Is there such a thing as a Fashion Update today? Some say no because who shops, and, furthermore, who goes anywhere, right? But there are others of us who still like to keep abreast of what’s new and au courant. I admit that I miss shopping, especially shopping with my friends. We used to have such fun trying clothes on and checking each other out in front of the mirror in the dressing room.
Recently, I saw a dress on the Nordstrom’s website and it looked great. I almost bought it. But then I actually was in Nordstrom’s a few weeks later and saw the dress on a mannequin and it was dreadful. I guess the lesson here is that we need to pay close attention to how we shop on line.
A fashion update says the Ballet Flat is back. Well, guess what? For us, they never left! we love flats, wore them when we were young ingénues, and have been wearing them pre and post pandemic. So that make us either fashionable or so out of it that we never saw the trend. Lucy describes the torture of trying to wear heels after two years of wearing flats.. Not pretty.
We wrote two weeks ago about the charm and indefinable beauty of Francois Gilot who recently turned 100. Her beauty is intimately intertwined with her “Frenchness”. So this week’s Vogue article about French Women is worth a quick read:
https://www.vogue.com/article/french-style-isabelle-huppert-philippine-leroy-beaulieu?utm_
Fashion is about much more that clothes. It includes our physical wellness and beauty products. The cosmetic industry is booming, increasingly because we want to look healthy not because we are trying to look like photoshopped celebrities. Here is a useful article on how to choose the best mascara:
https://www.vogue.com/article/best-drugstore-mascara?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=vogue&utm_mailing
I admit that I have spent too much money on mascara at high-end cosmetic counters such as Chanel and Estee Lauder, some over $30. Turns out that the old faithful drugstore Maybelline brand is one of the better ones. A word of caution, however, replace your mascara frequently, according to my eye doctor as bacteria can build up on the wand of the applicator causing eye infections.
Everyone in the fashion industry looks forward to Pantone’s Color of the Year designation. For 2022, the selected color is PANTONE 17-3938 that they are calling “Very Peri”. It is described as “dynamic periwinkle blue hue with a vivifying violet red undertone”. Not sure but is certainly looks like purple and that is a tough hue for lipstick for most of us:
https://www.vogue.com/article/2022-pantone-color-of-the-year-shop-beauty-products?utm_source
We have written about this more than once but if you looking for something to brighten your look or to cheer up the coming grey spring, invest in a new bright white shirt. It is not really investing, we know that, but there is something so delightful about a white shirt, with jeans, with tights, with pants, with a skirt and boots. And a white shirt looks great on all of us, men and women, any age.
I can still remember how I reacted when a man walked into an art gallery reception wearing a white Brooks Brothers button down shirt and navy slacks. I did a double take. Of course, it helped that he looked like Chris Hemsworth but nevertheless, the look works. Recall how designers like Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta used white blouses with yards of silk and taffeta long skirts. Definitely update with a new white shirt this spring. BTW, nothing is worse than a white shirt that is no longer white, but slightly gray or even worse, yellowing.
The message is that it really will not take that much to update your wardrobe. Think about how much fun it will be to gather without masks. We are looking forward to dinners together and feeling comfortable going to concerts and the theater. We are grateful for those who worked through the pandemic so that we could buy groceries, so that we could buy gas, so that we could keep our children in school, so that we had health care workers caring for those who needed medical attention. We are grateful to those who kept our spirits up. We are all ready to move on.
Ciao
Lucy and Claudia