I occasionally buy glossy fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. The clothes shown in these magazines are beyond the reach of most mortals, so I don’t read these magazines like catalogs. I am just looking for ideas — mostly, color combinations and new silhouettes. Even if I am going to reject the new shapes of the season (see, e.g., Crop Tops Rise from the Dead), I like to know what they are.
Somewhere, I came across this dress from Marni, except that the version I saw was black, ivory and navy blue.
That color combination — both the colors and the proportions of the color-blocks — seemed very chic to me, so I set to creating something similar from things that I already had.
I had a navy dress.
I had an ivory cardigan.
And I had this thing.
This thing is a fur collar. Don’t freak out. In the words of Cher Horowitz, “It’s totally faux.”
Put it all together and you get:
I wore this to work one day when my schedule included a political fundraiser. Had I looked at my calendar more carefully in advance, I would have worn something more conventional.
When I shook hands with the candidate, he insisted we’d met before. That’s always such an awkward thing; when someone you know you’ve never met insists that you have in fact met. Best to give in graciously (as I did), but what I wanted to say was, I think you’re confusing me with some other batty donor who runs around looking apres ski at inappropriate times in inappropriate places.
A couple of details that I don’t want to overlook.
Dress: Tory Burch; Cardigan: JCrew; Faux fur collar: Anthropologie (mine is old, but there is a nearly identical one available this year); Boots: Kenneth Cole; Bag: Coach Gramercy Satchel; Watch: Michele CSX
J’adore the faux fur Thing! You are a genius. That Thing deserves a Nobel prize for Thingness.
Now my work here is done.
I’m laughing at your comment about inappropriate apres ski attire—-but i’ll play the devil’s advocate and say I don’t consider this inappropriate. It’s a cardigan & dress (very conservative) and the fur collar is faux—and it is winter. Besides the colors are very conservative. And another besides….who wants to totally blend in? I think you look marvelous!! jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
I did a Google image search for “St. Moritz”; fur is prominent, and it’s not totally faux. Thank you, Jodie!
Love it! I don’t think it’s unconventional but then again, that’s contextual. Was everyone else wearing suits?
I get people faux-recognising me every week. I suspect I have a generic face or figure or bearing or something.
My most memorable ‘we’ve met before’, was when Jennifer Aniston, who I was interviewing when I was a journalist, insisted I’d met her before. It was on the tip of my tongue to say, ‘trust me, I’d know if I met YOU before’, but thought that would sound ungracious, so I smiled.
That’s a fantastic story. It’s like President Clinton insisting that you’ve been to the White House for dinner when you know you haven’t. Not everyone at my event was wearing suit, but many were . . . and no one was wearing a giant faux fur collar.
Faux-Fur Thing! I wish I had a reason to need this in my life. It does remind me, however, that while browsing Yoox recently I came across an entire department of accessories labeled “collars.” With those enigmatic Yoox photos, it’s hard to tell what most of them are (other than small scarves with aspirations to chic), but I did spot some old-fashioned dickies. No fur at the time of writing, sadly.
I love the buttons on the dress, but can’t imagine how JCrew thought that brown leather buttons were right for a cardigan of that weight.
I would probably be thinking strange thoughts about the faux fur, had I not come across a similar collar that can be crocheted with sparkly / furry yarn. I’ve been considering purchasing yarn to attempt this, but my record of project completion as a self-taught crocheter is still in single digits.
I think all together the look is stylish, and while also quirky, I don’t think it is too far out there.