dreckitude

.

ALT zhushing Bee Schaffer's heavenly Nina Ricci

 why don't You?

add the word dreckitude to your vocabulary.
trust me-you will find yourself saying it whether you are desirous or not-dreckitude abounds.

No, this is not Jay-Z

The irreverent irrepressible ANDRE LEON TALLEY is holding court on America's Next Top Model-Consort to Tyra Banks? -For the moment it would seem.


I can not help but think ALT's mentor- Diana Vreeland- would be-
Loving it. Would she have?
I can not think of anyone that could read the tea leaves of fashion like the great DV- great swami of fashion. Her Why don't you? crops up on  someone's blog at least every few days and I love it. I suggested MORE DV in the year 2010. Read my post Here.  Andre Leon Talley may be the next best thing. DV would certainly have been ready for her close up-ALT is.

Larger than life- indeed Charming, part sage- part snark, ALT is off to new heights with his 5 minutes of air time each week on Next Top Model. I- for one- am watching just to get a dose of  Vreeland's  why don't you- (who knows what you might do?)

I did get to meet him about 10 years ago in Raleigh at a luncheon. He is a North Carolina native-Durham that is-and maintains ties here-mostly lending his celebrity to local charities. Most admirable.
NOW

why don't you?

read ALT's book here, another ALT 365 here, DV here, DV here

top photo- ALT top center attending to Bee Schaffer's NINA RICCI here
.

Andre, Uggs, and Home

"I like the idea of being warm and secure. That’s what home should be.
That you have a sense of warmth, security, love,
and you love the things around you and surround yourself with beauty." ALT

image from christat23

ALT also confesses to a love for & the wearing of Ugg boots

read the whole charming interview with ALT here " THE HOT SEAT" by Erin Wylie

kaftan love

Jean Etienne Liotard
1702-1789

Signora Antonella Agnelli, Vogue 1966

with her 2 year old son Gianni wearing a century old caftan from Casablanca

the inimitable ROSE Cumming

another Liotard

Comtesse Michel de Ganay
in Egyptian cotton stripe caftan

gorgeous Marina Rust in quaftan

I grow tired of summer, the heat, the humidity- but I never grow tired of my summer At Home uniform. Winter too for that matter.

Caftan-Origin 1585–95; Russian Kaftan, Turkish - Persian Qaftan


go to The Costume Institute to see their collection (here)
A 1970 Lanvin from the Costume Institute


in a Liotard painting

Alexandra Czarina in a traditional Russian kaftan

Model Lily Donaldson in bohemian caftan

YSL fantasy kaftan

Allegra Hicks designed this form fitting caftan

the designer Allegra Hicks

Aerin Lauder in Michael Kors

Principessa Nancy Ruspoli Vogue 1966
in a man's Moroccan caftan

Mrs Richard de la Mare
in a Liberty Caftan
vogue 1966

Mrs. Lesley Blanch
Vogue 1966

Mrs David Naylor-Leyland
Vogue 1966

"Mrs. Ahmet Ertegun" as Vogue put it in 1966
wearing a gold Moroccan caftan as an evening coat

& today, more beautiful as Mica

Muriel Brandolini

interior designer & fashion designer
(photograph by Carter Berg)

obviously a favorite with Marina Rust- this one by designed by Muriel Brandolini

an Ossie Clark

style.com
(I'd love to have this one)

and Andre Leon Talley

Willis Smalls and ALT in Diane Von Furstenberg caftan and Roger Vivier neclace, attend Maya Angelou’s July 5th brunch. photograph by Chase Beck

This photograph of ALT is just dynamite. I am crazy about this man. Read the story here. He has deep North Carolina connections and his 2003 book ALT: A Memoir is a book everyone interested in fashion, family, and destiny should read- That means everyone. Get it. Read it.

Wear a Caftan!



the Vogue 1966 photographs Cecil Beaton, Henry Clarke, Horst, Rastelli