Oh darling

Vogue 1950's

While researching a story today I came across this hilarious article which was published in Peterson's Magazine way back in 1861. I assume this was (like Vogue in it's early days), a sort of social gazette for young aristocratic women who wanted advice and assistance on how to be 'in style' at the time.

Here are some of my favourite excerpts...can you just imagine what these women would have to say about the Lady Gaga's and Paris Hilton's of the world today?

"Young ladies, when they get married, should not relax their habits of personal neatness and graceful deportment, always so charming and becoming in their girlish days, and which were thought indispensable then in aiding them to create an agreeable impression, and setting off, in the most engaging light, their natural advantages."

Vogue 1920's

"Nature for each has a different style, and each should choose what best becomes her, whether in her character of maid or matron. She should cultivate her taste by experiment and observation. She should educate the eye to the chase and beautiful, and thus she would become more competent to judge what is most judicious and tasteful for herself, without copying, as we are too prone to do, the dress of others, whose different style, manners, and appearance, render them wrong arbiters of the dress we wear."

Vogue cover, 1914

"Then, again, a great many women excuse their own carelessness by saying, 'Oh! It don't matter whether we make ourselves fine or not, our husbands never perceive the difference. They don't care a fig.' But the woman who acts on this shallow principle treats neither herself nor her husband with respect; she underrates her own importance."

Balmain in Vogue, 1940's

Claudia Schiffer, still super

Claudia Schiffer could wear a bin bag and still look amazing, but to me she epitomizes ladylike dressing.

She does elegant, polished and casual chic effortlessly, and gets it right day after day. While she looks just as gorgeous as she did in the height of her super days, at 37 she dresses her age in feminine separates - soft bow blouses, lightweight knits and classic cardigans - that embody a classic, understated chic, with more playful elements - like a pair of platform shoes, a printed scarf or leopard print belt - to lend a youthful edge to grown-up power dressing.

My Fair Lady

Oscar de la Renta Fall 09

Lanvin Fall 09

These days when it comes to matters sartorial, where have all the manners gone?

If you take a walk around Sydney, you’ll see a hell of a lot of undies – under sheer cream dresses, there are navy g-strings; beneath bum-grazing hemlines are polka dot boy shorts, visible with every step. Then there is the bright orange skin, after too many fake-tan applications; the bondage dresses (which lets be honest, only look good on a size zero, Herve Leger wearing model); and the of-the-minute, but ill fitting, sky-high heels that look tacky and ridiculous – even more so when teamed with the bondage dress and Oompa Loompa tinted skin tone.

Stripped of any originality, it seems sexed-up just ain’t what it used to be. Somewhere it became seriously vulgar, kind of gross to look at and just plain embarrassing. There’s nothing wrong with wearing a thigh-skimming dress, but ladies, when did we forget how to sit on a park bench without flashing our various bits to the world? When did acting like a lady, with a bit of class, become uncool?

If the recent run of Fall shows is anything to go by, fashion has a new-found sense of propriety and once you’ve mastered it, I bet you’ll never look back. It’s a look that was lauded not only by the establishment – Oscar De La Renta, Chanel, Lanvin – but also the new guard: Phillip Lim, Loewe, Proenza Schouler, Jason Wu…

But this interest in pretty doesn’t have to be boring – au contraire. Think prim leading ladies, with sex appeal. It’s a way of dressing that speaks of cardigans showing off a wasp waist with cinched belts. It’s delicate, sheer blouses worn over a beautiful lace bra. It’s pumps that add an exquisite arch to the foot.

As Calvin Klein’s Franciso Costa once put it “there’s a subtlety to this look. And with beautiful hair…wonderful shoes…you’re done”

Thakoon Fall 09

Phillip Lim Fall 09

Miu Miu Fall 09

Louis Vuitton Fall 09

Chloe Fall 09

Loewe Fall 09

Chanel Fall 09

Valentino Fall 09

Zac Posen Fall 09