The Ultimate: A Striped Top

Stripes are perfect. A pattern that almost anyone can carry off if done right (depending on orientation, gradation, etc.), from small to large. A pattern with a pedigree, a country, an accent – French, insouciant, boyish.

Like so:

And even, this, although it is from a wholly different opera:

My ‘collection’ contains a shelf of striped options – navy with a white stripe; black with a white stripe; blue and white seersucker stripes.. but nothing compares to the original – black stripe over a white field. The so called Breton shirt. 

Never mind that the pedigree and country of origin are almost certainly false. But then false lineages are even more fun than real ones. Yes, it harkens back to a sailor's uniform. Yes, the French navy had a pot in Brittany. So maybe. Two of my personal favorite striped shirts are Soviet Navy issue - my late grandfather gave them to me, many moons ago. The lighter one is threadbare and bleached, but it has such a perfect boxy cut.. and the warm one is indestructible. 

In any case, Coco is supposedly responsible for making this humble sailor's shirt an upper class staple, way back in the 1930s.   That's her in the first photo, cunningly pairing a stripe top with a polka dot dappled dog.. or so I would like to think. 

The perfect striped top of the moment is boxy - yes, like my Soviet one! - cut a bit looser on the body, with a dropped shoulder and tapering  sleeves.

N. and I tried on a fantastically cozy, knit specimen  by Max Mara. It was most definitely a DREAM, budget wise:

The French take on its own export, quite lovely, and at a tad lower price point, a WISH:

http://www.shoplesnouvelles.com/shop/tops-blouses/petit-bateau-white-navy-marine-stripe-tee.html

Another great option, from my favorite La Garconne, likewise a WISH:

This one, from Topshop, a slightly less canonical jersey, is however an easy  WANT:

Pair with these, if you want to go for a truly iconic look, and say Merci bien.

Which will it be? You know you want one... you can never have enough. 

Black and White

It’s a weakness. Almost an addiction -  I’m helpless to resist an item of clothing made using that simple combination.  There is a store in New York (La Garconne)  that I am afraid to enter – most of what it carries is black & white (more about the curatorial principle of that store another time). I suppose I am lucky almost nothing there is within my reach.

Writing the ‘Wear to Work’ posts I came across a few of these, most in a price point that can be labeled only as fantastical. This post, then, is a form of wish fulfillment.

The first two are by Zero+Maria Cornejo.  I’ve already mentioned Cornejo.  LP – you will be happy to know she’s Chilean by birth. And her work is amazing. Her style is structural yet with a bit of slouch, minimalist yet punched up with blasts of vibrant color, edgy yet somehow kind to women’s bodies. It is as if she thinks of lumps and insecurities in her design process. The designer I would contrast to her - unfavorably - is Giogrio Armani – who by and large would like to pretend that women are shaped like tall lanky boys, with no hips or boobs. But then her label her much smaller. Here check it out:

Japanese designers, so often minimalist with color,  work with this combo as well. This is from Yohji Yamamoto’s Y’S line:

Narciso Rodriguez, the king of sleek and stunningly simple:

And finally the more high street brand 3.1. Philip Lim:

Now, where is that lottery ticket???