October Daily 18: Help on the Fashion Front

 

Like most women, I care about the way I look. I'm no fashion plate, but I want to present my best self to the world. In June I began feeling very frumpy and felt like I needed something to jumpstart my style. 

I dress in a fairly understated way, favouring classic pieces over trends. YouTube is full of fashion consultants and advisors, many for women over 50 or 60. I looked at a few of them and nothing really resonated until I discovered Marie-Anne Lecoeur, a Frenchwoman whose style is classic and elegant. 

She has 500 videos on YouTube on a plethora of subjects. Some of my favourites include: defining elegance and inelegance, style hints, posture, eating to lose and/or maintain weight like a Frenchwoman, and so much more. Below are a few links.

7 Ways to be Elegant and Chic

10 Ways to Dress Better

French Women Don't Get Fat: The Big Diet Secret Others Don't Tell You

Marie-Anne is down-to-earth, humorous, and cares about others. She is very encouraging and knows what she is talking about. She also has a website with Masterclasses about dressing for your body shape and so much more. She offers a free course on determining your body shape that I found very useful. 

I am usually the one behind the camera, but once in awhile my husband takes it from me to snap my photo. I'm not fond of myself in photos as I can always see something wrong with the way I look, but I'm trying to get over that and just smile. Here we've been camping and my hair is frizzed and my makeup non-existent, but I'm smiling and happy and that's what's most important. I made donuts for a special breakfast treat on our family camping trip in July.

I've been inspired by Marie-Anne to think carefully about how I want to look, and how best to put that into practice. I appreciate Marie-Anne's advice about looking chic and elegant no matter what your clothing budget. 

This post is completely my own opinion, with no remuneration, but I wanted to give a shout out to Marie-Anne and encourage you, if you need a style pick-me-up, to check out her many videos and style advice. 

I'd love to know what you think about fashion.

Royal Fashion Rules

While going through my photos of our trip last summer, I realized that I hadn't shown you the display of royal clothing at Kensington Palace. This post has been in the planning for a week or more. The news of yet another horrific attack in London this weekend had me wondering whether or not to post this.

I decided to go ahead and post what I was planning because normal life is what these terrorists want to disrupt, and I think it important to carry on as normally as possible. Let's be loving and kind to each other. The people of London, particularly those directly affected by the attacks, along with their families, are in my prayers and thoughts.  

The exhibit Fashion Rules Restyled was a fascinating look at the wardrobes of three royal women: HM Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, and Diana, Princess of Wales. 

The rules of royal fashion are: High impact, Bold Accessories, On Trend, Diplomatic Dressing, and Attention to Detail. Above is an example of High Impact - a stunning embroidered gown that The Queen wore to a state function in France in 1957. It's difficult to capture the sheen of the fabric and the sumptuous effect of that hand embroidery in a photo. Trust me, it is magnificent. 

The designer, Sir Norman Hartnell, said, "I despise simplicity. It is the negation of all that is beautiful." I have to disagree with him on that, for simplicity can be utterly beautiful, but he did know how to add details that enhanced rather than detracted. 

This red and white striped dress is an example of On Trend, worn by Princess Margaret in 1949. After the war, fabric rationing ended and designer Christian Dior introduced the New Look that incorporated yards and yards of fabric. 

Can't you imagine how wonderful it would be to swish those skirts around?

Diana, Princess of Wales, wore the dress above while on a royal tour to Japan in 1986. I never realized how much taller she was than The Queen or Princess Margaret, but her dresses were significantly longer. 

The dress is artfully designed to echo the cherry blossoms beloved to Japanese people which were in bloom at the time of the royal visit. The details of this dress are exquisite. I would have loved the opportunity to examine the clothing more closely, inside and out. 

Other than High Impact, I'd say these royal rules for fashion could be ones I could follow as well. Dressing appropriately for the occasion, paying attention to detail, being at least somewhat on trend, and accessorizing wisely make a lot of sense. Do you agree? 

I leave you with a garden view from London last July. 

Linking with Mosaic Monday, hosted by Maggie of Normandy Life. 

Not a Fashion Blog, but a Fashion Post

Clothes. We all wear them. I like wearing clothes that suit me, that I feel comfortable in, and that are reasonably fashionable. People seem to dress in similar ways throughout the Western world, with a few differences.

Here's a little bit of what I observed being worn in Paris and London: 

Skirts - short (not just on younger women), mid-knee, and maxi (but never trailing on the ground). Lots of prints, usually small geometrics and florals. In Paris the prints were in softer shades, like the skirt above, than in London, where black backgrounds were seen more.

Dresses, again in a variety of lengths and prints. Black was not uncommon. Lots and lots of jean jackets, on big girls and small ones.  

The weather was warm, but not hot, and almost everyone in Paris wore sandals, either flat or wedged. Scarves almost always. Above is one of our tour guides. Lace seems to be a continuing trend - yokes on knit tops, or more rarely, a textured top.

Well-fitted and well-balanced outfits - fitted pants and top with a more flowing third layer that was never over-sized. 

Then there was tourist style - earbuds and listening devices, hats and sunglasses. 

Walking into our home very very early on Sunday morning (12:30 am) was lovely. We slept well, spent yesterday quietly at home, and today Tim is back to work. The garden needs attention and I have a list of projects I'd like to accomplish. All in good time. 

There will be more posts about our trip - so many places I have not yet shown, but they will come slowly. 

Permission Granted

Last winter I purchased two hellebores. One survived, the other didn't. This year the blooms came early, delicately colouring my winter garden. Delicate pink with yellow interiors, marvelously made.

Last January I set myself a challenge. I was very quiet about it as is my wont when I'm unsure that I'll be able to carry through. The challenge: no purchased clothing. Everything, other than underwear and socks, was to be stitched by yours truly. I bought a new bathing suit before the challenge because I wasn't about to tackle THAT!

January came and went - I created a travel wardrobe for our trip to Mexico that worked well. The week after our return I began subbing for a week, then two weeks, then a couple of months. The sewing fell off sharply. 

I stitched furiously in May and created a summer wardrobe that served me well (added to the Mexico items). Summer was very busy and I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I'd hoped. 

Then I began teaching in the fall. I've managed to finish just one jacket for myself and a few other small projects for others. I ended up buying two pairs of pants, a t-shirt, a cardigan and a wool winter coat. 

In the end, though, I counted up what I'd sewn - 21 items, including a couple of jackets, a cardigan, several t-shirts, a couple of skirts, blouses and dresses. Not bad. The collage shows some of what I've sewn. I get awfully tired of posing for photos and seeing so much of myself.

When I gave myself the challenge, I had no idea that I'd be working so much. I felt like a bit of a failure having to purchase clothing, but when I sat back and took a look at my life, I gave myself permission to change things up. Circumstances change so expectations of what can be accomplished have to change, too. And in the end, I'm pleased with most of what I've sewn. Just one real wadder. 

Have I challenged myself the same thing this year? Nope. I'm still teaching. But I'm continuing to sew slowly, when I have the energy and focus. It's something to enjoy, not a duty to perform.

Have you had to adjust expectations recently? Any challenges you've set yourself?  

Beautiful Blues

What kind of blogs do you read? My blog list includes "slice of life" blogs much like I write, with a focus on finding beauty and pleasure in the ordinary things of life, but I also enjoy reading blogs about food, fashion, travel, photography and more. 

Several weeks ago a black box tied with a ribbon arrived in my mailbox. I knew what it contained and could hardly wait to open it.
  

One of my favorite fashion blogs is The Vivienne Files, written by Janice. Her posts are full of wonderful ideas on how to have a coordinated wardrobe that will give you the clothes you want when you want and/or need them.

She held a giveaway for the scarf above, from KathKath in the UK, for one lucky reader. I was so surprised and pleased when my name was chosen. This scarf is lovely to touch and even more lovely to wear.  
 

It will go well with my wardrobe - largely based on black, grey, navy, and blue. At first I wondered how I would wear this scarf in the heat we've had, but I saw a woman in town wearing a scarf as I'm doing above and thought, "I can do that!"

Janice provided another idea recently - tie a knot in the center of the scarf and use it as a necklace. Click on the link for more details.

Thank you to Janice and to KathKath for this beautiful scarf. It's a an addition to my wardrobe that will be worn often and will take any outfit up a notch or five.  

One More Turn Around the Garden

Cloudy skies and a few light rain showers have made the past few days cooler. The rain is welcome. Above, the jasmine is just beginning to bloom. It's planted in a shadier spot than it prefers, but blooms quite happily where it's placed.

The ground beneath the peonies is littered with bright petals. Their day in the sun is almost finished. Now the delphiniums are blooming, tall blue spires not yet visible in this photo taken last week.
 

Clematis climbs the deck railing, perhaps looking to keep company with the pink geraniums on the other side. I trailed around the garden for a few minutes this afternoon, camera in hand, wanting to enjoy the blooms that are and wondering what will be showing next. Our suite tenants will be enjoying those blooms for, early tomorrow morning, we're heading cross country.
  

Literally. From our west coast island to a small island on the east coast - PEI. Packing for a trip means thinking things out - making sure that almost everything will go with everything else. 

I used to belong to a Yahoo group called French Chic. The author of the The Vivienne Files, a lovely and practical fashion blog, belonged as well. My packing plan is inspired by Janice's well-thought-out posts. Four bottoms, eight tops, four third layers, one dress, a raincoat, 3 scarves and 3 pairs of shoes, plus sundry toiletries and undergarments. It's a little more than I usually take, but the weather forecast is iffy.  Grey, navy, white, black and a bit of pink.

Still, it all fits into my carry-on sized luggage. However, we're checking our luggage for this trip.
I'm not taking a computer, but I'll attempt a few postcards from the road with my I-Phone, or perhaps figure out how to use Tim's tablet. Blogging is not high on the list of activities. 

See you all in a few days. 

Closet Switch Up

On a walk last week, I wore my thin summer pants and a short sleeved t-shirt with a light jacket. The sun shone, but the wind blew right through my clothing. Time for a wardrobe switch up. All the summer things are being put away for another season and the cuddly things, the soft knits, cozy scarves and closed shoes, are brought out. 

I made three purchases in late August and I'm finding all three of them very useful for my fall/winter wardrobe. A leather purse from Danier in cobalt blue is a departure from my usual black. It will go well with the greys and blacks I wear a lot of in the cooler months. The grey suede shoes are comfy and the scarf is a cotton/rayon blend (since I can't wear wool next to my skin) that pulls together so many of the colours I wear. 

Do you read The Vivienne Files? Janice writes a blog about fashion, focusing on a cohesive wardrobe. Her posts about putting a wardrobe together, starting with the basics, are wonderful. Focus on basic neutrals (black and grey for me) and then add interest with accessories.
 

The hydrangeas I brought in earlier have mellowed and dried to their autumnal tones. Nature is switching up her wardrobe, too, and there's something for everyone: vibrant reds and yellows or muted blues and greys.

Do you switch up your wardrobe for fall (or spring for those down under)? What colours do you usually wear?

Another New Activity

left to right, Katie, yours truly, Cristal, Ashley, Owen, Tim

It was a gala occasion. Tim and I, along with Cristal and Katie caught the 1 pm ferry to Vancouver. Owen's mom and sister met us on the ferry and we all piled into our vehicle (someone compared it to Mary Poppins' expanding carpetbag). We met Owen and Ashley for dinner. Then....

Off to the fashion show we went. This was a totally new experience for most of us. In February 2013 Ashley was a participant in a design competition in Montreal. To open the fashion show, her design, shown above, along with two others from the school (Vancouver Community College) were shown on the runway.
 

Then the finishing class's garments were shown. Ashley's designs were inspired by the pre-Revolution Russian aristocracy. She used silks, wools and blends. In the look above the silk dupioni skirt is laser cut, using embroidery patterns from the inspiration era as the basis for the design.
 

I really liked this look - narrow skirt with a vertical band over pants, a shirt and vest. 
 

The back of the above look. I have to say that her designs fit the models very well (she did a lot of fitting adjustments in the past couple of weeks) and her outfits had a very polished look.

For this collection, Ashley had to design 20 looks (complete outfits) but only had to sew up 5 of them. She was the only student in her class to include menswear in her collection. She stitched two of them for the show. Above is one of them - her tailoring really impressed me.
 

And here's the designer herself, walking the runway with one of her models. She's now completed her schooling and has a job in the industry as a junior pattern drafter - just what she wanted to do. 

Kudos to the dads of the Little Misses A and S, and Little Mister F who stayed behind while Katie and Cristal attended the event. We had a lot of fun and I hope the moms enjoyed their night of uninterrupted sleep.

So that's my latest new thing, unlikely to be repeated. It was a lot of fun! 

Food and Fashion

This is not a post about fashionable food, or foodie fashionistas. Rather, it's two disparate subjects in the same post. A potpourri with just two ingredients, you might say.

I have a small (ahem) collection of scarves and love wearing them in any season except for the hottest days of summer. But how many ways can you tie a scarf? Well, more than I thought, apparently. Click on the video - Wendy shows 25 ways to wear a scarf in just 4.5 minutes. It's a fun video to watch and I know I learned a few things. If I can just remember them when I want to.





Moving on to food ... 

Last night I made a pear cranberry crisp.  I was feeling creative and made a few additions that I think made it more than just a crisp. Not that the basic crisp recipe is lacking in any way - but sometimes, it's fun to change things up. I'll put up a recipe on my other blog. (edited to add, here's a link to the recipe.) I added some candied ginger to the crumb mix along with freshly grated nutmeg (my new taste  love) and of course, cinnamon. Warm and spicy, with a hint of cranberry tartness, it was just the thing for a very rainy wet west coast evening.