March 2014

The Frontlines of our Mystique (Necklines and Décolletage)

            Have you seen the movie, The Devil’s Advocate?  Another of my favorites, there is a scene in which Al Pacino admonishes Charlize Theron to change her hairstyle, heretofore curling down on her shoulders.  He has her pull it up and then expounds upon how this will enhance her allure by calling attention to her décolletage, that area below the neck encompassing the shoulders and chest that he calls, in a woman, “the frontlines of her mystique….with all the mystery of a border town, a no man’s land, in that battle between the mind and the body.”  Ooh, how delicious!

            And I have it on good authority (an artist friend) that many men consider this area the sexiest part of a woman’s body.  A defined collarbone is an essential feature of this erotic landscape,  Deep cleavage is not..

            It may come as a surprise that in times past (the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries) women of fashion in western Europe sported bared  breasts, which  I assume means nipples, as part of their fashion statement, and not infrequently at that  In our day we prefer to keep our nipples under wraps, wisely, I think, because it’s always better to not reveal everything.  Maintain the mystery.

             This area of our bodies allows for a great display of artistry. The neckline itself is the frame for the portrait.  It can be high and demure with ruffles or lace surrounding and the point of the neckline pointing downward.  If you’re not into frou-frou it can be more expansive, revealing the provocative gap between the shoulder and the breast where the one curves in and the other begins to swell.  

            The skin must appear flawless.  If this cannot be modified by judicious application of cosmetics,  camouflage offending areas with jewelry, scarves, or shawls in strategic places.  Always remember that this area plus the face and  hair must be all of a piece.  Nothing must jar or detract from the overall impression.  And don’t forget to be conscious of the effect.  Remember “total body control,” as defined by George Masters?

 

February 2014

            In 1980 Carole Jackson published Color Me Beautiful,  a book devoted to the subject of how to find the colors most flattering to oneself based upon analysis of underlying skin tones.This was not a new idea, but to me hers is the simplest, clearest, and most accurate theory on the topic.  I say this not only as a woman with a long-standing interest in beauty and fashion, but as an artist and thus with another dimension to my understanding. 

            I have to add that I also worked for a time as an image consultant(one of my many jobs and one of the few from which I was not fired), and that was the main thrust of what we did—color analysis.  I also learned that it is not mysterious or complex.  It’s quite simple and basically it goes like this:  Everyone has a basic (underlying) skin tone which is either warm or cool.  Warm means as in warm colors—red and yellow—and cool means as in blue.  Eighty-five percent of the population has “cool” skin tones.  The other 15 percent has warm tones.

            Let me explain.  Yellow blondes (the kind with large freckles and pale or reddish skin), strawberry blondes, all the shades of red from sandy to dark auburn—these are the ones who are designated as “warm,” under this system.  Everyone else falls into the “cool”: category/  That means most blondes and all brunettes.  Within each category are two sub-categories.  In this system the cools are divided into winters and summers and within the warm group they are called autumn and spring/  These are purely arbitrary designations which serve to identify the groups of colors most flattering to the different skin tone types.  Winter and autumn encompass the deeper, more intense colors while summer and spring lean more toward the paler, more delicate pastels.

            So people we would call “winters” look best in the blue through purple to red side of the color chart with white, black, and cool greys as well. They will have olive to very dark skin. Summers would look best in paler blues, lavenders, through the cool pinks, as well as white and paler greys.  The deeper colors tend to overpower their more delicate skin tones.

            “Autumns” look best in the red through orange, yellow, green and blue-greens.  “Springs”’ most flattering colors are the coral pinks, peaches, salmon, pale yellow, light sea-greens and aquamarines.  Off-whites or cream colors and dark browns take the place of whites and blacks in the cool category.  Is this beginning to make sense?

            Think about what you and people you observe look good (or not) in.  I love turquoise!  I once had a satin-striped turquoise dress that I loved passionately.  But I always felt like my skin looked greenish in it.  Or think about redheads in purple.  Or white.  Or most people (the 85 percent of us in the “cool” category) in orange.

            Does this mean we have to limit ourselves to a narrow group of colors?  Absolutely not!  But now that you know the secrets of which colors are most flattering you are fore-armed.  While I still wear turquoise I just don’t wear it next to my face.  I wear a turquoise skirt or slacks with a white top and reap the best of both worlds. And small doses of color such as turquoise earrings, if you’re me in my white blouse, won’t upset the overall picture.  In fact with jewelry and other accessories, go wild.   And remember that although your hair color may change, your skin tone does not.  Even if you tan, you are just darkening your basic coloring.

January 2014

Dress Up not Down

            The fashion books all have rules.  One that I have never understood is the admonishment, “When in doubt, underdress, don’t overdress.”  Why would anyone want to look worse than everyone else, rather than better?  Why would it be better to show up in jeans when everyone else is in dresses rather than vice versa? 

            Unless you’re really ugly and want to avoid standing out at all costs (and I know you’re not). But if you’re underdressed, you’re still going to stand out, right?  This is a rule you should ignore.  In fact, always look better than you have to. 

            I know it is easier to relax and “be yourself,” but putting in just a little extra time and effort will pay off.  If we wish to live the oh-so-delightful Life of the Senses then part of living that life is making the world more beautiful by making yourself as beautiful as possible. 

             It is usually no more comfortable to scrounge around in old duds than in pretty new ones.  Skirts are invariably more comfy than jeans.  Jewelry feels good.  Silk blouses feel better than t-shirts.  And it’s definitely satisfying to be complimented on how nice you look.  If you don’t already do this, try it for a week.  You’ll like it.

 December 2013 

The Red Dress

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A painting of my friend, Darlene, many years ago, and my daughter                                              Emily in a Turkish tabloid wearing a red Calvin Klein.

 

Okay, last time we talked about the long dress.  Now we’re going to look at The Red Dress.  The little black dress has long been considered the most basic of wardrobe garments.  Well, I can’t argue.  It probably will remain so.  But you may find, especially if you live on a Wilder Shore, as do I, where the climate is warm and caressing, that that little black dress hangs in your closet forlorn, an outsider among the florals and pastels and bright tropical hues that are more favored in these parts.

Well, the red dress will not likely replace the black dress at funerals and other solemn occasions, but it definitely should have a place in every woman’s wardrobe, particularly that of hers who lives  the Life of the Senses.

May I suggest that red is a very basic, primal color, and that a nice red dress is more of a necessity than the black?  It has been said that red is the first color we experience. The color red elicits strong emotion.  It’s the color of blood, one of the two liquids upon which life depends, the other being water, of course.  Water has no color and is just about as opposite from blood as you can get.  We generally associate water with its cooling and thirst-quenching and fire-quenching properties.  Not that any of this really means anything, but it is definitely a subject for contemplation.

A red dress says to the world, “Look at me!  I love being alive!”  You never wear a red dress if you want to be inconspicuous.  It shows that you have confidence.  And that you are exciting and fun-loving.  And it looks good on everyone.

 

  

November   2013

The Long Dress

            Oh, the long dress!  When I was a child I wanted to be a nun when I grew up so that I could swirl around in a long skirt and veil.  And it’s true—the long dress covereth a multitude of sins. 

            And long dresses have other advantages.  You can make yourself beautiful from the waist down by the simple act of changing your clothes. Don’t underestimate the glamour and feminine appeal of the long skirt or dress.  It leaves so much to the imagination and yet reveals sinuous movement in all its glory.  The opportunities for seductive moving around are vastly multiplied when you are covered up. The long dress is thus at once modest and sexy.  You can alternate between the two attitudes as the mood strikes you. Men find long dresses tantalizing.  And it feels so good to wear them.

            Here on the Wilder Shores of South Florida, where life is easy, I see then quite often, at the grocery store, out shopping, at restaurants, and what have you.  They allow for a greater deal of air circulation than pants and I don’t have to tell you that they can be warmer in cooler climes.  Plus you can wear pants or leggings with them if you want.  I, personally, like the look of a long, but not to-the-ankles skirt worn over pants.  It is a costume often seen in lands “to the East.”

            But probably the feature of long-dress-wearing that you will enjoy most is that it makes the wearer acutely and continuously conscious of her own femininity.  Now there are cultures in which the men wear skirts of a kind:  the Thai skirt, the Polynesian sarong, Arab djellaba, for example, but I can’t address myself to that subject except on a very theoretical basis.

            From past observation I can tell you that when men venture into areas previously considered exclusively female, they tend to get crazy (well, they’re men, after all).  Remember when men started growing their hair long in the Sixties? And piercing their ears? And wearing pink?  Anyway they seem to enjoy it when they do it.  They probably like to wear skirts, too.  

 

October 2013

Defining Your Style

          The question is often asked, “For whom do we dress?”  Men?  Women?  Well, the truth is that we dress for ourselves, that is, we dress to project an image of ourselves to the world.  Each of us is an artist, and the raison d’être of the artist is self-expression.  The way we adorn ourselves says in some way, “This is who I am.”  So you see, to successfully express yourself you must first have a clear idea of who you are.  Fortunately,  it is much easier to find your fashion personality than to come to grips with your “message” as a painter or to find your “voice” as a writer.  I will tell you how.

           Some years ago I came across a wonderful book by a former model named Alexandra York, Lose Ten Years in Ten Days.  In this book she sets out a simple method for finding your fashion personality. 

           Gather together a stack of fashion magazines and go through them, cutting out pictures of the clothes and accessories that you find most appealing, would buy, would wear, and would feel comfortable wearing.  Forget cost, etc.  When you have compiled a sizeable assembly of pictures, separate them according to style. 

          Now, I no longer have this book, and there is variance among experts both as to what to name these styles and as to how many and what they are.  This is not science—it is art, so I will tell you what the styles are, as I see them, based upon Alexandra York’s classification, although there may be some minor differences.  They are:

The Classic, the Dramatic, the Romantic, the Sexy, the Sporty, the Period/Costume, and the Trendy. 

              Most of these speak for themselves.  When I think Classic I think Princess Grace, Jacqueline Onassis, Audrey Hepburn.  Unfortunately, none of them are alive, and younger readers may not be familiar with any of them, but there are plenty of old movies you can watch.  You will never see a classic dresser dressed outlandishly or provocatively.  The mood is tastefulness, elegance, and simplicity.  They prefer clean lines and fine-quality fabrics in basic and neutral colors. 

             Dramatic.  To me Cher is a perfect example of this style.  You must have a well-developed sense of humor and a great deal of confidence if this is your style because you want people to look at you and you want to entertain them a bit with your choice of attire.  Feathers, bright colors, attention-getting jewelry and accessories.

            The Romantic dresser is ultra-feminine.  She likes ruffles, lace, shawls, cameos, old-fashioned fabrics such as taffeta and organdie.    Her favorite colors are in the pastel range, and her jewelry tends to be dainty.

            The Sexy dresser is more subdued than the Dramatic dresser but less frou-frou than the Romantic, although, as you can see already, there is a bit of overlapping.  The Sexy dresser likes clothes that feel good to wear.  She likes soft, flowing, sometimes slinky fabrics.  She prefers jewelry that moves, e.g. dangly earrings.  She likes to wear clothing that teases a little—decollete, slit skirts and wrap-around dresses.

            The Sporty dresser likes the casual look.  She is most at home in tweeds,  blazers, sweaters, shirtwaist blouses, comfortable shoes (no spike heels), the natural look in makeup, probably no jewelry, or very little.  It’s a look for every day.  I think of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s character, Elaine Benas, on Seinfeld.

           The Period/Costume dresser is the most fun.  Think Stevie Nicks,  My dear friend Dianna is the exemplar of this style in my personal life.  Long, full, patterned skirts, scarves, tie-dyed garments.  Her daughter, on the occasion of her upcoming wedding, referred to the outfit Dianna had chosen to wear as “gypsy dancer.”  Does this give you an idea?  The peasant look, the ethnic look, the Sixties look.  

           Trendy dressers usually already know who they are.  They both follow and set trends.  This style works best on the young and the slender.  It’s the latest fashion.  The trendy dresser is still in the stage of experimentation.  She will most likely gravitate to one of the other styles as her fashion preferences evolve.

           Now back to your little heap of magazine clippings.  Most of them will fit in to one category, although, as I said, there is always a bit of overlapping.  Now you know who you are.  And you also know which direction you are most likely to go when you diverge a little bit.  This will help you when you shop.  If you are like me, you see many garments that you admire, for various reasons, but would never dream of wearing—they just aren’t “you.”  At times you may be tempted to buy them.  Don’t!  They will hang in your closet unworn forever.  When shopping for clothes, always ask yourself, “Does this express my fashion personality?” 

           Now see if this method doesn’t help you a lot in defining who you are.  It certainly did me.  And I would love to hear from you if it does.   

September 2013

Black Lace

             Is there anything more glamorous and seductive? Men love black lace. It’s the essence of femininity and seduction. Every woman should have this experience in order to tantalize her man but also to reaffirm her female sensuality.

I have found that the long black lace nightgown may be a thing of the past. Short ones may be found. They are most appropriate for the young, as they have a bit of the cute factor. The more mature goddess should avoid cute like the Plague. Long black nightgowns with lace trim may be found, but long black, all-lace is absent.

But all is not lost. You may make your own nightgown or hire a seamstress to do so. A couple of tips. You will need two layers of lace. One does not provide enough coverage to retain that element of mystery that is central in all art, including the art of love. We must never reveal everything.

           We are much more enticing in our black lace nightgown than completely nude. And don’t forget to leave your black lace lying around or hanging on closet doors. Very provocative to the man who catches a glimpse. What is left to the imagination is indefinable and mysterious. Art and aphrodisia reside in the imagination.

           If you use a filmy black material to line your gown, rather than a second layer of lace, it will detract from the lace effect and block out all glimpses of flesh. We don’t want this either.

           Believe me, I’ve come to this knowledge through trial and error. Hark to what I tell you, my dear wayfarers stumbling along romance’s rocky path. And don’t neglect other articles of black lace—hose, for instance, being one of my favorites. Ultra-feminine.