Alexa Chung at the Chanel Fine Jewelry 80th Anniversary party © vogue.com
Last winter I fell in love with the fuller skirt and coined it “my new silhouette“. I was trying to avoid the tent-like dresses I adore (and my husband hates) and prove I still have a waist. I bought a black wool, softly pleated skirt from Proenza Schouler and paired it with a tiny, J. Crew boys, black wool sweater. This pairing has become my go-to day look, especially when I need to be a bit polished. And I can accessorize it in a million ways, which is a bonus. Now I am considering the same silhouette for evening, and the Chanel dress on Alexa above, would do nicely.
Poppy Delevigne courtesy of vogue.com
Two summers ago I wrote a post musing on the long-for-day trend. I did not get it then, but I am starting to really love it now. Kate Moss wearing long black Valentino in Harper’s Bazaar and these two pics are enough for me to at least give an ankle length dress a try.
Dree Hemingway in Dolce & Gabbana courtesy of vogue.com
Jill photographed by Marko MacPherson for KiC
Perhaps the best way to describe author and mother of three, Jill Kargman, is to compare her to Wednesday Addams (of the Addams family)–albeit Jill is the grown-up version, who lives in a classic Upper East Side apartment and has a far more enviable wardrobe. (Style, and success for that matter, run deep in her close-knit family; Jill’s father was president of Chanel for many years, her mother is insanely chic, and her art consultant brother, Will, is Drew Barrymore’s fiancé.).
Jill is elegant, girlish, and goth, an unusual mix that would make Tim Burton swoon. But it is her sublime, sharp-as-a-tack wit that is her most disarming characteristic; a conversation with her is filled with zingy one-liners that leave you breathless with laughter. Her honest, off-beat humor is the reason her novels are such as success. (The Washington Post dubbed her “Queen of the Beach Read”.) Her 10th book, The Rock Star in Seat 3A, hits the shelves May 22nd. Here, a peek into her latest obsessions and fashion must-haves.
What I love most about writing is….That I get to work from home. Even though I am not in PJ’s but in full dress and heels!
Five Spring essentials: Marc by Marc Jacobs flirty dresses, a vintage Chanel gray leather jacket cause I’m always cold, Valentino strappy sandals that don’t kill my feet, Chanel camellia sunglasses to avoid more squinty crow’s feet, and water.
Designers with the most hanger space in my closet: Marc by Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Phillip Lim 3.1
Three beauty musts: Pounding water, slathering Chanel Sublimage moisturizer, and Biotin by the handful. Think Valley of the Dolls handfuls.
Next destination: Disney World. AKA Orlandon’t.
A perfect day is…. No kiddies waking me up, a big vat of coffee, arriving at Soul Cycle to miraculously find the person before me had all the same bike settings, scalding shower, yummy brunch with my family, a massage, a nap, an early Mexican dinner, a Broadway show, and a yellow cab that happens to be right there when we exit the theater.
Favorite authors: Woody Allen and David Sedaris
Latest obsession: Planning book tour for The Rock Star in Seat 3A, my forthcoming summer beach read.
Keeps me sane: Working out, my best girlfriends, sleep.
The year of the Dragon feels powerful and lucky. To celebrate I bought a new Chanel lipstick in Bonheur and will go out for Chinese food with my family. I have not been to China since 1979 and think it is high time for a revisit. We cannot get enough of chinese-red at KiC (it is our logo color after all), for us it is truly powerful and lucky!
Giovanna Battaglia © Scott Shuman
With resort and spring, I veer into more feminine territory and buy mostly dresses, especially those with classic, feminine shapes–Jackie O. type shifts, printed silks, etc. This year, I want pretty accessories to go with them, namely ladylike earrings.
No sweeping chandeliers or glittering rhinestones, but whimsical and understated earrings that remind me of 60s era clip-ons. I love how Giovanna, above, looks so elegant and chic, much like Jackie O., below.
Jackie O.
Of course, all my favorite ladylike earrings seem to come with very “uptown” prices, but one pair would be worth it.
I have a Chanel camellia ring in black onyx, but love the white earrings.
Chanel
I once saw these Van Cleef & Arpels Frivole floral earrings on someone and immediately trotted over to the boutique (alas, or rather, luckily, they don’t work on me).
Van Cleef & Arpels
Jewelry designer Dean Harris, whom Preston and I know and adore, just might have the perfect pair because they are affordable fancy, as in under $900. Available at Barneys.com
Dean Harris
Claire Dhelens
I just came back from a week’s vacation in Paris with my family. I love Paris and especially enjoy the people watching whether I’m having lunch on the Louvre terrace at Cafe Marly or watching my girls run around the Jardins de Luxembourg. Not every French woman is the epitome of chic, but many are and they all seem to share the same formula for everyday dressing. It’s also a formula that is rather casual and very modern, but trendy? not so much. While New York women dress similarly, there are some subtle, refined differences that made me rethink what’s in my closet and how I want to put myself together everyday.
Everyday French Formula: skinny jeans/pants (black, usually, but cargos and other dark colors), a blazer or wool jacket, boots with walkable heels (no four-inch stumblers), an understated, often cross-body bag (occasionally Chanel, but most of the time, not a designer I can pinpoint), and a scarf.
Black predominates but it is often black with brown or black with navy, or other neutral combos such as army green and brown, burgundy and gray. And the occasional red scarf. There are no pastels in Paris.
French women wear makeup. Not a lot of makeup, but grown-up makeup. Either a kohl-rimmed eye and bare lips or a red mouth and mascara. Beyond that, their faces look bare of any heavy foundation or powder. No hot pink lips, or even beigey/nude combos.
French women NEVER wear anything related to sport or exercise clothes unless they are on their way to Pilates class. No fleece. Ever. Only cool sneakers as in ones you cannot excercise in such as Converse or Isabel Marant.
At the same time a woman in her 50s will be in the same Converse sneakers and skinny jeans as her younger counterpart. French women don’t care about “age rules” but at the same time, they aren’t afraid to be womanly. Cool is always ok, but girly doesn’t fly.
What is my take-away lesson here? I will invest in more dark denim (luckily my new Rag & Bone zip jeans I posted on previously just arrived and I’m in love), I am considering another pair of mid-heel ankle boots in brown (I have black), I will wear a pea-coat even it’s just to the playground and use the new Chanel gray eyeliner I bought at Bon Marche with regularity.
Cecilia Bonstrom
