spruced by marlene

What’s this about? The polo neck. Also known as the turtleneck. Although I’ve never quite understood what’s supposed to be attractive about a turtle’s neck.

What else is there to dislike about them? Only every polo neck I wore as a child. Fine, it might’ve only been one. But it always itched, was too tight – and did any of the cool kids in school wear one? Of course not. When I took responsibility from my mama over how many colds I would have in the winter, I stopped wearing them – and got quite a few colds.

Why wear one now? This picture of Phoebe Philo. And this one. There’s also this one. I chatted about her to a colleague a couple of days ago. The conversation in brief: Me: „You want to wear everything she makes.” Colleague: „You want to wear everything – and look like her in it.” For me, Phoebe has single-handedly freed the polo neck from its stuffiness and made it look grown-up and laid-back instead. It helps to wear a sublimely confident expression on your face with it. Should that not be available to you, she demonstrates another advantage of the polo neck: you can hide in it on crappy days. Oh, and test how your hair would look cut into a short bob.

What else? Not all polo necks are created equal. A thin cotton one in white belongs under a ski jacket for me, even if Steve McQueen might disagree. A cable-knit with a loose fit might be nice, one made from thin wool might be even nicer. Turns out that it goes very well with a pair of pants flared at the ankle, which I think I also wore last when I was about 12.

Another reason for the polo neck? Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. Every time.

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„Why do so many women skip blusher? It troubles me.”

It’s impossible not to love Sali Hughes and that sentence is one of the many reasons why. You know Sali? She’s the Guardian beauty columnist and I follow her with the ardour of an underage Justin Bieber fan. You can guess from that first line that she takes her stuff seriously. She also has a good sense of humour about it and always manages to strike a good balance between being informative and very entertaining. Nothing she’s recommended, whether it’s a technique or a product, has failed me so far. The woman even managed to teach me how to apply blush in a way that doesn’t make me look like David Bowie. My now favourite blush was also a tip from her. It’s from Nars and called „Orgasm”. Because… the product developers had one when they came up with this shade? I hope so, because it’s brilliant. A soft pink that never looks painted on, just fresh and lovely.

Here is Sali showing you how to perfectly apply blush.

And here are her complete archives. Just make sure not to plan anything else for your weekend before you start watching the videos.

When James postet a picture of this college jacket, his latest design, on Instagram a couple of days ago, he wrote underneath it: „I love my job.”

I could’ve added: „I love that you love your job.”

James is a perfectionist. I was there when he deliberated over which wool to pick for the jacket. When he asked the guy in the leather shop if he could take a look at the fabrics stored in the cellar, on the slight chance that he might be able to find some even softer soft leather. When he puzzled over the right combination of two yarns for the initials. Occasionally I’d think: is it absolutely necessary to think so much about whether the lighter dark-green or the darker dark-green thread would be better for finishing the hem? But, as always, I didn’t say anything, because whenever James shows me the finished piece, it is: perfect – down to the thread he used for the hem.

I’ve had this jacket for two days now and I’d sleep in it, if James would let me. What makes it so special is that he used three materials and three colours, with the shoulder part linking all three – black leather, green leather, green wool. Something else that’s special about it: the initials. Stitched by hand, naturally.

Do you like it? What colours would you pick? And what name should James give the jacket? It doesn’t have one yet…

I know I’m supposed to be thinking about winter clothes right now. But I just can’t get the Altuzarra collection for spring/summer out of my head. Especially the striped shirts, coolly unbuttoned for the runway, with draw-string pencil skirts. Paired with the pointy slingbacks it’s what you might want to look like striding into a boardroom for a hostile take-over. In real life I’d put the shirt with faded jeans, the skirt with a plain tee. And the slingbacks with just about everything. Yes, I can see myself so much better in that than in winter boots and a coat.

Images via, via, via

As I’m refusing to store away my summer wardrobe and unpack my winter stuff, I’m wearing some amusing outfits at the moment. Today for instance I’ve got open-toed sandals on my feet, yet a scarf around my neck. Perhaps that way only my feet will catch a cold? Yeah right. Anyway, the scarf is a recent buy. I’d been flirting with a piece of cashmere from Lala Berlin for a while, and now it’s mine. I found the scarf at the Lala Berlin flash store for – can you believe it? – 80 Euro. The store is open until the end of September and you’ll find some of that lovely Lala knitwear on SALE there that will make the change-over to the winter wardrobe much more bearable.

Lala Berlin flash store, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 22, 10178 Berlin, Mo–Fr: 15.00–19.00, Sa: 12.00–19.00. Cash only