RIP Stella Tennant

 It came across my Facebook feed. The Scottish model has died at the age of fifty. I don't know much about her, but I did always find her intriguing. She is - was - somebody I could never be: a tall, thin, aristocratic mother of four. It turns out that she valued recycling clothing. Here is a small homage to her. 

                                                            source: Vogue Magazine

And, from The Guardian: Stella Tennant and her youngest daughter, Iris, styled by Bay Garnett and photographed by Tom Craig for Oxfam’s Second Hand September. “I love Oxfam because it does two things at once: it gives clothes a new life and it helps the poorest people in the world,” Tennant said.

Photograph: Tom Craig/Oxfam

Christmas curtsy

 Oddly enough this Christmas Eve and Chrismas Day have succeeded in making me feel the "holiday spirit." This year, friends have stopped by and dropped off simple gifts. and most of the cards and packages arrived. I am thankful for the slippers, the stealth mittens, the cake, the candles, the wine, the champagne, the bath bubbles, the cookies, the flowers, the phone calls, the text messages, the photos of gatherings and planetary conjunctions. I thank my neighbor for informing me of a great place to cross-country ski (have already gone twice). My older daughter and her boyfriend prepared a "performance" for Face Time in which their new masks (popular gift item this year, I wonder why) were all stacked on their faces, and they removed them simultaneously, until I could see their uncovered faces. It was really cute. I will see my younger daughter on Boxing Day. One more "gift" for which I am grateful. A peaceful holiday season to all and may they feel the magic of this end of the year!

Coat from Revolution, White River Junction. Dress from a vintage shop in Glasgow, UK. 

Dress from Revolution, WRJ; cardigan from a charity shop in Primrose Hill, London. 

keep on dancing

Just a short post after assembling the Saturday outfit for late November that will involve a walk in rural New Hampshire with a friend. 

The reason why these photos are so blurry is because they are screen shots from a slow-mo video I made of myself dancing. These slow-mo videos have become an occasional creative outlet to help me cope with the loneliness of dancing alone during the pandemic. 

I love to dance and I also like to watch other people dance. One of my favorite films is the Pina Bausch documentary that I saw with 3-D glasses in a Parisian movie theater. The whole experience was memorable, because the movie theater was in the Lucernaire on the long and winding rue Notre-Dame des Champs in the 6th. 

Now we can watch movies only by streaming them, which is great, but not at all the same as being in a movie theater and watching them on a big screen. 

I remember seeing "Stranger than Paradise" on the big screen back when it came out in 1984, and I remember laughing when the characters finally saw Lake Erie because it was so bleak. Watching it again last night on the small screen was a completely different experience, and that Lake Erie scene was anti-climactic. 

Meanwhile, back in the present tense reality of another day during another week during another month of pandemic, quarantine, isolation, and general ennui, I go "shopping" in my closet and find the dress I bought in Brooklyn on a very different fall Saturday, in the times when we could walk around and explore the farmers' market, the stoop sales and the flea markets. Two English women in Clinton Hill were selling perfectly good clothes from my favorite French brands outside their brownstone, and I picked up the dress for $10. 

The cardigan comes from a charity shop in Primrose Hill, London. Another memory of another time when traveling was no big deal. How I appreciate now that freedom and that privilege! 

 

Back to the 80s via "The Crown"

Think what you may about the series, now that season 4 is out.  The media has not much to cover as we are in month 10 of the pandemic, so they are analyzing the series: history is being distorted. Yes. But the clothes are right on. To the point where, in the mean time, my newly retired friends who are home sequestered are digging up old photos. I came across some of my own. 

I had posted in an earlier blog that I was more Laura Ashley than punk back in the late '70s and early 80s. 

That might be a reflection of my undeniable bourgeois background. But Laura Ashley was more petit bourgeois and Diana in her youth, way back when she was a kindergarten teacher, was also more down to earth. 

I latched on to the Laura Ashley look as did many other young women back then. I liked cotton prints, as opposed to the synthetic crap that was flooding the department stores. I remember going to Lord and Taylor and Ohrbachs, stores that no longer exist, department stores being now a thing of the past, looking for bargains in the sale racks. The results were usually catastrophic, but I didn't care. 

Here is a thankfully small sample of the "look" that I awkwardly adopted back in my early twenties. 

    The Norwegian sweater look. I hung on to that sweater for decades. It came from a ski shop on the Upper East side. The bandana closely tied around the neck must have been an in accessory back then. 

My mother sewed me this dress from a Laura Ashley pattern. I latched on to the combination V-neck sweater/floral patterned dress or skirt. Call it preppy, call it what you like. As for the ankle socks, that was my choice, people teased me for it. Now it's a catwalk standard. 

The Peter Pan collar on a silk blouse, paired with a blue floral skirt. It doesn't get more Lady Di than that!

                       I think that might be a Laura Ashley dress. Never mind the poodle hair. 

                     There's that V neck/cotton skirt combo again. I LOVED that skirt. 

And for the final photo: My boyfriend at the time bought me this outfit from the original Putumayo store on Lexington Avenue. I loved that store! I wonder if Diana ever wore Putumayo? 

Lame duck season/the Christmas card project

 

YEAHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh!

 We are breathing a bit easier now. To celebrate I took a walk with one friend, and drove another friend to Revolution where I picked up this lovely velvet blouse. It has shades of purple and blue and shimmers a little bit. I am dancing in my office. I am dancing in my kitchen. I am dancing in my study. We are dancing and jubilant all over the country. What a relief that voting actually works!

"Borgen"

 

                            (trying to dress Scandinavian casual with second hand tunic and scarf)

Milan fashion week

I was in Milan once, during its design week. Unbeknownst to me. I wandered in or rather through, traveling by train from Lyon to Rome (and back again), with four hours to spare. My my, that was an eye opener. Stylish needs a new word that means stylish on steroids. Here is the photo shoot that Vogue is offering for its fashion week going on now. I love the pops of color, much needed now that nature is slowly fading back to its neutral beiges and browns, and greys....And that we are pandemic weary. But we must hang in there, and hope that everyone will come out of it wiser and more introspective. I know, I know, posting a fashion week shoot is not very introspective. There is a decent effort at diversity in the people pictured. At least that's something. 

Staged authenticity (part II) and late summer heat

 Back in 1973, sociologist Dean McCannell published an article in which he outlined the ways in which tourism has become a "stage" in which (on which) the "authentic" of the supposed culture tourists want to see is performed. Basically, we visit places that have been artificially transformed to accommodate our needs (parking, access) and our expectations (beautiful vistas, indigenous practices). 

One could argue that photography is a form of "staged authenticity." This one could be an exception, since the subject doesn't know that I am taking a picture of her. I did later tell her that I loved her outfit. She was standing outside of Lucky's cafe in Lebanon NH, and her stylish black dress, suede bag and little red slipper shoes were unusually stylish for our little town. 

This photo below, however, it totally staged since I used the timer on my phone. It is my way of promoting the 1. blouse that I picked up at my favorite used clothing source, ie Revolution and 2. air drying laundry. Why more people don't do this given that our planet is plenty hot, and using a dryer when it's 80º F or more outside makes no sense. 

These mugs are part of our little collection of hand-thrown pottery. Another institution that is now gone is the crafts store in Hanover NH that occupied the same space for forty years. The shutdown of the college including graduation and alumni reunions has hurt local businesses (not just in Hanover but everywhere else too), and the crafts store was hit hard mostly because people were already, before the pandemic, thinking twice before spending forty dollars on a mug. What will happen to the local crafts industry and to the know-how that goes with it? How will future generations learn to make fine objects out of wood, metal and ... mud? Crafts are not just for show, but for use. Perhaps, if we spend more on a mug, we will take better care of it. 

***

Time to go see if the laundry is dry. 

Sweater weather and staged authenticity

Late summer means cooler temperatures. I welcome the change, no matter how sudden. At least that change is fairly predictable. 

Finally I can wear that blouse I call my Chiara Mastroianni blouse because the actress wore something like that in a movie about the Bruni sisters. The sweater is from Folk which was a great little store in Hanover, NH for many many years. 

This sweater is from Revolution in White River Junction. 

With summer coming to an end, a quick day ("daycation") trip down to Northampton MA included used bookstores and vintage clothing. 

The city has an "authentic"  vibe, the young, the old, the rich, the poor. It doesn't look too polished and gentrified. Although, truthfully, it's another college town that has attracted its fair share of well-intentioned rich people who want to live in a culturally rich, close to nature, community minded place. 

I spotted this woman outside of the cafe "Iconica" which is quite the secret destination. It's a must go to if you ever visit NoHo.  The owners have literally turned a small building into a work of art in which they serve artfully crafted food and drinks. 

Back in White River Junction, VT, another town hanging on to that balance between gritty authenticity and pleasure destination,  Kim of Revolution decided to hold a small outdoor sale. This woman was rocking her outfit and let me photograph her. 

 One more sweater to close, another Revolution find. I'm into mixing shades of green these days. Sorry for the grainy photo which was taken with the computer as I had forgotten my phone that day.