Faux Furry Fall Fashion...I Think Not and OMG...Jackie O's Opinions

I know that all of you know that fur is everywhere this season,
not just by collection but by physical placement; on hems, on cuffs, on shoulders, on hats, etc.
And following the couture designers, the trend has dissipated down stream...as it always does... to the faux fur used in the ready to wear - bridge level of apparel. 

Speaking of Faux, last Fall my Aussie peep, Faux Fuchsia, sported a fabulous black fur vest.  

Here she is from last November looking so ultra glam in her  fur gilet vest thingamy
and so put together...note the way that her nail polish matched the border of her Hermes scarf...amazingly chic.

Since I saw her photos I've wanted to find a fur vest to wear this Winter because it seemed like a practical solution for staying warm in Los Angeles.  I have quite a few fur coats, but honestly they aren't that easy to wear in LA. 

So...onto the internet I went in search of Faux Fuchsia's fabulous fur.
But sadly, this is what I found at Bloomingdales.com.

These vest look like something that the cat dragged in, don't they.
I am so perplexed...why would any designer think that these were attractive?
I don't know about you but I wouldn't be caught dead in any of these fashion faux pas.
So...if anyone knows where I can get something like FF's vest, which I assume is mink with a fox collar please let me know.

By the way, there is something else that I am perplexed about.
Why did Caroline Kennedy release the audio tapes of her mother's interview from way back in the day? Was it a FOIA thing?
Here are some of Jackie Kennedy's quotes.
On MLK: “A Phony.”
On Charles De Gaulle: “An egomaniac.”
On Indira Gandhi: “A real prune — bitter, kind of pushy, horrible woman.”
On Clare Booth Luce and Madame Nhu, sister in law of Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam’s president: “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were lesbians.”
On why “violently liberal” women preferred Adlai Stevenson to her husband: “Because they were afraid of sex.”


Personally, I rather liked reading the personal opinions of the real Jackie Kennedy, post her Camelot period and when she seemed to be off her meds.
She put up with a lot being married to Jack Kennedy and she was always gracious in her public role as First Lady.  She was certainly entitled to her snarky private opinions.
But Clare Booth Luce a lesbian?
Where did that come from?

Fall Fashion 2011 - More Mid-Century

I know that those Aussie babes FF and SSG are all over the Missoni thing this Fall
but I'm kind of excited about the Mad Men trend at Banana Republic

After seeing this new B-Rep ad campaign

and Beladora vintage brooches all over the September issue of ELLE it seems apparent that Mid-Century looks will be in style this Fall and Winter

And do I ever love this look!
But why do the B-Rep hemlines have to be so high? 
Two inches longer would have been so much more chic.

I kinda of think that B-Rep copied my Adriana Papell dress

 Don't you?
I wonder if they are borrowing my estate jewelry looks too?

Mabe Pearl and Diamond Earrings in 14K from Beladora2.com

 

Blue Topaz and Diamond Ring in 14K from Beladora2

 
Banana Republic clothes and Beladora 2 vintage jewelry make a good pair
Are you starting to shop yet for Fall?
 
But since Summer is still here, I'm hoping for a hot and sunny weekend.
What are you up to this weekend?

Fall 2011 Jewelry Trend - Vintage Brooches

I just opened my new issue of ELLE magazine
and look what I found!!!!

Vintage Brooches from you know where

Check out the Beladora Press Page to see more jewelry in the fashion press

and on the red carpet

And, there's going to be more coming up this Fall!

Going Short and Long This Fall

I bet that you think that I'm talking about shorting US bonds and going long gold
but I'm not.
I'm talking about two fashion trends that I can finally get excited about
shorts and longer hem lengths for dresses!

I would totally wear this pair of shorts this fall

See by Chloe shorts at Neiman Marcus $260

and this dress

David Meister dress at Neiman Marcus $390

What trend are you looking forward to this Fall?

(As you can imagine, chez the HQ things have been going a little crazy with the price of gold rocketing over $1700 today.  Is gold going to $2000?  Who knows...but I wouldn't be shorting it right now.)



How To Wear Estate Jewelry - Shades of Gray For Summer

I'm not ignoring you...really I'm not.
It's just that I've been busy, really busy.

For some reason it's been a celebrity filled week
and...I'm still waiting for Lady Gaga's people to get back to my people...
you know how those things go.

I had wanted to post about the new Chanel collection
a Byzantine beauty if I ever saw one

but Tabitha beat me to it...and added poetry!
So go read her post.

Here at the HQ, we love to see jewelry worn on the head
so the diadems in these ads are especially appealing.
Also, have you noticed the recent Harry Winston and Van Cleef ads for diamond barrettes?
That is the trend in jewelry
along with vintage brooches
You heard it here first.

Summer may have officially started but it is still gray, foggy and cold every morning
and while I'd love to whip out the summer whites and pastels,
I'm still wearing winter colors like this charcoal gray

Luckily, it matches my Beladora pearl jewelry

 Mikimoto Tahitian and Akoya "Pearls in Motion" Earrings in 18K $1250

 Mikimoto Tahitian and Akoya "Pearls in Motion" Necklace in 18K $2250

Van Cleef & Arpels Mother of Pearl and Diamond Butterfly Brooch $4250

God I look old and tired in this shot

Hopefully botox and a beach vacation will be coming up in my near future!

Design Day Monday

It's Design Day Monday chez BHB
La Brochanteuse has brought us garden design from her trip to the Chateau Villandry

The formal parterre...lovely isn't it

wow, talk about fresh local ingredients

with a vegetable garden like this, you could practically feed an entire village

From her post
An imaginative twentieth century re-creation of a renaissance castle garden. The moated Chateau dates from c1536 and had a formal garden in the eighteenth century. The present garden dates from the years after 1906 when it was bought by a Spaniard, Dr Joachim Carvallo. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, he wished the garden to have a sixteenth century character. Great horticultural skill was deployed, especially in the use of vegetables. An arbour of grape vines leads to a great parterre, conceived as a Garden of Music. On the other side of the canal is a Garden of Love. Symbolising the moods of love, it looks rectangular from the chateau but is actually trapezoid. The aesthetically designed vegetable garden is based on an illustration from Du Cerceau's Les plus excellents bastiments de France (1576). Despite its origins, Villandry is the work of a twentieth century imagination.

And then we have interior design from Dwell
with a Mid-Century meets Manhattan Beach at the home of Matt Jacobson and Kristopher Dukes.

I love the minimalist approach in a town full of millionaires and their beachside Mcmansions.

And then we have graphic design with the work of Paul Crifo, the master of the movie poster.
I found these images on the Mr Movie Poster page on Facebook
Here is some of his better known work

and some of his less known work

a fashionable gent from the 1950s

and equestrian art

Of course we must mention fashion design
with the new Fall collection from Akris at Bergdorf Goodman

Now I know that Akris clothes are manufactured in Switzerland
but with the cashmere jacket priced at $3990, the top at $995 and the pants at $895
are these clothes handmade with spun gold by Gnomes, Heidi and William Tell himself?

And finally we get to the really important part of this post...jewelry design
Here is my new favorite piece

 an important sapphire, diamond, mother of pearl and black onyx cuff bracelet

my photos don't do justice to how awesome the piece is
because this bracelet is truly a work of art

It looks perfect with these mother of pearl and diamond earrings from Beladora.com
Happily... I have an an event to attend tomorrow night
you can probably guess what estate jewelry I will be wearing...

Chic Italian Style

I been praying to the fashion gods
could it be that they've heard me?
I'm not seeing the evidence of the answers to my fashion prayers on the runway yet
but these three women in Milan

photographed by The Sartorialist

are proudly wearing

knee length skirts!!!

I haven't seen evidence of a trend towards longer hem lengths,

except in a few of the Fall Collections.

But could this chic street look eventually influence what we see on the runways?

I certainly hope so.

Fräulein Fashion For Fall

On the topic of October, the month of both Oktoberfest and Halloween, I'm going to come out right now and admit that I love trachten. Trachten of course is the traditional dress of Austria and Bavaria.
I saw bits and pieces of tracht on Alpine vacations in Switzerland, but it took an excursion to attend Wagner's Ring Cycle in Munich to see serious trachten in action.  Each night at the opera the local grande dames would wear formal floor length dirndl gowns.  It was quite a sight.

Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, we have a trachten to do taking place in Munich where traditional trachten, in which each detail signifies which village the wearer is from, has been infiltrated by designer trachten. Trachten with a twist if you will.
Not being Austrian or Bavarian, I'm not tied to the traditional and I rather like the tracht with a twist.

I love the over the top mix of turquoise and purple in this dress.

And the rich colors in the farmer's daughter's version

And of course, you never know when you will need to don a dirndl for little ride through the meadow.
These fräuleins are wearing dirndls created by Lola Paltinger.
Public enemy No. 1 for this group is Lola Paltinger, a Munich transplant who grew up well outside Germany's tracht belt in the western German city of Mannheim. Ms. Paltinger creates dirndls from unorthodox fabrics such as leather that are sometimes cut shorter than the standard knee-to-ankle range. 
The designer says her dirndls are inspired by "a carefree joie de vivre, a playful romanticism and a touch of humorously delirious drama."
I don't think that the designer dirndl is going to become an international fashion trend and at $4000 per dress, they aren't easy to buy.  
But I still want one.

Fall Fashion 2010 - Not Feeling The Faux

I just received the new designer collection catalog from Nordstrom and I wanted to ask when did reliable, affordable and yes, slightly boring Nordstrom turn into Bergdorf Goodman?
I thought that Nordstorm was where you went to shop for Tahari and Calvin Klein not Proenza Schouler and Balmain.
Well anyhoo the new designer catalog is out there and I don't mean in terms of design.
Take this Chanel coat, for example

Tweed coat with faux-fur trim, acrylic/cotton $8,555
OK, so add sales tax and you are north of $9,000 for a faux-fur coat
and let's not forget the matching bag

Faux-fur clutch with tweed detail, wool/acrylic/calfskin $2,795
Once again, add sales tax and this faux-fur clutch is north of $3,000
Who would pay these prices...no really I want to know....who?

My world is all about intrinsic value not ephemeral fashion meaning I break things down into the cost of the materials, how much did it cost to manufacture, etc.
and let's just say that I don't see $9,000 worth of intrinsic value in this coat.
Do you?

Vanity Fair- The September Issue

OK, I admit that I just wasn't all that interested in the Lady Gaga cover story but the photography by Nick Knight was stunning

and every other article in the September issue was stellar.

If you aren't a subscriber, go out and buy the magazine today.  No really, it has everything you want in summer magazine reading

from a profile of the exquisite Jacqueline de Ribes, the last queen of Paris

Here's a photo of Countess de Ribes looking a-ma-zing

to a story on the messy family fight over the estate of socialite/designer/playboy/licensor extraordinaire, Oleg Cassini, who bagged all the babes from Gene Tierney to Grace Kelly to Anita Ekberg

yet kept his 30 year marriage to Marianne Nestor a secret.

Here's Oleg with his "Top Girl" first wife, Gene Tierney.

to an article on sleazy Kenneth Starr and how he bilked his society and entertainment clients out of millions.  How did this man ever get his hands on Bunny Mellon's money?  I just love this quote "When your business manager marries a stripper" says one ruefull client, "that's a tell." Ya think?

Here's a photo of the fraudulent financial advisor and his fourth wife, stripper Diane Passage.

There's lots of other great stuff too including the the international best dressed list which I previously posted about, the preppy handbook rebooted, and Fall Fashion must haves with suggestions from fashion bloggers including The Trad.  (Admittedly I'm a little confused on why they didn't contact me for my opinion on jewelry trends...maybe next year. Sam, you know how to reach me)

Even the ads are awesome with fabulous Fall clothes.

Vanity Fair, job well done