Last Emperor Strikes Back

The first day there's a bit of chill in the air, my heart rate picks up a beat and I get this back to school feeling of wanting to step up my energy level, get into a new routine (take lessons in something, exercise more)... I finally get to wear my new boots, my skinny jeans, and to play around with colored and patterned tights and scarves that are too hot and too much bother in the summertime...
(photos - how I make a summer wool suit work for fall, and one of my Copenhagen purchases - two-toned tights from Sneaky Fox worn with summer wool black dress).


And then my stomach drops like I just hit a dip in the road that I hadn't expected and I realize.. gulp.. time for the seasonal closet rehaul. I know it sounds like nothing, but there's something a bit accusatory when your doorman tells you there's too much dry cleaning for you to take up in the elevator with you in 6 trips. All those clothes - my clothes - hidden away for the season have now come back home, reminding me that.. yep.. there are a lot of them. And it's a feat of engineering and some sacrifice to fit them back into my closet. It's hard to face. The big bill doesn't help, either.. Gulp.

Despite all my gulping as I paid that bill this evening, I still was hungry, so I made dinner and watched Valentino, the Last Emperor, a movie I'd missed in theaters because I was having too much fun at happy hour with Michelle to make it. It's one of those great movies where you laugh at the outsized personalities and "out of touch-ness" of prima donnas (or primo huomos?). (Example: hating an entire museum because of one stair rail that reminds him of Macy's).. But it pulled me away from feeling a little self destructive guilt (self destructive because I'm not going to change the behavior that leads to the guilt because the rest of the time that behavior makes me really happy). And the movie reminded me again of why I have all those clothes in the first place. Because it's my creative outlet and because they're beautiful (or at least, I think they are) and if I have a choice, I want my life to be beautiful too. There may be more important things in life, but not THAT many, really. Aesthetics are far too underrated.

So, as a tribute to the reminder that Valentino gave me, I am accepting the fact that I have a whole lot of purses hanging in my foyer and am now considering that my decor (and I added a tiny little Valentino clutch). Rationalization is another of my creative outlets...

Going corporate

I have to wear a suit tomorrow to work. Well, not really a suit, but something a bit more corporate than normal, since I have some (surprise surprise! …) corporate meetings. I don’t mind. Actually, I really like that feeling of structure: big belts, tightly nipped-in jackets, narrow pencil skirts, bustiers (though not for work), etc. Add some super high heels and I feel girded (not girdled, thankfully) for the day. A friend of mine, Jane, said that’s the German side of me coming out. Maybe. She knows a lot both about style and Germans, so she probably is right.

Anyhow, as I said, I happily dress corporate, as long as it’s MY interpretation of corporate and still feels like me. But put me in a conservative matching suit and I can’t wait to take it off – no matter how beautiful it is. It’s sort of the reverse of being possessed, I guess, but instead of being taken over from the inside and still looking like the same person, I feel like it’s my outside that’s been taken over. I’m being dramatic, but it matters. I tried on a beautiful matching suit recently and, even though it was classic, well made and fit perfectly, all I could think of was “Sarah Palin” and I couldn’t get it. That made me feel a bit sympathetic for Sarah Palin, to be honest. All those clothes that were bought for her were expensive, high-end, elegant and restrained. Not exactly reflective of her personality, and I don’t mean that as an insult. It’s what she’s said herself. No wonder she “went rogue”! And sorry, but I do have to say it's pretty obvious she didn't have much support in NY. $150k??? If she had more friends in fashion, she'd have had chic-er clothes and at well below retail!!!