"New" Ladylike Dressing

Call me crazy,

but this retro-style dress

with an extremely flattering portrait collar

by J Peterman (remember him?)

could, just could,

look sexy/cool

with these charcoal

cut-out shoes

by Loeffler Randall.

Subversive Stitching

When the subject is the Warhol environs, you can’t help but find a studied mix of high/low culture: heiresses who become “factory girls”; young men of modest backgrounds who become princes of the nightlife.

As readers may remember, I’ve had a long relationship with the book Edie: An American Biography, and today I came across a recent story about one of the feature players in Edie’s world.

The relatively new blog Deep Glamour posted on Brigid Berlin, one of the daughters of Richard Berlin, the very successful CEO of Hearst in the 1960s. During that time Brigid was known for her extraordinary collections: the anatomical books that she would compile, for instance, as well as for her, shall we say, vitamin injections.

Berlin has been turning her needle to artistic use these decades since, becoming prolific and accomplished in needlepoint. Most recently she’s designed a subversively compelling series of pillows based on the front pages of the Daily News and the New York Post. One of the least sensational ones is pictured above.

As I’ve mentioned before, I do have a soft spot for artistry that combines jarring juxtapositions—such as the infamously over-the-top NYPost headlines with the demure, ladylike stitching. I might not want one in my home, but I do appreciate the idea very much.

And in case you’re wondering how Brigid lived after she left those tin-foil factory walls behind, here’s a glimpse into her gracious pug-and-floral world from the NYSD. She’s still collecting, as you’ll see. (Deep Glamour also posted this link.)

I’ll bet that the only tin foil these days is in Berlin's kitchen cupboard.

Autumn Colors

No more rusticating with English biker types.

Here’s what I’d *really* like for a romp on the blasted heath.

From Aquascutum. Dress it down with jeans and wellies.

Of Barbours and Bikers

I’ve been trying to imagine a perfect, rugged fall jacket.

My nylon Prada works wonderfully in an urban setting, but it’s not the thing for running through the meadow with my boisterous hound.

As a girl in Canada, I typically wore an Inuit embroidered parka in winter—lovely but a straight column. In university (in the 1980s) I remember lamenting the lack of fitted winterwear; I’d resignedly think that one cannot be stylish *and* warm in the great north.

But now—several years later, body-warming technology and cold-weather style have finally made a free trade agreement. So my number one criterion (following warmth!) is that this hypothetical jacket must have a nipped-in waist.

And Barbour, that venerable English institution, has a fantastic motorcycle jacket (elegantly renamed the “international” for “ladies,” though I’d stick with the biker jacket moniker).

Although I don’t like to wear black next to my face (I think it can be too harsh), this lined, heavy jacket looks to be a soft black, which makes all the difference.

And look: not only a nipped-in waist, but a belt, which I love. It’s kind of Gstaad interpreted by English biker/moor-romper dudes.

**P.S. This is not may favorite photo--the sleeves look a tad short, but you get the idea . . .

Trench Month

It’s cooler these days, but not chill enough for a proper wool coat. I’ve been wearing my Prada nylon jacket about, but am feeling the need for something in between those two fabrics.

It is, I think, perfect weather for a trench. Certainly there are lovely classic trench coats to choose among (remember Catherine Deneuve in Umbrellas of Cherbourg?), but I also like basics with a little edge.

Enter this stunning Gaultier couture trench.

While it will be keeping me warm this fall via the glow of my computer screen, one can dream . . .

"Little Women" in "Vogue"

Last night I was reading Vogue UK when I came upon a feature by Alice Thomson, commissioning editor of the (London) Times.

My first instinct was to skip right by it, as it was titled “How to Be a Good Wife.”

But the article opened with a quote from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women that caught my eye. Soon after Meg marries her beloved John, she tells her sisters this:

“My husband shall always feel free to bring a friend home whenever he likes . . . There shall be no flurry, no scolding, no discomfort, but a neat house, a cheerful wife, and a good dinner.”

Knowing this novel well, I read over the article, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

However, the article began by commiserating with husbands who were now expected to participate in domestic duties—and continued by critiquing women who use up all their nurturing on their bosses and their children, leaving their husbands to cook their own dinners and bring their own laundry to the cleaner.

But where were Meg and John, the "superior wife" and good husband? Nowhere to be found in this article.

Here's how their story continues: One day John does, in fact, bring home a friend for dinner, unannounced, and finds a wife who is “worn out” from attempting to make jelly all day (and largely failing to do so).

Instead of preparing her husband and guest a meal in her shockingly messy kitchen, Meg orders John to take his guest to her mother’s home, “and tell him I’m away—sick, dead, anything. I won’t see him, and you two can laugh at me and my jelly as much as you like; you won’t have anything else here.”

Thomson’s article ended with the possibility of compromise: share duties at home, which makes perfect sense.

And although I’d like to end Alcott’s chapter as above, with a lesson to the young couple that neither spouse can be "perfect," however one chooses to define "perfection," I must admit that Meg does apologize first to her husband, through a “penitent kiss.”

But I do appreciate that she had enough spirit to chase away her husband and guest the first time, when she was busy, busy, busy with her own work.

Four Things I've Been Meme-ing to Tell You . . .

Stylish Disney Roller Girl tagged me with this “four things” meme. I’m delighted to respond!

Four places I go over and over:

1. Morgane Le Fay
2. the bookstore to buy Selvedge magazine
3. The 7th Ave. fashion district to buy fabric
4. Wherever I can get a really great “why bother”—a 16 oz. decaf skim latte

Four (OK--three!) people who email me regularly:

1. My NYC editor—Hi MJ!
2. My journalism students (on deadline)!
3. Miss C readers

Four places I’d rather be:

1. On a salt-water beach.
2. In Liberty of London.
3. Shopping on Laugavegur
4. At the Irish Lion drinking Guinness.

Four television shows I watch. (I’m tweaking this a little, because I rarely watch TV these days. So here’s a list of four groundbreaking *stylish* shows that I have watched and appreciated for their *dressing* savvy:

1. Style with Elsa Klensch
2. Ab Fab (loved Bubble!)
3. MTV’s House of Style (original version with Cindy Crawford)
4. Mr. Dressup (any Canadian readers join me on this one?)

Four people I’m tagging:

1. Mr. Style
2. Passementerie
3. Materfamilias
4. my man Imelda

Four places I like to eat.

1. The Raft, Newport Beach, California. Enter a modest café front and step through the back door to a little gem of a boating dock where the breakfasts (fruit/yoghurt/granola; huevos rancheros) were delectable. Eat as the boats gently knock against each other right beside your table. (It is now closed, alas.)

2. The wharf near Dalvay by the Sea, Prince Edward Island. Enjoy a lobster roll made fresh from the boats and super-creamy ice cream.

3. Schwartz’s Hebrew Delicatessen, St.-Laurent Blvd., Montreal, Quebec. Go for the hot smoked meat sandwiches and Cott’s Black Cherry soda.

4. Bibendum, London. Sit in the café section for delicious coffee and pastries and marvel at the Art Deco building (an original Michelin factory). (See photos above.)