It's Nice to be Back
What have you splurged on?
What's in your closet? This blog's objectives are to share what I have classified as the Nice, No Thanks, Noteworthy, Need and Necessary in our closets in order to be well-dressed. Together we'll discover what women and men are wearing around the world, whether it's fashionable or not. Posts will include choices in different clothing categories and accessories including shoes, handbags, jewelry, scarves and ties and other such accessories.
It's Nice to be Back
What have you splurged on?
Notice to those receiving email notices from this blog: In July 2021, Blogger is discontinuing this service. I have been trying to work this "feed" service thing out but have not yet been successful. Presently I can't even access who is on my email service list so I can't contact you directly. You will have to either bookmark this blog address or simply visit me periodically to see what I have written lately. I'll be working on it but I can't make any promises. Thanks for your patience and understanding. And now to my post, something I have a relative amount of control over . . .
no thanks to pandemics
noteworthy that we are moving toward a new normal
need for more people to be vaccinated
nice that we are on the road again
- a mask
- a pair of skinny leg Buffalo blue jeans — I don't wear white jeans when I know I have to wear the same clothing for 24 hours.
- my seersucker Smythe plaid blazer that goes great with jeans. I got this photo from lyst.com a while back but it's no longer in their inventory.
- a blue merino long sleeve lightweight wool top (planes are often cold)
- my white Keds
As well as . . . two items I will take and leave there — a white denim skirt and white flip flops
The bride chose for her wedding day a gown of imported silk organza and re-embroidered Alençon lace. The gown is beautifully enhanced with miniature pearl beading. The gown, in Empire style, has a princess collar and long slim sleeves with a petal point finish at the wrists. The skirt flows in soft lines to the back to form a full chapel train. Scalloped beaded lace trims the collared bodice, sleeves, front of the skirt and train. Her veil of silk illusion in chapel length is edged with the Alençon lace and drifted from a head piece of matching lace trimmed with pearl beading.
Necessary
We're fully vaccinated — places to go, people to see. But hold on, not so fast.
Even though we are fully vaccinated and many of our friends have had their first shots, we're still very conscious that the virus does not discriminate and variants are still a challenge. This of course means that many of the habits we have started and re-inforced over the past year and a half need to continue — a new normal.
I appreciate the precautions taken in the grocery stores such as disinfecting carts, providing antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer, and plexiglass shields for the masked workers. All of the above needs to be continued for the workers' and our safety. As well, after going out for lunch in a 50% capacity restaurant, I rather liked not being an arm's length away from the next table. Lunch was a beautiful experience on the riverbank with a calm atmosphere and a sparsely occupied space, even though the place was full.
When it comes to personal habits, are people going to stop washing their hands and taking precautions? Of course not, at least I hope not. It's just good basic hygiene. This past winter no one around me had a cold or the usual run-of-the-mill flu. In the past, when one person in the house had a cold or the flu, everyone eventually got it. Not this past winter. When my guests come to my house I'll still provide them with antibacterial wipes and sanitizing options. And I will continue diligently cleaning for their safety. After all, we still do not know a whole lot about this virus and why some people are asymptomatic, others are afflicted with longstanding complications, and others die. Even though we are vaccinated we still can get it. And although we may not get as ill, we potentially can be carriers if we stop being diligent and catch it from someone, putting unvaccinated folks in danger. It will be a while before herd immunity kicks in.
So don't put the mask away just yet. As for masks, they will continue to be part of my wardrobe accessories especially for shopping and casual visits. It's not such a big deal. How wearing a mask became a threat to personal liberty is beyond me. It's science, not an issue of freedom.
I'm happy to see celebrities doing their part, although in this situation, I've chosen masking and it has nothing to do with them. Tory Burch has a #wearadamnmask challenge. Through the campaign, celebrities are posting selfies sending the message of the importance of wearing a mask in public. There are sequined masks, tie-died, floral, basic solid colours, bright neon colours, pastels, animal print motifs, plaid, gingham, and of course, the novelty ones including sport team promotion, lipstick kisses, smiley faces, cartoon characters, and anything else that suits your personality type. Then there are the disposable options also being promoted. Bien sur, you need a LBFM - little black face mask. For a look at the celebrities and their choices visit the hellomagazine website.
The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) tested 20 different face masks and summarized the effectiveness in this Marketplace overview. Beware the one-layer bandana-scarf-face mask and gaiter-styled face mask. According to the Marketplace report, these are the least protective. These masks allow too many germs in and let too many out. If there is a disposable face-covering insert underneath, or a filter pocket insert inside the bandana and gaiter styles closely fitting the nose and mouth, then they may be redeemed but not always considered more effective.
Masks with an exhalation valve are not recommended at all.
Need
Look for the following criteria when choosing a face mask:
Good: tightly woven fabric (high thread-count)
Better: two layers of fabric (both fabrics with a high thread count)
Necessary
I was out for dinner last weekend and had chosen to accessorize with a black, yellow, and white scarf. My scarf had twisted and so I gave it a tug and noticed a stain. Embarrassed, I excused myself and, in front of the powder room mirror, tried to position the stain so it would not show. Of course, the lightweight silk curled and curved the stain right back into its full frontal position. I finally tied a knot at the point of the stain and managed to get through the evening with a different look than what I had originally planned. The stain was hidden and that was more important.
I was inspired to attend to a summer set-up and re-organization of my closet. I colour-coded everything so that I can look at one section and have all my options available. And now my scarves are all organized in the same way providing even more options. Yay!
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This summer's trend is rather matchy-matchy. Mainly tiny tops with matching shorts, short and long skirts, capris, and pants. The models wearing the trend look fabulous with their tanned skin and slim figures. Of course. (This photo was retrieved from wheretoget.com)
Nice:
I have always been a fan of solid matching sets. Being 5'3" and with the probability of shrinking as I get older, solid coloured matching sets are the nicest for me. That means top to bottom solid colour even shoes. Accessories such as jewellery, scarves and purses send out a colourful punch and make the solid colour a canvas (a thought for another post). I get my fill of the colour trend of the season with accessories and it proves to be more cost-effective. Your "outfits' go a long way for a long time with this kind of clothing strategy. This outfit was available on jamesascher.com, but when I went there, it was sold out.
My 2 No Thanks rules for matched sets:
And yes, Guys, the trend is yours as well! But as far as I am concerned, my No Thanks rules apply for you too. This photo was retrieved from www.outfittrends.com.
I once received a shorts & shirt outfit from a relative who had been in Hawaii. It was a swirl of hot pink, bright green, and fluorescent yellow flowers. I wore it once to a theme party. It ended up in a donation bag. I do hope someone found some pleasure in wearing it.
Whether stripes or a floral pattern, if I absolutely had to, a pairing of pale colour — blue & white, beige & blue, beige & white, yellow, pink, mint green in combination with white is the closest I would ever go to a head to toe patterned match.
Note-worthy
Pyjamas! Head to toe matched sets — I have several.
Nice:
We want to be comfortable and we are most comfortable when we dress casually. The question is, what clothing does it take to bring this about in our fashion sense? "Comfortable casual" is too wide a topic to tell you what it is or what it is not. This category is definitely in the eyes of the beholder.
Photo Source accessed from The Snipe |
French women bloom at 40! I can't wait!
Juliette Binoche who is now closer to 60 than 40, apparently had been quoted saying that while in her 30's.
It was the movie Chocolat (2000) where I first noticed Juliette Binoche. I loved the character she played and a love interest with Johnny Depp kept me interested until the end of the movie. And although I had seen The English Patient (1996), somehow the character did not interest me enough to find out who the actress behind her was. That sounds so terrible now that I watched the movie again, and pay closer attention to Juliette Binoche. As an Oscar-winning supporting actress for that role, I'm obviously the one who didn't get it. Now she ranks as "my favourite" actress and I seek out her movies.
If you don't know her work, this 3-minute youtube video will introduce you to Juliette Binoche, the actress. One of the reviews of her acting career (that I enjoyed reading) was written by Sofia Bohdanowicz, The Double Life of Juliette Binoche.
As I learn more about her political, social, and humanitarian activism, her own choices when accepting and rejecting roles, and the tidbits from her personal life, the more I admire her.
The photo is one of La Binoche in a Blue Illusion design as sourced from Styling You.
Binoche described herself as "feminine with masculine strength" in a Daily Telegraph article in 2014. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted her as saying "A face has to move with the emotions because it's a mirror of what's happening inside . . ." when responding to a cosmetic surgery query.
Interviewers often are surprised by her casualness. British journalist, Tim Adams, described her as arriving in "a plain sweatshirt and no make-up". But more often than not, she shows up in what appears to be a suited look. She arrived at an interview with Kristen Yoonsoo Kim in a "cream-colored suit and baby-pink dress shirt". Perhaps it was that "feminine with masculine strength" that triggered the choice to wear a suit in light colours. The blazer and pants or jeans have always been a "look" I loved but I never thought of it as "feminine with masculine strength", just "feminine strength".
She will soon be 60 and continues with grace and poise. That's the ticket, grace and poise.
I'll leave you with a gem of youthful wisdom from Binoche,
The only way for me to stay young is to let go of youth. You cannot hang on to the past. You cannot try to be young when you're not young anymore. But the youth is within yourself. How do you renew yourself, how do you go to a new layer of yourself? That is the real youth. That is the renewance of yourself.
Last night, around the dinner table, we created a game, "who, where, and what we ate". Some of the responses at our table were — "Angie & Jim, at their acreage, German roulade", "Nadia & Joel, Calgary, shrimp and grits" and "Lolita, Arcachon, oysters".