I just finished reading the amazing and entertaining book, Women from the Ankle Down: The story of shoes and how they define us. Besides being a fun read, I found the history lessons incredibly enlightening (it’s made me download a whole bunch of fashion history books). One of the major lessons was around how shoes have played a pivotal role in shaping our culture, both popular culture (movies, music, etc) [...]
Flute? Flute? Or flute? The image of a musical flute or a champagne flute doesn’t exactly conjure the image of a fluted skirt, but that is what you call this incredibly flattering cut of a skirt: a fluted skirt. Other names it is known by is a mermaid, trumpet (more apropos, right?) or a flared hem skirt. The fluted pleat on the skirt is universally flattering. It can give shape [...]
[Today's post is written by our special guest Madelaine Veenstra of the amazing resource WikiFashion. I get much of my information for posts from her project, so I suggested she write something and cross post it here. SO glad I did!] Audrey made it look gamine, Coco introduced it to the fashion world and Brigit Bardot made it synonymous with French chic, but where did the Breton stripe originate? The Breton stripe [...]
I used to search “dress with loose top” when I was looking for what is actually called a Blouson style dress. Blouson style is usually associated with things like bomber jackets – loose (or blousing) on top, tight at the waist. The top of the garment using hangs a bit over the waist band. In some instances I’ve also seen it spelled Bloussant and seen the same thing described as [...]
Much like lace itself, this is a complex subject. SUPER complex. Lace has a long and luxurious history, starting as early as the Roman Empire, but recorded as early as the 14th century, it is a textile that has found itself in the middle of class wars for centuries (7 centuries – starting in Flanders). As Gemma Champ recently wrote in an article in The National (Fashion’s Enduring Love of [...]
Ever wonder what the official title is for people that make the beautiful stuff you own? I have, so I asked around a few years ago and found the terms. It also makes it much easier for me to locate the couture makers. Milliner Maker/designer of hats. Coco Chanel started out as a milliner, though in France, they were still a bit divisive with the genders and called them Modistes, [...]
Try saying ‘crazy cute cloches’ 10x fast! I loves me a good cloche. I covered cloches a week ago, but just as a refresher, these sweet hats sit close to the head and usually have no brim or a very small brim. They almost ‘hug’ the head and are bell-shaped. The cloche hat invented by Parisian milliner Caroline Reboux (another orphan -ish, much like Coco Chanel) in 1908. Reboux was quite the [...]
Houndstooth (or dogstooth) is a delightful and sophisticated pattern with a rather odd name. The name houndstooth comes from the shape of the pattern, which, close-up resembles a canine’s canine (I don’t see it – depending on the pattern, sometimes I see a flower with 4 petals?). The pattern itself first appeared in 12th century architecture and emerged on fabric in the Scottish Lowlands as the glen plaid (GlenUrquhart), also [...]
Ombré/Ombre, pronounced OM-bray – as in the Spanish hombre – describes a graduation of color and is hot hot hot right now. Whether you are seeing it on nails: Or in hair: Or in clothing, it seems to be everywhere. At first I didn’t know what to think, but as I see it in more and more fabrics, especially in long, flowing summer dresses, I’m loving it more and more. [...]
One thing I’ve noticed more and more lately is that the hat is making a big comeback. I love it. As someone who used to have a rather large collection of hats in hat boxes, this makes me very happy. But even as much of a hat enthusiast as I am, when I started searching around, I had NO idea which hat was which? A cloche? A porkpie? A bowler? [...]
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