moderne

'Her manner is shy, but casual and friendly, and her gamine face crinkles easily into an attractive, rather secret smile. She wore a simple black sweater and gray skirt; if she is a vain girl the only indication of it was her high-heeled shoes, which were of elegantly worked light gray leather... She is sincere and helpful, but questions that are pompous or elaborate, or about personal life, or that might be interpreted as challenging her work, are liable to elicit only a simple “oui” or “non,” or “je ne sais pas—je ne sais pas du tout”—and then an amused, disconcerting smile.' 

On Francoise Sagan's style, The Paris Review Art of Fiction No. 15

la garconne

La Garconne Moderne is the epitome of how I wished I dressed. Therein lies the slight - and yes, slightly upsetting - distinction, in that even though in my head I look like this as I go about my daily chores it all ends up a bit scruffier due to my general inability to look put together. Such is life. As it is the quarterly look books that are posited unceremoniously into my inbox provide me with endless sartorial inspiration. A pair of straight leg jeans and a turtleneck here, a tunic and a barette there, there's something about the way these ensembles - inspired by thoughtful, understated icons like Joan Didion - speak for themselves, just loud enough to be noticed by those who are truly looking for them. Style that is secretive in its elegance and distinction, that conceals much - the body, the insecurities, the price tags - but that still has that certain something the French like to call je ne sais quoi. Every season La Garconne Moderne has it, and I want it, oh so badly.

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cinematic style - Renee Zellweger in Jerry Maguire

screencaps

There always was something about Tom Cruise. Back in the day, you know, maybe not now (although, really, has he aged at all?). Those boyish looks, that floppy, devil maycare hair, that suave, golden boy charm. He was like that guy in high school that knew he was good-looking and would always give you that smile, the perfect smile, the one that melted knees. I don't know, I guess... I get it. I get the whole Tom Cruise in the 90s thing. And Jerry Maguire is like that typical charming Tom Cruise movie where Tom Cruise plays that typical charming Tom Cruise character. As great as his wardrobe was - sportsjackets and white tee shirts and ray bans - I want to talk about Renee Zellweger's wardrobe instead (the prevalence of Tom in all these pictures is because I got these from a Tom Cruise fan site, my first and last visit, I promise!).

I feel like I'm being drawn to this type of dressing more and more. My hair has been cut again, and it's grazing the top of my shoulders now instead of hanging down over them like before. It's an easy cut, and it goes with easy clothing. Dorothy's clothing is easy because her life is hard - she's got a young child and an overbearing sister and, from pretty much the start of the film, she's relatively unemployed. As such, her daily wardrobe is comfortable, simple clothing; denim jeans with cropped sweaters, fitted tee shirts and capri pants, sneakers and cardigans. I miss this kind of Renee Zellweger (I'm not the only one, Christa D'Souza rhapsodised about Jennifer Lawrence's pillowy Renee Zellweger-esque cheeks in the November issue of Vogue UK) curvy and young and vulnerable, she's quite fantastic in this movie, if a little weepy. I love that classic Rachel way she piles her hair at the top of her head with a scrunchy or a clip. It's easy and simple and without thought, but also, in the same breath, effortlessly sexy. 

That's what is so great about Dorothy's wardrobe. Even in sweatshirts and baggy slacks, even without money or contacts, even with a three year old son, Dorothy manages to get the guy. She has stars in her eyes and she's hopelessly naive - you can sort of see that in her too long pants, or her daggy sweaters - but she still gets the guy. Maybe it's down to the way she always believed in Jerry, or because she stands up for herself when push comes to shove, or because, at the end of the day she's Renee Zellweger. But I like to think that it's because of her simple, easy clothing that never complicates things. Even her wedding dress with that gorgeous high cut on the shoulder, was totally unfussy. You had me at hello.

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cinematic style - Denise Richards in The World is Not Enough

screencaps

It's been a month since my last cinematic style (shameful!!! but exams got in the way) and while casting around for my next topic I had so many good suggestions - I still havent forgotten either Bianca's wish for a Gosling/Drive dissertation, nor Madeleine's pick L'auberge Espagnole, which is next on my list of films to see - but as I was sitting down to write this all I could think about was Bond, James Bond. I'm yet to see Skyfall and the anticipation is near crippling me, so I thought I'd look back at the style of what I think is an under-appreciated Bond girl. Denise Richards. Sure, she's no Ursula Andress (that bikini!) or Honor Blackman (that wrap top!) or Carole Bouquet (those green eyes!) or even Eva Green (that purple dress!), and I'm kind of jeapordising my own argument by talking about all the other great bond girls - and there are so many more! Talisa Soto!!! Sophie Marceau!!! - and I know that she was named the worst bond girl ever but don't you think that was kind of harsh? Seriously. There have been worse bond girls. Like. Whoever played Holly Goodhead in Moonraker. Just, Moonraker in general was a bad Bond movie. And if people have a problem with Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist then why doesn't anyone have a problem with Tanya Roberts as a geologist in A View to Kill - also another bad Bond movie. Answer me that, huh? 

The thing is, I like The World is Not Enough, and I like Brosnan as Bond, and I like Denise Richards as Christmas Jones. I may be the only one, but hey, the 90s were good to me, and I'm rather fond of them. Besides, this series isn't really about acting or skill, it's about the wardrobe (otherwise I better find some reasons for why Alexis Bledel is in it) and man Denise Richards has a good wardrobe in this. The Bond Girl is supposed to be a pretty face, anyway, the distraction from the poker game. And what a distraction! Richards' first get up in army green tank top, shorts and hiking boots was that Lara Croft kind of sexy way before Angelina Jolie got her hands on it. She graduated from that to a non-descript military grade shirt, baggy black slacks that would make even Bassike proud and, like any good 90s nuclear physicist, a g-shock. Then - my personal favourite - all Britney in Stronger, with the tight cropped tee, the little baby blue sports jacket and a silver pendant winking against her clavicle. All that, and she scrubs up nicely, too. Her obligatory party dress isn't a floor-sweeping ballgown but a babydoll sequinned mini with all of that fantastic hair hanging down one side. All of them well executed, all of them both pure 90s thriller fodder and reasonably practical - it's those combat shorts and hiking boots, she's a scientist after all - at least more so than the wardrobes of some other Bond Girls.

And I guess I like her sheer American pluckiness when squared off against Sophie Marceau's fur-wrapped Elektra. It's like... the difference between champagne and coca cola. Sometimes you want one and sometimes you just want the other. So she's not a great actor. Whatever. Most of my favourites aren't. What we need of stars, especially in blockbusters like James Bond, is a pretty face and a nice outfit. And Christmas Jones gives us both.

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cinematic style - Julia Roberts in Notting Hill

screencaps

You know I can probably trace my affinity for 90s minimalism back to the fact that a) I grew up in the 90s with an Aunt who was so chic she used to spray her scarfs with Chanel no.5 before she wore them and only painted her nails red and dyed her hair a different colour every week depending on her mood. And b) because I watched a hell of a lot of 90s movies set in the rough and tumble of urban life and they all had fantastic, minimal 90s wardrobes. Like You've Got Mail. And Patriot Games (am I cutting the definition of 90s here a little fine? Whatever. It's my blog, I'll do what I want). I loved those movies, and I loved those wardrobes. I loved the little tee shirts with the cropped cardigans, the flippy hair cuts, the straight leg jeans and the square-toed boots. 

Julia Roberts had a good wardrobe in Notting Hill. It was a little plain, in the way that 90s clothes were plain, simple tee shirts, no-nonsense skirts, but she made it all her own with that beautiful, knock-out smile and that little squint in her eye and the way she would shrug her shoulders as she walked. Who could forget her entrance on the stairs, after changing at Hugh Grant's house because he spilt orange juice all over her plain white tee shirt and leather jacket (a great outfit), in that black crop top and pencil skirt? (I could not for the life of me find a picture of this, but you can see it in motion here). Or what about her bohemian chinese silk jacket and jeans combo at dinner? Or Grace Kelly esque suit at the press conference? Naturally, my favourite outifts are the clothes of Will's that she dons when she stays at his house after the photographs are leaked to the press. The dorky tee shirt, the oversized sweater and leggings, the stripey dress shirt worn as pyjamas. The ease of it all went perfectly with how easy she seemed to fit into Will's life, eating toast, watering house plants, reading lines on his dilapidated rooftop. Back in the day when rent in Notting Hill wasn't sky high and people could still feel a kind of romantic fondness for Hugh Grant and not overwhelming sleaze. But there you go. 

Part of it is definitely Julia Roberts' inherent charm. Put most of this on a normal person and it's not going to look as good. But what I liked about the wardrobe in the film is how it constantly straddled that boundary between "movie star" and "real life". It deconstructed this idea of what a celebrity or actress or famous person was and fused it with normality. That movie stars, also, wear jeans and tee shirts and thongs and ratty sweaters and birkenstocks with matching anklets. That they spill things on themselves and climb fences and they fall in love with real people. It's romantic and it's idealised and it's a conceit. I know this. But, I think, even better than some aspects of the film, the wardrobe showed on many occasions how Anna really was just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her. 

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cinematic style - Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail

screencaps

I always thought that You've Got Mail was what living in New York would look like. Walls full of book cases and fresh daisies every day and a light-filled apartment big enough for two on the Upper West Side. How wrong I was, but how right Kathleen Kelly's wardrobe is in this movie. It's that 90s minimalism that invaded everything post-Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, when all anyone wanted to wear was turtlenecks and beige slacks and a man's white shirt. I love that this style is having a resurgence, it's clean and crisp and fresh as a morning in spring, something so simple that you look twice for what you've missed. It's slightly out-sized, like too-big pyjamas and cosy grey sweaters, but the skirts are always fitted and the tee shirts tucked into belted trousers. It's like the slightly more modernised Annie Hall - another fantastic New York City living movie. No bright colours, no bells and whistles, just simple cardigans and shirts, tunics and jeans, and one or two great coat with fur on the collar. The kind of stuff that Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren peddle with baby-faced models in the ads, but it's still good, you know? Healthy and fine-boned and raised on milk and corn. That's what Kathleen Kelly looks like.

My favourite scene in this movie is when Joe Fox (F.O.X) turns up at Kathleen's absolutely wonderful, book-filled apartment unnanounced. She's sick and wearing a pair of stripey pyjamas and so she throws on the nearest thing - a gloriously beige trench coat - and shoves the piles of tissues in her pockets and belts the whole lot. I loved that look. I loved how massive the trench was on her, and how the pockets seemed neverendless, and how great it looked with the collar of her pyjama shirt poking through. My godmother has a trench coat just like this. It's Burberry and it's the most perfect shade of greige and it has a removable lining. She let me borrow it when I went to Scotland many years ago, and I've been longing for something as perfect for a while now. It's one of those things, you know, either a trench coat is perfect, or it's not. I think I'll be holding out for the TOME one next season.

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pochette

sometimes i feel so happy

I've been seeing a lot of people using clutches as wallets recently. Not replacing bags, but rather using them as a means of organising their accessory life - when filled with all the necessities it is easier to locate things in the depths of a capacious bag. I've been toying with the idea of doing this with one of the pochettes on my Celine bag, but I have to say I'm a little nervous about what might happen to the little guy if it's lumped into a huge bag and expected to fend for itself. The idea is attractive though. I am constantly losing things in my bags and I end up hoisting them onto my knee and rummaging around with reckless abandon, searching for keys or headphones or a pen or something of such sort. It's very undignified. On Saturday I had to squat down in the middle of the condiments aisle at Thomas Dux searching for my phone which I could hear and feel ringing yet for the life of me could not find in my bag. Damn thing. At least if everything was inside a pouch I'd know where it all was and could get at it instantly. This is a good idea right? And a nice burgundy colour would present itself quite easily against the black lining of my bag. The only thing is, is that I have a very good wallet that I love and I'm not quite sure I'm ready to give it up quit yet. It's so capacious and it's a lovely olive green colour. I'm very fond of it, I have to say. I might give this a trial for one week and get back to you.

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the best of the best

style.com

I'm not going to lie. I wasn't the biggest fan of Reed Krakoff's sophomore fall collection this fashion month. I'm a Reed Krakoff kind of girl - monotone, monochrome, 'intelligent luxury' and louche, laidback elegance - but I just wasn't feeling all that velvet. Those asymmetrical, short (short? no way) hems, and the weird boxy silhouettes. The bags and the shoes are great, this is the man who runs Coach after all I think we can give him credit for knowing how to make a bag, but where were the clothes? You know the ones! Those long, floor sweeping shearling coats that were so expensive they practically dripped money. The wrap skirts with big slits up the middle accessorised with lace up knee high boots, part naughty school girl, part nice secretary. That gorgeous neutral palette that comes with names like sand, french navy and moss. And Karlie Kloss, hair tucked behind those little ears of hers, cupid's bow mouth all glossy and forehead all sheeny, striding out in what would become one of the most persistent catwalk looks I have ever seen. Grey marle singlet, white wrap skirt, knee high boots and a beautifully cut dove grey cropped sleeveless pea coat with a big old fur collar. 

This was an evening look, mind. An evening look! It was so relaxed, so casual, so easy-going. There was no effort whatsoever. And it all looked so real. That Karlie Kloss look, my god. I know that she's somewhat of a chameleon - Dior geisha girl one day, Gucci siren the next - but that look couldn't have been more perfect for her. As if she was born to wear it. She didn't look like a teenager from St Louis who loves to go to Ballet lessons and read the twilight series. She looked like a New York champagne bubble about town en route to her next charity event. Or a fashion maverick, sitting down for cocktails at a new bar. Or at the launch of a new art gallery. Or slipping sunglasses onto her head as she steps of a PJ (Private Jet, darling). So glamorous. And so slinky! And so cool! And so chic! 

That first fall collection - his first collection full stop, actually - was a firecracker. It was exciting and full of promise and moved me to multiple exclamation marks and I couldn't stop thinking about it. This was simple without being boring, it was on trend (the fur! the long skirt! the boots!) without seeming to be paying lip service to a glossy magazine, it was chic without being merely 'classic', it had bucketloads and bucketloads of je ne sais quoi. Why is this so good? It's not particularly ground-breaking design. But you know that if you wore this walking into a gala every single head would turn to look at you. Why do I keep going on about how simple, well-cut, well-styled looks are the most fabulous? Because they are. When it comes to minimalism that makes a mark, it really doesn't get any better than this.

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give me an O!

 style.com Jil Sander FW11

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clean and bright

garance dore

Minimalism isn't always about clean lines, colour blocking, and sharp, sterile design. Sometimes it is about a state of mind - a style that embodies cleanliness and purity rather than overstatement and exaggeration. It doesn't mean that you have to wear Calvin Klein - but by all means, if you've got it, you better bloody well flaunt it - and it also doesn't mean you have to steer clear of brash colours and crazy prints. It just means that you have to approach them in a simple, unfussy way. 

Jil Sander said "I prefer to call it ‘pure’—minimal can be very empty". This is purity it in its utmost form; classic, oversized menswear, scraped back hair and barely there make up that sings of last nights parties. I've just bought the perfect nude lipstick - Topshop's "Mink". After faffing around at the Lancome counter wondering whether I should spend 50 dollars (50 dollars!!!) on the "Absolute Rose" that they pigment matched to Daria's lips - yes, yes, they actually did that, and it's beautiful but a little too pink, maybe? - I found one that is just right for my olive complexion. And with my Marant coat and melange of simple shirts, this outfit is well within reach. I only have to wait for winter to come around again, as being back in Australia and 35 degree heat just looking at a coat brings me out in a sweat. It's hard to adjust back to Summer after I've been in winter for so long. But hey, it's good to be back!

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again

There's minimalism and there's minimalism. And this is of the latter. I've said it once, I'll say it again. There is something so polished about the way that the Olsens pull their collections together. Without even a hint of their midriff top and high sneakers past they've managed to use their golden touch to turn their hands to fashion design. With the exception of Victoria Beckham I can think of no other celebrity designer who can hold a candle to A way their innate skill. They have the eyes of stylists - the way they put their clothes together is impeccable. Think - Annie Hall type layering and their infamous cotton tee shirts with leather skirts and luxurious fur. They have the wizened taste of true fashion stars. Think - the fabrics that they choose, from softly softly silks to buttery smooth leather. And then they have the skill of the rag trade. Think, the way their tee shirts skim over curves and highlight all the best, or how their clothes have the perfect amount of easy-going slouch. The Olsens are always ahead of the fashion curve. Whether it be the longer lengths, brogues and flared pants that they favoured this time last year that are now enjoying a redux, or the fact that they called minimalism way before it became the buzz word on every bloggers, well, blog. They know what they want to wear. And because we want to look like them, we want The Row, too. It's that simple.

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good things

Vogue US November 2010

On his blog the Sartorialist posed this question - Minimalism: is it sometimes not enough of a good thing? On the contrary, I like to think minimalism is just enough of a good thing. Just as how Coco Chanel told us to take one thing off before you leave the house for risk of over-decorating, so too does minimalism remind us that there can be too much of a good thing. The attitude is to calm down, not work up. The idea is that the best things in life are those that come totally naturally to you - whether that ivory suits or paisley jumpsuits. And the fact of the matter is that that which comes naturally to you is often that which you instinctively never overload on. I could never, ever eat too much fromage d'affinois or too many macarons.

Minimalism is just like that: among other things, knowing exactly when to stop.

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black and white and red all over

tommy ton for style.com & caroline's mode

The best thing about a restrained, neutral colour palette for your clothes is that your accessories really pop. The masters of minimalism are well aware of this - why else do you see neon bright bags at Celine or striking shoes at Stella? Everyone knows that if you are wearing black and white - or grey, or brown, or beige - you can go crazy in the accessories department without it being extravagant. That's why the must have accessories for this season are things like tiny little clutch bags in eye-popping colours, bold, in your face cuffs that demand respect and attention, shoes that announce your presence merely by the sound they make across a parquet floor. The thing about accessories, and I'm not just saying because I happen to work with them, is that they are statements above and beyond an outfit. I may not be a bag girl, or a shoes girl, but I am an accesories girl. The whole package of accessories - shoes, bag, belt, gloves, scarf, hat, jewellery - is like a mini outfit in and of itself. It has the same dynamics as picking out separates or matching dress to jacket, there are the same relationships, the same interactions. But better, because these things lift your clothes from merely being what you are wearing, to being what you are living. 

What does a red bag say about you? On a chain hanging off your shoulder it says that you have a fire inside you ("you know they have a cream for that", as Carrie would say). It's about glamour and intensity and passion and excitement. So you can be wearing, oh, say, a white button down a simple a-line skirt but lose none of your extravagance when you wear a red bag. Or, it could be a simple zip clutch bag, so strikingly similar to a pencil case (remember these?). Because then it's all about the utility, the ease of use, the simple, simple shape, the fact that it looks like a pencil case.. But that red makes it all different. Red is one of those polarising colours that you either love or hate. No-one is ambivalent about red. Red is the colour of love - and hate. Red is the colour of glamour and excitement but also melancholy (the mean reds) and death. Such a colour, so invigorated as it is by history and culture and society can hardly fail to move someone. 

Which is why, if you're planning on buying into this new minimalism that's going around, you should invest in some red accessories. Because, if nothing else, when your Calvin-Klein-esque sheath fails to excite your next date, your red as sin bag might do all the work for you.

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instant chic

team peter stigter

There are long skirts and there are long skirts and this is of the latter. This is an outfit I would actually wear, this is an outfit that I do actually wear. I wore it yesterday. I'm wearing it today. Let's be honest - I'm probably going to wear it tomorrow. Long, column-like black skirt, slightly mannish overcoat with colour upturned, simple buttoned top tucked slightly into the skirt. Coffee cup and hair in a top know optional - to be honest I'd prefer a bottle of vitamin water and my hair half up half down. What's not to like about this outfit? It creates all the illusion of long, sweeping lines without there ever being anything of the sort. As a short person you can wear this and let your skirt and coat do all the talking for you - even without heels you will seem taller, providing that you coat ends right at the knees and your skirt touches the ground. But it is also instant, immediate chic. Natalia Alaverdian from Harper's Russia is actually not wearing anything spectacular in the Anna Dello Russo sense of the word. But for me this outfit was instantly, heart-rushingly exciting, more so than the pictures of ADR, or Giovanna, or Catherine Baba, or any other fash maverick. This outfit is so strikingly simple that it becomes spectacular, without ever aiming to do so. And that is the point of minimal dressing. Because amidst all the severity of cut, the simplicity of silhouette, the brevity of line, there can be very, very, real fireworks. 

Here's one right now.

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