Spotted at Fashion Week: shirts tied around the waist

Fall is by far my favorite season but it does pose a challenge when temperatures vary a lot. The weather can change at the drop of a hat or whether you are in sun or shade, or if that chilly autumn wind is blowing. In Portland especially right now, this has been challenging: cardigan on, cardigan off; wearing boots in the morning only to switch to sandals in the afternoon.

Leandra over at Man Repeller somehow managed to make having a shirt or cardigan tied around your waist look great. I have always found this a rather bulky, and quite dorky, thing to do. At NY fashion week, she wore it with the same dress on two different occasions and was able to channel Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis circa 1993 a little bit, with the plaid one. And then go a bit more 80s with the denim shirt.

Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis (one of my favorite collections of all time, by the way) :

And then both at London fashion week and in Paris this past week, I saw quite a few more doing this. Either with a skirt that gave the look of a shirt tied around:

Or just straight up in general paired with a short skirt, so the shirt is longer than the skirt.

Or to add a pop of color:

House of style: was seriously my favorite thing ever

I used to have multiple VHS tapes with episodes of MTV's House of Style on them. My favorite episode featured Kate Moss as a cherubic teenager debuting in the fashion industry. After just watching the documentary on MTV that came out a couple days ago, I realized that I had more than a couple segments memorized: Naomi Campbell and her zit cream, John Galliano's first runway show, and Duran Duran shopping at Sears. 

Of course, more apparent were the perennial episodes not even mentioned! Liv Tyler back to school shopping and my favorite Kate Moss show in which she says that all she wants later in life is "babies, lots of babies" and how she didn't get to know Marky Mark when they did the Calvin ad together because "he had his posse there." They also failed to mentioned the entire grunge trend and how Marc Jacobs launched that with his line for Perry Ellis in 1993. And how the thrift shopping wasn't house of style being deferential to their midwestern audience's budget but had more to do with grunge. And that to find that grunge look, you had to go to a thrift store. Thrifting was the trend.

How funny that Sofia Coppola looks like she hasn't aged a day, not even one day. No fair.


Not sure what the "new" house of style will bring. I would like to like it but I am skeptical. Now I am waiting for a revival of the "FT" Fashion Television show on CNN that I also used to record on VHS.

old school Moss

Before Topshop and Pete Doherty, she was just Kate. The original waif who had amazing style even then, not that anyone noticed. Her haircolor in these shots is her real mousy blond-brown and the style is straight-up early 90s grunge. The outfit while shopping in Camdentown market is also very grunge but still very Kate: loose turtleneck, black wool overcoat and a chunky grey scarf woven around her neck and through her hair.

These pictures brought me back to when off-duty shots of models weren't the norm. And to when designers were designers instead of models as designers. Nevertheless, Kate always had style. Model or not.

sofia forever

Sofia Coppola is another style icon of mine. Her movies are amazing, especially the underrated Marie-Antoinette. But her personal style is another thing entirely. While her red-carpet looks are fairly formulaic: almost always a little black dress, knee length with small, low black shoes and a small black clutch. Her casual day-to-day style is also very simple but extremely chic. And given that she's been living in Paris for the last several years, her style seems to be getting better and better

Unfortunately, since Sofia's not one for making headlines, it's rare to see a candid of her street-style. So imagine how happy I was to find this great Sofia blog today: oohsofia.blogspot.com. Below are a couple street shots of Sofia that showcase her daytime style (all from said blog).

I also learned some exciting personal and professional news about Sofia as well. She has a new movie coming out in 2010 that she wrote and directed called Somewhere starring Stephen Dorff (great casting choice!) AND, she is expecting another baby with Phoenix frontman and frenchman Thomas Mars. Congratulations, Sofia! Which brings to mind another thing about Sofia I love - her sparkling white wine available in the mini-cans. Yum!

Maybe she should be a lifestyle icon too. Do her own "GOOP". I'd be much more interested in her picks than Gwyneth Paltrow's.

love the hat

Michelle Williams has amazing style. She is one of my style "icons" lately. And I just happened upon this recent picture of her in the rain. Her whole outfit is amazing but it's the hat that is spot-on. Ribbed and slouchy but not too loose. The trend for the past couple seasons has leaned toward a super slouchy, falling-off-the-head, overdone look that is very teen. This hat worn by Michelle is more adult and modern because of its tighter fit. But because of the fabrication and the ever so slight over-sized fit (how it covers the ears), it is still a little grunge (think Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis circa '93). It's very refreshing but still simple.

photo: INF daily