In the DISKO mood

Thanks, Ripple J

Golden Girl

I cracked myself up with that one. SJP, the kitten of Sex and the City as a Golden Girl.  Come to think about it, though, Rue McClanahan was 51 when that immortal show first aired.
SJP is now 49. Not that far off...

The reason gold came up though, is because SJP wore this:

Its Diane von Furstenberg, and I should hate it. It is so -- sparkly? lurex-y? Not a natural fiber in sight anywhere.

But I don't hate it. SJP looks good in it, if not young then appropriately youthful, and even her face seems to have relaxed its botox clench.

And the dress, ye ask, with its gold-on gold- on more gold?

Given that von Furstenberg was one of the original patrons of Studio 54 in its heyday, the vibe of the dress seems true to its maker.

Here she is. back then, glamour personified:

Black & White (Tongue in Cheek)

Cute, from Anna Kendrick's SNL:

Never thought I'd write this:

Too Many Polka Dots!!!

After stripes, its all about polka dots for me.

Yes, my taste can be a little twee.

Anne Hathaway, famously Rachel Zoe's client, has switched stylists around the New Year, just in time for the Oscars.  Say what you will about Zoe or her personal appearance (steadily 70s disco glam with pants hemmed too long) she has an impeccable eye. The year when Hathaway co-hosted the Oscars with James Franco, Rachel Zoe supplied her client with a mostly fantastic line up of dresses that almost - almost! - withstood the shit storm around Franco's horrific appearance.

Then came 2013 Oscars when Hathaway won for that French Revolution Warbling Musical that I, snob that I am, refuse to name. The gossip was that the day of ceremony she found out that another actress from same film is wearing a dress from the same collection as she was planning to, strikingly similar to hers. Hathaway panicked and ended up switching, last minute, to this pepto inanity, wrinkly and needle-boobed:

And just so, Zoe was gone.
Penny Lovell (rumored) was in.
Since then Hathaway's casual style has become funkier and really fun, but her big gun formal gowns suffered, like this snooze fest, at the last Oscars, the first a little to Xena, Warrior Princess (but still ok), the second a Florida socialite in her 60s:

And so we're back to top-to-bottom polka dots. A polka dot dress? YEEES. A polka dot pant? Sure. But not top and pant. That's just blah styling.

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing after all. Dot.

In Praise of the Color Orange - Scarves (Last & Final)

Ladies, the one item in our wardrobe where color is the easiest to incorporate, which we can remove and hide away with ease no matter how small the bag we are carrying - the scarf.

Oddly enough there were few truly excellent orange scarves. Here's what I've come up with:

The best - McQ:

Summery and ethnic:

Summery and New York:

Truly orange, and up there:

Same - just as lovely, just as up there:

Gap!

When a Good Look goes Unfinished:

Faith Hill wore this Saint Laurent to the Academy (ahem ) Country Music Awards:

Great, interesting color and even the cut of the gown is good. Why doesn't it look at stunning as it should, ye ask?

The proportions are such that the top appears too blousy for her small frame and she ends up looking disproportionally bigger on the top than on the bottom. This is a case of a dress in dire need of a black belt.

Imagine it with the following cinched across the waist:

Much better.

Hill's stylist (Petra Flannery, one of the top 25 stylists) should have known better than send a client down the red carpet in an under-styled look.

And don't get me ranting about her hair. Grrrrrr.

Seasonal Needs & Wants: Trench Coat

The trench ranks up there with the most iconic looks of all time, and one of the least susceptible to changing times and fashions:

Personally, I prefer the trench's more utilitarian cousin - the anorak. With its hood and full-on water resistance, I feel it serves my needs better. But I am fully on board with the desire for the classic trench. It is the ultimate uptown look and it beckons.

I've organized  my finds in three categories by price, in a descending order: Dream, Want, Have. Ladies, we are all on some kind of a budget. That does not mean you can't dress well. I firmly believe that craftiness and solid research will make even the tightest budget work. 

Classic Tan Trench:

1) Dream, by Barneys:

Or Burberry, the classic­est trench there is:

2) Want,(still up there), from APC:

3) Have, from Bluefly (an online store that is great for discounted coats, if they got your size!), by Cole Haan:

Classic Black Trench:

An otion I would strongly suggest for those who travel. Black is a much more forgiving color.

1) Dream, by Burberry:

2) Want, by Mackage:

3) Have, by DKNY (again from Bluefly):

Not-so-Classic Trench:

Sometimes, even a classic can be punched up.

Rick Owens, the master of edgy anddark:

Leather sleeves, by Mackage:

Adorably prim: