Fashion

I love clothes (just ask my Mastercard, with the melted magnetic strip). I have way too many subscriptions to fashion mags for my own good, and so many evening gowns you'd think I was running for Miss America, not someone whose career needs only t-shirts and pajama bottoms. And I especially like classic clothes that help me look good with the least amount of effort on my part. A few months ago in Vogue I saw an interview with actress Emmy Rossum, where she said "You would never see me running around Hollywood in a cotton velour tracksuit and Uggs!" In the photos she wore a great white pique suit and beige D'Orsay pumps. I like that sort of fashion philosophy, and would like to follow it, if I was as tall, thin, and young as Rossum, and had freebies from Ralph Lauren whenever I wanted them. :) But she does have a point--I would a hundred times rather be like her, someone truly classy and talented, rather than, say, someone like Britney Spears. In fashion and in my writing.

In related news, I found the cutest book at Barnes and Noble this weekend, a little gift volume titled Things a Woman Should Know About Style by Karen Homer. She gives some great tips on building one's own style, as well as a pithy, British way of delivering those tips . Here are some of my faves:
"Dressing well is like kissing: fun but you have to practice a lot before you get it right"

"Plain black patent loafers are smart, comfortable, and elegant. Wear them with dresses or skirts, however, and you'll look all together too Home Counties"

"Women have a relationship with shoes that men will never understand. Men have a relationship with women's shoes that women are better off not understanding"

"Feel free to shoe your children in Clarks as long as possible. Not only will they not ruin their feet, their aesthetic sensibility will be so sharpened by years of humiliation that they will never buy a nasty pair of shoes again"

"Too tight t-shirts make your bust look like 2 pigs wrestling under a blanket"

"No one is a normal size in Top Shop unless you are under 15 and have a thigh the same width as your knee. Don't shop in Top Shop if you are over 30" (I'm not sure what Top Shop is, but I consider myself warned)

"Jeans and trainers are not stylish. Jeans and loafers are classic. Jeans and high heels are either very tacky or very now, depending on whether you are at an Essex nighclub or an A-list celebrity party. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference"

"Never pass up an opportunity to wear a tiara" (Amen!)

"Never wear a black hat to a wedding. Even if everyone else is. Everyone else may be. Everyone else is wrong"

"Wear colored mascara if you are going to a Biba revival party and nowhere else. There is nothing so pointless as clear mascara. It is a mystery why anyone bothered to invent it"

And last but not least, "Shop in stores that are your style. Not one that tempts with the promise of re-inventing yourself in fuschia pink PVC. Be strong"

I think I'll go shopping now. :)