Keep Calm And Carry On A Scarf

Excerpt from my upcoming Travelgirl article on Style and Travel:

For function and style every journey begins with a scarf (or wrap!).

It’s always better to wrap up in cashmere than a poly airline blanket. My most adored wrap is by Jules Allen and it is Berry pink!

As for silk, perhaps it’s best to purchase a Gucci or Ferragamo scarf while in Italy or Hermes in Paris. It will become a coveted souvenir and immediate heirloom.

Fashion and beauty writer Molly Boxford suggests Echo scarves, “Once I’ve established a theme to my packing, I like to add an Echo scarf to pull together colors or looks.” Reasonably priced, they won’t gouge your trip spending stash.

I’m finding the half-scarf/half sweater numbers out this fall interesting. Wrap London does a few that look hip and cozy. Here's a sneak peak at one from their fall catalog–a great look for any field trip...

A Coat, Dad and Stockholm

My Dad liked clothes and he liked to travel. He wasn’t a nut about “dressing.” It came as second nature to him and I think most of the time he probably didn’t think too much about it. He had some nice Brioni suits, a cool gardening/fishing hat and some lovely ties.

He once told a story of leaving a cashmere sports coat at a restaurant in Stockholm, a city he was very fond of. Several years later, he returned to the same restaurant and surprisingly, they still had his coat. For him this said everything there was to say about the Swedes and their fastidiousness, their reliability and organization. Being Italian, and traveling to Italy often, where they have made an art of everything including nonchalance, the buttoned-up Swedes made an impact on my Dad.

He really was a wonderful combination of the two extremes. Yes, easygoing with a casual manner, but also very driven and ambitious.

Stockholm seems to be on the travel radar these days. The recent wedding of Crown Princess Victoria to “commoner” Daniel Westling AND the book, soon-to-be movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, has made Stockholm fodder for several travel writers/reporters/bloggers. Check out Mary Alice Kelloggs piece in Everett Potters’s Travel Report. It makes you want to go there now, even if you haven't left something behind!

Above photo; Dr. Edward Arquilla (Center)

Early '60s, Dad hadn't quite caught on to the thin ties.

Fashion '51

I’ve been working on an interesting project these days; collecting imagery for a potential pilot that takes place in 1951. I’ve been asked to explore fashion in that time period to position the “look” of the show. The first several episodes will take place in both Sicily and Washington DC. So I’ve also had to consider the regional differences between, say, New York and DC and Sicily and Rome.

Researching has brought me to the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection– I know, old school (admittedly, I did some internet hunting too). I wasn’t even sure if the Manhattan branch still had their Picture Collection, but they do and it was a eureka moment for this project. The Picture Collection is a rather large section of the library on 5^th and 41^st that has cataloged images (known in the industry as “swipe”) into a vast number of subjects. Picture in the Picture Collection would-be or established fashion designers, illustrators, set decorators, photographers and any number of other patrons in search of visuals.

Remarkably, as I’m swimming in this time period, the indomitable Grace Coddington of Vogue did an amazing story on fashion in the 1950s using the fall collections entitled, Magnificent Obsession. Check it out.

I’ve included some of my favorite images for amusement or inspiration. Enjoy.

So that, amongst MANY other things, is what I’ve been up to since I last posted.

Ciao