The item on my Wish List this week is a khaki/multi Chanel suit I saw on Depop.com for under $100.
Here’s a few facts about this iconic suit:
Celebrities who’ve worn it: Jackie Kennedy, Amal Clooney, Kristen Stewart, Dakota, Fanning, Lily-Rose Depp, Rihanna, Lady Di, Tilda, Swinton, Lupita, Nyong’o.
I’ve decided to add a little sartorial order to this blog site so that I can consistently edit the plethora of fashion information I see and hopefully help you to do the same. By doing so it is in keeping with the Every Day Style philosophy and its goal to clearly communicate who you are through what you’re wearing. Every day I will post from an organized schedule of blogs that will be conducted as follows:
Monday: Fashion Inspo (This source can come from anywhere-Art, books, my day jobs, etc.,-since I never know what will inspire me.)
Tuesday: Fashion Tip (These tips can include anything from wardrobe maintenance, shopping, and fashion coordination, to accessorizing.)
Wednesday: Wish List (I will feature one thing from my Wish List and why I chose it.)
Thursday: Favorite Looks (I will feature one look that I really love right now.)
Friday: Fashion Find (I will promote one find that I feel is worth adding to one’s wardrobe and why.)
Saturday: Vintage Clothing Spotlight (I will profile one vintage item I think is very popular and worth collecting.)
Sunday: Observation of the Week (Description of an outfit or look I see on someone and am impressed by.)
Patchwork (Definition): (noun) needlework in which small pieces of cloth in different designs, colors, or textures are sewn together. “a quilt of patchwork”.
Designers Using Patchwork Now:
How to Coordinate a Patchwork Dress:
Combine a patchwork dress with loafers, ballet flats, boots, or sneakers, a jacket and a bucket hat.
Where to Buy Patchwork Gear on a Budget:
One of the biggest challenges of wearing and writing about every day fashion is acquiring editorial pieces that have been featured in a magazine ad or TV commercial.
The last time I tried to buy a black tiered skirt by H & M that I saw in their ad in Elle magazine, I almost lost out at their store in Century City because their last one was a small. Since I wear a medium, I took a chance and hoped I it would fit.
This time, my challenge was acquiring the red and pink color block dress I saw in an Old Navy commercial on TV one day. Just like the H & M skirt I knew it would look good on me, and fit in with my sartorial aesthetic.
Unfortunately, when I first tried to buy it online, it was out of stock, so I knew it was going to be a tough path to my dream dress. As I looked at all the crossed out sizes on the order page I heard the sales clerk’s voice from H &M telling me when I bought their black skirt, “It’salways hard buying something editorial because when everyone sees it they rush out and get it.‘
Dejected, but not beaten yet, I decided to check out the Old Navy site again a couple of weeks later to see if the dress was back in stock. To my surprise it was, and joy of joys, it was also in my size and on sale!
If you’re wondering what the moral to this style tale is, it’s this, never give up on a garment no matter what because if it’s meant to be yours you’ll eventually get it.
.
Another feature of the “Every Day Fashion: Style for the Mainstream” blog I will be introducing, and posting every Sunday, will be called “Weekly Fashion Observations”. It will consist of descriptions I record whenever I see someone during the day who I think is wearing a great outfit or has a lot of style. I feel these observations really represent the spirit of “Every Day Fashion” because they tell a wearer’s sartorial story truthfully and boldly.
Outfit of the Day: Striped Pants
Description of Outfit: Blue/white and floral button-down (H & M) + Navy-blue and white striped pants (Uniqlo) + Red, white and blue necklace.
I’ve always adored makeup, even though I rarely saw myself as an African American female depicted in Maybelline or Cover Girl ads, when I was growing up during the ’60s and ’70s. Of course there were the models Sandi Collins, Donyale Luna, Pat Cleveland, Beverly Johnson and Naomi Sims, but they always seemed too perfect for me to relate to. Instead my mother Jacqueline, was my role model. Elegantly dressed in Evan-Picone separates and suits, hair perfectly coiffed, and makeup impeccable she was the epitome of chic. In February, when she passed away at 82, this is the version I remember of her, and still look to for inspiration.
The only other time I really examined and became aware of how much makeup could enhance one’s looks was during my Freshman year at Holy Names College the private university I attended from 1979-1980 in Oakland, California. At 17 1/2, and fresh out of a six-week makeover course at John Robert Powers Modeling School I was happy with the tailored pants, colorful blouses, midi skirts, pullover sweaters, soft dresses and heels I wore, but I didn’t feel the same about my makeup. Back home, in Los Angeles, California the simple “makedown” technique I learned at JRP didn’t suit my new lifestyle and I needed an update.
“You should go to San Francisco, then visit one of the major department stores there, and have a makeup session with a cosmetics clerk.”
I consulted one of my new friends, an African American model, and asked her what to do. “You should go to San Francisco, then visit one of the major department stores there, and have a makeup session with a cosmetics clerk,” she said. “After she shows you how to apply everything, you should buy it, so you can do your own makeup once you get back to school.” Unfortunately in 1979, there was still a lot of bias against African Americans, within the beauty industry,, so I wasn’t surprised when the Caucasian clerk I worked with at the Cosmetics counter, didn’t know how to help me at first. Finally after experimenting with a variety of foundations, concealers, blushes, eye shadows, and lipsticks she found the perfect combination for my olive skin tone. She even suggested blue, pink and purple eyeshadow to bring out my brown eyes and deep fuchsia lipstick to balance my overall maquillage. Slightly disco, but radiant, the two hours I spent recreating her expertise everyday in front of my dorm room mirror increased my self-confidence when I most needed it.
Besides not seeing enough Black representation in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and the other fashion magazines I’ve read throughout the years, personally I’ve had issues with acne, vitiligo, skin discolorations and dark spots caused by lupus and Stage II A Breast Cancer. Now that I’m older, I’m also dealing with challenges related to age. Despite all of this I’ve become more determined than ever to find makeup companies that’re inclusive regardless of the race, age, sex or lifestyle of their target market. It was during this continuous search that I discovered Juvia’s Place https://www.juviasplace.com/.
Created by Chichi Eburu, an entrepreneur from Nigeria, it premiered in 2015. Working with the small budget of $2,000 out of her apartment, her goal was to offer a line that complimented darker skin tones. Initially I was hesitant about how the makeup would look on me, since my skin is medium-toned and I have a plethora of facial issues, but once I perused the website I decided to try it anyway. After ordering the I Am Magic Velvety Matte Foundation, the I Am Magic Concealer, the Multi-Purpose Foundation Sticks, the Afrique Blush, the So Red Velvety Matte Lipstick and the Masquerade Palette eyeshadow kit I applied my purchases and photographed myself wearing my pink and blue Oh Shitake! print Zuri dress.
Vibrant and complimentary I truly felt like Nefertiti, or one of the other African queens that inspired Eburu, when she envisioned this line. Truly inclusive, I later discovered her customer base “includes men, women, and individuals with all types of skin tones.” Besides the stunning packaging, the other thing that sets Juvia’s Place apart, within the industry, is the way Eburu was able to become successful by emphasizing “the African concept of beauty” instead of the European. She even named her company after her two children-Juwa, her son and Olivia, her daughter. Her ultimate goal? “To make blackness as mainstream as its counterparts and for people to see and love blackness.”
Ever since I first saw the beautifully patterned dress and Zuri.com http://www.zuri.com I wanted one. Finally when they’re pink and blue mushroom print oh Oh Shitake! hit the site I took the sartorial plunge and put it on my wish list.
Made out of 100% washed cotton Kitenge cloth sourced from Tanzania the mid-weight fabric stands away from my body elegantly. Side pockets and a row of black buttons sewn down the front complete the spacious silhouette.
Created in 2016, when New York fashion designer Sandra Zhao married invention with necessity the dress is comfortable, versatile and attractive enough to be worn anywhere. For Zhao, that included “her travels to the southern Sudan from her home in Nairobi Kenya.”
LBD (“little black dress”) classic, but also unique as a snowflake, she discovered it was a conversation-starter as well. On the day she attended a wedding, wearing the dress, another guest Ashley Gersh Miller approached her and proposed they become business partners and start a company together. Launched in 2017, they named it Zuri which means “beautiful” in Swahili.
“Zuri means beautiful in Swahili”.
One of the biggest selling points of the design is it accommodates most sizes, ages, and lifestyles within its large demographics. Another big selling point is his flexibility. Whether worn with a sun hat and shades, as a tunic top over black leggings, or as an open coat over a white tee and slim cut jeans it’s the perfect addition to any woman’s wardrobe.
Although all of these reasons, and the $145 price tag, are why I considered buying a Zuri dress, my purchasing decision was finally made when I realized it would allow me to express my African American heritage and comfortably deal with my lupus photosensitivity outdoors.
Challenging and stressful at times, especially in the sunny clime where I live, this side effect of the disease really impacts my social and professional life. To cope with it I continually search for clothes, like the Zuri dress, luxuriate in their stylishness, and remember while wearing them I’m a woman who is actually a warrior instead of a wounded victim with a challenging disability.
Product Rating: 5 Stars for affordability, comfort and versatility
Writing about fashion requires two things-a daily mental consumption of reading material (i.e., books, newspapers, internet articles, etc.,) and at least five minutes a day of free writing in a journal. The good thing about both of these rituals is they can be done anywhere-at the bus stop, on a break at work or in the waiting room at the hospital-with a minimum of effort and equipment. They’re also an excellent way to take a break from the online world of cell phones, computers and other devices and gain inspiration old school.
Since fashion is my passion I buy as many books from the genre that I can to include in my own personal library for research. Below is a list of the top ten books I recently bought and think should go in any fashion book lovers library.
Sadly the acquisition of these books will require persistent hunting, especially if you live in L.A., where the number of small independent bookstores are disappearing. Despite that I’ve given you a list of my favorite online and onsite places below.
I wanted to clarify my reason for writing about the beautiful black skirt I bought at H & M in the light of their current troubles over the blatantly racist sweatshirt that’s been recalled by their company. I’m an African-American fashion/feature writer, in a field that doesn’t have a lot of representation from my culture, so I’ve faced my share of racism. Instead of refusing to wear or buy their clothing I want to show them, and others in the industry, the real face of their customers to further educate them about who we are and what we really represent and look like. For me, the only way to confront racism is head-on with unflinching assertiveness. If they learn from this and become a better, more inclusive company, the effort was worth it.
The Ultimate Separate: The Black Skirt
In 1979, when my mother bought a gorgeous black skirt suit by BIS for my high school graduation from Westchester High School from Bullock’s Wilshire black skirts were easily accessible.
But when I wanted to buy the retro boho multi-tiered black skirt from H & M, a couple of years ago, that was featured in a Vogue editorial ad it was a trial. Why?
It couldn’t have been the price, since my BIS suit was $300 and this skirt $19.99. It couldn’t have been the style, since both have classic silhouettes.
Recently, when I bought a stunning green, brown and white vintage 1970s maxi dress from etsy.com for $40, from a dealer in Poland, instead of at my local Goodwill Thrift Store I realized what it was.
Despite the plethora of fashion bloggers, journalists, stores and websites promoting excellent designs and killer buys, the consumer isn’t receiving the message. There seems to be a big disconnect. The clothes that need to be worn as representatives of intelligence and good taste languish un-bought while inexpensive, passe trends are displayed briefly, then discarded on random bus benches and trash cluttered streets.
Anyone who’s paying attention knows by now that needless sartorial waste is a no-no the fashion industry’s trying to correct. Of course we have other problems to deal with besides finding the perfect black skirt, such as the closing of over 130 LAUSD school libraries, homelessness, and the sad reality that L.A. is now the second worst dressed city in the country, and 44th in education. But if a woman does make the decision to purchase one it can solve her immediate wardrobe problems by becoming a reliable staple item that will never let her down. Paired with a crisp white shirt it can take her to work and dinner with a change of shoes and layered over leggings it can easily be worn for dance class.
Edna Woolman Chase (1914-1951) editor of American Vogue in 1942 really understood the magic of a black skirt. “They are as great a standby as a black sweater,” she wrote in the article Skirt Story. Meant to purchased as an “investment piece” it served the same purpose then as it does today by being versatile and long lasting. Compared to trendier fare, ubiquitously worn by everyone who has a pulse, it has the flexibility of hamburger without undue flash.
Blessedly, all-black is no longer as pervasively popular as it once was, making room for the black skirt to make a come back as part of an ensemble that can include a floral print blouse, funky statement tee and vintage embroidered cardigan sweater for work 9-5. After 5, that same blouse and cardigan can be accented with a multi-strand necklace for a fancy dinner date or concert.
For retailers, who mistakenly thought “corporate dress or all-black” would help their sales staff increase their sales and customer service skills with a uniform instead of individual style, the black skirt would help them teach their female employees how to coordinate their work attire appropriately, easily and inexpensively. Since a major component of fashion retail is based on helping consumers buy items for their wardrobe the sales staff that reflects an attractive appearance, from their own imagination, is more qualified to improve a company’s image than a conformist who wears a uniform.
In between my Undergrad years, at CSULA, to my Grad years, at Academy of Art University online, I’ve collected 15 black skirts that have steadfastly helped me look pulled together whenever I wear them. For my day job as a Special Education Instructional Assistant for LAUSD at Leo Politi Elementary School in Koreatown, I’ve regularly worn the long black skirt I bought at Ross Dress For Less with either a cool tee from snorgtees.com or a lightweight pullover sweater from Forever 21, my beige trench coat from amazon.com and a pair of sneakers. Comfortable as a pair of jeans, it’s perfect for my long walks to and from the bus stop, before and after work, and a long six hour shift in the classroom.
I’m just as well prepared for my off-duty social life, with a vintage velour bubble skirt I bought at my favorite Goodwill Thrift Store, and a retro self-belt taffeta one I bought at Ross Dress For Less. Combined with a lovely vintage top and pearls they’re an evening stand out.
“There are few women who can wear every type of skirt,” wrote Christian Dior in The Little Dictionary of Fashion. Personally, I’ve found that to be true of every garment, and despite my thin frame, I still have to work hard to find the right clothes for my budget, lifestyle and body.
Caught between my obligation to always “dress and represent”, as a requirement for AAU, and a need to be comfortable at LPES I wanted to find another black skirt to fit both worlds. My hunt officially started after I’d bought a pair of black sneakers from H & M online. They were too big so I had to exchange them at their store in the Westfield Century City mall. I thought while I was up there, I’d buy the black boho multi-tiered skirt I saw in the Vogue ad.
Everything was going great-they had a pair of black sneakers in my size and the blue and white/floral shirt I’d had my eye on was on the Sale rack. Then when I showed the cashier the ad and asked about the skirt things got shaky.
“I’m not sure we have any left,” she said. “If we do it’s a Petite.”
“May I see it please? I’d like to try it on anyway,” I said.
She asked another clerk, who was working on the floor to see if they had any more, and if they did, to bring it to me. When he found it, he carried it to me, holding it with the delicacy of an Egyptian artifact. He then repeated what the cashier said, “It’s the last one and it’s a Petite.”
“Are you planning on stocking any more soon?, I asked. “No,” he said. “We’re lucky we have this one, because as soon as it was featured in the magazine ad it shot off the racks. Editorial items always sell out quickly.”
“Okay, I understand that, but why was this particular skirt so popular?,” I asked.
“It looks good on almost every body type and it’s versatile enough to be worn with a tucked in or loose fitting top,” he answered.
“Well, I usually wear a Medium, but you never know with sizing, so I’ll try it on and see if it fits,” I said, taking the skirt from him, and heading for the fitting room.
Doubtful, and holding my breath in anticipation, I slipped it on then exhaled with relief when it fit perfectly.
It’s been more than a year since I bought this skirt, and although I haven’t worn it yet, I know its timeless silhouette makes it a worthwhile addition to my collection.
Images Cited:
Works Cited:
Every Day Fashion: Style for the Mainstream 