If dreams are like a second shift where you work out problems in your subconscious mind, then they surely say something about what’s important to each of us.

I’d like to say that my dreams are about ending domestic violence, hunger or human trafficking, all of which I do care about deeply. Sadly, I frequently dream about shoes and clothes—as if there weren’t already plenty of evidence that my mind is too often occupied by fashion.

Exhibit A: In a hospital recovery room after having my wisdom teeth pulled, I chatted up the recovery room nurse from the depths of an anesthetic fog. “I have a pair of shoes just like yours,” I said. Much later, I realized how unlikely it was that a recovery room nurse would have been wearing a pair of black patent pumps.

Exhibit B: Last night, I dreamed that I found two pair of Talbots pumps on sale for $19 each—one in nude, the other in a lovely shell pink. It was a terrible quandary: should I buy one or both?

I promise you one thing: if you make an appearance during my nightly slumber, I’ll remember you by what you are wearing.

Now occupying my dreams: how to fulfill the $75 Summer Challenge.

This week’s entry is a vintage seersucker dress that was just hanging in my closet unworn. For some reason, I’ve never been able to part with it. I always felt a subtle change could transform it into a great summer dress. But what?

I snipped 7.5 inches off the original mid-calf length for a knee length dress that has an infinite possibilities. After serging the edges, removing the too-high belt-loops and hemming the dress, I combed my scarf collection for a belt. I roughed it up by pushing up the three-quarter length sleeves and turning up the collar. Quirky shoes finished the rescue mission. Cost: $0.00!

Tip for your thrift shopping: look for dated things that can be easily updated with a bit of sewing and a few accessories.

Join me on the $75 Summer Challenge by leaving a post on my Facebook page or leaving a comment with a link to your blog post!

Anything in your closet that has possibilities with a subtle rework?

Have I mentioned that I LOVE to analyze the significance of dreams? What are you dreaming about?

Life is short. Wear the good stuff.

One of the most common myths about vintage fashion is that it’s expensive. Au contraire, mademoiselles. If you and I were to restrict all our buys to vintage or secondhand fashion, our spending would take a sharp nosedive. As a bonus, we’d find ourselves organizing looks that are infinitely more interesting and fun to wear.

Even a more moderate approach––combining vintage and secondhand fashions with high-quality, contemporary staples––can still yield remarkable style on a modest budget. Who wants to wear all vintage all the time, anyway? Boring!

How creative can you be on $75 for 11 weeks?

To prove my claim, I’m challenging readers to join me in My $75 Summer, a series of posts designed to show just how creative you can be by pairing your secondhand and vintage buys with contemporary clothes already hanging in your closet––all on a budget of $75––for the whole summer.

You know the saying: necessity is the mother of invention. The moment you put a dollar limit on your spending, the gears in your brain begin a sorting process every time you shop. What do I have and how can I make it more interesting?

Join the fun!

To participate in My $75 Summer, friend our Facebook page and share your look (or a link to your look) under the hashtag #My$75Summer. Or, if you prefer Twitter, use the same hashtag. I’ll run this series now through the end of August. That gives us roughly 11 weeks to spread our budgets. Don’t feel that you have to share something every week–although that would be awesome. Just show us your spectacular creativity on a budget whenever you feel like it. You can always keep track on your own and share whatever you like.

I’ll be posting my own additions to the series once a week, but for the sake of truth in advertising, let me add one caveat: I’m in the midst of a collaboration with another blogger. Our work may require a few buys that are not part of this series. I operate on a very lean budget, so those won’t amount to much. Those items will be called out as part of a different series, so I can still track how well I did on the $75 challenge. (I may be a head case, but at least I’m honest about it.)

Week One

The series begins today with this plaid wrap skirt, a vintage find for $4.29 at Goodwill. The worn places on the inside hem tape and waistband exposed something that wasn’t evident on the outside: this was once someone’s much-loved summer skirt. And now, it’s mine for four-twenty-nine. (FYI: I wrote that just for the rhyme.)

It’s an oldie––enough so that the thread was beginning to deteriorate. Fortunately, the wear-like-iron poly-cotton fabric still looks like new. I did some mending to repair the interior waistband and hem and then paired it with this Land’s End Shell, a basic that has given me unbelievable service. When I bought it, I felt that I paid too much. But that was before I saw how many ways I would wear it. Remember the pristine vintage Ferragamos I snagged last winter for a song? They complemented the skirt perfectly. That’s my Week 1 installment.

Now…where’s yours? Won’t you join me for My $75 Summer?

Life is short. Wear the good stuff.

I regret the youthful insanity that once caused me to slather on tanning lotion and lay in the sun, hoping for a tan. Fortunately, it never became a habit because a) it was too uncomfortable and b) I finally had the good sense to realize that my fair skin was never going to get as brown as my lightest freckle.

A tan was once regarded as a sign of a person’s low station in life. Well-bred women did everything possible to cover themselves with hats and parasols to avoid getting a tan. That trend was turned on its ear after Coco Chanel returned from a sailing trip in 1923 and started a fad with her bronzed skin. How sorry I am to find that my old idol is credited with starting the tanning craze.

People still visit tanning beds, don’t they? For most of us, though, tanning has almost become taboo. Aiming for a healthy, bronzed look isn’t what it used to be, now that we fully understand the sun’s damaging effects—and now that self-tanners are so improved. (Although I contend that they may not be any healthier than the sun!)

In the 1970s, everyone wanted that sun-kissed look. As a fair-skinned redhead, I always felt out of step with old summer beauty rituals. Today’s ivory-skinned stars and runway beauties have mostly advanced the cause of people like me who gave up on tanning.

If we aren’t afraid of skin cancer, we’re at least concerned about the sun’s ability to make us look old before our time. More of us are using sunscreen. Despite better information on the health risks from the sun, we still have a lot to learn about sunscreen. I’ve been a devoted sunscreen user for as long as I can remember, but I only recently learned these tips from recent science on sunscreens.

Here are five revelations about sunscreen.

Don’t use sprays. As an avid golfer, I’ve always hated the way a thick, gooey sunscreen feels on my skin on a hot day. Unfortunately, it’s the better solution. Reason: Sprays don’t deposit enough protection. If that’s not enough to dissuade you, consider the risk of inhaling a thin mist of spray into your lungs. Bummer. I just bought a can for my golf bag.

Look for broad-spectrum protection. Choose products that offer UVA and UVB protection. Once upon a time, most sunscreens only protected us from ultraviolet B rays that caused sunburn, but they did nothing to keep us protected from ultraviolet A rays that cause aging, skin damage and cancer. Today’s sunscreens are required to carry a label that specifies their level of protection.

Reapply often with SPFs of 30 to 50. Anything above 50 is overkill. Worse, it can give you a false sense of protection that convinces you there’s no need to reapply. In fact, you should reapply at least every two hours. Apply generously in dollops the size of a golf ball.

Know your skin care products. Pay attention to other products like makeup and anti-aging formulations you may use that contain vitamin A and retinol products, which can cause greater sensitivity to the sun.

Pay attention to sunscreen ingredients. Nearly half of all sunscreens contain a chemical called oxybenzone, which can disrupt hormones, causing allergic reactions. It’s still a hotly contested, but most advocacy groups suggest products that use zinc oxide and titanium dioxide instead. Downside: they leave a milky white layer on the skin. Also avoid products with fragrance. They can add sensitivity.

To find the best suncreens, visit The Environmental Working Group, where you can search their 2013 database for information drawn from the EWG’s 2013 Guide to Sunscreens

I love to play golf in the sun, but I simply can’t bear to pull weeds under the same conditions. Is there something wrong with that picture? What are your plans in the summer sun? I hope whatever they are, you’ll be using sunscreen! I’m buying sunscreen for five random people who share this link and let me know about it on Facebook or Twitter using this hashtag: #DHDSunscreen

Stay tuned later this week and I’ll tell you about my $75 summer challenge.

Life is short. Wear the good stuff.

My routine has been ruffled.

Garrison Keillor’s voice keeps me company a few minutes out of every morning while I get dressed. But this Monday morning, listeners like me got a jolt when the lead-in music for The Writer’s Almanac was followed by a different voice––former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins. I panicked a little. “Where’s Garrison?” I wondered. Taking some time off for his summer tour of The Prairie Home Companion, according to his web site. Collins will be guest hosting for Keillor through August. No offense to Billy Collins, but I miss Garrison already. You?

Secondhand First news

I’m trying to discipline myself to shop my closet and buy second hand more. (Have you taken Citizen Rosebud’s Secondhand First Pledge?) That’s why Walk In My Closet sounds so intriguing. It’s a new iTunes app that lets you create a boutique of virtually everything you own. You can make packing lists and sell things you don’t wear. Hmmm. I smell a download coming on.

Something old, something new

I shopped my closet this week with something old (this nubby, white tunic, which I’ve had for years) and something new, a Soft Surroundings maxi-skirt I bought on sale. I’m sort of into this whole long-skirt thing this summer. Could it be the way it hides a multitude of sins without looking dowdy? I added this $3 St. John belt. See the little St. John charm that dangles from the underneath side? I’ve probably said this before, but this is probably the only St. John item I’ll ever own.

Hillary Clinton can be funny.

At the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards this week, Clinton deadpanned her idea for a potential new TV show: Project Pantsuit. Clinton was there to introduce Oscar de la Renta, one of the designers she patronized as First Lady.

Indy’s fashion scene heats up

One of the local fashion groups I frequent is on track to outnumber New York’s group of fashion entrepreneurs. Pattern Indy ranks as the fourth largest fashion entrepreneur group on Meetup. At this writing, the New York group had 806 members. Indy has 763. Look out!

It’s all about choices

Unless you were born with a trust fund, you’re probably like me: you continually make choices between what you’d like to do and what makes a living. I’d love nothing more than to spent whole days on this blog, but here’s the reality: so far, my blogging hasn’t made enough money to pay for a year’s supply of lipstick. Could it surpass that? Maybe. But I’d have to quit doing things that already ARE making money. How much sense does that make?

Some things (like blogging your passion) are worth doing for their own sake. As soon as you start doing them for money, they are suddenly less fun. Let’s just say that I’m not confused about what real entrepreneurs do to make money. I consider myself blessed to earn a living doing things I love to do. This blog? Pure fun for me.

Next week, I’m guest posting about success habits I learned from watching my husband grow his business. The post will appear in a blog published by K. Taylor and Associates, LLC, an Indiana-based leadership development company. If you like following content about personal and organizational development, you might want to add this blog to your feed.

Even famous people have to choose sometimes

Miuccia Prada, mother of all thoughtful designers, has her own set of dilemmas. A New York Times reporter asked her why she doesn’t use her considerable clout to change our culture’s view of aging by using older models on the runway. She answers thusly: “Mine is not an artistic world, it is a commercial world. I cannot change the rules.”

As the designer who is credited with making it cool to mix prints, Prada knows where to draw the line on making a statement. She knows what side her bread is buttered on and, so far, the conditions aren’t right for that kind of boldness. There’s a very cool profile on her in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, where she talks about the prison our culture makes of aging. (Really? Because I find it sort of liberating.) She also acknowledges the snob factor in the fashion world, where designers often refuse to involve themselves with real life. Two words: uh huh!

Since this is the closer to a weekly digest, here’s a random question for you: The Chicago Sun Times eliminated its entire staff of photographers this week. What’s your reaction to that?

Life is short. Wear the good stuff.

Monday’s style is Sunday’s church clothes, laid out on my bed and ready to wear.

***

To kick off summer, one of my clients asked for a blog post about beating the heat. That—and the fact that I forgot to apply deodorant when I left the house for an afternoon of golf (yikes!)—got me thinking about the history of deodorant. According to an Auburn University doctoral student, it was first introduced in 1888 in a product called “Mum.” Check out this early ad for Mum or this one for Odorono, both of which play on the insecurities of women and our supposed desire to make ourselves attractive to men. And how about this offensive ad?

The first deodorants were floral-scented creams, advertised in a way that emphasized femininity. As natural as it is to sweat, the first ads for women’s deodorant appeared in the back of magazines because women weren’t supposed to sweat—let alone need deodorant.

Contrast that with today’s ads.

1)   Clinical Strength Secret­­—Fear of being hurt: You’re tough. But your underarms are tender.

2)   Sure—I’m Sure.

3)   Secret—Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman.

4)   Dove—Hold your pose with confidence.

5)   Degree—Unapologetically strong.

Women are more cautious and aware of the harmful ingredients in perfumes and deodorants. What we put on our bodies goes straight through our bloodstream. How has that changed your choices about perfumes and deodorants? Coco Chanel said a woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future. What if she doesn’t wear deodorant??!!

 Life is short. Wear the good stuff.

I’m closing out this week of blogging on a high note—with a Q & A profile of my friend Bella Q., author of a wildly popular blog that’s much too deep and creative to call a fashion blog.

Bella has built a real community of committed friends by sharing her space, promoting others and being interesting to know. She often includes fantastic photo collages like this one from Easter. (It makes her look like a goddess, don’t you think?) There are flashes of brilliance and artistry in every post, not just with her visuals, but also in luminous poetry and prose that’ll give you a daily literary snack, and when she has time, an entire buffet.

Like a moth to a porch light, I was drawn to Bella’s independent streak and her interest in shopping secondhand and remaining relevant after a certain age. These mutual preoccupations formed the beginnings of a friendship that’s now in full bloom—one where we both feel comfortable letting our hair down with each other. We’ve both weathered the learning cycle of online selling and have the scars to prove it. That only adds to our common ground.

And so, if you haven’t already added Citizen Rosebud to your follow list, do it now. Also visit Bella’s Etsy store, where she curates an exquisite/eclectic collection of vintage and revived fashion accessories and clothes, some of which she models at Citizen Rosebud.

Meet Bella Q., author of Citizen Rosebud

What do you think about aging? Is there anything that has surprised you about the age you are now?

Well, there are pros and cons to aging. If I had my wits of 48 and my ass of 28, it would be an unbeatable combo.

Do you talk to people seated next to you on airplanes? What’s the most surprising/notable thing you learned in these conversations that sticks with you?

Yes. I talk to almost anything that moves, but doesn’t move away. The most memorable airplane seat combo was during my singular trip to the UK. I sat next to a sweet British man, about my age. Turned out we both shared the same birthday. I also impressed him when I shared my itinerary. I was slated to visit Bath and London, but wanted to see if I could check out a small town called Rochdale. For me it had significance as it was where the first consumer cooperative was founded in the 19th century. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_cooperative_movement) He had grown up near there and said if you want to see the real England––not the tourist version, you would do yourself a favor by visiting Rochdale. He also said it impressed him that I was interested in that town. We then discussed the nuances of football/soccer fandom in the UK.

What cause do you care enough about that you would (or already do) donate your time to?

I would love to commit more time to a charitable cause than I do. Because at the moment I do zilch.

What’s your favorite beauty tip?

Beauty tip? Ah, I’ve got one: tell yourself you are beautiful beyond belief and then believe it. Works wonders on the eye areas.

What famous personality from the past has a personal style that you’re most drawn to wear yourself?

It’s so cliché, but I adore Audrey Hepburn’s style. Still looks fresh and classy. I’m not sure I wear things how she would have, but her personality inspired me to wear things a certain way—personally flattering with a focus on classic garments that always work.

Introvert or extrovert?

I’m a charming cocktail of both. I took whatever personality test one takes in college and I was an odd mix of both. I seem like an extrovert to many, but inside I’m very introverted and introspective—in an outgoing way, of course.

What’s the last good book you read and why did you like it?

I am now, thanks to the internet, sadly illiterate. Haven’t read a decent book in YEARS. I’m so ashamed of it—need to read less online I suppose.

If you have just five minutes to do something to care for yourself, what will you do?

Ok, this is going to sound a bit silly, but it’s cutting hearts out of scissors. I haven’t been my creative self unplugged since I went freelance five years ago. My creative juices get harnessed to work projects but they don’t get to “just play.” I am a terrible draw-er, but I love to cut paper into funny shapes, people, whatever strikes my fancy. So I’ve decided to spend a few minutes, when I ‘m in between things—like waiting for the printer to print things—to just grab my scissors and cut out hearts from scrap paper. It’s sort of meditative and it reminds me to not think of everything as a project or work. Play and acts of creation are important ends to means in and of themselves.

What’s the most challenging and the most rewarding part of maintaining a regular fashion blog?

This question is a tough one—not in coming up with the answer, but in saying it nicely. I love, love, love writing and blogging. But making money from it is tough. TOUGH. If I were to break down the money I make vs. time spent it would be pennies per hour. Now that I’ve got the pressure to earn a living, it’s so hard to stay focused. I have to earn my keep—and I can’t write all the things I want to write about (like other +40 bloggers and maintaining the +40 Blog Roll) I have to have the good sense to prioritize my time between making living vs. writing about things that interest me. Still trying to balance it. It’s difficult to admit that my blog or my blogging career doesn’t have the earmarks of a financial success–yet.

The rewarding part is not hard to name. It’s the amazing community and people I’ve “met” via blogging. Hands down, the best thing to come from blogging is the opportunity to connect with so many amazing people who share similar passions regarding personal style, fashion and secondhand shopping. Many, like you, I consider dear friends, even though we’ve not yet met. And I can’t believe my good fortune to have surrounded myself with so many quality and interesting people.

What are you doing as play, meditation and acts of creation? I’d love to hear what gets your creative juices flowing!

Life is short. Wear the good stuff.

Part of the fun of a vintage non-fiction book is finding the entire thing so out of date that it’s laughable. That’s exactly what I expected to find when I discovered James Laver’s 1946 edition of A Letter to a Girl on the Future of Clothes.

It’s part of a series of books published by Home and Van Thal Ltd., a London publisher that commissioned such titles as A Letter to My Son, by Osbert Sitwell; Recipe for Reading, by Herbert Van Thal; Letter to an Undertaker, by Peter De Polnay; and Letter to a Young Politician, by Vyvyan Adams. All are little hardcover tombs loaded with wit, humor and practical advice, penned by authors who would be known today as “subject matter experts.”

Mr. Laver, an author and the former curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, has written this short treatise for an undetermined 10-year-old girl to read when she turns 20—which renders an interesting effect: it treats the present as past before it has even happened. In it, Laver declares that fashion isn’t the superficial subject so many people imagine.

Laver wonders about such things as:

“Why do we wear the clothes we do? There is nothing more intimately part of ourselves than the clothes we wear and it often astonishes me that there is so little curiosity about them.”

I’ll second that, James.

He gives a context for another way to talk about clothes.

“It consists in an endeavor to delve deeper into the subject than fashion journalists are likely to do, to be concerned not only with the What, but with the When, the How and the Why. The When would involve us in at least a cursory survey of the whole history of Fashion; the How would necessitate the same enquiry in breadth as well as in length, and the Why would take us into the very depths of the human psyche, making our way as best we could through the jungles of politics and economics and the swamps of psycho-analysis.”

This is the terrain that today’s fashion bloggers can stake out better than any fashion magazine.

He explores our mysterious inability to actually see the present.

In every age, we’re unable to identify the typical fashion of the present year or era. It is only after time passes that we can arrive at the main trends and essential lines. In the present, we’ll insist that we dress to suit ourselves. “The present,” he says “runs through our fingers so quickly that we cannot even see it until it has become the past.”

Well, yes. It’s the same phenomenon that helped me cull pleated pants from my wardrobe despite the fact that I wore them exclusively 10 years ago. I simply could not see how they looked when I was actually wearing them every day.

He dissects the very nature of a trend.

Why do all women “happen to like” the same clothes at the same moment in time and despise it a short time later? Why do we peer into our closets and insist that we have nothing to wear when there is a closet full of choices? Laver distills the explanation into three principles: 1) utility or how wearable and comfortable is it for one’s daily activities 2) attraction or whether it is a joy to the eye 3) seduction or the way it draws attention to one charm after another of the human body.

All these things work together to explain why sloping shoulders are the “apex of beauty” in one age when square shoulders trump in another.

One last Laver gem I can’t resist sharing

“Louis XIV, that most gorgeous of monarchs, never washed in his life. He was washed twice; once when he was born and once when his royal, but unsavoury corpse was laid out for burial. For the whole intervening period, he contented himself with dipping his fingers in rose water and sprinkling a few drops on his face.”

…Things I might never have known had I not made my way through Laver’s book, which is a surprisingly relevant discussion of fashion. From this reading, I can only encourage you not just to wear vintage fashion, but to read it.

What about you?

Could you identify something that’s uniquely 2013? Do you really know why you wear what you do? If you had to say so, do you dress more for utility, attraction or seduction? I’d love to hear how you’ve explored it “to the very depths of the human psyche.”

P.S. The vintage linen hanky underneath the book in the photo above can be purchased at my Etsy shop for $7. I currently have  some very sweet vintage jewelry there, too.

Life is short. Wear the good stuff.

At the start of May, my neighborhood begins a transformation. Semi-trucks holding race cars roll off the 465 exit ramps and down the street toward the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS).

People who live in the immaculate 1950s brick houses that surround the track embellish their postage-stamp yards with checkered flags, “Welcome Race Fans” banners and “Park Here” signs. An impromptu dinner at Dawson’s on Main might end with a surprise sighting of Mari Hulman George tottering out of the restaurant toward an IMS van. It carries her two blocks to an inconspicuous home on the IMS grounds.

I’ve driven past the track thousands of times since we moved to this neighborhood 15 years ago. Never had I noticed this house until last Thursday night, when my husband suggested we drive by the track after dinner at Dawson’s. As we wheeled into the Brickyard Crossing parking lot, we noticed a van parked just behind a modest house on the left—the same van that had just retrieved Hulman George. The Hulman family must spend a bit of time there in May.

How could we miss this? It made me wonder how many things we haven’t noticed. And that’s why I visited the track this week for a few behind-the-scenes shots to share with you.

For out of state readers, Mari Hulman George inherited a vast fortune left by her parents, Anton and Mary Hulman, who owned The Hulman Company and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Like her mother before her, Mari is also the voice who calls the beginning of The Indianapolis 500: “Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!”

My distant affiliation with the Hulman family: as a college student, I boarded in the home of Mrs. Cornell, an elderly Terre Haute resident who was once in love with Anton Hulman. At the time I knew Mrs. Cornell, more than 60 years had passed since she and Anton were an item. That did not keep her from asserting that she — not Mary — should have been Mrs. Hulman.

I’ll be honest: I have no real love for racing. In fact, most Memorial Day weekends, we aren’t here for the race. But I am proud to live in the racing capital of the world. It’s fun to remember the two times I attended the Indianapolis 500: the low-life, snake-pit way as a college student and the high-brow, corporate way when I was dating my husband.

Wow. People actually make a full-time living scalping tickets. Call me naive. I had no idea! These guys were from Texas, Iowa, Pennsylvania and North Carolina — all competing for the same business. I tried to interview them about their business model. That was a brief conversation! Our neighborhood is dotted with scalpers the last two weeks in May.

I so wanted to believe that I would find a few fashion shots at the track. This woman in a classic white T and jeans was the most intentional fashion I saw all day — unless you count the couple in matching Hawaiian shirts. She looks casual, but crisp, doesn’t she? I gave the best-dressed award to the racing crews. A+ for color coordination.

The Pagoda

The guys at the neighborhood Shell station talked me into a photo op in this Indy car. You have to lie down to drive an Indy car. I guess your head can’t be sticking out of the car when you’re going 225 miles per hour.

The Andretti RV. There’s a certain Italian influence to this design.

The drivers, larger than life. I saw Helio Castroneves on his way to an autograph session, but he was holding hands with a little girl (his?). I didn’t have the heart to snap their photo.

On Community Day at the IMS, you can take a lap in your own car, but keep in mind: there’s a police car on the side of the track in case you’re tempted to see how fast you can run.

What are your weekend plans? What are you wearing to the Indianapolis 500 or wherever you’re going this weekend? And who will you give remembrance to this Memorial Day weekend?

Admit it. You think a corsage is a small spray of flowers worn on a woman’s clothes, don’t you? Well it is. But it’s so much more than that—or less, depending on the dimension of your bust. In costuming, the term refers to the upper part of a woman’s dress, what’s there and what’s not. I was blown away when I learned this lesser-known meaning while reading last night. Corsages were fresh in my mind, having just purchased them for Mothers Day.

Before we go any further, let me be frank about something: you will never see me in a low-cut neckline. I just had to get that off my chest. (As though I need any reductions there.) I want you to understand—it’s not just that I don’t want to show my less-than-impressive décolleté; I don’t want to see yours either. No, indeed.

But I am outnumbered on that count and have been since Adam and Eve. Throughout history, women have been anxious to display our bosoms. Sure, there are exceptional eras and cultures, but breast-baring has been “in” as much as it’s been “out” over time.

Here are some early examples of exposed décolleté

• Crete art from 1600 B.C. shows a shocking display of bosom that’s far more revealing than a Victoria Secret ad. Think of a bib. Now think of the bib cut away from the bodice of a dress. That’s what I’m talking about!

• In the 1570s, high-collared ruffs were worn as part of aristocratic society, the better to hold your snooty neck up above the crowd. Poor Queen Elizabeth had to merge the ruff with another status symbol for women—the display of her décolleté, which she accomplished by opening the front to expose the bosom and letting the ruff rise at the back of the head. You’ll see this in many contemporary portraits of her.

• If you think women are scantily clad today, you need to revisit the early 19th century when it looked like all clothes were made for summer. Winter in Paris? Chilly!

• Preachers and doctors railed against V-necklines in 1913. Preachers called them indecent. Doctors declared them unhealthy. But pneumonia blouses caught on anyway.

Why no pictures? A) You already know I’m not a fan of the exposed bosom. B) I can’t just snag any old picture from the web and use it on my site. Yes, friends, I try to follow copyright law. Kind of a prude that way, too!

This dress with its square neckline is perhaps the lowest neck I’ve ever worn—and it still could not be considered daring. (Worn with one of my favorites vintage pieces, a 1950s sequined sweater.)

What’s your feeling about décolleté exposure? And, by the way, when is the last time you had a corsage? Mostly, I’ve seen them at the wrist these days.

Life is short. Wear the good stuff.

The English author James Laver wrote things I’ve never heard of: the novel-turned- musical Nymph Errant (1933) and poems like A Stitch In Time and Love’s Progress. When he wasn’t writing fiction, Laver was a curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum who supplemented his income by writing magazine articles among other things.

It was his work as a fashion historian that brought him to my attention. Evidently, his background as an art curator made him a fanatic about accurately dating fashion images. And that’s how, in 1937, he came to co-host a TV program called Clothes Line, the first ever to cover fashion history. That same year, he published this composite of the entire fashion cycle:

Laver’s Law
Indecent – 10 years before its time
Shameless – 5 years before its time
Daring – 1 year before its time
Smart – current fashion
Dowdy – 1 year after its time
Hideous – 10 years after its time
Ridiculous – 20 years after its time
Amusing – 30 years after its time
Quaint – 50 years after its time
Charming – 70 years after its time
Romantic – 100 years after its time
Beautiful – 150 years after its time

Where would vintage fashion fit in Laver’s Law?

Has there ever been a time such as now, where we can style ourselves in vintage clothes and still hit Laver’s sweet spot––Smart? Here’s the conundrum: history has to become old before we can long to revisit it! Could we be the first generation to dig out our grandmother’s dresses and make them seem chic again?

In Laver’s Amusing category, check out this sketch for an L. Strauss ad, which appeared in the Indianapolis Star in 1974. Fashionistas, in those days, clothing ads were nothing like today’s four-color sale bills. Newspaper printing presses were still sort of primitive by today’s standards and many stores relied on sketches like this to show their wares.

When I found this ad in a Lafayette, Indiana antique shop, I time-traveled back to my freshman year of college. In my printing technology class, I learned to set type using letterpress type and Linotype machines—the predecessors to offset lithography printing and computerized typesetting. Yes, I’m that old!

Two fabulous fashion illustrators

Vintage clothes and vinyl records have made a strong comeback. But unless you count the occasional J. Peterman catalog, fashion illustrations haven’t been used to sell clothes since the late 1970s.

If you want to see some really great fashion illustrations, check out the work of: 1) my friend Jan Graham-McMillen at Fort Smith Stylista and 2) my wannabe friend Anne Bray at SpyGirl. Both are extremely talented artists and writers!

Where have all the fashion illustrators gone? And what are they doing now? Who is your favorite fashion illustrator/blogger?

Life is short. Wear the good stuff.