North Sails X Saks Fifth Avenue: first row from a 80 ft yacht

March is the month-after in a fashion life, when you recuperate after the overload of hundreds of runway shows and virtually traveling over the four fashion capitals.

Meanwhile back at the villa, Miami is what Miami best does: sun, ocean and wind make Miami the designated sailing capital in March.

North Sails Collections didn’t miss the opportunity and, in partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue, took their new spring collection on a National pop-up shop through various Florida locations.

The tour begun in Miami on the occasion of the 52 Super Series Royal Cup (for the non familiar, imagine sleek sailing boats gliding in the bay, forget the race, as team Italia with Azzurra won and I don’t want to sound too pompous!). A handful of us were lucky enough to be invited to the viewing tour of the race, in other words we had an unobstructed first row view of the race floating on a 80 ft Hatteras yacht.

And yes, it was as glamorous and fierce as it sounds.

It only gets better: the collection was available to see, touch and try, a “see now, buy now” type of show, better than a trunk show.

Also, we were graced by David Hughes, the sailor pedigreed with a double Olympic win. I will spare you the knots, the sails, the currents and the tides because it can get technical, but let it be known that sailing is my jam. I grew up in the town known for its yachting and boating industry, in a family of sailors, I used to sail myself, many of our summers were sailing adventures in the Med.

Down to business: the clothes are luxury level high performance athletic wear. See how I am not using “athleisure” because this is not a fashion brand hopping on the athletic look wagon, this is pure high quality and here you know #whomademyclothes.

Tell you in a story.

North Sails is one of the oldest modern sailmakers in the world, “experts in wind and water”: years of research, technical elements, advanced technology. Stop for a second and think of a sail: she needs to be light yet strong, responding yet surviving the weather elements, changes shape and morphs from a roll into a windblown triangle. Translated into wearable terms, intarsio sweatshirts give you flexibility and comfort without giving in style, light jackets are almost imperceptible yet are strong enough to protect you from wind or rain. Each piece is versatile enough to be added to any closet and blend into any outfit creating that overall feel of effortless elegance.

One of the things to never do while dressing the Italian way and adopting Italian style is to overthink or over-match your looks, mix high and low, mix a man blazer with a pair of slouchy pants, add stiletto to the simplest sweatshirt and you present yourself with empowered nonchalance.

Mix high & low 

So here’s a suggestion: pick any of the styles of the North Sails Collection and mix it with anything that you currently own, especially something you haven’t worn in a while. And this is the best sustainable piece of advice I can give you: buy with an intention.  Indulging in mindless consumerism is something of the past and brought us to a collapse, purchase quality and build a closet that will give you the sense of empowerment that every time that you open it you’ll find something to wear. 

Then come back here and tell me what happened. It’s not easy, it took me years and the 46,000 words of the book, but I am here to help if this is challenging.

 

 

New York Fashion Week: the highlights

You know when you have a premonitory intuition that something will disappoint you, again? Well, that's how I started watching the shows of the NYFW that just ended.

And I must confess, I am happy to report I was totally wrong. I think it all started with Raf Simons, i mean, I am still raving and still will for years to come. He made me proud of loving him so much and I said it all extensively. 

After him, seems like all these designers, the real designers I mean, not the stylists turned runway momentary prodigious specimen or commercial brands (except one that you'll see why), have followed suit with a lot of awesomeness. 

The parameters I have used for this highlight are simple and clear.

There has to be a story, the show notes are what I go after first. A precious suggestion, the best at sharing show notes is Eva Chen on Instagram.  You are welcome. 

Sartorial elements like coats and blazers, anything interesting borrowed from the boys because that's where skills, talents, intuition, innovation and creativity go unspoken and most of the times unrewarded. That's where Fashion wins and blends with art.

When you follow the details, the story, you understand the inspiration, your eye becomes utterly discerning, the selection of designers that you look forward to seeing will become tinier, and at the same time you start catching on new talents.

This time was also a peculiar one, unique in its genre. We are all taken by the storm, proudly, the fashion world has spoken up. The current political situation is putting any form of free expression at risk, from the arts to the press. What is Fashion if not the primordial language made of unspoken words that form sentences also known as style? There were powerful speeches, statements and encouragement words embroidered in shirts and hats. Time is still not ripe for a true revolution, like ‘70s type of revolt, and also the surreal-ness of the new status quo started so close to T-time, but the reactions all throughout fashion week made me feel part of an avant-garde movement, it created consciousness, unity and an educated discourse.

To promote unity, solidarity and inclusiveness, The Business of Fashion launched an initiative called #tiedtogether represented by a white bandanna that appeared profusely on runways and down the streets.

Exemplary statement of embracing realness have been Marc Jacobs with his 6 minutes on the dot runway with no music, photographers, flashes and the distractions of social media, the J.Crew presentation with some of my style icons, Christiane Barberich, Sandra Bernhard and Taylor Thomas Hills, Lauren Hutton,  and Julianne Moore at Calvin Klein

I let you be the judge. 

this is the look that most represents the collection to me 

this is the look that most represents the collection to me 

I single out Mica, my favorite model, who walked the Ralph Lauren show with a pair of boyfriend jeans and a silk kimono like silk gown. 

divine Mica  

divine Mica 

 

"borrow from the boys": the italian way

At Pitti Immagine 91, in Florence, is all about the pants, big pants The New York Times says in an exhilarating (well, at least to me) article that describes how Pitti Immagine is all about fashion.

Styles, colors, fabrics, a delight and endless array of men and women dressed to the nines that become a pleasure to all the senses, the venues of the events nothing short of Renaissance buildings or green houses and gardens, the Sala Bianca in Palazzo Pitti and … the Sala Bianca in Palazzo Pitti 

Pitti is a thing, an event that any lover of fashion will have to experience in their life to consider themselves seriously inducted. When Pitti happens to you, it will never be the same, you can’t really get it any other way.

WARNING: there's a term for these boys, it's "Peacocking" 

I hoped with the book to explain a bit more, my university final thesis was on how Italian fashion was seen and portrayed in the UK in the 80s, point is, here, not to give a lecture on fashion history, but the story telling about what’s really the “fashion” that is a passion of mine and happens to be kind of in the genes of many Italians.

Chapter 6 of the book is called “Borrow from the boys” as part of the Italian way of dressing is to borrow elements from a man’s wardrobe. It’s actually more of a stealing, hence their imperfection, big pants, bigger watches, lace-up brogues or double monk moccasins, sometimes it's a perfume or a overcoat. And, please, who didn't steal a cashmere sweater to their [insert whomever male gender you were close to]. 

Women in menswear feel comfortable, look cool and sexy, things thrown together almost by mistake are worn with nonchalance and manifest empowerment. Pants are two sizes too big? Wear a thick belt at the last hole and wrap the hem all the way up and wear super duper stiletto.

Imperfection leads to effortless, there’s no premeditation, the eye catches a gorgeous tweed deconstructed jacket? There’s no cliché, in anything that you put together, add a feminine touch, and if it’s a pair of stiletto lace ups in suede with mink accents like my Baldinini borrowed for the occasion, why not?

I barely go out with a mini-dress, but these shoes called for it.

How divine are they?

With frayed jeans, culottes, leather mini dress and animal print I could have definitely be in Florence, but even if I wasn’t, these heels are perfection: the patchwork of the different colored suede , the arch perfectly designed, an architectural heel that resembles the rooftop of the Empire State building and those mink pom poms are to die for.

They are fabulous also on a pile of books like this, kind of "Coveteured", after I took them out on the town. 

dealing with the F word

Fashion’s July is the month that starts with the sparkles and then sends everyone to Slim Aaron-esque summer vacation.

I am not referring to the 4th of July, but couture and, being Couture, it happens in Paris.

Angelo Flaccavento wrote a punkish article on Business of Fashion on the status of Couture and how it’s been somehow occupied and populated by aliens, that is the ones that don’t belong to Couture, but tag-along. It’s a bit like the phenomenon of Art Basel Miami Beach: from being an art show, to one of the most lucrative and successful art shows world-wide, to: everybody hops on the caravan and everything is dressed up as an excuse to create a party around it. And you see things of Fellinian envy.

“Couture is couture - fashion to the nth degree and the last remaining remnant of the old world concept of fashion as a language and privilege of the elite.”
— "Identity Theft at Paris Couture" - Angelo Flaccavento, Business of Fashion

Couture gives “validation”, couture is couture, “fashion to the nth degree and the last remaining remnant of the old world concept of fashion as a language and privilege of the elite.”

It’s a moment of change in Fashion, gender blending and that awkward almost blurring vicinity between ready-to-wear and couture, which is what Flaccavento is sensing after his week in Paris. Couture is old-school, based on rules that are crystallized in the past, it's slow, it's unique, not replicable or Instagrammable in a #ootd

If fashion were a religion, couture would be its god, the tipping point of Mount Olympus, very much noble and aristocratic and less democratic, if the parallel would hold. 

Nevertheless, for a fashion hard-core extremist like me, confined in the steamiest and most un-glamorous corner I could ever be left at, I need beauty, I need Fashion with the big F, my “eye has to travel” like editrix extraordinaire Diana Vreeland said perfectly in her own special and creative language.

To make everyone up to speed, a couturier is a créateur de mode appointed by the French Chambre Syndicale de la haute couture and designated by France’s Ministry of Industry, a very specific denomination, it’s like the equivalence of a D.O.C. wine or being “Made in Italy” or being an OBE, it doesn’t happen overnight and when you are, you are. There are 8 Italian designers out of 98 and all I am going to do now is to share my absolutely favorites.

Some facts (you may know or not) in chronological order:

1.   Valentino’s duo, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli after many years at the helm of the house, split. Rumors were circulating for a while, since the March runway shows, but it was announced the same day the couture collection was shown. Piccioli remains the sole creative director, Maria Grazia is out. They brought the brand up to the limelight, hard workers, skilled, tenacious and capable to maintain the high standards of the Emperor himself, Mr. Valentino Garavani.

2.   Christian Dior, orphan for a few seasons of a creative director after Raf Simons left, tadaaaahhh, has a new creative director, the first woman in the history of the house, and guess who it is? Right: Maria Grazia Chiuri: all the best #girlsrock

3.   Fendi showed the collection in Rome, because first they are from Rome and second this year they are celebrating the 90 years of the atelier. Models and furs seemingly walked on the waters (aka, a see-through plexiglass runway) of the Fontana di Trevi, in a fairy tale reminiscing of Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” . Karl (Lagerfeld, as you will get used at how in fashion we call the masters by their first name) even tossed the three coins. It must have been magic, that’s all I can say.

On another note, you may have seen some images of Dolce & Gabbana who threw their version of couture Alta Moda, closing off an entire neighborhood of Napoli: they are not couturiers. 

 

A taste of taste: from that Oscar de la Renta black dress to Bill Cunningham, and back

This is how this post started:

“After all I’ve watched since the 1960s of the women’s movement, it bothered me that women are told that the ultimate expression of dressing is red-carpet worthy”

he said.

“There is something powerful about a dress that is exquisitely tailored and perfectly correct.”

continued William Norwich in an interview with NYT's Dan Shaw talking about the inspiration behing his second novel, “My Mrs. Brown”.  The story of a woman who lived in Rhode Island as a maid and, stricken by an out of the ordinary black dress she peeked in a client’s closet, initiates a trip to the City to look for her version of the same dress, no matter how much it will cost her. Because it’s never too late to find [fill in the blank] ... the Prince, happiness, joy, peace, the job of your life, or, above all, yourself. After you found yourself, just please remember to never feel overdressed and keep your chin high.

Taste is like truffles, must be enjoyed in small doses and it grows on you. 

Today’s fashion’s “business-as-usual” is a "loud" photo-shopped sponsored in-your-face #OOTD after another that somehow has come to overtake and abandon to oblivion a more genteel sophisticated slow-pasted personal style. It may be generational. 

Fashion is in our way of life, style is our lives, whether you live and work for the fashion business or not, style is what says who we are and helps us shape who we want to be. Virginia Wolf is known to have said that no matter how much clothes are sneered at and considered frivolous, “they change our view of the world and the world’s view of us”.

And then, while I was writing, Bill Cunningham dies in NYC at 87 and the post took a different direction, unexpectedly.

The ultimate gentleman, discreetly documenting the real runway that always will be, the street. Not even the father of street style, because that street style we know is commercial, staged, artificial, with no passion other than the temporary happiness money will procure you. Bill says, in the documentary dedicated to hi, “there’s nothing cheaper than money” that is what Cunningham was all about, that’s why he was a one-of-a-kind rare bird of paradise.  

Him and his bicycle, his blue jacket during the day for the “Off the Streets” page and him and his suit or tux when needed for his social page, a frugal and simple life, a reserved, intimate person whose soul, creativity and imagination would peak at the corner of 57th & 5th Avenue, the heart of New York City. There’s a parallel with Mrs. Brown’s life, off the limelight yet lightened up by that Oscar de la Renta black dress.

We live in loudness, arrogance, we are surrounded by vulgar disrespectful presence, “I post ergo I live” people feel alive only if they are visible, no matter if what they showcase is real or purely constructed. Life is not propaganda, thinks Norwich and women exist even when they are over 40, it takes introspective, it takes looking at yourself from the balcony as if you were a passer-by, then looking at your wardrobe and finding out maybe that what you are wearing doesn’t really reflect your YOU now.

What’s the take-away?

Let’s just remember that “beautiful things don’t ask for attention”. We have all been a Mrs. Brown and the time to go to the city and find THE dress is always now, not "one day" and that corner of 57 & 5th is a fleeting one, one snap away. We will always "dress for Bill" with a genuine smile. 

Have you ever had a black dress you have dreamed of all your life? or a boyfriend or a job ... something or someone to stamp that big smile on your face and everything is gonna be alright.

The 2016 State of Fashion: a Manifesto

What’s Fashion anyways?

I get the question quite often from people that live what I see as a disconnect from what the runways are and what trickles down to the department stores.

They are outsiders, yes, but what does Fashion look to someone who is not ingrained in the industry and doesn’t speak Prada?

Fashion is a dream, story-telling, is transmitting a feeling, an emotion, an experience meant to a like-minded audience.

Fashion is performance, reminiscence, hint, teasing, a whiff of an aroma, a smell loaded with memories and translated on the collection, runway or presentation.

Fashion is believing in a story and telling it as it is.

Fashion is loving despite the oddities.

Fashion is process, not massive production, it doesn’t have to please everybody.

Fashion is luxury, not fast food nor instant gratification.

Did social media break the system?

Are runways supposed to break the Internet?

Do we still look at Fashion as the dream?

Is New York fashion week finished? Leandra Medine of Man Repeller thinks that it all started when Fashion Week became a trend, and as any good trend, they come and go. What do we do until the cycle comes back? Live in clothes, she suggests.

In a more straight-forward manner, NYT’s critic extraordinaire Cathy Horyn  questions the authenticity of Fashion in the era of social media. She draws almost a graph, the higher the social media bru-ha-ha the higher the level of insanity or absurdity. And honestly, were I a designer, especially a first-timer, I wouldn’t want to be having to hire a bitch of a publicist to help me shrug from my shoulders  the label of “absurd” signed by The New York Times.

The fashion-buying public is aware of where presentation ends and branded content begins.

In New York, more than any other fashion week, we have assisted to an exaggeration of social media content. To capitalize on social media buzz, brands have opted to switch the seasons starting September when the fall collections would be presented and February would go for spring.

We have seen alternative ways of introducing new ranges, like the Studio-54-themed at DFV or bigger louder lavish ones like Kanye’s or Rihanna, but must agree with Mrs. Horyn on one simple point: the spectacle, the mise en scene, the Hollywood draconian production was smoke in the eye to the industry trader, the buyer, the journalist that is not impressed by the show, but by the quality, workmanship, attention to detail, fil rouge that something that grasps all the senses, despite of the wallet.  Voila’, I couldn’t leave it unsaid

There was a general vibe that wasn’t camaraderie, the see-now-order-now-wear-now was the talk of the town, but may have killed that allure and building desire of waiting those 6 months to have something beautifully confectioned.

To say it with Karl Lagerfeld: it’s a mess 

Now, I don’t live under the leaf of a snow-pea, Fashion is a dream, but it's a business with marketing and sales, or it’s a bad dream. We Must Sell and we must cater to the consumer spending public.

So are the brands embracing the instant-buy system promoting a democratization of fashion?

Luxury comes from passion and inspiration, it’s a state of mind, creative and inspired work that caters to a few. And it’s good that way. Brands like Burberry or Tom Ford are trying to cut the gap between the heat of the catwalk and the in-store purchase.

To say it with the words of Francois-Henri Pinault, the CEO of Kering Group, the see-now buy-now immediacy ‘negates the dream of luxury’. 


Killing the traditional system of 6-month wait after the catwalk, is simply not feasible and would bring the end of the magic of fashion, the world of suspence.

Besides, where do we leave the wait and appreciation for something that needs time to be made?


PattyJ.com (brings) the best of Rhode Island || Guest Post

Patty J. is the founder of eponymous PattyJ.com the lifestyle blog voted Rhode Island's best in 2015.  

Style, beauty (watch for her Life Changing Tips!), culture in a fashion-y way  as she puts it. 

Patty and I 'met' via Instagram (HERE's her handle) and she first caught my attention for being humorous and wit, having this thing for coffee (later I found out there's some drops of Italian blood in her veins), but more so, making life in Rhode Island look so inviting, real and cool.  

Last week she invited me to be a guest on her blog and I am honored to be her hostess and let her take the mike: read along and travel to Rhode Island on the chic wagon.  The Italian way idea is 'travel with curiosity' and after reading this, you will be either wishing to travel to RI asap or say you've visited through her blog. 

about patty

After having worked in retail for almost 20 years, I decided to walk away and start something completely different and new - a lifestyle blog - over a year and a half ago.

I loved posting on social media (Facebook was my addiction at the time.) and I had studied writing in college. I mean how hard could it be, right?

Flash forward to this month and it’s the one year anniversary of my blog PattyJ.com, which spotlights great style, food, restaurants, beauty products, and people in (my home state of) Rhode Island and beyond. (It was also voted Best Local Lifestyle Blog 2015 by readers of RI Monthly magazine.) 

 

some more patty

A few more things you should know about me:

  • I grew up reading and obsessing over every fashion and beauty magazine I could get my hands on (from YM, which gave Rachel Zoe her start btw, and Seventeen to Allure, huge fan of Linda Wells here, Vogue, and Vanity Fair), but these days (like so many of my fellow bloggers) I find myself getting most of my inspiration and info from Apps like Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter.
  • People tell me my skin looks nice nowadays, but as a teen, I had horrible acne and tried everything from drugstore products to Accutane to fix it. That being said, one of my hobbies today is buying and trying the latest in skincare from places like Sephora. #SkincareJunkie
  • I can’t start my day with a grande skinny latte and am known on IG (and my blog) for my deep passionate love of coffee and all things related to it.
  • When not working on the blog or watching reality tv on Bravo (Watch What Happens Live or The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills are my drugs of choice.), you will find me doing Pure Barre, shopping Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods or dog sitting my nieces’ Golden Doodle and Husky.

 

favorite restaurants & food in Rhode Island

 

RI is the smallest state, but we are jam packed with fantastic restaurants and have even received accolades because of this. Here are some of the ones I go back to again and again are:

 

  1. The Garden Grille in Pawtucket:  A few years back, I started eating more veggies (and fruits) and less red meat and chicken. That’s when I found this charming spot. It’s small but cozy and clean and (most importantly) offers some of the freshest and best tasting vegetarian food you’ll ever have. Ever. As a matter of fact, if you’re traveling with someone who turns their nose up at veggie fare, take them to GG. They will become a convert. My go-to items on the menu: the Tai Tomato Soup, Squash Quesadilla (black beans, squash, avocado, and cheese), and the Reggie’s Raw Heaven Salad (perfect for lunch during early fall, spring, and the heat of the summer - so refreshing!
  2. Julian’s on Broadway in Providence: This restaurant was one of the first to open in the neighborhood where I grew up which has now become the Williamsburg (trendy Brooklyn neighborhood) in Providence (RI) and there’s always a wait to get a table - because the food is outstanding. The decor is also a mix of rock n’ roll, kitsch, and modern art (Every month or so, the art on the walls changes. Julian’s seeks out local artists and exhibits their work FREE of charge.)
  3. Dave’s Coffee - I’ve been drinking Starbucks for at least a decade, but recently tried Dave’s (a local coffee company) Honey Soy Latte and it knocked my socks off! With two locations, one on South Main St in PVD and the other at the Galapagos Boutique in Charlestown (which is a must see destination if, like me, you live to shop…Galapagos has awesome denim, tops, accessories, and even menswear.).

 

PattyJ.com Life Changing Tips

 

  1. Is your hair coarse? Frizzy? Does it always look damaged no matter what products you buy? Ask your hairstylist about either a Keratin Express Treatment.  It takes about 1 - 1.5 hours and lasts up to three months. This is something that will give you healthier and smoother looking hair. You can even leave your house without having to spend another 1/2 hour to an hour ironing your hair with the straightening iron. Yay! [READ here the full story]
  2. Find yourself a good cobbler. You’ll save tons of money in the long run because a skilled cobbler will resole and/or recondition your worn out shoes (No more tossing out your favorite pairs!) and even repair your leather belts and handbags. They will even replace the heel caps (which I wear thru constantly) and add sole saving toe caps. The cobbler will be your new BFF.
  3. The dryer is, however, NOT your BFF. Stop putting your clothes in the dryer asap - The heat only helps fade them and break down the fabric a lot quicker. Air drying will keep them newer looking longer. I like to wash as much as I can (including dark wash jeans) on DELICATE and hang to dry on Huggable Hangers from Joy Mangano (available at both Target and the Container Store). Huggable Hangers are also the easiest way to organize your closet because they’re ‘skinnier’ and take up less space than traditional wooden hangers or the plastic ones still floating around out there.
  4. Need to rewind and get back on track after a little too much wine or a few too many desserts? We’ve all been there. My two part solution is to start by adding a fresh juice for breakfast or lunch (My local juice bar is Wildflour  Vegan Cafe & Bakery in Pawtucket, RI.) as well as 1-2 yoga classes or visits to the Infrared Sauna. I recently discovered the benefits of Infrared Sauna and it helped me get back into my high waisted jeans after overindulging in everything from Waffles & Cream to homemade ice cream. 

Many thanks to Francesca for including me on her very cool site. I’m a huge fan of just about everything she does on ChicFB.com and on Instagram. I hope you’ll also click over to PattyJ.com and see some of the fabulous content from me and some of my RI friends.