no boys allowed in the room!!!!

i live in the SF bay area.

xp It's an art.

http://freelancersfashion.blogspot.com/2009/12/anatomy-of-dressing-when-its-really.html

sarah, I can't wear heels either.

i guess the thing for me - is to figure out what height/length of boots would be flattering with a dress or skirt, so that my legs don't look stumpy.

Huh. I think that's just something you need to develop an eye for, cos it's so individual and also on a case-by-case basis.

is it more flattering, if you have thick calves, for boots to hit somewhere on the calf, or slightly below?

A friend's calves were so thick she found it difficult to get knee-line boots at all.

Those giant scary platform heels or ankle boots with the studs, spikes and ginormous price tags do look good with thick tights and loose-fitting dresses/tops/sweaters. Also, the only way I will wear the peep toe (my feet are nice but I hate hangy-outy toes on me). I've been mostly wearing Etienne Aigner fake equestrian boots with skinny jeans and big sweaters/tulip-drape dresses but otherwise my mid-length boots are not suitable on this spin of fashion's carousel. Which is a shame - kitten heels are being revived soon and the Manolo Blahnik one-off pair of boots with same bought from random fashion archivist BITD would be fab to wear.

The '90s ended the second they stopped making Donna Karan black matte jersey tights - they are bulletproof and I have at least five undamaged pairs to this day.

Yeah - you mentioned those tights way upthread, and I expressed my envy!

I was just remembering the other day that when I was young and my mom was getting "personal style" books out of the library, the rule was that boots should go a little bit UNDER the skirt hem, so that no leg showed. The idea being that a longer line in similar (dark-on-dark) colors would "lengthen" the leg visually.

More recently, the rule has been that there should be a slice of bare (or hoisery-ied) leg visible between boot and skirt hem. Apparently this is regardless of any visual trickery.

I don't have any nice boots so it's a moot point to me.

As a thick-calved women, I can say that I've worth both. Usually the shorter the skirt, the more I am inclined to go for taller boots. I'm wearing boots now that are similar to these here right now.

xp - yeah I have to look for "wide calf" or "extended size" boots if I want to wear boots higher than mid-shin.

I was dreaming of being able to afford Duo boots, Jenny, but they discontinued the 1 or 2 styles I liked anyway. Sad face.

huh - so i could do boots that are a little higher than ankle length and do mid-calf skirts, or slightly below the knee boots and slightly-above the knee skirts and not look I have sausages for legs?

I really like that dark plaid-ish dress that Justin3 posted on the wedding dress style help thread!!

If I wore heels, I'd have a pair of these so fast it'd make yer head spin: http://www.duoboots.com/products/boots/detail/calf_fitted_boots_boutique/madeira/243/colour/1-black_leather/

I managed to get mine when they were 1) on sale, and 2) offering free shipping. Happy face!

I'm actually wearing two pairs of tights today, speaking of wearing skirts in Chicago.

Sarah, yes, you could totally do that.

Oh! Here are my boots, the very ones I am wearing today: http://www.duoboots.com/products/boots/detail/calf_fitted_boots_everyday/naples/93/colour/1-black_leather/

I'm gonna wear a dress or a skirt today - you have inspired me!

They used to make a kitten-heeled, mid-calf patent leather pair with pointy toes -- alas, no longer.

Mom-sourced style books were WRONG.

Boots I have: Aigner, Blahnik, 13-hole steel cap Dr Marten, Kurt Geiger taupe suede with bows but also distinct junior high stonergirl vibe, black wedge knee boots, 2x French Connection ankle boots (1 black patent, 1 red patent), pointy black crocodile Valentino couture ankle boot with 5" spike heel. On, and black and chartreuse Etnies Girl moccasin boots in suede and leather, basically for those who don't do Uggs. There are other boots in storage somewhere but old, unloved etc. Would still be happy with those Mad Max/Balenciaga mindmeld ankle boots or similar hardware-looking things.

You have to keep in mind, suzy, that the skirts in question were like long, tweedy, walking affairs.

Or at least a little longer than is currently considered current.

Now I really wish I could remember what book that was! It made a big deal about things looking "rich" whether they were expensive or not -- basically the "quality and enduring style over seasonally 'in' things" argument. Also used the designation "Quality", eventually shortened to "Q" and "non-Q", to describe hypothetical items.

Laurel, you are Q.

Hahaha that's nice, thank u. Suzy and daria and a few others are really the hi-style fashion mavens, I am actually v v conservative in dress.

all the girls on this thread are Q, imo.

That book will be responsible for moms of a particular era wearing their best gold with black angora but never, ever black satin. I totally had a quality meme drilled into me because one grandmother was a trained fashion designer (but actually a fashion buyer) who despised synthetic fabrics and would moan at my mother if we appeared in lame prints, character/word t-shirts, or if the seams on the fabric did not cohere. Before I figured out there was this thing, fashion, I wore preppy everything or dressed up in approximations of b/w film actress looks.

If tweed, a brogue pattern of any kind is yr friend, whether shoe or boot. I used to do the mid-calf laced-up brogue, cableknit tights, tweed skirt thing.

never, ever black satin.

I think it might have allowed black satin if your personal style/lifestyle fell into "Miami Beach Formal". Other options included "East Coast Old Guard" and...damn. I am seriously wracking my brains to remember more about this genius book.

I FOUND IT!!!! It is Dressing Rich: A Guide to Classic Chic for Women with More Taste than Money.

I present to you http://blog.shopittome.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dressing-rich.jpg

The fashion sketches alone are worth buying a used copy on amazon.com -- I want this book.

LOL 1988* RUN AWAY FROM THE MAUVE.

*This is a guess because carbon-14 shoulder pad dating difficult at the angle of Cheryl Tiegs clone pose.

1988? It looks earlier to me - mid-80s maybe.

1982! Oh yeah, it's a doozy. On other other hand, it namechecks people like Dame Edith Sitwell, which is how I first learned of her existence, and she was a byword in my mind for a certain kind of grandiose, turbaned fashion for oh, well, STILL.

I learned of Dame Edith Sitwell from a Morrissey t-shirt, I think.

Not to mention things like sketches of shoes with worn-down heels and hems that hang askew, with the instructions to get thee to a cobbler or dry cleaner ASAP to fix them, because SLOPPINESS IS NEVER Q.

xp hahaha oh yes I didn't have a Morissey kind of childhood.

I think we need to point out when threads are "Non-Q"

There is actually an artist's sketch of THIS photograph in the section about fashion exceptions, and how some people simply make something their life's look but that it's best to do that when you know the rules already.

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_424158012_438719_sanford-roth.jpg

I'm sorry, I must be boring the shit out of everyone, but I am tbh really really excited to re-find this book. Every page will probably unlock some childhood memory of mine, of sitting around reading it and practicing thinking about being a grown-up lady.

no that book sounds awesome!

I mean I was SIX when this book came out and I re-read it extensively. My childhood idea of being a woman was having clothes like the ones in this book, wearing Chanel No 5, and owning shoes that made noise on the wood floors.

Book sounds awesome and hilarious and you should not apologise.

I think I first heard of Edith Sitwell during high school, when I wanted to know what the Bloomsbury Set did.

That book is totally awesome. Morbidly curious about Does This Make Me Look Fat, too.

Morbidly curious about Does This Make Me Look Fat, too.

Me too!

Although I think a more constructive question to ask oneself is, "Does this fit well?"

I desperately want you to get this book and devote a thread to it, L.!

I'm going to do it, and then there's going to be a PERSONAL STYLE POLL from the allowable "types", complete w illustrations.

Awesome!

I can't wait!

my fashion icons: fraulein maria, laverne, shirley, little lord fauntleroy.

can't wait for this poll.

owning shoes that made noise on the wood floors.

THIS!!!!!!

tehresa i just friended you on facebook because you're the only girls-only person aside from laurel whose name i know
i'm not a giant weirdo i promise (well i am, but i won't embarrass you)

haha ok

i am excited about this book! will have to look for some old style guides at thrifts. in middle school, my mom subscribed me to seventeen magazine because every girl got it (i wasn't cool enough to know about sassy) and i remember being totally confused as to how they put outfits together and where they bought nice clothes, since you couldn't buy anything cool at the crappy mall in my hometown, it didn't even have the gap. took until high school to discover all the best stuff was at goodwill.

boots: old and beat-up steel toed docs from high school that i refuse to part with but never wear, vintage stephane kelian combat boots from the 80s, apc black that i don't wear enough (never been keen on wearing the boots-over-jeans look), simple black charles david ankle boots with about a 4" heel, ld tuttle dark grey ankle boots, chie mihara dark indigo lace-up (mid calf), brown mid-calf apc, and my ll bean duck boots.

i would prob buy more (don't need to, but i would) if i didn't wear size 11 which most of the time cool labels either don't make or sell out v fast before it goes on sale! suzy do you mean the giant clunky black balenciaga ankle boots, the ones from that collection with all the egg-shaped coats (i think it was fall 06?)