Hope springs eternal, or, on-line shopping

Oof, I just went to the post office with a huge box of stuff to send back ... the long black dress that everyone admired as well as a couple of other lovely things. Everything was wonderful, but nothing fit.

There's only one word that comes to mind if you shop on line and when it comes time to try them on, only Eileen Fisher's clothes (famously easy and body-skimming) actually fit.

That word is diet.

So I swore off on-line shopping. But then I followed a link in a blog and discovered these boots

Apepazzo Strasburgo booties in black from Goldyn

which were on sale. And when I went to order, I discover a coupon code for an additional 30 percent off.

So $189 boots for $92.61, free shipping and no tax? Sold!

I just hope my feet haven't gained weight.

Confessions of a Product Whore, or, these Boots are made for shopping

My love for the combination of my Clarisonic Mia and Cetaphil cleanser continues. It's keeping my skin clean, clear, and soft.  My other skin products are making me happy, too.

But no matter how happy I am with my current regimen, I can't resist the lure of new beauty products. This is particularly true when I travel and see stuff I can't find in the States. Which explains the £200 I spent at Boots when I was in England last August.

That's the equivalent of $350. What can I say? Product junkies are like sharks. We must keep moving forward or we die.

So anyway, here's some of the additions I made to my batterie de toilette. Heh. To start off, I got a pot of German Nivea.


I have no idea why German Nivea is supposed to be so much better than the Nivea you get in America, which is made in Mexico. But it has become kind of cult-y. Bloggers and reviewers on Makeup Alley and Amazon are claiming it's as effective as Crème de la Mer, which costs $165/oz. All I know is that my grandmother used Nivea Skin Oil and had beautiful skin, so into the basket it went. And I love it. It's much fluffier than Eucerin, but just as wonderful for soothing super dry skin.

I also bought a bottle of Therapist's Secret Facial Oil, from the Sanctuary Spa line carried at Boots. It's a mixture of many different pure oils: sunflower seed, rosehip, wheat germ, and jojoba seed, with some essential oils of rose and frankincense, which leaves it smelling like midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

It's meant to be used a drop at a time, alone or as a first layer under your regular moisturizer. It's fantastic, especially considering how dry my skin is getting now that the weather is getting chilly.

I also bought a pot of The Secret is Out Lift Lift & Repair Night Cream by Dr. Nick Lowe:

I picked it out because I was pretty sure I couldn't get it in the States. Also, it has Sodium Hyaluronate, Hexapeptide-9, various anti-oxidant fruit ingredients--but no retinols or acids. Because I wanted a nice moisturizing cream that didn't make me peel. More on that later.

Oh, and in my States side wanderings, I picked up a bottle of DHC Mild Touch Cleansing Oil at a local branch of Mitsuwa, a big Japanese grocery store chain.

When I'm wearing RuPaul levels of spackle, I like to double cleanse--one step to dissolve the makeup and another go to get clean. This oil is great at dissolving and rinsing away makeup as a first step before I use the Clarisonic with Cetaphil.

Mindless extravagance or canny shopping? You be the judge in my next post, when I reveal my plans for these products.

What I Wore Today--in poetic form

The three piece Eileen Fisher outfit I ordered from Neiman Marcus has arrived, been tried on, and worn to three different events: a board meeting, a cocktail party, and a memorial service. If I were tracking cost-per-wear, I'd be pleased.

However, I'll admit that I had to use costume tape to hold the dress in place. The dress fits beautifully, but that Balcony of mine is so crowded that my underpinnings are always threatening to embarrass me. Also, the neckline isn't that low, but somehow, I seem to come equipped with too much cleavage.

At times like this, my BFF is Hollywood Fashion Tape.

This stuff is the velvet rope that controls the crowds on your Balcony.

I wore these shoes with it

from Taryn Rose's new line. You know, the foot doctor who became a shoe designer? Apparently she sold the rights to her name and then turned around and started Haute Fouture. The shoes are rather old lady ... but in a way I like.

These are wonderfully comfortable when you put them on. The leather is soft, the wedge is comfortable, and the elastic straps accommodate my high instep. However, a cocktail party is a cocktail party, and honestly, I think a thoughtful hostess should greet everyone with a nice pair of fluffy slippers. Because after a couple of hours of standing, even these shoes hurt.

Oh, I also carried my vintage Chanel bag with the giant gold interlocking CCs.

Where's the poem, you ask. Well. You know the old rhyme about what a bride should wear on her wedding day? Here's my version:

Something old (last summer's semi-orthopedic Taryn Rose-designed old lady shoes)
Something new (the dress, belt, and sweater)
Something vintage (my bag)

Something glue (Hollywood Fashion Tape)

Some inspiration to start your weekend ... Cindy Joseph's second act

Cindy Joseph, a pioneering over-50 model, has started a makeup line called Boom. How can a self-respecting Beauty Boomer not want to celebrate that? View the video and enjoy!

Happy weekend, everybody!

Short-waisted in a sea of belts

Garnet Hill printed cardigan and gray suede obi that would look terrible on me

Ordinarily, I eschew belts. I'm short-waisted, meaning there was a mix-up at the parts factory. I'm 5' 7", and apparently (and I'm not blaming anyone, parents) someone took a torso designed for someone who is 5' 5", and matched it with a pair of 5' 8" legs. I'm not complaining about having long legs, exactly, but being both short-waisted and busty creates quite a wardrobe challenge.

What Not to Wear if you're busty

Short answer? Everything.

OK, seriously, here's what I try to avoid wearing anywhere near my balcony: pleats, ruffles, pockets, shirring, or gathers over the bustline. Huge collars. Decorative appliqued rosettes. Big splashy prints (yes, I love Lilly, but not the blouses.) Anything double-breasted. Those long necklaces that you see all over the place these days. Statement necklaces unless they end at the collarbone.

Basically, everything that's been in style for the past five years.

What Not to Wear if you're short-waisted

Here's what I don't wear because I'm short-waisted: tuck-in tops. Belts. And suspenders, no matter how adorable and Urkel-ish I'd look in them.

But this outfit from Eileen Fisher has a great work-around.

Eileen Fisher sleeveless ponte dress, leather obi belt, and merino wool shawl-collared cardigan from Neiman Marcus

Yes, it has a belt, but it's an obi, meaning there are no belt loops. That means I can place the belt slightly below my actual waistline. And it's much narrower than the gray one from Garnet Hill. Also, in this case, the belt is the same color as the dress. Contrasting colors break you up and make you look shorter and wider. Wearing all one color head-to-toe is the most slimming and lengthening thing you can do. The long laces hang down in the front, adding to the vertical effect. Also, only the center of the belt is showing, because the whole thing is covered by a 3/4 length shawl-collared cardigan.

I'm delighted with this outfit because I took a chance and ordered it on-line, but it works brilliantly, so no trip to the post office, yay!

Also because I went through the entire line of reasoning in the paragraph above, and it turns out I was right, which proves I'm smart.

Also all of the pieces will work with other things in my wardrobe. Except maybe the belt. It might not play well with others.

Hmmm. I'll be keeping an eye on that belt.

Yes, Paola, I remembered the sugar, or, the $#*! I bought yesterday.

In my report about yesterday's shopping trip to Neiman Marcus, I should really focus on what I didn't buy. Or what I bought that I didn't expect to buy.

I love shopping on line, but a trip to a brick-and-mortar store reminds me that you really have to try things on. Even if you know the designer really well.

Have you ever watched How Do I Look? It's a reality show on the Style network. A woman badly in need of a makeover tries on three sets of clothes picked out by a professional stylist as well as two of her friends. It's cheesey and formulaic, but it can be educational. Watch a few episodes and you'll start believing that you should only try on clothes you hate. The women on the show always seem to fall in love with stuff they despised when they saw it on the hanger.

That's because you can't tell whether a garment will flatter you by looking at a picture. Or by looking at it on a hanger.

Case in point--yesterday I headed straight to the Lafayette 148 section, because I love the line. The clothes are made from gorgeous fabric. They're beautifully made. And best of all, they come in a range of sizes.

I tried on two jackets, and they looked completely different on me.  The one I bought

is slimming. The one I didn't buy (which I liked better, but can't find on line) was cobalt blue. I adored the color. It's fashionable again for the first time since 1986. It's all over the place this fall. But the jacket buttoned so high on the chest that it gave me the dreaded Bolster Bosom. I looked like I was trying to smuggle a dachshund through customs.

I picked out this black pencil skirt, too, in the newly-fashionable just-below-the-knee length. Not exciting, but useful. And slimming. And the fabric feels great. (Let's hope that it doesn't make me look like my mother.)

Then I lost my St. John virginity. I've always summarily dismissed St. John. Not only is it crazy expensive, it's way too Old Lady for the youthful likes of me, yo. But the sales associate dragged me over to the St John sales rack and grabbed this black knit jacket with grommet trim, and it looks fantastic on. The picture doesn't do it justice. Really.

(Obviously it's time to make the down payment on my retirement community condo.)

OK, shoes! Zappos has made on-line shoe shopping so easy ... but sometimes, you really need to see and touch the merchandise.

I tried on two pairs of boots. First I tried on a pair of Chanel ankle boots. I didn't really like them. I only tried them on because they were the last pair in the store, the sales associate was pushy, and what the hell, you know? How often do you get to try on a pair of Chanel boots?

I can't find a picture of them anywhere so I can't show them. They were black with a low, chunky heel and some quilting. All that was to the good. But they had one of those Chanelesque capped toes covered in black velvet. It looked ... well, I don't want to harsh on the Chanel capped toe, but velvet? On a boot? Is stupid.

Then I fell madly in love with these Elie Tahari black suede beauties.

And fell down dead when I checked the price and discovered that for boots at NM, they're actually not that expensive.

There's not a website anywhere that does these boots justice. They are far more luxurious and far less ho-bag than you'd think. The suede is so soft. They're actually comfortable (for a pair of stilts.) The snakeskin trim is subtle, and the other side of the shaft features tiny laser cutouts.

I know. Super high heel, perishable suede--with holes in it! Perfect for winter in Chicago.

If I'd bought these boots, I'd have worn them on maybe half a dozen occasions. When Chicago promised neither to rain nor snow, and the rest of my outfit was worthy.

Impractical? No occasion to wear them? I didn't care. I was going to buy them.

But then I tried them on and discovered that I couldn't get them zipped over my calves. But I'm consoling myself that at least I didn't buy them on line, only to have to ship them back.

Whew! The only thing more tiring than trying on clothes is blogging about the process. But let me, your invisible internet friend, beg you not to desert brick and mortar stores. Let's hear it for brick and mortar! And pushy saleswomen who trap you in a dressing room and bring in stuff you wouldn't ordinarily try on, i.e., every single thing I bought yesterday.

This one's for blackbird, or, $#*! I bought

Blackbird asked me why I had such fabulous accessories and so little in the way of interesting (read: expensive) clothing. 

The answer is simple. It's just no fun to shop when you're feeling fat. Not to mention that the truly fashion-y fashionable clothes only go up to a size 10.

But then I thought, why am I punishing myself for being fat? I mean, yes, it's easier to amortize the cost of a great bag, and yes, you can dress up a little black dress with fantastic jewelry ... but don't I deserve a new little black dress once in a while? And while I'm at it, a really nice one?

And I already know I have a black-tie New Year's party to go to. So I bought this. It's the right cut for an hourglass figure. It won't require anything tricky (read: strapless) in the way of undergarments. And it has sleeves.

All I can say is I hope bird is satisfied.

Let's hope it fits!

What I did during summer vacation, or, eBay, Part 1: Chanel

The kids are finally back in school! And LPC has just reminded me that I haven't blogged in a while. I've been doing a lot of shopping, and I've been up to my earlobes in fashion magazines, because on the way home from England, I loaded up on English magazines and read all the way across the Atlantic. But I have a lot of half-baked thoughts to work through before I can post anything coherent.

So I'm going to do what I did while blackbird was visiting this past weekend. I'm going to play show and tell. Today it's Chanel.

Chanel black distressed calf reissue bag with Mademoiselle clasp and bijoux chain hardware

Mr. Buxom bought me this bag for my birthday last year, and it initiated a wave of Chanel lust that has yet to subside. I've had a membership at The Purse Forum for years, but after I got my first Chanel, I really started paying attention. Then, I felt bold enough to start shopping for Chanel bags on eBay.

The next thing you know, my new-to-me-bags are holding a family reunion on my front porch.

Back row: Black caviar Medallion tote; Jumbo black lambskin flap

Middle row: Satin crocodile quilted evening back; caviar camera bag

Front: Pink caviar leather wallet-on-a-chain 

The thing about eBaying is that results can be mixed. Even if you know you like something and you're feeling triumphant because you've pwned the other bidders, sometimes you don't like the thing that much when it arrives. This is the case with the Medallion tote pictured above. It's nice; it's in great shape; the seller was extremely professional. But I haven't carried it yet.

But the rest? I love.

Chanel Jumbo black lambskin single-flap with gold hardware, circa 1994

This is one of my two favorites. It dates to about 1994. Way back in 1994, I would've thought the giant interlocking C's were terribly vulgar. Showy. Far, far too logo-y. Now I don't. I can't tell whether accessories have gotten so crazily logo-rific that this bag seems comparatively understated ... or that I've blunted my senses by carrying around a Coach grafitti-print tote that says POPPY all over it. Probably both.

Chanel black satin reissue double-flap evening bag with gold bijoux chain, circa 2006

This bag is my other favorite. It's black satin that is quilted in a crocodile pattern. Perfect for going out at night, when High WASPs still insist on carrying something other than a leather bag. Your bag can be satin or beaded or petit point or a Judith Leiber minaudière but not leather. Gold or silver leather is probably OK. And you might be able to get away with an exotic skin. Look, I don't make the rules, OK? I just promulgate them.

Pink caviar WOC with gold hardware, circa 2003

If you travel or need to have your hands free, these wallets-on-a-chain are incredibly useful. You can wear these messenger style, across your body, or double the chain and wear it over your shoulder. You can tuck the chains inside and carry it as a clutch, or (gasp!) actually use it as a wallet. It has six slots for credit cards, several different zipped pockets, and room for a passport. If you've ever had your purse stolen, or had to spend lots of time in a police station in a foreign country, or had to go to the American Embassy to get an emergency passport, you'll know how good it feels to have your cash, credit cards, ID and passport right next to your body, held in place with a metal chain, in case a thief thinks about snipping through your purse strings. Not that I'm psychologically scarred or anything.

This bag isn't long enough to wear cross-body, but it's that durable caviar leather with lots of little pockets--including an outside slip pocket for my phone. It's so cute! And retro! But where and when to wear it?

Chanel black caviar camera bag with gold hardware, circa 1995

"With jeans," said bird.

Of course.

Blackbird wanted to know what I was wearing during my trip to England

After singing seven services in as many days? Mostly choir robes.

And a tired smile.

Buxoms 1; Looters 0

Just a quick note to let you know that we're fine. We traveled to Canterbury last Monday and have been busy with rehearsals, services, and short day trips every since.

Also, I've been chaperoning an extra teenager in addition to my own kids. It's obviously a question of the blind leading the blind, but there you are.

Naturally, I've done some shopping--my motto is, after all, Dum spiro, shoppo. But a lot of it has been in gift shops or places like TopShop for my daughter. Not for myself. Damn it.

I've got my eye on a Boots, though, and as God is my witness, I'll be there today.

Trip report: England; Day 3; Westminster Abbey and the London Eye

Again, I'll just say what I wore and what we did, although I have no pictures, because I have to use my husband's laptop. There will be photographic evidence aplenty after I arrive in Canterbury tomorrow.

I wore

• white Banana Republic scoop neck t-shirt with satin trim at the neckline
• periwinkle blue BR boyfriend cardigan
• Not Your Daughter's Jeans, medium rinse, bootcut
• black Chanel Cambon flats
• black Chanel Cambon wallet-on-a-chain
• travel guides, umbrella, bottles of water, etc., in the Coach Poppy tote
• black Nordstrom rain anorak

This worked out perfectly for a day of walking. And I'm so very glad I brought the umbrella!

We got started bright and early to make the morning Eucharist at Westminster Abbey. Luckily for us we made good time, because we had to change routes due to the rioting that took place in North London yesterday.

Our new route took us further west, so we drove by Hyde Park, Chelsea, and Sloane Square. The sight of all the shops didn't evoke moans of longing from me. But it was a close thing.

I felt a little underdressed for church ... until I saw the rest of the congregation.

Westminster Abbey

I'm hardly an expert on English cathedrals, having been inside a total of five, plus one in Wales ... but frankly, Westminster Abbey benefits greatly from the masses of history in which it is steeped. Because parts of it look like an English cathedral (with a soaring nave and a positively exquisite ceiling) that has become an antique store specializing in Victorian statues. There is a lot of pompous marble around, and it's trying very hard to be poignant.


But then you start reading the plaques and seriously, it's a name-drop-athon of notables. And that's not to mention various Coronations and the very recent Royal Wedding.

After church, we went across the street to the Methodist Great Hall to use the restrooms in their basement, and yes, I am aware that worshipping in one church only to run into the competition to use their bathrooms looks tacky.

We made up for it by eating lunch in their cafe. It was pretty good--and cheap! The Methodists have gone in one day, from being my liturgical first cousins once removed to my favorite branch of Protestantism. Way to go, Methodists! 

The London Eye

Then we walked by Parliament and Big Ben and over Westminster Bridge. It started mizzling, but we forged on. I come from New England, and we like to think we're even hardier than people from Old England. What's a little rain? Pffft!

Of course, then it poured.

We decided to abandon our original plan of heading to Camden Locks Market and hunker down in the vicinity. We also decided that with the rain and clouds and whatnot, the lines for the Eye would be shorter than usual, because the visibility would be so bad that the entire experience would be kind of lame.

As you will shortly see, we were absolutely right.

Here's the deal with the London Eye; it's only impressive if you live somewhere with no skyscrapers. Unfortunately, I live in the epicenter of skyscraperdom. The Sears Tower and the John Hancock building are both taller than the Eye and afford more dramatic views. I can also state that the Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Montmartre, Coit Tower in San Francisco, and the outdoor restaurant at the Forum Hotel in Rome have better views than you'll get from the London Eye.

Especially if, like the Buxom party, you have just climbed to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. If you've done that, you've already seen the view. So don't fall for the Yelp reviews and don't listen to your teenagers; skip it. It's lame. And overpriced.

The London Film Museum

When we got off the Eye, it was raining again, so for me to decide which of the tourist attractions in the immediate vicinity was the most compelling was the work of an instant. The London Film Museum won because the Museum of the Moving Image closed before I got a chance to see it; I'm a film geek; I had teenagers with me, and it was still raining.

It's actually a fun museum in a large, rambling, repurposed space. They have props, costumes, clips, scripts, and hands-on attractions. Also a few places to sit. And completely ridiculous photo ops. Which you'll see soon enough.

And then we walked the long walk in now sunny London to head back to the hotel for dinner. My feet appreciated the change out of the Prada loafers but would really like a nice long soak in the hotel sink.

Verdict: my outfit, while a bit casual for Sunday morning services, was perfect for splashing through puddles, gawking at monuments, judging Victorian tomb sculptures, feeling a new empathy for the Parisians who thought the Eiffel tower was a blot on the landscape, posing for pictures with R2D2, and warming up to Methodism.

Trip report: England; Day 2; The Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral

OK, let me get this out and then I promise I won't whine much more: what is with hotels that don't offer wireless internet? I don't even care that much if they charge a little something for it. I think charging for wireless internet is ridiculous, too, but not as ridiculous as charging 20 pounds a day for high speed internet access via ethernet cable. Come on, Marriott--get with the program!

I have to use my husband's work laptop to type this, and it's balky and uncomfortable. And I can't get pictures.

Instead, I'll tell you what I wore, and what we did.

I wore

pink Eileen Fisher 3/4 sleeve cotton t-shirt

J. Crew City Fit Cafe Capris

tan Prada driving mocs

black 3/4 sleeve Nordstrom rain anorak

under the rain anorak, my Chanel wallet-on-a-chain

I also carried my idiotic Coach Poppy tote for things like bottled water, my umbrella, sunglasses, the guidebook I broke down and bought, etc.

What I Did

Our first stop for the day was the Tower of London. Can I just say how ... weird ... it is that I've only been to London once before, and this choir trip's itinerary is duplicating so much of what we did 20 years ago? Luckily a few things were different or I'd start to feel ossified. The crown jewels are displayed differently; the Tower is more Disney-fied (every attraction exits into a gift shop) and this time, we have teenagers with us. So that was interesting enough, I guess, and it was a lovely morning--sunny, but mild. Good weather for exploring.

We ate lunch at a sort of outdoor food court area in a newly-developed area just west of the Tower (for newly-developed read "after 1991".) There were lots of tourists of different stamps, and the food selections were OK; the teenagers could chow down on hot dogs with fries, but I could go to Paul and get a ham baguette and a bottle of Badoit.

(I love Badoit SO MUCH but they don't sell it in Chicago. I bought three bottles.)

After lunch we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. I was ready to give it a quick walk through and bail, but the teenagers insisted on really exploring. So we walked up the 200-plus steps to the whispering gallery and another two-hundred steps through some very steam-punk looking metal stairways to the dome. There we had great views of the London Eye, and the London Eye had great views of us.

Afterwards we hit a bookstore for a little browsing (and the purchase of a much-needed guide book) and then the teenagers insisted on going back to the cathedral for evensong. The choir sang a setting of O Nata Lux that our choir has sung, and the teenagers just loved hearing it.

Sitting in St. Paul's--site of the previous Royal Wedding (Charles' and Camilla's doesn't count) listening to gorgeous music and watching the sky darken through the clear glass windows while the setting sun illuminates the gold in the mosaics? Is well worth the blisters those Prada driving shoes gave me.

Trip report: England; Day 1

Thanks for the good travel wishes! We arrived safely in London and have already toured our first historical site. More about Hatfield House when I've managed to email my cell phone pictures to myself.

What I really wanted to report on was the success of my travel outfit. I had a brainstorm when I was packing when I realized that some of the clothes I was bringing to wear as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral would also be great to wear on the plane and during our first stately home visit.

No one would play along and take a picture of me, but my husband and daughter both complimented me on what I was wearing. My daughter said I didn't look like I was going to be traveling, which given the state of modern travel, is high praise.

Inspired by MaiTai's recent posts on visiting New York, this is what I was wearing:

a gray Banana Republic crew-neck t-shirt with silk trim banded at the neckline
 in case I spilled something on myself on the plane

black Eileen Fisher pants
 with their elastic waist and knit fabric, they're almost as comfortable as sweats--perfect for sleeping on the plane

thin black cashmere Leila Rose cardigan
in case the plane was chilly. And it was.
 
black Chanel Cambon ballet slippers
as comfortable as slippers and just a little dressy, with the patent leather CCs

black Chanel Cambon wallet-on-a-chain
I bought this last spring for this trip because a WOC is so perfect for travel. I could carry my money, passport, boarding pass, pen, lipgloss, gum, and a comb and know that my pocket won't be picked and I won't lose anything. It might be a little matchy-matchy with the shoes, but hey, I'll risk being too pulled together any day.

black and white Hermes Bolduc silk jersey scarf, folded on the bias and double knotted off to the side
This was to add a little pattern and texture to a very plain outfit. And a scarf can help keep you warm (although I had to take it off during our tour of Hatfield House, where, due to the fact that I had nowhere else to put it, I knotted it onto the handle of my WOC. How very Babe Paley of me.)

I only managed to sleep for a little while on the plane, and so,

as dear Samuel Pepys would put it,

to bed.

Packing, packing, packing.

People, I know. I start blogging again with a bang, then ... radio silence.

The thing is, between the house being painted, the basement being flooded, and my entire family heading to England on Thursday, it's been busybusybusy around here.

See, we're not just going to England to visit the Tower of London to drool over the Royal Jewels. Although that's definitely in the itinerary.

Will you get a load of this? And this is the stuff that isn't locked up for tourists to gawk at.

We're also going to be spending the week in Canterbury, being a visiting choir at the cathedral. And the preparations are dizzying.

First of all, we had to watch Becket.

Richard Burton is OK, but Peter O'Toole leaves him sitting in the road.

Because it would be remiss to visit Canterbury and not understand why the characters in the  Tales were journeying to the cathedral in the first place.

Also, I'm very busy trying to plump up my family's flat American vowels so the tourists who hear us sing won't realize we're from Chicago.

Not that we won't sound good, but if I were a tourist at Canterbury Cathedral, I'd be a bit disappointed that the extremely professional-sounding choir (complete with angelic, soaring trebles) was actually American. I feel it only polite to disguise my Colonial origins. At least, while I'm singing.

The other thing keeping me busy is making sure we're all stocked with sufficient choir clothes. It is not, unfortunately, enough that we'll be wearing floor-length choir robes topped with knee-length surplices. We also have a dress code to adhere to as cathedral musicians: black skirts or pants topped with white blouses or shirts. Closed-toe black shoes. Neutral, white, or black hose. Or--thankfully--no hose.

Having done this before, I've managed to accumulate a significant stock of black pants (God bless Eileen Fisher)




















sensible black closed-toe shoes,

Chanel Cambon ballerina flats--way too logo-y, but INCREDIBLY comfortable

Haute Footure wedges by the very clever Taryn Rose

and a nice collection of blouses.

Lafayette 148 is a favorite for these.

Dear Fashion Gods: Enough with the ruffles. Those of us with a lot on our balconies would appreciate it. Thanks! Love, Poppy

The gem of my blouse collection is one by Samuel Dong that I swear is made of the earth's supply of petroleum by-products. If I spill spaghetti sauce on it,  I could probably clean it off with Windex. Which makes it perfect for travel.

Let us not forget a stylish pair of wellies, should the weather prove inclement.

Getting the children properly kitted out has been A Mad Scramble, let me tell you.  Young Master Buxom is 16, and in the two years since we last went to England (and tried to trick American tourists into believing we were an English choir) he's gone from wearing a boy's size 20 shirt to a 15/33. Which makes for a lot of shopping.

And of course, there's the girl. Who is wont to declare that everything she once liked is now Woefully Out Of Style.

So while I get ready, do me a favor and come up with suggestions of fun, frivolous things to shop for in London. I plan to visit Boots and Top Shop. What about Mango? And are there any fabulous products for aging English complexions that I need to buy and bring back to the States? Any products that are imported to the U.K. but don't make it to the States?