It’s no secret that I love fashion with architectural and sculptural details and wear some today for us. I wear a vintage Gianfranco Ferre skirt, a Chloe blouse, and a necklace from Steven Dweck.

This Ferre skirt is one of my most cherished vintage treasures. It’s basically a pencil skirt with the most amazing diagonal ruffle. The ruffle also has zig-zag trapunto stitching. Though a straight trapunto stitch is common enough, I can’t recall ever seeing it done with a zig-zag stitch before. Here’s a closeup of the ruffle (and yes, I know that running the lint brush over myself wouldn’t have killed me
) …

I also show the ruched bishop sleeve detail on the Chloe blouse …

The Dweck necklace …

I never really make New Year’s resolutions, but do set general guidelines for myself (that may or may not coincide with a new year). Last month, I sort of thought that maybe I would eliminate or at least scale back greatly on black clothing and shoe purchases. You see, I seem to have quite a lot of black in my wardrobe and I don’t consider myself to be a person who willingly chooses to dress in black. Would you believe that only 2 or 3 years ago, I had practically no black in my wardrobe? Well, only three days into 2010, I bought a pair of Nicholas Kirkwood shoes in … yep, you guessed it … black.
Like “The Thinker”, I contemplate my shoe behavior …

So, what happened?
Was it the killer 65% off Nordstrom sale? Nope, I’m (mostly) great at sticking to my resolve.
Maybe it was the fact that shoes in my size aren’t the easiest things to acquire. That’s always a consideration.
Could it have been that Nicholas Kirkwood shoes are nearly impossible to get in suburbia? Nah, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Most likely it was that I spotted this shoe & thought (without even knowing who the designer was), “What a cool shoe!” Ding, ding … we have a winner!
Ok. Enough thinking already and more pictures …


I have to admit I didn’t care much for Kirkwood’s designs when he burst onto the scene a few years ago. Lately, however, his sculptural aesthetic has caught my eye. I would definitely consider more of his work and I’m going to enjoy these shoes completely.
That’s all for now. More soon. — Carole