Fashion Inspiration Number One

Julia from Germany asked me the other day who inspires me most. It made me think of what I would consider inspire to mean before answering the question - inspired to do something new with your life? Inspired to get dressed in a certain way? Inspired to buy something? There is one person who inspires me to do all three, and that is Sofia Coppola.  I even want to buy her bags for Louis Vuitton. Although I have no idea if she still does them. Last I knew that was happening in 2010.

Sofia with a bag of her own design for Louis Vuitton

from www.lvmh.com

this crocodile clutch is the most elegant evening bag I have ever seen - from www.lvmh.com

from www.lvmh.com

Chicer than chic

Speaking of chic, Prada trousers and top - from L'Officiel of May 2013

She's all hat and no horse

I just learned about this expression for the first time, of all places on a Shakespeare reference website, where I was researching clothing references in Macbeth (see it HERE).  It means the person in question attempts with his or her appearance to come across as something different than she actually is, for example more accomplished or successful. I love a good metaphor - we Dutch have gazillions of them, one for every occasion.

There is a scene in the 1990 movie Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts in a particularly ladylike dress at a polo match finds out that Richard Gere has told people there that she is actually a prostitute. 

"Why did you make me get all dressed up? If you were going to tell everyone that I'm a hooker, why didn't you just let me wear my own clothes? I mean, in my own clothes, when someone like that guy Stuckey comes up to me, I can handle it! I'm prepared"

It's something to think about when you get dressed. I was researching "clothes as armor" because I am really interested in how clothes help you say something about yourself without speaking. For example, can someone who is very chic also be friendly? Royal couturier Hardy Amies did not think so. Vanity Fair reports him as saying that the queen must not dress chic, because there is something unkind about chic.

I am still collecting my thoughts and hope I can come up with a good post about all of this one day. For now I will close with a very modern bit a language: here's a shout out to the author of the "Yippee! you are back in business!" email. That made me smile all day. Thanks for the encouraging messages - love to know you are reading - and liking - and taking the time to say so.

Perfection Personified in August Paris Vogue

Sunday afternoon window shopping

Bamboo handle Gucci bag

Looove this two-tone Classic Duffel bag in the dirty windows of the Times Square Saint Laurent Paris store

Din Tai Fung vegetable dumplings doused in soy sauce with fresh ginger and vinegar. Best hangover cure in Hong Kong

Colorful snakeskin at Tods

Between a dumpling lunch in Causeway Bay and buying a car at the auto mall in Wanchai a bit of window shopping: loved the Saint Laurent Classic Duffels and Tods bright and cheery snakeskin driving shoes. The Gucci bamboo handle bag is so pretty but someone who owns one told me the bamboo really hurts her arm when she carries it.  But as my mom always says and her mom too: wie mooi will zijn moet pijn lijden (she who wants to be vain has to suffer pain). I use that line a lot on my daughter too, especially when she complains while I comb out her unruly hair.

Vieux Rose

Wendy from wendyslookbook.com

Bordeaux, blues, and as the French say so beautifully, vieux rose, or old pink

color wheel

MFG's dressing room

I took a look at www.wendyslookbook.com this morning, and came across the picture above with the lovely color combo of soft pink, dark red, and vivid cobalt blue. I love those colors together and I also love how the shade of pink is quite subdued while the dark red and blue are quite intense. It's made me think of color theory and why some colors work together and some don't (read more about color theory HERE).

I often wonder when you see really well dressed women, whether it is an innate ability or a lucky reach into the wardrobe. I think that dressing well consistently actually needs a bit of planning.  Here's where having a color wheel hanging in one of your wardrobe doors can be really useful. You probably have some lovely potential combinations in that wardrobe, but without prompting, you may always put your reds with a navy blue, rather than a blue green or a mustard yellow for instance. It's also nice to combine only different shades of one color in an outfit, like charcoal grey cashmere, heather grey cotton jersey and light grey satin. There are many color wheels on Google Images for you to print out.

The other thing that's vital is to make sure you can see everything you have. I love glass doors on wardrobes as in the picture of Melbourne Fashion Girl's glam dressing room. She has a mix of accessories and books in this section but it would also make a great space for t-shirts and jumpers sorted by color. By the way, I am not following any of this advice myself. My wardrobe is an incredible mess, I can't see anything because my doors are closed, and although I have lots of colorful clothes, I can't actually find them. Don't be like me is all I can say.

Brunette Envy

Lois Chiles

Carole Bouquet

Helena Christensen

Natalie Wood

Daria Werbowy

Susan Sontag

I came across this picture of a young Susan Sontag in the excellent May 2013 issue of Paris Vogue - it accompanies a review of "As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Diaries 1964 - 1980 by Susan Sontag". The Susan in this picture is such a cool confident woman - it gave me a jolt of brunette envy... one simply must have dark hair to look this confident, intelligent and glamorous all in one.