The Magic Touch

Gentle Reader -

There once was a debate in fashion that went something like this:

Is a dress designed on a body better than a dress based from a sketch?

Chanel herself thought so, but in haute couture, it really did not matter - ultimately, a dress still had to move perfectly, and both methods could achieve this. How? Because the dress was made by hand...actually, lots of them.

There are still some ready-to-wear dresses that have a bit of that "made by hand" quality we ascribe to the couture, as evidenced at times by Lanvin under Alber Ebaz.

The importance of a stunning dress is what it does, how it moves, how it transforms a woman.

A bit of human magic, added to genius, is sometimes all it takes to make that happen.

- AP

Fashion: Which Directon?

Gentle Reader -

Are you feeling a bit midnight blue for fall 2011? Or perhaps a bit more cinnamon, particularly for evening?

Maybe it's just that you want a skirt that can go all day, no matter when your day begins (or ends).

A dress? A suit? New or vintage? High street or second-hand?

Fashion is a point of view, but always a point of view that is in the moment. Imagine what your point of view might be. But hurry, you must choose before the fall magazines are published.

- AP

Transitional Fashion: Not Quite

This dress is most likely circa 1830-1840. In many ways, it is easy to see that this is a transitional silhouette:

- not quite the high waist/bust of Grecian gowns from the Napoleonic period
- not quite the wide lower waist that would soon be the rage

Today's fashion is again approaching that "not quite" moment which signals a shift in silhouette. The question isn't a what so much as it is a where and when.

- AP