A kind of slinky shirtdress in a good instead-of-black color.
The florals-and-hearts print on this little number is so good that I’m willing to overlook the slightly puffy shoulders, which are not typically to my liking.
A pretty nice maxi-length dress with chic dolman sleeves.
A rib knit sweaterdress with a nice, deep neckline.
I dig the pre-layered effect of this dress from Cos.
This looks a tiny bit light for winter, but if you layered it over tights and a turtleneck, and then added a cardigan, you’d be aces.
A pretty halter-top dress that’s sexy without showing so much flesh.
The silhouette of this velvet dress reminds me of something by Maria Cornejo.
I feel like I maybe showed you this corduroy shirtdress before, but it is just so good.
The crisscross shape of this sweater dress is super-flattering, and I like the pumpkin hue.
A pretty twist-front dress in a sweet rosy hue.
And here’s another dress with a twist—as well a a nifty scoopneck.
The shape here is clean and minimal but also quite feminine.
And isn’t the ballerina neck here quite lovely?
This dress from Rachel Comey comes in black and off-white too, but I think this navy is pretty good. This dress also just strikes me as quite versatile, and simple to dress up.
I’m a sucker for a star print (it’s eensy but it’s there) and I also appreciate just how nice and flowy this dress is.
I love these dresses but at 5’0″, I would drown in most of them.
Here’s a crazy thing–when I click on the Shopbop links they come up in Japanese.
My Amazon is suddenly in Spanish!
Here’s a recommendation from the lounge pants Kim posted about the other day. I just received my raspberry-stripes-down-the-side ShopBop PJSalvage sweats and I’m in LOVE. Super comfortable, fleece inside so warm, but thin and lightweight. And CHEERFUL!!! For size reference…I’m usually an xs, but I purchased these in a small because I like baggy sweats for at home wear. If I were purchasing to wear outside the house I would’ve gone down a size.
What great selections – I clicked through quite a few of these for someone as deep in in the depths of “lounge” mode as I am! The Rachel Comey is my favorite and I feel like it would end up threadbare and with an almost a negative “cost per wear” if I had an office to wear it to, but I also quite like the blue “twisted” number (if only it didn’t have such a high slit) and the Ninety Perefent-er. The one with the Maria Cornejo-vibe also almost appeals but the fact that Nordstrom doesn’t show it ON someone raises questions.
Eloise, hilarious what you said about the Rachel Comey dress. I was thinking the same thing. It may be the investment piece I’m looking for. For me, as long as the slit isn’t above the knee I’m good.
So many good throw-on-and-go options here! I’ll confess that my heart belongs to the last shown––I always have a soft spot for Vince. And for those wondering about sweater dresses like the Mara Hoffman…on one of my Betty walks recently I spotted a young (to me) woman––probably mid to late thirties––wearing a very similar dress. She had a normal body––i.e. not razor thin––and she looked spectacular. She was wearing it with chunky sneaks and a chunky cropped cardigan. So don’t think you can’t wear a sweater dress if you don’t have a model’s body! And here’s a question…what do we think of ballet necklines on those with aging necks? And along those same lines…what do we think of rings or bracelets on aging hands? And here’s something else…years and years ago I was listening to a costume designer talking about an actress (not in a bitchy way, but he was creating a costume for her) and the point of his remarks was you can’t get plastic surgery on hands or necks (which at that time was true) so you can always tell the age of a woman by her hands and neck. Diane Keaton always wears high neck clothing and often wears gloves. Katherine Hepburn wore turtlenecks or scarves as she aged. Do we own it, surgery it or cover it up? (sorry, I really need to cut back on my coffee intake!)
Speaking for myself, age 51, with ropy, veiny, well-used hands, that probably look 20 years older than the rest of me (meaning, they look 71, because the rest of me looks every single minute of 51)… l love the look of bracelets and rings on aging hands. I remember with great fondness my grandmother’s hands. Look at Iris Apfel! And I hate, hate, hate the feel of turtlenecks, so the world is just going to have to see my neck as I go. Wear what you love, cw, and carry it off with aplomb. Some people might think your red sweatpants with the spiffy side stripes are “too young.” So what? “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.”
Yes, Iris Apfel! I recently thought of her because I just had a milestone birthday and wanted to buy myself something dramatic that would remind me of getting this far. I really, really wanted this big amazonite ring, but…but… my long, veiny hands, I thought, wringing them as I hesitated. And then I thought of Iris and decided, aw f*** it. I’m getting the ring. Life is too damn short not to be bold.
Oh, I absolutely do wear whatever I want, my questions were more philosophical than a practical application. I don’t wear bracelets or rings often–– more to do with arthritis than style.
Well, since you asked ; ) … … … What I think is that it is ghoulish for people to go around trying to “guess” a woman’s age. (I’d say the same for men but few people do that, ime.) It amazes me that people feel comfortable saying that they do this (although I realize that there had been less media experience in the 70s). I remember being in line at the Arclight years and years ago, and some douchey-seeming guy was talking to a sort of a B actress. (You’d all know her but I’m not going to.) A respectable talent who just didn’t get a ton of parts. (Sometimes I fantasize about writing bc there are so many actors I like whom I don’t see much.) I can’t recall his exact words now, but essentially, he was saying, wow, you’re not past your sell-by yet! You look just the same – something like that. It is possible, though I suppose unlikely, that he may even have been trying to compliment her. I felt totally offended for her just standing there, and I felt a tiny bit sorry too for the guy – what an *idiot.* And, no one had bothered to raise him, clearly. How long are we going to put up with this? Who cares? I wonder if millenials will be the ones to kill this off. I agree that trying to hide age is a bit silly, but I think it is much much worse on a human basis to be on the other side. It’s a really big nipple for a guy to have on his soul, so to speak.
My only concession to my withered, spotty hands — which have looked that way since about age 11, fwiw — is that I don’t wear dark nail polish. Somehow that ages them more than anything. Happy, bright jewelry though to liven things up — hell yes.
Completely agree with your comment about telling one’s age from hands and necks. That is why coloring our hair does not really fool anyone. I still do it though.
I feel a bit scarred by those 70s “Can you guess her age?” Palmolive commercials (I’ve got ropey veins and AGE SPOTS on my hands, FFS, so, “yes and then some”) but love my rings too much to hide my hands. Bracelets are harder because I feel like they highlight wrist area wrinkles….
If you want to hide, I think hiding is okay. If you don’t want to hide, also okay. I just try not to let anyone else dictate whether/what I hide/don’t hide.
I really like what Carlene said. CW, back in 5th grade, I was reading Truman Capote: Holly Golightly talking about looking forward to being old enough to wear diamonds made a deep impression on me. I’ve never been one for diamonds (pearls for me), but even at that age, I got what Holly meant. For me, rings and bracelets have regal connotations, that look better and better with the confidence of experience. Having just ordered a bakuchiol serum sample for my neck, I totally understand the sense of vulnerability considering necklines on clothes. However, with jewelry, I firmly believe a person should go for broke, go further into the self’s inclinations, be it minimalism, maximalism, or eclectic-ism, as a personality simmers over time.
I LOVE pretty much everything from COS…wish they were more size inclusive and went up at least an XL…..love this post as I always do
I love the silhouette on the Rachel Comey dress. I could even see the cream colored version as a scaled down wedding dress if I was in the market for such a thing.
Yes!!
Stellar roundup Kim. The lovely hearts & flowers print, the navy Rachel Comey, and the ballet neck Vince are the winners for me. They all seem so very wearable but still special.