Street Fashion in Spain: Barcelona, Madrid, and the Andalucian cities of Cordoba, Granada, and Sevilla

Spanish women like to look good. You can tell from the care they take in dressing; they think it out, project attitude, and have fun. They dress for themselves and according to the image they want to project. Walking down the street they exude vitality and engagement with the world. Their style is there no matter what. When my friend fell and twisted her ankle making a visit to the hospital emergency room necessary, I found Spanish style peeping out from beneath scrubs and lab coats: Beautiful skin, polished hands, and sleek wavy hair. Everything in its place and pressed. The doctor who attended us wore a beige pencil skirt under her white coat and a thick gold watch on her wrist; she looked great while competently probing my friend’s swollen ankle.

Yves Saint Laurent: Style at the De Young Museum

My dearest Yves,

 

Your designs changed the way women dressed for good. Until you came along, no woman would be seen walking on a city street in a trouser suit, not to mention wearing one to work. At a time when a woman would be barred from entering a swank New York City restaurant because she was wearing one, as Nan Kempner was when wearing one of yours, you, as a courtier, gave women permission to do it and we ran with it. That was 1965.

Sex and The City : Just for the Fashion of It

It’s four ‘clock in the afternoon. I am sitting in one of many theaters at the cineplex. Just before movie time, a group of what appear to be retired women stream into the theater. After the obligatory discussion about which row to choose, they decide on dead center of a row three ahead of me. On the aisle is a twenty-something woman. The group leader points towards the middle of the row and says to her, “Excuse me but there are going to five of us. Don’t worry we’re not all dressed up and wearing heels.” I laugh to myself as I enjoy the subtext, “Sorry we’re going to crawl over you but we’re not going to step on your feet with stilettos or whack you in the face with an oversize bag.” As I will see heels, bags, belts, and hats figure big in the movie, Sex and the City, and that’s what I have come to see, not the characters or the story, but the clothes and the style. Just for the fun of it and to play my part, I am wearing one of my favorite pairs of shoes: Manolo brown mules with orange trim and kitten-heels.

Never Look Back: Super Tuesday + Four Months

There she was on one of many big screen TVs giving her speech. On the one next to her was a re-run of “The Bachelor” where women vie for the affections of the guy. Ahead of me in the front row of elliptic machines a young women had her head in a textbook of some sort and never looked up, not at her or “The Bachelor.” 

A National Treasure: Museo de la Moda

In May 2007, the subject in the style pages was the opening of the Museo de la Moda in Santiago, Chile. Eric Wilson writing in The New York Times spoke for the world’s biggest fashion collectors when he asked, “WHO is Jorge Yarur Bascuñán and what does he want with Madonna’s bra? And Margot Fonteyn’s tutu?”  You see, Jorge Yarur, the museum’s founder, had upset the tight knit world of historical couture. Not only had he frustrated intentions, but had also outbid established collectors, people accustomed to getting what they want. In this business it is all about having the inside track and money to compete, so when this unknown showed up on the scene, it caused quite a stir indeed. 

Silver in Paris

Several years ago a French friend living in California told me that French women don’t dye their hair. “Why should they?” she asserted. 

 

“Really!” my tone of voice demurring. I wondered what fortunate combinations in the French gene pool kept Catherine Deneuve’s tresses, among others, from turning gray.

 

Homage to Two Great Romans – Valentino

At the time of our visit to Rome, the Museo Dell’Ara Pacis was also hosting an exhibit of the designs of the Roman couturier Valentino to celebrate his retirement after a forty-five year career. At first, we thought it was a strange juxtaposition: The 2000-year-old marble altar exulting the Emperor Augustus and the tribute to twentieth century fashion designer Valentino. The effect, however, was stunning.