But still my thoughts turned to warm weather and to my annual peek at one of my stand-by summer designers, Christiane Celle of Calypso.
Of course, Ms. Celle has not been with the company that bears her name for . . . a couple of years now, and this is the first collection where I really feel the presence of her absence. (Oy--that's such a lit-crit phrase; sorry, gentle readers.)
But back to my virtual shopping spree: curiously, Calypso's two signature dresses--the Julia wrap dress and the Pazzi sheath dress--are not included for spring. Perhaps they will appear later, but they are missed. They punctuated each collection.
In their stead are very sheer, stream-of-consciousness little frocks (above and below) that resemble pretty nighties. I don't ever use that word--nightie--but it fits here. We did wear slip dresses and corsets as outerwear; why not a nightie? (I'll withhold my verdict until I try one on with a tan and smart sandals.)
There's also a renewed emphasis on the Indian tunic, but this image could easily be from the J Crew website, just with higher prices.
And at least J Crew, with its faux prep-school pedigree, takes the care to spell its copy correctly. Calypso, however, speaks of this yellow tunic with "pannels" and a fitted "waiste."
Is this a misguided attempt to invoke the founder's French background by employing charming ESL misspellings? Of course not; it's just sloppiness.
Once, in a moment of apres-midnight insanity, I visited the Kardashian sisters' boutique online. The copy there was so atrocious (full of grammatical errors) that I actually emailed them to offer my copyediting services. They didn't respond. A quick check today shows that their site is under construction. Perhaps they heeded my advice (but didn't take me up on my offer. It still stands!)
So I offer the same copyediting service to Calypso--as well as friendly advice from a long-time client to bring back Julia and Pazzi. Seriously.
And if you really like an curiously spelled sentence, try this one:
Do not Pazzi go.
4 comments:
I always wonder how people feel about seeing their company go on without them. Overall, it seems to be negative, no? Though maybe Calvin Klein is happy...I don't know! I loved some of the trash that YSL talked about Tom Ford.
A nice board game reference there! I'm sad to hear that the Julia and Pazzi aren't in the new collection, though to me the pink dress does seem to have an inkling of Pazziness about it.
Some egregious examples of mis-spelling, there. Some days, I'm close to laying down arms, accepting the inevitable -- when my students are surrounded my poor spelling and grammar -- in print! -- in every venue, especially given how visual they are as learners, I despair whether the language will be recognizable by century's end (okay, despair, maybe an exaggeration! and why should I care about 2199 anyway?)
Earlier this week, a consultant hired at great price to "steer" our university through some major changes, wrote the word "Relevent" (yes, that's how he spelled it) on the board in front of the entire A&H faculty. To notice, it often seems, is to be confirmed as a fusty English prof., but how does one not? (and, after all, talk about aiming your rhetoric at your audience!)
Okay, sorry for hijacking your comments space for my personal space. I do feel your pain re the in-house changes (losses) at a favourite label.
Hahahaha! I'm sorry I missed the Kardashian copy. And yet, they seem so intelligent...
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