M N Vogue vol 3

[shopafrolic]

A continuation of style chat for anyone wanting to talk fashion, new purchases etc.....

Hope you find your way back to us Dona!

[MarshaBrady]

Couriered truffles, love it!

Pop do you mean short pearls or long pearls or actual collar Probably not last one! Or some Lanvin drama.

Shop how exciting! what did you get?

Dona a lovely post.

Have taken a shot of dress but the pic is so understated that it barely conveys the excitement I feel, or how nice it is in reality. But hopefully you'll get the idea!

[MarshaBrady]

Hmm not a great shot is it, might have to take another when wearing it.

I couldn't find a good one, but I did find this page which shows the pretty jewels much better than I can.

Love the dark glittery drama of it all here and here. Better than my photo anyway. Obviously mine is the very understated version, but liked the shots anyway.

[DonaAna]

Like your dress a lot Marsha! A beauty!

We just had one of those picture perfect evenings - took our DC to a restaurant with friends (DD1 wearing her black faux fur coat!), sat outdoors, had great food and such a relaxing time. DC shared a tiramisu for dessert! Everyone happy and content.

[MarshaBrady]

After feeling cosy inside had great time at the party. Loads of dancing.

Halloween outfit lame, dh's old Japanese rock t, Wang skirt, very high black MJ boots and smudge eyes. But didn't matter. Incidentally nearly ebayed those boots. So glad I didn't!

[Hopefully]

Marsha dress is fabulous - can imagine you looking fabulously elegant but edgy in it.

Having a lovely family weekend (normally I work at least one day), am not even dressed yet! Have decided there is a definite loungewear gap in my life - would love to have something cosy but stylish to wear right now instead of pyjamas.

[Bonsoir]

Your Lanvin dress looks spectacular, Marsha. Can we have a pic of you wearing it?

[MarshaBrady]

Thank you everyone!

Bonsoir yes to taking a pic with me in it, I think I'll have to get over the photo thing for this one. Will take on night of party, maybe even in situ. First is in a couple weeks.

Hopefully and Pop I agree about something nice to wear on weekends. I don't mind skinnies, but really feel like I need something warmer and really cozy for a jumper.

Pop yes the long one is gorgeous, I like that more than the short one too. And love the Lanvin.

Dona bet that tiramisu is so good, one of my favourite things.

Now tights, usually just go for Wolford, but there are so many options I get picky about which to get. Has anyone got a favourite denier for cocktail dress?

[DonaAna]

I go to cocktails a lot. Pick the shoes you are going to wear and walk around in them for 2-3 hours. If they feel good, you are all set; if not, switch for a comfier pair. Outfits depend what type of party you are going to - I rarely go to parties with fashion people, so don't see many crazy shoes. In my social circle women avoid clutch bags (because they are difficult to carry) and color. Big baroque and Tahitian pearls are the thing, and I really envied someone who looked both chic and comfy in Chanel two-tone ballet flats. I usually wear either a pair of medium-heel black courts or slimline wedges. Am toying with the idea of custom-made dancing shoes. In our parties, people stand for hours - hence you rarely see Manolos or Choos and never Louboutins.

I've worn fashion shoes a handful of times and always regretted it - if my feet hurt, the party is spoiled. In Brazil, flat jeweled sandals (silver, bronze) were the best party shoes. In Italy, party shoes seem to be mostly black or nude.

[DonaAna]

Oh and an Italian woman whose style I admire wears black silver-buckled Dior pilgrim shoes everywhere. They are pretty and distinctive but have lowish heels.

[Bonsoir]

I love pilgrim shoes - they remind me of my grandmother in the late 1960s! All the practicality of ballerinas but so much more elegant!

[Hopefully]

WTF are pilgrim shoes?

[DonaAna]

Pilgrims - didn't they have a starring role on Catherine Deneuve in Belle du Jour?

[DonaAna]

Yes they did!

[AmberNectarine]

I found my Pigalles surprisingly comfy when I wore them on Friday night, much better than most heels of that height. That being said I wear heels of that style every day at work, so I am pretty accustomed...

[Hopefully]

Wow, if you found my ideal pair of shoes, then found their polar opposite, you'd have found pilgrim shoes . Much too classic for me. Can see that they would be fab in the right setting/on the right person though.

I am currently loving wearing my new LKB Floretes (although obviously wouldn't turn down a pair of Louboutins...), so much so that I am exchanging the other pair of heels I bought for Floretes in another colour (plum, since you ask).

I am also thinking of getting this scarf for winter - I am ebaying the couple of Lily & Lionel ones that I have to fund it, as they aren't really big and dramatic enough for me (have finally accepted defeat on them).

[shopafrolic]

Another vote for the Floretes! So pleased with mine.
A&W delivery due tomorrow so fingers crossed for the knitwear.
Dona loved your tale of the tiramisu - it bought back fond memories of my honeymoon on the Amalfi coast having late night coffee and dessert.
Marsha glad the party was fab - dress is AMAZING
All the links to pearls got me drooling. My mother in law has bought me a strand of pearls for my 40th but they are too classic for me I fear.

[MarshaBrady]

Oh blimey it has occurred to me that you all may be thinking it's the amazing dress in that link below. Not the one on my profile. Mine is just black with a little bit of jewel detail like that link. Very understated. I will put it back on when the anti climax isn't too great.

Love that scarf Hopefully.

I can do a pretty high heel all night, but some champagne helps take the edge off the pain (I jest, a bit).

Yes most possibly Pop! I really need to find my perfect ones. Day time I can do, just really opaque, matt or wool. But night time, I need to focus.

[DonaAna]

Sheer black tights are the thing here right now. I wore them to my last party and so did everyone else. Bare legs are good for summer but nothing is more unflattering than a pair of goose-bumpy blue (or tangerine ) legs.

The snake courts sound fabulous. I used to walk all around the city in high heels in my 20s and always wore them to parties, but alas, no more. (Plus these days, the parties are real cocktails - you have to smoothly navigate form one circle to another all night long and sitting is not an option.) The parties I go to get very crowded: people will see your top part and your jewellery really well, but nobody pays attention to what you have on your feet (I only keep noticing the pilgrims because they are so chic and polished). I think people are too influenced by red carpet looks - very few real world parties are like that, at least parties I've been to. Stripper shoes have not become popular in Italy - I think people here filter LA looks, most people have a strong (and conservative) sense of style and what suits them and I don't see them falling for California-influenced trends. Maxis, colored skinnies, floral skinnies didn't make it here. Instead, I see a lot of tailoring, very good boots and chic neutrals. And cigarette trousers have been a big hit here.

Winter started here over the weekend: chilly nights and mornings, we turned on the heating. We ventured out through the pitch-dark rain-soaked streets last night had a heavenly meal on the covered veranda of a restaurant (with the heating turned up to the max) - I ate braised beef cheeks with salsa verde with a lovely Dolcetto and involtini di melanzane. Easily the best meal I've had this year. And am quite enjoying the new Tom Wolfe novel: slightly schlocky but riveting.

There is a warm quiet calm I remember from last Christmas in our house: pale daylight, quiet hum of heating, everything muted and toned-down. Very cozy, I love this season. Have started cooking stews and winter casseroles: rabbit ragu in red wine with pappardelle would be just the thing.

Too cold for a tunic so am wearing a cashmere v-necked sweater and a Lily & Lionel scarf, MiH Oslos and sheepskin boots.

[MarshaBrady]

I'm not keen on the line of platform shoes. I find the shape of the non platform more elegant. I do love being very tall at parties, but not with a platform.

Yes it has to be sheer, will negotiate piles of Wolford options and try and find best ones - although there's probably not much in it.

[MarshaBrady]

I loved The Bonfire of the Vanities Dona and need a new book, will check out his new one.

[mignonette]

Good afternoon everyone- I'm laid up with a kidney infection, having felt rough for days with no way of telling exactly why until the pain started. So am in bed forcing myself to shop online! I saw an ad for this company in U.S Elle and have become mildly obsessed with its loungewear/bed wear -

gelatopique.com/eng/catalogue.html

Today I am wearing Bodas PJ bottoms, an old grey Marl Gap sweatshirt belonging to DH and Fair Isle knitted socks. I do try to dress as cosily as possible when I am sick. I am one step away from buying a knitted bed hat like Wee Willie Winkie; DH has ordered himself this cool long nightshirt a la Willie Winkie too.

Dona- beef cheeks are quite the in ingredient now aren't they? Had a text from a friend in Manchester for the velodrome cycling who sent me a photo of his plate of beef cheek ragu (sounds like an innuendo) to make me jealous. I make oxtail stew all Winter- in fact it makes life worth living when it gets too grey and mizzling.

These Nicholas Kirkwood slingbacks for next Spring are my current aspiration, so town elegant and not too fiercely high-

www.nicholaskirkwood.com/index.php?section=collection&season=ss12&style=12S0681I01

I have a pair of 'Pilgrims', very old belonging to my aunt and like most good shoes, they can be taken to the Cobblers and revitalised. I can also recommend the 'Reva' flats from Tory Burch as a good alternative. Russell & Bromley also make similar styles. My favourite shoe style is the classic Manolo stiletto that is cur straight across the toe line giving that very elegant foot shape when viewed from the front and sides.

Hopefully - I like that petrol blue scarf you posted. I am a scarf fiend and get into quite a state trying to decide what the 'scarf of the day' is going to be. I have a couple of McQueen skull ones but i don't like the fabric they're made of at winter time-not snuggly enough. I have an old Pucci that I use as a headscarf and a grand total of two Hermes Carres, both ancient things. Marc Jacobs makes lovely cotton jersey scarves (mine both from Outnet) but I do like Accessorize fair isle scarves with pompoms- they possess the right degree of woolly-burrowing-into factor.

[shopafrolic]

I saw the most wonderful looking mum in Herts this morning! Amazing casual style which worked so well for her. She had a very short, very dark bob, and was wearing this jacket
pinterest.com/pin/122230577358037910/
With skinny jeans and some fabulous slouchy knee boots in chestnut brown. I was so tempted to tell her how great she looked (and dying to know where the boots were from) but DS was dragging me into a toy shop!
Half my A&W delivery arrived but the petrol knit is due tomorrow.
Dona funny that you mentioned the pale daylight of Christmas, I was reminiscing yesterday about last Christmas (our first with DS) - it is lovely now that the nights are drawing in and we can sit by an open fire each evening.