On the Street.....18th St., New York

On the Street.....Park Ave., New York City

The New Sartorialist Contest!!

So the recent Diana Vreeland posts have really been a teaser for the next contest.

For those of you unfamiliar, Diana Vreeland was a fashion editor and writer at Harper's Bazaar from 1937-1963 and later the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue from 1963-1971, after her editorial career she became a consultant to The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

If you haven't yet, you have to find a copy of DV, Diana Vreeland's autobiography, written in 1984. For fashion fans it is a fantastic glimpse of real chic in the last century, . It was the first book I read when I moved to New York twenty years ago and it helped me see fashion and Manhattan in a fantastic new light.

Ms. Vreeland was also the inspiration for the character of Maggie Prescott in Fred Astaire's ( as Richard Avedon) movie Funny Face. Remember the famous "Think Pink!" musical number...pure DV!

She was also the creator of the wildly popular "Why don't you..." column, which she began for Harper's Bazzar in 1937. I love the complete whimsy of these suggestions, they seem over-the-top and crazy, but at the same time they kinda/sorta make sense. What you have to remember is that the suggestions were based in reality, but it was Diana Vreeland's reality!

So, the idea of this contest is to update "Why don't you..." with a modern twist.

Maybe focus on the things that were not around at Ms. Vreelands time; the iPhone, Internet or the modern-day celebrity or just something in everyday modern life that we can all relate to but just a little crazier.....surprise us!

VERY IMPORTANT!

Submissions must be sent to sartorialistvreeland@gmail.com, that is the only way I can confirm the winner and know where to send the Celine book.

Please put "Vreeland Contest" in the subject line.

I will post the top submissions on the blog.

The contest will be open fron now until April 12th.

On the Street.....Anna in Red, Paris

A Month In Fashion

Fashion month really feels like fashion year (but all crammed into one month)!

It starts in January with Pitti Uomo in Florence and doesn't end till March with the womens collections in Paris.

Garance recently did a mash-up (my kids watch Glee) of some of our favorite moments.

I remember that most of the times Garance or Chris were filming me, I really didn't want to be filmed. They seem to find my exhaustion very funny. However , they say (not the Garance and Chris "they" but the general "they" that say things that we say they say) that comedy is pain plus time and now that I have a little time away from the pain the whole thing does seem pretty funny.

Garance Doré Studio

On the Street.....The Young West Village, New York

On the Street.....Before Armani, Milano

On the Street.....17th St. New York

In The Workroom....Luca R., Milano

On the Street.....Ada, Paris

The Family Portraits, Vintage Photo Contest

The date is January 3, 1954. Pictured in the center is my grandfather Yukio (known to me as Ji-chan, Japanese for Grandpa). My dad (pictured on left) is 9 here, his brother a couple years older. The three of them are getting ready to leave Japan for the first time and emigrate to California. My Japanese-American grandmother (born/raised in Calif.) had earlier left her family in Japan in order to find a job, a place to live, and get settled here. Then she sent over for her husband and kids to come and join her in the States.

This photo of Ji-chan reminds me of a Japanese Indiana Jones with the leather jacket and fedora, ready to go on an adventure in a far-off land. He always looked sharp when he went out.

Ji-chan was always a bit of a mystery to me as there was a language barrier (he spoke only Japanese) and he was a quiet man. But I really loved him. He would sneak behind my grandmother's back and smoke cigarettes in the garage or in the car. I'd always laugh at him becuase it was so obvious. He would awe me with his yo-yo tricks. When I was little I'd hold his hands and he would let me step on his toes while he'd walk around the house. And he was a highly regarded gardener in the Japanese community and won awards for his amazing bonsai plants. He was in his backyard garden, sitting at a chair next to a little table tending to one of his mini-tress when he passed away when I was 14. When my grandmother discovered him she thought that he was simply taking a nap because he looked so peaceful.

When I saw the pictures of my graceful compatriot on your site, I felt the urge to send some of my most cherished family photos too, those of my paternal grandmother Theresa Moreira Reis. She was born in 1903 in Recife, Northern Brazil, daughter to the city's most sought-after tailor. Politicians and other affluent people were part of his clientele, and her father's work influenced her sense of style throughout her life. Grandma Theresa was congenitally chic, and unpretentiously glamorous before fashion was in fashion. Her European taste in dressing must have made her stand out there and then.

Cool Girls on Motorcycles, Vintage Photo Contest

This is a photo of my Great-uncle Frank's former girlfriend taken in the early 1930s on my Great grandfather's ranch in Sun Valley, CA. I "borrowed" this photo from my Grandpa about 5 years ago so I could take it to my hair stylist for inspiration for a new haircut. I don't know anything about this woman other than she dated a family member and she liked to ride motorcycles, my Grandpa was only about 7 around this time so he doesn't remember much about her. Still I love this picture and everything the girl on the bike embodies.
I’m used to walk in the small markets of antique dealers and I found this pictures.
I paid attention to it as I liked the woman personality, riding the bike in an unusual or not so femenin way for the times it was done, but at the same time because she appears kind of “daring” style.