Recently in Great Fashion Eccentrics Category

Here's my question- how does Chanel get it so right every time? When I was a kid, my mom always got brownish, beigish manicures, (they're classier!) and they were kind of dull and frumpy (sorry, Mom!). It was always a nice treat when she went red. And if these colors were the merest speck of a pantone shade darker or lighter they would reek of L'Air du Temps and perm. But they don't.

Instead, to me, they all three smell like December in Paris. I honestly can't decide which I like best: The green is the foggy damp-dusky green of the small christmas markets that liven up the streets. The brown is the rich scent of the chocolate croissant you have for breakfast, melted and sweet. The rose is the kir you warm up with in the dark early chill of a four o'clock evening at a dive in the Marais. Your hands are cold and wrapped around the drink, which is also cool, but you don't care, because you are in Paris and soon you will be warm in the dank little room (no longer) full of smoke and wool and black tights and laced up shoes and eyelashes. All that from a nail color. 

I think a lot of times people think that "fashion people" are sort of too cool for school, snotty or just plain old mean. But the best of them are people with vision, who are completely unafraid to be who they are, have strong opinions, and love what they love. The best example I can think of is Grace Coddington, the shy, brilliant creative director of American Vogue. Here she is on the Martha Stewart Show dedicated to cats. Bliss!




See also this adorable take off on the lovely, but totally played blog "The Sartorialist", "The Catorialist":

The news came yesterday afternoon that Isabella Blow died. She was only 48, but she was one of those great fashion eccentrics who seem to have always been. She was ageless that way.

I learned about her when I lived in London. Once I saw her on the street. She was really hard to miss with her sharp features and of course, the amazing hat. She was the fashion world's version of Peggy Guggenheim in that she was all about discovering amazing new talent. Fashion for her did not seem to be about parties and glitz, the Hollywood version. It was about the amazing transformative effect, the art, of clothes. And she was the boldest of the bold.

For more, read about her here. Nothing I can say can truly do her justice.