Som may Say

My most recent obsession is with Peter Som's Spring '07 line. Som has been on the scene for sometime, but has in these past few years, upon gaining recognition in the Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund Initiative as one of the top ten finalists.

I was flipping through my November Vogue, reading Life With Andre who wrote a good 300 on Mr. Som's work and I became enthralled by the ethereal beauty of his gowns. If there are two things I love in this world they are whimsey and elegance, and his collection contains both of these elements.

As I've formerly apologized for, my coverage of Fashion Week was rather delayed and not as detailed as I would have liked it to be. In the throes of a quarter life crisis sometimes fashion has to take a backseat to things like, say, finding a better job. In any event, I'm just going to post some of my favorites and let us all take a moment to remember that the whole world gets better when you're looking at a pretty dress.



tags: Chicago Fashion ; Peter Som; Andre Leon Talley ; Vogue ; Fashion Week ; Whimsey ; Elegance ; Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund Initiative

'Tis the Season to play Dress Up

cos*tume  /n. Pronunciation[n. kos-toom, -tyoom; v. ko-stoom, -styoom] Pronunciation Key -
–noun
1.a style of dress, including accessories and hairdos, esp. that peculiar to a nation, region, group, or historical period.
2.dress or garb characteristic of another period, place, person, etc., as worn on the stage or at balls.
3.fashion of dress appropriate to a particular occasion or season: dancing costume; winter costume.
4.a set of garments, esp. women's garments, selected for wear at a single time; outfit; ensemble.

Halloween is just around the corner, and this is the weekend where all of Chicago celebrates our Mayor's favorite holiday! Halloween in Chicago is a big deal, there are tons of parties, parades, and festivals to attend, and more than ever, the focus is on what you wear!

Dressing up for Halloween gives us a chance to tap into our alter-egos; you can be whatever character you want that night and it doesn't matter the next day. Liberation through clothing! As you can imagine, I take this opportunity wherever I can find it!

With the barrage of events that call for a costume in our fair city, there are multiple routes you can take with your garb. You can choose one costume to last the whole holiday, or dress up in a new costume every night, the choice is yours and I've provided a little list to get you started on your search for the perfect outfit on this spirited holiday!

The Clever Costume:

These are always my favorites, the costumes that make you think! My friend Jesse dressed one year as a "Freudian Slip," wearing just a slip and letting people write their favorite Freudian Slips on the dress in red ink. One of my own favorite costumes was "Devil with a Blue Dress On." You get the picture.

The Tramp:

Yes, a lot of girls like to tramp it up on All Hallow's Eve. Slutty cop, nurse, schoolgirl, sailor, etc. Put the word "slutty" in front of an occupation and you'll find a girl rocking the look. Hey, better to get the trashy out all at once rather than spread the wealth over the course of a year.

The Stitch:

Costumes that bring a little humor to the party are always fun, the Drunk 1950's housewife, the Banana, The Dude. These are the costumes that bring out the true characters on Halloween.

The Spook:

Dead people, ghosts, witches, skeletons. Anything creepy keeps up the true spirit of this ghoulish night.

So now you have some ideas; go forth, dress up, and have a safe and stylish Halloween!

Tags: Chicago Fashion ; Halloween ; Costumes

Chicago sous la Neige

Oh Chicago, we knew it was coming and in true midwest fashion, it was by suprise...SNOW! (and inevitably winter).

Although I'm a big fan of the summer months, one thing I always miss is my outerwear. I love getting bundled up and picking out my coat or vest and a whatever scarf/hat/glove combination suits my mood. I look at winter as another opportunity to accessorize!

One of my best friends once told me that he could always tell a girl by her jacket and her hair. His reasoning was that most of the poeple who will see you in your lifetime will see you in your coat, so it is essentially an outword expression of your personality.

As a firm believer in fashion and style as a form of expression, I feel this theory is more than valid (though I would qualify it with people in general, not just girls. Who doesn't love a guy with good hair and a sense of style?). So, Dear Chicago, I've come to you with the tao of self expression via outerwear.

Lets start with a motto: Quality vs. Quantity. A good coat is not going to be cheap and an expensive coat will last longer and look MUCH better than a cheap one. Tailoring is key and the style should be classic. Look at it as an investment, not just a trendy piece. Choose something well-made, in a good color, that will last long enough for you to pass on to your children.

Speaking of color: I know you think you want that perfect, winter white cashmere blend pea coat, but think again! You'll spend as much money on dry-cleaning as you did on the coat. Winter is not clean. If you want something lighter, chose a camel color. I personally think that there is nothing more beautiful than cream accessories with a dark coat.

Next is tailoring. I'm not going to lie, I have a lot of coats. A bomber, a trench, and a duster. Length and tailoring are extremely important. Remember, you want to look your best, even when its freezing. I know that Chicago winters have instilled some bad- style choices involving floor length, quilted, North Face coats, but we can acheive warmth and beauty at the same time. An ankle length, double breasted, cashmere blend coat will keep you warm and be flattering at the same time.

Finally, my favorite, Accessories! The scarves, hats, and gloves! You can go a multitude of directions and pull in a lot of color with these warmth neccessities. When I wear my black, bishops collar wool coat, I like to wear a colored or cream pashmina tucked in to the coat, some black leather riding gloves, and a structured black wool hat. With my khaki trench, a knit scarf hanging loose with tan, suede gloves and a brown beret. And with my nordic vest a pair of knit gloves, and a knit stocking cap. Use your own judgement, but create a unified look.

And with that my all-weather friends, I wish you a happy and stylish start to the colder months!

tags: Chicago Fashion; winter coats; hats; scarves; gloves; accessories ; outerwear

Fashion Week Faux-Pas

My friends, I have been remiss. Fashion Week has passed and I have said nothing.

BUT...that doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention....

Things I'm loving:

De la Renta: I could just wallpaper this post with his spring line. As opposed to the contorted silhouettes he gave us this fall, all of this clothes are beautiful and look extremely easy to wear. Classic skirts and summer dresses floated down the runway. Don't even get me started on the gowns. Also, De la Renta definately wins for hair and make up in my opinion.


Zac Posen:

Vera Wang:For more full coverage than this neglectful bloggeress can provide, check out coutorture
and style.com

tags: Chicago Fashion ; Fashion Week ; Oscar de la Renta ; Zac Posen ; Vera Wang ; Coutorture ; Style.com.

Bad-Asses Do it Better

So, I just wanted to do a little pre-projrun post. And I just want to express my love for a certain contestant...named Jeffery.

My friends laugh at me, because I always seem to side with the badasses in this competition. Don't get me wrong, I love the Danny V's and Michael Knights, but my heart goes out to the Santinos and Jeffreys (ProjRun, overproduced much?).

I couldn't have loved Jeffrey's outfit from last week more. I mean, this dress was Haute, and different and interesting in color choice and tailoring. Talk about his recyclable dress...amazing and interesting and different. Plus, I love his rock n' roll inspiration. We've talked about my audiophilia right?

That said, Jeffrey is my top pick. I always love who everyone hates, but I think that bad-asses do it better.

tags: Chicago Fashion ; Project Runway ; Badasses ; Daniel Vosovic ; Santino Rice

There's a Thin Line between Suggestive and Skanky

I went to the club this weekend. I just say that I went to the club because it doesn't matter where it was, it was a club, in Chicago, which is not saying much. I'm not a big clubber; house music, over priced drinks, and hyper- muscular guys in tight oxfords are typically not my bag. I do not want to date a tanorexic man. No thank you!

While at the club, I began to think to myself about the fine line between slutty and skanky. Everyone needs to be a little slutty sometimes but it's important not to cross that line, the skank line. It's like the difference between the Jennifer Lopez and Lil' Kim.

So, yes, most of the girls at the club were skanky. Skanky doesn't require execution, it's thoughtless hoochiness...slutty is well, fashionably suggestive.

So okay, i'm going to toot my own horn here. I went to the club looking like a lady. Dark, trouser jeans, with a nude short sleeve, silk tunic top. Pretty coming, even hotter going...the top was backless, coming together with a drawstring at the waist. You could see my little tattoo, but nothing too revealing, just...suggestive.

The bartender on the other hand walked in wearing nothing but a short red trench coat, knee high patent pleather boot. The coat was then taken off to reveal some sort of hot pant jumpsuit that was bursting with fake boobies. I thought she was going to strip for sure.

If anyone thinks that you are any sort of lady for hire, you've become a skank.

Moral of the story: Be a lady, be classy, be sexy, be suggestive...just don't be skanky

tags: Chicago Fashion; Club wear; Jennifer Lopez; Lil Kim

Karl Lagerfeld Turns my Century

I was contemplating writing this blog on the insaney of fashion's current anachronism when I came across the most beautiful and fun fashion spread I've seen this fall.

Interview Magazine is great. It is a cultural completist's dream, full of music, literature, film, and fashion's biggest and smallest stars, served up in a sexy, avante-gard manner.

To the point my darlings, I was flipping through the pages and found a spread entitled "The Gibson Girl" photographed by none other than Karl Lagerfeld! Not only am I a history buff, and a fashion history maniac, but KARL LAGERFELD's photography is gorgeous, capturing the timelessness of the Gibson Girl's austere flirtation.

100 years later, she is back wearing Chanel, Rochas, Dior, Lanvin, Ralph Lauren, and Alexander McQueen. The Gibson girl of today embraces the propriety of the gilded age, but finds a sexiness in her new empowerment.

Chicagoan's this autumn, take a hint from your forbears: "If you want to lead the fashion, In an independent whirl, Walk with a bend in your back, and they'll call you a Gibson Girl" -Music Hall Song Lyric

tag: Chicago Fashion ; Karl Lagerfeld ; Gibson Girls ; Interview Magazine