Death and tuxes

Throughout the fall shows, there were one or two little looks that jumped at me - the tuxedo jacket as dress. I've always been a fan of wearing a long jacket or cardigan over a short dress, or a long sweater over a short skirt, and I see my swing into wearing a tuxedo jacket as a dress as short of an evolution on that. I rather like the relaxed riff on the look by Alexander Wang below -


And also, er, yes, Ashley Olsen is, let's face it, rocking the look in her own label, The Row. In fact, she rocks it twice, in a longer version of the look.



Dammit, I hate taking fashion cues from an Olsen twin. It's so...victim-y. But let's not discriminate, a good look is a good look. Irina Lazareanu also looks very good here with Phillip Lim, in 3.1 Phillip Lim.


The tuxedo-as-dress look even as a charming reference - to that famous anecdote about Nan Kempner, who took off the trousers of her YSL smoking because the restaurant didn't admit women in trousers, and went in only in her jacket...as dress! (Who today is going to make sartorial history like that?).

But I imagine hunting down the perfect tuxedo jacket that can be worn as a dress is going to be pretty tough since I don't exactly have oodles of cash at my disposal to buy that grey YSL. I am very particular about jackets - it is one thing I gladly spend lots of on money on because the fit MUST be right. And now it has to be able to work as a dress too. I think this is a feat more easily accomplished if you are petite - you're more likely to be able to wear a jacket as a dress without being obscene. It's like how so many girls could wear their long tops as dress, but I can't because I'm tall. Somehow, I see this as one of my impossible fashion tall orders - like my quest for that imaginary nude patent bag - an idea/wish in my head destined not ever to be fulfilled to my exact specifications.

Pictures from www.style.com