Favorite of the Day: Cacharel

Fall has started to settle into itself and everyone is taking full advantage. Yet as fashion month nears its end, I've started to yearn for things that are typically spring and summer. For clothes that are fun and light and pretty. It's something that's been missing for most of the season, but some of it could be found in the clothing at Cacharel.

So much of it was easy and uncomplicated. 

One could not help thinking of long days and warm nights.

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Favorite of the Day: Jenni Kayne

This season is starting out much like the last. Not in terms of the clothes or the trends, but in terms of my reluctance to pay attention to what's dominating the scene until absolutely necessary. There will be time for that later. Time for parsing and analysis.

At Jenni Kayne, I was instead caught by things that I want to come live in my closet. They were, as I can sometimes be, all over the spectrum. From slim-fitting suits to feather minis.

Some things for days when I feel like this. And other things for days when I feel like that.


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Favorite of the Day: Diane von Furstenberg

It wasn't until the 11th that I was finally shaken free of my contrary mood. Here and there, most notably at Peter Som, I had liked the candy hues and florals that have dominated the runways of New York this season. But it wasn't until the Diane von Furstenberg show that I let myself be taken in by them. Maybe it was the way that she made the colors pop by pairing them with neutrals in the brown and beige family. Or it could have been the mix of shapes that went from slouchy and menswear-inspired to 60s mod to slinky and sultry.

Or it could simply be that even with all of those disparate influences everything still felt as if it were part of one story.



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Subtle Shifts

Rarely has Gucci, in more recent years at least, made me fall in love with its collections. I understood it. I appreciated the obvious craftsmanship. But it never knocked the wind out of me. Caused me to stir from the semi-repose in which I position myself whenever I sift through runway pictures.

For Resort 2012, that all changed. As most of the older and more established houses tend to do, Gucci worked rather firmly from the roots of Resort. These were clothes for the yachting set. For those who chase the sunshine of summer around the globe. But what it was missing in this case was the obvious markers that often litter those types of collection. There were, of course, maritime-inspired stripes, but the classic navy was replaced with an inky black. The ubiquitous caftan was nowhere in sight. That absence of breeziness was coupled with a lack of the over the top sexiness that often invades every inch of the Gucci brand.

Yet there was still no doubt that this was a Gucci collection. It was sleek. It was gilded. It was littered with hints of zebra print.

But it was something else as well.


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Shorts Story

As the clouds rolled in and I bundled up at an outdoor brunch in April, I stated rather plainly that the time of year where I stop wearing pants was approaching. My go-to for most of that month had been any one of the numerous pairs of jeans that I own. Pegged when the temperature rose. Worn full length when there was a chill in the air. But now that May is coming to a close, my reliance on denim will begin to wane in favor of skirts and sundresses. And perhaps one more item.

Getting over my various clothing neuroses has been a long, tortuous process. The breasts. The legs. The colorful. The adult. Dealing with all of those leftover middle and high school insecurities that caused me to spend most of college either using my clothes to hide from the world and myself or to show how well I could fit in. Most of those impulses have faded away at this point. Yet for all of my steps in the right direction, all of the shaking off of the dowdy, insecure girl I once was, there are still remnants of her that appear occasionally.

In the past five years, I’ve bought exactly three pairs of shorts. A pair of denim walking shorts that fall just above the knee in the summer of 2006, a navy chino pair in a similar length in the summer of 2009, and a shorter chambray pair in early 2010. The denim pair has been worn on and off but without any real frequency since I purchased them. I spent most of the summer and early fall of 2009 in the navy pair. The chambray pair made brief appearances during the summer of 2010 and, like the navy pair before them, lived on into the fall complemented by black or gray tights. (My mother bought me a seersucker pair with sailor buttons last summer that has never been worn due to the fact that I have limits on the amount of preppiness that I allow myself to emit at one time.)

Shorts are one of the last items that I approach gingerly in stores. That I’m not compelled to bring into the fitting room with me. And I try on everything. Because I want them but can’t afford to buy them. Because they make for fun “twirling in front of the mirror" material. Because I’m simply curious.  But with my adolescent insecurities roaring through my head and colliding with my latent good girl tendencies, shorts never make it into the room.

I've decided that I should take a second look. That purchasing only three pairs of a summer staple over the past five years was a bit ridiculous considering my shopping habits. That maybe I should have more shorts in my closet than lip products in my purse. (There are six currently hiding in various pockets.) 

So there is the casual, linen pair in a sunfaded yellow from Level 99

That can be paired with a simple tank from Old Navy

A navy and white striped, lightweight cardigan by Rag & Bone

And cross-strap flats in camel from Marais USA

Then there is the more formal pair by Alice & Olivia

That can be topped off with a shimmering tank from 3.1 Phillip Lim

And finished with equally shimmery red flats by Repetto.

Or the denim pair from Joe's Jeans

That can be complimented by a Rag & Bone cable knit sweater with a bit of swing

And colorful sneakers from Urban Outfitters

The plans have been made. Now to actually go through with them.



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