When I found myself in possession of an unexpected (i.e., unbudgeted) windfall, my thoughts tend to drift toward jewels . . . I don’t live in the realm of precious jewelry, by which I mean pieces made of precious metals and precious stones that cost thousands of dollars. My interest is designer jewelry made … Read more
If the first principle of being well-dressed is selecting clothes that are beautiful and flatter your figure, surely the second principle is putting those carefully selected clothes to work in numerous outfits. As The Directrice passes its one year anniversary, we will be cycling through the seasons for a second time. This means … Read more
On more than one occasion, we’ve talked about the benefits of sweater dressing. There is something very comforting in wrapping oneself — cocooning oneself — in soft warm wool clothes. If you have experimented with sweater-coats, or can recommend a current season sweater-coat, please chime in! Sweater-coat: Theory; Striped jersey: Ann Taylor; … Read more
This post is for anybody who works at home and finds that the boundary between dressing for work and dressing for bed has become very blurry. You can return to an office. Read on! Let’s look at the details. Above I am wearing the knits with a red silk blouse, which you may … Read more
Periodically, I take a hard look at my closet to see whether I could make more or better use of the clothes therein. One of my methods is to focus on color. I select a color and pull out everything of that particular color (regardless of shade, style, or fabric) to see what might … Read more
I told the photographer that I had a new idea for a series of posts: My Outfit Is Cooler Than I Am. He said, I don’t get it. What’s that supposed to mean? Isabel Marant is commonly described as the epitome of Parisian chic, Gallic style, and effortless cool. Other adjectives that are frequently attached … Read more
During the last two weeks of 2015, I bought some new things. I warned my husband that a number of large boxes might be arriving in rapid succession. He asked, “How many? How large?” I told him, The neighbors may think we’re re-doing our kitchen. To some extent, I was taking advantage of pre- … Read more
Do you ever have days when you just don’t have the energy or mental fortitude to pick out any outfit? On such days, it’s useful to have a uniform to fall back on. Mine is grey pants, white blouse, grey sweater vest. Like this: The Beautiful Thing was a … Read more
It seems to me that a post featuring a garment that is not only available on-line, but heavily discounted is sort of like a public service announcement, no? Jacket: Marissa Webb Nadeen jacket available here; Striped jersey: JCrew (you may remember it from this earlier post); Polo (under striped jersey): White+Warren; Jeans: JCrew: … Read more
Today, the most prosaic of topics: proper maintenance of shoes. I will pepper this post with pictures of exciting shoes to compensate. There are, however, a few steps you can take to slow their degradation. On a fairly regular basis, you should wipe the interior of your shoes with diluted isopropyl … Read more