Basic bitchery

"[...] the only thing worse than looking bad is looking basic."

in Man Repeller

Coco Chanel on love and companionship

It’s probably not just by chance that I’m alone.
It would be very hard for a man to live with me, unless he’s terribly strong. And if he’s stronger than I, I’m the one who can’t live with him. I’m neither smart nor stupid, but I don’t think I’m a run-of-the-mill person.

I’ve been in business without being a businesswoman, I’ve loved without being a woman made only for love. The two men I’ve loved, I think, will remember me, on earth or in heaven, because men always remember a woman who caused them concern and uneasiness. I’ve done my best, in regard to people and to life, without precepts, but with a taste for justice.

Coco Chanel

Pretty Women - walking down the street!

Mais uma vez (ver mais aqui), acho este texto escrito pela Irina uma arma poderosa na descrição da Mulher. Pensei em partilhá-lo com fotos ilustrativas das mulheres que me vieram LOGO à mente quando penso em mulheres inspiradoras, mas acho que o texto é importante para todas nós, mulheres do século XXI, e deve funcionar por si só, servindo ele mesmo como inspiração sem figuras associadas.

Há mulheres e mulheres. Há as que param o trânsito, as que prendem olhares, as que viram cabeças.
As que se vestem para eles. As que se vestem para elas. Mas as Mulheres com “M” maiúsculo – aquelas sobre as quais se escrevem epopeias – são as que se vestem para elas próprias. As que andam para elas próprias. As que pintam os lábios para elas próprias. As que, quando saem de casa, não planeiam ser as mais bonitas da sala; mas são. As que, quando se penteiam, não pensam estar a criar uma tendência; mas estão. As que nem sequer tentam ter uma presença estonteante, mas têm. Há mulheres e mulheres.

E embora a arte de bem vestir possa ser a arma, a confiança é sempre a munição.

Irina Chitas

Transparências

Qual apelo às fantasias masculinas, já não é preciso visão raio-x para adivinhar o que está por baixo. As transparências encarregaram-se disso.

O truque é a conta, peso e medida. Como em tudo. O abuso mata a sensualidade, e é o jogo de adivinhação que faz com que o sexo feminino mantenha o appeal. Ao contrário do que se poderia pensar, peças com q.b. de transparência não revelam demais, mas fomentam a antecipação.

Colocados em locais estratégicos, como na zona abdominal ou na bainha das saias, os tecidos translúcidos respiram feminilidade e obrigam a que o styling não se esqueça de um dos acessórios mais importantes: a confiança.

Ah, e a boa lingerie, claro.

Irina Chitas*

*Se há, em Portugal, alguém a escrever regularmente BEM (leia-se: com fundamento, com humor, com conhecimento, com textos e factos que vão para além do óbvio) sobre moda, para mim são: a Maria Guedes (já várias vezes elogiada - aqui e aqui) e a Irina Chitas.

Invisible

I really appreciate this description of a woman's clothes purpose.
This (below) is for Phoebe Philo's work at Céline, but Emerson Fry also said so (and I've already shared it here).

Don't you think?

"Happiness is the most beautiful outfit in a woman's closet."

Vulgarity

Vulgarity begins when imagination succumbs to the explicit.

Doris Day

factor E

Elegance isn't solely defined by what you wear. 

It's how you carry yourself, how you speak, what you read.

Carolina Herrera

Maintain your mystery...

What I love about wearing luxurious lingerie every day is knowing something no one else knows. Jamie Cat Callan shares her secret confidence booster – wearing a red slip under her dresses whenever she is speaking or going about her day. Simply knowing you are wearing something that makes you feel and look good that no one knows about is part of that feminine mystique that is oh, so alluring to those around us.

 in The Simply Luxurious Life

Drew Gilpin Faust & Pilar del Rio

In this world, two important "things":

1. 

Drew Gilpin Faust

2. 

José e Pilar 

factor E

There's something about fashion that can make people very nervous.

Anna Wintour

The Eye Has To Travel

Diana Vreeland's documentary, The Eye Has To Travel, is such an inspirational moment. The certain dose of fresh-air and strength we all need once in a while! It spotlights the inspiring life and talent of Harper’s Bazaar columnist and former Vogue Editor-in-Chief.

It's a voyage about a great woman who always looked avant garde and always push herself and others to where nobody even have thought about it yet.

I first heard about Diana when I was reading an article from Shannon Ables that started as:

There's only one really good life, and that's the life you know you want and make it yourself.

Diana Vreeland

An ugly duckling.

Diana (pronounced DeeAnna) was told as a young girl by her mother that she was ugly, and lacked the beauty her younger sister possessed. First of all, I can’t imagine a mother saying such a thing, and repeatedly reminding her daughter of her wretched opinion, but what Diana Vreeland did with her mother’s lack of love and support (emotionally) is what is inspiring. She created a life that was uniquely her own. She created her own unique signature style and became respected for being authentically herself. Now I’d say, she redefined the definition of beauty.

And that's how the documentary begins too.

I've been amazed about natural powerful woman, strong, fearless about making mistakes, or perhaps one can't call them mistakes, just willingness to see beyond the line... Even with all the controversies and upside downs of life whatsoever, of course.

Diana Vreeland just entered to this world of mine. I mean, 70something woman invited to revitalize the Metropolitan Museum of Art (after being fired from Vogue)? She become Special Consultant to Costume Institute.

Moreover, it's a journey through fashion's (and style) history, it's the perspective of fashion that always fascinated me that is fashion as an art. It's a journey between Paris, La Belle Époque, Ballet, Nijinsky and on the other hand the crazy New York, Factory, Studio 54, ...

Much like the brave women who refused to be treated as second-class citizens or denied the same rights already afforded men, it is our responsibility to stand up and become willing to work for a life that can materialize if we refuse to live silently in somebody else’s idea of a fairy tale.

in The Simply Luxurious Life

A new dress doesn't get you anywhre, it's the life you're living in the dress.

Diana Vreeland

Truth is...

The best things in life are free. 

The second best are very expensive.

Coco Chanel

Choose yourself

It wasn’t about choosing a man or choosing a bag or choosing a life. It was about choose yourself.

Michael Patrick King

The Blind Side

When I think about inspiration, I think about a few women that thankfully are present in my life and some that I admire only from distance (in fashion, business, academics,...). In that imaginary, there's Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) from "The Blind Side" movie, which I've lost the track about how many times I've watched it. The role played by Sandra Bullock puts me "exactly" where I want to be.
For years and years, I've dreamt about being like some of my inspirational people without realizing I could effectively be one of them. Me as a woman I admire! And there comes a time in your life that for some reason or another (or simply work), it starts to happen...
In this way, I'd like to share 3 of my [infinite!] mantras:

"Being powerful is like being a lady, if you have to tell people you are, you aren't."

"Set your goals high and don't stop until you reach them."

"Behind every successful woman is herself."

 

factor E

You either know fashion or you don't.

Anna Wintour

Brains should be the new black

 

"The fact most surely remains that a woman's looks can be helpful, but her brain will always proper her to where she wants to go."

factor E

It’s not money that makes you well-dressed, it’s understanding. 

Christian Dior

factor E

Elegance is innate. It has nothing to do with being well dressed. Elegance is refusal.
 

Diana Vreeland

factor E

A sensualidade, ou falta dela, está muito acima do decote.

The sensuality, or lack thereof, is far above the neckline.

Lorina Ventura