Plenty at Daffy's

Fans of designer Tracy Reese should extend their lunch hour tomorrow and head to Daffy's at 17th & Chestnut. The building's fifth floor has a stash of items from her Plenty line for consideration. These are vintage-inspired classic pieces in deep shades such as peacock and sapphire. There are workplace-friendly black velvet pants, cropped jackets with jeweled closures - stuff that looks great and will keep you cozy on chilly fall mornings. Can't say I didn't tell you!

Seasonings: A Taste of What’s Hot for Fall

Boots - Love the rounded toe and stockier high heel - more comfortable and walkable than the pointed toe and railroad spike heels of the more recent collections. Ankle boots are hot, with the slouchy look a favored variation. The over-the-knee boot is the most sizzling look for the season. It can be worn over skinny jeans, with leggings, minis, tights and tunics. It’s pretty damn sexy, but if you’re not ready to commit to the look, the classic knee high boot is a sure bet. (Style tip: if you’re still wearing scuffed boots from the 1990s with a 2” broad chunky heel, toss those babies out immediately.)

Women’s Wing Tips - Although they remind me of the shoes that nuns wore, I love the practicality of these sexy mid- and high heel oxfords. They are available everywhere in suede, tweed, and patent leather and in lush nature colors such as deep berry, black cat, mud, forest green. My fantasy pair would be from the perennially unaffordable shoemaker Robert Clergerie. I’ve seen his low heel oxford in hot pink and in silver metallic. Naturalizer has styles in a wide range of sizes all under $100.

Cardigans - Longer lengths in cashmere, cotton, mohair, lambswool, merino, acrylic. Shades from sky to earth, as well a few unnatural shades that will appeal to those who are looking to the eighties for inspiration. Wear them long and body hugging. Belt them to show off your waistline. Cardigans can be found everywhere, from Old Navy to H&M to J. Crew to Bloomingdale’s and all over the on-line shopping websites (one of my favorites is BodenUSA).

Tights - Tights with boots. Tights with high heeled oxfords. Tights with ballet flats and slinky little tunics. Tights with floral print dresses. Tights with peep toe platforms. Lacy tights, plaid tights, bohemian black tights. They’re everywhere, get a pair! Tights are far less worrisome than pantyhose and are warmer and chicer. Don’t bother with department stores; the best deals on tights are at TJ Maxx and Daffy’s.

The Boyfriend Jacket - Just another term for a more flattering length and fit. It is a distant relative of the oversized 80s linebacker jackets that I referenced in my October 2 post. The shoulder is built up a bit, but the jacket is shaped to fit a woman’s smaller frame and the hem hits at the lower hip. It’s a more forgiving fit than the shrunken jackets of past seasons, and will allow for more comfortable layering.

Gray - I love color, especially on the walls of my home and the art that adorns them, but I'm loving gray this season. It was the color for fall in Paris and two of the four clothing items that I bought there were in shades of gray. Slate, silver, kitten, pearl, pewter -- I love them all. Every shade is sophisticated and soft. There are shades of gray to flatter every skin tone, and it's a great backdrop for lively punches of color. Try a pearl gray sweater with a hot pink pencil skirt, or a slate gray knee length sweater coat over a blue or green flouncy floral print dress and boots.

These are just a few tasty morsels from the fall fashion buffet. Want more? Grab a trusted friend and head downtown! I'll meet you there.

Playing Catch Up

Our top style story in today’s NY Times is that Eileen Fisher, the clothing line for mid-life women looking to blend into the woodwork, is seeking a younger, more fashionable customer. If you’re not familiar, Eileen Fisher is a line of loose, uninspiring layers in muted colors. Her clothing line is like chamomile tea. Calm, comforting, no zing, no spice.

Traditionally, her line has not celebrated the female form. It wouldn’t get you second glances as you sashayed along the boulevard. Many of her items reminded me of the wardrobe that Bea Arthur’s character, Maude, wore in the celebrated 1970s sitcom. Eileen Fisher didn't get the younger designers. Eileen Fisher was not sexy.

Well, it appears that Ms. Fisher may be looking for somebody like me now. I’m a fashionable mid-life woman who wants clothing that celebrates her form. I want to show off my waistline and well-toned calves. I’m not afraid of leggings and I wear knit dresses. I’ve given away or shortened my mid-calf length dresses and skirts. My blouses and jackets are fitted.

Her plan is to give her line “stronger attitude.” Thrift stores, resale shops and other discounters give me the opportunity to craft my own look and slip into my attitude-of-the-day. Maybe she can offer some alternatives. Or can she?

I checked out her prices in the latest Garnet Hill catalog. Her new knee-length wool scoop-neck dress sells for $218. The model also sported leggings that go for $88. Her multi-fiber body conscious long cardigan goes for $198. Three weeks ago I bought two pair of winter-weight leggings from Express for $34. Last week Daffy’s had knee length wool dresses in scrumptious colors for $60. You can see where I’m going with this. If Eileen Fisher wants the average mid-life woman as a customer in this economy, she’s got to make us feel as if we’re getting a serious bargain for some serious style.

That 80s Show

Young designers seem to be infatuated with everything 80s, but have we forgotten how much bad fashion there was? Remember the linebacker shoulder pads (HUT! HUT!), neon-colored makeup, front pleated jeans? Do you really want to wear that stuff again? Didn’t we see enough bare shoulders inspired by Flashdance (although we couldn’t leap as high as Jennifer Beals’s prancing dance double); sequined biker jackets inspired by Michael Jackson; underwear as outerwear; and the Dandy looks sported by Prince during his purple reign?

Did you have an asymmetrical haircut, Jeri Curl or frizzy perm? An asymmetrical Jeri Curl? Crimped hair? Bigger hair than the Afros of the 70s? Do you want to wear those hairstyles again? How many curl-activated-soaked collars are you willing to tolerate?

I tried to stick to time-tested pieces during the Reagan era: straight-legged Lee jeans with gem colored blouses or men’s white dress shirts, t-shirts that trumpeted my favorite radio station or rock group. Knit dresses. Levis jean jackets. White Keds. Sweatshirts with short skirts and tights in primary colors. However, I did give in to tight purple jeans, bright red high tops, skinny ties and leggings as trousers. LOVED leggings – still do. I don’t wear them as trousers now; they are layered under a tunic or floaty dress.

There were a few other bright spots – the oversized thrift store tweed jackets and coats that I wore with a Denise Huxtable attitude over baggy layers. In addition to the tweeds I also wore a Ricky Ricardo style black tuxedo jacket in over-air-conditioned offices.

Although I watched Miami Vice religiously, I could not take pastel tuxedos seriously. I went to lots of weddings in the 80s that featured groomsmen in lavender penguin suits – some with no socks. Sucked the elegance right out of the event.

And Dynasty suits! I couldn’t figure out which was worse – scores of corporate women dressed in conservative navy blue suits and blouses with bows around their necks or receptionists in full out Alexis Carrington regalia. Did you wear a melon-colored suit with avenue sized shoulder pads to your first office job?

Here’s my advice: if you were in high school, college, or the workplace in the 1980s, step away from the herd. We wore it once -- often disastrously. Let those who wore born in the 1980s and 1990s raid our closets and Goodwill for authentic acid-washed jeans, Members Only jackets, and Flava Flav clock medallions. The rest of us should stick to the classics.

Image of Madonna courtesy of PicApp.

Pretty Young Things (PYTs)

And everything looks so complete when you walk out on the street and the wind catches your feet and sends you flyin'*

Tease, flirt. Light up the night -- be the night light -- the night life. Life of the party with an irresistible vibe. Every night is New Year's Eve.

*Lyrics from "Wild Nights" written by Van Morrison.