The Catherine Ogust "Forever Dress"

                                  Purchase                                                                          Purchase

When I came across these dresses, I just knew they were something special!  The gorgeous print. The easy  fit.  The soft cotton.  So I snatched them up right away!  (Originally, there were three of them, one has already sold)  I did some research on the brand and LOVED the concept!

Catherine Ogust for Penthouse Gallery

The name sounds like porn wear, no?  However, Catherine Ogust was a print designer for Penthouse Gallery.  The above dresses are referred to, by the brand, as The Forever Dress, because it's such a classic dress, it can be worn forever!  THAT'S the concept that I love:  a print and tailoring that never dates.  The hem can be taken up.  Wear with or without a belt.  Swap the belt out.  Or even wear in the current popular style of pencil skirt over the dress with the hem flaring out the bottom! (Info Source and a great read!)

When I look at these, I can't help but reassert, "THIS is why I love vintage!!"

As you're shopping, please don't forget to peruse Bella's store.  She has such novel vintage items!  And Terri has a growing eBay shop that exemplifies her classic style and vintage flair!  Now, more than ever, there are so many options to Shop Secondhand First!

Style and the Serenity Prayer

Most of us have heard this at least once in our life.  This morning it hit me how this sweet prayer can apply to our personal styles, especially for those of us who've left our twenties in the dust!!

In my opinion style ought to be about what I love about myself, not about what I want to change. So, in my daily life of deciding what to wear and how to wear it, decisions are being made.    Am I going to dress to hide what I've come to not like about myself (or often, what I've been TOLD not to like about myself) OR am I going to dress with acceptance, serenity and with an eye to showcase my features and personality?

We really CAN'T look like whatever we want....

We live in a society that tells us that we can look however we want.  Women are lauded for their parts not their whole and we think that if we work out the way Gwen Stefani does, we can have her legs or eat like Gwyneth Paltrow, we will have her figure.  But wise women have figured out by now, that's just not true!  I am me.  You are you.  And we can spare ourselves much time, grief and frustration by accepting what can't change and changing what we can....but as the prayer says, the key is knowing the difference!

I can change my size, but I have to accept my body shape.  All the dieting and working out in the world isn't going to change my basic body shape.  So instead of bemoaning my muscular legs, I can show them off in above-the-knee skirts and fitted jeans!

I can change my hair style, but I have to accept my hair texture.  It does me no good to take a picture of Camilla Belle to my stylist and say, "This is what I want" because our hair texture is different.  I may get the cut, but I'll never have the look!

I can change the way I apply my makeup, but I have to accept my face.  Yes.  That's right.  I have to accept the shape of my eyes, the roundness of my cheeks, the "little too much teeth" grin that I get when I'm really excited!  I know.  I know.  There's cosmetic surgery.  But there are plenty of examples of women trying to get "just the right" face, who ended up getting something else entirely!

I can change the way I dress, but I have to accept my age.  Ouch!  Now I'm just meddling, aren't I?!  Here's the dirty little secret we sometimes don't want to acknowledge to ourselves:  my age IS a factor in what I wear.  There. It's out there and I said it!  :)  There are some things that will look ridiculous on me at my age.  Certain types of shoes.  Super short skirts or shorts.  Low rise jeans.  A LOT of graphic print tees.  I can try to dress like a 20 year old all I want.  But it's never going to change the fact that I'm 46!

So what's the key in all this?  Acceptance.  

Acceptance of our features.  Our bodies.  Our age.  Our personalities.  And with that acceptance, an embrace.  I'm not talking about a grudging acceptance and having the scooter store on speed dial.  I'm talking about a celebration!   Celebrating what makes each of us unique.   Celebrating our personal style that's built around flattering our assets, not camouflaging our perceived "problem areas".

Changing what we can.  Accepting what we can't.  And having enough wisdom to know the difference!  How's that for a style devotional?!

By the way, if you've happened to stumble here without ever meeting Pam (I can't imagine!!), please do yourself a favor and give her blog a read.  Her blog is prolific when it comes to celebrating one's age and embracing change!  And another FABULOUS read is Paula!  Paula is a gorgeous example of self acceptance and wearing it well!

What is elegance?

"We must never confuse elegance with snobbery"  ~Yves Saint Laurent

"Elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress"  ~Coco Chanel

"The only real elegance is in the mind; if you've got that, the rest really comes from it."  ~Diana Vreeland

For me elegance in a look is paramount!  I enjoy whimsy, a bohemian vibe, a touch of the unexpected, but at the end of it all, the overall effect must be elegant.

Cecil Beaton said, "What is elegance?  Soap and water!"  He's right!  Elegance doesn't need designer labels or a credit card.  Elegance is found in simplicity.  As Ms Chanel once said, "Elegance is refusal". That speaks to me of refusal to be a slave to trends.  Refusal to carry oneself differently whether wearing an evening gown or a pair of jeans.  Refusal to go straight for "sexy" instead of letting the imagination entice.

I love that there's no price tag for elegance!  This is a thrifted vintage dress that cost $5 and a thrifted Chico's long blouse that I shelled out $2 for!!  Truly the. best. blouse. EVER!  The collar is made to stand up perfectly!

Finished off with my favorite over the knee leather boots, a pair of silver hoops, and my favored red nails.  I can't tell you how great I felt in this!!  If there is an outfit that just FEELS like me, this is it!

I just thrifted a pair of black leather flat heeled boots for $5.  I could have worn those with this and the whole look would be about $12!  

I leave you with a final thought from Mr. Benjamin Disraeli that really speaks to me:

"Teach us that wealth is not elegance, that profusion is not magnificence, that splendor is not beauty."

Purging my closet....being creative, not consuming.....

Before we moved to a different city a year and a half ago, I had a busting at the seams closet!  And you know what?  I had NOTHING to wear!!  How can a woman have so many clothes and nothing to wear???

Well, probably because when I opened my closet, my eyes had nowhere to rest.  Just a riot of fabric and colors and clothes that don't fit, or that I'm iffy about, or I bought because I thrifted it cheap.  The last one is a huge lesson I've learned...thrift like you retail....if you don't love it, I don't care if they're GIVING it to you, DON'T take it!

Anyway, beyond shopping secondhand first, I also want to make the most of the space and the clothes I have.  Over the past year and a half, I've seriously purged.  And I continue to purge!

Whenever I open my closet and see something for which I've lost that loving feeling....it's GONE!  And I mean GONE!  I'm brutal about this.  I want to open my closet and see nothing but items I aboslutely love!!  If I love the item, I can create a look I love...pretty hard to do when I'm apathetic about my clothes.

I've even paired down my leather skirts!  I have given up a couple because they no longer fit.  I didn't think I had really lost weight, but the two I've purged just didn't hug my hips the way I think pencil skirts should.  Soooooo....those skirts went into a project in which I used them to cover my dining chairs! More on that in another post, but I have to tell you, I feel pretty uptown with my suede cushioned chairs!!!

If you can believe it, I've even pared down my shoes!  I truly LOVE my boots and so I've lined them up on the floor of my closet and rolled up magazines to put in them to help them remain aright.  And by the way, remember this post about lusting after the Nine West Harper boot that retailed for $250?  Well about a month ago, I checked out the site and it was on clearance for $60!!  They didn't have the reddish brown color in my size, so I hopped on the blond leather and actually find it more wearable than the darker!!

I counted up all of the items in my closet, including shoes, boots and coats and also counted in cotton tee shirts and I came up with 84 items.

I love the idea of being creative with my wardrobe - of creating multiple looks out of the same item.  Have you seen The LBD experiment?  It completely inspires me to use my creativity and not my credit card to put together fabulous looks.  Like I mentioned on Bella's blog, my aim is to be a creative woman, not a consuming one!  

Have you ever counted the number of items you have in your closet?  Are you cool with it?

Before I let you go....don't forget to check out Bella's shop for some fresh picked vintage goodies, Terri's offerings for some of the most unique items I've ever seen,  and my ebay store...I'm running a crazy sale right now!!  Oh!  And I almost forgot!  My aunt is selling some beautiful new Doncaster items in larger sizes....gorgeous career clothing!

Doing the math.....(GASP!!!)

I want to start off by saying that I absolutely love me some Glamourai!  Seriously, she always looks effortless and gorgeous and seems like the nicest girl!

That being said....

As I was reading her post today, I scrolled down to the outfit credits and clicked on every link, curious as to the cost of the individual pieces and therefore, the entire outfit.  Here's what I came up with:

Timo Weiland Jacket:  $275 (on sale from $915)
White + Warren Sweater:  $295
Vince t-shirt:  $60
Rebecca Taylor Pants:  $395
Gucci Bag:  $3,950
Jimmy Choo Boots:  $1,395

GRAND TOTAL:  $6,370

Now it's absolutely no business of mine how much ANYONE spends on clothes.  And it's possible that these companies loaned Kelly these clothes to get exposure.   But whatever the case, all I'm saying is that this isn't the planet I live on and I totally can't relate.  In fact, thousands of dollars on a single outfit is, in my very humble opinion, bordering on obscene.

Or maybe I'm just turning into a communist....(shaking head and TOTALLY kidding!)

What say you?  Can you relate?  Are blogs like Kelly's completely aspirational and not intended to be reality based?  Is this what being a "top tier" blogger means nowadays?

What's beautiful today? Vintage Monet Ads

When I was a little girl, I'd LOVED to peruse fashion magazines, imagining that I would grow up to be a woman as sophisticated as the ones pictured.  The Monet ads were always sooooo enchanting!  I love how the jewelry highlights the women's faces not necessarily the jewelry itself.  The make up, the stylying:  Pure femininity and glamour!

Via

Via

Via 

Via

Via 

I AM beautiful! It's the STANDARD that got ugly!

Don't you just love Norma Desmond's confidence?  Okay, so it may be rooted in psychotic delusion, but you gotta love a woman that commits!  Seeing this movie makes me of the standards we have of beauty.  After watching this clip, I thought to myself, "I AM beautiful!  It's the standard that got ugly!"  Imagine Bill Holden turning to a woman today and saying...

"Hey wait, I know you.  You're a woman over 40.  You used to be beautiful!"

"Hey wait, I know you.  You're a woman who has hips.  You used to be beautiful!"

"Hey wait, I know you.  You're a woman who has smile lines around your eyes.  You used to be beautiful!"

"Hey wait, I know you.  You're a woman with gray hair.  You used to be beautiful!"

"Hey wait, I know you.  You're a woman that's bigger than a Sz 6.  You used to be beautiful!"

"Hey wait, I know you.  You're a woman who doesn't wear a D cup.  You used to be beautiful!"

Guess what Bill Holden!

I AM beautiful!  It's the standard that got ugly!

And the standard HAS certainly gotten ugly. 



The modern standard for beauty seems to get more and more demanding in it's appetite to me met.  What was considered beautiful 20 or 30 years ago, now seems like a bad joke.  No doubt, if Marilyn Monroe were alive today, she'd be told to go on a diet.  If  Jackie Kennedy had aspirations today, she'd be admonished to get her teeth fixed.  This isn't being mean, it's simply the reality in our culture today.   And what's interesting is that women haven't changed, only the standard of beauty has changed.

A demanding standard


You know what makes the beauty standard so ugly?    It's demanding.  Demeaning.  Fickle.  Impossible to satisfy. The standard says, "You're not skinny enough!  Only skinny is beautiful!"  And so we diet and deprive ourselves until we've reached that elusive Sz 2 (or at least as small as we can get) only to hear the standard say, "Oh, cool!  You're skinny!  But in losing all the weight, you lost your boobs!  UGLY!"  Oh okay, well thank goodness there are breast implants.  Whew!  Crisis averted.   The standard teases us with, "Gee, if only you didn't have those laugh lines around your eyes, you could really be a looker!"  Off we go to get wrinkles botoxed or stretched off our faces.  Surely now that insatiable standard will be satisfied.  But nooooo, "Wow!  What did you do to your face?!  You can't even express an emotion on your face!"    Or how about this standard quip?  "A woman has to be young to be beautiful."  And so we buy every cream that promises us a youthful glow.  We try to adjust our wardrobes so that we can still make our womanly selves appear more "girl like".    And even for that we get, "Haven't you heard?  Women over 35 aren't supposed to wear a mini skirt!  Can't you act your age?!"

There have always been differing and changing views of what is seen as beautiful in a woman.  And, as women, we jump on the treadmill trying to keep up with them.  I mean, what woman doesn't want to be thought of as beautiful?  I know I do!  I don't think it makes me shallow.  I think it makes me human!   Call me crazy, but I think ALL women are beautiful.  And I'm not talking about the "Well, she has such a good heart" kind of beauty, I'm talking about genuine attractive beauty.  Just like we are.  All different shapes and sizes.  All different ethnicities.  Whatever your weight.  Whatever your age.   So the reality is that I don't need to change.  And neither do you.  The only thing that needs to change is the fact that we give a crap at all what some marketing agency or industry tells us what is and isn't beautiful.

So the next time that ad or commercial says to you, "Hey I know you.  You used to be beautiful!"  You just hold your head high and say with confidence:

I AM beautiful!  It's the standard that got ugly.