The arrival of the fall fashion magazines has always been my signal to think about fall clothes, even when I've lived in places like Florida and North Carolina where, in August, fall is just a hazy promise. (In Chicago August was a reasonable time to think about fall, so that you wouldn't be caught out on that first crisp day in mid-September; here in the Bay Area it may be a chilly August but September is likely to feel more like summer than fall.)

If I were better at fashion blogging (see last week's post) I would have a giant post with five gazillion images all laid out in the format of "my must-haves for fall!" in which any three of them would add up to more than a month's rent in any reasonable place. But since I'm crap at fashion blogging, I just have a random list, like those you might find in the bottom of your handbag after a trip to the grocery store.

Mine is:

— olive anorak/parka/long jacket?

— full pleated skirts? pencil skirts with bag pockets?

— wool/denim/twill Heidis with long-sleeved tees/vest sweaters, tights, boots?

— boots??

— shirtdresses?

Does that list make any sense? For fall I'm feeling two palettes: one mustard, olive, maroon or burgundy, with a caramel leather or camel coat (both of which I have, thankfully); the other (more towards winter) with dark and light gray, pale blue, black, with maybe pale yellow or chartreuse or even teal again. The limiting factors here are travel: I don't want to have half a week's clothes in each palette so that I have to pack two coats and two pairs of boots! 

I plan on riding my bike a good bit, so full skirts for days in the office, with a long anorak to keep the wind out; Heidis with boots for travel and meetings. I may be too goofy, round, and short to pull off the "multiple-long-layers over a shortish skirt, tights, and boots" look, but I can give it a try. 

"Boots" has two question marks after it because I have five pairs that I love and hardly ever wear. Plus one pair at the cobbler's being stretched. Why don't I wear them? I need to figure this out before I buy another pair, although this one is CALLING ME (only in black, please). 

And I do have a couple of shirtdress patterns that really, really need to be made up. They just look at me with those puppy-dog eyes whenever I open their box … but they would be for California wear only, too lightweight for travel to cold places. 

I believe the Heidis are self-explanatory … 

What does your fall list look like? Also — what's NOT on your list? I think I'm almost done buying vintage leather jackets (after the completely impractical robin's-egg-blue one I grabbed last week), boots (see above), tights in weird colors (have a box full), and hats, because I splurged on a couple Kangols last year (although I'm always tempted by cheap berets) … 

This dress deserves to have the internetism completely spelled out: Oh. My. God.

 

It's a 1950s olive pinstripe velveteen dress, any one of which adjectives would normally have me reaching for the "buy" button. Sadly, it's not my size (it's B36/W28), but if it's yours, you can find it here.

Here's what Robin (the seller) has to say about the designer of the dress, Mildred Orrick:

"I consider Mildred Orrick to be one of the secret weapons of ‘50s fashion. I think she was responsible for the best work under the Anne Fogarty label, throughout the mid-50s, AND she took over for Claire McCardell’s label when McCardell died in 1957. Her work is much rarer than both of those labels and just as great in design and quality. I'd also compare her to Tina Leser and Nettie Rosenstein."

Looking at the dress, I believe it! 

What's more, it has pockets. I TOLD you this was your lucky day … 

I thought that I had seen (and purchased!) every single vintage pattern with these lines but I either missed this one, or it has been erased from my memory by a team of top-notch dream-infiltrators led by a harried Leonardo DeCaprio. 

I'm not sure about the tame woolly caterpillars around the neck and sleeves of the gingham version, but since they don't seem terribly hairy maybe it means that the weather will be nice enough to wear this all winter. Right? 

I do wish I knew what both the models in this picture are eyeballing. From their eyelines, it's up on a platform or pedestal, and it's also something they don't want to look at head-on. My money is on a nude model who is also in the artist's studio where they are being drawn. What do you think?

(Also, apropos of nothing, Gingham Dress has weirdly modern shoes.)

This pattern is from Sheila at Out of the Ashes, and she's having a sale, starting today (8/25) and continuing through Wednesday, September 1st.  Get 20% off, with coupon code WASHDC. (She's going to be on a trip, thus the sale, but don't worry, she has her laptop with her and will acknowledge all orders …)

 

So I was leafing through one of the ten or so doorstop-sized fashmags I have delivered to my house every August, and saw a really fantastic wool skirt from Marni. "Aha!" I thought. "I can certainly post about this because I love it, it looks vintage-y, and it wouldn't be that hard to make yourself …"

But can I find a reasonable picture of it, short of scanning the actual magazine page? No, I cannot. And I'm not willing to spend hours trawling through runway pictures or visiting dodgy ecommerce sites (some of which PLAY MUSIC ON LOAD, which is quite possibly the most annoying thing you can do on your website, just so you know) just to find a picture of it. 

If I were running a fashion magazine (which obviously I'm not) I would have a blogger index on the magazine's website with thumbnails of images, tagged with both issue date and keywords. Add watermarks if you like, and maybe even offer an affiliate program for linking certain images to online shops — you'd get people linking back to you with credit, I bet. You could even make bloggers apply for access. Does anyone do this? The only thing that I can think even comes close might be Polyvore.

Anyway, this is the best I can do: 

Please ignore the gratuitous almost-cleavage and the truly heinous accessories (although the bag is really cute, in a completely impractical way) and the model's expression, which I think is trying to convey a combination of stern disapproval of the entire goings-on, and suppressed laughter. 

You can't tell from the image but the skirt (if indeed this is the same one) seems to have four gores with a gorgeous pleat right in the center of each gore. It's swingy and modern and vintage-y all at the same time (that description should also tell you why I'm not a fashion writer).

If anyone knows the skirt I'm referring to (can't even find the magazine right now — ANOTHER reason why I'm not a high-fashion blogger) please leave a comment with a better description!