The Loved One.

Photo from The Loved One

Hello panties and other racy, lacy bits.  I'm swoony over The Loved One.  The vintage seeming collection is all designed by two English friends named Hannah & Elvia who share one love for old time lingerie. They dreamed up The Loved One, (named after an Evelyn Waugh novel), and sell their pieces online and to select shops.  Tre sexy, so pretty, so totally tushy & yummy & outta control sumptuous.

Toasty knit love, a la Marilyn.

With black leggings, coral red lips and great flats, anything can happen.  Add a cable knit sweater, and you might hit the ultimate in darling factor.  Keep in mind, though, that these sweaters can go wrong on the body.  I have been there & seen it happen first hand; a glimpse in the mirror reveals the unfortunate news that said sweater is not looking hour glassy - it's just looking bad & misbehaving on the girl curves.   My ways to avoid the bad ness include:  pushing the sleeves up, wearing a darker color or belting it (as seen on the model pictured).  Sadly, a true cable knit sweater is not low cut.  If it was, then there would not be the un flattering issue.  But like most things in life that are challenging, the cable knit is worth perservering for. It just is.  When worn responsibly and carefully, these sweaters are quite, well --- bangin'.  Marilyn wore one perfectly in Let's Make Love.  The French designer Gerard Darel actually purchased Monroe's original sweater at auction and has replicated the cable knit in cream, blue and khaki.  I am personally thrilled that we will have some Marilyn inspired, wool-wearing woman walking the streets, and though I will not be purchasing the $195 Darel version, I plan to whip out my own knit number, reapply my lip stain, step into some flats and go do me some Marilyn.

Friday Love

Crystal Renn.  Photo by Luis Sanchis

Sofas & the body.



My wintertime sofa. The elements are pared down, tight & trim looking.



The "Ginger gown" by BGU

This is what my sofa looks like right now.  The pink backing is a thrifted vintage Italian piece with silk embroidery ( it's truly exquisite!)  and the matching pillows were originally an oversized French silk scarf which my girlfriend Elizabeth helped turn into two smaller pillow cases.  The pinks are very different, but because they're in the un blushy side of the pink family, they work nicely together.  The polka dots are  irregularly sized and look like big inky navy rain came down and landed at random.  Love it.  Also, I'm liking this bark cloth piece on the right hand side of the sofa.  It's a "wrapped" pillow, meaning it's not a true case but instead a section of bark cloth fabric that's long enough to be wrapped, giving a homespun feel to this basic circular pillow.  As much as I love pillows, I'm more interested in talking about couches and shape; I think if everything is tucked in "tightly" enough on a couch -- then there are endless ways to do said couch and it doesn't matter if it has nice bones or ugly upholstery.  The sofa pictured happens to have a basic look that is easy to build upon, but I have rarely seen a sofa that can not be worked with.  Summertime sofas more easily accommodate an undone, haphazard look where lines don't really matter, and in that scenario, it is easier to start with a handsome & trim couch.  You don't have to worry about bits and pieces poking through, because the base is great and ready to be looked at, too.  This leads me to my main point. Dressing a sofa is a lot like dressing the body.  Model thin women tend to wear big, billowy undone looks better than anyone else and it's not so important how things fall / drape on their nice little minnie bodies.  Curvy bodies with more bits require extra attention to most fully show off their shape & are best served when fabric (be it a blanket or a blouse) is in place & not swooshing every which way.  Let the couch/body be the boss in that instant, and not the material.   And if you need a little swoosh love, do it like designer Jeannie from "BGU" offers up with her "Ginger gown" design, pictured above.  (BGU stands for Big Girls United) and some of their designs are fun if you have time to check them out.