To Pleat or Not to Pleat

Apparently there's a run on women not cutting their basting.

Basting, of course, being the type of stitch used to tack together pleats or vents on new clothes so they don't get folded a wrong way before their new owner wears them - you know those wierd "X"es on your winter coats?

artlush commented on yesterday's post: "i want to help them..maybe throw some scissors in my pocketbook and attack when i see them..which i may add is a few a day"

You're clearly not the only one, artlush. There was a thread in wapo.com's Talking Fashion chat about the exact same thing. "Have you noticed how many women forget (or simply don't know) to pick the basting stitches out of suit jackets, skirts, and so on after purchasing them? For example, I saw a lady in a very cute pleated skirt, but with all the pleats sewn up! Hey, fellow office drones, those stitches are just to protect the clothes in transit -- you can take them out now!" writes Washington, D.C.

I'm with you both. It's amusing, annoying, and a fashion faux pas.

And, I'll add, as The Bean's Mommy With Little Sleep, it's entirely possible that the poor woman on the street just plain ol' forgot. Be kind. I know I've meant to clip them, and just forgot (ok, not on a whole pleated skirt, but definitely on a coat). It took until I got to work to fix - and I did.

I know I certainly wouldn't mind a nice person coming up to me and saying, "Hey, did you know your pleat/vent's still tacked?" Even better, if said nice person (ahem, artlush, ahem) were carrying a pocketknife or pair of scissors.

Just don't wield either in the Metro. Could get you in a leeetle bit of trouble nowadays.

At Last (and we're not talking Etta James, here)

Finally, Fall Has Arrived!

Thank goodness.

If I'd had to endure one more ridiculous day of June weather with October light (you know how it just has that lovely pale orange cast?), I was going to...well...

I know there are more than a few of you out there in the Infintessimal Readership (ahem, Miss Scarlet) who are thrilled with the temperature drop. Sweaters, scarves, here we come!

So The Bean and I had a lovely day yesterday, starting with lunch with a dear friend in Georgetown.* Naturally, as part of lunch discussion (after baby and H talk), fashion came up. LatinaTerp was thrilled to have the rest of the afternoon, Bean-free (she has two lovlies), to do some wardrobe updating. The first thing on her list? Boots.

Now longer-term readers know that I have a love affair with boots - unrequited, for the most part. Apart from my amazing, honeymoon-bought Daslus, I search and search and search, to no avail. A big part of my dilemma is my calf size - I inhertited my dad's great, muscular calves. This means that 98% of the boots out there zip to within about an inch of the top before they start pinching. I know I'm not alone, either, in the calf-size dilemma - large or small calves, it's a problem. It's a discussion every fall, just like in this week's Talking Fashion.

There are manufacturers out there that make "larger" or "smaller" calf sizes, but apart from trying them on, quite frankly, there's not a whole lot a gal can do. You never know, based on cut, exactly where they'll fall.

But despite my dilemma, I search on (it usually takes me 3 years to find a new pair, which I subsequently wear to death. My first favorite pair I bought in Cambridge, England, on a jaunt with a dear friend, and wore them until the soles cracked right underneath me.) Here are a couple of my favorites for this season...

Gidigio for Carbon - these would ground a flirty little dress or skirt and frilly blouse. Think schoolmarm on crack.

Rockport (yup) sold at L.L. Bean (yup again). As a girl who grew up in "horse country" (the occasional fox hunt would dash through our backyard), I'm sucker for an equestrian style. Don't bother wearing it over your jeans (ugh, why torture yourself with skinny jeans?), but if you dare to wear this season's cozy sweater dress (I'm getting flashbacks to one I had 10 years ago), they'd be perfect. Or just plain old with a suit or skirt for the office.

I'm also a sucker for anything "hard," like Frye or Harley. Check out zappos.com for a great selection of Frye boots.

And what did LatinaTerp end up with, you ask? Earrings, 2 skirts, capris, and sunglasses. But no boots.

*Much to my dismay, I dressed my daughter in her absolute preppiest outfit (polo dress with whales). It was the dress on top, I swear!

Style Dilemmas: The Post to the Rescue?

Yesterday, two of the Post's style denizens, Suzanne D'Amato and Janet Bennett Kelly (Deputy Editor, Sunday Source, Fashion and Beauty Editor, washingtonpost.com, respectively), spent an hour online Talking Fashion and helping solve style dilemmas for the style weary. They kicked off with a rant you read here quite a bit,

"Don't know about you, but this is exactly the time of year when I feel as if I haven't a thing to wear! If you're facing the same problem and sick and tired of all your [in this case] winter clothes, let Suzanne and me know what strategies you have to deal with it."

Now I realize that I could be committing style-writing sins here, and could find myself blacklisted in the DC fashion scene (ok, so I'm being a little dramatic - but who knows - I haven't met either of the women - I have no idea what they're like. And a little bit of blacklisting never hurt anybody's publicity...).

I wasn't impressed.

Apart from a few bright moments (recommending a trapeze or shift dresses for a woman wanting to update her wardrobe, and the "But wait -- you're in London! Why are you writing to us when you could be at Topshop?!" response - my favorite), the ladies' recommendations seemed as staid as D.C. fashion is rumored to be.

Of course, because it's an online chat, and folks send questions in, maybe this was all they could do. That caveat aside, this could have been a fun, witty chat with some interesting suggestions.

For example, a courthouse bride asked for recommendations on style and colors. Janet recommended (kudos on this point) "going short," then sent the bride-to-be to Reem Acra because "they also do less formal." Wouldn't that have been the perfect place to recommend a retro wedding suit or shift dress, per their earlier answer? Reem Acra? Especially when the bride mentioned that she wants to wear a "simple, off-the-rack dress," and is having a small lunch afterwards.

Sure, I could be jumping to conclusions, but I'm guessing that maybe the couple is looking to not blow the bank on the wedding, but still make it special. A $50 Isaac Mizrahi party dress from Target would do the trick much better, in my opinion. Or, if she's willing to pay a little more, J. Crew's Vanessa dress paired (ok, so I took the website recommendation, but for once it's right) with their Piazza cotton jacket. So Audrey, and so lovely in navy - perfectly unexpected for an April bride. Toss a pair of brightly colored pumps on, and you're going to wow your hubby-to-be and the whole courthouse. Just don't wear the pearls (unless they're heirloom from grandma - that's what wedding style is about, for heaven's sake) - too expected.

I do have to thank them, though, for telling the grad student to ditch the Uggs. Phew.