A Controlled Explosion of Menswear Shirting

 
Quick! Tell me three things you’ve read in The Directrice’s Big Book of Stripes.*

 
One, menswear striped shirting fits perfectly into a woman’s professional wardrobe.
 
Two, multiple stripes can be mixed in one outfit.
 
Three, vertical stripes may or may not be elongating but they are almost always fun.
 
Let’s see these theories in action.
Boom! An epic, mixed stripe dress

Holy Guacamole! What am I showing you? A sack dress cut from one bolt of fabric (printed with a series of blue, grey and brown stripes), shaped with four seams, and cinched with a two headed belt. Et voila!
 
It’s almost more than the mind can compute
I tied the bow m’self!

 
 
 
I could tell you more about the dress, but I think it speaks for itself.
Res ipsa loquitur

 
 
 
The dress could speak for itself, but has asked me to speak on its behalf.
 
I feel like I could have made this dress myself, if I had a dressmaker’s form and a few women egging me on, but this dress hatched from the inventive minds at . . . Marni.
O.K. I’ll speak for the dress

Hogging the microphone
Did you think I wouldn’t?

 
 
 
I had been thinking of reducing this bow — perhaps shortening the ties to the length for tying a small square knot — but upon seeing these photos, I have decided to leave things alone.
Bow tied by self, up close

 
This knot is a permanent fixture. Such irreverence. Such joie de vivre. Just the thing for a mid-week day during the summer.
 
This knot wants a mid-afternoon gelato.
Twisty business

 
Dress: Marni from The RealReal (I’ve also seen it on YOOX); Belt: Maison Margiela 11 from YOOX; Shoes: JCrew; Bag: Sophie Hulme
 
* Technically, there is no Big Book of Stripes. But there are entries devoted to the virtues of stripes as well as many posts featuring stripes.
 
Speaking of explosions, The Photographer and I could not look away from Chernobyl. So frightening, so compelling. Before the series aired, The Photographer read Midnight at Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham; I read it last week while on some long flights. If you are intrigued by the relationship between Soviet politics, culture, and scientific/engineering catastrophes — I highly recommend it. As a result of reading it, I believe that I currently understand — and will retain this knowledge for a few weeks — how a nuclear reactor works. And how one should not be designed.

9 thoughts on “A Controlled Explosion of Menswear Shirting”

  1. Please tell the knot I too want a mid-afternoon gelato.

    Also – I couldn’t look away from Chernobyl either, and am currently reading Midnight at Chernobyl. I am horrified and captivated.

    Reply
  2. I love this wacky dress and I love the title of your putative book.

    (Did I use “putative” correctly? Gosh, I hope so. This is an awfully erudite group. I don’t want to lower the standard.)

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Amy Cancel reply