More Glamour

More elements and influences of my style...
A montage of clips of the character Sable Colby from Dynasty and its spin-off The Colbys



Semper Chic!

My Fall Style!

Fashion Illustrations from the 70s/80s by the renowned Antonio Lopez

So for those of you who don't know, I L.I.V.E. for fall/winter fashions. The layering, the textures, the luxury, its all too fabulous!!! And this is promising to be my personal BEST season in....forever!

I already have a very specific aesthetic profile I tend to adhere to regardless of trends. It pretty much boils down to this:

Spring/Summer- 60's Mod meets 80's California Chic a la Maddie Hayes (Cybil Sheppard on Moonlighting). So the silhoutte is full, but fitted, light colored, and cropped. Laura Petrie-style capris or highwaters with fitted, printed button-down like early 60's Italian palazzon pajama ensembles in the stlye of Pucci and Galitzine . Or boxy yet fluid linen jackets and coats with a tank, wide belt and bermuda shorts or slacks, with bold jewelry.

Veruschka modeling an extremely wide palazzo pant jumpsuit with two male models sporting silhouettes very similar to my spring look.


Designer Princess Irene Galitzine's palazzo pajamas from the 50's and 60's


Cybil Sheppard as Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting

Fall/Winter- 40's and 80's. Heavy fabrics. Tweed. Tailored. Volume. Strong, Strong Shoulders. Sharply Defined Waist or Obliterated Waist. Boots. Turbans and Berets. JEWELS! FURS! Dynasty
Sometimes when I am feeling more minimalistic, like last fall, I'll forego the abundance and extravagance and go for a more mid-late 70's vibe. The same shapes, but more fluid and relaxed. Mahogany meets Grace Mirabella's Vogue.

Alexis, Blake, and Krystle from Dynasty



Joan Collins as Alexis Colby. Hat, gloves, fur, clutch...So chic!
Vintage Claude Montana coat from the 80's. Perfect for this season

But this season is going to be extra special. The 20s, 40s, 60s, and 80s design influences have melded into one of the most exciting, creative, diverse fashion seasons I have ever seen!! And for me, everything has perfectly aligned to allow me to be at my my sartorial peak, personally and in the eyes of the fashionable world. The looks and trends for fall are perfectly in sync with my wardrobe and vice versa. I have everything I need to look as though I just stepped off the runway, WHILE retaining that all-too-important element: individuality. I don't have to sacrifice a thing about my personal style in order to be in-step with fashion...this time fashion is marching to the beat of MY drum!! And because my wardrobe is made of originals -couture and vintage- I won't ever see myself coming and going. Lastly and thankfully because I am not 40+, I can wear these looks unabashedly and with a freshness that could otherwise come off as dated.

So get ready to see me flying down the street with Tears for Fears and Shalamar blasting, furs blowing in the wind, diamonds sparkling, and shoulder pads high!! I only hope my haute "Ladies Who Lunch" look doesn't suffer due to my humble "Guy Who Takes-Out" lifestyle! :-)

You know I'm gonna be rockin' that Zsbornak steez!


This suit is from the late 20's. I'm ALL OVER these pants!



Joan Collins (not as Alexis). I can definitely do the hat and jacket... and I think I will!

I tried to find some pics of Clair and Denise Huxtable, but couldn't find any that adequately showed off their great style of their characters. :-(

Semper Chic!

I Love Wurlitzer!

Nothing else much to really say. I love the Wurlitzer organ used in pop, jazz, and r&b music in the 60s. It has such an intoxicating sound and hearing the whirl(?) of the organ instantly transports me back in time and to glamorous places. A good example is Henry Mancini's scores for Charade, Pink Panther, and Two For The Road which, for me, are inextricably linked with luxurious European resorts and jet set haunts like Megeve, Cortina d'Ammpezzo, and St. Tropez, used for the films respectively.
Its rose' champagne cocktails (in classic, pre-flute, shallow champagne glasses), massive paste diamond parures, 30 yards of gathered silk in a single skirt, mile-high bouffants & dynel falls and up-dos, and sumptuous mink stoles all rolled up and translated into stereophonic sound!!!

1,2,3, SHIFT!

I am mad about the shift dress! Its so easily chic and effortlessly elegant. Now, when I say shift, I mean a true shift in the traditional sense. I think of the 60's shift that skims the body with maybe an inch and a quarter wearing ease that allows the dress to hover lightly over the bust and hips. It doesn't swallow the body the way a chemise does, nor confines the way a sheath does. All these dresses are wonderful and have their place consistently in the chic woman's wardrobe, but there's just something so alluring in its simplicity.

The best shifts have no or very little applied details or construction tricks. Dartless or just French darts; collarless with a bateau or jewel neck; sleeveless or cap-sleeved. The best shift has no waist- not empire (like the baby doll) or dropped (like th flapper). The shift allows for the beauty of the fabric to speak and receives its casualness or formality from the fabrics natural body. A shift in linen or silk crepe is perfectly pulled together, while a shift in moire' or faille or matelasse is the height of classic elegance.

One of my all-time favorite sketches. A shift in silk zagar, a stiff sheer wiry fabric created by Abraham of Zurich textile manufacturer for Balenciaga.

The shift is a master of versatility. You can accessorize it endlessly. A day shift with a matching a-line stroller is sublime. An evening shift with a stole of ermine and sable is rafine'. For an instantly more fitted look, you can throw on a wide belt , without gathering too much fabric at the waist, turning it into a instant sheath. Or wear it with a whip thin belt , worn loose between the natural waist and high hip for the look of a 50's shirtwaist. Don't even get me started on the plethora of shoe styles to be worn! Kitten heels, D'Orsay pumps, Stiletto Mary Janes or knee-high boots. And the shift is the perfect backdrop to show off interesting jewels because it doesn't compete for attention. You can wear a single strand of emerald green South Sea Tahitian pearls or ropes and ropes of diamonds like the rapper Nelly! The possibilities are absolutely endless.

"Alex" shift dress from Charles Lord's "Principessa" collection

My personal recommendations and observations:
The shift looks great when doing the Twist! Or while wearing a bouffant coif!
Wear a white shift with a half-dozen small rhinestone brooches of varying color or in brown flannel tweed with a massive 60 carat citrine deco clip brooch.

Who wore them best:
So hard to say. The shift is hard not to look good in. But I nominate Babe Paley as the Queen of the Shift. She wore them often and she is simply flawless, so... A very very close second would be Jackie Kennedy. If it were a contest of frequency or quantity, I think Jackie would win. But for me, if theres ever a toss-up between Jackie and Babe, Babe always wins. I am biased...as biased a Vionnet gown!

Babe Paley, with husband CBS founder Bill Paley, after lunching at renowned society restaurant La Cote Basque. Truly the lady who lunches in the beautiful polka dot shift with asymmetrical neckline

The most iconic shift:
YSL's Mondrian. Hands down. Some may argue that Givenchy's little black dress for Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's is more famous, but I question the purity of that shift. It had a self-belt and fringed hem. It may have even had a waist seam, but I'm not sure. In any case, it may be more famous, but for the purposes of purity of line and hidden elemental structure, its gotta be the Mondrian shift by St. Laurent. In Givenchy's defense, he did make the meanest shifts of all! Maybe even better than King Balenciaga.

Isabel Eberstadt in YSL Mondrian Shift, 1965 (Isabel always looked great in shifts. I have another photo of her in the book Fashionable Savages by John Fairchild looking ultimately chic in a black shift, gloves, and a brooch!)

What would Diana Vreeland do?
She would tell you to have one made in 8-ply cashmere and lined in mink sheared as thin as moleskin to wear without a coat in St. Moritz. You'll be as warm as all the other ladies, but free of the worry of keeping a mantle.


Marella Agnelli in Courreges shift, 1967