Purely Personal Blog

One of the most interesting and exciting aspects to what I do is discovering and working with emerging designers. One of these is a young, talented fine jewelry designer, Pauline Bernard.

If you are of a “certain age,” you may well remember your first encounter with a Roberto Cavalli design; flamboyant wild animal prints and ostentatiously bold colors definitely made a new fashion statement.

A personal shopper/stylist seems like a superfluous or even frivolous service at first blush. Stores abound and anyone can walk in and find something to purchase — and therein lies the problem.

With the passing of Iris Apfel, the world became a little less stylish. However, there is much to celebrate in the very full life of Iris.

Have some fun with fashion vocabulary and your Purely Personal style!

Shape is a critical factor both in designing clothing and in styling and fitting garments. In design, the shape of a garment is referred to as the silhouette and there are at least twenty-five identifiable silhouettes; some well known such as A-line, empire waist, dropped waist, wrap dress, and sheath.

Paris in January is generally gray, cold, windy and rainy. But Paris always offers something extraordinary. The first thing I did this trip to Paris in mid-January was to secure a ticket to the Iris Van Herpen Exhibit at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (through 28 April, 2024). Perhaps you have seen J. Lo or  Beyoncé wearing an Iris Van Herpen creation and been stunned by the visual impact.

While in Rome, Italy for New Year’s, I found myself contemplating a stone sculpture of the Roman god Janus, from whom we derive the name of the first month of the year, January. Janus is a two faced god, one face looking forward to the future, the other looking back to the past. Americans love to look forward and make resolutions — large and small — to correct the bad habits and behaviors of the past...

Patterns fascinate and intrigue the human mind. We find patterns everywhere in nature, music, mathematics, Art and fabrics. A pattern, simply defined, is a regularly repeated motif. Combining unexpected or unusual patterns makes dressing more interesting, sophisticated, creative and communicative than simply combining solids.

Texture draws our eyes and invites our fingers to touch. Texture is so seductive that upon seeing a shiny, newly painted park bench or door with a sign stating, “Do Not Touch. Wet Paint,” few can resist testing the tactile experience! So it is with the fabrics we wear; touch and feel entice us.