Shoes for Mother's Day!

UPDATE! Reminder to self: if footwear in your size (8.5) is on sale, it's usually for a reason. And not a good one.



I’ve been searching for black sandals/shoes/booties for forever and a day, but have come up empty-footed each time.

Sure, I’ve teased my gentle blog readers--and myself--with potential black-shoe purchases, but nothing was ever right; everything turned out to be two left feet.

But today, in a flash of Mother’s Day energy (?!), I took a peek at Saks’ sale and found something that I like very much indeed, at least in the virtual world.

I ordered the above sandal/booties by Stuart Weitzman as a MD gift for myself. So here’s hoping that they look even better in person than they do on my monitor!


Happy Mother's Day to all!

Elf Style

When my husband lived in Iceland for a year, I wrote him many, many letters. And he responded in kind, telling me stories about the Icelandic elves and trolls, the feisty Icelandic horses, and the hardfiskur (it's delicious with butter).

I must have been inspired, because we just found (in our shared cache of billet doux) this card that I sent him. It looks elfish, by way of outer space, which was probably where my mind was since I was writing my dissertation at the time.

Maybe it should be MC’s new avatar? I could trade my bunny ears for antennae. . .

In Response to Azzedine Alaia Being Excluded from the "Model as Muse" Exhibit at the Met

UPDATED below . . .

We are not a-Mused.
















Not at all.

Not one little bit.

Update: Word has it that Michelle Obama wore an Alaia gown to Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People gala. What excellent (ahem) timing.

Of Bretons and Capes

The NYT has been celebrating the Breton shirt, the classic blue-and white striped long-sleeve T worn by French sailors. I’ve loved this shirt for years and years, though my Breton is actually Italian (it’s from Benetton and is over 20 years old). So I guess it’s not *really* a Breton, just as Champagne is sparkling wine if it doesn’t come from France.

That’s OK, though, because when I think of Breton, the first image that pops into my mind is not this funky reimagined Balmain (above; love it!!),

nor is it Pablo Picasso in his Breton,

but rather, it is Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, home of the gorgeously treacherous Cabot Trail. I drove this with my father when I was but a wee lass and my heart was in my throat the entire time, so steep, so winding, and sans shoulder lane was it.

If I think a little more, though, I’m reminded that I just love Hemingway’s writing on Bretons in his Garden of Eden. Catherine, the creatively frustrated young bride, wears one on honeymoon with her writer husband, and reinvents herself (rather extremely) in part because her gender stifles any other kind of creativity.

Every time I read it, I want to crop my hair a la Seberg, color it white blonde, develop a golden tan, and wear that blue-and-white Breton. And, being fortunate enough to have writerly choices that Catherine didn’t, I might then go and blog about the whole enterprise.

Still Life: Golden Dog, Golden Hat

As hoped for, here’s a quick photo of my perfect Kentucky-Derby–Audrey-Hepburn hat (see previous post for context).

And below there’s a still life: the hat with a 110 lb. golden retriever in a happily tangled garden.

Yes, of course I tried to put the golden straw hat on the golden dog.

But the life, it was no longer still.

Of the Kentucky Derby, a J Peterman Hat, Audrey Hepburn, and a Literary Horse or Two

If you Google “Miss Cavendish,” you will find that she writes a blog, lit up the British actors’ stage in the 1870s, and is a thoroughbred horse.

Miss Cavendish the horse has, apparently, not yet raced, but with kin like Lady Audley and Madame Eglentine (Chaucer's Prioresse), she’s in fine literary company. And who needs to race when you have such a scandalously bookish heritage? You’re racy enough.

However, if she did race, she might look to the Kentucky Derby (which was run today). And even if she didn’t race there, perhaps she would enjoy looking at all the festive hats in the crowd.

After all, the literary counterpart to horsey Miss C’s equine relative Madame Eglentine wore her wimple well.

In honor of today's Kentucky Derby, the blogger Miss C was thinking about hats, and climbed a tiny ladder to reach up, up into the recesses of her tall closet to locate a very large box from the J. Peterman Company, which contained one very appropriate hat for the Derby.

I (back to first-person narrator—whew!—) bought it in the early 90s, when, smitten by all things Audrey Hepburn, couldn’t resist this simple hat with the strong Audrey-esque lines.

Indeed, it was even named the Audrey Hepburn hat (I found my sales receipt in the box—along with a long-lost belt!!) and I adored it. It looks like a collaboration among the three Audrey hats pictured here.

It’s a golden wheat-colored straw hat. There’s a wide navy grosgrain ribbon (as in the wide-brimmed black hat) with a bow, but the brim is smaller than in that photo.

The shape reminds me of the two other straw hats pictured here and above. Like these, my brim curves down ever so gently, shielding one’s eyes from the paparazzi or the Capri sunshine.

Tomorrow, if the weather cooperates, I will attempt a photo of said chapeau. In the meantime, you may enjoy this photo of a horse in a pretty spring straw hat.

This image depicts, of course, neither Miss Cavendish the equine, nor Miss C the blogger, but I do think that she represents us well.


**Photo from Corbis

In Short . . .

I’ve posted before on how much I love a well-cut trouser suit. But did you know that I ADORE a shorts suit?

Don’t worry—I’m not referring to cuffed, pleated walking shorts worn with pumps and a matching jacket. (Yes, I know that the shorts to the right are both pleated and cuffed. But they're cool.)

Just look at these pleated, tapered shorts from Reiss:

they’d look fab with this jacket (also from Reiss, conjuring up last year's Roland Mouret silhouette. But still . . .)

and a wicked pair of heels.