Some current style fixations
I was sartorially triggered by Annette Bening and Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Hi friends, as promised, I’m back with a topic that isn’t related to my nasal passages!
It’s funny that I’m best known for writing about design and interiors as I started my career in fashion. I studied fashion at uni and for much of my childhood, I wanted to design clothes for a living. I realised during my Textiles GCSE that I have a complete intolerance for sewing (by hand or machine), so I scrapped that idea but I still enjoy fashion and personal style as a hobby. I rarely shop for clothes these days, so this newsletter scratches an itch for me as a place to share the things I love, even if I’ll never own them.
My boyfriend and I share one tiny wardrobe and my half is a measly 90cm rail with a single shelf above it, so I wear the same clothes week in, week out until they’re too worn to wear anymore. I still feel energised and inspired when I see a great outfit but I don’t often buy new things and I always stay true to the styles, colours and shapes I’ve loved for years, no matter which way the trend pendulum is swinging.
Having a microscopic wardrobe doesn’t mean I’m not constantly compiling wishlists of things I’d love to own or unearth, though. There’s always something I’m searching for and these are eight of the pieces on my mind right now…
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1. Annette Bening’s fleet of vintage blouses in 20th Century Women
I re-watched 20th Century Women the other day and it made me want to go vintage shopping for the first time in a while. It’s annoyingly hard to find good vintage without being confronted by rails of sweaty, shiny polyester, so I stopped trawling vintage shops with the fervent enthusiasm I used to have.
I’m predictably drawn to anything set in the 1970s or California or with a cast including Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig or Annette Bening. This film ticks all of those boxes. As someone born in the ‘80s but forever enamoured with fashion and music from the ‘70s, I get mega joy from ogling Annette’s character’s excellent collection of patterned cotton and silk blouses. It’s the loosely tied necks, the paisley prints, the Mandarin collar jacket. I want them all and they’re perfection with her curly bob.
I thought about them again when I was browsing the Mytheresa sale this morning and stopped to admire this men’s Bode shirt.
About 15 years ago, I owned the perfect ‘70s ultra-thin cotton blouse – I found it in a vintage shop just off Second Avenue in New York. I can’t remember the name of the store but I shopped there a few times over the years and the lady who owned it always sang very loudly, completely unprompted. Being typically British and embarrassed by everything, I’d continue browsing and try to act like nothing was happening. Maybe you know the place? Anyway, I was young and stupid and didn’t realise the importance of hand-washing delicate pieces, so after a couple of dalliances with my washing machine, it literally disintegrated. This photo, taken in Rome back in 2011, is one of the few times I ever got to wear it. Annette’s blouses in 20th Century Women always make me think of the one I ruined and how emphatically ‘me’ I feel in pieces like that.
