Style Icon: Alexandra Golovanoff

Thought it was due time I share another one of my girl crushes/style icons with ya. Alexandra Golovanoff, the host of the French TV show La Mode, La Mode, La Mode (a name which could never be pulled off on American TV. Not punny enough/at all.)

What I like: her slightly Russian features, beachy blonde hair, and seemingly permanent smoky eye. And her style. Though I'm a fan-turned-imitator of the minimalist French way of uniform dressing, I like how Golovanoff doesn't do a strict pant-shirt-heel combo and instead mixes and matches prints, textures, and silhouettes. Although many of her outfits seem to be straight off the runway (ie. Celine Spring 2014), her choices reflect a certain boldness and creativity that isn't very typical of what you see on the heavyweights of French street style. But then again, she's a front-of-camera television star, not an editor. Whatever, food for thought below.

Doesn't she make you want to go blonde?!?

Images via: Vanessa Jackman, Vogue.it, Glamour Paris,

The Utilitarian Dress

My sister and I have become obsessed with the concept of the shift dress recently. We made moodboards on both a physical cork board and Pinterest for the shift dress of our dreams, which is a vague prototype of a 1997 Liz Claiborne sleeveless dress that my sister wore until puberty and that my mom wears to this day. Though a crew neck shift dress would make the ideal weekday uniform, I've seen a another style of sixties dress on the Spring 2015 runways with a practical cut that I could definitely get behind. I'm not sure what the exact term is called, but it resembles a men's henley in t-shirt dress form with a military and utilitarian vibe. It's the half button-down tomboyish front that gets me, and I'll take with or without collar. It reminds me of the shirt that Jude Law wears in Cold Mountain, ya know? 

Derek Lam Spring 2015, image via Style.com

Marc Jacobs Spring 2015, image via Style.com

Image via Pinterest

On Gauchos and Culottes

Even though I'm not the least bit a part of it--though I did spend this past Saturday shuffling samples to and from a showroom in Chelsea and the Bowery Hotel (that was fun and glamorous, totally jk)--fashion week in New York always excites me. I feel like the city comes alive with the promise of new clothes and fresh trends. I probably wouldn't feel so closely entwined in the happenings on and off the runway if it weren't for Style.com, which I've been going to every hour for the past week to see what's coming down the runways and who's wearing what on the street.

One of the trends I'm most looking forward to is the culotte and its close relative, the gaucho. Denim, khaki, suede, whatever. The material is negligible as long as the wide-legged pant is present. Worth pointing out that my roommates and I were LITERALLY just talking about how jersey gauchos were an offensive trend (made extra worse by VPLs) that we all fell victim to sometime between 2005 and 2007. I'm also 97% sure my one of my roommates kept her tween gauchos and now wears them as pajama pants. Please verify, Ellen.

My roommate's choice of pant in 2014 aside, I wonder if the gaucho/culotte trend can acceptably look good when worn with flats or sneakers, or do they have to be worn with heels? Granted, they look really fricken cool when worn with heels, but do realistic young millennials comme moi really have the lifestyle of a heels and gaucho-wearing laday? Yeah...no. Luckily I have until spring to figure it out, although I can always wear them with my CLOGS!

Images from Style.com: J.Crew, MM6 Maison Martin Margiela, Delpozo (to be honest, totally cannot tell if this last one is a pant or a skirt, but I guess that's the allure of a wide-legged pant.)

Parisian Street Style

There's something about Parisians that make them inherently style-conscious. Whatever it is, it rubs off on all of us non-Parisians when we're here. The sweaters I once deemed to ratty and the white shirts too stained are all of a sudden at the top of my to-wear list. Paris fashion week is less of a circus (I love stealing that from Suzy Menkes) than is New York, which ironically means it's much more enjoyable to people watch and style stalk the fashionmongers (argh, is that the right use of that word?). I'd rather gawk at people whose style is worth emulating than those who are dressed for the sake of being photographed, ya know?

Yeah, yeah, Parisians wear black, but I've been seeing a lot of black, navy blue, and grey mixed together. This looks especially sophisticated when the navy blue item in question is a cocoon or trench coat. Lots of trousers and slacks as well, which look casual with a graphic tee or a plaid button down. I can't stop feasting my eyes on people's shoes--which tend to be either flat or wedged sneakers, heeled booties, or oxfords. Worth noting everyone and their mother is wearing white Nike Air Maxs.

Below, some street style shots of the fshn elite dressing v. Parisian.

First three photos from Harper's Bazaar, last three courtesy of moi. 

In Which I Buy an Impulse Ticket to Paris

You know how crazy people don’t realize that they’re crazy, and they perceive their actions as normal? I think I’m in one of those situations.

A few Mondays ago, the blog got an invitation from a PR girl (not me, another one) for a few shows at Paris fashion week. I initially laughed it off and thought about how cray cray it’d be if I went, but then I fell into a trance imagining myself walking through the streets of Paris wearing winter white and double fisting almond croissants, so I pulled a Frances Ha and bought the plane ticket. I blame myself for being an emotionally volatile 23-year-old, and the person who acronymed yolo, because honestly, yo-the eff-lo. 

I’ve found some rationality in my impulse decision, the first being that in the same way you don’t play hard to get with a guy who’s hard to get, if you get the semblance of an invitation to Paris fashion week, you go to Paris fashion week (pretentious sentence No. 1).

The other reasons why it’s absolutely imperative that I go to Paris include: I have to get mustard for my dad because his favorite is a generic one that can only be found at Carrefour; I left my favorite pair of Superga sneakers at my host mom’s house two years ago and I might want to see if they’re still there, though maybe not because my relationship with her went downhill really fast once we both realized that my acne medication was bleaching her towels. Also, I’d love to get my laptop back from the person who stole it from a Paris library because it has valuable footage of my friends and me in character as TRL hosts giving a Cribs-style tour of our sophomore year dorm and lip syncing to Enya.

This post isn’t really going anywhere but to reveal my inherent kookiness, so here’s my packing list. I’m two percent confident that anyone other than me will find the contents of my suitcase interesting, but the fun thing about blogs is that if you don’t like what you’re reading, you can click yourself away.

• The Diary of Anne Frank: I get anxious if I find myself in a public place/on transportation without a book, which is why I absentmindedly grabbed Anne Frank off my bookshelf while rushing out of my apartment a few weeks ago. I still haven’t finished it, so Anne Frank is coming avec moi.

• My nugget flip phone: Verizon isn’t international in the slightest, so I’m bringing my pay-as-you-go French flip phone. I just checked and the last text message in my inbox is from 2012 and from the girl I babysat apologizing for biting me. #startedfromthebottom?

• Black jeans, white jeans, grey sweater, chambray shirt, white button down shirt. Every piece can be worn together, so that’s like, a million outfits. 

• A pair of black trousers because you never know when you might have a job interview

• White leather high tops and my Chelsea booties

• A scarf because #france

• My dad’s chapeau

• Raw almonds in case I run out of money and have to go paleo out of urgency

• My European hair straightener even though it’s entirely responsible for the small bald spot on the top of my head.

• My FitBit (JK, it got recalled)

• Not my North Face backpack. Maybe this Claire Vivier bag if I can rack up enough $$ within the next couple of hours. 

Patterned Pants: Silk Edition

Of all the email newsletters that I receive in my inbox, one of my favorites is Citizen Couture, although I guess it really isn't a newsletter because its contents are limited to a single street style photo. It doesn't come at the usual mid-morning time as most blasts. It usually comes in the middle of the night, which means that when I unconsciously check my email at four am (digital digital get down, bad habit), I have a lovely street style photo to gloss my eyes over.

Example: This photo came at 3:03 am on February 19. I effing love Rachel Nguyen's oufit--especially what appears to be silk pants. Also, she makes me want to go blonde. I'm going to do it. One day. 

Below, a silk panted outfit:

Vince sweater, J.Crew café capri, J.Crew denim jacket, Jenni Kayne D'Orsay flat, Zara bucket bag, Derng bracelets

#NYFW: T by Alexander Wang and Ralph Lauren

 My bootleg coverage of #NYFW continues today with a couple of brief notes.

• The T by Alexander Wang collection includes most of my favorite trends: puff outerwear, trendy sweatpants, leather leggings, exposed underwear (an unintentional favorite), cable knit sweaters, and what appears to be tweed coats, but I wouldn't know because I didn't see it in the flesh. Though some of the looks also prove that when one wears all of their favorite things at once, the result is a sight for sore eyes.

• One of my shallow and non-urgent goals in life is to live a lifestyle that absolutely requires me to wear Ralph Lauren gowns to dinner. This would be easy if my father were Lord Grantham, but he's not. Clearly I've over-consumed Masterpiece Classics by associating Downton Abbey with Ralph Lauren. And Laura Linney. Anyway, Ralph Lauren collections always kind of look the same, but I still like them for being so effing elegant. Also, I do love winter white and good beret (#seeyousoonParis). 

All photos via Style.com

#NYFW: All the Pretty Dresses

My sister in both life and blogging asked me yesterday (over gchat) what type of clothing I would design if I were a fashion designer. I figured her response would be sweaters given that she's spent her post-work hours of late blogging about knitted tops. My response was dresses for the simple reason that some dresses are just. so. pretty. Like a silver fox, sometimes I just can't stop staring at a pretty dress. 

Here are some dresses from #NYFW thus far that answer the ultimate question that goes through my mind sometimes/rarely/never: If I were going to the Academy Awards, what would I wear? 

Delpozo via Style.com

Reem Acra via Style.com

Badgley Mischka via Style.com

Dennis Basso via Style.com

Lela Rose via Style.com

#NYFW: Belted Coats

Okay, my fashion week coverage has been pretty minimal thus far as all I've done is complain about the insanity that has become street style. So, let's talk about da clothes. I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about the jacket plus belt phenomenon, but if the runway shows are any indication of future trends (which, duh, they are) fall/winter is leaning towards the belted jacket rather than the jacket plus belt (there's a sub-tle difference, you guys). Either way, I do love the way a belt cinches an otherwise concealed waist on an oversize coat.

Altuzarra via Style.com

The Row via Style.com

Delpozo via Style.com

10 Crosby Derek Lam via Style.com

Str33t Styl3

Guys, street style has really come to bother me. This is frustrating because there's not much I'd rather do on the internet than click through pictures of strangers wearing stylish clothes. With every iteration of fashion week, street style becomes more outrageous and less realistic. If the original point of street style photos was to capture fashionably ordinary people on city streets, then it has completely lost sense of its purpose. I know that fashion week doesn't necessarily attract ranks of relatively normal people, but some of the street style pictures I've seen from #nyfw thus far reveal that fashion show attendees are either wearing designer lewks straight off the runway or the most absurd, attention-grabbing outfits they own, both of which aren't things relatively normal people would wear. Street style pictures, generally speaking, aren't capturing the impeccable personal style of strangers on the street like they used to.

I'd rather look at pictures of Reese Witherspoon and Naomi Watts going to yoga class than some of the street style pictures from fashion week.

First two images from Style.com, second two from Racked NY.

The Jacket Plus Belt

While clicking through the street style looks that infiltrated my Twitter feed and every blog ever last week, I came across a new look that I can't wait to think about trying: the jacket plus belt. Not to be confused with the belted jacket, the jacket plus belt denotes a jacket worn with, well, a belt. The belted jacket implies that the belt came with the jacket, while the jacket plus belt suggests that the belt was added to the look as an afterthought. I've now typed out the words jacket and belt enough times to make me question the spelling of both words. Done.

I've seen it before on Emmanuelle Alt, and sure enough, she wore it again at last week's couture shows. The jacket plus belt look goes with the "my outfit rocks and I didn't even try" attitude that the French nail so well. Unsurprisingly, it was also seen in the Isabel Marant Spring 2014 collection. While Isabel Marant paired a belt with a fitted jacket, I think it looks best with a baggy jacket, à la Alt.

Image via Style.com 

Image via Studded Hearts

Image via Style.com

Thinking About Tartan

I've been thinking about tartan recently--among other, more substantial things. A lot of Brooks Brothers Black Fleece ads have been popping up in my daily reading outlets, often accompanied by a coupon offering $25 off a purchase of $100 or more, which would be a drop-everything-and-go-shopping deal at the Gap, but doesn't really amount to much chez Black Fleece.

Images via Google 

Anywhooze, I just consulted some street style shots from Paris Fashion Week, and this just in: tartan is cool. Thank the lamb, or whatever the Brooks Brothers logo is (pig? hog?). It seems like the tartan trend is a natural progression from the plaid shirts of the grunge hype, but it looks more put together and wool-y. I suspected tartan's rise since the Chanel Métiers d'Art show in Edinburgh last winter, and I couldn't be happier because in the deep dark days of February I'm more often than not inclined to leave my house wearing the wool blanket that's been in my family room since 1995--if I have to leave the house at all. (JK, not a hermit).

For your viewing pleasure (readers, are you there? it's me, a blogger), heeeerree's #tartan.

First three images via The Styleograph, last one from Style.com

Pants and Heels, Pants and Heels

I blame Isabel Marant, the French, and their evangelism for a simple pant and heel. They make it seem so easy. In her Wall Street Journal interview last month, Marant emphasized that all of her own outfits are variations of a trouser-sweatpant-heel look. They are, and so it seems is every one of the so-called French Voguette's. I've been thinking about buying a sturdy pair of heels to wear with jeans, but then I consider that I wouldn't be able to take myself seriously if I wobbled out the door in the morning in a pair of stilettos (neither would my older roommates, read: my parents).

The influx of street style fotos from London Fashion Week confirms that the pant and heel look is here to stay, especially with a pair of hyper-casual jeans (patched jeans!). I'm excited about it, even if my tendency to conjure outfits a day in advance has already committed me to wearing my Vans slip ons today.

Images via Google image

Images via style.com

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