Color Me Happy! Coloring Books are en Vogue

A new box of Crayolas is one of my favorite things...Some of us never stopped coloring which is why the whole Adult Coloring Book Craze has blown right by me since my crayon box is always open! I collect coloring books and have two new ones just published featuring some cute friends of mine (Angelsfromtheattic.com)  So Color Me Happy! when I learned of both American Vogue and British Vogue's new Coloring Books!

 American Vogue's first ever coloring book, Vogue Colors A-Z A Fashion Coloring Book features an A-Z of iconic Vogue covers from 1912-1932 with full color images and a six page fold-out of 21 glamorous dresses to color.

British Vogue's Vogue Colouring Book is filled with illustrations inspired by the glorious fashion photography and stye of the 1950s from Dior to Givenchy, Balenciaga and Chanel-hats, pearls, bags, glamour that now we can fashion in our colourways....

How fun to select the colors of your favorite Dior Ballgown!

Now you can change a Givenchy to fit your color mood...

can you find your PINK crayon??

images via Vogue UK
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Vogue

Off the Top of My Head-The Magic of Millinery for Derby Day

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 Could there be a better day to celebrate The Hat. 

 The Kentucky Derby is known as much for Hat  watching as it is for horses.  

You CANNOT do Derby Day without a Great Hat!

  

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Hats and Horses may seem like an odd fashion pairing but you must have a hat..a great hat at that...to see and be seen cheering on your favorite filly.

The hats of course are often the real focus...

after all how can you see the race around all those grand hats.

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There was a time when great fashion meant a great hat!

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The art of millinery, however, is becoming rare,  as are the occasions to wear anything beyond a baseball cap or a straw beach hat.

 

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Excited to see Patricia Underwood, one of the last milliners in New York known for her timeless  hats that every woman can wear, has a great book from
 Rizzoli celebrating hats... 
The Way You Wear Your Hat

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See her wonderful work and learn more here

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Now...which Hat for That??  Happy Derby Day!

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A Couture Comic Book- Girl in Dior

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It's been a long time since a comic book caught my eye.  I had my collections of Archies and True Romance comics but those are buried in a box along with my silly putty, hula hoop and Malibu Barbie.   I am not  a fan of the graphic violence and often frightening images of many of the new comic book genres and graphic novels, but comic books have evolved and  I am for any format that gets kids reading.  I do applaud those publishers and artists who are reaching kids with good stories and images that teach history and portray great characters and tell a good tale.  When I heard of a new graphic novel based on Christian Dior at first it didn't fit for me. Paper dolls ,coloring books maybe...but a comic book??  I am thrilled there is a "conversation" involving the quintessential fashion house, most recently with the new film Dior and I documenting Raf Simon's first show.

My passion for timeless exquisite fashion starts and ends with Christian Dior.   I believe when you envision fashion and couture it is Dior. The influence Christian Dior continues to have almost 60 years after  his death is incalculable.  The fashion atelier seems like an unusual setting for a comic book/graphic novel but what a great way to introduce Dior's story.   Girl in Dior... Tulle, Cinched Waists, High Heels, Dramatic Hats...  The story of Dior may be  a real reach for the comic book genre, not to mention comic book audiences, but how enchanting!

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French Graphic Novelist and costume designer Annie Goetzinger takes us on this wonderful Dior journey (the House of Dior has given their blessing to this book) through the eyes of Clara a young fashion journalist who was given the assignment to cover the debut and career defining 1947 Dior show which introduced the world to Dior's "New Look" filled with yards and yards and yards of sumptuous fabrics, cinched waists, bold hats. Re-energizing a war-weary time, bringing back grace and elegance after years of utility clothes and fabric compromised fashion.

"In the presence of casual wear, luncheon and afternoon suits, dresses for dancing, for the mid-evening, for the late-night, the audience is dreaming of parties, of the high life, like BEFORE."

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"I had no idea, as of yet, of the nocturnal effervescence on the eve of the very first fashion show."

 The heroine of the novel Clara garners the attention of Dior himself and  finds herself modeling for the master becoming "The Girl in Dior".  Clara becomes Dior's confident and muse.  The fictional bio tells the story of the great couturier and showcases  the  brief 10 years of the legendary designer's work and rise to fame from 1947-1957.  With Annie Goetzinger's wonderful illustrations of Dior's work, sweeping skirts, perfectly draped gowns of endless fabric, elegant lines, timeless tailoring, glorious hats... the book portrays with meticulous detail for a graphic novel not only Dior himself and the behind the scenes creation and frenzy of the fashion house,  but also the fashion world that became Dior's... the women Dior dressed, the seamstresses, pattern makers, celebrities, fashion editors and muses amidst the post-war era that craved beauty and grace and the incomparable style that was Dior.

"It's not solely a question of walking elegantly in front of the stairs and between the landing and the sitting areas, but of passing through like a queen, of beguiling the public."

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Girl in Dior is a great way to introduce a budding designer, editor or fashion historian to the couturier who defined an era... and whose mark  on great fashion will endure forever.

 "I dream of getting out of my heels. I dream of a toasted ham and cheese. But I'm in Dior, so grin and bear it!"

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The Timeless Couturier-In Appreciation Oscar de la Renta

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"The qualities I most admire in women are confidence and kindness."

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“There is no sound more feminine than a woman in a taffeta dress.”

 

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“I am not interested in shock tactics. I just want to make beautiful clothes.”

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“My job as a designer is to make a woman feel her very best.”

“You have to walk like you have three men walking behind you.”

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"Fashion is a trend, style is within a person."

Weaving Chanel:The Magic is in the Threads-The Making of an Iconic Fabric

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Of the handful of pieces in fashion that we consider "Iconic"-The "Little Black Dress", The Hermes Bag, a Classic White Blouse...perhaps the one that can be reinvented time and again is The Chanel Jacket.  The fabric of Coco Chanel's signature statement is what allows it to be new again...and again, and yet remain the definition of a timeless look.

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For Cate Blanchett's Oscar winning role as Jasmine French in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, costume designer Suzy Benzinger dressed the character in a wardrobe that any socialite would covet, but as Jasmine slipped from society to breakdown it was her Chanel Jacket that she clung to for security along with her Birkin bag-both worn like the character herself. The jacket,however, stayed on Jasmine throughout the film  like a life raft for her-if she were to lose her jacket then all in fact would be lost for her. 

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What is it about this jacket?  This fabric?  A fabric that the second you see it you simply know -Chanel!  Karl Lagerfeld has insured that what Mademoiselle Chanel put on her own back remains in every collection in some manner...and the magic is in the threads!  

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Woven by hand , the Chanel Tweed is a parade of materials - boucle,  ribbon,  tulle, metallics ,even rope and cassette tape! and each time it is woven it becomes a fabric that only Chanel and the genius of Karl Lagerfeld can own.  

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To see how the magic of this fabric is created do not miss this video:

 Behind the Seams with Chanel's Iconic Tweed

 Only Chanel!

 

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A Case of the Mad Hatters

 

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Did you know that this week we celebrated National Hat Day!??  Who knew! Maybe it is too much Downton viewing that has given me a case of the Mad Hatters, but I have hats on the head!

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I am fascinated with how hats were a staple for every woman's wardrobe no matter her status.  Hats and gloves and a good bag and off she would go...but I will never figure out no matter how many hat pins were involved how she dealt with her hair? 

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 I cannot imagine there was enough hair spray in the world to deal with putting on and taking off a hat several times in each day.  

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 Yet in every classic film I have ever watched it is done with grace and never a hair out of place--could be a wardrobe mistress and hair and makeup artists standing by, but hats were as common in real life as jeans are today. 

Tania Mallet in a Madame Paulette stiffened net picture hat, photo John French. London, UK, 1963 via

 Hats defined the elegance and glamour of an age that so many of us look to for our fashion muses. Fashion photographers and editors rarely portrayed style without one.  A hat simply finished the look...

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 ...and in some cases created an icon.

 In the UK, hats remain a must for special occasions. Here we don them for Derby and the occasional wedding, a straw hat for the beach, and of course a baseball hat for a bad hair day...but we have yet to go back to everyday hat glam.

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Honestly, I have yet to find a hat that sits well on my head and even when it is cold and snowy I hesitate to put on a hat because of what taking it off would do to even the most basic ponytail.  Yet, this winter I am craving a yummy knit hat--

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...OK, maybe not as stunning as the hats photographed by Cecil Beaton nor as eye catching as a Royal Ascot topper, but warm and fuzzy and cute as anything!  Hair?  Who cares!  I have to have one!!    I think I hear the needles calling!

Retro Ralph-Bringing Back THE Bear

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 "I have always loved things that better with age"-Ralph Lauren 

It is hard to think of any Ralph Lauren piece as "vintage" as the iconic designer's style is so classic that his pieces define timeless.  Creating a lifestyle reflective of "worlds" that have inspired him from The Classic American West, School Prep, Hollywood Glamour and as we have seen with his connection to Downton Abbey, The Traditional English Estate, the Ralph Lauren brand can never grow old but many pieces from 45 years of designing the American look are highly collectible.  The designer has launched RL Vintage

to celebrate specific and collectable pieces from his design archives of over 45 years that demonstrate his passion for craftsmanship and heritage...and that reflect Ralph Lauren's belief  in "...a simpler kind of beauty that's connected to the past but not bound by it."   

 These are rare and authentic pieces and not replicas of designs.  The first pieces in the RL Vintage offering, which is almost all sold out, were from his passion for The American West.  This is how we came to know and love Ralph Lauren style-rugged workman denim, cowboy boots, cowhide, serape stripes, prairie skirts, concha belts, turquoise jewelry, fringed suede and leather jackets, shearling, Southwest inspired sweaters and coats

 and the iconic America Flag sweater.  

  Visiting the RL Vintage site is like a wonderful musuem trip to see curated pieces from America's most beloved designer and part of the fun is the "Bring it Back" Program where you can vote to decide from a selected group of iconic Ralph Lauren products  which will be put back into limited production.  The Teddy Bear lover, knitter and Ralph Lauren Teddy Bear collector in me was excited to see that the first group released for voting in  Bring it Back was the Polo Bear sweater!

 

 In the early years of the Ralph Lauren design house his staff presented Mr. Lauren with a custom designed Steiff Bear for his birthday sporting the Ralph Lauren denim look.  Mr. Lauren loved it so much that this became a birthday tradition and each year the Lauren team worked to design a Steiff bear that was dressed in an outfit Mr. Lauren had worn.

 Over the years he was presented with a Western Bear, a ski bear, a preppy bear, a dinner jacket bear...  Since Mr.  Lauren is a bear lover he released limited edition collectable bears with impeccable detail which made them very costly and highly sought after.

  To make the Bears more accessible the Polo Bear Sweater was created in 1991.   Knit in each sweater was one of the well dressed Polo Bears and these became part of the signature of the Polo Brand and among the most collectable of the designers products.  

 Polo Bear Sweaters from the 1990s can be found on Ebay  for as much as $800

...and the winners are...

 

Dates have not yet been given as to when these precious two will be released for sale but in the meantime, maybe I will cast on one of my favorite Vintage RL sweater designs---timeless!

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images via ralphlauren.com and RLWintage.com