Stylish Read: "Chanel's Riviera"

Surprise! I thought "Chanel's Riviera" would be a dishy romp through the crazy lives of entitled aristos and bohemian writers and artists playing and living along the Riviera from 1930-1950. Coco Chanel, a creative genius and eagle-eyed businesswoman, catered to this crowd and counted them as friends. She had opened a ready-to-wear boutique in Biarritz in 1915 and built, "La Pausa", the only home she ever owned, in Roquebrune in 1929. While in Paris Chanel always lived in apartments and at the Hotel Ritz.

Chanel's "getaway", La Pausa

"Chanel's Riviera" is so much more. I've never been much of a Chanel fan. Aside from being a revolutionary designer, she became a difficult and seemingly bitter old woman. Don't expect a full-on immersion into Chanel here. She comes off better than I expected and may even have tried to arrange peace talks between the Allies and Germany!     

Serious fun at La Pausa (Chanel on right)

"Miss Dior", another Stylish Read, looks into the life of Christian Dior's sister Catherine, her time in the French resistance and imprisonment in a German concentration camp. "Chanel's Riviera" delves deeper with de Courcy's well-researched study of France during WWII. This is a subject that has been neglected, certainly by the French, possibly with good reason. There is no easy distinction between being a collaborator and doing what it takes to survive. France has struggled with that and is only now coming to terms with it.

I can see how "Chanel's Riviera" leads the way to further reading about many of these interesting characters— the long-forgotten like socialite Maxine Elliott and the ever-popular such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. What remains foremost, however, is history that may be fading over time but should never be forgotten.  

Time for a Tupperware De-Parting

Mrs. Maisel may have too much Tupperware...

You know how every once in a while you have to weed out those plastic containers taking up too much space in the kitchen drawer/on the cupboard shelf? You have more lids than containers or—worse—more containers than lids. They are stained, cracked or otherwise showing signs of wear.

In this season of wardrobe switching, you may sense the equivalent of too much Tupperware in your closet. It's time to take a good look at what's going and coming or staying put. 

We live in a sweet 1920's bungalow that was built—as per the usual—with very few closets. Thankfully the person who renovated before our move-in added two walls of shallow closets. I thank her every day. Nonetheless, half my wardrobe sits in plastic tubs behind a screen for half the year. I hate the switch because I am often faced with those past mistakes and/or current realities.

Too much Tupperware, clothing variety

There are other truths that hit me as I pack and unpack: the pilled, the grayed, the yellowed. There are the fashion fads of seasons past. It's okay to spark up your wardrobe occasionally, but you've got to know when to let go (adieu, peplums). 

Then there are The Mistakes. As you pack away winter and make the switch to warmer, this is a good time to admit you made them. Sometimes you can't commit and will save the decision for later. The time has come, and I am unpacking mistakes aplenty. There are:

> Things I ordered during Covid that I didn't have the wherewithall to send back when I could have.

> Things that will never fit again. I recently had to divest myself of many lovely belts because—well—I'll never see a 24" waist again.

> Things I shouldn't have bought in the first place. I wore them a few times, but it was never happily.

> Too many of the same, not all of them in good shape.

Which brings me to another bad habit: collecting. Some women collect vintage pieces, one-of-a-kind beauties, but not me. My collection is more the "two is a pair; three is a collection" variety. Switching clothes this spring I realize I am de-closeting multiples of blank pants and black sweaters and depositing multiple black pants (summer weight) and black t-shirts. Did I mention the several white shirts that live there year-round? Those white shirts barely leave the closet. I don't really like white shirts, but I decided I need to collect them.

There is not a lot of fun in this kind of acquisitioning. I'm never really thrilled when I add another. I just think, well maybe this pair will be The One or I think I'll need that some day. I should do it, but this is a very hard habit to break.

With apologizes to the handy and needed (in moderation) storage solution, I must remember from now on: 

N O   M O R E   T U P P E R W A R E !

Do Leggings Have Legs?

Far be it from me to hand down any pronouncements as to what is In and what is Out in fashion these days. I will leave that to Vanessa Friedman, Fashion Director and Chief Fashion Critic at The New York Times, who always manages to steer a path between the plausible and the ridiculous. Her column in today's Times addressed a reader's question about leggings. In a nutshell: Are leggings pants?

Leggings are everywhere, but are they the last bastion of Covidwear or have they assumed an identity as real clothes? Vanessa says yes to the latter, but there is a leggings playbook we would all be wise to consider.

She acknowledges that during Covid lounging at home in what were basically tights, only thicker, was easy to get used to and hard to give up. She interviewed Tory Burch, who declared them as essential in our wardrobes as T-shirts and bluejeans. "Mixing them with ready to wear is simply how many women dress today, whether they're headed to the gym or not."

Vanessa believes that the techcentric variety, those in colorful hues or patterns, are best left to the gym where they were intended. Thicker leggings, in neoprene, leather (or pleather), ponte or denim, all plus stretch and slip-on capability, can become part of your wardrobe.

If you're not actually working out, don't wear leggings with a bra top or a Tshirt and sneakers. Likewise don't wear them with an oversize button-down shirt (too '80s).

Not this way

 
And here's where I think she hit the advice nail on the head: "...  think of them more like capri pants but ones that don't offer the option to tuck in your shirt. Pair them with ballet flats, chunky-soled loafers or ankle boots and a jacket or perhaps a tailored tunic top. You won't look as if you are breaking any unwritten sartorial rules, just stretching them."

I'll add my two cents, stating the obvious. You should have a finished look—hair makeup, accessories—as if you are so dressed purposely. Bear in mind where you will be going and who you will be with. There's a time and place and outfit for everything. Leggings are an interesting option worth investigating if you so wish. Your wearing them should add to the conversation, not give reason to shun them.

Leggings do not do well in the humid Houston summer, so there may be little need to think of them in my neck of the woods, but they aren't going away, and the autumnal equinox will be here in 164 days.