Paris Vogue Recommends: Gray's In

Continuing in a series of style points offered up by the August issue of Paris Vogue (more entries below):

Here, a look as cool as a straight-up martini, with a twist of Adam Ant.

I believe stylist Tom Pecheux is attempting to show, via an outfit by Gucci, that it's possible to be extraordinarily interesting in monochrome, as long as there's a strong variation in texture. See how the wool-silk fabric reverbs against the snakeskin bag, the calfskin shoes, the sequinned top--all within a fairly narrow chromatic range.

It's a nice trick to remember, especially if you have a good stock of basics in the same neutral shade. The accessories don't need to be as high-end as these, they just need to refract light in a similarly variable way.

[the photo--marvelous--is by Inez and Vanoodh. The model--and I hardly ever worry about models--appears a tad undernourished.}