French Dressing

Felt a lil Parisian in this ensemble. The boucle’ coat, vintage leather gloves, and the fitted beret took me back a few decades to a quaint European cafe, croissant in hand.  Carbs were not yet verboten, and it was considered in extremely poor taste to even think about leaving your house sans a chapeau or gloves. There was certainly something so lovely about all these glamorously dolled up ladies strolling the streets. But, Man, what a pain in the ass to have to get so decked out all the time! Today, in a time where folks where sweatpants to the theater and jeans to a fancy restaurant, it is indeed nice to find a balance between the extremes of being a total shlump or a pageant contestant. In 2019 where the chief rule of fashion is that “there are no rules”, I do believe that there should be decorum applied to how we show up to certain events. It’s just about showing respect to that particular environment, as well as just having some good old fashionable fun. We’ve got the clothes, we might as well use them, right?

In this case, I wanted to be super efficient at my photo shoot by using this black turtleneck dress in a couple different ways. It’s just easier to not always be changing; feel me? I photographed the dress with no accouterments, then grabbed some select pieces to give it a completely different look. I’m a glove fiend, and loved how the pop of white lightens up the look. I love any type of headwear “cocked jauntily to the side” (ok, looks like we’re in London now), and my belt gave an instant waistline. The coat, another gem found at Century, lent the perfect light yet substantial coverage. I’d also love throwing this coat over jeans, a t shirt, and crisp white sneakers during a transitional season. True, the era of super fancy dressing is mostly over. Anything goes nowadays. Which only means we get to pull inspiration from wherever feels right at the moment.