TheAsceticLibertine

Happy holidays to all from the AL.  May your new year be healthy, bright and involve lots of fantastic fashion.  Yours truly is going to check out the steampunk in Sherlock Holmes (RDJr., swoon!)...

It's so hard to be fashionable in cold weather, n'est-ce pas?  Many moons ago I gave up trying to find a warm down coat that had any sense of style to it--they all look like blankets anyway, so what's the point?

Well, someone somewhere heard my plaintive wails, and that someone went to work at Moncler.  Unfortunately Moncler is right out of my price range, but it's fun to look.  And this coat, the Audrey?  I love it.    Down fill with a wool exterior, so you don't look like a living, breathing down comforter when you're walking around.  If you've got the dosh, it's at Saks.

Don't know about you, but the Anna Sui/Gossip Girl collection wasn't as thrilling as I'd hoped.  But Target has lined up a few extra special designers for me to await with bated breath:  Jean-Paul Gautier and Zac Posen.  I can't wait!

First-world problem, *I know*, but yours truly has two, count 'em, two black tie events in the next couple of months.  Yours truly also does not own a gown.  Cocktail dresses?  Sure!  Too many to count.  But gowns?  Y'all, I'm 5'2".  Gowns are not my thing. 

That said, have I dreamed of my Oscar moment?  Have I coveted gowns I've seen starlets wear?  Yes, it has happened.  So I'm channeling that envy into figuring out what I want to wear for these two parties.  The gown has to be black, because it's a requirement for one party and no, I'm not buying two gowns.  I will wear the same one to both (completely different states, so it's all good).  Right now, I am in love with these two from BCBGMaxAzria, but they are completely out of my price range:

The poor man's version, but still pricey at Nordstrom: Also, the problem with gowns and being a short person is that I can't just order something off the internet, and whatever I get will most definitely have to be hemmed.  It's hard to get a picture of what will look good on me when I'm a foot shorter than the models in these dresses.

Still, it's kind of exciting to think about wearing an actual gown to a super fancy event.  I'll probably end up going to Macy's and Century21 and just drowning in dresses until something in my price range (under $200 prefs.) sticks.  Keep ya posted.

The AL

I always love Chanel, even when I don't love Chanel.  It's just my go-to in terms of aesthetic.  And Karl Lagerfeld continually reinvents the Chanel suit to make it relevant and always covetable.

And, oh, there is so much to love for Spring '10.  I really dig the "little girl lost" vibe of these two outfits:

And I want this suit right now (sans headscarf, thank you):  Garance Doré, our resident Parisienne, has a lovely writeup of the show here, which as always includes her fabulous pictures.  Right now I want to look like Caroline Sieber:  Yes, I do!  Toodles!  The AL

It's my birthday month and I want the shoe fairy to give me the Wyatt, as aforementioned, and the lovely Libby Smith (yes, with the white spats going on--totally my thing):

I cannot help but feel that I have failed you all...  Grad school and keeping a fashion blog kinda don't mix for me right now.  Funny how that works.  It's not that I don't want to look at all of the beautiful clothes and comment on what I like and don't like, it's that right now I have so much work I can't even think about it.  (This excuse-laden post is what I like to call a "study break".) 

I will say that I'm kind of in love with a lot of what Elise Øverland did.  It pretty much kicks ass that in perfect contrast to everyone else's airy, floaty, springy outfits, her Spring '10 line is all about leather.  And you know my fondness for leather, so I just had to give her the shout out. 

I also liked this from Alexander Wang (don't hate, it's pretty cool even though it's nuts): And this from Vena Cava (so 20's!):
More to come, hopefully... but if not, just know that I love you all.  Right now it's London Fashion Week and you know that the Queens are all over that.

From NYMag on my girl Daphne Guinness.

Also, really can't want to see the Vogue documentary.

 

 

Two things, briefly (and am afraid all posts for a while will be brief; I start school in two weeks and a new job in three weeks, *and* I'm finishing filming a movie at the moment, so my life is just crazy):

I just saw Inglourious Basterds and the costume design was impeccable.  Anna Sheppard knows from her Holocaust-era, war-torn Europe (she also costume designed for Band of Brothers and The Pianist) but I thought Melanie Laurent's costumes in particular were amazing.  My favorite outfit was not what you'd think, though yes she is stunning in the red dress.  I particularly liked her drab, everday clothes.  Even though they were muted, they were really lovely.  In one scene she wears this jacket/sweater, belted at the waist:

with these pants and shoes:

I just thought it was such a great look, and the pants are worn kind of high, so that her hem hits at her ankles.  They are super-wide and with the fitted, belted top just looked fantastic.  Nothing splashy, navy blue and dark brown (or possibly grey). 

Post-war chic (I guess there is such a thing) must be in right now, because according to this month's WMag article on Miuccia Prada, the effect that Prada's Fall 09 RTW collection goes for is post-war Germany, as evidenced by the severe updos seen on the models and the collection's sober brown and grey coats and jackets. However, I am rather fond of these gladiator-like dresses:

Though of course I like the black one best (far left):

 

 

So it's been a grey, gloomy week in ol' NYC, and today it has rained off and on all day.  Weather like this, despite the incredibly nasty humidity, makes me think of Fall, bar-none my favorite season (probably because of all the clothing possibilities).  And whenever I think of Fall, I think of boots.  Every year I tell myself my boot wardrobe is complete, and every year I find myself wanting a different kind of boot than one I already own.  This year it's stompy black boots in a calf-length.  I own only two pairs of short boots and neither of them are flat, so that's my goal for this year--to get a boot that is either entirely flat or has a small enough and broad enough heel height that I don't feel like I'm walking on a heel. 

Ever since I saw The Brothers Bloom, I have been obsessed with the logger boots that Rachel Weisz wears in the film: 

The closest thing I had found were the Frye 8G loggers:

But then, cruising around the John Fluevog website, I happened to see the Wyatt and it wins big: 

Still, nothing can compare to the actual boot I want, which is Vivienne Westwood's flat soled black pirate boot with the natural leather buckles. 

The boots are able to be worn in all kinds of different ways, owing to the flexibility of the buckles (they can be taken off, etc...).  Queen Michelle of the glorious Kingdom of Style blog wore hers rather ingeniously folded over as ankle boots: 

Basically:  I want, I want.  Do not have the nearly $600 the fuckers cost.  Oh well.  Every year without fail I lust after the pirate boots and every year I manage to somehow continue living.  I imagine this year will be the same.  However, if by the time I have graduated from my Masters program I am still pirate boot-less, those things *will* be my graduation present to myself.  You heard it here first.