Emmanuelle Alt Got the Jeans Memo

I love this look on Emmanuelle Alt. Photo by Tommy Ton.

Okay, let’s face it, Emmanuelle wrote the jeans memo. She could be the poster girl for Adrienne and I to promote “How I Wear My: Jeans” for November. And how does EA wear them? If like above, she pairs skinny black cropped (and cuffed!) denim with a quilted and belted black leather jacket (love love love), kitten heels, natural hair, and Cartier watch. She wore this ensemble during Paris Fashion Week last month.

I am convinced only EA could pull this off and still look so cool. Photo by YoungJun Koo.

She also wore this ensemble during Paris Fashion Week, featuring cuffed jeans, a white shirt, no belt (!), and black high heels. Sometimes I feel like she’s the only one who could get away with this particular version. I have to admit that I love that the editor-in-chief of French Vogue dresses this way. With all the crazy things people wear during fashion week it seems subversive and wonderful for EA to don a regular ol’ pair of blue jeans and a white shirt.

Do send a picture to me, or Adrienne, or to our email account [email protected] showing how you wear your jeans. We are accepting pictures until November 5. Join us!

From Philadelphia to Monaco: Grace Kelly - Beyond the Icon

I love this look on Grace!

The popular Grace Kelly exhibit that has gone from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London to the Bendigo Art Gallery in Australia to the McCord Museum in Montreal finally made its way to the United States. From Philadelpha to Monaco: GRACE KELLY - Beyond the Icon opens today at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA, about 50 minutes outside of Philadelphia. On display will be personal objects belonging to Grace on loan from the Palace of Monaco and the Grimaldi Forum, which will illustrate her life through letters, photographs, awards, film clips, and couture fashion.

H. Kristina Haugland’s wonderful book accompanied the V&A exhibit.

A wonderful feature, unique to this museum, will be the series of talks given by H. Kristina Haugland, the Le Vine Associate Curator of Textiles and Costumes at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She curated the 2006 exhibition celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Grace & Rainier’s wedding, and is the author of Grace Kelly: Icon of Style to Royal Bride, as well as one of my favorite fashion books, Grace Kelly Style. She will give 3 different lectures on Grace Kelly’s style, on November 7, 14, and 21, from 7 to 8PM, and I’m telling you, attendees are in for a treat! She is so knowledgeable about the elements of Grace Kelly’s look and entertaining to boot, as I found out firsthand when I interviewed her for my article on Grace Kelly’s namesake Hermès handbag.

Grace’s Kelly as seen in the V&A exhibit. I hope it is on display at the Michener Museum!

Same book as above, now available in paperback!

I’m sure the exhibit—and Ms. Haugland’s lecture series—will be sellouts. No one did it quite like Grace Kelly and the legend (and interest in her) endures.

From Philadelphia to Monaco: GRACE KELLY- Beyond the Icon is at the James A. Michener Art Museum from October 28, 2013 through January 26, 2014.

James A. Michener Art Museum
138 S. Pine Street
Doylestown PA 18901
215-340-9800

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

Jean Paul Gaultier.

Gaultier threw down the gauntlet.

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, opening today at Brooklyn Museum, marks a turning point in how major fashion exhibitions will be presented in the future, as well as the reach they can have. Making its way to Brooklyn after stops in Montreal, where it originated, followed by Dallas, San Francisco, Madrid, Rotterdam, and Stockholm, the show is a wild and imaginative romp through the mind of a fashion genius and one of the best I have ever seen.

Hello sailors! Easily my favorite part of the JPG show.

Amazing mannequins, the work of Jolicoeur International, and based on Gaultier’s wish to give the exhibit a theatrical aspect, talk, blink, and smile at you. They sing, they get sleepy, they close their eyes, and when they open them again, they look around the room. They are mesmerizing. It’s hard to imagine going back to seeing exquisite haute couture clothing—for women and men, another unique aspect of the exhibit—on featureless mannequins after seeing a show like this.

JPG talks to you in English, then in French.

I want to go to the party where people are dressed like this.

It is wild to watch the mannequins’ expressions change!

These virgins sing to you as you gaze upon them. Amazing!

This 2007 gown is of gloss-finish guipure lace and silk tulle... 

...and took 180 hours to make.

Gaultier noted in his remarks to the press that the exhibit was organized not chronologically but thematically, by things he loved. “The Odyssey,” for example, presents sailors and sirens and virgins, the trademark themes he has returned to repeatedly over his long career. “The Boudoir” brings us into the lingerie wardrobe Gaultier so loves and has done better than anybody else, featuring his beloved—and gorgeous!—corsets and cone bras. The combination of masculine and feminine are intertwined throughout the seven galleries, another theme Gaultier has always explored in his work.

A fan-style corset for a man.

Gaultier’s teddy bear, Nana, is at left, featuring the first cone bra he ever made!

A case of slowly-spinning corsets.

JPG and Madge, 1990. Photo by Herb Ritts.

You can’t talk about Gaultier without bringing up Madonna, and the impact the costumes he made for several of her world tours, most famously, Blond Ambition, cannot be overstated. It’s hard to imagine that the tour would’ve been the runaway success it was without Gaultier’s designs and the pale-pink iconic corset Madonna wore is, of course, on display. Look too for a sly set of Polaroids showing the material girl in costume fittings for the show.

Madonna’s iconic corset from the 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour.

Madonna tries on the suit and corset Gaultier made for her Blond Ambition tour, circa 1989-90.

JPG with his grandmother, circa 1958. I love these personal touches.

Among the sailor stripes, talking mannequins and spinning corsets, you will find—if you look for them!—snapshots of Gaultier with each of his grandmothers at different times in his life as well as the little teddy bear, Nana, wearing a cone bra Gaultier made for it as a child. These unexpected touches give the exhibit a personal feel. It’s not just a retrospective, it’s an entire world, one of inspiration and joy. You get a real sense of where Gaultier came from and what he loves.

A dress of beaded crepe georgette with cascade of lace veiling. Fabrication time: 105 hours.

“Flayed” print Lycra jersey body stocking, 2009, from the gallery “Skin Deep.”

Ensembles in lace and tulle, for men and women, also from “Skin Deep.”

Why yes, that IS Depeche Mode in Gaultier, circa 1997. Remember that lamé suit on Dave in “It's No Good”?

“Calligraphie” gown, fall/winter 2008-9, which took 295 hours to make!

In detail. I love the intricacy here. And that shade of green!

“La Mariée” haute couture wedding dress from fall/winter 2002-03.

JPG playfully points to “himself” for the photographers.

Gaultier, who is a delight to listen to, gregarious, charming, and fun, said it best when asked by a reporter what message he hopes the exhibit brings to people as it makes its way around the world.

“Show what you are; do not hide what you are.”

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk is on view at Brooklyn Museum through February 23, 2014.

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn NY 11238
718-638-5000

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I want it to get really cold outside so I can stay home and curl up with this book.

Donna Tartt’s third novel, The Goldfinch, is out today from Little, Brown and Company. I love Donna’s writing so much that she could pretty much write anything, even a grocery list, and I would buy it, read it, and revel in it. Her 1992 debut novel, The Secret History, knocked me out, it was so good, and remains right up there with The Great Gatsby as one of my two all-time favorite novels. I was a college student and a bookseller in San Diego when the store manager handed me an advanced reader’s copy of The Secret History one day at work. “Here,” he said, “this sounds like something you’d like.”

And how. The tale of elite college students in Vermont who murder one of their own is so well-written and erudite and haunting that I still have passages of it engraved on my brain, twenty-one years after I read it (and re-read it and re-read it).

Donna's hair belongs in the Bob Hall of Fame. It’s that good. Photo by Beowulf Sheehan.

I had long wanted to meet Donna Tartt but I don’t think she gave a reading in San Diego for The Secret History, at least that I knew about, so my next chance was in 2002 upon the publication of her second novel, The Little Friend. She gave a reading at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square in Manhattan. I had given birth to my first child about two weeks before so while I was there to hear Donna read—and she cuts an interesting and mysterious figure—I was new-mom exhausted and also couldn’t stop thinking of how cute my little son was! The line to have Donna sign a book after the reading was so long that I left and returned home to my new baby.

I did get to meet Donna a couple of months later, at a different reading in December. I brought along my advanced reader’s copy of The Little Friend which she signed thus:

My advanced reader’s copy of The Little Friend, signed by Donna.

I had also brought along a Christmas ornament as a present for Donna, to thank her for her wonderful writing. She really is one of the best. I find her work to be a bewitching combination of Dickens, crossed with Poe, and yet laced with a magic all her own. I can hardly wait to curl up with a box of truffles and a copy The Goldfinch. It weighs in at 771 pages! How’s that for slow fiction?

Donna will be giving a reading next week at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, right down the street from where I live. How exciting! You can bet I will be there.

Reservations are recommended for the reading, which is October 29, 2013 at 7:30pm at Congregation Beth Elohim on Garfield Place at 8th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Think of it as a grown-up (and sugar free) Halloween treat!

Blue Jasmine Accounting

A scene from Blue Jasmine with Peter Sarsgaard, Cate Blanchett, one gorgeous Birkin and one elegant Chanel!

I fully expect Cate Blanchett to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar (and hopefully win!) for her portrayal of Jasmine in Blue Jasmine. But I hope Suzy Benzinger also gets a nomination for Best Costume Design—I think it is so difficult to costume a modern movie, much more difficult than a historical or biopic, and she did it so well in Blue Jasmine. I read an interview with Suzy in The New York Times about costuming this movie and what she described is promo, which means asking designers to lend clothes. From my own talks with Hollywood costume designers Carol Ramsey and Catherine Marie Thomas I know promo adds an extra layer of difficulty to clothing an entire cast. Suzy deserves an Oscar even more!

Suzy said in the interview, as have commenters on various blogs, that she thought Jasmine wore her gorgeous gold Birkin like a shield. I didn’t think of the Birkin (or that beautiful Chanel jacket draped over her shoulders) as a shield so much as a security blanket and a Remembrance of Things Past. Jasmine’s life had been dismantled through the shady financial dealings of her husband and I felt she was gripping onto mementos from a happier and more prosperous (and yes, more blissfully ignorant) time in her past.

I love the sartorial contrast between Cate and Bobby. This is modern-day costuming at its best!

Which got me thinking.

Would I do the same? If I had to because of financial circumstances, would I sell the lovely things that have brought me happiness? Or would I hold onto them, Jasmine-style?

Of course, because I have kids my gut reaction is, You’d have to sell it all! I don’t actually own that much in the way of items that could fetch a lot at consignment, but here are a few things in my closet that I can’t see parting with, they mean too much to me.

My Mikimoto pearl studs. I’ve written about these earrings in the past. I gave birth to both of my children and ran both of my marathons (Memphis and New York City) wearing these earrings and I would never sell them!

My LV Neverfull tote with an MZ Wallace Hamish pouch (which I also love!).

My Louis Vuitton Neverfull Monogram Tote. Yeah, yeah, I know, people don’t like logos lately, and there is a trend, even at Louis Vuitton, toward more subtle branding these days, etc., but I don’t care what people say because here’s the truth: I love this bag so much. It is incredibly sturdy and so useful when I go on a trip. It carries a ton of stuff and holds up so well! I take care of it like I might sell it, I have the tags, dustbag, even the box and shopping bag it came in when I bought it, but like Jasmine and her Birkin, I would probably hold onto this bag. I think it will get even better with age!

Detail of Washington’s Carriage, a Cathy Latham design.

My first Hermès scarf. It was such a thrill to buy this with money that came from selling old boyfriend gold jewelry. I still love the colors and design so much that I could never sell it. Plus, the silk feels like heaven.

What about you? Do you own any special high-end items that mean so much to you that you would never part with them? Or could you jettison everything without a backwards glance if circumstances required it? I would love to hear your opinions on this topic!

And if you saw Blue Jasmine, do let me know what you thought of it.

DIY Chanel Jacket: An Interview with Claire Shaeffer

If you are sewing Claire Shaeffer’s Vogue Pattern V8804, for a Chanel-like cardigan jacket, and wish you could have Shaeffer herself show you how to, say, quilt the lining to the shell fabric or construct a three-piece sleeve, I’m happy to announce your wish has been granted! Shaeffer, couture sewing techniques expert, has penned a new book, Couture Sewing: The Couture Cardigan Jacket, Sewing Secrets from a Chanel Collector, which includes a DVD! Combined, Shaeffer will show you from start to finish how to make a Chanel-like jacket of your own.

Photo of Claire Shaeffer by Judith Neukam

From my chat with Shaeffer I can tell you that she is an expert on Chanel—not only the woman, but the house, its techniques, and its history. Her book is a must for every lover of Chanel, whether you are making Mademoiselle’s famous jacket or just want to learn about its meticulous couture details.

With brand-new Chanel jackets running in the four figures and up, plenty of sewers have thought of making their own, but the task can seem daunting, even to a sewing professional, so how did Shaeffer uncover the jacket’s design secrets?

“I never had access to their workrooms,” Shaeffer says of the Chanel atelier. Her repeated requests to make a visit were denied but that did not deter her from learning how the jackets are constructed. She looked at 200 Chanel suits and owns approximately 30 of them herself—from ready-to-wear to couture to copies. The extensive examination has given her impressive and deep knowledge of the techniques Chanel uses, and to pass on some of this expertise to readers, twelve of the jackets Shaeffer owns will be included in the book as a small portfolio, showing the design and fabric of each. Also included will be the names of designers at Chanel between 1971, when Coco died, and 1983, when Karl Lagerfeld began his long reign there. Another unique feature of the book will be a chapter on Chanel copies, which, back in Mademoiselle’s day, were sanctioned and a big business unto themselves.

V8804

As for a copy of your own, Shaeffer developed the jacket pattern V8804 with Vogue Patterns and wrote the instructions too, so if you take on the project under her tutelage and using her pattern you are in excellent hands. She has been sewing Chanel-like jackets since the mid-1970s. “Some were better than others,” she admits, “but it wasn’t until the mid-80s that I learned some of the techniques I had been taught were wrong. The most obvious is the faux buttonhole on lining or facing; it is not a true bound buttonhole.”

Features of V8804 include patch pockets and a chain weight sewn by hand.

Important questions for anyone wanting to make the jacket are: Do you need to have a lot of sewing experience before you attempt it? And just how long will it take? Shaeffer says it takes approximately 60-80 hours to sew the jacket, with all bastings. “Intermediate home sewers can make this jacket if they have patience and follow the directions without skipping steps,” she says.

The Chanel jacket of my dreams! Can I learn to make it myself?

What has Shaeffer learned about Coco herself during her long career of collecting, studying, and replicating so many Chanel garments? “Chanel was interested in the toile. The techniques probably came from the head of the workrooms. There’s a lot to be learned from the jackets because the design is relatively simple. Some of mine have no linings so you can see the construction inside.”

Her number one piece of advice to home sewers? She said it in a word: “Baste.”

Couture Sewing: The Couture Cardigan Jacket, Sewing Secrets from a Chanel Collector is out this month from Taunton Press.

Duchessa Jewels and Depeche Mode

Ready for the show!

I have been a big fan of Depeche Mode since I was 15 but hadn’t been to one of their concerts in over ten years. When I heard they were coming to NYC on their current Delta Machine tour and were skipping Madison Square Garden to play instead in the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn—practically in my backyard!—there was no way I could pass up a chance to see them live.

About three days before the show my friend Nerida, who lives in Hong Kong and writes the blog Art For Interiors, sent me one of her stunning Duchessa Jewels necklaces. I had posted the neon pink necklace to the “How I Wear My” Facebook page I co-host with Adrienne as a way to promote both Duchessa Jewels and “How I Wear My: Neon”. I was beyond touched when Nerida unexpectedly sent me one! As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I’d wear to see Depeche Mode. I paired it with a fun New York & Company striped shirt I’ve had for years, jeans, and black ankle boots.

The beautiful pink envelope above opens to this! Snaps hold the necklace in place. 

A detail of the necklace. I love the square setting.

The necklace is gorgeous—the neon pink square setting and very white Swarovski crystals pair so well together, each complimenting the other to make a really unique piece of jewelry. It definitely got looks all through the night! Head to Duchessa Jewels to see this necklace and the many others Nerida sells. They are fabulous!

The necklace, striped shirts on me and my hot date, and prosecco. Whee!

As for Depeche Mode, the concert was sold out, it was the first date night with my husband in forever, and it felt like a big dance party inside the Barclays Center. Depeche Mode still sound great, btw, they may be in their early 50s but they still got it! They played a great set of old and new songs and included one I never thought I’d hear performed in concert, “But Not Tonight”. If you want to read an in-depth review visit my new friend and fellow Depeche Mode lover Cyrillynn, who wrote about seeing them in San Diego on her blog Any Second Now (named for a Depeche Mode song!).

Depeche Mode.

Dave sounds better than ever.

I’m linking up with the foxy ladies over at Patti’s Visible Monday.