Full Bloom

In the spring of 1989 Bacon Department Store of Louisville, Kentucky ran a television ad  hawking the gentle washed pastel florals of Jessica McClintock's designs for Gunne Sax. "Spring is in Full Bloom --- and Little Girls make memories ..." A few years before the commercial ran on Louisville t.v. stations, I was dreamily wafting …

As If

Moira Rose, played by Catherine O'Hara, has suffered. Her former life is in tatters and she lives in a hovel of a motel, the last remaining property of her vastly wealthy husband, Johnny. Johnny, a self-made billionaire/millionaire, has lost it all to a corrupt financial manager. He, his beloved wife Moira, and their infantile adult children …

I Resisted

"I resisted all the way: a new thing for me, and a circumstance which greatly strengthened the bad opinion Bessie and Miss Abbot were disposed to entertain of me.  The fact is, I was a trifle beside myself; or rather out of myself, as the French would say: I was conscious that a moment’s mutiny had already …

Get angry, not “nonchalant”

I, a middle-aged middle-western middle-class-income gal can indeed be snooty enough to say, "Not Impressed" by the Isabel Marant collection at Nordstrom. In fashion spreads I've goggled over the 'coolness' of the Isabel Marant clothes that show up, especially on actresses who slouch about on chaises and sofas looking like they don't really care about …

What (I wore when it) Happened

In June 2016 Hillary Clinton accepted the nomination in a white pantsuit designed by Ralph Lauren. The outfit echoed a man's suit jacket, with widened lapels, a deeper v-cut in the front, and a wider skirt to the jacket. She wore white on white on white, a deliberate reference to the deployment of white by …

Freedom’s in Fashion

These little ole' gals are Thomas Kinkaide's "Freedom in Fashion" figurines -- each named for a stanza in the National Anthem. Most women are familiar with the lazy fashion spread/advertisement featuring patriotic-themed clothing. As with Kinkaide's fashions, most of these designs offered to women shoppers are riffs on the American flag, or, simply featuring the …

Mean girls

Grace's life is undone, dismantled, broken apart when her husband Robert declares his undying love for his law partner, Sol. With the loss of their life partners, their social position, and their homes, Frankie, Sol's soon-to-be ex-wife, and Grace create their own unique bond of female friendship. In the Netflix series Grace and Frankie starring Jane …

It’s not about the dress you wear

...but the life you lead, said Diana Vreeland.  Well, it's been a while since the election and I feel pretty much like wearing this every day -- arming myself for battle, because it sure feels like it's on, mister, it's on. So thanks, Vreeland, it is the life you lead, but it is also about the …