you’re buying a “new” piece from them anyway. These retailers take back anything for returns, re-tag the item if it looks like it’s still in halfway decent shape, and stick it back on the sales floor as though it had been there the entire time. Meanwhile, the piece had actually been worn out on the dance floor, at the restaurant, at the gala…because let’s face it, unfortunately we all know at least one of those women—women who unethically buy high-end clothes, wear them, then return them, only to complete the cycle all over again. And who wants to be paying retail prices for someone else’s returns???

Prince Charles Loves Vintage? Who Knew?

The Royal Prince of Wales recently revealed in the September issue of Vogue that if people “knew how much of what I wear is many years, even decades, old” they would not necessarily call him fashionable as they often do. His take that “vintage clothes and upcycling” (taking old clothes and refurbishing them) contribute to the growing worldwide effort to recycle and “tread lightly on the planet” was frankly a bit surprising coming from someone who could afford to buy the ultimate haute couture pieces.

The Royal Prince is also currently promoting the use of natural fibers in clothing such as wool in hopes that consumers will lean toward buying fibers that are natural and not synthetic fibers like those made from oil.

We may be contributing to the preservation of the planet in some small way by buying rare and unique vintage pieces, but doing so doesn't always come cheap. Surely Prince Charles must know that Princess Diana’s vintage black iconic dress recently sold at auction for over $296,000. But whoever bought it knows it’s worth every royal penny.

It's 105 Degrees Outside...Time to Buy Winter Clothes?!

The unfortunate reality is that most of the really cute winter clothes hit the stores in July and August. If you try buying your winter clothes in September, sometimes you get stuck with the leftovers. The good news is that for most women, buying winter clothes is so much more pleasant than buying summer clothes when you're forced to squeeze into shorts and every battle of the bulge becomes a full on war.

And with heavy tweeds and laces dominating the trend for fall 2010, we thankfully have a return to femininity (less menswear! yay!) with high-quality 50s full cut/circle skirts, top-handle bags a la Grace Kelly, and jeweled brooches. Check out this year's Louis Vuitton print campaign and you'll see all of that feminine 50s influence in all its glory. The only thing we're worried about with fall 2010 is a hint of the 80s returning as well...the headline on a recent issue of Vogue stated "Up in the Air: A Return to High Hair." Uh oh. We can jump on the 50s modern sensibility...but we just can't seem to jump on that 80s bandwagon. Not hot. Even if it is 105 degrees outside.

Desperately Seeking Simplicity...Three Signs it's Time to Dump Your Current Wardrobe

1. Your clothes are uncomfortable. Has Miss Polly Ester become your best friend? No one wants to wear a ton of polyester which is derived from compounds of alcohol and acids. Who wants to wear that on their skin? And ladies you know that half of the clothes found in the mall are…polyester. A piece or two or three in your wardrobe is not a problem…but if your wardrobe is uncomfortable--polyester filled or not-- it’s time to dump it. And we’re not talking about where you’re uncomfortable in a good way where you’re having a great night out in a dress that’s so tight that you can’t breathe but it feels and looks great anyway so you don’t care if you’re squeezing a lung. We’re talking about that uncomfortable feeling where if most of the clothes in your closet make you feel icky or unattractive in any way. If this is the case, get rid of them. Buy some pieces made of natural fibers instead. Be sure to give your clothes to charity when you clean out your closet. Less is more!

2. Your clothes all seem to lean toward one particular decade. We know we’re exaggerating a bit here, as most of us don’t completely create a wardrobe from a certain decade, but has anyone said something to you like “I remember I had an outfit kind of like that when we went to see Depeche Mode”? It’s perfect if you can mix vintage pieces with modern apparel so you have your own style, but there are those of us that sometimes fall into the trap of dressing in the decade that was enjoyed the most--an homage to good times, for sure, but also an homage to extra large shoulder pads, neon “Choose Life” shirts and socks with pumps? One of our favorite decades would probably be the 80s, but we wouldn’t want people to look at us and think “that outfit reminds us of that movie ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ or she looks just like ‘Flashdance’”.

3. You’ve fallen for the vanity sizing marketing gimmicks of current mass merchandisers. With the exception of high-end designers, most manufacturers these days engage in “vanity sizing” where they label jeans a size 4, but in reality the jeans are a size 8. So what happens is you’re so excited that you finally fit into a size 4 that you buy the jeans even though they don’t look that great, and then you get to tell yourself, and all of your friends, that you’ve finally fit into a size 4. These mass merchandisers want you to come back again and again for that feel-good self-esteem boost of a smaller size that you get with their too-trendy and lower-quality clothes. Instead, try purchasing a few higher-end designer clothes pieces where you might wear a larger size but where you’ll come home with higher quality. The bottom line is who cares what size you wear? As long as the item fits and makes you feel good, buy it. Buy the item, not the size.

Céline’s French Bliss…Just Say Oui

Arguably one of the lesser-known French designer brands is Céline—and we’re not talking Céline as in Dion, but you all already knew that. Housed under the umbrella of the Louis Vuitton Möet Hennessey powerhouse, Céline offers luxury apparel with clean lines and feminine simplicity.

French women are known for their simplistic style and for choosing quality over quantity when putting together their wardrobes, and perhaps they are on to something here. Céline can be pricey (cotton skirts often retail between $600 and $1500--ouch!), but when you buy Céline you buy a piece that you can wear for years.

We could totally picture Amanda Seyfried’s character, Sophie, wearing a skirt just like this in Letters to Juliet (granted she was in Verona, but hey why not be an American wearing French when in Italy?). If you liked the costumes in this film, be sure to check out this week’s vintage Céline piece. On a side note about Letters to Juliet...why did the writers have Sophie and Charlie quote Hamlet instead of Romeo and Juliet when the movie was supposed to be about Romeo and Juliet? But we digress...