1960s meet the 2010s!

Isn't it the best when you see a line of clothing that you know you could live, love, eat, dance, shop, chat in?

I stumbled up Lesley Ever's website and instantly wanted each and every dress, skirt and tunic in each and every gorgeous, gummy-yummy fabric!  The styling is classic - A line shifts and skirts, wrap dresses, box pleat skirts, tunics - but the details to the paid to the construction and the fabric selection make it thoroughly modern and perfect for la dolce vita.

If I had pick of the litter is would be this little kitten:

Her name is Audrey and the fabric - Love Birds! (It makes me think of my friend from gradeschool who had a Parakeet, appropriately named, I believe, 'Keet.)

Another lovely thing about the website is that every dress is viewable in each fabric offered and there are accompanying front, back, 3/4 shots as well.  AND as an added courtesy, the Lesley Evers ladies show you different ways to wear the clothes. 

Good luck, ladies, I love finding clothing lines that are well thought out and whimsical!

  

Have you joined the bandwagon?

When I was young, my parents were adamant that I not partake in certain trends.  Pierced ears, Benetton sweaters, my own car, the Banana Republic paratrooper bag (this was back when Banana Republic smelled like dung because it was a "travel store" and offered vests with 8 mesh pockets).  I think they were trying to teach me that I didn't need something simply because other people were signaling that I did.  It was fine to get what i what but I had to really want it AND know why I wanted it.  Simply "needing it" because others "wanted it" wasn't good enough.

I keenly felt "deprived" at the time, but with the passage of time (wise tutor that you are) I love what they did.  It was a great lesson for me and I feel as if I now often, make a conscious choice not to do something, read something, go somewhere just because others have deemed it worthy.

So, with that stated, I can't say I "hate" the following things, rather, I haven't joined the bandwagon....

American Idol

Dancing with the Stars - D list celebs trying to scrap their way up to C list notoriety

Glee 

Any kind of musical (see above)

Lost

Survivor 

Any kind of competitive reality show*

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series

Why is it that when a thing that is presumably perfectly wonderful or enjoyable loses its shine once the crowds come flocking to it?  

* Yes, I admit in the greatness of ironies, I LOVE the Real Housewives franchise.  I cannot look away - I love each and every one of these ladies who willingly subject their lives and families to such (spot-on) examination.....  It takes a "lady" with a certain kind of hubris (or chutzpa) to sign on.  Ick on me!

Daphne, my love

Is there any one couture client more devoted to fashion that Daphne Guinness?

The hair (so Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada"); the shoes (Alexander McQueen Lobster shoes); the lithe frame (so Duchess of Windsor in its dedication to slimness)....

And her lovely dedication to fashion devotée Isabella Blow? Buying Blow's entire wardrobe before it went up for auction?  The article Daphne wrote recently in the Financial Times explaining her purchase was so touching, so reverential, so based in friendship that for me, it revealed another (unexpected) side of a woman largely known for just her fashion sense.

May we all know someone with such depth of taste and respect for others!

What is joyful?

Food related:
1) Hearing the pop of a perfectly chilled Diet-Coke
2) Getting the perfect bite of pasta - enough pasta, enough sauce, enough cheese
3) The cracking first bite of an apple or a pear
4) The smell of cookies baking (as well as the taste of cookie dough)

Family related:
1) Seeing my older brother after a long gap and seeing his shy smile
2) Hearing my young brother giggle
3) Having my parents roll out the red carpet for an ordinary visit back to my childhood home

Book related:
1) Knowing from the first paragraph that it's going to be an "experience"
2) Remembering that experience and excitedly relaying it to someone else
3) Picking up a book and remembering where you were in your life when you read it.
4) Knowing there is a Sequel!

Child related:
1) Hearing my baby gasp when she realizes I am coming to pick her up!
2) Watching her laugh when her father zooms her around and "lands" her in my arms.
3) Seeing my parents (and in particular, my reserved father) dance around with the baby!

Travel related:
1) Waking up in a new place and stepping out of the hotel with nothing but a map
2) Playing with new money
3) Feeling as if a new town has adopted you, even for a short time.

What I would really like

Wish lists are interesting.  For myself, I find there's a balance to them - material items squaring off with hopes for happiness, health, pureness of mind and soul.

To wit, here is what I'd like/love/swoon over:

1) A set of monogrammed Goyard luggage! (start big!)
2) Recovering my ability to speak, write, read French (it was there only 15 years ago!)
3) The perfect pair of Tod's driving mocs (in the bestest crocodile that never wears out)
4) An arm load of Hermes bangles
5) To get a full night's sleep in a huge, cosseted bed (no husband snoring, no baby waking up in the middle of the night)
6) A chance to have a conversation with Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Diana and Daphne Guinness
7) Improved relationships with several family members
8) Laundry that places itself in the appropriate drawers and hangers, perfectly folded and ironed
9) Absolute happiness and health for my daughter and husband
10) A day without thinking a mean thought about someone else.

I can hardly believe it when people say they don't need or want for anything.  Everybody needs something, right?  Assuredly, not everyone may want an Hermes bangle or belt, but isn't there some item lurking on the peripheries of one's consciousness that would just strike you flat if received?  I think it's good to keep an updated wish list - you never know when you're going to be asked for a gift idea and it never hurts to think highly of yourself.  Finding that perfect gift for someone else is just dandy, but nudging yourself into the spotlight every now and then never hurts either!