DIY Thursday: How to Give an Off-Trend Jacket Fresh New Style

Yesterday, this little number caught my eye in my local Oxfam. For £12/$20 it wasn't exactly a steal, but this is a fair price for an unworn, decently-made little wool jacket that could act as an instant updater for the other old standbys in my closet (plus add a layer to my always-freezing frame).

The biggest problem was its trendiness--back in 2007. The smock cut paired with oversize buttons tacked with cross-hatch stitching: pure Marc Jacobs. In the early noughties he nicked these style markers from the late-1950s (think Lucy Ricardo pregnant with Little Rickie). From his runways the look trickled down through the fashion strata, until every shop in the land featured a variation on the theme.



I'm not enough of a seamstress to change the basic silhouette (plus the volume appealled as an offsetter to skinny jeans and leggings). On the other hand, I could easily do something about those buttons. Off they came, replaced by a Deco-style pair that caught my eye in Aladdin's Cave shop of my local button lady.



Fifteen minutes of sewing time later, the jacket is no longer Marc's by way of some factory in Guangzhou, but mine. I'm having fun introducing it to various fixtures in my closet, like the polka-dot flamenco blouse, which needs toning down, and a classic denim shirt, which could use classing up.



This is a great kind of project if you can sew a button and want to stretch your wardrobe on the cheap. Remember: if a button is making you fashion history, it's the easiest part of a garment to renovate.

The Indelible Stamp of Lowly Origin: New Fashion from Alexander McQueen

Take a deep breath:

the Alexander McQueen Spring '10 slideshow, from The New York Times.

It's flat-out rapturous. The inventiveness of the fabrication, cut, and decorative effect pretty much defies description, but here goes anyway.

Nature, with her mantles and protoplasmic frills and scale patterns, clearly provided the main inspiration. Armor, armoured sportsgear, and antique corseting may have kicked over some structural ideas. Despite all of the over-the-top-ness of the display, the brilliance of the collection, for me, is the sense that every piece is as fit to its role as a bird's feathers, or a moth's wing.

[except the shoes. nevermind.]

Please keep this man in business. Buy retail if you can afford it. If you can't, keep his clothes out of the landfills by having a look through vintage outlets and online sources. I came across this jacket, which is gorgeous, fairly priced, and again indebted to nature (though in this case DNA provided the pattern rather than a talented CAD designer).

That's it for me: I'm going to watch the livestream.

Trendcycling: Shorts and Black Tights Then and Now

Up top, a photo of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg happily in love, sometime in Paris in the 70s.

And, proving that the black tights with denim shorts is a trend with legs, below is model Frida Gustavsson, shot by Craig for the Altamira: Models Off Duty blogspot about two weeks ago (LOTS of great off-duty styling seen here).



Frida's over-the-knee socks are a nice twist on the look, and I think Jane's Mary Janes look superfine.

How to Wear It: Brogues without Socks

The subject of shoes is sticking like a piece of gum on this blog's foot. Almost instantly after I commit to words the hastily-formed thought that brogues aren't ideal as sensible footgear as they risk looking mannish, that pesky Sartorialist posts a gorgeous photograph of his wife proving me totally wrong in a traditional pair, worn without socks.

Mr. Schuman has been personally responsible, I believe, for a trend among fashionable men of wearing their oxfords without hose of any sort (click through his blog, especially shots from Italy, to see). Are ladies next? If they all look as good as Garance, you can bet on it.

More traditionally, here are Norma Shearer (above), and Katherine Hepburn (below) in brogues, practicing safe socks.



If you opt in--and given the Sartorlialist's current sway over fashion, you well might--good brogues, built to last, are fairly easy to find in vintage outlets--check out boys' versions if your feet run average to small.

(photo of Norma Shearer from the ravishing Seraphic Secret blog; photo of Katherine Hepburn from Disco Nap London, many thanks!)

And If You Thought The Last Entry Was Lame: How About a Mojito Sandal

Hard on the heels of Topic: Sensible Shoes comes this article from the Daily Mail, about an architect who's gone back to the drawing board with conceptual shoe design. Like many women I must be addled on the subject of footgear because I find these sandals by Julian Hakes gorgeous. Wonder if he has any prototypes kicking around the studio . . .

(photo © Hakes Associates Ltd, in www.dailymail.co.uk)

Sensible Shoes

You saw right. In the mainline fashion sector this subject is anathema (meaning unsexy, unhip, unspeakable) but let's get real for a moment.

You can't move freely in fashionable heels if you need to cover any sort of distance on a non-carpeted surface.

So this entry is devoted to that most retro of subjects, a shoe you can spend a day walking in, comfortably, without blisters, sore arches, strained back, or other grumpy-making side effects. The kind of shoe that is casual, but stylishly so, and doesn't default into the most obvious alternatives, which for me rules out ballet flats, trainers/sneaks, and Uggs (all of which also fall short to one degree or another in weather-resistance, elegance, and/or durability).

So what's left? Possibly brogues. Impeccable comfort, handsome, but let's be honest, kind of mannish. You could play against this by pairing them with matching-color knee-high socks and a skirt, but only if you're coltish (filly-ish?). Plus you have to tie them, which, insanely, can be a dealbreaker, at least for me, when rushing around choosing which pair of shoes to wear out the door.

Tods-style driving mocs are also very nice, but the leather is too soft, and the soles too nubby to support a day's walking, which is what we're talking about here.

So that's leaves loafers. Uncool (unless worn by Alexa Chung for about ten minutes last year) but the right ones might get you thinking otherwise.

Tasselled, penny-slotted or plain-top is a matter of preference. No matter what the sort, loafers in general seem more easily found, in excellent shape, secondhand than on the high street or at the mall. Certain old-school manufacturers did them brilliantly, and are worth seeking out by name: like Etienne Aigner (my new/old ones above, eBay $17), Joan & David (main line, not Circa), of course Gucci and Hermés, and Ralph Lauren. "Made in Italy" in the description is a good tip-off that the quality will be high.

Shop carefully, and you could find a brilliant lightly-worn or unworn pair for a fraction of their actual value. And the worth?

How about appreciating, unreservedly, Henry David Thoreau's observation that "Heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads."

Just Daft

Every once in a while a fashion ad comes along that's so ridiculous I simply can't leave it alone. What's wrong with the Stella McCartney shot above?

a) The model is sitting in a PATCH OF NETTLES (click to see).
b) The bark on the tree will snag that beautiful chantilly lace to tatters.
c) The fox, Blossom the skunk, the little birdie, and the owl are all carnivores--which runs counter to McCartney's vegetarian principles.
4) An utterly beautiful photograph has been invaded and rendered illegible by kitsch cartoon squatters.

Who thought this was a good idea?