Fashion Do's and Don't's
September 21, 2008
Here's a fashion designer who loves women: Isaac Mizrahi, who claims to have begun his career shortly after his diaper phase ended. What I love -- Mizrahi says he chases for the answer to the question "What is style?" like King Arthur searches in his quest for the Holy Grail. The fashion designer wants all women to feel beautiful. His new book HOW TO HAVE STYLE encourages women of all ages and sizes to find pictures that inspire them and pin them to a corkboard. That's the starting point. It's a beautiful book, full-color, slick shiny pages inside a stark white cover. Feels good. Which is, no doubt, the point.
There's a 24-question self-study, with answers needed to -- colors you wear most frequently, favorite colors, how do you want to be remembered style-wise, and so on. I'm thinking fuschia, pink, black and Lycra. Lots of Lycra. I don't know what he'd do with me. I do know that I cleaned out my closet about six months ago, piling up gently-worn clothes three-feet deep the length of my treadmill -- and gave them all away. I still have a full closet. Thing with me is, I tend to stay the same size, if I buy clothes, they are classics, and I haven't yet acquired the ability to give away one piece when I buy one piece. Mizrahi doesn't have anything to say about that. He does have a hard time with the woman in his book who goes shopping every day. There are eleven others, and except for the evening wear, some of the resulting fashion outfits IMHO were a bit strange. But I love the before-and-after hairstyles. Mizrahi warns in the beginning of the book, that he is chosing a dozen ordinary women, and is not going for the before-and-after thing.
He does anyway.
It reminded me of a before-and-after photo shoot I got involved in right after college. I was working in a boutique PR agency in NY, and when I applied for the job, I walked in so unfashionably gauche, I have no idea how I got the job as an assistant to one of the AE's. Our two clients were a hair stylist and the manufacturer of fashion glasses.
My unruly wavy hair -- okay, crazy naturally-curly hair -- fell to mid-back and I wore aviator glasses when I skipped contact lenses. I was at the shoot to help out, and was sent scurrying on quick, short orders for a few hours. Before I knew it, I was in a hairstylist's chair. I must have been asked, and given permission, but I don't recall. It felt like a whirlwind -- stylists buzzing around me, clipping, and dying, and trying various eyeglass frames on me.
Shortly after, I got married, and moved from New York City to Iowa City to be with my new husband. One day, I was in line in the grocery store, glancing at the rack of magazines in front of me. I plucked a WOMAN'S DAY off the rack and began flipping randomly through the pages. The magazine fell open -- and there was my before and after shot. The crazy hair and wire-rimmed aviator glasses on the left, full on. And the after. My brown hair was short, and shot with golden highlights, giving way to a bundle of curls on the top. My right hand, fingers splayed as if I were holding a cup of tea, instead touched the corner of the big fuschia eyeglass frames, head gently tipped flirtatiously. I read the caption -- my "before" style dominated "my delicate features."
The NY sophisticated look didn't play that well on Iowa TV, where I soon turned up as the noon weathergirl -- so I grew my hair long again. And except for the big hair of the 80's, when I was thrilled with those crazy curls...and except for a failed attempt a few years ago to chemically straighten it -- when about half of it got baked into a crew cut...I keep it just below my shoulders. And iron it straight.
Mizrahi would probably cut it again.
Here's a fashion designer who loves women: Isaac Mizrahi, who claims to have begun his career shortly after his diaper phase ended. What I love -- Mizrahi says he chases for the answer to the question "What is style?" like King Arthur searches in his quest for the Holy Grail. The fashion designer wants all women to feel beautiful. His new book HOW TO HAVE STYLE encourages women of all ages and sizes to find pictures that inspire them and pin them to a corkboard. That's the starting point. It's a beautiful book, full-color, slick shiny pages inside a stark white cover. Feels good. Which is, no doubt, the point.
There's a 24-question self-study, with answers needed to -- colors you wear most frequently, favorite colors, how do you want to be remembered style-wise, and so on. I'm thinking fuschia, pink, black and Lycra. Lots of Lycra. I don't know what he'd do with me. I do know that I cleaned out my closet about six months ago, piling up gently-worn clothes three-feet deep the length of my treadmill -- and gave them all away. I still have a full closet. Thing with me is, I tend to stay the same size, if I buy clothes, they are classics, and I haven't yet acquired the ability to give away one piece when I buy one piece. Mizrahi doesn't have anything to say about that. He does have a hard time with the woman in his book who goes shopping every day. There are eleven others, and except for the evening wear, some of the resulting fashion outfits IMHO were a bit strange. But I love the before-and-after hairstyles. Mizrahi warns in the beginning of the book, that he is chosing a dozen ordinary women, and is not going for the before-and-after thing.
He does anyway.
It reminded me of a before-and-after photo shoot I got involved in right after college. I was working in a boutique PR agency in NY, and when I applied for the job, I walked in so unfashionably gauche, I have no idea how I got the job as an assistant to one of the AE's. Our two clients were a hair stylist and the manufacturer of fashion glasses.
My unruly wavy hair -- okay, crazy naturally-curly hair -- fell to mid-back and I wore aviator glasses when I skipped contact lenses. I was at the shoot to help out, and was sent scurrying on quick, short orders for a few hours. Before I knew it, I was in a hairstylist's chair. I must have been asked, and given permission, but I don't recall. It felt like a whirlwind -- stylists buzzing around me, clipping, and dying, and trying various eyeglass frames on me.
Shortly after, I got married, and moved from New York City to Iowa City to be with my new husband. One day, I was in line in the grocery store, glancing at the rack of magazines in front of me. I plucked a WOMAN'S DAY off the rack and began flipping randomly through the pages. The magazine fell open -- and there was my before and after shot. The crazy hair and wire-rimmed aviator glasses on the left, full on. And the after. My brown hair was short, and shot with golden highlights, giving way to a bundle of curls on the top. My right hand, fingers splayed as if I were holding a cup of tea, instead touched the corner of the big fuschia eyeglass frames, head gently tipped flirtatiously. I read the caption -- my "before" style dominated "my delicate features."
The NY sophisticated look didn't play that well on Iowa TV, where I soon turned up as the noon weathergirl -- so I grew my hair long again. And except for the big hair of the 80's, when I was thrilled with those crazy curls...and except for a failed attempt a few years ago to chemically straighten it -- when about half of it got baked into a crew cut...I keep it just below my shoulders. And iron it straight.
Mizrahi would probably cut it again.
Labels: before and after, book review, HOW TO HAVE STYLE, Isasc Mizrahi, WOMAN'S DAY
posted by Diana Page Jordan @ 11:01 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home