Lament: Skinnies

  I started drafting this post more than a year ago — long before I launched this blog. My feelings about skinnies are decidedly negative, but I’ve had some difficulty wrestling them into a coherent statement until now. After a year of thinking, here it is: Skinnies are not flattering. Let me explain. I was … Read more

War Drobe

  Did you read The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe as a child? I did. It was my first experience with reading that was fascinating and repellent at the same time. (How would C.S. Lewis feel if he knew that he laid the foundation — that he prepared my mind — for the works … Read more

The Directrice Turns 100!

  If that wasn’t the most misleading headline ever . . . A quick retrospective showing the many faces of The Directrice, which is really just an excuse to play with WordPress’s carousel feature. [su_carousel source=”media: 5545,4716,4584,4215,4105,3921,3730,3630,3994, 3811,5868,5860,5804,5798,5616,5613,5441,5430,4879,4381,4228,4122,3373,2790,5275,4692,4590,4218,4201,3774,3566,3103,3003″ limit=”30″ height=”350″ title=”no”] Now, a couple of housekeeping items. First, I wanted to let you know that … Read more

Standing Out in a Crowd

  A couple of years ago, I got on to a partly-full Metro car and found myself sitting next to a man who began to engage in what the police call “lewd behavior.” Ugh. It seemed to me that the least confrontational way to deal with the situation was to get off the train at … Read more

Fifty Cent Dress

  When I was a little girl, about 8, I had a friend who had been taught the rudiments of pattern-making and sewing by her mother. She was precocious, intense, and creative — and sent a fan letter to Priscilla of Boston, which at the time was among the country’s premier couture bridal boutiques. The … Read more

Micro-Bonus: A Little Weekend Reading

  Dear Readers — Perhaps this is of interest to you . . . I was interviewed by 40+ Style this week. You may want to check it out. If nothing else, you will learn my first name. And the website is a terrific (comprehensive, really) resource filled with all sorts of interesting and useful … Read more

Soft Pants v. Hard Pants

  A friend told me that her sister — lucky enough to retire at a relatively young age — once said of our workplace, “I don’t know how you do it. Wearing those hard pants all day.” You might be thinking that “wearing hard pants” is a euphemism for unpleasant or difficult work, like acrimonious … Read more

Like Mother, Like Daughter

  A dear friend of mine recently read French Twist: An American Mom’s Experiment in Parisian Parenting and told me she was suprised to learn that French parents discuss clothing with their children – and even believe that teaching them style is part of raising them. Her surprise surprised me because I assumed that her … Read more

Am I Too Old to Shop in This Store?

  The Dainty Sianos, too, were no longer available through the Doc Martens website, but on the off-chance that Doc Martens retail and website inventories were not integrated, I called the Doc Martens store in Georgetown. Bingo! They had the shoes and so I paid for them by phone and told the clerk I’d come … Read more