Archive for July, 2016

Top 5 of the week

A floral-print button-down is a nice, femme-y take on a menswearish piece, and perfect this time of year with just about anything—your shorts, your straight skirts, your best beat-up jeans. I am particularly fond of this first one, as I am a pushover for any really good red, white, and blue print, and the blue here is so blue it’s practically purple.

This popover reminds me of the Indian block print t-shirts that all the cool scary hippie girls in boarding school used to wear.

Just a really smart bold and graphic choice.

Such super-saturated colors—like out of an Andy Warhol celebrity portrait.

This last one has two strikes against it right up front: 1. it’s sheer enough to require a camisole, and 2. it ain’t cheap. But I love, love, love the way the floral print is interspersed with stripes.

Cheap and chic of the week

I had a quite lovely brunch and walkabout on Sunday morning with Tribeca Mom, who was very much in a shopping mood—for sneakers, in particular. Because I love to spend other people’s money, I suggested a trip to Golden Goose  on Broome Street, but she flat-out (and rightly) objected on the grounds that—cute as they are—Golden Goose sneakers are stupidly expensive. We wound up instead at the Converse store on lower Broadway, where unbeatable style sets you back around 50 bucks.  I got a grey pair like you see here, except it came with black laces, which I can’t find anywhere online, but which looked really cool. And TM got this pair, white with blue stripes and suitably preppy.

Run for cover

For a variety of mostly boring reasons, I’ve wound up spending most of my summer weekends in the city so far. I’m not complaining: there’s something rather pleasing about New York City when it empties out and slows down this time of year. Still, I do like the beach, and am pleased to be headed out there soon. Only problem is, I’ve got no desire to have anyone see me in a swimsuit right now—my body is, at the moment, very much a work in progress—and so it’s going to be all about lounging oceanside in a fetching cover-up. (It should be noted that I feel like a bit of a hypocrite here, as I would surely advise all of you to feel confident in a swimsuit no matter what your size, but there you have it. The cobbler’s children have no shoes.) As for the cover-ups, I like the following because they don’t take me too far out of my comfort zone, color palette-wise. As for this first choice: I don’t always love a photo print, but this moody palm tree landscape is just exactly right.

Black with white embroidery always looks so graphic and smart.

I know, I know—this is quite expensive for what it is. But the embroidery is pretty special.

 

It’s the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, everyone

This is their annual monster of a sale, with all manner of product marked down until August 8, when regular prices pop back up again. Pretty much everything on offer is for the coming season, and I know it’s borderline unthinkable to contemplate wearing such clothing when it’s so deathly hot outside, but under these circumstances it’s really worth it to put yourself in the mindset. First up: this V-neck comes with cuff and collar conveniently sewn in, so you get a very together look without all the bulk. Plus: leopard print!

I like these trousers because they’re slouchy but still nicely tailored, and, color-wise, quite versatile and a good alternative to the same old same old black.

Just the kind of comfy big old ribbed cardigan you’ll reach for always.

Under no circumstances am I allowed to buy myself a new coat—the situation is well beyond critical mass at this point—but the speckled boucle and cocoon-y cut here are both just so damn good.

Your every question, answered

Welcome to the official 2000th post here at Girls of a Certain Age, and thanks to all of you who contributed questions to what has turned out to be quite a mega-Q&A indeed. I got around to answering pretty much everything, although I chose only to answer a single question from those of you who asked more than one—I was a bit overwhelmed by the volume of questions lobbed my way—and some of the queries seemed better suited to be considered as actual future posts. Do have as much fun reading the following as I had writing it.

If you weren’t in the media, what would you be doing? 

I think I would have made a really good rock star, were it not for the fact that I’ve got nothing in the way of musical talent.

What about your current life would most surprise your younger self?

All of it. But in particular, that I came to the city of my dreams, and that many of my dreams came true here.

Would you mind discussing how you make a living and afford not only fabulous clothes but also travel and a kick-ass apartment in NY? 

Not at all. For a little over a decade, I had a great job that paid very, very nicely. I saved wisely and invested well. This has allowed me to pursue my current, beloved, and yet not hugely lucrative professional endeavor.

Seriously, where do you keep all of the amazing clothes you suggest? What are your closets like?!?

I don’t buy even a fraction of all the items I suggest! Which is not to say I don’t have plenty of clothes, which fit in one small walk-in closet—with the help of the miracle that is Huggable Hangers—and a roomy chest of drawers.  (more…)

Thursday trifecta

Today, I’ve chosen to focus on a few items that are regarded as atrocious by men*, but appealing to me. First up: I know that guys deplore caftans, and that many women as well find them impossibly shleppy, but my esteem for them is so great that it’s hard for me to believe that anybody objects to them on any level. Yes, they are shapeless; true, they add bulk. But I feel so pretty and feminine when I’m swanning about in one (because that is one does in a caftan; swans) that I wish they were more widely regarded as appropriate streetwear. I already splurged on a rather divine confection from Two New York, so I can’t quite justify going for this one, but that can’t stop me from dreaming.

It came as something as a surprise to me to learn that gentlemen object to platforms, and I didn’t quite believe it when my young cousin John informed me of this several years ago. But after having this double and then triple confirmed, I went on to decide I did not care: the ease with which they add a few inches to my height adds hugely to my self-esteem in a way that at least makes me feel more attractive, and if the opposite sex does not see things that way, then that’s a reality I’m willing to live with. The flatform—which is something of a red-haired stepchild of the platform—is not always a personal favorite, but Teva’s quite jolie laide (and surely deeply comfortable) iteration appeals.

Now here is one that is viewed with almost universal disdain: the drop-crotch trouser. But for those of us who are deeply committed to a slouchy look—and if you know nothing of me, I feel certain you know that—they can’t be beat. For some women, there will always be too many MC Hammer associations ever to give them a shot; I get that. I’ll never get past cowboy boots reminding me of Rodeo Day back in middle school in Texas.  So I won’t push too hard on you to give them a rethink. I will add, though, that they are tops for (real or imagined) fat days.

 

*And here I realize that I am of course generalizing.