The Perfect Coat : Dress Ratio

Burberry Porsum a/w 09/10
Perfect Coat to Skirt Ratio

Burberry Porsum a/w 09/10

Perfect Coat to Skirt Ratio

Although this has been one of our coldest winters in decades I still feel as though age has taken away my ability to block out the cold the way I used to. It was only a year or two ago that me and my friends would go to the clubs dressed in the tiniest of dresses with the tiniest of jackets and would brave the cold for sheer vanity. Now – I physically cannot. I mean I will still wear a dress bare legged in the snow – in fact I did that! But, I wore a three quarter length black Burberry Mac, which although is actually for the summer season proves to be much warmer than any cropped or waist length jacket that I would have donned years ago. In my attempt to wear jeans as little as possible, my Mac (well, like most of the expensive things I wear actually belongs to my mum) has proven to be the essential jacket for my evenings. Mac’s are the ideal coat to wear over a dress, there’s nothing that I hate more than to see a dress hanging out beneath a jacket or coat, unless it is an actual look – like a fitted jumper dress with an open leather biker jacket, or a small cropped jacket with a puff ball skirt – I suppose my point is unless the jacket is short enough it can just look a disaster. For example a jacket that just reaches the mid thighs being worn with a dress or skirt that meets the knees – OH NO!!! There is nothing worst than seeing a skirt gathering around the legs because the coat isn’t the right length or cut for the dress - the thought of this makes me cringe. You could have the most amazing coat on and be wearing the most beautiful dress, but this combination just murders the whole look. Of course, for some a coat is just to keep you warm – but I suppose a person with such an attitude would not be reading an article called The Killer Coat (unless it was about fur!) I believe that in most cases a coat should cover the dress or if not should be the right shape or cut for the dress. Smock coats over skirts and dresses are also a complete no- no. They shorten the body, make you look top heavy and do not balance out the body. Smocks need to be worn only with skin tight jeans or trousers. If you’re tall enough and fairly skinny then possibly you could wear a smock with boyfriend jeans. I would very rarely wear baggy garments on the upper and lower part of the body in one outfit.
It is hard to find a universal coat, one that can be worn for the evenings and day time, worn with long and short dresses and skirts, baggy or skin tight jeans, ankle boots or knee boots! If I was rich I’d have a huge collection of designer coats; Fay and Burberry would be rife in my dream coat wardrobe. Back to reality!!!! - Carrie Bradshaw (yes I am going to use a fictional character – it’s for fashions sake) always managed to get the coat and dress/skirt thing right. Watch a few Sex and The City’s and I’m sure you’ll agree. She does at times get it wrong, but she gets the coat thing...
Considering most of us aren’t Carrie Bradshaw, don’t have a stylist and an endless wardrobe I advise investing in a Mac. A real Mac – not these Macs that you find that have three quarter length sleeves and just about sit on your knees. I’m talking about a Mac that allows you to make a statement without needing to see any of your outfit beneath it, with a sharp collar, the right size lapels, belted cuffs and belted cinched in waist. The queen of the Mac is the Burberry Mac, of course they retail full price around the £700 mark, but in the sale these Macs go down almost 50% and trust me will last you a lifetime! I own a thirty year old Burberry Mac - it’s a classic, you can go into Burberry and buy it all year round. Of course thirty years ago a Burberry Mac cost £400!!! The Mac has one cracked button, the stitching of the buttons so tight that the button cracked instead of falling off! Other than that, it still has the exact same buttons and same stitching it did when it left the store. High quality Macs from high street stores in order, I would recommend French Connection (Best quality/ fairly expensive), Karen Millen (good quality/ acute attention to detail/ most expensive) Topshop (reasonably priced/ average quality/ trendy) Zara (reasonably priced/ average quality/ classic)!!!

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Bags of Attitude..............A Sicilian Winter Visit

I once wrote a poem in a poetry class at University about an evening out with my girlfriends, I wrote about the drinks we drank, the men issues we discussed and the Gucci bags we carried. My teacher asked me, ‘What do these Gucci bags symbolise?’ Typical poetry teacher question, I thought to myself and explained to her that they symbolise nothing, ‘They are just bags.’ She then said to me, ‘If they are just bags, there is no need to state that they are Gucci bags. Let’s be honest...,’ She continued, ‘these are little tokens of status.’
Five years ago when she made this statement I would have agreed – ninety nine percent of the reason I bought the bag was because it was Gucci and I definitely would not have purchased it had it been the exact same bag not designed by Gucci or another high end designer. Prior to my visit to Sicily I had proudly developed the attitude that high end designer bags were no longer of such importance, the key factor was the design of the bag. I very rarely carried a designer bag and when I did it wasn’t because it was Gucci or Dior, it was because I simply liked the design of the bag, it complimented my outfit and most importantly, it was already in my wardrobe. I happily carried beautiful leather bags from TK Maxx and never felt less stylish or fashionable because it wasn’t designed by a high end designer.
In Italy high fashion designer bags are in abundance - it’s almost a sin not to have one. Women swing their designer hand bags like a brownie sticks their badges to a sash. The bag is really that serious in Italy and bottom line is - it must be designer. Many of the times I have visited ninety nine point nine percent of the time I would not have been carrying a high fashion designer bag. I hoped that people would think I was dressed so impeccably well they’d naturally assume that my bag was designed by a high fashion designer or they’d just think that I was alternative and too cool to carry a designer bag. However it would seem that if you want to qualify as the fashion concerned, stylish woman in Italy there are a few things you have to get on board with –and carrying a designer bag is definitely one of them. As they say, ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!’ I suppose fashion is not a race that I’m prepared to lose and the Italians are way way up there with the true tasteful sense of dress – so adopting their style can’t be so much of a backwards move... or can it? Part of me can’t help thinking that it is!
In Sicily it’s not just about carrying a nice high fashion designer hand bag - the Chloe Padlock bag or the YSL down town bag, huge in London – wouldn’t have survived a second in the places I frequented in Sicily. These are up to the minute, beautiful, sexy bags, far more beautiful than a Louis Vuitton Monogram printed canvas speedy bag or a Burberry Check mini messenger bag. However, drinking on a Thursday night in Central Catania Sicily in a club that is essentially a designer bathroom show room by day and a club by night I stand with my partner and take in the Sicilian fashion trend. Now, this club is hosted by one of the top hosts in Catania, he also owns Studio 54 (which is a club I frequented during my summer in Catania) – he is the host of parties, wine bars and clubs to a relatively selective crowd – The London equivalent would be China Whites on a members night. China Whites on a members night would be inhabited by two kinds of women; the modestly dressed after work woman and the woman out for a night out, spruced up and sparkling. The difference between the two, aside from those that I have just mentioned, aside from the suit, strappy shoes and alcohol consumption would be, of course The Handbag. A woman out for a night out in London does not carry a hand bag – she clutches a clutch, the tiniest, most impractical of bags for any woman; some may be embellished with jewels, some may be expensive, others may not, some are vintage, some are satin, some are bright others are black, very few are covered in a Logo’d designer print and almost always they are worn to compliment an outfit. Studio 54, The Bathroom Show room – a designer bag hung from every woman’s body – whether it be held by handles in their hand or slung over their shoulder. These were not the tiny, impractical China White occupants’ bags – No. What were these bags? They were ‘Status Tokens’, Louis Vuitton Monogram and Burberry Check everywhere, almost mimicking the attitude of a chav (of course the style of a Sicilian woman ‘logo or no logo’ is far from anything remotely close to resembling that of a chav). And if the bag wasn’t plastered with a Logo all over it, you could assure it had such a huge featured logo that Stevie Wonder could identify the designer! These are not the bags that you see carried down the Catwalk, these are not the bags that a Londoner would particularly boast about. In London we go crazy over ‘IT’ bags; a snake skin Hermes Birkin, a Croc Kelly bag, a Fendi Spy bag, a Gucci Tassel bag or the Miu Miu Matelasse bag– I couldn’t help thinking that in Sicily bags were desired just because they were a designer bag with a logo. Let’s put it into context, the bags I have just listed are high fashion bags, you know these bags not because you like to look nice and like to go shopping, but because you have an interest in fashion. The bags I have listed are almost double the price of a Louis Vuitton Speedy bag (which was the most prevalent of all the bags carried) – so, is it worthwhile to invest in a high end designer bag that you want everyone to know is a high end designer bag without the obvious Logo print?
Probably not.
I was in a bar called Tinkite (Sicilian for ‘everything’) in Siracusa, with my partner, his friends the manager of Papini and a girl who we had met in the bar. She told me a story about her visit to a high end fashion retail store. She said she walked in the shop carrying a Pollini (logo’d) bag – she told me that in Sicily it is very normal that when you shop you are fussed over by sales assistant’s, Papini’s manager agrees, filling in; this is the way Italian’s like to shop. The girl carries on to say that she couldn’t have got an assistant’s attention if she’d of whistled. She goes on to say that she returns to the shop a few days later carrying a Channel bag, the sales assistants, she says, flocked to her like sheep to a shepherd. She believed it was due to the bag she was carrying. Can bags have this much impact? Part of me, ashamedly understands that they can.
I have tried to analyse the attitude of the Sicilian Logo bag carrying woman – surely she does not go into Burberry and buy a Burberry check bag because it’s the nicest in the shop. And then I realise – there is no Burberry in Sicily, there’s also no Emporio Armani, Fendi, Louis Vuitton or any other high end designer store. What they do have in Sicily are shops that have the mandate to sell designers in certain regions of the island, so it is probably almost never that you would walk into a shop in Sicily and see a designer’s full season, instead what you get is a selection of goods that the buyer for the shop knows will sell well. Secondly – it would appear that the majority of Sicilian’s, both men and women are concerned with elegance and class. They are not worried about frills, golden buckles, jewels or tassels – my senses tell me they prefer a simplicity; a classy and sophisticated look. They are never dressed overtly sexy, but nevertheless always carry themselves with a sexy, rich, elegant style. Point being, with a look that is almost timeless and definitely classic they needn’t worry about purchasing an up to the minute ‘high fashion’ bag. The bags they carry are the bags that Louis Vuitton and Burberry will stock season through season – the staple bag which never goes in or out of fashion. If it is for this reason that the Logo Bag Carrying is the trend, then it’s a technique I like and definitely a trend I would recommend to any fashion loving, ordinary waged person. I don’t necessarily like the fact that it ‘needs’ to be logo printed – but definitely agree it should be classic.
I enter Papini, a high end fashion retailer, with the mandate to sell Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Miu Miu, Balenciaga and many others I may not have noticed. I was undecided between two bags – one with a logo print and the other with a statement huge gold buckle (I am a sucker for gold trimmings). ‘I prefer the logo bag,’ the shop assistant says, she says something to my boyfriend in Italian, he translates, ‘She says if you’re only buying one bag then go for the logo one. You can grow tired of the buckles on the other bag. This one (points to the logo’d bag) is timeless.’
In the end I bought myself the bag the sales assistant had suggested (a plain black logo’d Fendi bag) and a Balenciaga wallet, ‘You can use these for life,’ my boyfriend said to me and to be quite frank that was exactly what I wanted to hear. I’m an average girl on an average wage – I can’t afford to spend the money I’m spending on a bag that’s only going to last me a season – Logo or no logo!

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