oh, i'm glad you all are interested
Una, i think EF's NYer ads are incredibly elegant - maybe even intimidatingly so ! that's what i love about these videos, they're got all shades, ages, and short round ladies, tall ladies with 'child-bearing hips' as my SIL Laura puts it, athletic builds, and so on. And i could totally see an EF pencil skirt or slim cropped ankle trou playing very nicely in your wardrobe. The luxury, flattery, and flexibility of her essentials really don't come across well in pix, you have to meet them in person.
re: petites. Suz said: "I do have a cardigan that Nancylee sent me, however, and surprisingly, it works really well."
i would encourage anyone to go into one of EF's boutiques and spend some time looking at the clothes - especially at the fabrics she uses. They are very unique, luxurious, and very cannily crafted to have a wonderful hand and drape. The reason many of these 'overwhelming' looking pieces can be successfully worn by smaller women (height as well as frame) is because EF designs them from fabrics which have a strong visual presence while at the same time being very thin and incredibly drapey. Thus, the fabric collapses around the body instead of adding a lot of bulk, and all the vertical lines (from the fabric gathering around the body) are "leaning" as well. I also notice that EF has a lot of cropped pieces - in a couple of the videos you can see what's cropped on a very tall woman worn at low hip by a shorter lady, and it works well on both.
Conversely, pieces like her pencil skirts and slimmer trousers are made from fabrics which have a crisper, more substantial feel. This creates a smoother line which flatters the wearer and provides a nice background for 'frosting' pieces. I'd been on the fence about her line for years. I finally went into one of her boutiques and as soon as i took a look at the fabrics i got it - silk jersey tees? It's impossible to find silk jersey in the first place, when you do it's black only and 50 bucks a yard! There's definitely justification for a lot of those prices, but i still can't afford it (much as DH might like me to run around topless cause i only have one skirt to wear
In fact, i would encourage anyone to take a look at how the various pieces work on the different women in these videos for tips and ideas on how to style pieces for different looks and also for ideas on how to style pieces you might have difficulty with because of your own proportions.
Really, i'm not trying to write an EF commercial here! But i did like the concept of these videos, they are well done and you can learn quite a bit from studying them. Happy Evening! stpeh
