Friday, February 22, 2008

London: Lovely in Black

London: Upturned Collar

Noticed: The upturned collar seems a classic sign of london. On the polo golf shirt it seems, perhaps, a little too preppy for my simple Canadian tastes..this upturned Burberry collar seemed just the right approach to me.

London: Casual Elegant

Noticed: A little post-shop at Harvey Nichols. I like the ease she has in this image. Her clothes are all clean lines and muted colours, the thick suede belt over the sweater adds some quiet detail.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Great Style Profile: Heather Mallick

This interview with Heather Mallick, author and journalist, is on what defines great style in Vancouver and beyond. Over the next few months look for this series with interesting personalities working in fashion, publishing, journalism, literature, arts and culture under the heading Great Style Profile.

Heather Mallick is a liberal-minded feminist journalist who has worked in newspapers, magazines and now online. She writes political columns for CBC.ca and for the Guardian Online in Britain. Her second book, Cake or Death, essays on surviving the Bush era, will be out in paperback this spring.

Many people use the terms fashion and style interchangeably. Is there a difference between fashion and style?

Heather Mallick: Fashion is current; style is deeply personal. I don't know how fashion gets away with it. It gives a gloss to some things that are pretty hideous in retrospect, but I swear I felt powerful when I wore an Alfred Sung turquoise tweed suit in 1991, with enormous shoulder pads. The pads were fashionable. But the fabric? That was pure style. Sung had a genius for fabric and I yearn for the gnarly fuzzy tweed of that suit, long ago discarded. I am also very fond of good wool jersey on a woman's body. It lasts forever and like white paint, it covers a multitude of sins. No wonder Diane von Furstenberg is so fond of it.

What is great style?

HM: Great style is simplicity. It's a shame because it's good fun to add layers and mix patterns and wear eccentric jewelry. But clear strong colours and a clean line will always make a person, male or female, look better. (Once Coco Chanel had her straight-lined suits, then she loaded on the pearls.) Princess Diana knew this better than anyone. She didn't have to overdress and of course she didn't want to. She could see those tragic royal women with hats with actual trembling fronds on them, like sea creatures. And gauzy, frothy silly dresses in "fayre" colours. I'm sure she looked at them and decided to go for the long drink of water look, it's less trouble. And you don't get ostrich feathers sticking to your lipstick.

I think the little girl dresses of last season were disastrous. Even actual little girls looked overdressed in those fragile little garments. And frankly, there was a not-pedophilic-but-close-to-it element I didn't like. Even at its best, it infantilized women.

Who are your great style icons?

HM: Niles Crane. He was played by David Hyde Pierce in the American TV show Frasier. He was as slim as a man could be—of course he referred to it as his "swimmer's build"—and he wore Italian double-breasted suits with wide legs, shirts with spread collars and a good striking Hugo Boss tie. The whole joke was that Americans yearn to be thin. But when you are thin, you can wear the soft, draped, flowing fabrics that Niles did and get away with it.
The other stylish person I admire (I don't use the word "icon.") is Cecilia Sarkozy. Mme. Sarkozy's hair is utterly simple. She wears little jewelry. In the New York photo, she is sexually happy with the man she loves. The way the lower strand of her double belt drapes across her hip is as sexy a choice as I've ever seen. And in the Elysees photos, which she posed for out of courtesy to her president-husband just before she divorced him, she looks not like a girl, not like a vamping model, but like a strong, beautiful woman, immaculate and confident. And then she left and made Nicolas pose with his mother













What is great style in Vancouver?

HM: I once saw Hyde Pierce on an awards show dressed in green spandex. He looked like a frog with prominent genitals. So can I say one thing about tight modern fashionable clothes? Lululemon clothes look wonderful on Vancouver women because Vancouver women are fit. Here in Toronto, it's best to avert your eyes. Vancouver women are outside. They stride across the city. I am not under the impression that they wear shoes that make their feet hurt, that make them tippy-toe. That's style. The energy of Vancouver bodies is a great thing. Me, I mostly just shuffle along.
 
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