I saw this dress at Anthropologie over the weekend... sadly I didn't have time to try it on, but I loved it - it looks vintage and one can totally imagine Audrey Hepburn wearing it.  Very classic...

Cosgrove Dress, $128

It also comes in a medium blue and black.  I like the red though, on rare occasions when I stray from black and gray into the land of color I really like red.  I think red looks really good with blonde hair and fair skin.

The reviews on this dress are very mixed though.  Many say it is unflattering on (easy to believe because of the full skirt), that the waist is too short, the hem is too short, and the arm holes are cut too big!   Hhhmmm.  What to do?

It seems like we've been seeing a lot of the French sailor shirts here and there lately.  I guess virtually every Spring and Summer, bits of nautical style pop up.  Of late it's probably part in thanks to Audrey Tatou in Coco Avant Chanel. (she looks great in everything!)  The dvd releases Feb. 16 by the way...

Can you imagine that it was way back in the early 1900s that Coco Chanel popularized the look at her store in Deauville (around 1917).  Before that the French label St. James had been making the shirts and sweaters for sailors since about 1850.

Here is Coco in 1930.

I'm afraid to imagine how much a Chanel version of the shirt would cost. But you can still get the original Saint James verision from Calypso. ($135)

A couple more modern versions are this one from Anthropologie ($68)

and this tissue tee version from J. Crew ($32.50)

I got an email from drugstore.com a while ago saying that Max Factor will not longer be sold in the United States as of this year, so people should stock up on their favorite products...

Here's what the Max Factor website had to say about it:

Hmmm. I don't know... I've bought Max Factor, but I don't think I'd buy anything from Cover Girl... Something about the Cover Girl brand image does not appeal to me.

There is just one Max Factor product that I buy, so this isn't a major tragedy for me.  I liked their clear mascara, but for the eyebrows.  Not that I have bushy eyebrows or anything... but this keeps every single eyebrow in place.  I had never even thought about it, but once at the Chanel counter years ago, the salesperson showed me their brow shaper in taupe and I really liked it.  I used it for a while, but it's $32, so finding the Max Factor clear for about $6 was a coup.  I'm sure I'll find a replacement though...

Starting next month, the French Institute is hosting a series of three fashion talks with Gilles Mendel, Tommy Hilfiger and Marc Jacobs. They will take place at Florence Gould Hall (59th between Madison and Park Aves) and each talk is $25 or $65 for the series (non-member prices).

You can buy tickets online, use the following links for: the series, Mendel, Hilfiger, Jacobs.

Florence Gould Hall is conveniently close to some great places to grab dinner afterwards: Le Bilboquet, La Houppa, Le Caprice, Nello... etc.

I think I've found my first pair of shoes for the new decade!

Marc by Marc Jacobs Hidden Platform Pumps, $350 at shopbop.com. Bloomingdales and Zappos Couture have the same shoe but in patent leather, I'm not a fan of patent...

Shopbop lists the heels as 3.75" with a 0.5" hidden platform... but Zappos lists them as 4.25" with the platform and Bloomingdales lists them as 4.5" with the platform. It's funny that it so difficult to get it right.  My best guess is that the heel is 4.25" which includes the extra height from the 0.5" hidden platform.... which is PERFECT.  I find 4.5" just a bit too high, fine really, but you have to be super careful walking - twisting your ankle would really suck!

I have another pair of pretty classic Marc by Marc Jacobs pumps that are a few years old now, I got them in Fall of 06 in my neighborhood at the Shoe Box (77th and 3rd Ave). They have a classic round toe, chunkier 4" heel.  I've kind of worn them to death, what a successful purchase that was...  And those were made in Italy.  This new pair just says "imported" so I doubt they were made in Italy. 

Anyway... I really want these.  They look very versatile and kind of cute like a ballet flat with a great heel. $350 is certainly a lot less than Gucci shoes; but still, I think the average person would say that it's a good bit to spend on shoes. It ends up being worth it though if you really love them and wear them for years. The problem is that you really don't know until later if you will "really love them" or not.

My very first pair of Gucci shoes were a beautiful pair of black pumps with slightly squared off toes, silver horsebits and perfect 4 inch heels.  Oh my goodness I loved these!  At the time I was working at Paine Webber Investment banking as an admin, one of the younger bankers I worked with wore Gucci shoes... and I was so impressed and sort of in awe of her style (being fresh from, lets admit it, not very fashionable Vermont)... I had to get my own even though I certainly didn't have a banker's salary!  I would still wear these shoes today if I hadn't had the misfortune of getting them soaked one day when I had to run cross town (for an interview no less), and of course it was pouring rain, and of course there were no cabs... The shoes were never the same, the leather got completely soaked and it ruined the shape.  TOTAL TRAGEDY.  I still have them somewhere, I just can't get rid of them; but I don't wear them.  Happilly there have been many horsebits since...

These from Fall 2005 have a giant half horsebit on each toe. 

These from Fall 2006 are a variation tied with a little kiltie tassel bow.

These from Fall 2007, are one of my favorite pairs of shoes.  They have a 4.5" heel and the very classic style of horsebit.

Oddly, the last two Falls I have not bought Gucci shoes. Usually when I go to the store there is more than one pair that I just LOVE and call to me, and I have to pick one... but the last two Falls I haven't felt that way about any.  And I'm definitely practical enough not to buy a pair of shoes that expensive if I don't absolutely love them...  Hopefully Fall 2010 will have my next pair!

Here's the horsebit history from Gucci's website:

The horsebit was first written into the house vocabulary in the Fifties, used on heavy tan leather saddle-stitched handbags. Since then, the horsebit has been both miniaturized and maximized as hardware; luxuriously schemed into embossed or burned-out surfaces on leather suede and velvet; turned into repeat patterns printed on silk and sculpted into the components of precious jewelry.

The horsebit played a crucial role in marking out the Gucci loafer as a time-traversing design classic. The snaffle was introduced as a decoration on the soft and comfortable brown or black leather Gucci men's moccasins in 1953. They graced the feet of Clark Gable, John Wayne and Fred Astaire, and when women's versions appeared in 1968, became the choice of sophisticated women looking for a luxurious kind of comfort. The shoes became favorite everyday wear for elegant women, such as Lauren Bacall.

In new times, Frida Giannini looks at the horsebit with fresh eyes. She might take the prints of interlocking, squared-off bits, of the highly fashionable red and blue Gucci pattern used for shoulder bags, shoes and silk blouses in 1969-1970, transform them in and project them, in mini-form, onto flowing dresses or blown up to exaggerated scale on travel-totes. With new style, a new feminine touch, that counts as the current installment in the long-running serial of Gucci design.

BR has introduced a new denim collection with better fits and more washes.

I have never found BR denim to fit that well, so it will be interesting to see if these do indeed fit better.  It's kind of funny about the fit of the women's jeans because I know a lot of guys who love BR jeans.  Now they have a 00 which is good because I always found their sizes to run large.  Maybe the 00 is like a normal 0?

They are also having a big sale now... up to 40% off, browse here. They were pretty aggressive with coupons through the holiday season so the 40% off does't seem like that big a deal, but still a sale is a sale! Always good if you find something you like!

Hi - Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve! I went to a French bistro (I will leave it un-named since they are usually good) on the Upper East Side for a late dinner with jazz music and suffered absolutely miserable service... (we were seated 45 minutes late, they forgot our appetizers that were part of a special prix fixe New Year's menu, they ran out of things on said menu, they had a ridiculously poor selection of Champagne etc. etc.) ... but it was still fun!  Really, you have to be a real sour puss not to have fun on a festive night like that... and Champagne never hurts!

Here's to a wonderful and fashionable 2010!

I have always loved Gucci's use of bamboo.  I have some strappy sandals with bamboo heels, a wallet with a bamboo turn-lock closure, shoes with bamboo adorned horsebits, bamboo print Boston bag, bamboo keychain....  Oh, and not Gucci, but I also have the gorgeous Tiffany Bamboo Nature hoop earrings (the style has since been sadly discontinued).

What I really lust for now is the new Jackie bag with the bamboo-topped tassels.  As I've lamented before, it's not going to happen because the bag is $2100.  That's just too crazy even for me!

The bamboo-handled bag, was developed in a Gucci backroom in Florence in 1947, by craftsmen who were charged to muster all their powers of innovation to think their way around war-time shortages - yet still make objects that met the Gucci standards of desirable exclusivity. It is also a testament to the booming craftsmanship and design that put Italy on the map after World War II. Once it was articulated and attached to the bag by four metal loops (using the least amount of the precious commodity possible, in the on-site forge), the bamboo handle became a piece of design history.

Over the decades, the bamboo went beyond its origins as a pragmatic solution, and became a device used on generations of new bag shapes, gradually transforming itself into a Gucci visual code. Bamboo-inspired patterning has branded multiple products - from umbrella handles to headscarves, watch-straps and jewellery, and has even been carved wittily into a pair of golden stiletto heels. It is a part of the House's heritage - like the horsebit, green-red-green webbing and the GG - that has proved amazingly capable of time-travelling, staking its place in the fashion of the moment according to what design calls for at the time.

"Anyway, Mrs. Obama has made it clear that her well-stocked closet is her business. Last March, in an interview about the new White House organic garden, she took a playful poke at her husband. "He doesn't understand fashion," she said. "He's always asking, 'Is that new? I haven't seen that before.' It's like: 'Why don't you mind your own business? Solve world hunger. Get out of my closet.' "

Excerpt from 'Wrapped in Their Identities' by Cathy Horyn, New York Times.

I thought this was funny.  The article is actually about both Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama and how they helped bring attention to fashion this year...