Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the most fashionable among them all?
Well, you know who. Fall fashion calls me to interrupt my sleuthing adventure in the south-east of France. Fall fashion is dressed in Gertrude Stein. Sexy, sculpted, embroidered, seamless dresses by artist Katrina Rodabaugh and a thirty-women team in San Francisco. I had a closer look at this most charming exhibition of last summer which I had already mentioned, in passing. Dresses in pigeon-on-the-grass-alas blue, imprinted with four poems from Stein's most avantgarde book, Tender Buttons: "The Long Dress," "The Blue Coat," "The Handkerchief," "The Petticoat." Imagine learning the words by heart that you are wearing over your heart or on your back... "A Petticoat.
A light white, a disgrace, an ink spot, a rosy charm."
Touching, tender buttons everywhere; a skirt with a notebook, a hooded coat against the fog, a wedding dress with a butterfly train, a "serious writer's" dress with ink spots, tight vest and cravat for the bois among us... http://www.scene4.com/1010/renatestendhal-r1010.html
You can buy your favorite dress,for example the Flapper dress made in part of what might be kitchen towels -- but you will need a fitting handbag, my friend. How about the brand-new creation called "Three Lives"? You can at least fit 3 of your lives into its compartments -- the kid's toys, the Kindle, the pole-dancing shorts:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/56857743/clutch-bag-gertrude-stein-thre...
And what are you wearing underneath your dress when you take your Gertrude bag to the opera? Ah, the dessous, the lingerie, all these lovely words that are, of course, French... All you have to do is "Paging Gertrude Stein" and turn to Kiki de Montparnasse in the Village: "So it’s not 27 Rue de Fleurus, but this fall 79 Greene St. will be hosting a series of intimate salons, inspired by cultural gatherings like the ones Gertrude Stein hosted at that famous address."
I have not been aware that the cultural gatherings chez Gertrude and Alice inspired such intimacy, but one always learns, and there's nothing like fashion to surprise us...
http://fashionista.com/2010/08/paging-gertrude-stein-kiki-de-montpa...
Enjoy the fall and stay tuned.