Rainy Day Glamour

Photographer, Steven Meisel, Photo of Gwyneth Paltrow courtesy of www.starer.ru.comWhen the day is cold, rainy, and wet, how on earth can a drenched Everyday Glamour Chick, (E.G.C.), carpe diem?  How can she resist the seductive draw of her bed, what with the warm comforter, the pitter patter of rain drops, and the sweet lullaby of the wind whistling by her window teasing her and beckoning her?

This calls for coffee, and the stronger the better.  When your heart starts racing, you have had enough.  

Music is next.  Rainy days are so much more glamorous when set to a moody soundtrack.  Emotional music transforms a disappointingly mundane, grey, rainy day existence into something more powerful:  The singer emotes, the piano trills, and the drum pulsates like a heartbeat.  All of a sudden, the rain drops are dripping with emotion.  The tiny bubbles sitting on the windowpane are pregnant with deep, soulful poetry.  There you have it—Insta-drama.  Before you know it you will be pouting and speaking to your lover with a French accent.

The Glamorous Rainy Day Outfit

Slip on some soft and luxurious leggings or skinny jeans.  This day begs for comfort.  No one wants to be wearing trousers that get soaked on the bottom and stick to their legs.  No one that I would ever hang out with, at least.

Then cozy up to a slouchy sweater.  For the ideal tactile experience, approximate the decadent, sensuous feeling of being in bed.  Consider a chunky number that suggestively reveals one shoulder, or consider wearing a lofty, long cardigan over the coziest t-shirt on earth.

The Row cardigan, Fall 2012, courtesy www.Net-a-Porter.com

Next up are the boots.  All Saints make some cool leather ones that will continue to impress long after the rain has stopped.  There is something wonky about those Hunter wellies on a sunny afternoon. (Yes, I used the word “wonky”, and I’m not even British.  I'm spicing it up today.)

All Saints boots photo courtesy of www.us.allsaints.com

Then a wool scarf is in order.  I got mine at an unusual holiday party in which guests were auctioning off random household items in the name of fun.  Luckily one of the guests used to work for Ralph Lauren and brought the most amazing scarf to auction off. You better believe I was the highest bidder!!  It was the best 20 bucks I ever spent.  A Ralph Lauren scarf is even better than a Cuisinart.

For added glamour, wear a hat.  A stylish friend of mine tipped me off to a glamorous rainy day style secret—she swears by the $30 felt hats that The Gap puts out each season.  Genius!  Who wants to wear a wonky Burberry plaid rain hat when they can wear a really cool felt one with faux leather trim?  However, if you want a quality hat instead, consider one designed by Eugenia Kim.

Photo courtesy of www.Gap.com

Ratchet up your glamour quotient with a trench coat.  Ever since Make It Work Tim Gunn named the trench coat an essential item for every chic lady, we have been seeing trench coats consistently appear at every price point.  Coincidence?  I think not!  Thank you, Tim!

Photo courtesy of www.sofeminine.co.uk.com

Finally, you must not forget your umbrella.  Good umbrellas come with tremendous responsibility.  A general rule of thumb is that if you can keep a plant alive in your home for a year, then you are ready for the responsibility of owning a good umbrella.  I currently use cheap 5 dollar ones because I’m a negligent plant killer and can’t be trusted.

Carpe Diem!

Through the Looking Glass

Photo courtesy of www.thesimplyluxuriouslife.comCuriouser and curiouser!

Her closet is shrinking!  It's getting smaller and smaller!  What shall she wear?

Curiouser and curiouser!

Less clothing means more choices.  

Curiouser and curiouser!

She wears old clothes:

Black and navy pinstripe skirt, circa1996

Purple silk paisley top, circa 1995

Caramel leather handbag, circa 2010

Caramel leather high heel sandals, circa 2011

Her husband says, "Wow!  You look great!  Very fashionable."

Curiouser and curiouser!

She had not thought to wear those pieces together before.

Curiouser and curiouser!

She really does not think much about it.

Curiouser and curiouser!

Getting dressed is easy and quick.

Curioiuser and curiouser!

She does not mind that her closet is shrinking.  She will not run to Zara just yet.

Curiouser and curiouser!

She is not perfect, and that is ok.

Curiouser and curiouser!

She does not know or care very much when she will shop again.

Curiouser and curiouser!

But she knows that when she does, her purchase will be an upgrade.

Curiouser and curiouser!

She now understands the statement, "The less you have, the more you enjoy."

And then she spots the White Rabbit...

Ask the Stylist: Teacher Chic

Edie handbag courtesy of www.jcrew.comDear Kate, 

I would love information on Suburban Middle School Science Teacher Chic.  You know, standing on hard floors all day, hot and cold classrooms, 14 year old girls watching your every style choice and your local mall or online shopping feeding your style choices.  Is Everyday Glamour possible here?

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Anita B. Smart

 Tippi sweater courtesy of www.jcrew.com

Dear Mrs. Smart, 

Everyday Glamour is completely possible here.  But I have to tell you, there are no shortcuts.  You must do your homework.  You must focus.   When it comes to traversing the steep and harrowing road to Suburban Middle School Science Teacher Chic, there have been countless casualties.  Nothing can strike dread in the hearts of the most accomplished teacher than a gaggle of 14 year old girls.  14 year old girls can smell fear--they pick up on the scent.  The queen bee of the gaggle will make a snarky remark under her breath about how “cool” your baggy pants are and then the gaggle will titter and tee-hee-hee with laughter, and smack their gum, and you will be powerless to one-up them with witty repartee insinuating how shallow an interest in fashion is because then you know the moment you do that they win.  Checkmate.  So do your homework.

The look that you are going for here is smart, classic, and tailored.  Keep it simple and stick with pants for everyday.  Save the skirts and dresses for assemblies, award ceremonies, and graduation day.  There are reasons for this:  Pants will hide your ugly shoes a bit, (I will elaborate later on this), and  you will be able to move freely and comfortably around your lab.  Since you will be buying your pants at the local mall or online, it is best not to stress and fret and try on every pair of pants in every store that the mall has to offer in a fruitless search for the best fitting pants.  I suggest you bite the bullet and pay to get your pants tailored to perfection.  This is non-negotiable.  It is a requirement.  A good tailor can work miracles on your mall pants.  The tailor can narrow them to better fit your proportions and can make a baggy seat fit perfectly.   They can also take in the waist.  My suggestion is to hem your pants to break a bit over your ugly shoes, as to hide them and to lengthen your line a bit.  More on the shoes later.  Buy pants in tropical wool, which you can wear all year, and will feel comfortable in hot and cold classrooms.  You only need 4 good pairs of pants.  Pick your jaw up off the floor, I’m serious.  You do not need a lot of pants, you just need the right ones.  Only one of the 4 pairs of pants need to be solid black.  The other three can  be subtly different from the plain solid black ones.  If you get only solid black pants, then it looks like you are wearing the same thing everyday.  The other three can be dark in color and have a very subtle, menswear vibe.  For example, you could go for one pair of black pants, one pair of very subtle, small scale black pin-stripe pants, a very dark charcoal pair, and perhaps another very small scale herringbone patterned black pant.  Anyway, the key is subtle, small-scale, dark, tropical wool.  No pleats.  Take them to a good tailor even if you think they fit fine.   Trust the professionals.

Hutton trouser, pinstripe, courtesy of www.jcrew.com

Now for the tops.  Since the classrooms are hot, then cold, then hot again, I suggest layering in the form of jackets and/or sweater jackets and/or cardigans.   You only need two or three different styles.  You can find classic looking jackets that are not corporate looking—they can be lighter in color if you want, and can have more casual styling.  Again, they must fit well but also allow for movement.  I’m thinking the tailor might be getting some more business from you here.  Or you can go with sweater jackets or cardigans that don’t look flimsy or sloppy or Mr. Rogers-y.  Under the jacket or cardigan,  consider wearing a flattering knit or a blouse with some drape.  Choose a pretty color and a neckline that is most flattering.  Don’t wear a v-neck if you look better in a U-neck.  Don’t wear a turtleneck if you look better in a button-down.  Think of it like Geometry meets Art.  You could also go with one of those classic button down shirts with a bit of stretch in them and wear it untucked with the sleeves rolled up.  Personally, I never found them to be all that comfortable, but others beg to differ.

Other essentials:

1.  A smart leather bag.

2.  If you wear glasses, consider updating them.  Bring a friend to help you choose.

3.  Pretty natural makeup, a la Sophia Coppola. 

4.  Neat hair.  

Blazer photo courtesy of www.jcrew.com

And finally…the shoes.  Unfortunately, you have to be comfortable.  This makes me sad, because we all know that truly comfortable shoes, the kind that you can stand in for hours on hard floors, well…they are ugly.  Maybe you think they exist but I disagree.  You need rubber soles.  Ugh.  It pains me to say it.  If you worked in fashion retail, and were complaining about having to stand for hours on end on concrete floors, then I would say buck up sister, wear pretty shoes, your paycheck depends on it.  But you are a Science teacher, shaping young minds, so you must be comfortable.  Look for a pair that give you a bit of a lift.  Very flat shoes actually are not as comfortable as shoes with a bit of a lift.  And remember to hem your pants with a little break in them to hide the shoes.  Keep the shoes black.

Shoes photo courtesy of www.aerosoles.com

And the next time you hear the gaggle of 14 year old girls titter and tee-hee-hee in the back of the class, you can ask the queen bee to recite the Periodic Table of Elements.  Checkmate.

Power Dress

Simple.  Feminine.  Power.  

Roland Mouret Fall 2012 RTW photo courtesy of www.Style.com

At a time in fashion when more is more, Everyday Glamour Chicks, (E.G.C.'s), march to the beat of a different drummer.  "The less you have the more you enjoy!", they exclaim.  There is power in simplicity.  There is power in less.  All hail the dress!  

Roland Mouret Fall 2012 RTW photo courtesy of www.Style.com

E.G.C.'s can't help but to love the clean and modern appeal of a simple fitted-within-an-inch-of-her-life dress coupled with sexy high heels.  Why complicate matters?  For maximum impact, she remembers all the finishing details:  A sharp haircut, (or a relaxed chignon), a honed belt, and a distinguished handbag.

In the end, what will they notice?  The woman.

 Roland Mouret Fall 2012 RTW photo courtesy of www.Style.com

Affordable Glamour

Emma Stone photo courtesy of www.vogue.com

A bearded older gentleman walks into a luxury fashion boutique on Madison Avenue.  His hair is thinning and the bit he has left could use a trim.  He is simply dressed.

Shop Girl:  “Good morning!”

Gentleman:  “Hello.  I need something from you.  I live around the corner.  Sorry to bother you, but I need a piece of paper, please.”

Shop Girl:  “No problem!”  Walking away, she turns back around, “Do you need a pen as well?”

Gentleman:  “Yes, please.”

Shop Girl goes to the cash register in back and fetches an official printed store card, the kind reserved for customers’ buying gifts,  and a ball-point pen.  Her co-worker says, “Just give him a scrap of receipt paper.”  Shop Girl thinks better of it and deadpans, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Shop Girl walks back out to the front and hands The Gentleman the card and pen. 

Gentleman:  “Thank you so much.  Sorry to bother you, it’s just that I need to leave someone in the neighborhood a quick note.”

Shop Girl:  “Oh, no bother!  It’s fine.”

As the Gentleman writes his note, he stops and looks up to chat every now and then.  There is no rush.

Gentleman:  (Pausing and looking up at the Shop Girl)  “This is a nice store.  They have good products.” (Shop Girl smiles and shakes her head yes.) “I used to own a shop very near here, right down this block.”

Shop Girl:  “Oh wow!  Tough business—such a high risk.”

Gentleman:  “Oh, I know, the rents are so high, it makes more sense to own the building.  But I opened a store on this block back when none of these high fashion stores were around.  It was a lot less expensive back then.”

Shop Girl:  (Crinkling her eyebrows), “When was this?”

Gentleman:  “Oh.  I’m old.”

Shop Girl:  “I was wondering!” Then she quickly adds, “You look young.”

Gentleman: (Unfazed by the Shop Girl’s faux pas) “This area had only a bunch of Mom & Pop-type shops.  I opened my store in 1974.  Later on a few fancier stores started opening up, you know, like Cartier, that kind of thing.”

The Gentleman looks down and continues writing his note.

Shop Girl:  “Interesting.”

The Gentleman pauses and nonchalantly looks up at the Shop Girl again.

Gentleman:  “One day an older lady came into my store.  She bought a few things.  I ran down to the basement and grabbed some new suits that I had just bought for the store.  Good suits.  Nothing really expensive, but really nice, you know?”

Shop Girl:  (nods)  “Right!”

Gentleman:  “The lady buys the suits.  She writes me a check but she forgot her I.D.  I look at the signature. It’s Mrs. Rockefeller.*  I say, no problem, I don’t need I.D., that’s fine.  I asked her what she thought of the fact that Cartier and all these high fashion stores were opening up on the block.  You know what she said?’

The Shop Girl shook her head.

Gentleman:  “Those stores are for poor people.”

*This name has been changed.  (Really!)

What she meant was that the flashy stores make a good living selling a lot of stuff to the newly rich, and that those who have held onto their wealth for a long time behave differently.  Affordable is relative.  Affordable has to do with not only your cash flow, but also what you value.  Do you value surface or substance?

Fashion is never truly affordable, but thankfully style always is.  Shift your focus and you can be stylish no matter what your bank account may reflect.  If you don’t believe me, then take a look into your closet and start counting.  How many pieces of clothing do you own?  How many tops?  How many bottoms?  Shoes?  Count them.  Most of us own way more clothing than we really need.  What percentage of all of this stuff do you wear on a regular basis?  50%?  Less?  Can you afford to keep a closet that is 50% full of clothes that you don't particularly like?  Less clothing worn more often because you love the way you look and feel in them is so much more valuable than a bunch of stuff that sits there because it doesn't make you feel beautiful. The first rule when determining what is glamorously affordable is to ask, “Is this valuable to me?”, and not, “Is this cheap?”

Emma Stone photo courtesy of www.beautyfashions.com

Life gets better when we raise our personal standards.  Focus on what you really love, and what will last you for years.  Shop much less often, but don’t deprive yourself either.  Edit your closet every 6 months to keep on track with what you love about your wardrobe, and also develop a core wardrobe to give yourself some style direction.  Be secure in the knowledge that you already own a lot of nice things.  Hold onto nice things that you love, even if you can't make them work with the rest of your wardrobe quite yet.  Let your wardrobe evolve slowly and take your time.  There is no rush.

Now if at this point your heart is racing and you are turning red in the face because you love quality, and you really get the quality over quantity philosophy, and you really do hear me,  but you feel an urgent need to scream at your computer screen, “BUT I STILL CAN’T AFFORD A BURBERRY TRENCH, YOU WENCH!”, relax instead.  When I say raise your standards, I mean raise your expectations about what you are shopping for. 

I recently bought a bathrobe at Target, but not because it was cheap and I needed a bathrobe.  I got it because it is really very pretty and flattering, the cotton is very comfortable, it’s easy to wash, and I know that I will happily don it for many years.  The cotton is good.  I wasn’t looking for a bathrobe that day.  I did know for a very long time that I would enjoy owning a bathrobe, but I dropped the idea and went on with my life, because I can survive without one.  Then one fine day, out of the blue, the pretty bathrobe appeared at Target and to buy it really didn’t hurt one bit.  It is glamorously affordable in relation to my budget.  I secretly gave myself an invisible high five for that one.  Because I have made mistakes as well.

I bought a Burberry runway collection trench coat once.  It was on triple mark down.  It was on super-duper sale.  It was cheap and it was a Burberry!!  It was really beautiful and of the best quality!!   But....every time I wore it, I felt like a little girl playing dress-up in Mommy’s closet full of fancy clothes and pearl necklaces.  The saleslady said it looked good but she was wrong.  The proportions were off, but in the heat of the moment I didn't listen to that small voice in my head that said, wait a minute, something's not right. I realized later that the details of the coat were slightly out of proportion to my petite frame.  The tailor sent me away.  There was nothing he could do.  Expensive mistake.

I hope you follow your heart, and remember what you value.  Keep your expectations high while staying open, relaxed, and happy with who and where you are right now, this very moment.  You never know.  Like love, your dream trench coat may simply appear when you stop looking.  And it will be easy to buy.  It will be glamorously affordable.