Style Stories: Geometry & The Blues
Style Story: My Kind of Geometry
I found myself at a neighborhood vintage shop, Hanging with Hope, in Sherman Oaks, CA. Merchandised within her fabulous vintage pieces, made between 20 and 100 years ago, were some beautiful retro pieces, imitative of a style from the past, like this dress, Lela Rose. The off-white all over 3D textured squares on the nude base fabric looks equally modern and vintage. The designer was clearly inspired by the geometric shapes from Paco Rabanne’s 1966 collection, Twelve Unwearable Dresses, made with plastic and metal. With all things geometry on my mind, I spotted this fabulous olive green square shape fabric handbag, vintage.
I don’t know what the 3 large gold metal letters stand for but the randomness appeals to me and so do the brown angular Bakelite handles. I’m able to keep my theme going with a contemporary strappy sandal, Schutz. They bring another olive green element and the strapping is all lines and angles. As for jewelry… the expression, less is more, is my mantra. Because the dress is the, statement, piece, I want my all of my, supporting, pieces to support NOT distract. Cohesion and consistency throughout is key to this kind of look and it just so happens that my vintage gold watch, Omega, has a rectangular face and square shaped links – thank you Grandma and my Moms thick gold rope necklace, vintage, work right into my geometrical theme.
Style tip: you can find incredible pieces at your local vintage shop and by doing so you’re supporting small business – that’s a good thing!
Style Story: The Blues
It’s a beautiful warm day here in Los Angeles and I’m just hanging out. I never know who’s going to stop by so I want to look somewhat pulled together even with my bare feet. I can achieve that by using a monochromatic colour scheme. When we wear one or more shades of a single colour we tend to look much neater than when we combine colours or wear a mix solids and prints.
My low-rise jeans, Zara, and light blue linen shirt, Amazon, look like a uniform and that’s exactly what elevates them. I love the, I don’t care, look of a wrinkled linen shirt. As you can see, I really do care because I’ve made the effort to neatly fold and cuff my sleeves. My South Sea Pearl necklace and chunky leather cuff have a natural and earthy feel and are the perfect accessories to complete my laid back casual look.
Style-tip: here’s how to do the fold-up cuff…
- depending on the length of your sleeve pull the cuff upward and stop when it’s between your elbow and shoulder
- start folding up, (not rolling up), the remainder of the sleeve until the top of the last fold covers the bottom part of the cuff – it will hold it in place
- make sure your folds are neat and even
The tomato behind The Three Tomatoes.
Cheryl Benton, aka the “head tomato” is founder and publisher of The Three Tomatoes, a digital lifestyle magazine for “women who aren’t kids”. Having lived and worked for many years in New York City, the land of size zero twenty-somethings, she was truly starting to feel like an invisible woman. She created The Three Tomatoes just for the fun of it as the antidote for invisibility and sent it to 60 friends. Today she has thousands of friends and is chief cheerleader for smart, savvy women who want to live their lives fully at every age and every stage. She is the author of the novel, "Can You See Us Now?" and co-author of a humorous books of quips, "Martini Wisdom." Because she's lived a long time, her full bio won't fit here. If you want the "blah, blah, blah", read more. www.thethreetomatoes.com/about-the-head-tomato
