Category Archives: 2000s

Black Legends in Blackglama

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Lynn

I never understood the wording of these once ubiquitous ads for mink coats.  The people pictured in the ads were contemporary celebrities—legends in their own time.  To underscore that fact, their names were never mentioned in the photo.  Surely they … Continue reading →

Posted in 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990, 2000s, 2010s | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Lynn

What are your options if you are old and poor in America? That’s a question examined in Jessica Bruder’s bracing book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.  She traces the journeys of Americans living in trailers and campers who … Continue reading →

Posted in 2000s, 2010s | 3 Comments

Age Affirmative Advertising

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Lynn

How do you sell products designed for older people? The linguistic twists and turns of advertisers have always interested me, so I took a look at the collection The Aging Consumer, edited by Aimee Doret (New York, 2010.)  The most … Continue reading →

Posted in 2000s, 2010s | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Today’s Fit Patterns by Sandra Betzina—A Line for Older Women?

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Lynn

In the Spring of 1999, Vogue Patterns launched a new line by well-known sewing expert, Sandra Betzina.  This wasn’t just a collection of new designs; instead, Betzina introduced a new sizing system that she called “Today’s Fit.”  “Today’s woman doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in 1990, 2000s, 2010s, General | Tagged , | 7 Comments

The Wearing of the Green

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Lynn

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and I’m fascinated by the American convention of wearing green for this holiday.  Do the Irish themselves do it, I wonder? And is there any other holiday when a certain color is considered a requirement? … Continue reading →

Posted in 2000s | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Olive Kitteridge’s Homemade Dress

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Lynn

I found Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Olive Kitteridge quite by accident at my local library’s used bookstore. It examines a difficult woman growing old, starting at a tough spot in her marriage on through to widowhood. Olive is … Continue reading →

Posted in 2000s, 2010s | Tagged | 6 Comments

Book Review: The Woman I Wanted to Be by Diane von Furstenberg

Posted on June 21, 2016 by Lynn

Back in the days when I wore dresses, I didn’t find the wrap dress very practical. When I wore it, the style was given to constant wardrobe malfunctions both on the top and the bottom. Since Diane von Furstenberg’s career … Continue reading →

Posted in 1970s, 1980s, 1990, 2000s, 2010s | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Oscar de la Renta and the Older Woman

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Lynn

The Oscar de la Renta fashion exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco has one unusual element: perhaps half of the clothes on display came from the collections of contemporary women.  A good portion of these were red … Continue reading →

Posted in 2000s, 2010s | Tagged | 7 Comments

Donna Karan in the Black

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Lynn

I’ve never bought anything by American designer Donna Karan—her clothes are far above my price range.  But after reading her new autobiography, My Journey, I think I might have been influenced by her approach to clothing. In the late eighties, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1980s, 1990, 2000s, 2010s | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Koko Beall—A Life in Fashion Design

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Lynn

When I wrote about a favorite Vogue Pattern designer Koko Beall in 2014, I didn’t know whether or not she was still alive. Through the magic of the internet, her daughter Victoria Beall found my post. She sent the happy … Continue reading →

Posted in 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990, 2000s, 2010s | Tagged , | 8 Comments