IT HAPPENS EVERY FALL. The fashion dictators declare that gray, navy, white, red, brown–whatever–is “the new black.”
Fashion is silly, not to mention fickle. But this fall (or any fall until the end of time) the dictators will be wrong. Because nothing beats black.
It’s slimming and it hides the dirt. Case closed.
But that’s just our starting point because not all black clothing is created equal. And if you don’t believe it, ask any woman you know.
What you’ll first hear is a story about her search for the perfect black pants. If one of the mass merchandisers comes out with a style that’s particularly figure flattering, word spreads faster than you can say “speed dial.”
As a result of this obsession with the pants, the fashion press has given short shrift to a matter every bit as important to female closets from Seattle to Sarasota: the black skirt.
For many of us, the only thing that takes up more closet space than black pants is their inky relation, the skirt. There’s mini, gored or gathered. Pocketed, pleated, high-waisted, low slung. With a slit or a kick pleat, buttoned, zipped or pull-on. Ruffled, pencil or plain. And often more than one from certain of these categories.
A woman I know who is normally sensible and frugal tells me she has 23 black skirts in rotation. She counted.
Mind you, there’s more tucked away in the basement, just waiting until she loses the weight to fit back into them.
And yet, whether shopping Target or Barneys, she finds herself veering toward the black skirts, hoping to finally discover Number 24 that will succeed where all the others have failed.
Two recent entries in the search for perfection pictured here are the Theory wool number on top ($235). It got points for the practical pockets but was deemed too short. The other, the flirty Diane von Furstenberg ($325), was judged a trifle too cute.
The search continues. The dream lives on. Fade to black.
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Read Ellen’s shopping adviser column every Thursday in the Tribune’s At Play section and join the conversation at chicagotribune.com/ellen. shopellen@tribune.com
