Ma Belle: Chanel's Way with a Cloche

The word cloche means "bell" in French, and it has two distinctly different usages in English. Gardeners use bell-shaped glass cloches to protect young plants from wind and rain.

Vintage fashion fans--especially those disposed to 20s era styles--know cloches as the brimless hats which typically swoop just over kohl-rimmed eyes.

Karl Lagerfeld has managed, brilliantly, to combine the two forms in one for his Fall/Winter 09/10 Haute Couture collection (picture top left). I love these hybrids of coverage and transparency, hat and veil. Sadly, I could find no vintage correlate: they are truly original fashion.

(photo top from www.telegraph.co.uk, by AFP/AP)

Pimp My Chainsaw

I've been cruising through the Telegraph's photo galleries from the Paris Haute Couture 09/10 shows, and can't resist posting this pic from designers On Aura Tout Vu ("Now I've Seen Everything").

The atelier, which I've not heard of before, is doing some creative things with peacock feathers and twigs, but sending a model out with a lace-embellished chainsaw really takes the biscuit. It's certainly one way to capture the attention of jet-lagged editors.

(photo at www.telegraph.co.uk, by AP)

Stealth Designer: Oliver Goldsmith

Do you consider your sunglasses a fashion accessory? If so, thank Oliver Goldsmith. This British manufacturer isn't a household name, yet they singlehandedly created the idea of sunglasses as a style statement.

While the company still creates its handcrafted styles by special commission, the authentically vintage versions are just as smashing, and typically far more affordable. Check out this awesome pair above, for sale on eBay . . . which can be worn equally well upside down as rightside up . . .

Small works of wearable art, pairs like these look equally good atop the head as across the face. Oliver Goldsmith. The epitome of vintage cool.

Rubber Sole: Get Your Galoshes On

Fabulous shoes have an Achilles' heel: most are not durable enough to withstand even the most scattered of showers. Suede gets tide marks; sandals expose the feet to an unexpected dousing; beautiful leather turns stiff as cardboard if dried improperly after a soaking.

Modern girls in rainy climes get around the problem by wearing one pair of low-maintenance shoes to the destination, then sneaking the high-maintenance ones on in the bathroom. This is silly, but less silly than tanking one's own footsie index by wearing the expensive ones outdoors.

Our forebears had a better idea. Galoshes. I know--there are few words in the English language less sexy than that one. But listen up: you can wear the vintage versions over heels. As clunky as some may be, they look a lot better than puddle-sploshed feet.

Best of all, some are even cute, like these Finnish overshoes trimmed in fake fur.

Have a look around vintage sites for galoshes, or rubber overshoes, as they're sometimes known. Not a bad little item to have, for a rainy day . . .

How to Wear a Retro White Belt

Short and simple because I'm in vacationland:

Every thrift store/charity shop in the kingdom has, tangled up with the others on the rack in the back, a wide white belt, often of actual leather.

It's the kind of thing the hardcore thrift shopper passes over again and again, simply because it's not obvious how to style it. Teamed with jeans (especially this season's faded and ripped ones) it risks looking like Heather Locklear in her Dynasty heyday, scheming to get at the Carrington bucks. Worn against white, you simply won't see it. Worn with a vertically striped vintage shirtdress, it would be fantastic, but a great vintage shirtdress is hard to find (believe me, I've been trying for months).

The answer? Team it with a simple black or tan or khaki-colored dress, preferably in linen. It will look great, especially if partially masked by like-colored jacket or cardigan. Here's Cameron Diaz demonstrating how.

Piling on the Pearls

Coco Chanel is sometimes credited with creating the fashion for wearing masses of pearls, but this isn't quite true. What she pioneered was the mingling of the real and the faux. If you look at the old photos, she didn't really pile them on, either--she was all about elegance and ease rather than over-the-top display.

For that totally trussed look you need to turn to the Edwardians and east Asian nobility, who were the all-time pearly kings and queens.


Here (with bonus historical dish) are Dowager Queen Alexandra (above): who may or may not have started the trend for wearing choker necklaces to hide a scar on her neck, which may or may not have resulted from a failed suicide attempt.

Next is sad American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt (left)--admire her posture, for she got it by being forced to wear a steel rod as a child to stand up straight).

Last but not least the Rana of Dholpur (below), who once won a train in a horse race.

Their pearls are real, but there's no reason not to mimic the look, on a more moderate scale following Coco's example.

How to Wear a Top Hat

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This now-unusual ladies' accessory was once standard issue for the sidesaddle riding habit, back in the latter half of the 19th century.

In more recent times, divas like Baker and Dietrich wore toppers as the crowning touch to a tuxedo, whose ultra-tight tailoring ensured that there was no mistaking the lady within.

Most recently, Dita von Teese has adopted the top hat, pitched low on the forehead.

To my eye, ladies' top hats look their best with a medium-high crown and a short veil. Keyword "side saddle habit" and you may come up with a gorgeous version.

Finding the right place to wear it is actually trickier than sourcing the hat. One option: a gig, or better, a music festival (as long as you don't block too much of the view). Another: on a gorgeous autumn walk in a fashionable city park, horse optional.

(photo at top sourced from Corsets and Crinolines).