In Spring Training

for the faculty rock band.

More cowbell, anyone?

Of the Canadian Shield and Shoes

I remember learning about the Canadian Shield as a child--a massive region of "precambrian rock" surrounding Hudson's Bay. 

It's known for mining, a lack of human inhabitants, and its rugged beauty.

This Canadian has been thinking about a different shield, though: this pink high-heeled loafer by YSL.

 

Now, I've written here before that I absolutely do not like high heeled loafers.  And I still don't.  But the shiny gold shield transforms these by concealing the part that I do not like. 

I wouldn't want to actually visit the proper Canadian Shield in its namesake shoes, though.

Isabel Marant's JackIT

In these days of multitasking, the portmanteau word has become desirable, if not essential. 

Sooo much effort is expended in saying something like "it jacket" that I've combined the two words in the header above.

Isabel Marant's jackIT is desirable too, if, I must admit, not entirely essential.  I first saw it in Vogue's Index, in this spread:

I loved its texture, its embellishment, its gently nipped-in shape. (And putting it next to an Alabama Chanin quilt wasn't unwise, either.)

Here it is on the runway, in casual Boho glory:

It's still nicely shaped, and well styled.  I wondered which hip person of note would be first photographed in it.

Brooklyn Decker was. And here I am a tad confused, because the gently shaped jackIT looks oddly boxy. 

And without the interplay among patterns, the jackIT looks like a mere jacket.

Turkey Dressing

Although it's not the season to do so, I've been contemplating turkeys. 

First the New Yorker's March style issue printed this image of a Prada dress, from Fall-Winter 2007-2008.

Then the New York Times spotlighted an extraordinary collaboration between photographer Robin Schwartz and her daughter Amelia.  Schwartz photographs the preternaturally calm Amelia "among the animals," and the results are as enchanted as as forest in Peau d'Ane (and infinitely kinder too).



Here is Amelia "wearing" a turkey:

Finally, I was reminded of 1984, and my second year of university.  I'd been reading a good bit of Vogue then, and remember seeing in its pages an ad for the revamped Vanity Fair, under the guidance of Tina Brown.  The cover of that November issue featured Brooke Shields, also "wearing" a live turkey headdress: