ODJ Kelly/Look 3

History has it that the Kelly bag was introduced by Hermès in the 1930s but popularized by Grace Kelly when she was photographed in 1956 by Life Magazine using the purse to cover her pregnant stomach. One of my favorite ways to make the Kelly look more modern and sassier than its 80-something years is to use the wide canvas shoulder strap instead of its original skinny leather strap. But the trick is to find a canvas strap in the exact color match as the bag or some other color that isn’t a glaring mismatch.

In my case, I’m testing the canvas strap from my etain Evelyne bag against the etoupe Kelly here:


Not a huge offense but I’m going to ask the boutique to order an etoupe strap for me instead, which will probably take almost forever to receive.

Fair warning: tons of photos today but I love each piece of the outfit so much that I wanted to give each equal air time!

ODJ Kelly/Look 3:
13C Chanel tweed jacket and camisole, almost-skinny 7 For All Mankind jeans, Chanel cuff, Chanel sueded slides. The first photo below is how the set was shown on the runway; photo courtesy of style.com. I wish I had that killer necklace the model had on!

Taking selfies using a tripod is hard work. I give a lot of credit to fashion bloggers who post ODJs on a daily basis. If they are lucky, they have a professional photog with them for correct lighting and what not. With me, I’m lucky if five out of 20 pics are in focus! But I’ll have to say it’s not a bad idea to take pics of yourself in clothes you’ve just bought. You then can see clearly how something actually fits on you than maybe at first glance in the mirror. For example, in this Chanel jacket set, I almost feel like I cannot exhale. Gotta suck everything in. And yet, in the first photo, I see that some alterations should be done in the back so that the jacket can lay flatter against the body. I never would have caught that had I not taken these pics. And I’m a true believer that it’s not so much how expensive a garment is but how well it’s been fitted to you. A tailored fit can make an inexpensive piece of clothing look like a million bucks.

1 Comment

  1. Grace Cheng

    Hi Larkie: I was wondering if u still have this bag. Ur original post and subsequent ODJs featuring this bag made it my holy grail for years. I stalked resellers sites until locating one recently in K28, PHW swift. I’m wondering if you can let me know about ur experiences with the leather/corner wear. Would u recommend this, or my boutique has offered a B30 Clemence w GHW in Jan 2016. Love ur blog and Instagram BTW, oh the eye candy!

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