Molly Bloom knows style

This weekend I went backpacking in Desolation Wilderness. I love camping and hiking in the wilds of California. I have accepted that cottons and jeans are not the way to pack on these trips — hi-tech fabrics really make a difference. They breath, dry quickly and pack light. The warmer items insulate without being bulky. But, ugh: most of these items are less fashion-forward than I’d like to be. They’re boxy or over-trimmed or available only in sage green.

Stomping around Lake Of The Woods I realized what I would like to wear. And if it’s what I’d like to wear, it’s what I’d like to create. It will be part Miss Rheingold, part L.L. Bean from the 1950s. I’d like classic pieces in updated fabrics and silhouettes. A plaid hunting jacket with patches on the elbows featuring a nipped-in waist and constructed in waterproof/breathable fabric? Yes, please. Jodhpurs in a quick-dry fabric, paired with button-up shirt in SFP50 wicking fabric? Yes!

And then I would like to write the catalog, with wonderful back-story and silliness a la J. Peterman.

So, L.L. Bean: call me. Let’s discuss a capsule collection. It will sell, promise.

The summer scarf I purchased earlier this season has proved a useful tool in fighting June Gloom here on the west coast. I wonder if people in warm places really do pair scarves with their rompers like fashion spreads and catalogs suggest. Seems like a girl would get hot dressed like that.

I wear my scarf with long-sleeved items instead of a jacket when I walk the dog. It also gets a lot of use paired with a T-shirt indoors instead of a cardigan. I am sick of my cardigans, they get a lot of wear here in Fog City.

There is a good selection of summer scarves at Anthropologie, it’s where I found mine.

I spent the afternoon shopping in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires, wearing a dress I made a few weeks ago. Argentina is wonderful. It’s summer here.

Famous gamines: Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, Mia Farrow circa Rosemary’s Baby (pictured above) and Jean Seberg. More recently, the puckish Amélie played by Audrey Tatou is gamine.

Women’s Wear Daily got the scoop on the hat Aretha Franklin wore for her performance during the inauguration. She bought it at the Detroit shop of milliner Luke Song, where she is a regular costumer. The hats are sold with the label Mr. Song Millinery in New York, California and the South.

My favorite outfit of the day was Sasha’s belted coat. Orange and pink is one of my favorite color combos. Lovely.

A new website allows women to
register the dresses they plan to wear to upcoming events in hopes of not having another attendee arrive in a duplicate gown. The big news here is that women have been registering their inaugural ball gowns. Most are floor-length and described by one reviewer as conservative. New this year is a lot of colors, including orange, purple and red. Cool.

If I were going to an inaugural ball I’d want to make my own gown. For inspiration, I like this heavy satin James Galanos gown from the 1960s (pictured above).

Here is a preview of the silent film about Coco Chanel, directed by Karl Lagerfeld. You should watch it.

This morning I headed downtown before work to see the unveiling of the Comme des Garçons for H&M line. Pardon my Japo-French but it was a m&%$#!f@^>*:+ mêlée. This is the best photo I could get from the escalator; the crowd was jarring and everyone was hoping to score a castaway top.

I arrived at 10:10, later than planned due to bus failure. The store opened at 10 a.m. and there was zero merchandise left on the floor when I got there. No women’s, no men’s, no accessories (my planned first-hit target). There were a few mannequins still standing but not for long. The window displays were being emptied. Sold. Out.

Like a vulture I circled the floor. A few discards were seen but either wrong style or color. Vicious. One woman was putting merchandise behind her infant in a stroller to keep people from grabbing it. I talked to a few sales associates who were way too busy to talk to me but they said people were queued for hours before opening and that everything was instantly gone. Keep in mind there was a limit of two of the same item per person. Whatevs, look for it on eBay, right?

H&M sucks and will likely cost me a job someday. It’s fast fashion, with crap construction and shoddy materials. When big designers do a low line for mass market you’re buying for the style and not for the quality. Most of the people jammed into the Union Square stores are huge Rei Kawakubo fans who can’t afford the luxury pricepoints of Comme des Garçons.

The usual CDG color palate was there: black and white and navy and plenty of polka dots. There was an adorable deconstructed jacket and an even better overcoat. I saw some funny hobble-like gypsy pants that featured a low crotchpoint below the knees. Many of the pieces were intended for that quirky Japanese layering thing, with the scooched-up sleeves and funny socks and shoes plus a cinched belt. I walked away with a navy polka dot crew-neck top and banana-leg drawstring pants. I’ll wear them as loungewear when I’m reading the Sunday Times or spending the night at a friends house.

Election Day rain bonnet made by my grandmother features a donkey on one side and an elephant on the other. Moxie’s wearing her American flag hoodie and making a quick getaway.