To Joan
Today is Joan Didion’s birthday. She is my absolute favorite writer. If you have never read any of her stories, please! Start with The White Album. She also wrote books like Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and Play It As It Lays, but it is from The White Album that this passage comes:
We put “Lay Lady Lay” on the record player, and “Suzanne”. We went down to Melrose Avenue to see the Flying Burritos. There was a jasmine vine grown over the verandah of the big house on Franklin Avenue, and in the evenings the smell of jasmine came in through all the open doors and windows. I made a bouillabaisse for people who did not eat meat. I imagined that my own life was simple and sweet, and sometimes it was, but there were odd things going around town. There were rumors. There were stories. Everything was unmentionable but nothing was unimaginable. This mystical flirtation with the idea of “sin” – this sense that it was possible to go “too far,” and that many people were doing it – was very much with us in Los Angeles in 1968 and 1969. A demented and seductive vortical tension was building in the community. The jitters were setting in. I recall a time when the dogs barked every night and the moon was always full.
I remember her once writing that she hated to talk on the phone. Even though she was a journalist and had to. And that she would sometimes put off phone calls all day. This was due to her being a shy person. She thought of herself as inarticulate, and only really articulate, through writing. Her voice is a detached one.
As a tribute to you, Joan Didion, I present this assortment of pieces in INA Chelsea rife with detachable collars.
Cheap & Chic Moschino Dress, wool, chain link attachment
Undercover dress with detached fringe and tags
Margiela putty-colored cotton shirt, detachable button collar
Lanvin silk chocolate-mousse blouse with detachable ruffle boa
Temperley cream wool belted cotton with pleated neck
Vintage men’s shearling taupe toggle coat with detachable collar
Fur Trim
It is that time of year again, fur shoe time. When I stopped by the stores yesterday for a sampling of fur footwear, I misunderstood a manager when she offered to help and suggested, “Tribute?”
“Yes, I am working on a fur tribute piece.”
“No,” she said, “the Yves Saint Laurent Tribute booties. We have them in forest green and black leather.”
Prada calf-length faux fur boots arrived yesterday. Barely wet from the rain, it was surmised that they walked to the store themselves. The drawstring nylon liner bungees around the calf, as you can see, protecting the leg in all conditions, some undiscovered animal.
Imagining these boots had the lasting impression of a face, we would describe the impression as bold-faced.
Recognize the scoundrel in this heel. A braided cord entwines and cinches the fur and wraps the leg, attached to the fur by enamel brackets with stones.
The Technica boot remembers the aesthetic strappings of a Chaco river sandal, yet evolves from the Moon Boot, launched by Technica in 1970 as an insulated snow boot. It is closer still to the Blizzard line, a division of the company dedicated to wintersports, and to the Rollerblade.
A winter theme. If I could show you four viewpoints at once, I would show you the pom-pom, the kitten heel, the leather interior, and the white fur leg.
Bottom to top: Nolta, Eugeni A Kim white leather boot with pom-pom; Noho, Tecnica multi-color fur print boot; Soho, Giuseppe Zanotti heel; Nolita, Opening Ceremony black suede platform; Soho, Marni pony slip-on; Nolita, Prada faux-fur boot with drawstring top; Nolita, Yve Saint Laurent Tribute boot.
