STYLE AND SUBSTANCE: TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

Elle Macpherson

Robin Wright-Penn

Lauren Hutton

Diane Von Furstenberg

I have always been an observer. Growing up in New York City is kind of like an ongoing runway show. I grew up addicted to the ritual of the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle check-out: scrutinizing someone from head to toe, analyzing each element of an outfit by breaking down their accessories, hair, make-up and then conjuring up who the person might be, where they might be going and what might lie behind their outward appearance. This is still my obsession. The only difference between then and now is who I focus my attention on and why. I have decided to take to the streets again, with a renewed purpose: to seek out and uncover those with style NOT in their twenties and thirties, but in their forties, fifties, sixties, seventies... blah, blah, blah. I am DONE focusing on the girls and boys.

I grew up in Manhattan in the 70s and 80s. During my formative years, Lauren Hutton was the face of the fragrance Charlie by Revlon. She was sexy and feminine. Dressed in a power suit and a gap-tooth smile.  Around the same time, Diane Von Furstenburg, a single mother and trailblazer, created a uniform for the modern woman in the form of a wrap dress that I wore with my wedge espadrilles on my first day of boarding school in 1976. Elle Macpherson was my girl crush. Australian, athletic and ridiculously gorgeous in the most natural way.

Fast forward: DVF is the President of the CFDA and Lauren Hutton has a hugely successful make-up line. I threw in a photo of Robin Wright-Penn because she is one of the most natural beauties and a late forty-something whose photo I felt like including. Elle Macpherson is the CEO of a multi-million dollar company. These women both have style and substance (and great bone structure). Speaking of substance, I wrote a post for Betty Confidential a while back that will give you a little more insight into my own way of tackling aging.

So that's it. If you want a dose of good news (that the older we get the more we have to bring to the perverbial style party), you will want to tune in, sign up and check out what's happening on the street and beyond... and it ain't just about the clothes!