Good Grunge vs. Bad Grunge

Couldn't resist a little Courtney/Cobain flashback.  

Love the grungy revival happening in fashion right now, 90's references and all. The fervent use of plaids, leather, chains, fringe, exposed lingerie, acid wash and thread bare fabrics can add a wonderful scruff to your look--like you date a boy in a garage band and frequent the NYC's Beatrice Inn.

Lou Doillon, the bourgeois Parisian coquette, says her mom (that'd be Jane Birkin) told her to always look a little undone. That way people will assume the done-up you is drop dead, but really who has time?  This humble beauty approach is most effective for the soigné-set. But it is often taken too far. Let's analyze how to look effortlessly rumpled with your personal hygiene still intact, shall we?

Hair

A little dirt adds texture. Just ask any Parisian coquette as she seductively musses her mane. Grease, however is gross.

I recommend a brilliant dry spray dry shampoo by Klorane--Extra Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Extract. Just don't get the one intended for gray hair. Made that mistake once. It's blue. An unintentional reference to another grunge icon--Gwen Stefani is her much-lauded cookie-monster look. I miss the DIY Gwen. Where is your new album No Doubt?

For almost twice the price, Renée Furtherer makes the really good colourless option. This saved many a Parisian hair day with those dismal hotel blow dryers.

Nails

Chips aren't chic. Go for pristine film noir nails with this look. Currently varnishing mine in Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Deborah Lippmann-- a gunmetal gray that is oh-so Urban Decay. Remember them? Used to love their sparkle shadows. I wonder when sparkles will come back? Seventeen Magazine had a contest with Chanel every year for a reader to create a new polish shade. Around 1996 some brilliant girl invented a colour called Midnight or Starry Night--something of the like. Picture this: deep navy blue laced with silver sparkles. They need to reissue it. The time is now.

Other shades to try:

*You Don't Know Jacques--OPI

*Lincoln Park After Midnight (better than after dark, has the subtlest shimmer)--OPI

*Vamp--Chanel

Kind of over straight-up black--I find it unflattering on most.

Denim

While I average denim wear about once A MONTH, preferring to skirt the issue, I can still appreciate the plethora of interesting jean options.

Even though the last time I wore them I was in a dance cave in France, acid wash jeans are sort of ugly, sort of just right. Perfect for those nights when you almost get beat up by a cave dweller for falsely accusing her of stealing your leather jacket. Excuse-moi...Je regrette...

The plan is to start wearing them with a Chanel Tweed blazer for that Grungy Who Lunches look. Pearls optional.

The whole boyfriend jean phenomenon is beyond me. I saw some girls pull it off in Paris with classic Levi's 501's, but things that shouldn't look chic there do. Even cigarettes.

Why not experiment with this splashy bleach look seen on Vogue's Lauren Santo Domingo. She married into one of Columbia's wealthiest families and Oliver Theykens made her wedding dress. Upper East Side grungette.

Plaid

My sister pulls of plaid boy button-ups with an enviable aplomb. To quote a friend, the girl is "glamorously filthy". It looks better if the shirts are a bit slouchy with a slight drape. Is your style more Gossip Girl than grunge?  Try tucking them into a skater skirt for a dressier look. My take on the trend is decidedly Clueless: Cher Horowitz-approved plaid minis with pocket-T's. And as with all good grunge moments, this one comes straight from your local dicey thrift shop. But Perhaps flannel plaid is best left to Tim Hortons truckers.

Lingerie

I want to see your underwear. Personally love it when fine black lace lingerie is exposed. Or when silk slips are worn as a layering item with pants. Or as a stark evening look. My girlfriend wore a flimsy ebony slip dress for New Years 2 years ago. It looked like it might fall off her at any minute--so Kate Moss in her Depp Days. And you can just roll into bed at the end of the night. Brilliant.

Plain White T's

White, black, gray, greige, whathaveyou. Worn-in basics are the best, but odorous T's are terrible. It is bad for your clothes to wash them too much, but it is bad for your friendships to not wash at all. I like to spritz mine with perfume, then scrunch. This imparts both nonchalance and a pleasant heady aroma.  And there are other places to buy basics besides American Apparel.  The Deep V is dead.

x M.