Pucci Prints Know No Season

Need a shot of glam to get you through several feet of snow? Have a shoe size that is, shall we say, substantial? Have $249.99 in loose change to spare? (yeah, me neither).

Even if none of the above is true, aren't these slushcutters just splendid. They've cheered my Monday morning immensely, and pricey though they are, they're a lot less expensive than a week in Ticino.

A Closer Look at Mr. John

Am thinking today about hatmaker Mr. John, and how peculiar it is that this stellar designer from America's midcentury has fallen into near total obscurity. Perhaps if we all continued to wear hats as beautifully as Mad Men's Trudie Campbell does here his name would remain emblematic of all that was chic in the American style.

Himself a German with a background in medicine and art, John Pico Harberger came to the States in 1919 and set up shops in New York, Miami, and Palm Beach. Over his long, long career his most noteworthy achievements were designing the millinery for Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot, and winning countless awards, including fashion's highest honor, the Coty American Fashion Critics Award. His clients included Greta Garbo, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and the Duchess of Windsor.

As a dictator of style, he was a master of propaganda:

"A hat cannot actually give one golden curls if the hair is mouse-colored and stringy; it cannot lift a face, pay overdue bills, subtract ten years from one's age, or transform a plain soul into a reigning princess. But it can lend practically any woman a temporary out-of-herself feeling. For the right hat creates a desired mood, and that isn't fiction or fancy, but fact, fact, fact."

I suspect the man would be less than pleased to see his creations for sale on eBay, but so they are, and well undervalued they are too. Case in point: this ravishing feather toque, complete with a box that itself is so wonderfully evocative of its age and station.




I'd say a Mr. John revival is well overdue.

And Why NOT Make a Bag Out of . . . .

Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but, unlikely as it sounds, you can make a damn cute bag out of an old vinyl record album.

I can't think of a better way to accessorize a rockabilly outfit--shake it up baby!

What's That About? Peter Pan Collar

This photo of actress Carey Mulligan reminded me of how wonderful a peter pan collar can look given a great set of bones and a charming refusal to kowtow to notions of how much bare skin a young woman in the public eye actually owes that eye. I'm not sure if Mulligan is consciously channeling Audrey but either way she's doing a fine job.

But about the collar. How odd is it that it is named after a character who, in J.M. Barrie's own words, "was clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that flow from the trees" -- i.e., nothing so restraining as an actual neckband.

Online sources are scant as regards the precise origin of the term, but it's safe to say that this style had its heyday among girls and teens in the 1950s, when, worn peeking over the neckline of a cardigan, possibly with a set of starter pearls, it was emblematic of chaste good grooming.

As for Peter himself, chaste he may have been by default, but good grooming? Most unlikely.


(photo of Carey Mulligan from the Frisky, photo of Audrey Hepburn from Doctor Macro's High Quality Movie Scans, Peter Pan illustration from Wikimedia, many thanks to all.)

Exercise in Utility: Double Hole Canvas Belts

The "utility look" is big fashion news this spring, with everyone from Gap to Galliano going for epaulets and grommets in a big way.

The concept isn't new, of course--khaki and sand-colored cotton reappear perennially under the names "safari look," or "military look,"--but the genius this time around is in fashion having lit on a term that sounds hip and economically-mindful at the same time. Utility! Yeah, I need more of that!

You probably have a lot of this kind of stuff already. There's only one item that seems to me a must, if you care about trend-riding to any degree, and that is a two-holed canvas belt, like the one issued by Burberry above. (Aside--I love how bleached the model looks in this photo--not just her hair, but the whole package, as if she'd been plucked from the deadwood on a windy beach somewhere).

Anyway, the belt. Burberry's version will run over £125/$200. An army-surplus version will be two decimal points cheaper. Burberry's hardware and canvas will be much nicer, obviously, but if, as they say, it's all about utility, the secondhand versions can do it, yes they can.

(photo by David Sims in American Vogue, January 2010)

Fashion DIY: How To Make Lace Leggings

So Yves Saint Laurent was in a lace-leggings frame of mind for the house's Resort 2010 collection, as the pumpkin versions at left demonstrate. While store-bought lace leggings are all well and good, is it wholly necessary to buy a dedicated pair WHEN, as often as not, lurking in the closet, are the makings of much the same thing, in the guise of an old pair of lace tights that for one reason or another rarely get worn?

Once the toe-caps have been snipped off these do a remarkably good imitation of the more finished versions. Just grab a sharp pair of scissors, cut approximately at the ball of the foot, and pull on, adjusting from the top rather than the bottom.







Black lace is nice at night (a bit too 80s Madonna for my taste for day). And perfect for spring: a pair of pastel or nude leggings, for a barely-there lacy look, along the lines of what Marc Jacobs was showing here. For whatever reason lace tights in unusual colors are frequently found in the bargain basket at secondhand stores--see if you come across a pair you can transform.

From the Street to the Fourth Floor: Trainers Take Harvey Nichols

Harvey Nichols, one of London's great department stores, has just introduced their Fourth Floor Project, which, along the lines of Paris's Colette, is dedicated to achingly hip merchandise, from handbags to phones. One of the floor's standout features is a trainer wall for ladies only, filled with sneaks by high-end designers going street, among them Christian Louboutin's £660/$1070 gold-studded white high-tops.

High-design trainers are fantastic, as these recent snaps from Barcelona show. But do they need to cost in triple digits? Don't think so. Below are some pairs picked pretty much at random from Etsy, in great condition (obv. a critical requirement for vintage footgear)--high-top Jordaches from back in the day, some adorable Liz Claiborne slip-ons that play into the whole color-block thing going on, and these great great New York Transit neon sneaker/brogues.




A girl can never have too many foot-friendly shoes--and in the vintage world, £660 will nab you quite a few.