Oldest Woman in the Bistro: Claire's dress re-do
A summer of bistro visits stretches into still-mild autumn. Nothing is better for seeing what's actually worn versus shop-window styling.
Though summer of '21 was, for young women, owned by bra tops, summer '22 swapped the reveal; they embraced the shortest shorts, especially denim cutoffs. But Oldest Woman has not worn a 3-inch inseam since before mobile phones. Hell, before cordless.
If you can't wear a raging trend, it's tempting to resort to a familiar style—but that's not a sure bet.
In August, Claire took me to a winery bistro on the Niagara Peninsula. She wore a turquoise, pink and parrot green floral-print rayon dress that though new, was a design ubiquitous in the '90s: s midi-length scoop necked a-line, with ties at the side seams which tied at the back, gathering the dress in. (Like drawstring pants, this creates a semblance of shape, but is no substitute for darts.)
As she surveyed women of all ages and sizes, she saw that time does not stand still. What read as charming thirty years ago looked wilted now; among the lunch crowd, several women wore crisp shirtdresses like Everlane's "Daytripper":
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| Popular, but she found it boring |
Claire, however, prefers patterns she calls "happy", in summer bloom colours: impatiens pink, hyacinth blue, zinnia yellow. Her smile was thin as our pizza's crust when she said, "Maybe I'll just wear this to the supermarket."
It's no fun to wear your dress for the first time and realize, What was I thinking? She asked what I might suggest, because she still needs dresses for a winter visit to a friend's home in the Southern US. Once home on her deck with my iPad, I browsed.
Not easy! I was attracted to dresses she hated, for example, this washable cotton, bee-bedecked shirtdress, ($CDN 185 but 25% off for Hudson's Bay Members). She wears far more embellishment than I would, so I had thought, Slam dunk.
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| Sold fail, to my surprise |
She shuddered and said something about bees on her boobs. Give me another glass of prosecco, please. But she is still a colour woman, so how about these?
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| Doing better with these |
Left: Turquoise/brown tencel midi by & Other Stories; price, $US 149. I chose it for the interesting marbled fabric and the palette, which you usually see in more expensive clothes. She was lukewarm because it is available only by mail.
Right: This COS dress shows the difference between a '90s and a current midi. The puff sleeve gives great arm, the graphic print captures the 'bright' Claire craves, and it's fine cotton instead of dry-clean-only rayon. Price, $US 175. This was by far her favourite.
But, sometimes the dress you need is... a skirt. A large-scale pattern on a whole dress can overwhelm a petite or even average-height woman, and for that Sunbelt trip, a skirt plus a couple of tops gives more changes than a dress, so I showed her Banana Republic's Stampa skirt; price, $CDN 175. She could wear her black and white tees with it, and the red is lively but not harsh.
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| Interested, if on sale in the store |
Instead of the model's denim shorts, I wore white jeans.
At the winery, women in little shorts showed legs more deeply tanned than we see in Montréal. I was sorry to see the walnut hue—tanned skin is damaged skin—but they seemed heedless of the years ahead, as I too was at twenty-five.
In our case, the years of sun worship led to copious sun spots and for me, skin cancer. So, we wore sun hats; mine was a borrowed straw, and Claire's a wide-brimmed sky blue linen made to order.
Comments
Your choices are interesting; the one with the deep pink splashes gets my vote, and I really like the green one but do not do applique ;) For me, the stripy one looks rather too utilitarian and would do nothing for me at this age. And I know what you mean about those dresses with the back ties - at one time they were easy and fun, but the moment has passed.
I thought of you today, when I received an email telling me that my scheduled visit this week to the Jubilee jewellery collection showing at Buckingham Palace had been cancelled (not a surprise, and entirely appropriate, but undeniably disappointing).
As a lover of emeralds, I had been lusting after an in-the-flesh view of the Delhi Durbar necklace and the Vladimir tiara. For those of us who like their diamonds sparkling gaily rather that shooting rays, there was the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara and the Nizan necklace (which always puts me in mind of Mughal design but was in fact made by Cartier). Sigh.
Another thing that I find fascinating about these amazing sorts of pieces is the fact that they are virtually always capable of being converted into different items - a tiara can become a necklace and earrings, necklaces can become matching brooch and clips, etc. Perhaps, Duchesse, you might cover modern (and more affordable...) convertible jewellery in the Passage one day?
Wondering if your friend has checked out Katrin Leblond? She has some lovely print skirts that would work well with solid tops.
Sadly, no COS in our neck of the woods. I'd have to travel to LA or Vancouver BC. (Or venture online, obviously...)
I do admire those who can carry off prints and bright colours…I’m a solids person myself except for scarves, or stripes or polka dots!
..."The easiest solution is to subscribe on Bloglovin'; hundreds of readers already do so. Create an account, then select "Passage des perles" as a blog you wish to follow. (You can choose to receive only the blogs you want.) Or, bookmark the Passage's url and visit every Tuesday."
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Amanda and Laura J: I'm delighted that someone I "know" got that necklace, and that you're wearing it often.
OK, Laura, we did notice that plural... maybe you would tell us the variety? Or send me a photo!
Jean Shaw: A compliment from a stranger is especially cheering these days, when so many of us have endured sequestered months. For me it fits into the Random Acts of Kindness category. I've noticed that coming from me (an elder woman), the recipient receives it graciously, and absolutely everyone is happy to hear a compliment about his or her dog.
Jane in London: I suppose cancelled emans just that, not a postponement, sigh. Are other Jubilee celebrations also cancelled? I saw a French exhibition called " From the Great Mughals to the Maharajahs" and those pieces still blaze in my mind. I haven't seen Cartier pieces made today that are as spectacular as those of the last mid-century.
I'll think about a "convertible jewellery" post, but so many of the conversions designed for high jewellery (a necklace into a tiara, for example) do not suit most women's everyday lives. See this the last Jubilee portrait published of Queen Elizabeth II, in a pair of sapphire and diamond dress clips— how often do you see anyone in clip brooches now?
https://www.hellomagazine.com/fashion/royal-style/20220919151505/queen-elizabeth-brooch-final-portrait-sentimental-gift/
Laura H: Claire knows Katrin Leblond and likes the prints but is disappointed that) Katrin's dresses are presently either made with short cap sleeves or are sleeveless, which she will not wear. She will be visiting me in Oct. and we will definitely go there, though the summer dresses will be off-season by then.
Susan: It's true that a petite woman has to watch the proportions, but I know several who do wear longer dresses cut for their proportions. One has linen dresses made by an Etsy seller. She says her knees are "chubby" so the length just skims the bottom of her kneeecaps. I agree that in sticky weather they are much cooler than trousers.
Thanks for the comment about the brooch worn by QEII in her last portrait. I couldn’t figure out what those were. They did remind me of shoe clips. Weren’t they a thing back in the day? I seem to recall my mom having a pair that she thought confused people into thinking she had 2 pair of black shoes, instead of just one. Presto-chango! But the brooch looked lovely on the Queen. That woman could wear a colorful dress. Any and all colors.
And I had to scroll back to see the Keshi and Tahitian necklace. Beautiful - Amanda, you chose well for your first (probably not your last) Kojima piece.
Leslie M - shoe clips! Yes, I remember them too, and had a particularly fine pair in the 80s which transformed my black court shoes into party shoes. I was miserable when I lost one of them at a dance in Egypt (which is a whole other story).
Dress clips, though, were from an earlier era, along with those large brooches women wore on coats, hat pins and parures.
Bee boob dress, perhaps?
Anyway, it took me about 2 seconds to sign up on Feedly and boom, there I am. Just register, and under "Blogs I follow" begin to type Passage des Perles and there you go.
Many thanks for flagging the wonky Bloglovin' world. I will put an announcement on the blog next Tuesday.
I've put a "Subscribe" button for Feedly on my menubar.
But, to get those blog posts delivered straight to your email inbox, you need a Google or Outlook mail account. (Instructions are on the Help section (the "?" icon) on Feedly or enter https://blog.feedly.com/get-notified-of-new-articles-in-your-feedly/
in your search engine. And then there's a bit of MacGyvering with an extension.
If you prefer not to use Google or Outlook e-mail, use Feedly as an app, as it is designed. You can add the url to your Bookmarks or Menu Bar on a PC, or put app on your phone or tablet.
Warm thanks to Laura J, I had missed the demise of Bloglovin' over the summer, as I was not publishing the blog.