3 Spring Must Haves: the Dress, the Shoes, the Bag

NEED for Spring 2017

a silky or slinky dress  

matching flats or heels

the cinch bag

Photo Source: Lucian Matis

A dress in a floral pattern can be the basis for you to indulge in your love of shoes. Buy a dress like this design by Lucian Matis and choose one of the colours for your shoes to complement the dress. The patterned shoes in the photo just don't do it. 

Focus on the pinks, reddish-oranges, yellows and greens and search your shoe stash or buy some new ones in each of those colours. The pantone colours for spring are not pastel and not the neon brights. They seem to be earthier, subdued; what you might find in Victorian chintz.

Photo Source: Pantone

Photo Source: DailyMail

With Pantone identifying "flame", an orangey-red, as one of the top 10 colours for Spring, 2017, it would be fun to have a silky dress in that colour. Your ensemble for casual summer weddings would be taken care of with a matched combination like that. Like Pippa Middletone, you could even go shopping in New York or out for lunch in that matched set and not feel overdressed.

Whether floral or solid, the dress and the shoes are the focus. The bag is strictly functional and would look great in either hazelnut, niagra or kale. 

There must be something in your closet in the 2017 spring colour tones. Resurrect it and add something new to update it and voila, you are aware of the trends without looking overtly trendy.

My personal taste is more subdued and so I would likely choose "island paradise", "pale dogwood" or "niagra" if I were to search for a a dress-shoes match.

Photo Source: Nordstrom

Bags for the spring are interesting. They range from gigantic oversized to credit card tiny. The bag in the middle is the cinch bag, which is reinstated every three or four years. Nordstrom is already sold out of this one, which looks like it could pass for the colour, "hazelnut". Several luxury houses such as Lancel always have a cinch bag available albeit in materials and finishes that eventually date it. My Lancel "flirt bag" is leather with a stamped finish and that is what dates it. I still love my Lancel "flirt" but there you have it, no matter what, we are victims of the trend and colour of the moment. 

The 2017 spring trends don't seem outlandish or out of the typical closet colour spectrum and so with a little ingenuity, you may be able to reuse, reassemble and make it look so Spring 2017.

Spring Thoughts on Shoes for a Comfortable Casual Look

NICE     NOTE-WORTHY     NO THANKS

I received an email from Stewart Weitzman Canada and was enamoured with the variety of flats.

Photo Source: Stewart Weitzman Canada

I loved the colour of these blue ballerina style flats and I can see myself wearing them with my casual summer wardrobe that includes a lot of blue, white and beige. However my No Thanks on this pair is that they are suede. I do have several pairs of suede shoes although I opt for dark colours such as black, purple . . . a darker blue. The beige ones I have, I tend not to wear often or have restricted them to "inside" shoes just because of the difficulty of cleaning suede. Stewart Weitzman has them in black but I have also made a Note-Worthy resolution and that is not to buy another pair of black shoes in 2017. These do say that spring is in the air.

Photo Source: Stewart Weitzman Canada

My other passion are metallic flats and they too are often restricted to indoor shoes. This habit has evolved after the first pair of Geox metallic flats I owned. The metallic finish wore out quickly and I do not believe that I was harder on them than any other pair of shoes. These loafers come in an embossed leather that appears to be a mottled grey and beige. That might be Nice. 

Besides sandals these flats seem to be the only styles I wear.  Ballerinas and loafers are my preferred comfortable casual shoe to finish of that particular look. 

Metro in High Shine.
Photo Soource: Stewart Weitzman Canada

No Thanks for me but Nice for others. When it comes to shoes, the chunkiest I get is a wedge heel in the summer. I don't do the sport luxe look often but if you do, these Metro in High Shine tie-ups are very cool. I defer to proportion and I just can't handle a chunky shoe owing to my height and size. If I could I would be looking seriously at these. 

Just like the fall when my "back to school mentality" kicks in, I experience "new shoes for Easter" thoughts and this year there may be more than one pair in the plan. Thank you Stewart Weitzman for the email. 

A Victim of Malware - No Thanks

I haven't posted in awhile because of an internet curiosity. Of course, we are all exposed to malware and I was the victim of a malware episode last week. As I recount what I did, I want to hit myself on the head and call myself stupid; however, what is done is done and because I own a MAC, I believe that I was not "infected" as such. Although I do understand that malware can use multiple techniques to conceal itself and that still enters my thoughts. At least, after talking to the techie at the MAC store, I do not believe that my computer has been violated as such; however . . . 

Here's what happened: After receiving an email (regarding my writing and payment) and "doing" what the "person" instructed me to do (?click fraud? - stylewe was the site assigned by the email) I received a warning message about malware. Of course it told me to call or contact a particular body with phone number given and to do it immediately. I didn't. I called the MAC store instead and although the techie was probably shaking his head as he listened to what I did, he did say that I did not do the most important thing and that was to follow the contact information to get rid of the malware. I am led to believe, that you have to actively go through a process to essentially install the malware on a MAC. And I am assuming that would be the advice I would get if I had followed the malware message on my screen. Thankfully I did not contact them to allegedly get rid of the malware or rather install the malware. Instead the MAC guy told me to shut off the computer and then to simply turn it on again. I did. No malware message and my computer seems to be working perfectly since then, without any messages to help me get rid of anything. Yet, my thoughts go back to the idea of concealment.

Knowing that the prime objective is to steal personal and financial information, I did change my passwords for my own peace of mind. I do very little financial business online; however it's not how much you do, you just have to have done it. That concerns me. I do learn from my mistakes.

You won't be reading anything from me in awhile. I have decided to take my computer in for a "checkup" just in case.  I have to remember a line from a Steven Seagal movie, "Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups."

ITSO. . . In the Style of Kellyanne Conway. . .

NO THANKS . . . an opinion

There are features in this woman's style which are examples of how not to present yourself. Katharine Hepburn told Jane Fonda that it is ". . . not just what you have on and how you look, but your presentation as a human being in all levels was important." (Retrieved from a People interview with Fonda)

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.

- Coco Chanel

And what is happening is slightly disconcerting to many of us. One can conclude that she is simply presenting the style, the mannerisms, the way of being that represents the man she is working for and essentially all those who voted for him. She supports him and has never wavered in that support. That is commendable. However, there were many through history who supported dictators and imbeciles who managed to be in or lead in government office. Enough of that rant . . . 

Five No Thanks Features in Kellyanne Conway's style . . . 

Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us. 

– Virginia Woolf

Photo Source: A Reuters photo
retrieved on February 28, 2017 from MarketWatch (posted January 20, 2017)

1. No Thanks to dressing in a costume-look when attending an event other than a costume party. There are ways it could have been made to look less costume-y; however the best advice is to stay away from any hint of a costume look.

According to a MarketWatch  summary, Kellyanne Conway reportedly called her Gucci-designed red, white and blue coat, which she wore to the presidential inauguration, “revolutionary wear". Alrighty then . . .

To me, clothing is a form of self-expression – there are hints about who you are in what you wear. 

– Marc Jacobs

Photo Source: Retrieved  February 28, 2017
from DailyMail (posted January 7, 2017)

2. Jackets with frou frou are trendy and therefore become dated quickly making for a clownish appearance rather than a classic one. In this case, what appears to be a gold lamé jacket seems "off" when going for lunch.  She is often seen in red and it suits her. The clothing elements completing this beige base does not look "stylish", or "put together" properly. 

Maybe it looked ok in the mirror when she finished dressing but it certainly did not photograph well. This is something with which most of us do not have to concern ourselves. However, in an age when it seems the greatest selling feature of a phone is the quality of the pictures it takes, more of us are finding ourselves in photographs we wish never would have been taken. We all want to look our best in photographs so you would think, those in the public eye would be more careful.

Notice that this particular jacket offends at two levels: inappropriate for a noon luncheon (especially at the White House) and it doesn't appear to fit.

Photo Source:
Retrieved February 28, 2017 from the
DailyMail (posted July 5, 2016)

3. Kellyanne Conway has a fit figure and looks good in much of what she wears; however, there are many photographs that show her wearing something that appears to fit too small. When it comes to style, "fit" is everything. 

A non-clothing style feature in this photo is the importance of posture. But is it her posture or is it an under-clothing thing? Perhaps she just needed a better bra. Whichever it is, she should have worn a jacket over this dress. I am partial to jackets and I believe, just as men wear suits and jackets in business and formal situations, women are wise to borrow the look. Of course, wear a dress or skirt and shirt under the jacket but wear a jacket. Not only is it more formal, it also camouflages particular features. But be careful when choosing a jacket . . . 

Photo Source: Reuters Photo
Retrieved  February 28, 2017 from NYPost 
(Posted November 13, 2016)

Does this jacket not fit properly? It's hard to tell with this particular style. When it is worn open as it is here, it looks like the fit is too small and so the wearer hopes that it will be passable if it is left undone. No Thanks. It was better done up as in the photograph on style point #2.

Clothing can be expensive but if it doesn't fit well, it will look cheap.  Cheap clothing that fits well is truly more stylish.

The only real elegance is in the mind; if you’ve got that, the rest really comes from it.

– Diana Vreeland

Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak.

 – Rachel Zoe

Photo Source: Retrieved February 28, 2017 from DailyMail

4. There are many famous quotes about style that go beyond what one is wearing. Kellyanne Conway appears to be wearing an appropriate dress for a meeting but maybe a jacket would have added an element of formality to match the gathering (but not the jacket she chose to wear in the previous two photos). In this example, her choice of clothing is less important than what she is doing. Why was she going through unflattering contortions to take a photo? Her physical position on the couch seems incongruous to her professional position and as others have noted, disrespectful to the visitors. Simply, she should be attending to the business happening in the oval office, not to the photo op. Someone took the photo of her; perhaps she should have left the official photographer to do his or her work. No Thanks to her lack of proper behaviour in a formal setting.

Clothes aren’t going to change the world, the women who wear them will.

– Anne Klein 

5. In her role of White House advisor, I expect more . . . more decorum, more thoughtful expression, more intelligent responses, more respect, more of what one aspires to be and not of what one is embarrassed to watch.

To have style definitely has less to do with what you wear. It is how you speak, how you carry yourself, how you behave and how you treat other people. So here's a big No Thanks to Kellyanne Conway's style from one Canadian's perspective.