This is a two-part post on clothing and style, with today’s thoughts leading into tomorrow’s perfume post.

I’m in the process of revamping my personal style.  The contributing factors:

• For years I worked in businesses (e.g., commercial real estate, financial services) with defined, conservative dress codes.  At work I wore the “uniform” of tailored suits, none of which I wanted to wear at home.
• I don´t lead a white-pants life – four kids underfoot and their friends, a dog, working out of the house, gardening.
• I’ve always viewed clothing as costume.  Specifically, vintage or ethnic costume.  When we lived in Santa Fe I worked the whole concha-belt velvet-blouse thing.  Also, I’m petite, I’m sized and shaped for vintage clothing and accessories, and I collect and wear vintage stuff regularly.  I like its uniqueness.
• I’m a magpie in terms of pattern.  If you look in my closet, there are a lot of patterned dresses and separates.  They’re sized proportionally for me, but there’s a lot going on.

I no longer have to “dress” for the office, and I’m doing the mom thing, but I have steadfastly resisted the I-give-up approach I see around me among women in similar circumstances.  I eschew looking like an ad from the LL Bean catalog, and I do not wish to live out the rest of my days in yoga togs.  I believe that adults, or at least this adult, should get dressed to face the world.  But in what?

The problem(s?) which I expressed to a couple of gals recently, while we were sitting around one afternoon over coffee talking about personal style, is that I am no longer the ingenue, my default setting for dress.  I always looked young for my age, getting carded well into my thirties.  My “youth,” real or imagined, was the basis for whatever style I had.  I am now in my late-ish forties, and in my considered opinion, I need a style upgrade.  (I am making these rules/statements about nobody other than myself, let me clarify that right off the bat.)    I need to be tidier.  And I need to ramp down the vintage and froufrou a little.  Too much vintage or boho on me doesn’t look charming or whimsical.  It starts to look a little nutty, frankly.  Like I’m one of those nice socialites living in mummy’s English basement rental property on my trust fund check, with three golden retrievers and a tenuous grip on reality.  This, my friends, is not the look I am striving for.  Also, with a few exceptions, I have decided that something that looks appropriate on my 15-year-old is too young for me, and I’m going to stop borrowing her clothes.

I was already thinking of all of this when I saw Coco Before Chanel at the Sniffa in New York.  As I left the theater in a predictable swoon over the costumes and the set locations, I had gained some clarity.  The thing is, I own a lot of clothes in that style.  I had some already because they’re appropriate for dressing up in my suburban DC life.  And courtesy of The Big Cheese’s mom, who was a sharp society dresser, I have several knit suits and dresses I couldn’t bear to part with, and lovely pearls, and some conservative accessories.  I have stylish flats that I don’t pull out and wear often enough.  I just need to make a little extra effort to dress like a grown-up.

So for the past week I’ve been experimenting.  Have no fear, I’m not turning into a mini-Gloria Vanderbilt.  But it was really fun meeting my father at the National Gallery of Art with my hair put up neatly for a change, in a navy-and-cream Adolfo knit jacket (okay, with dark wash jeans) and red lipstick and low-heeled pumps and a decent handbag.  Whether or not you’d have loved the particular outfit, I looked pulled together and fully adult.  I felt good about the way I looked.

I am sure there will be plenty of days when I’m lumping around in practical corduroys and clogs and a heavy sweater, if for no other reason than we keep our house chilly in the winter, and I’m not ready to pack my motorcycle boots and jacket away forever.  But I find I like looking like a grown-up, and it didn’t take all that much longer to put on than whatever I’d fish out of the laundry basket.  For the longest time I rebelled against that type of clothing as a restrictive uniform, but I am beginning to appreciate its value as a uniform as well.

Tomorrow: the perfumes that seem to go with this look, with one new-to-me discovery.

Have you had any style revelations?  How do you view clothing for your current self vis-a-vis your younger self?

March

Written by the Whole Gang

Once again we turn our attention to the fall fragrances we’re most excited about — whether it’s something new, or something old that’s captured our attention.  For some of us in the States it seems like we barely had fall — parts of the country have already been clocked by their first snowstorms.  But there’s always time to celebrate fall fragrances, even if fall itself exists only as a state of mind.

(Nava reports from the Northern Territories: And wasn’t it just yesterday we were schvitzing like crazy? The weather patterns are unbelievable. Seemingly overnight, every leaf on every tree has turned yellow or red. I refuse to even speak of snow!)

Anita – It’s autumn.  Bored with summer’s citrus and lacy folderol, I am loving the opportunity to don my heavy hitters,  the Empress Mitsouko and her Western counterpart, Jolie Madame.  But I’ve yarked on about those two ’til even I am sick of talking about them.  Soooo…..how ’bout a little leather?  I love leather in this weather.  Cool, sexy, a little fierce.  But not quite Kinky Boots.  A little more understated, with the sex coming from the buttery perfection of the leather……okay, you can add  those fabulous little leather strappy ties that look so incredible (for about 2 days, until you forget how to tie them and they get all wrinkly).

Lee – Here in the silly old UK, we are definitely having a gentle journey into autumn. No frost yet, but a nip in the air at night, and first thing. Great planting weather.

Unlike Patty, I’ve sniffed nothing new. But right now, I’m ODing on Dior’s Eau Noire on those ‘ gimme all I can take’ days (these sort of days roll into each other – good job EN hangs around…), and Dia pour Homme for those that are more restrained.

March – Louise called me something like a secret amber whore recently, which I vehemently denied, but … maybe she’s onto something.  Don’t tell her I said so.  I’ve always thought of amber as liquid death.  Speaking of which, I’ve been having a huge Serge Lutens bender recently.  Our weather has been all over the place, but that hasn’t stopped me from bustin’ out some Serge, including a new one for me which I’ll be touching on in my Sunday/Monday post.  Serge Lutens I have esteemed and admired more than worn, but man, that seems to be changing.  If I start raving on here about Tubereuse Criminy or that damn Borneo, call the FBI, I’ve been abducted.  Right now I am wafting Fleurs d’Oranger in all its cuminy blossomy magnificence and laughing, what is wrong with me that I won’t just buy it?  I’m on like my third sample, I should buy a bottle already.    Also been loving Serge’s Santal Blanc layered with Clair de Musc.  And speaking of musk, when I’m not killing people around me with Serge I’m wearing relatively simple, clean wallpaper musks like the Clair de Musc, Narciso Rodriguez Intense (yes, I bought a bottle) and the oddly vegetal Kiehls Original.

Nava – Once again, my fall-winter-spring standby is Donna Karan Chaos. I’ve been thinking a lot about her fragrances lately. I’m betting she thinks they’re all very spiritual scents; Ms. Karan being the raw foodie, yogi, zen 60+ ageless wonder that she is. I’ve even broken out some of her Essence Wenge and Labdanum to mix with my beloved Chaos. Adding those scents to the mix just makes the whole concoction that much more beautiful. My other choice is the new Si Lolita by Lolita Lempicka. How can you go wrong with flowers and spice? Ever?

Patty – Two for me on my hottest wearing list – Kilian Pure Oud and Francis Kurdjian’s Pour Le Soir. Cuddly warm loveliness.  But others that are in constant rotation is the Gardenia, Muguet and Bois d’Iris from the Van Cleef & Arpels CE line.  They don’t seem as fall-like as the other two, but I can’t seem to tell my nose to keep them on hold until spring.

For more Top Ten fall lists, please visit Bois de Jasmin, Grain de Musc, Now Smell This and Perfume-Smellin’ Things.

image: www.fs.fed.us

We come to the last four of the Francis Kurkdjian scents today.  I’ve very much enjoyed discovering them.  I like some better than others, but it s a good mix of complicated and uncomplicated, differing price points and approaches.  And each of them has a nice surprising twist to it that takes it out of what you think it is at first.  Beautifully and creatively done.

Cologne Pour le Matin has notes of Bergamote from Calabria, Lemon from Sicily, White Thyme from Morocco, Lavender from Provence, and Orange Flower from Tunisia.  This is a lovely, crisp, refreshing day cologne in the style of 4711 or Eau de Cologne from Chanel.  No surprises here, but it’s well done for what it is and smells delightful, like you just bit into sunshine.  The drydown blows off some of the cheerfulness and reveals more of the herbal notes.  This, like the Soir, I could happily spray everywhere in my house.

Acqua Universalis is billed as the universal water, something you can use anywhere, any time, on anything.  I really expected to hate this because I was sure I’d be met with that TFA that makes my lower lip curl up.  Yeah, it’s got that a little, but almost like an inside joke. Notes of Bergamote and Lemon from Sicily, White Bouquet (Lily of the Valley and sweet mock orange), and Light and Musky Wood.  the Lily of the Valley and woods save it from my hate until it gets to the part I like. It’s got some quirky turns in it that I read as that fresh thing, but then I get some musk.  It’s much  more interesting than I thought it would be.  It’s that chipper girl that used to smile big and chirp a big “Heeelllooo” every morning at you in the coffee shop when you were still asleep and more than mildly cranky that you grudgingly grew to like and look forward to seeing.

APOM (short for A Piece of Me) Pour Femme has notes of Orange Flower, Cedar wood, Ylang-Ylang flower.  this is just lovely. Perky and still elegant, the orange flower and ylang unfold beautifully into a more woody feel so it doesn’t stay over the top in the white flower range, but it keeps a very heady feel all the way through, but not obnoxiously so.  There is just the lightest touch of skank in the drydown that unfurls slowly and adds a whole new dimension to white floral and then it brings in an incensy feel too.  Again, restrained, just like the big white florals in this scent.  It takes a pretty neat trick to make a big white floral skank monster that is all those things, but restrained so it is none of those things in the way I usually think of them. The scent was inspired by Kurkdjian’s trip to Lebanon.

APOM Pour Homme has notes of Orange Flower, Cedar wood, and Amber.  There are similarities between the two, but the Homme deepens with the amber and has much more emphasis on the woody notes.  If a guy found the Lumiere Noire Pour Homme just a little too ambiguous to wear, I think the APOM would be a perfect fit.  It has a restrained, warmed-up elegance.  Not to worry, the skank note isn’t in this, it’s got much more of a cuddly guy vibe radiating off of it.

On the APOMs, how unisex are they?  Honestly, I see no reason why guys can’t wear the femme and girls can’t wear the homme.  Gender transfer as you will.

Okay, last drawing for another set of MFK set, so just drop a short comment if you want to be entered. for those of you that were at Sniffa and smelled them, if you’d like to talk about them a little and give your favorite, that would be lovely.  I’ll announce the last two winners in next Tuesday’s post.

Patty

As expected, Sniffapalooza in New York was a blast, even though the weather was craptastic (cold, blowy, rainy and inside-out-umbrella-ish) and I am still getting over a cold and sound all raspy.  Here’s a report of my personal highlights and helpful tidbits from Saturday -

For me, Bergdorf is the highlight of the day.  Those people really know their customer service, and the more time I spend shopping elsewhere, the more I admire their CS overall.  I spent a long time chatting with the wonderful Tom Crutchfield at Annick Goutal, I know some of y’all know him.  He’s full of great stories about Annick and working with the brand, and he really loves fragrance.  Anyhoo, he had literally unpacked his Mandragore Pourpre the day before the event, he was not expecting his shipment until November.  So they have it in, he can hook you up, they have the square and the round bottles.   So I soaked myself in it to see if I felt the same way as I did in my review, and … well, I do.   It’s a little darker and sweeter and missing the sharp-clawed top of the original.  But if that part gets on your nerves, hey – try this one.   I think my notes say $115 for 100ml.  I also wanted to tell you about the AG Noel room spray he’s got on preorder, he’s waiting for his shipment, it’s a seasonal LE thing.  No, it does not smell like potpourri or Christmassy – in fact, I can tell you what it smells like!  It smells exactly like the smell when you walk into a chiller at a high-end florist – sweet white flowers (think lilies, tuberose, freesia) with a little green and a slightly mentholated chill.  I thought it was lovely, I can’t wait to try that in a room.  I ordered one.  It’s $44 for 3.4 oz(!), and here’s Tom’s number – 212-872-2768.   Also btw he says he’s been told they’re going to stop shipping the Ambre Fetiche to the US due to poor sales, although that doesn’t pose much of a barrier to us determined folks in perfume-land.

The new Robert Piguet Futur is loads of fun as well, a retro-modern 60s scent that is green and woody, but still floral (ie not too green and woody for me).  The drydown on my card makes me think of something along the lines of Norell meets vintage Vent Vert, but softer.  This is a reintroduction and has been done (and I can only assume, reorchestrated) by Aurelien Guichard.  I’ve really liked most of the offerings of the line, and this is another worthy addition.  I’m bummed that I missed the sample handout of this one, my own fault, I’m going to try to get ahold of it and do a decent review.  Notes are bergamot, neroli “a green spring-like bouquet of violet and the sweet richness of jasmine and ylang,” vetiver, cedar and patchouli.  And, they had a bottle of the parfum, which smelled tremendous.

I spent a ton of time, as did everyone else, with the delightful, totally up-for-it Francis Kurkdjian, who … look, the dude did scented bubbles, you know he’s going to be fun, right?  So he was blowing those in the air over us and we were popping them, it was hilarious.  The hordes of crazed perfumistas did not faze him.  Now, the fragrances … there are seven, including two colognes, and I got to try them twice, Catherine and I snuck over there for a preview Friday night.  Here’s a link to FK’s interview with Sniffa, also Patty’s been reviewing them on here including yesterday.  I have samples, I’ll likely do a more comprehensive review when I’ve had time to reflect on them more, not surrounded by 150 other things.  They are interesting and worth smelling, they seem very unified as a line… oh, the bottles are cool, the caps are I think zinc?  They’re spotty-looking, so the bottles are spare and clean but also organic-looking.  Attractive.  So, there’s homme and femme for two EDP scents, to me the vibe of the line is a little herbal/aromatic.   My point being, these are not sweet, “perfume-y” scents.  I’m getting the feel that FK did exactly what he wanted, which is as it should be, no?  They’re all unisexy.  My two personal favorites?  Acqua Universalis, which was featured there as an EDT and apparently you can get it as a laundry detergent, how fabulous would that be?  I can’t even tell you why I thought it smelled so great (notes are bergamot, Sicilian lemon, lily of the valley, sweet orange and blond musky wood) but it did, and not like a conventional cologne.  My other favorite was Cologne Pour le Soir (notes of cashmere and leather) and OH MY GOD (insert moaning sounds here.)  It’s … it’s not uber-heavy.  Let me be clear here.  These are not, say, something with the weight of Caron.  They’re newer and cleaner smelling.   Having said that, ask Tom how long the group of us stood around and sniffed it on his wrist, I mean, it was a little embarrassing.  It’s a glove/book/belt leather, not some ol’ birchtar thang, but if you like a refined leather, hooboy.  THIS.  Tom said his boyfriend liked it!

Also there were the new Van Cleefs, which I didn’t pay as much attention to because they gave us a sample set and I know I can sniff them here.   I also sniffed the Boisé Torride at Guerlain and while I can’t exactly say that I gave it a huge chance, it didn’t make much of an impression one way or another, except to make me giggle at the name.  I guess I was hoping for, you know, more wood.  (Why oh why won’t someone do me a fragrance called Morning Wood? in French, of course – what is that, Bois de Matin?   I’d buy it.)  Oh, and they have the new Acqua di Parma Magnolia Nobile, and I thought it was awfully pretty (I could see a decant), but it doesn’t smell a ton like actual magnolia.

In the Someone Else’s Fault category – Edward Bess was there, he’s the sweet young guy with his own lipstick line and a couple other products (blush and eyeshadow?)  I want to call him cute as a button but it doesn’t sound very respectful and I have nothing but respect for the business acumen and drive that got him a counter in BG.  His lipsticks are lip-colored and very nicely done, nothing radical just good basic colors, I bought a lippie and a gloss.  I bet he can’t buy a drink in a bar without being carded.  I talked to him and his gals for quite some time about marketing and yadda yadda, he was loads of fun.  He tested and developed the colors on his mom and sisters, how sweet is that?

I skipped the Sniffa lunch so I could indulge my favorite thing, which is eating lunch in the BG café on the beauty level.  If you have not done that, you need to.  Seriously, tea sandwiches, deviled eggs and chopped salads the size of your head?  And strong coffee?  And great people-watching?  What’s not to love?  Also right this second BG is having a multi-floored show of Chanel vintage.  Check out the accessories in the Chanel boutique on 1, the vintage clothes in the store’s exterior display windows, and the dresses upstairs (floor 6, maybe?)

Takashimaya offered us cupcakes, mango tea, and Keiko Mecheri, who was there very helpfully explaining her scents and matching people up with new favorites.  They have the Ineke line, and I tried Field Notes from Paris, but need to sniff further, it made me think of L’Artisan Navigateur a little (coffee and spices.)  They still have the Fragonards but seem to have gotten rid of The Different Company.  I’m still mad at them, I confess, for moving their beauty floor down from the top floor, which I think worked better as a space.  The cool think about Tak is I see lines there I never see anywhere else, but their selection is so small now that I couldn’t get excited about anything new on this particular visit.

Bendel has jammed their entire fragrance department into one of those back alcoves, the one on the left.  No, seriously.  I wish you could have seen 120+ of us trying to wedge ourselves into a place that would probably feel claustrophobic once you had more than ten bodies.  So I only lingered in there long enough to hork down some black and white cookies alongside Chaya (yes, in case you are worried – between that and the cupcakes at Tak I did get my daily dose of sugar.)  I managed to sniff Etat Libre’s new Fat Electrician, which is mostly vetiver, and sure it smelled nice but I am not the queen of vetiver, so I can’t make some dazzling pronouncement about it.  I answered a friend’s question honestly while standing there – for as much as I liked a couple of the Etats when I reviewed them, somehow I never felt moved to pursue it further, I don’t wear samps or have decants of any of them.  Just not my thing somehow.

Then we were supposed to do a couple more things, but … did I mention how craptastic the weather was?  And I was getting sniffed out?  And so an anonymous partner-in-crime and I ducked into the ginormous theatre that is in the side of BG, directly across from The Plaza, and watched Coco Before Chanel, which – let me tell you – was a damn fine way to finish up a day of sniffing.  It’s probably a good thing that nobody was sitting right next to me, because I am sure I was wafting some pretty intense sillage at that point, including from a frag or two that are not new at all but that I’d somehow overlooked and now love, reviews to follow soonish.  A great time was had, if not by all, then certainly by me, even on a blustery day that feels more like February than October.

Oh, and PS — I got several compliments on my understated stormy blue-gray mani, for the two gals who asked me to put it in the post, it’s Barielle’s Slate of Affairs from the All Lacquered Up collection, I got mine from barielle.com

Anyone have any questions or comments, fire away!

March

So.  Ever have those moments in your life where you look up, shake your head a couple of times and realize that you are living the life of your dreams, even though it doesn’t look exactly like what you thought it would be?  Yeah, I have been easing into one of those for months.  What makes it real is that my complete contentment and happiness is dependent on no one person.  I’ve had times before where I thought life was perfect, but it was because I was in love or some other outside thing was happening that precipitated that, and it was transient and cosmetic – it left as soon as that relationship hit bad places or the new wore off of the promotion or new house or Laboutin shoes.  This is a deep-rooted to my bones happiness that comes from my heart and soul.  Wow, that took a long time, just 49 years.

This is also the contentment of abundance season for perfume.  I’m awash in things to try that I’m admiring and/or loving. The FKs, the new Cartiers, the VC&As.  It’s a pretty great fall for perfume. Yes, there’s a lot of releases, but so many are really good and great.  I just can’t figure out what to review next!  So I’ll keep working through the Kurkdjians.

Lumiere Noire Pour Femme has notes of Spiced Rose (cumin, hot pepper), Patchouli and Narcissus. Lumiere Noire Pour Femme is just ridiculous – this is a fully grown, bosom-heaving woman who knows how to cast a come-hither invitation while never looking like a tramp.  There was a scene in Mad Men last year where Betty Draper was standing in her front yard in a beautiful white negligee, perfectly coifed and made up, a cigarette dangling from her lips, eyes squinty to keep out the smoke, and the camera scans down to the shotgun in her hands, which she hoists up to her shoulder and shoots the neighbor’s pigeons because he threatened to kill her kids’ dog.  That’s Lumiere Noire – it is dark because the light can’t penetrate, but it lacks nothing and needs nothing.  Rose, patchouli, spices, warm, lingering,  and hot, naughty narcissus. Caron’s Narcisse Noir meets Amouage Lyric woman and conspire to ensnare your soul.  Denyse reviews it and Pour Homme beautifully.

Lumiere Noire Pour Homme takes masculinity and binds it.  Notes of Spiced Rose (cumin, cinnamon) , Patchouli, Narcissus, Mugwort herb.  On first blush, I thought this was going to be a much more traditional masculine scent.  It opens that way, and then somehow it is captured and bound and starts radiating some heat that’s closer to the Pour Femme, and that dusting of cinnamon as it hits the heart is completely unraveling me in the bet ways.  As Denyse notes, it is a little bit of a sexually ambiguous perfume, which means we chicks can happily wear it, but it’s not anywhere near feminine enough to scare macho guys away.  Well, maybe a little if they scare easy.  They’re not the same scent at all, but wearing one on one arm and one on the other is pretty intoxicating.  The Femme strikes me as being a little dirtier in unexpected ways, and the Homme strikes me as being a little primmer in unexpected ways.

These are two surprising, unexpected, classic scents.  Okay, winner from last week’s FK review post is:  Margot.  Just click on the Contact Us on the left, send me your address, and I’ll get you out a set of samples of all the FKs.

So let’s do it again!  Just drop a comment in today’s post to be entered in the drawing for another set of the new MFK scents.

Patty