Hommage a la Garconne

I'm feeling very boyish suddenly, imagining myself with slender hips and a wardrobe built around a pair of obnoxious suspenders. If I slick my hair back, I can almost see it.

After a summer of floral prints, linen dresses, Havianas and no makeup, fall's structure and layering have become new words for heaven. Of course, none of my autumnal dreams would be complete without the perfect petite wide leg trouser, platform oxford pumps, some high-neck ruffles and red lipstick. This same vision strikes me annually around this time of year.

Maybe 2007 is the time to start, finally, to feel and dress like a grown up. Fall's always felt like a collegiate season to me and this is, after all, my final year in college. I'm looking to take some risks, mix prints and textures and wear real shoes and not just a chilly wind-kissed blushy cheek and converse! This newfound confidence may or may not have to do with my first expected purchase of the season: the ubiquitous and universally chic black turtleneck, the standby of poets -- or rather caricatures of poets -- and the muse of beats. If it's just a phase, like every girl's deep-sea diving adventure into the rewarding waters of Sylvia Plath, I'll happily enter it.

I've been prevented in the past from building looks around black turtlenecks because I've never been able to find one in the right body-conscious fabric weight. I'll be damned if I ever try on another cotton ribbed turtleneck, which I've only seen in either extremely saggy or extremely rough and stiff incarnations. Every version of the piece I've run into over the years has seemed to take my torso and wield unflattering license on it, adding volume where it should be smoothing, and smoothing (more like crushing) over what nature has given in the way of volume. Furthermore, I say no more to unforgiving tissue-weight jersey! I'm hopeful, though. Perhaps the right shopping and the right pairing with opaque black tights will allow me to rotate bright shifts and carry the summer's pleated shorts into colder climes.

Fashionista has opened my eyes to fairly nascent Danish line Baum un Pferdgarten. Their inconvenient omission of stockists on the site (instead inviting online browsers to contact them for locations) makes the brand seem ultra exclusive for anyone not in Copenhagen or London, let alone Providence, but I'm told they can be found in Manhattan's Lower East Side at Travessia, or by well-placed request. I'm probably not the ideal client for that shop, but I can peruse the lookbook to my eyes' content.

Rikke Baumgarten and Helle Hestehave have put together some very interesting takes on denim, from baggy to blousy. There are some incredible office appropriate ensembles that have very clever rugged details like zippers and drawstrings. They keep the textures to a minimum, instead preferring subtlety and a certain degree of sleekness with the matte vs. shiny pairings, but what they do have is mixed together interestingly and often stunningly. A rustic cable knit cardigan plays down the prissy pleats in a navy dress. And while not everyone is keen on Balenciaga's revival of the jodhpurs off the runway, relaxed thighs and tapering at the ankle are not uncommon and used to good effect here.

In their own words:

Following up last season’s theme, Baum und Pferdgarten refines the art of finding the key to express the boyish silhouette in the women’s wardrobe. Never ending legs and slender hips set the scene for the [...] collection. A self confident look with a cool casual attitude and a sexy edge.

As a whole, their AW2007 line incorporates nearly all of this season's headlining trends with grace and precision, while editing out those with less classical appeal. There are jewel tones that don't go over the top, understated industrial touches on traditional secretarial outfits, inventive interpretations of menswear and playful but smart reworking of the monolithic tuxedo, all of which are, after all, the theme. And the details! It's all very clean, very Danish and very much to my liking.