Incorporate Your Closet
While Gov. Wilson ponders the fate of what women can and can’t wear to the office with the Pants Bill (which, in most instances, would make it illegal for bosses to require women to wear skirts), the governors of fashion make a worthy argument favoring more pants of every cut this season. Find soft palazzos or menswear-inspired trousers, from $20 to $25 (right), at the new career departments in Clothestime stores. A new career-minded collection will appear every four to eight weeks, with pieces ranging from $20 to $30--all designed to build a total lifestyle wardrobe. The idea is to incorporate your career clothes with weekend wear, says Clothestime career buyer Alison Shaffer, such as wearing a blazer with jeans. “These are not the suits worn years ago with suntan pantyhose,” Shaffer adds. “It’s not as stuffy as that.”
The Art of Fashion
Don’t expect to find that darling cocktail dress when you visit artist Lun*nah Menoh’s “Boutique Mystique” at Laguna Art Museum’s South Coast Plaza satellite (through Dec. 4). What you will discover is a playful yet thought-provoking exhibit that looks at fashion and how it’s perceived through a surrealist eye. Corseted, shaped boxes would make the wearer look like an ornately wrapped package; men’s dress shirts and pants have been cut away except for the seams, cuffs and collars, turning them into what resembles bondage wear, and perfume bottles have been labeled “Sartorial Mistake.” The former fashion designer said in a recent Times interview that she doesn’t mean to pass judgment, that what may be negative for one may be positive for another. Still, items such as her vanity/brassiere along with her admission that “women used to be considered part of the furniture” and are still viewed as sex objects bears the stamp of an artist who views what we wear on more than a trendy, seasonal level.
Fasten-ating ‘Do
Right before its dictionary definition as “an instrument for holding hair,” it’s listed as “something worthless and insignificant.” Hairpins may have been considered such for years, but they are getting another look now by nightclub and street-level trend makers. Whether used to hold back glamorous 1930s waves or straight pieces for that nerdy look, hairpins are being stacked in threes on either side of the face. Ideally, choose a color that contrasts your hair--gray on black hair, brown on blond hair). While most women are using the plain and cheap variety, others are opting for decorative models such as children’s styles featuring flowers or doll faces or pricier, rhinestone-lined hairpins.
