Category Archives: fashion

Jacket Weather

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Even though the temperature is summer-like today, I still want to wear this jacket. I absolutely fell in love with it when I tried it on at Reed’s department store in downtown Tupelo, Miss., the other day. You know how you put something on and you know immediately that it was meant for you and you for it? There is such a thing as love at first sight. I adore the tailored half-belt in the back and the sort of pleated sleeves and the slash pockets and seaming in the front. I usually don’t like double-breasted jackets — reminds me of Mr. Howell on Gilligan’s Island — but this one doesn’t even seem double-breasted for some reason, even though it obviously is. It fit perfectly (even though it looks square in the photo, it’s definitely not when you put it on) and of course who can resist a pumpkin-colored jacket for fall? I’d never heard of the brand “liquid,” but my fashion-savvy college-age daughter assures me that it’s a hot name, so there you go. Actually, this jacket sort of reminds me of the car coats every self-respecting female had to have in her wardrobe about a million years ago — when I was younger.

Now I just need a day that’s less than 70 degrees. C’mon, fall!

Shoe Envy

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At www.net-a-porter.com, Sergio Rossi two-toned pumps, $650.

At http://www.net-a-porter.com, Sergio Rossi two-toned pumps, $650.

I must be entering a shoe crisis. Apparently my favorite pair of brown sandals became jealous of all the attention the demise of my favorite black pair of sandals received and decided to commit shoe-icide by unraveling the string of wooden beads decorating the T-straps. I had to make a hasty save with a quick Gorilla Glue repair. (And, by the way, am I the only person who has to continually buy new bottles of Gorilla Glue because after I open a bottle and use it and close the bottle, I can’t reopen it the next time because it’s glued completely shut? Surely other people have this problem. Surely?)

But, really, I think my incumbent shoes are worried because I am absolutely smitten, over-the-moon in love with the new fall shoes showing up around town. If I had unlimited funds and very cool places to go, these are the shoes I’d buy (left). And I bet I’d never have to Gorilla Glue them.

Goodby Ol’ Sandals

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Appropriately, as summer is ending, so are my favorite wear-everywhere-with-everything black sandals. I’ve loved these sandals for years — perhaps too much love for too long, since my younger daughter cringed everytime I pulled them out. “You look like somebody who wants to be a cowboy,” she’d say. I thought the Western details were cute. But maybe not. The sandals had started to develop an unhealthy sort of rattle in one of the soles and I really didn’t want to investigate to find out what it was. I gradually had begun to swim out of the pool of denial and to think that maybe the end was near. On Labor Day, after tramping around a garden picking okra, it came to me as I was digging out little sticky things and washing off the dirt that I had to say “goodbye.” I was sad. My daughter was ecstatic. And really, when I looked at these shoes with a freshly objective eye, I realized they were so horrible that I was embarrassed to take a photo of them. So just use your imagination. And then double the ugly factor — they were that bad.

Click here to read more:

http://http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20080905/ARTICLES/809050301/

The Once and Future Dress

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You know the rule that if you wore a trend the first time around, you should excuse yourself when it reappears? Well, rules are made for breaking, right? Because I know for a fact I had a dress exactly like this in eighth or ninth grade — we’re talking late 1960s/early 1970s — but I could not resist a redo when I saw this at Reed’s Department Store in downtown Tupelo, Miss., today. This funky KLD dress is hand-wash polyster but feels just like soft brushed cotton. Cannot wait to wear it with black tights and boots or flats and channel my inner Stevie Nicks. And speaking of Reed’s, http://www.reeds.ms/, it’s one of the few local and family-owned department stores left. The downtown flagship location anchors a vital and growing Tupelo and includes a gift shop, bridal registry and Reed’s Gum Tree Bookstore that specializes in Southern writers and writing. There’s a smaller store in Tupelo’s The Mall at Barnes Crossing and ones in Starkville and Jackson. A signature of Reed’s, besides its local community focus, is its friendly and helpful staff. Take my dress, for example. The downtown store didn’t have the size I wanted, so the woman helping me called the mall store and found my size. So, of course I had to bring it home with me after that, right? It wouldn’t have been polite not to, after all that effort. That’s my story, anyway, and I’m sticking to it.

We Don’t See Eye to Eye, But …

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Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, already is getting lots of attention for her stands on issues, her experience, her viewpoints, her family … and her eyeglasses, which are awesomely flattering, chic and modern. From one glasses-wearer to another, I say “thank you, Governor.” it’s about time a woman in the public eye (sorry about that!) wears glasses with style and without apology. However, I still can’t vote for her — but that doesn’t stop me from admiring her choices in eye-wear. Good for her.
And does anyone else think she looks like Tina Fey, or is that just me? Or maybe Tina Fey looks like Sarah Palin.

Seen and Heard

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Near downtown Florence, Ala., this morning — I saw newly reelected incumbent mayor Bobby Irons walking along a busy city street, in full business attire, picking up his own campaign signs. It sort of made me wish I lived in his town so I could have voted for him.

At the car dealership in Florence yesterday — I was waiting for my car to be given the OK after its oil change and other scheduled maintenance when three older (70s? 80s?) women in perfectly coifed hair and perfectly pressed pantsuits joined me in the waiting area. Apparently they were lifelong Florence residents and lifelong friends. One was the driver and the other two had come along for the car repair. Anyway, of course we all got to talking, although I mainly eavesdropped … I mean, listened. One topic of conversation was the “hobos” who would stop by their houses when they were little and ask for food. “Times were hard then, but my mama always cooked extra for the hobos,” one woman said. “She’d put extra sweet potatoes and cornbread in the stove pipe to stay warm and then when one would stop by, she’d put him at the table, get out a plate and feed him with the food she’d saved.” Another of the trio nodded in agreement. “Yes,” she said, “those stovepipes were the original microwaves!”

Recently in Birmingham, Alabama — My college-student daughter said that during conversation with a counselor who was an older woman (60s?), my daughter had to adjust her skirt as she stood up because her slip was showing. The woman asked her, “Are you wearing a slip? Nobody wears a slip anymore. I don’t even have a slip! Why are you wearing a slip?” And of course my daughter answered, “Because my mother makes me.” The more my daughter thought about this, though, the more she wondered if she was perhaps behind the times. So a day or so later she was with a couple of friends she’d grown up with who’d come to Birmingham to have lunch with her. She asked them, “Do y’all still wear slips?” The consensus: “Of course!” The reason why: “Because our mothers make us!” I am vindicated.

DNC Fashion

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Look, let’s all admit that most women notice what most other women are wearing. And let’s all stipulate that, unfair though it is, most women judge or form opinions or make assumptions — or whatever you want to call it — about most other women based on what most of those other women are wearing. It’s just the way things are. And it’s quite true that your style signals to others what you think about yourself and what you think about the image you’re presenting to others. That’s just the way things are, too. So, what did you think? I think that Hillary Clinton’s orange-gold-pumpkin pantsuit was all her and the exact right thing for her to wear for what she wanted to do. And I think that Michelle Obama’s basic blue (green? blue-green? teal?) jersey dress livened up with her own brooch was as strong a statement and as evocative of her story as her speech was. I’d wear the dress over the pantsuit, myself, but I thought both were reflective of their wearers. On the other hand, I wish I had the courage to be as exuberantly patriotic as Flag Woman:

Halloween Baby

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Grandmas cannot resist Baby Gap. I don’t even try anymore. When I saw these adorable Halloween one-piece outfits today, I knew they had “Grandson Nolan Thomas Behel” written all over them — well, besides “Short and Sweet” and “Little Pumpkin.” Because he is all of those things. Don’t you agree?

But I did happen to wander over to the other side of Gap and picked up my favorite two-for-$20 camisoles in the basic colors of white and black. I always grab these when they’re in stock and wear them all the time as layering pieces since I’m too vain to wear blue jeans that actually fit me so I have to do all I can to cover up the resulting tummy bulge.

Fall Jewelry — With Some Politics Thrown In

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This is my husband’s line after John McCain has been criticized for not knowing how many houses he owns: “Has anybody asked Michelle Obama how many shoes she owns? Would she know, say, within half a dozen pairs?” Not quite the same thing, dear. What woman knows how many pairs of shoes she has? It’s completely unreasonable to expect an accurate count. So, can you tell that my husband and I are on opposite sides of the political spectrum?

But there is one thing that I do know: I don’t have enough bracelets, and I want more. These would do just fine.

A cheerful tangle of vintage glass, Lucite and acrylic charms, $68, from www.winknyc.com

A cheerful tangle of vintage glass, Lucite and acrylic charms, $68, from http://www.winknyc.com

The trouble with bracelets is that I always think that I love bracelets and that I will wear bracelets all the time, but I don’t. Wear them, that is. I do love them, but I don’t wear them. I especially think that I especially love chunky, noisy, funky bracelets, but those are the kind that I especially do not wear. For one thing, I usually don’t wear bracelets (or much jewelry at all) when I’m just hanging around the house — especially when I’m

German vintage glass beads on adjustable red nylon, $122 from www.twistonline.com

German vintage glass beads on adjustable red nylon, $122 from http://www.twistonline.com

on the computer, since dangling beads and keyboards do not mix. When I go to church or meetings or other quiet places, I don’t wear bracelets that make noise because that’s how I

Seven Signs of Peace bracelet, by Dean Harris for Target, $59.99 at www.target.com

Seven Signs of Peace bracelet, by Dean Harris for Target, $59.99 at http://www.target.com

was raised. When I go out to run errands or see friends or babysit grandson Nolan Thomas Behel, I don’t wear bracelets because when I get dressed I first put on earrings and then a necklace and then I’m done because I also was raised not to wear more than two pieces of jewelry (in addition to your rings, of course) — and also because by the time I’ve coordinated earrings and necklace and lipstick and shoes and handbag, I’ve pretty much exhausted my style creativity and I’m running late, besides. So that leaves wearing bracelets to purely social occasions, which in my life means going to eat Mexican with my husband, and heavy dangly bracelets only end up in the salsa.

But these bracelets are so tempting, I think I’m willing to take that chance.

Hip Prep

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The print on this pretty silky top caught my eye in the window of Pink Pelican, the Lilly Pulitzer shop in Huntsville, Ala. (next to Fresh Market at the intersection of Whitesburg and Airport). It seemed like the perfect summer-transition-fall piece — and it was! When you think of Lilly Pulitzer, of course you think Palm Beach, pink/green and preppy. I fit none of those descriptions, but I fit into this top beautifully, so it had to come home with me. Besides, isn’t it important to overcome style stereotypes? I’m taking a stand for fashion, expanding my clothing vocabulary. At least, that’s what I’ll tell my husband, although he’ll point out that the only thing I’m expanding is my closet. So I won’t even tell him that also at Pink Pelican I found some of the best jeans I’ve ever put on: a pair of J Brand bootleg slim-fit mid-rise. If you’re like me and have trouble finding well-fitting jeans that look as if they were made in the 21st century, please give J Brand a try. You’ll be amazed. Poorer, but amazed. Visit Pink Pelican online at www.thepinkpelican.com