Spring has so sprung in DC!

Ok, so it is FINALLY Springtime in DC in all of its glory! All of a sudden (haha) in the past few days, everything just popped, and it is beautiful.

I have been so busy enjoying the fabulousness, that I have neglected writing, so I'm going to cheat a little bit, and let the pictures I can't stop taking, bring you into Springtime, too. Wherever you are...

 

Spring Cleaning Your Closet

As I look out a window of gray skies, and temperatures still hovering in the 40's, I find myself daydreaming about Spring and and my Spring wardrobe. Here we are, late March in DC and it remains strategically tucked away in my shoebox of an apartment in the city. It's just not time to switch yet, which is becoming a test of my patience. I love my Spring wardrobe, it's full of my favorite dresses and skirts and shoes, having evolved mostly from my shop. Some of my favorite dresses are going on 5-8 years old, and I am so ready to ditch the sweaters and coats and gloves for a long while.

Others have not waited, some have started wearing those light Spring dresses, and shoes sans covering, looking kind of freezing and odd as most everyone else is still dressing appropriately for the weather, which in DC, is not resembling its typical March self. I want to be in that Spring dress and sandal, too! But alas, the temperatures aren't forecast to go above 50 this week though, and that's with rain. Maybe next week...

As I do have such limited storage, I think I've had to become an expert editor with my wardrobe. There simply isn't the space to acquire new things without something leaving my closet. My storage is 2 dress bags under the bed, a big box in the closet, and my largest suitcase, that's it. The good thing about this, is that switching my closet out takes hardly any time to do the actual task. But why I love spending a few hours doing it, is because it gives you the opportunity to really see what you have, which things need to be replaced, and where the holes are, which are your opportunities to add a few new things from this season's styles.

Spring seems to be a good time to replace your layering basics - tee shirts, camis, cardigans - all these things are on sale in Spring, and it's the easiest way to add some color interest to your Spring wardrobe. We've all been in black and gray for months and months at this point, I'm so over it, aren't you?

When you're switching your closet, it's also time to try everything on that zips. The moment of truth, did you gain weight over the winter. Confession, once about 6 years ago, nothing with a zipper fit. That was a big wake up call for me. I had gained about 8 pounds over the winter, and until I tried on my Spring clothes, I really had no idea. I went on Weight Watchers for 2  months, lost it, and that was the end of that. Ever since, my weight fluctuates a few pounds, but not a size. I decided that was not a road I wanted to go down, especially at my age where losing weight takes a major concerted effort. Not fun, and I'm happy to have apparently gotten the hang of maintenance for the duration.

Another great thing to do when you initially switch out your closet is to put all the hangers in the closet in opposite direction. It's the simplest way to figure out what you're actually wearing. By June or so, you can look at those pieces still on opposite way facing hanger and figure out why. If you're just kind of done with the item and it's just taking up space, this is the time to choose whether to consign it or donate it. It really depends what it is, and what kind of money you're talking about, but I find the most satisfaction in donating work pieces to an organization like Dress for Success, and consigning dresses and dressier pieces for cash to go towards a new item.

Spring is also a great time to take a good look at your shoes. I feel like I have been in boots forever at this point, and am so looking forward to putting them away for next Fall. I think we all have more Spring/Summer shoes just because they're so much more fun to wear - flats, sandals, our heels - in colors, metallic, prints, the possibilities are endless. Look at your shoes from last year, how are the heels, the fabric, the leather? Take care of your shoes if they are meant to last. Maybe that worn out flip flop can be thrown out and replaced...

Ahh, flip flops, and thoughts of the pool, and the beach, and glorious warm weather and sun.... It's inevitable, right?

Signs of Spring

One of my favorite things about living in DC, is that Spring comes early. Being from the New England coast, March is often the cruelest month, as hopeful crocuses and daffodils are often pummeled by snow and bitter winds. We would stay well bundled up though March there, so over wearing sweaters and tights and boots. But here in DC, March days brings the first 60 degree days, budding trees that will soon make DC pink and white, and, thanks to the hour of sleep we lost on Sunday, daylight that stretches into the evening, and we're all out, with less layers, enjoying our early Spring.

But alas, with the warmer temperatures, comes the onslaught of the abundance of crimes against fashion. Already, with just the few nice days we've had, our streets are spotted with articles of shoes and clothing that should just never be worn together. There are 2 types of shoes with which I cannot stand to see on the downtown streets of the city as I walk to work each morning, Tom's and flip-flops.

1. Tom's Shoes to Work. No.

Let me begin by saying, I love Tom's Shoes. The philanthropic objective is admirable, and the product is a fun and comfortable shoe. BUT and this is a big but, when worn with the appropriate everything else. Like here...

And here, if you need celebrity inspiration...

Shorts + Tom's = perfect

Jeans + Tom's = great

**Leggings + Tom's = ok

**Leggings are not pants ** (that's going to get a post of its own, obv.)

Skirts + Tom's = More complicated.

Fun when done casually, like a t shirt and a short flirty skirt and Tom's can be perfect running around the city on the weekend, brunching, walking, biking. But Tom's with a pencil skirt, or other more business cut attire, well, that actually makes me angry, in a fashion anger kind of way. It is just wrong on every level - it makes an otherwise sharp look, which you need to kick ass during the day, look frumpy, unorganized, and absolutely not professional. It is the paradox of the Tom's. Can be fabulous, can be a disaster. And too many women I see in DC are undermining themselves in this crime against fashion.

Which leads me to my near absolute no-no with Tom's.

Dresses + Tom's = Ugh.

Pretty much unless you're Keira Knightley, and really not even her. Better shoes for that dress are right next to her, which makes me think she was at a Tom's event, but whatever. Liv Tyler's outfit works, but it is specifically casual, that's not a professional work look obviously, so the fun casual Tom's appropriate spirit is happening there. Point is that a dress has a zillion other much prettier options. Like these...

Pointy flats are back! Ladies, this is news! To me, they are the perfect city shoe, as they are flats that you can wear all day, but like their sister the pointy heel, they make you look skinnier and taller! Shoe nirvana!

Why they had pretty much evaporated from the market for the last 4 years, I have no idea, but I am rejoicing that I can FINALLY replace my favorite matte gold pointy toe flats. Those shoes have been to the cobbler every spring for the last 3 years for a tune-up as I would once again not find anything to replace them. Currently lusting over the options...

I know pointy toes scare some, but I promise you, try them and you have have the love I do of them. I always put some lambswool in the toe (available at CVS for less than $5 for a bag with the foot stuff) and of course, Dr. Scholl inserts. Flats so often just have no support, even the more expensive ones, so these ensure you have arch support and cushioning - really important if you walk a lot, but something everyone should consider. I am still stunned that there are a lot of ladies walking around in shoes that aren't comfortable. Super unnecessary and silly! These are my go-to's that work in all of your shoes, not just your flats. There are ones for guys too, they need the support, too! I've tried the CVS brand, and they're a few dollars less, but they just aren't as comfortable and they definitely get worn out more quickly.

So that's my Tom's rant. Spread the word ok? No Tom's during the workday. No Tom's in offices where suits and dresses are happening, ever. Thank you.

2. Flip flops

Just. No.

So everyone will read this and I won't see this on my walk to work anymore, right? ;)

Dressing DC

When you leave your house in the morning, whether dressed to the nines, or dressed in sweats and a baseball hat, you make the choice about how the world will see you. And all the world's a stage, right? Well, treat it like one, and you can show the world that you are confident, you are fabulous, and you are ready to take it all on - and then watch what happens. That's the really fun part. You open yourself to the power of knowing that whatever happens as you go about your day, you are projecting your best you: your style. And that's when the really good stuff happens. ANYthing can happen. Really, I've seen it. And better yet, I can help you get there.

When I was younger, going to Catholic school and wearing a uniform every day, I became obsessed with a new show called, "Style with Elsa Klensch." It was on CNN on Saturday mornings, and basically this English woman would, in her lovely voice, talk about the couture collections being shown in Milan, Paris or New York. Of course I realized right off the bat that these fashions weren't really realistic for me, but as Coco Chanel so eloquently put it, "fashion is transient, style endures." How fun to figure out what would look great on me, what my personal style was. And I decided that since I had to get dressed every single day, I was going to do it the best I possibly could.

This rather simple realization at a relatively young age, has stayed with me all these years later. I know absolutely what looks good on me and what doesn't while still having fun with it.  Eventually I realized people, both men and women, were often asking me about their style, what to wear to a specific event, how to be appropriate for a specific meeting, or even for help with their entire closet. And so it evolved, and I began dressing others, long before I really understood the term "stylist" was. As mentioned in a previous post, for a little while I had my shop where I did this full time with clothes I chose from the current season's offerings. All a very fun and successful venture.

So here we are. Or here I am, no longer focused on dressing others as a career, but here in DC. Back to professional work attire most days, casual Fridays, going from work to social event, and weekend events. These are dressing challenges we all face. Some are doing it well, some not so much.

I think I live in a pretty fascinating place to see style and fashion. When I lived in DC last time, in the 90's, no one was going to mention DC and style in the same sentence. Now, evidenced by the idea that DC has become Hollywood East, and with it, an influx of fashion, the good, the bad and the ugly. DC also has an enormous population of 20 somethings, those the fashion is most evident on, again in its best and in its most tragic incarnations. I am all for innovative fashion choices, but Toms with a pants suit, nor a club minidress with a jacket over it, does not count. Ever. And leggings are not, and will never be, pants.

And so this will be my venue to talk about dressing, because it needs to be done, and I know that I can help. Stories from clients, and hopefully eventually stories from people that may actually read this will be shared anonymously, as well as just my take on what I'm seeing and why it's so right, or so wrong and how to fix it. Learning some guidelines, getting your wardrobe to a place where it becomes almost a no-brainer, that anything you put on is going to be the best it can be for you, is incredibly powerful in its most basic level. When you know you look good, you feel good. And when you feel good, look out world. It doesn't cost a lot of money, it doesn't take a lot of time, and the benefits are spectacular.

Game on.

And now we wait...

The news coming out of SCOTUS on Wednesday as the oral proceedings in Shelby v Holder were concluding were nothing short of dire. Phrases like "Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act appears doomed," were common, and word of Justice Scalia calling the Act a racial entitlement spread like wildfire across the media.

But as is so often the case, what really took place bears little resemblance to the hype from those first reactions. It was both more interesting, and more enlightening to actually take the time to read the 84 page argument found here:

http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/12-96.pdf.

I had honestly forgotten how much I love reading cases. I think law school kind of killed the experience for me for awhile. And this one is a truly compelling read.

Almost from the beginning, shortly after Attorney Bert Rein for Shelby County made his introductions, and began his argument, Justices Sotomayor, Ginsburg and Kagan were right there questioning him about his very presence in the Court, which of course, is at the very crux of the case. I think what I didn't realize was the extent to which the Justices would speak of the fluidity of Section 5, as it has the ability to expand elsewhere, as well as to contract, which was Shelby's goal here. I will be curious to see how the Justices address that in their opinion.

Reading and re-reading Scalia's comments regarding Section 5 as a perpetuation of a racial entitlement was and still is, to me, horrifying. I'm not sure I can elaborate on my feelings about his comments and views in any objective way yet. I am hoping his opinion clarifies his comments and that somehow, they aren't as obtuse as they seem to me now...

The Justices are scheduled to meet tomorrow, on Friday, which is a bit of a surprise. They have until June to render a decision, but it may be that extensive deliberation is not necessary at this point. It is truly difficult to imagine a scenario in which Shelby County would not be covered by Section 5, and Rein did not strongly demonstrate why it should not be.

I am glad I finally had the time to read the proceedings to see that from the transcript and my interpretation of it, this is not the end of this important, and yes still very much needed statute. But it is a split Court, and like Healthcare, I think we know now not to speculate too much where the opinion will fall.

Stay tuned...

Countdown to Wednesday...

Updated 1.26.2012 from Original Post

Tomorrow, Wednesday, 27 Feb 2013, Shelby v. Holder goes to the Supreme Court challenging Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).

Writing those words makes me physically ill. 

For my whole life, I have been fascinated by the civil rights movement, and what came out of it, proud at what our Congress did to make our Union more perfect. That's the point, right? 

It sure doesn't feel like that right now.

At this moment, the cornerstone of the landmark civil rights legislation is being threatened by those who do not want certain U.S. citizens to vote. This very threat is the most obvious way to see that the VRA is still very much needed, and should not be weakened. 

On the same day Shelby is argued at SCOTUS, a statute to Rosa Parks will be installed in the U.S. Capitol. It is ironic, and that irony should not be lost on anyone.

If you have time and want to read some much more expansive information about the history of the VRA, and what's at stake, these are the best posts of the bazillion I have read for you...

http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/02/voting_rights_act_photos.html

http://www.theroot.com/views/tough-voting-protections-fair

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-doj-tom-perez_n_2663863.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-we-still-need-the-voting-rights-act/2013/02/24/a70a930c-7d43-11e2-9a75-dab0201670da_story.html


That last article is an Editorial John Lewis wrote for the Washington Post. I found this picture today, of John Lewis and I at the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights annual dinner last Spring.

I'm honored to be able to know someone for whom the struggle for voting rights and civil rights is the cause of his life and often risked his for those rights. I've been thinking about him and and all who worked along side him to help form a more perfect Union.

I'll be glued to SCOTUS blog, and then to the transcript. We won't know anything tomorrow, the Justices have until June to make their ruling. Stay tuned...

Miss Chatelaine

On 16 August 2002, I opened a dress shop in my hometown of Bristol, RI. This was 6 weeks after I decided not to move back to DC at that time as I had planned to. I had been living in RI for 4 years at that point, and had completely intended to return to DC. This was right after 9/11, and although I had a job waiting, and a signed lease for an apartment share in the city, something just didn't feel right. It was then I was inspired to do this instead. I did move back to DC 6 and 1/2 years later, less than a month after President Obama was elected.

Looking back, I have never been so sure of something in my life. I have always dressed people, I have a great aesthetic (not a humble brag, I came with it) and there was no other store in RI filling this void I saw in the way I saw it existing. Mostly dresses, skirts, tops and pants, no jeans. I also had the money to start it, as my parents had passed away and I was watching their hard earned money disappear in the market. I believed I could take $70K and double it. I was wrong there. I tripled it that first year.

On opening day, a dear friend gave me a CD. It was K.D. Lang, Miss Chatelaine. I had never heard it before and couldn't quite believe it existed. Chatelaine is my word. When I was a little girl, I used to get grounded a lot, and my mom would make me look up words in the dictionary. One day she said to look up the French word for cat (chat) which I knew bc I loved kitties. Then she asked me my name, and I looked at her like she had 3 heads and said Elaine (the Y wasn't there yet). She then said that was the word I was to look up. Chat Elaine. Ok, I STILL remember how excited I was that there was a word that existed that was my name with cat! So I did, and this is what it is...

chat·e·laine noun \ˈsha-tə-ˌlān\

 1

   a: the wife of a castellan: the mistress of a château

   b : the mistress of a household or of a large establishment

2

    a clasp or hook for a watch, purse, or bunch of keys

French châtelaine, feminine of châtelain

First Known Use: 1845

Good word, right? My response upon learning the definition was to decide that if I ever had a shop it would be called chatelaine. When my shop's inspiration came to me, it was already named. I brought the sign with me to DC.

Someone asked me early on with the shop, what my goals were with it. I said easily that my goals were to have fun helping women look their best, and that I would be there until a hurricane blew me out (the entire area where I was located, had been obliterated in 1954) or until there was a Democrat back in the White House. I was completely serious. When I closed as suddenly as I had opened in November 2008, folks were surprised for some reason. :)

I am thankful I trusted my instincts, and seized the opportunity to do something I always wanted to do. I loved my shop, the people I met and dressed, and the opportunities to have a voice as a stylist in print and on tv. But I always knew it wasn't forever. My passion for civil rights and my desire to return to DC were always right there. As it happens, my civil rights education and my dress shop collided in a way I couldn't have predicted because I didn't at that time know the deep connection between the slave trade and Bristol, RI ran. As it turns out, the land my shop stands on was at one time part of the port where the Triangle Trade of moving African slaves from Ghana to the Cuba to Bristol. But that's another story...

Dressing people is one of my true passions, I find it exhilarating to help people see their beauty, and I will always do that. Having chatelaine as a specific place to focus on that had its time and place, and I learned so much and shared so much. But before chatelaine and since I have done the same but on an individual basis, through personal shopping, closet makeovers, and stylist consulting.  I see this setting as a place to share some of what I know, I'll be talking about style much more than fashion, for as my dressing icon Coco Chanel said so well, "Fashion is transient, but style endures." Fashion is fun, fashion is what brought me to Manhattan 4 times a year to buy, but the things I bought still had my style aesthetic and it always worked. Call it rules, guidelines, simple things that you probably know, but need a reminder, it's fun to figure it all out. Something really great happens when you know you look your best, it makes you feel good, too. And when you feel good, well, the possibilities are endless and fabulous. I promise, it will be fun.