Part 2 of my Chanel skirt series is about a floor-length heavy tweed skirt from the 08A season that’s more about Carolina Herrera than Coco Chanel. When I was fifteen or so I saw a photo of one very elegant Ms. H sitting in a floor-length skirt and a chair, on a tree-lined dirt road next to her very dashing husband. The photo was, I believe, black and white, and the way they looked…the way they were dressed, so effortlessly, so classically chic…in that photo struck me like a 600-page September issue of Vogue. I was stunned that a photograph capturing a quiet moment of an understated couple could resonate so loudly in my head. I believe that was when I first fell in love with photography. And the art of class.
One photograph can inspire you to do extraordinary things with your life. It can console you in your darkest hours. And sometimes it is simply an outlet for the human imagination when we don’t have the words to describe what our minds can see. Mostly for me, photography captures moments in life that pass us by. I savor all these moments in my poorly taken photos–those of my parents on their emotional first trip back to Saigon after some 25 years, out of focus with poor lighting–as well as in my incredibly lucky shots of a spectacular sunrise over Sydney that helped me find confidence in the anxieties of leaving my 20s behind.
And here at my blog, when I’m not on the road photographing lives that are not mine, I find inspiration in beautiful fabrics and buttons and trims– little, unimportant things that I hope you nevertheless enjoy sharing with me through my lenses.
In today’s Skirt #2’s look, given that it’s a rather formal length, I’m pairing it with a crispy silk Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo shirt and ornate flat sandals. The skirt hits the floor just at the right length on me when worn without heels, but I think a fancy pair of flats may do the occasion justice. I hope Carolina Herrera would approve this look.
Tags: Carolina Herrera, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent
Before I left for law school I was seeing a med student who worked weekends as a parking valet at a country club. He would tell me about the perks of sitting in some of the best sport cars in town (this got my attention since I loved anything shiny, motorized, and fast) and taking home lobsters or steaks from the kitchen (this, not so much since I’d gone vegetarian by then). He was quite an Armani addict on a grad student’s shoestring budget. I got a kick out of looking at his Italian suits but often wondered if he was what high maintenance meant.
One day, we were just sitting around and I put on his gold watch, which was his late father’s. It had a huge face and too many links so it rolled down my arm halfway to my elbow, stopping just where the rolled up sleeve of my white (man’s) shirt ended. I looked at my own reflection in the mirror and thought about designer Carolina Herrera who had always been such a fashion inspiration to me. Her uniform of crisply starched white blouses with skirts, pants, and jeans has resonated with me since I first started reading Vogue.
I relate this memory to you because there are more fashion don’t days than there are fashion do moments in my lifelong fashion chase. So when something looks instantly right, the image gets burned into my brain for later references. A sublime man’s watch paired with your SO’s white shirt is one of those instances. I have not yet scored a similar watch since that summer, but I’ve stumbled on to (and been distracted by) other precious things along the way. In my book, there’s nothing sexier than a strand of Tahitian pearls under a white shirt. Always starched.
So without further ado, let’s showcase the next FIMTSO experiment.
Test Item: Today I’m featuring several white shirts because I know we all have more than one. And with white being a neutral yet finicky color, taking on different persona based on its fabric, it would be easier to show a whole rainbow of whites!
Business: For a business casual look, I’m pairing an eyelet Juicy Couture white tank with a JCrew peach cashmere open cardigan. I can throw this over jeans or slacks or skirts and a pair of slingbacks.
The Chanel coral/turquoise necklace is simple enough for me to also wear a JCrew encrusted wide enamel cuff with it. I like large cuffs with short sleeves:
Casual: for warm weekends, I like this stark white lightweight knit ruffled henley shirt from JCrew (no, I do not work for them) that I’ll accessorize with a Gucci silk scarf and Balenciaga leather bracelet. Jeans and strappy sandals will complete this outfit for me.
On cooler days I like to layer a white handkerchief linen shirt (Max Studio) under a rugged cotton jacket. A white feather-weight linen shirt is the only white shirt I will launder and not iron because the wrinkles make the shirt less sheer! Let’s leave some things to the imagination, shall we?
Fun, long necklaces, like this Chanel dog tag one, complete the look.
I’d wear skinny jeans or a slim miniskirt over leggings with this. On a side note, I need to find a mannequin with legs so I can show the entire look with bottoms!
Play: It’s actually difficult to find the perfect dressy white shirt. My favorite ones are of a stiffer silk but all of these shirts in my closet verge more on ivory and beige than white, so I can’t include them here. I’m still looking for that perfect white-white silk shirt to pair with a floor-length black silk taffeta skirt. But I digress…
This is a Dolce & Gabbana white tuxedo shirt; it’s a man’s shirt but at least some Italian labels run on the slim side, making it easier for us gals to poach menswear. I’m pairing it with a pair of velvet low-rise theory pants and killer stilettos. As I mentioned above, I’ll only need a strand of shiny pearls and a patent python clutch to head out to dinner. And just think, I could also tuck this shirt into capri skinny black jeans and some ballerina flats and instantly go from Lauren Bacall to Audrey Hepburn 
.
Tags: Armani, Carolina Herrera, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, JCrew, Juicy Couture, Max Studio, white shirt
