La Moretta

There's hope for us yet

 

This picture is from The Sartorialist, one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I look at it maybe once a week. My big complaint with the Sartorialist is that sometimes the people he shows are a bit young and ridiculous.

This picture, I think, is a sign of hope. The woman is not in her first youth, but she has made her own choices, including keeping her hair very long.  She is wearing a deceptively simple outfit -- black with an interestingly patterned coat.

But the lesson to be learned from this is that the opaque black leg lives. Why is this good news? It is immensely flattering, especially when paired with monochromatic shoes. It is immensely low-maintenance, especially compared with the ridiculous bare-leg thing. If you opt for tights, they are actually warm. They are still trying to foist shoulder pads on us, but at least our legs will look chic.

I think this picture could help to restore consumer confidence. After all, women over 30 control most of the spending, and doesn't this outfit make you want to own it, or your own interpretation of it?

Stylin' men

I have previously opined on the importance of blue-eyed men owning shirts that match their eyes, and that's pretty much where I stop in terms of men's fashion. At least typically. Today, though two things have caused me to break that pattern:

The first was this post on the Sartorialist, of a 54-year-old Florentine wearing a camel coat with very exaggerated shoulder pads. So who cares? Well, this picture was taken at the Pitti Uomo fashion show, which sets the fashion tone for the world. So this to me says that shoulder pads are coming soon (OK, in a year or two) to stores near you. The Sartorialist noted that the padded shoulders gave an illusion of, or in this case emphasized, the man's trim waistline. He thinks it might be time to go back to shoulder pads for the illusion they provide. I noticed this trend elsewhere (I saw Zegna suits with really pointy shoulders a few months ago and shook my head), and I think it's a loser. Most American guys do not need shoulder padding -- I think it adds bulk and nothing else. And the pointy ones in particular look silly. So I really hope that this trend doesn't return to U.S. shores.

Is this what happens when we elect a Democrat?

The second is that my friend Giacomo's GQ picture came out. He looks fantastic, and very stylish. He's the one who's a president of a PR firm. To view it, click on the section that says "Amp up your Look."

http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_7790

Fashion advice for men UPDATED

Gentlemen --

If you are fortunate enough to find yourself in possession of blue eyes, here is the only fashion tip you'll ever need: Find a blue shirt that matches your eyes. Wear it all the time.

Whole movies and television series have been built around how good some men look in blue shirts.

The granddaddy of this practice was, ironically enough, The Practice, where Dylan McDermott wore a blue shirt on every episode that I saw. (Admittedly I didn't stick around for long.)

The Usual Suspects got a lot of its buzz for its style, most notably that of star Gabriel Byrne.

Perhaps if you are reading this you are thinking that this tip only works for dark-haired men. Well you'd be wrong.

James Blond himself is a blue-shirter.

And one of my fave actors, Simon Baker, is definitely in a blue-shirt show, The Mentalist. (A blue-shirt show features a lot of still shots of the actor "thinking" while wearing the blue shirt.)

Perhaps you are also thinking that blue is a major color and of course men wear it frequently. Yes, but it's the matching to the eyes that really makes this work.

Does this trick work for women? Not so much. I have no idea why.

__________________________________________________________________________________

No blue-shirt list is complete without Anderson Cooper, as Janet so wisely points out.