I ♥ Your Signature Style: Anne Slater

If you know anything about me, you know that I love a woman with a signature. While I haven't found my own yet, it is certainly my ambition to some day find that one thing I love enough to wear continuously for the rest of my life. It is for that reason that I have always been fascinated by Anne Slater. As for back as 1961 (as the one black and white photo below illustrates) and perhaps even longer, she has been wearing blue-lensed cat eye glasses. No matter day or night, indoors or out, she wears those same glasses. She is clearly a creature of habit, as her clothing sticks to a similar uniform-like silhouette of an oversized tailored jacket worn over an appropriate length of skirt and simple black pumps. But it is her glasses that separate her from other tasteful women of her generation and define her as the style icon she has become.

This is a recent collage I made of Anne and pinned up on my inspiration board. Maybe if I stare at it long enough my own signature will eventually become apparent to me.

I ♥ Your American Style: Joan Didion

There is that constant current of melancholy in most photographs of Joan Didion that sometimes makes me question why I am such of fan of them. At best she looks subdued, while in the most extreme she looks tortured and hopelessly sad. In her older years it's as if that sadness within her came to express itself physically in the lines on her face and the thinness of her body. Yet because she has so honestly shared her sorrows with us, I feel protective and empathetic towards her.

And then there is her style, which is restrained and unselfconscious, but so elegant nonetheless. It looks easy to dress that simply, but it actually takes a lot of discipline to so precisely narrow down what works for you and even more discipline to stick with it. To me she represents the very best of intelligent, courageous and chic American women.

May your weekend be filled with thoughts of Charlotte Rampling

Usually on Fridays I post something about life here on the farm in England, but the next post I want to write on that subject requires a bit more time, and I am just back from London. SO - I will do that post on Monday, and today I will leave you with three photos of Charlotte Rampling that demonstrate that she is quite possibly the most beautiful woman that ever lived.

I ♥ Your Style: Nancy Cunard

I rarely look back much beyond the 60's for style icons. On the whole, the clothes just get too costume-y for my taste and the lifestyle they exude is just too antiquated to relate to. Of course there are exceptions, the biggest one being heiress and muse Diana Cunard whose heyday was in the 20's. When I first saw these pictures I just couldn't believe how completely relevant she would look today.

Does she remind you of anyone? She reminds me of Daphne Guinness. When I was at Barneys, we were planning a project with Daphne, and in our first meeting I couldn't help but ask her if she had any style icons. She quickly said no, and then paused before saying, "Well, just one. Nancy Cunard."