I Love Vogue: November 2007

I'm starting a new feature here celebrating the wonderful magazine that is Vogue. I just started a subscription to this classic publication, and each month when I receive one I am going to share some highlights with you readers from my very humble perspective. Last month I found that I learned a lot from it, so we'll see what this issue brings us.

1. Cover - Jennifer Connolly. Love her, however I do harbor some resentment in seeing her in anything besides Labyrinth, the movie responsible for my lifelong crush on David Bowie (could it have been the tight pants?). I suppose I have to permit her a career as a grown-up too, though. Sigh.

2. As a magazine enthusiast in general, I am surprised to find that this is one of the first magazines I've read in which the ads are just as important as the copy. If not more so (no offense, writers and editors).

3. There is an Estee Lauder ad with a woman dressed all in white (button down shirt, and long shorts), standing on the deck of a sailboat. It's a beautiful ad, and it makes me wish I could pull off such an outfit without feeling like Moby Dick, or getting some sort of black dust on my ass within 15 minutes. Note to self: if you do ever pull off the all-white, wear gold accessories. They look gorgeous. Also, be blond and nicely tanned.

4. Prada has some beautiful patterned A-line dresses, and in the ad there are two models wearing said dresses with ribbed sweaters. Where does this look work? It looks great, but I'm not sure where I would rock it (assuming I could afford Prada). Beautiful, beautiful designs though. One has a zipper up the front, the other a diagonal strap in black across the chest. Nice little surprises.

5. Tommy Hilfiger has a model in a blue dress with red piping (piping a new trend? Fashionista loved it on a blazer recently), black stockings, and bright yellow shoes. I would never pair those shoes with that dress, but again the element of surprise is nice. Also, I was never sure about black tights with a navy blue dress, but apparently it works.

6. There are some coats out right now with tie belts without buckles that make them kind of look like bathrobes. I tried one of these on at Kohl's last night, and wasn't sure. Seeing the ad for Jones New York, I really do think it looks kind of weird. (side note: also tried on some Vera Wang boots at Kohls, and could not help using the adjective "fierce." I'm disgusted with myself - and also hoping my husband went out and bought them for me today in a fit of admiration at my exclaiming that they were too expensive. At $80, they were not that bad, really, but I'm pretty strapped right now.)

7. Mikhail Baryshnikov is modeling for Movado. That man is HOT. I don't care how old he is.

8. I'm still seeing these purses with big metal chains on the handles. I am not into this look, and also, a friend of mine nearly scratched my car with hers. I think they look so trendy, and not in a good way.

9. Donna Karan is apparently now marketing leotards. WTF?

10. Vogue's Seven Closet Essentials: button-down shirt (got it), leather jacket (hmmm, might be an idea), bikini (got it), ballet flats (got it), sport gear (needs improvement), t-shirt (duh, but I guess it is pretty hard to find the perfect one), jeans (again, duh, but I am yet to find a pair that I love... should probably do an entry on a successful search for said jeans)... this feature seems to be more advertorial, since each section mentions a particular designer.

11. I think I need a fedora this winter.

12. Any color nail polish besides clear or bright red seems to be sort of outside of the realm of fashion. All but one of the models I noticed in this issue were sporting natural nails. Neatly manicured and shiny, of course, but no color. That's kind of a relief, frankly.

A thoroughly enjoyable issue, although none of the copy lived up to last month's feature on hamburgers. I don't even eat beef, and that one left me hungry and somewhat inspired.

It's Time

As an introduction, I will simply tell you that I am a 30-year-old woman who has spent her entire life not feeling quite right in her clothes, making fashion errors, spending too little or too much, and hardly ever achieving the classic style I have sought. Every time I am in public, I see women dressed in outfits that make me drool - the way their pants fall gently from their hips, with hems right where they should be. The crisply pressed shirts, untangled soft hair that stays in place, the dresses that look so natural you'd think they were designed with the specific wearer in mind.

My hippie upbringing —with its focus on the natural and its general disdain for focus on one's appearance—aside, I stand ready to admit to the world that finally, at 30, I am ready to look good.

This blog will chronicle my efforts to learn about fashion/style and implement the knowledge for my own appearance. So far, my resources are www.fashionista.com (which I started reading for work purposes, and which is largely responsible for this new quest of mine), Vogue (subscription should start with the next issue!), and my own eyes, which have been analyzing style and fashion for the first time these last few months.

I am 5"10" tall and of slim/athletic build with some exceptions. In the last 6 months, I have begun exercising regularly for the first time ever (well, since high school field hockey, I guess), so I am feeling pretty good about the way I look, but I have always had a proportion problem because of my wide hips. There's been a pleasing decrease in the noticeability (is that a word?) of that proportion problem since I started exercising again, but it's probably always going to be an issue for me. I like to highlight other areas, but my awkward feelings about my general proportions have had me looking awkward much of the time. It's time to get over it! I think finding the right clothes (and tossing the ones that don't work) will do me a lot of good.

So, here on Fashion Virgin I will let you know about my daily (or close to it) experiments in improving my appearance, and maybe we'll all learn something.