Fashion: State Your Purpose

If you have a broad canvas, paint something grand. Enter: statement necklaces, cocktail rings, and wide-brimmed hats. Tall women can wear oversize accessories because our long profiles can carry off a few theatrics.

Take a tip from these runway designers, and pair dramatic decorations with clothing that has clean lines and a single, unifying color. Don’t clutter up your look—let one or two surprising (and shiny) pieces tell the story.

This silver neck cuff from Express and a cocktail ring made from vintage watch parts, like this one from Etsy, are always in my rotation.

And now, accessory inspiration from Work It, Berk, Vanessa Jackman, and The Sartorialist:


 


A watch, a cuff, a ring,  a belt, sunglasses, earrings, you name it. Make a statement.

Street Style: Tall Friends Edition!

Annie, 5’10” and Jordana, 5’7”

Brie, 6’0” and Kerry, 5’11.5”

Issues: Growing up…and up

I love my height, but I haven’t always. I’m sure all of you were in a similar position in elementary and middle school—back row center in every class photo, to be exact—because you were also the tallest ones there. I look back at those pictures and laugh a la awkwardfamilyphotos, but at the time it was pretty mortifying to tower over my classmates and many of my teachers—even the men.

I’m horrified that this still exists.

As an adult, being tall has advantages; numerous studies suggest that tall people earn higher salaries than short people, and one University of Pennsylvania study even claims that adults who were tall as adolescents (regardless of whether they ended up that way) have higher senses of self-worth and therefore higher earnings than those who were short in adolescence.

The flaw in this reasoning—especially for women—is that being unusually tall as a child and teen can mean being singled out, which can have negative mental and physical side effects, including low self-esteem and poor posture. By age 13 I had reached my full 6-feet, and I wasn’t fooling anyone. My parents told me time and time again to stand up straight and be proud of my height, but I knew other tall kids who hunched over and were extremely self-conscious.

At 23, I’ve left almost all of these negative feelings about my height behind me, but when I see tall young girls I want to tell them (with a slap if necessary) to be proud of who they are and how they’re made.

Street Style: Dekyi, 5’8”

I caught up with Dekyi on her way to a café. Her cable-knit sweater and sweater dress look really comfy and the cognac boots have just the right amount of cowgirl.

Event: Way, Way Back to the Future

With nearly 100 vendors proffering jewelry, shoes, clothing, and handbags from 125 years of fashion history, the Vintage Fashion Expo is a magpie’s dream. Glitzy brooches and shiny Bakelite bracelets gleam beside sumptuous velvets, laces, and furs. Founded in the late 1980s in Oakland, the expo now has five shows per year in California—two in San Francisco and three in Santa Monica.

I attended the March 17-18 expo at the Concourse Exhibition Center on 8th St. Clothing purveyors from across the country displayed their wares, including San Francisco’s La Rosa Vintage and Decades of Fashion and Oakland’s Soiree Vintage. Since many of the dresses, skirts, and tops, and nearly all of the shoes were too small for me (I have another post in the works about vintage sizing), I kept my eye out for unique jewelry and accessories. Susan Lemmon of Oakland’s Juniper Tree Vintage Dress Shop repurposes vintage beads into collars, earrings, and hair clips. She gave me a great deal on the pair:

The next vintage showcase is May 5-6 at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, and then the expo returns to San Francisco September 22-23.