Sewing Vloggers

Saturday, August 3, 2019

I have found my Muse



I have finally found a woman I can really relate to, someone who gets my love of color, love of painted natural fabrics , and love of tailored details. I think this woman is beautiful, wears clothing extremely well, and inspires me to dress in ways I hadn't thought of. I don't know her name. I don't know the designer she models for. All I know is that if I could dress like her and even look like her in my dotage I would be very happy.  Why wait for my dotage? I am inspired to copy this garment now!


I keep seeing the name "Milano Moda"  and Daniela Gregis come up when I search these photos. Is this the designer? Is this the model? To me this outfit exemplifies how women of a certain age have earned the right to wear whatever they want and look like they are having fun doing it! Unfortunately, what I often see happening is the exact opposite of my muse above. Notice her simple hair, her lack of makeup, her bit of tan, breaking all the rules, the classic simplicity of her clothing paired with the vibrancy of color that many of a certain age simply over do or forget to do.

Often, when one does a search for fashionable women over 60 we get nothing like my Muse. The blog "Advanced Style" rises to the top on that Google ride. Photographer Seth Cohen has made a career of roaming the streets of New York City and other big cities around the world photographing some well known and some not so well known lovelies in their favorite clothing. I find the photos interesting and the subjects appearing to be really enjoying being models in their later years. They always seem to be having fun, lots of smiles! Yay for that. But sometimes, they really have dug a little too deeply into the back of the closet! Often the women are over corseted with over Botoxed faces in combinations of garments and jewelry whose scale is so out of sync it appears to have jumped from the cartoon Maxine. These are beautiful women. I just don't want to ever look like them. In my opinion, they would be far more beautiful without all the exaggeration. Too many bracelets, too many necklaces, too many patterns , too many colors, too many styles at once, and all happening at the same time. Feel free to cruise the "Advanced Style' Blog to get my drift. Do they get dressed in the morning hoping to run into Seth Cohen or are they really like this? Is this a Big City Thing? My muse above and her designer appear to be a part of Milan Fashion week so no lack of sophistication there.


Let's look closely at how she's working it. She is always in flats, usually Mary Janes. Nothing is corseted and she is clearly comfortable but she doesn't look like a lampshade from your grandmother's victorian parlor. There are no super voluminous shapes with layer after layer after layer of ruffle, no intentional hiding of the female form. (Think Tina Givens). She is belted, often. She goes braless but not blatantly so. She rocks being braless and who's to know? . If she has an extra layer, it is because she needs that layer. She has no fear of simple. I love me some simple, in my home and in my clothing. Yes, Simple shapes, Fabulous natural fabrics, Yes!



 Our Muse loves color. Do you see that bit of red lining peeking out? Those orange shoes? Just the right spot where  you need it.

Our Muse is comfortable, so comfortable. Have we not earned that right by her age? My age? I think of years of stilettos at work>bunion surgeries;  years of pantie hose>yeast infections; years of underwire bras> they still sag. All that was collateral invested in the future time when we could just be comfortable. Our muse shows we can be older, comfortable and beautiful.

I have been searching as I write this post and have found that our designer is Daniela Gregis who I believe is part of the Italian fashion scene. She is known for using models whose ages cross a broad spectrum. Her male models are not the perfect Calvin Klein underwear type of guy but good looking real men just the same and it is nice to see them up on the runway as well. I am going to continue to follow her designs. Here is another of her models from the runway that is not fitting the standard model mold, beautiful woman, a tad younger than my muse. Here is a link to her garments which I find so inspirational. I hope you do too. I must, must, must make that pants and top garment you see in the very first picture. Thank you for such gorgeous clothes and models, Ms. Gregis. You know  how to dress a women well!.........Bunny


24 comments:

  1. I have pinned many Daniela Gregis looks to my Pinterest boards. I love her silhouettes, use of colour, and minimal accessories. I also like seeing her beautiful clothing on mature women.

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    1. Me, too! I liked seeing the more interesting looking men too. They were real looking to me.

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  2. Beautiful indeed- but braless and uncorseted etc are unlikely to look as fetching on a short dumpy type like me, than on these lovely tall slim, smaller-chested women. Horses for courses though! I'd love to be able to wear glamorous belts or sashes, but I end up looking like a bag of washing...I'm with you on the luxe fabrics and plenty of colour though [and I know EXACTLY what you mean about those 'Advanced Style' ladies...the ones with the ginormous Elton John glasses and every single colour in every outfit!]

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    1. Thanks for the validation. I do get that the looks I like may not work for others. My boobies certainly aren't ready for prime time but do I rip off my bra when I can? you betcha! She is lucky enough to have the smaller breasts to pull it off.

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  3. I found this interesting article- a critique of Gregis' style, and a refutation. Also the identity of the beautiful model https://agnautacouture.com/2016/07/10/daniela-gregis-a-not-so-well-informed-blogger/

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    1. DF, that is a fabulous and quite provocative article. My Muse now has a name, Benedetta Barzini! Thanks for that. What a beauty! I am not surprised she has spent a lifetime modeling at such a high level. Really enjoyed the link and suggest all take a read.

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  4. You are spot-on with your description of some "advanced style" ladies. You are one of my muses.





























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  5. I agree with your opinion of Advanced Style. I am getting into the senior years and have always enjoyed making my own clothes and having an individual style. I, too, love color. But many of the women you see on that website appear clownish to me.

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  6. No, not for me. I can't see this on a shorter, and I am taller than you, but I am large busted and plus size. There is just too much fabric that would be sloppy on me. The layering is just to voluminous. I do like that she is using older models and the flats are wonderful.

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    1. Yes. I really appreciate those details. We all learn what works for us and that is where we go and should. Today I tried out some new fabric paints and I think they would be perfect for the top and pants in the first photo. More to come!

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  7. I agree about the Advanced Style ladies and think it's curated through what appeals to that blogger which is why I don't follow it. I like the designs that you highlight and believe that they are you. Again, not something that would work for my lifestyle. But the good thing about fashion and sewing is that you can find the style that works for you and sew it.

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    1. Yes. You are so good at making what works for you, Carolyn. I've never felt I had a certain style but lately I seem to be be landing on one a bit more specifically and this model and her clothing really appealed to me. I love the use of color.

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  8. Oh, Bunny, I've always thought you had great style enhanced by your flawless sewing! But I do understand how you've found a new muse. I've been retired for 6 years now and live in a community of seniors for the last year. After working in corporate offices I found it a struggle to get away from structured suits. It's taken me several years to realize that I can now dress however I want. Yippee! I love wearing bright, clear colors and am so thankful that I can sew up whatever fancies me. I believe you are on the same journey - enjoy! Karen

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    1. I am, Karen! I loved making all those suits but that life is over now. I am so not good at plain jeans and plaid shirts, the uniform of our previous 12 years that we just moved away from. I like that here I can dress with more style and not look out of place as I certainly would in my former digs up on the border.

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  9. Thank you for drawing our attention to Daniela Gregis, she is so definitely my style. Not sure how I would look in these clothes however, but such great inspiration. And I adore the fabrics!

    I'm not sure if it's just me, but some of these clothes remind me of the great Adri wardrobe patterns from Vogue back in the late 90's and early 2000's. Maybe it's just the clean lines and lack of fussiness.

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    1. I think you are right. I am going to research that a bit.

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  10. I want to be like this lady when I grow up! :)

    So glad you've found a new (another?) style muse. I am always looking myself for the person who embodies the style I see for myself in my head.

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  11. The model is Benedetta Barzini. She is Italian and was a very famous model in the 60's. Google her. Her son Benjamin has just made an amazing film about her called "The Disappearence of My Mother." She is 77, and is a Marxist.

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  12. I see these photos and want to go paint some designs on solid fabrics! Have you tried using acrylic paints of fabric crayons to dress up flowy pants or tops? You've inspired me to try. I've been struggling to age gracefully post-menopause and adjust to an older figure. This post brightened my day.

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  13. A note about Benedetta Bardzini: she was impressive to me not for becoming a famous cover model in her 20s, but for her later activism and teaching in promoting healthy images for women in the media and inner beauty. She's really quite a role model (no pun intended.) From her Wikipedia entry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedetta_Barzini): Bardzini was active in the feminist movement and has always been a critic of the objectification of the female body. She openly stated that in the fashion world, a woman is a "game" and a photographer is a "predator" whose aim is to sell her prey to the highest bidder.[15][13][10] In Western culture in the 1960s and 1970s, her ideas that inner value should take precedence over outer value and that natural ageing has its own beauty ran counter to the mainstream.[15][16]

    Bardzini has also worked extensively as a journalist and writer. She has published "Elegance: Reflections on self-presentation" (L'eleganza per me. Riflessioni sulla rappresentazione di sè (1987), "Storia di una passione senza corpo" (1992), "Bemberg e l'arte di Gruau" (1995), "Aldo Coppola" (2000), "Emilio Cavallini" (2010), "Discipline fashion. The Ethics of Appearance" (Discipline della moda. L'etica dell'apparenza, 2003).[17][18]

    Later years
    Since the mid-2010s there has been a renaissance in Bardzini's public career. In 2015, designer Antonio Marras dedicated his autumn collection to her.[19]

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  14. This last comment is for you only- more of a complicated end note to her life as she is now: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-italian-supermodel-who-was-already-hiding-in-her-apartment

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  15. This is Benedetta Barzini. She was my professor in Italy for history of fashion. A few classes in we found out she was a top model in the 60s then left modelling to study feminism and marxism. She has some pretty profound ideals and beliefs on fashion and it's history, and was one of the profs who shaped me the most with her very different ideals and views on fashion.

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