My Secret Obsession

I've become so obsessed with Breton tops that I now have to have someone physically restrain me from buying anymore. I think it's the whole Brigitte Bardort look (yeah, I wish) but I just find them so classic in that very ooh la la! French way. French women will save for one very expensive piece of clothing which they will wear and wear. Whatever anyone tells you, there is a difference in the quality of clothes the more you pay. If you can only buy one nice piece a year, get it, and justify the price by teaming it up other things in your wardrobe and wear it forever. As far as I'm concerned that's the difference between style and fashion.

This is Jean Seberg, she was an American actress from the 60's who went to France and found her fame there. More than any other woman she epitomised the stripey top and capri pant look. I absolutely love this, it's so easy, so casual and yet so glamorous, little flat ballerina pumps and you're done.

Of course, yet again this is Audrey Tatou playing Coco, in the classic Breton. More than anything I love the way that such quintessentially masculine clothing can be made to look so beautiful in such an understated way.

The pinnacle is of course Chanel's Breton top here with the paperbag waist trousers and a beret, maybe a bit much for the local supermarket but if this was in my wardrobe then I'd be wearing it to put the bins out. I don't know how much this costs and to be honest I don't really want to depress myself by finding out but I've just seen some really great ones in H&M, including a really cute one with a lace bib on the front. They were only £12.99 and as well as the black and the navy blue there's a great red striped one to add a bit of colour.

I'm not that keen on the skirt here, I think that a pair of wide legs navy trousers or even if you're feeling particularly brave a pair of tailored shorts but I love the red against the white, it looks so clean and fresh. I also saw some really nice slightly cropped off white trousers with a cuffed hem in Miss Selfridge for £35 which would look fantastic with this top, I thought that some little red flatties and a big red flower corsage would be a nice summer look. Just don't go all Captain Birdseye and try and team up with too many nautical accessories.

Just to show that it's not only for the girls, here's Picasso showing not only could he chuck some paint but that he was also a bit of a stylish old fella. I think he may need some anti-biotics for those fingers though, they look like they're a bit swollen.

I also wanted to show you that in even on the football field the French just can't get away from being ever so stylish. They've just come up with a new away strip, no-one else could ever get away with this.

C'est magnifique.

Crisp White Shirt

So I was thinking  about the clothes that I always come back to (often after a trip off into some ridiculous notion that maybe I can get away with a ra ra skirt the second time around when to be honest I looked pretty awful when I first wore one in the 80's), and I immediately thought of the white shirt.

I have around 5 or 6 white shirts dotted around the bedroom in various sizes and various fits. I can remember shopping in a second hand store in Norwich around 10 years ago and finding two very handsome mens dinner shirts, one with frills down the front and the other with a pin tuck panel. They're large with double cuff and even after all these years I still pull them out of the wardrobe and wear them with my jeans.

If you're feeling really brave the're big enough to wear alone just with black tights and maybe a large black patent belt and some other accessories, bit Liza with a 'z', very sexy but not for everyone, I know: just don't take it too far!

I think these photos really show how much a white shirt can do, from the very demure 50's model in the swinging coffee shop, through Audrey, crazy Liza, Marilyn, Uma Thurman and Audrey Tatou as Coco Chanel in the shirt and tie look which may seem masculine but is actually incredibly feminine. 

It is of course the Carolina Herrera who epitomises the class and sophisication of a plain white shirt and shows how, at any age, style will shine through. I don't think I'd dare order the spaghetti though, I'm quite a splodger!!!