Saturday, December 8, 2012

Ball Skirts, Boots, and Blondie

UPDATE: Received the boots for Christmas, but determined that they were A) too short; B) too bucket-y (unflattering when combined with too short); C) way too tight across the instep.  So the perfect boots, ball skirt, and Blondie-tee combo is still eluding me.

Do you remember 1994, when Isaac Mizrahi had the cheeky good taste to pair voluminous ballskirts with simple white t-shirts and chubbies?

How about 1991, when Peter Lindbergh famously photographed what Vogue called "Wild at Heart" but I call "Models in the Hood," a bunch of supes hanging out in a foggy alley wearing Chanel ball skirts and leather?


Detail in gritty b&w

I loved that look of Edith Wharton on bottom, Brando on top, and a recent pair of boots by Coach, of all labels, has sparked my imagination.

The boots:


Engineer boots from a collaboration between Coach and Frye.  Ocelot print calf hair.

The ball skirt:



Lots of possibilities here.  I once blogged about the two J Crew beauties above, but they might be more for Carolina Herrera chic; you know--the white, buttoned sleek shirt:


I want something a little more patterned that I can clash with the ocelot and . . .

a Blondie T!


The one above is "new";


And this one above is vintage.

A little sleuthing on Etsy shows that one can order a custom-made ball skirt, and I quite like these awning stripes:



Even the chevron stripe had me at attention (I was once a sergeant in the Black Watch cadet corps mentioned in my previous post):


You can order the ball skirts here

This gorgeous vintage stripey ball skirt from the 1980s by Albert Capraro would also go nicely with Ms. Harry:

Skirt can be purchased here

I can imagine happily swanning about in the printed skirt and a rock tee (I know, I know, "The Clash" would be an unironic choice for this otherwise ironic ensemble).

And what about those ocelot engineer boots?  How much do I like them?

An ocel lot.



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm swooning over this style, I love the irreverence of it.

Susan B said...

Agree with Tabitha, what fun!

Miss Cavendish said...

Tabitha, am scheming re: which rock tees/ball skirts would make a good clash;

Deja, I just read your 2010 post on motorcycle boots at the office--you're definitely an authority on this type of footwear!

WendyB said...

1994 was an AWESOME year for fashion. And I still have my department store (not Mizrahi) ballskirt from then.

Pigtown*Design said...

i wore a cashmere t-neck, a ball skirt and cowboy boots to a mardi gras ball in DC. it was so comfortable and everyone loved it.

Miss Cavendish said...

WendyB--I still wear my DKNY from 1994; it was great quality then!

Pigtown*Design--Sounds perfect, and welcome! I have a red cashmere crew-neck that would love to join the party.