Two Pointy Sticks: Recession Chic! and Molly Ringwald's Pretty In Pink Legacy

Well, Fashion Week in Paris has come and gone. And let me tell you, there is nothing like seeing a whole slew of covetable items during a recession to make you really feel the pinch. Sigh.

Being a scarf girl, one of the items I've seen-and-coveted around town was an absolutely gorgeous double-faced bi-material stole at Hermes (from A/W 08), one panel in cashmere jersey, the other in silk chiffon. Luxe + luxe = uber-luxe.

I'm all for self-gratification, but 1500 euros (approximately USD$2000) seemed a little steep for a stole that I thought would be easy enough to make.

Does anyone remember Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink? How she would make her own clothes through a process of clever 'recycling'?

Ah, the films of our youth! How they shape us in their subtle ways. Channeling her was cake. So, after a little 'shopping in my closet', humming to the Pyschedelic Furs, I found a couple of hand-dyed silk chiffon stoles that I had once bought from a Russian seamstress at an open-air market for about $10 each. One of them was in shades of my favorite violets and purples - just what I was hoping to find.

With a couple of skeins of Mont Blanc (100% light dk weight cashmere) in Blackberry I whipped up a panel roughly the same size as the stole.

Don't they look delectable together?

Gosh, it's such a simple but elegant idea, mixing these materials! Genius, really. I don't know if it was Jean-Paul Gaultier's idea, or Leila Menchari's, or some unsung craftsperson. But it's genius, and I was compelled to try it.

Anyone who has ever seen me attempt to sew straight knows that it's just not my forte. But all it took was sewing the edges of both panels together on one end, and voila! two simple pieces fused into the stole that I now think of as the epitome of Recession Chic. :D