These days everywhere I look, everything I hear…babies, babies, babies. Toddlers too and expectant moms — and dads.  Take David Letterman.  If the guest isn’t pregnant herself (like Amy Adams, just the other night), a good chunk of every other interview is pretty much a revolving child’s tale.

Not that I mind, of course.  I’m a mom myself.  But somehow, it’s a sign… and a timely one at that.  Two of my favorite clients were expecting (one still is) and I’m charged with helping them dress for their jobs — on air.  No easy task that.  So I always take note when I see it particularly well done.

While reviewing the People’s Choice awards “Best & Worst” looks on The Huffington Post, I clicked another link and found the very pregnant Jenna Elfman. Another click revealed a lot more pregnant paparazzi pix and I smiled.  She gets high marks for style success under the influence of expectancy.

Her pitch-perfect, black tie maternity outfit hit all the right notes as it tastefully accentuated her best features at this time — her arms and of course, a pretty face all aglow.

First, she chose a fuss-free black dress with a nod to the current trend of Goddess-style draping and one-shoulder baring.  To elongate her silhouette and keep the focus above the bulge, she wore black opaque hose (possibly Wolford because of the heavy “satin” sheen).  Not sold on her shoes but gladiator styles are all the rage so why not.  I might have skipped the rhinestone embellishment on the straps.  But that’s me.  A burnished gold cuff and drop mesh earrings completed the look without competing with it. Nice.

That was my Google search.  Well, not exactly.  My initial search word was simply “shearling”.

A client wanted to know.  She wrote: “Shearling is fine – animal does not die, correct?  And nice and warm.  Would love this.  But no fur collar.”

I needed to know too.  I had two days to find her a warm yet politically correct coat for The World Economic Forum in Davos.

First up was a Wikipedia reference: “Contrary to misconceptions, shearling is not shorn wool; the term refers to the pelt of a yearling sheep that has been shorn only once by the process described above.”

Huh? What process?

Adding the words “dead or alive” to the search revealed the source of the Wiki entry.  Damn – a Peta link.  This was not looking good.

“Contrary to what many consumers think, “shearling” is not sheared wool; the term refers to the sheep. A shearling is a yearling sheep who has been shorn once. A shearling garment is made from a sheep or lamb shorn shortly before slaughter;”

“Shortly before slaughter” were the words I dreaded.

Working in fashion, I should have known this.  But I didn’t.  Maybe it’s my age.  I know things on a need-to-retain basis only.  Clearly, I did not need to retain the knowledge that a dead sheep (maybe more) was the origin of my most coveted wardrobe item: A Gucci shearling jacket, from the Tom Ford days.  Seriously, it’s the sexiest garment I own. Trust me, it is. (More on that another time.)

It’s the jacket I don not for warmth but for sheer effect. (Groan, ignore the obvious pun, which I only now just noticed!) This is no ordinary outerwear.  It’s black, of course — but that’s not why.  Its tight fit hugs every inch of my upper body with the accuracy of a vice-grip perfectly placed to accentuate my best assets: a tiny waist and too-big boobs.  At the cuffs, shamelessly long yet delicately wavy hair grazes my slender fingers… at the collar it frames my face and along the placket, distracts from my somewhat less-than-slender torso.

It does what no other article of clothing I own does.  It makes my 5’3” body feel six feet tall and me, like I own the world, or at least the part of Manhattan I happen to be in at the time.  It evokes the exact opposite thrill of Harry’s invisibility cloak.  I know the effect feeling good in something has on someone – never underestimate the power.  And yes, that’s sexy.

Begs the question: Would I feel the same way in a faux-shearling coat?

I don’t know, never tried one on.  But I suspect not.  There’s a weight to this jacket; there’s life in it.

Look, I don’t condone slaughter of any kind.  It’s unconscionable.  I once wrote a letter to The Montreal Gazette condemning all hunters and their cruel practices.  Soon after it was published, I received a hand-written, eight-page letter back from an aging trapper (I still have it) who explained the necessity of population control and assured me leg-hold traps and other inhumane means of capture were frowned upon and becoming increasingly rare.  I was 9, and his letter had influence.  I’ve been a fur-wearing carnivore ever since.

Come on, we’re humans.  Top of the species.  I eat meat.  I wear leather shoes.  I’d be a hypocrite if I took a stand against fur.  Besides, I’m from Canada.  I grew up wearing fur.  We all did.  It’s cold up there.

When I moved to New York City in the late 80s, I packed the oversized raccoon coat I was given on my 18th birthday.  I wore it once on a freezing Friday in February and had to dodge the paint-spraying Peta-philes at Fashion Week.  I wore it once again, on a chilly March day and was yelled at by kids in cars. Forget that I was channeling Ali McGraw in Love Story (they were clearly too young to get the reference), I did not feel sexy.

What I felt was shame.   But was I really ashamed to wear it?  No, I was just shamed into not wearing it.  So I put it away where it lives, so to speak, to this day.

Where I’m from, raccoons are rodents — cute but menacing creatures who break into locked garbage bins, wreak havoc and leave a trail of rotting food.   As annoying as they are, would I ever think of laying a trap to kill them, then hire someone to skin them and make me a coat from their warm furry pelts?

Uh, no.  Just the writing of those words turns my stomach.

When I read of slaughter-house atrocities, I’m horrified.  But it’s fleeting.  That’s honest.  Same effect as that book Skinny Bitch – you know, the one that disgusts you into shunning the human consumption of all things once alive and bleating (or clucking, or quacking, or mooing).  Got half-way through it before handing it to my boyfriend for validation.  Two pages in, he tossed it back, explaining its sensationalist tone was designed to do just that: horrify.  To become a follower of the born-again vegan authors, he explained, I’d literally have to stop eating meat, not to mention burn all my shoes as well as purses and leather jackets.  Oh yes, and the fur of course.

Well, that’s just not going to happen any time soon.  I’m horrified only when I’m forced to think about it.  The rest of the time I live in a semi-blissful state of thinly-veiled ignorance.

Maybe if all those items at point of sale had hang-tags of origin, I might think twice before buying let alone wearing.  Colorful tags with a cute photo of the “source” animal, a large number beside it to indicate how many were used in the creation of the garment, a graphic symbol to show the method of killing — or if it died of natural causes, maybe even a freshness date-stamp, like the ones on a package of steak or chicken.  I’m thinking that could probably do it — kill the fur trade, that is.  But that’s not going to happen any time soon either because shoes and shearlings only come with price tags.

Unlike the transparent packaging of a steak or chicken which leaves nothing to the imagination, full disclosure labeling on animal-derived clothing items would, at the very least, raise our awareness and give us an opportunity to decide for ourselves – the way we do when choosing to buy that steak, if we eat steak.

Now there’s an idea Peta can push.

]]> http://alltalkstyle.com/?feed=rss2&p=43 0 http://alltalkstyle.com/?p=36 http://alltalkstyle.com/?p=36#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:28:17 +0000 Anthea http://alltalkstyle.com/?p=36

For a girl who spends most of her time in women’s fashion, I’m sure spending a lot of time on this Blog taking about men.  Given that I’ve only written three posts to date, “a lot” isn’t very much but still…

So last night, on Letterman.  Three Yankees.  All suited up.  Looked so strange, no?

I’m mad for a man in a suit and tie. (Love Mad Men for that very reason, and so many others.) But these three men just looked so awkward, to me.

I understand the Yankee dress code of short haircuts and little-to-no facial hair. It’s all very proper and old-fashioned and I like that. But last night, the suits wore the men. And that’s never  a good look.

They would have looked — and probably felt — so much better if they’d ditched the ties in favor of open-neck shirts.  Still dressed up, still ‘uniform’ but a little more real and believable.

Why purple....why me?

Five months in, they ditched Conan’s blues in favor of purple. Well, lavender shirt, purple tie.

But why?

I get that this purple derivative  is a softer complement  to his red hair than deep cobalt, but pairing it with brown, while not horrible, well it’s just not great.  Grey would have been a better match.  But not brown.  Not on Conan.

For the first time, I think it looks like he (or someone) is trying too hard.  Or trying to soften his hard edge.

Again, why?

He doesn’t have to try hard at all. I love Conan.  And I love his hard edge.  He’s smart, funny and quick.  Blue is his best mate, white a little less so but still works because it’s bold, like him. There’s just no need to go traipsing around the color wheel just to add diversity.  That’s what guests are for.

I like my talk show hosts — the ones I like anyway — to be well-dressed and there’s something comforting in the predictability of a ‘good look’.  Change the color way and it throws me off.  Take last night: I was so busy wondering why they put him in purple that I missed the brilliance of half the monologue.  That’s not right.

OK, maybe it really is just me.

At first, I thought it was just me.

I happen to have a thing for a particular shade of blue (on men) so I tend to notice (more than most) when it shows up (on a man).  And there it was, night after night, five days in a row, on Conan.

I snapped the pic on Friday 6/12. 

Now I understand it’s a fab match/foil for his new backdrop but just as I questioned if this were his new signature of sorts, I saw a promo for a future show where he sported — say what?! — a bright white shirt.  An early promo shot?  A bona fide outtake? 

No idea.  Either way, theory squashed.

So I did what I should have done before writing this and a quick Google search of “Conan’s blue shirts” revealed that indeed I was not alone.  (Late to the party, again!)

On 6/4 there was this  and then, on 6/13, this, the NBC forum (scroll past the white shirt promo pic, it’s a decoy!)

The fact that we are even talking about this says something.  So I decided to keep a close and watchful eye.  Only I didn’t, really. However, I did notice another white just the other night (pic below, 6/16) …but then the blues were back yesterday. 

Between the two,  I vote blue.   If you even care, you?