TFRL Wardrobe

Divine Little Black Dress

Gucci Little Black Dress

Until about five minutes ago, I was convinced that the Little Black Dress (LBD) was a boring yawn-fest, then I spotted the little Gucci number above and got religion. You could baptize me in this dress, you could bury me in this dress, you could burn me at the stake. Really doesn’t matter. In this dress I just wouldn’t care.

Call me superficial (which I most assuredly am not), but sometimes the close, well, if they don’t exactly make the woman, the let the woman shine. If you’re leading a busy life (and who among us isn’t?), the best clothes are those that look fantastic but also convey a sense of comfort and ease. Not only is actual comfort and ease important when you’re running around your life, the “look” of comfort and ease also send a message: that you’ve got it all under control, that none of the thousand and one things that you’ve got going on has you the least bit ruffled at all.

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TFRL Uniform:
Tieks’ Shamelessly Good
Ballet Flat

Tieks

If you were around in the 80’s — or if you saw Working Girl — you’ll cringe at the memory of smart, confident career women (as we called them in those days) high stepping it to work in clunky white cross-trainers and power-shoulder business suits. The 80’s got a lot of things wrong — big hair, leg warmers worn with street clothes — but the trend of wearing workout shoes with workaday clothes has to have been the sartorial catastrophe of the decade. Not that the women themselves are to blame. After all, the ballet flat hadn’t been reinvented yet. Ballet flats are ubiquitous these days, and at every price point, but these ones from Tieks make me want to time travel back to the 80’s and stand on a Manhattan street corner handing them out. They’re so Working Girl perfect it’s insane. They fold up! They come in a little pouch! They’re luxurious!

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TFRL Uniform:
(Better Than Ballets)
Jenni Kayne’s D’Orsay Flat

 

Jenni Kayne D'Orsay Flat

 

Every now and then, a new basic arrives on the scene that makes you say “of course.” Well-cut, fit to your body, 2% lycra  jeans; button-front shirts with a flattering, made for the female body cut; ballet flats — they’re all such an obvious part of our wardrobes, it’s hard to imagine a time when they didn’t exist. Well I can imagine it. I was there. And I can tell you that dressing quickly and stylishly has gotten so much easier since these stylish wardrobe basics arrived on the scene.

Add California-based designer and blogger Jenni Kayne’s D’Orsay Flat to the mix. The D’Orsay Flat is an investment. Price range from $425 for denim to $450 for suede and go up from there to $495 for leather and crock, and $610 for lizard, with a couple of stops in between. My shopping philosophy, though, is “better to have a handful of higher-end things than a wardrobe of second-rate schlock.” I’ll admit this is a hard principle to live by — especially if your budget is such that you have to save up — but I promise it’s worth it in the end. Through trial and error, I’ve learned that I have a happier and better-functioning wardrobe when I focus on buying even just a few better quality things. My few high-end basics help me feel like a million bucks — and they aren’t more expensive than a boat-load of cheap in the end.

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TFRL Uniform:
Black & White Together

 

Black&White

 

We’re always looking for ways to make our lives easier. A uniform of black & white does the trick. Whether you’re dashing out for a meeting, doing the school run or dressing for a night on the town, wearing black & white together keeps you looking sleek and polished, while avoiding the snooze-fest that a black on black ensemble can sometimes be.

Slip a white T and a white blazer on over a pair of pencil slim or straight-cut trousers and you instantly look like a million bucks. Slide into a black dress and add a bone colored purse and voila! You look stylish and refined. Slide on a winter white pantsuit with black pointy toe booties and a black clutch and you’re ready for a day at the office or a night on the town.

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