Stylish Read: "Fashioning the Crown"

The author of biographies of Chanel ("Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life") and Christian Dior's sister ("Miss Dior") has now fashioned a layered look at Britain's royal family. Cover image notwithstanding, "Fashioning the Crown" is not just another romp through Queen Elizabeth's tweeds, cardigans and head scarves. Beginning with the renaming of the royal family (from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in 1917), Justine Picardie skillfully weaves together (pun intended) history, biography and fashion commentary. So thoroughly meshed are all the threads that you wonder how anything could be written without the fashion element. "You are what you wear" was never more meaningful. 

Mary and George V with a young Edward

I'm a sucker for the British royal family anyways and can never get enough of Wallis and Edward (he the king who abdicated and she the woman he loved). After a short section on George VI and Queen Mary (for whom dress was more of a duty), Picardie dives into Wallis and Edward. Over the years new information suggests this may not have been the greatest love story of the 20th century. Whatever the attraction, their mutual love of fashion was surely a tie that binds. I found it interesting that Wallis, who had been dressed by London's top (but conventional) designers, switched to the avant garde Schiaparelli once she became known as the sorceress who lured a king off his throne. 

Wallis and Edward on their wedding day

There is quite a bit on Queen then Queen Mother Elizabeth. I'd always seen her as a smiley, fairly dumpy grandmother, but the fuller picture gives her more influence and credits her as a guiding force in the reign of her husband, George VI. 

Margaret, Elizabeth and Elizabeth

The young Princess Elizabeth is covered way beyond the matching outfits she and sister Margaret wore. Elizabeth comes across as well suited and well prepared for her role as Queen, giving even the acerbic Cecil Beaton hope for the future of the Windsor dynasty. And as well known by now, she set her sights on the handsome Philip as a very young teen. He was by no means the match her parents wished for. Elizabeth's steely determination in the face of their reluctance was surely a portent of strengths to come.

 

Newly engaged Elizabeth and Philip

Almost as an afterthought are sections on Hardy Amies and Norman Hartnell, both royal couturiers for many years. I'm afraid in my mind they are the two responsible for all that royal family dowdiness, but for their time—and clients—they were reliable choices. Amies, an intelligence officer in the British army during WWII, comes across by far the more interesting.

 

Picardie has done her research, quoting extensively from diaries of contemporaries close to the royals, both politically and socially, as well as using Hartnell's and Amies' autobiographies. And Picardie herself was able to uncover and view objects for years under royal lock and key. As she has done in other books, we read her thoughts as she examines some of these treasures. 

My only real disappointment in "Fashioning the Crown" was it ends just at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. As that puts us in 1953, there is a lot more fashion to come under that crown.

 

The Mall Lives—But Not for All

Once upon a mall...

Much has been written about the demise of that beloved marketplace, the shopping mall. Once the Way of the Future and then Where Everyone Shopped, malls have been a long time a-dying. Some turned into mixed-use spaces with various degrees of success. Many others were left to deteriorate as mementos of another time, Stranger Things indeed. 

Recent reporting suggests that malls are not dying but morphing into retail spaces for luxury shopping, leaving the majority of customers out of the picture. I can only report with any accuracy what I see from my perch here in Houston, Texas. 

Malls are changing. "Mixed use" never really caught on here, but some malls did sit empty or nearly so for a very long time. They may have been held up by their anchor stores—a Sears or JC Penney—but those behemoths are now gone. 

Some malls changed tenants to reflect changes in the surrounding neighborhoods. "Better retail" in Houston's Memorial City Mall moved out as the population did, replaced by smaller brands and mom-and-pops that catered to the new, less affluent shopper.

The Galleria Mall, long known as Houston's premier shopping center, has seen changes as the numbers of luxury clients left, turning those spaces into one-offs catering to the younger and less affluent. Mid-price stalwarts like Ann Taylor and The Gap remain. 

Houston's Galleria, complete with ice rink

In a phenomenon possible in a place like Texas, with lots of urban sprawl, along has come a resurgence of the "strip mall" or outdoor marketplace. Baybrook, a traditional mall outside Houston proper, is now surrounded by acres and acres of them, from the "big box" to the conventional storefront. Texans are surgically attached to their cars, so driving from place to place is no big deal. What they don't like, however, is the new policy of charging for parking. 

Much to my surprise those affluent shoppers who left The Galleria found a new home in a luxe outdoor mall, River Oaks District. Barely into tony River Oaks itself, this is a hybrid of retail and residential, laid out to resemble a village of luxury shopping and dining. One parks (or valets) in a garage and wanders about. The place always looked pretty deserted when I've visited, but it's deemed a success, with new luxury clients moving in (replacing those who didn't catch on).

River Oaks District, Houston

What about the traditional strip center on the boundary of a neighborhood that once provided needed services—a dry cleaner, drug store, movie theater, coffee shop or moderate priced restaurant—along with selected retail (a smaller Gap or AnnTaylor than the one in the mall)?

I work in one of those centers and have seen it turn into a place of non-essential services (various forms of body and facial torture and enhancements) and high-end restaurants (sprawling onto the sidewalk in a vain attempt to emulate "cooler" cities) and extremely select retail (a Steinway Piano Gallery?).

How long can the Lovely Boutique where I work hang on? The death knell may be that now, yes, customers have to pay for parking.  

 

There's No Such Thing as Coincidence

An oft-quoted theory that nothing happens without some intervention (divine or otherwise) occurred this morning. The New York Times' Style Section featured a story about an auction of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's clothing above a piece about a luxurious, little-known brand that will soon be better known, Sasuphi. It features prominently in the forthcoming sequel to "The Devil Wears Prada".

 New York Times 3/5/26

The clothing auction was not exactly a surprise. Much has been made of late about Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's understated uber-'90s style, and I'd read that a friend (and author of a book about her) had been lent, then given, some clothes by the generous Carolyn. Carolyn's style evolved as an employee of Calvin Klein. The spare, unadorned look she favored was also a '90s look (ie Armani, Prada, Yamamoto). Reams have been written about how she (tall, blonde, willowy, otherwise unadorned) could pull that off so beautifully.  It doesn't mean the rest of us didn't try.

Not very long ago we encountered "Understated Luxury". This is best described as "stuff you pay a fortune for that you could also find at Walmart", Take for instance a hoodie. We've been told that is now passe because, well, you could find it at Walmart (though not in cashmere). "Understated Luxury" doesn't have the mystery of '90s minimalism. 

By women for women

Even more recently we heard maximalism was due for a comeback. That, however, has failed to materialize, and there are a few reasons. We are all watching our pennies (or dollars) we spend on unnecessary purchases. I for one am seriously stopped by the question, Do I really need this? More often these days the answer is a hard "no". Need or want aside, clothing prices continue to skyrocket. At the lower end of things, fabric quality and workmanship can be concerning, while those high price tags make one wonder, Why? Next, I think we're all getting tired of Fashion as some fantasy cosplay. We want real clothes that we can wear, for real.

Along comes the spirit of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy to show us less really can be more and a brand that, while out of the price range for most of us, champions real clothes for real women. The fact that those two pieces were teamed up on one page could not just be a coincidence now, could it? 

Ready, Set, (Mis)match

Here's a new way of thinking about all the perfectly good clothes hanging in your closet: mismatch them. Yes, deliberately pair pieces that don't go. At least that's what the windows at Neiman Marcus would have you think. I'm not sure if the intention may have backfired. Intrigued, I immediately thought how I could do this with what I own. I was not compelled to purchase a thing, especially after I read a few price tags in the store.

Remember the pall when you had to wear an ordinary sweater or jacket over a party dress because, well, you didn't have a dedicated "party jacket"? Fret no more. Any old blazer or raincoat will do:

 Why wait for a party? Wear a sparkly blouse with a casual suit and make every day a festive occasion:

 
Of course, every day should be a party, and it doesn't matter what you wear. Cheers!