Transmogrification Via Star Trek Characters

Enoch and I watched Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan last night. He'd never seen it before. We'd spent the day moving he, Don, and Kate from one apartment on the third floor of one building to another apartment three buildings down and also on the third floor. Talk about a villainous pain in the ass. The thing about moving boxes up and down stairs in such a manner during July Montreal heat is that it starts to feel remarkably like you're stuck in some evil alternate world in which this motion is all there is and you're stuck doing it, your thigh muscles be damned.

The activity got me thinking, though: if forced to choose to spend the rest of my life as a tortured villain with the downsides of being stuck saying horribly obvious lines like, "I will avenge you!" and "These people have sworn their allegiance to me since 200 years before you were born!" and "Don't insult my intelligence!" (villains are always worried about their intelligence being insulted. Perhaps this is their downfall?), and the upsides of completely righteous hair, and a chest that deserves to be hugged by a velour ribbed-neck sweater of the future, then I'd have to turn into Khan. I mean, duh. What a kick ass attitude to take into the 300th year of your life, eh?

(Also, have you noticed that Tina Turner's MadMax character is absolutely the girl version of Khan? They seem to be each other in alternate-to-each-other alternate-from-this-one universes.)

One for the Norwegian

Brilliant Plaid Combination, MisterMort.typepad.com

A few posts back I focused on interesting men's clothes, the worry being that men were sidelined to their pants and button-up shirts. That post sought to extend possible men's attire to boxing gloves, and pajama-styled suits. Today we're going to go ahead and focus on the charm and wit that pants and a button-up shirt can offer. My bff has a love for bow-ties and plaid, so these outfits are posted as celebration of pattern combination, and as dressing inspiration for those with similar interest in old school snap.

Galahad, hapsical.blogspot.com/

Thom Browne, F06 *on ice*

I know you like bow-ties, H, but, honestly, with this outfit I think it would be too much.
thesartorialist.com

Yohji Yamamoto, F08

And when you're older, but still committed:

Blue Plaid Scarf, AdvancedStyle.blogspot.com



last three images from sartorialist.com

While planning your plaid, and patterned combination, remember the apparent lesson learned from years of experience, as represented by the last image: when all else fails, a beer can make you happy.

Looking Good in Gray

As an extension of my previous post on the purple years, here's a collection of photos of people dressed deep in the comfort of themselves. Note: they also do quite well with my love of layers and draping, and, with some of them, hats.

sartorialist.com

mistermort.typepad.com

advancedstyle.blogspot.com

mistermort.typepad.com

photo by Sunhye Shin, advancedstyle.blogspot.com

sartorialist.com

If you appreciate age-specific style pics, check-out advancedstyle.blogspot.com. It's a fashion blog entirely devoted to pictures of well-dressed elders.

The Purple Years will be Well-Shaped and Sparkle

My mother is very into the sentiment behind the first line of the poem, "When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple." That is, she's decided, now that she is older, she'll wear purple, wear it proudly, and a lot.

Other women too take up the practice, and in fact there are "wear purple" outings that get organized all over the world, though admittedly, their focus seems to be more on the red hat that my mom ignores. I walked haphazardly into one of these parades of purple and red accidentally one summer on the East Coast of the United States. There I was making my way purposefully down the sidewalk, about to cross some street to enter into a museum I couldn't otherwise visit (since I didn't live there), when suddenly a sea of purple suits and red hats rose out of the subway around me. It was rather shocking. Would I drown? Though lovely (they say drowning is actually comfortable. I refuse to believe it). I suppose that bright extravagance is part of the point--we've lived this long, we've earned it.

Seeing such behavior, I've decided to go ahead and plan for how I'll dress in old age. That way I can forego worrying about my "old age" version of such explicit style, knowing I'll enact it later. But also, it's a good reminder I am young now, and that means I get to focus on other types of youthful extravagance.

My plan-ahead attention is mainly to what will then be vintage Lanvin and Givenchy (yes, I do wish to rescue Givenchy from the poor aftermath of the post two days ago. But, also, I think Givenchy has earned both titles--the labial, and the aged. I say that with the greatest possible love for the label.) Following are the pictures to go into an imaginary scrapbook for my life in the purple years.

Lanvin Fall 09, found in Vogue

Givenchy Couture 07

Chanel, Resort 2010

This one risks being a little too short for my projected age of use,
but imagine it longer, and you get the idea.

Balmain 09, image by Tommy of jakandjil.com

Keeping with that "I need to get a blazer" theme from a few posts back,
and adding in the opulence that seems to be running my "older age" dressing plans.

And finally, the ultimate combination of the blazer with good older age style...

Karl Lagerfield, with Sebastian
image by Tommy of jakandjil.com

Notice the younger-than-you, well-dressed man appears to be an essential accessory in Karl's outfit. May he be a model for us all.