The Style Journal: Stand out wardrobe pieces

—April Francis of The Haute Closet

When it comes to shopping, it’s always good to know what works for you. And when it comes to accessories it’s always smarter to buy something fun. Here are some of my favorites from Lori’s this season—standout pieces that you’ll be able to pair with the basics in your wardrobe to create many satisfying combinations.

 

This bold, classic textile coat is warm and perfect for throwing over a casual look (sweatpants, leggings or boyfriend jeans) to pull it all together. Working with any complexion and hair color, a classic style like this will never get purged from a Haute Closet. And at $118, you’ll look like a cool million for a hundo and change.

Jesslyn Blake Jesslyn

Complementing basic blacks, rich browns and silver metallics, this clutch gives you the texture you crave and the perfect dose of pretty. Not only can you work this into your winter wardrobe with a party dress or jeans, you can pull it out all spring because of its color palette. At $178 it’s not cheap but the soft leather rosettes will feel and look like total luxury in your hands. A smart staple.

Jeffrey Campbell Pixie-T-Hi

When buying accessories, why go basic? Leave that to what we at The Haute Closet call your foundational wardrobe. I love these boots because they make jeans or leggings a ton more fun and amp up the look of all of your jackets and tops. You’re sure to get as much wear out of these as you would an all-black pair. Have we mentioned they’re black suede wedges? ($166.00)

Chain Cluster Ring - Brass or Silver

A total no-brainer: this ring makes a tough yet tender statement, being big but not too big and on-trend but also all-season. Wearing both metals (brass and silver) with more simple bands in your jewelry case will make a statement of its own for only $16.00 each.

Pour La Victoire Twiggy - Black

This bag caught my eye because it’s got the insouciant attitude of Chanel worn by a hip chick at a rock concert. Worn cross-body or over the shoulder, you can fit your keys, cards and lipstick and keep your hands gloriously free to dance and sing. Love the tassel and strap details; Pour La Victoire is always a good bet if you’re looking for great accessories. One of my favorites at $148.00.

Sam Edelman Faye - Wheat

Even more amazing because they’re already on sale ($94.90), the clog trend hit strong this Spring and continues to get even more haute. Unlike an open-toe bootie, the clog is the perfect shoe for winter weather, raising you up out of the slush with the utilitarian wooden platform and being a little kicky with the lace-up detail. These are sure to lengthen your legs in a most flattering way and go an even longer way in the wardrobe department.

Chinese Laundry Lyndia - Silver

Classic in that Audrey Hepburn way, and a staple in every woman’s closet, I am absolutely besotted by these Chinese Laundry pumps. White in winter?! Yes, when it’s done like this with a little black dress or a super dark rinse denim. Perfect in every way, the silvery-white satin and bow-shaped crystal detail are very girly, but very grown-up. Chinese Laundry is always well-made and never fails to deliver in the essential basics department for $64.00.
 

Spring Trends, Take One

We've been fooling around with our iMovie here at Lori's and decided to add some video posts on the latest Spring trends. We're no De Mille, but we hope the embedded clip here is a good start. Have a look, have a laugh. We start with the obsession we've been harping on for weeks: architectural cutouts and structural inspirations! Ha ha ha ugh.

Spring Preview: Structural Integrity

The Mella by Calvin Klein (left in black) has arrived (online soon). The python patterned leather and short wedge heel are lively and fun, as is the silver insole, but what really motivated us was the sharp, structured cutouts on the wide T-strap and ankle.

This structured revelation of the foot feels very sharp and new, yet also a touch retro as if the ghost of Bauhaus has risen from the grave and came out sporting these kittens. We love the math of this shoe: the deliberateness of it is sexy and bespeaks a wearer who knows how to put together a look.

But Mella isn't the only shoe taking a turn for the Euclidian. In fact, it seems to be quite a trend. And no one, as usual, is internalizing and reinterpreting a trend like one of our favorite designers, Pour La Victoire.

We are OBSESSED with the Bianca by Pour La Victoire. This 4-1/2" pump with platform is going to be huge. It is in our spring deliveries and we've put a rush on it because we want it here NOW and FAST.

The geometry wows us. The shootie upper, punched with asymmetrical shapes, feels decidedly structural and architectural. It reminded us of Prada's flagship store in Tokyo or Rem Koolhaas's library in Seattle. And especially of the windows in Le Corbusier's Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut Ronchamp. And, like those windows, Bianca stragetically reveals your foot while the acid green leaher insole adds luminescence and glow.

We love this trend because it feels so deliberate and purposeful. Just by sporting this look, you instantly add relevence to your look; it dresses up your outfit. We think you can draw a straight line right through these shoes to a hot, current look that's a change-up from fall's covered up tall boots and shooties.

Taming of the Shoe

Yesterday was a real "ooh" and "ahh" day for us. Coveting the Pour La Victoire Iva ("ooh") is a very Ectasy-of-Saint-Theresa moment, but ... how on earth would we accessorize pale gold patent leather menswear wingtips? Then it hit us ("aah!"): maybe we're not the only ones with such dilemmas.

Sometimes we feel these shoes are so fabulous we couldn't possibly add an outfit to them without slighting their magnificence. And since we can't walk around in them naked (well, legally speaking), we find ourselves in a quandary. But these shoes are often easier to wear than they look, becoming a foundation that transforms your whole look into something memorable. We've chosen an apparently difficult shoe and a demanding boot to show you how we would accessorize them to take advantage of their forward styling.

What to Give the Everything Shoe: Pour La Victoire's Iva
A quick run-down of the Iva's attributes makes for an intimidating list: pale gold leather, captoe, wingtip detailing, laceless vamp, menswear ... So how to bring it into the realm of the wearable? Start with the sole.

The pale gold leather is a red herring. The color is so pale as to vacillate between yellowish golds and silvery pewters, and its reflectiveness means, like skin tones, it will take on qualities of the colors around it. The factor that isn't so malleable is the deep brown sole. Black bags are out. The Iva is ultimately a warmer shoe; black bags will look flatter and colder paired with it.

Picking up the color of the sole, we're adding HUE's diamond texture knee-highs in opaque brown under a knee-length pencil skirt and dressy blouse. The brown bridges the shoe and skirt while the low-texture diamond pattern adds more kick and femininity.

Finally, a bag. We wanted a big expanse of brown, very clean, to bring the color up from the floor. The menswear look of the Iva suggested something more structured. We love Tano's Getting Warmer in Truffle. The structured hobo look is versatile and the slight crackle in the finish keeps it from being just plain. The nickel hardware tempers the shoes' yellow tendency.

Pour La Victoire's Iva with Tano bag and HUE tights.

Controlling the Crocodile: Vic Matie's 8222 Knee Boot
The 8222 takes the sophistication of an equestrian knee-high -- clean, tall upper, low riding heel, narrow rounded toe -- and makes it a stand-out with a bold, patent crocodile finish. It's a great boot, but it's a lot of boot. Here, we want to play up the confidence with more of the same.

We see these tucked into tight, dark-washed jeans under a very tailored blazer with minimal details. The calf-hugging shaft is slimming and sexy. Let embellishment come from layered chains by A.V. Max, David Aubrey and Peter M. The jewelry will also pick up the chain bit hardware at the top of the boot. Add a final pop of color and retro style with a one-of-a-kind ring made from vintage estate-sale buttons (available in-store).

Vic Matie's 8222 with layered chains by A.V. Max and Peter M. and vintage ring

Back in Black (and Blue)

Yes, we really are going to recommend you wear black and blue together. In fact we're a little bit peeved that Vogue beat us to the punch in the August issue. These dark and stormy hues are big news for fall and with a little moxy you can pull it off.

The retiring coolness of a rich blue and the flatness of the black are going to push and pull against each other, forming a marvelous core tension around which to base a look. Browns, taupes and neutrals are hot with these shoe colors. Grays? A miracle.

Just look at Pour La Victoire's "Ophelie." This is a brilliant shoe. It has a soft, deep indigo suede body clad in the hard shell of black patent with sawtooth edges. A winged captoe with punching is a nod to the spectator trend. Triple patent straps with sueded buttons feel modern, but also remind us of frogged military jackets. And a four-inch, wrapped leather heel makes them just plain sexy.

The spectator and military aspects give this shoe a masculine spirit that makes it ideal under a wideleg wool pinstripe dress pant in black, navy, gray or taupe with a smartly tailored white blouse. We also have visions of the Ophelie paired with a sexy pencil skirt in gray. (And may we recommend Bill Cunningham's slide essay on New York City pencil skirts?)

You can take this in a similar direction with shoes that balance the two hues. Jessica Bennett's Jilt in Blue Patent is such a deep lacquered blue that it shifts into fathomless blacks as the light plays off its gloss.

The concept of "black" is made deeper by the punchy richness of the navy, a sense of depth reinforced by the patent coat. Blacks on their own can be mercurial - some warm, some cool. They tend to flatten and turn green under lights. Blues keep things dark and vibrant, sometimes looking more lustrous and "black" than the black itself.

Blue and black combinations are the slant rhymes of outfit co-ordination. They don't quite dovetail and this mismatch resonates. That gap between them is exactly the kind of sprezzatura we love -- it signals your confident ability to put together a knock-out ensemble, to be just a touch off and therefore right on target.