Henri Boutet and his Ladies

Today I bit the bullet and started my Christmas shopping.  With three grown daughters who save their big ticket wants for the holidays in hopes that Santa comes through, my list is short, sweet and un peu cher.  Three grown nieces get gift cards or a check and the tiniest one of all, my 18 month old niece, has my undivided shopping attention.  Pajamas and sparkly outfits with little matching brocade slippers and toys and books--I forgot how much I miss having little ones in my world. When I have grandchildren (girls, seriously I can wait!) watch out. 

Went totally off topic for a moment.  

Henri Boutet.  I just discovered him this afternoon while I was mindlessly searching the web for any one of a number of things that had nothing to do with him but voila, he is now in my consciousness.  Born in 1851, Monsieur Boutet was a skillful lithographer and designer who concentrated his efforts on bringing the "Belle Epoque" woman to life in delicately colored etchings.  Illustrations depicting turn of the century French women moving about in their daily world around the city of Paris becomes a veritable 'defile' of fashion popular in that era. Throughout his works, he captures 'La Parisienne' in all her feminine, coquettish beauty.  The young woman above looks to be taking a stroll in the Esplanade des Invalides with the Eiffel Tower and Grand Palais in the background, knowing exactly how fabulous she is.  Below, a woman braves the elements looking far more elegant than I do in my puffy coat and moon boots. Oh, I wish this was my outfit today.  Alas, 'La Chicago-enne' isn't quite as magnificent in winter. 

He also created a catalog, Les Modes des Femines du XIX Siecle, catalouging fashion from 1801-1900.  

If we were shopping for a special little somthin' somthin' for all our sparkly holiday events in 1815 we might come home with this little number:

A year later, this would be all the rage:

I love them both.  I do believe I am living in the wrong era.  The past is always tugging at me--sure there are things I'd miss from the present. Convenience.  But if I didn't know it ever existed then I guess it just wouldn't matter would it?  Too much of a romantic for my own good.

Additional information:   Georgina Kelman

Photo credit:  nypl.org

Chanel and Moscow

I found this little video clip over the weekend and thought it would be fun to share.  Karl Lagerfeld, designer of all things Chanel, produced this silent film to introduce a pre-fall ready to wear collection that was inspired by all things Russian.  The mini-movie was made in two days at a studio outside of Paris.  Some of the actors you'll see are actual workers from the Chanel atelier.  Curiously entertaining.  

For the entire movie visit Chanel  

Additional information:  Karl Lagerfeld's silent cinema brings Moscow to Paris (iht.com)

Do You Polyvore? You Should

I'm not sure if it's because occasionally my daughters and I find ourselves with no lives and we really dig for something to occupy our little minds, but over the summer, my daughter, the fashion/costume/foreign language/travel lover found a fun website that ended up becoming one of our favorite sites and provided us girls with hours of entertainment.

Polyvore (we still don't understand the name) is a crazy site that allows you to upload your favorite fashion items; ones that you lust for or already have and create little vignettes or ways to put together outfits.  You can tap into what others have uploaded as well and select from thousands of shoes, handbags, dresses, skirts, pieces of jewelry and other accessories in addition to backgrounds that either inspire or enhance the outfits that you have created.

When nights were really slow, we made up games to play....with a 5 or 10 minute time limit we would have to come up with...."What we would wear to accept our Oscar for Best Actress"...."What Mom should wear as mother of the bride", or we would select a background or item of clothing that had to be included in the final product and see where it took each of us.  

Now you might be thinking who IS this woman?? but, seriously, there is a total upside to this little game.  After having done it numerous times, I came to look at my closet as the Polyvore website and realized that I could put my clothes together in ways that I had never thought of before. Overnight, I doubled the size of my wardrobe.  Now when I shop, I am mindful of what I have and what I need that would work best with all of it--hopefully eliminating unnecessary purchases or worse, ones that are total mistakes.  

You really have to try it.  It is one of those guilty pleasures that unlike me, you might not want to admit to but can't get enough of.  When my daughter has an especially cute outfit on as she heads out to work we both smile and know she was "Polyvoring" again.