In fashion, what comes around goes around …. and around and around and around. On Thursday, I read a Wall Street Journal story called “Transparent Style That’s Sheer Daring” by the lovely Christina Binkley, which was about see-through clothing being big for spring. That trend has been bubbling up for a while — I wrote…
Fashion Repeats Itself
Fashion-Show Skills and Keeble Cavaco & Duka
While doing some research for my next Huffington Post story on fashion-blogger trends, I came across this amusing 1984 observation from New York Times journalist John Duka: “One of the requisite skills for sitting at a fashion show is being able to roll your eyes, talk to the person behind you, chew mints and say…
Musings on Music, Reality TV and Thierry Mugler
I like to watch music videos while I’m at the gym. Isn’t that quaint? MTV doesn’t play many music videos these days. I remember when it did. The first video the network aired when it debuted right after midnight on August 1, 1981, was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. The Buggles need…
Bright Lipstick Is Back and I’m Out of Time
The Wall Street Journal has a story headlined, “Very Bright Lipstick, All the Time.” In it, Elizabeth Holmes writes: “In the beauty world’s eternal cycle between eyes and lips, it’s lipstick’s moment. Many women are adopting a signature standout lipstick color—bright red, rich coral, vivid pink—to wear day or night with everything in their closet.”…
Fashion Repeats Itself: Rihanna Wears Black Mesh
Just a week ago, I did a Fashion Repeats Itself post comparing new black, mesh-topped dresses to a bodysuit I wore in 1993. On Sunday, Rihanna outdid the dress-wearing ladies by sporting a bodysuit JUST LIKE ME! Well, maybe not just like me. She forgot the mom jeans. The other thing Rihanna is missing is…
Fashion Repeats Itself: Black Mesh
When I saw a mesh-topped Hervé L. Leroux dress in US Magazine, I flashed back to a bodysuit I wore in the summer of 1993. Check out those mom jeans! That’s how we rolled back then. I also had no knowledge of flat irons, as you can tell from my hair. Flat irons are very…
Fashion Repeats Itself: Car-Wash Skirts
When I saw this picture of a “Bias Streamer Skirt” by Alexander Wang in last weekend’s Wall Street Journal, I screamed (in my head), “Car-wash skirts are back at last!” I didn’t know I was missing car-wash skirts, but apparently, deep down, I was. If I remember correctly, car-wash skirts — so-called because the fringe-like…
What Wendy Wore: A Mullet Comes Out of the Closet
A couple of years ago, I bought a 1980s Patrick Kelly dress on eBay. When it arrived, I was surprised that it was a knit. A big, formless knit. I brought the dress to Jean at Ghost Tailor for alterations, then stuck it in my closet until I felt I could cope with a disappointing…
Fashion Repeats Itself: Ferragamo Now and Versace Then
I guess houndstooth checks and glen plaids are never out of fashion, but seeing checks and plaids on practically everything in Ferragamo’s Fifth Avenue store made me think of Versace from a few years back. I think it was about 2004 or 2005 when Versace had a big plaid moment that so entranced me that…
Fashion Repeats Itself: Maluca’s Floral Jacket
Singer Maluca sashays down the street with curlers in her hair in her El Tigeraso video, but the style statement that really caught my eye was her orange-red-floral-on-black jacket. The color and print reminds me of the ’80s shirt that I wore in October. Next time I wear that shirt, I’ll pop in some curlers…