Auntie Fashion

Ricky Ricardo

I’m a real know-it-all — not because I think I know almost everything, but because I do know almost everything.  Every now and then, however, something comes along that completely stumps me.

Just the other day I was wondering if these shirts with the ruffled sleeves have a name (how could I possibly order one for my friend Rusty’s birthday present when I don’t even know what they are called?).  I figured that they would be called “conga shirts” or “Ricky Ricardo shirts,” but after half-an-hour of Googling, I didn’t come up with anything.

Is there anyone out there who can expand my fashion vocabulary?

Sophia Loren

Drop arm: A style of eyeglasses distinguished by a dropping arm that creates a low junction between the arm and the rim.  Drop arm glasses and sunglasses were popular throughout the 1980s, especially those sold as part of the Sophia Loren Collection.  Recently, labels such as Balenciaga have sold similar large-lensed, drop-arm designs.

CPO Jacket

CPO Jacket: CPO stands for Chief Petty Officer, which is a rank in the United States Navy. A  CPO jacket is a Navy inspired vintage jacket that was popular back in the 1960s  and 1970s.  Since then it has re-emerged on the market as a trendy type of coat (from eHow Style).

Regionally, the CPO jacket was also known by other names.  In the Canadian province of Alberta, for example, the CPO jacket was called a “freak jacket” or a “head jacket,” after the terms “drug freak“ and “pot head.”  The jackets were worn mostly by small-time drug dealers along with moose-knuckle-tight jeans and AC/DC concert T-shirts in order to identify the wearer as a seller of marijuana or hashish.

Recently, the CPO jacket has undergone a stylish resurgence, worn by celebrities including Justin Bieber.

Tyra

Tookie:

noun

1: (colloquial) The buttocks.

2: A severe mental disorder characterized by the following features: chronic smizing, booty tooching, occasional lapses into foreign speech, delusions of fierceness, and hallucinations of ‘finding the light.’  Eg: Someone call the doctor.  Girlfriend’s got the tookie!

Princess Diana

Frogging: Ornamental braiding for fastening the front of a garment that consists of a button and a loop through which it passes.  Frogging is common on military jackets (especially full dress uniforms) and the closures of Mandarin collars on garments such as cheongsams.

Boater

Boater (From Wikipedia): A boater (also straw boater, basher, skimmer, cady, katie, somer, sennit hat, or in Japan, can-can hat) is a kind of men’s formal summer hat.  It is normally made of stiff sennit straw and has a stiff flat crown and brim, typically with a solid or striped grosgrain ribbon around the crown.

Popular with banjo players, pizza makers and editors-at-large for major American fashion magazines, boaters are currently undergoing a resurgence in popularity not seen since the fedora craze of 2010.

Missoni

Chevron Stitch: A knitting stitch that forms a zig zag pattern.  Technically, the chevron itself is the inverted “V” shape created by the using the stitch.  The zig zag pattern is formed by continuing the chevron stitch over multiple rows.

The Italian fashion label Missoni has become famous for incorporating the chevron stitch into its knitwear.  Variations of the chevron stitch used to create the garments result in the undulating zig zag patterns that have become the signature of the Missoni brand for more than half a century.

Kitty Foyle

Kitty Foyle: A simple shirtwaist dress in a dark color with contrasting collar, cuffs and buttons.  The style was made famous when it was worn by Ginger Rogers in the 1940s film “Kitty Foyle.”  During World War II, the dress became popular as it was easy to copy and sew at home when austerity measures limited access to more glamorous styles.

The original Kitty Foyle dress was designed by Renié Conley who also won the Academy Award for Costume Design in 1963 for her work on the film “Cleopatra.”

Blogogenic: Appearing appealing in blogs.  Eg: Auntie Fashion’s incomprehensible beauty and immeasurable charm contributed to her reputation as the Internet’s most blogogenic superstar.

Dutch Boy

Dutch Boy: A chin-length bob haircut similar to the hairstyle worn by the Dutch boy on the Dutch Boy paint can.  The hairstyle is similar to the Louise Brooks, only with longer sides.  A variation called the Prince Valiant has even longer sides.