Designing Women

Although I tired of fashion trendwatching a while ago, I love clothes and have always enjoyed expressing a part of myself through what I wear. It has been a personal and professional mission for me for some time to find interesting clothing for mature women, clothing which allows a woman to express her femininity and individuality, make her feel comfortable and pretty, and act as that punctuation point to a wardrobe of go-to staples. How lucky I am, then, to now be able to do this as part of the Artful Home business.

I am currently enamored with the clothes of Cynthia Ashby. Working out of Chicago, Cynthia has been marching to her own drumbeat for more than a decade, applying an artist’s hand – a woman artist’s hand – to the design of her clothing. Clearly she is a master of the cleverly cut seam, and she manages to create designs which flatter and forgive, are attention getters but feel right at home.

I wore one of Cynthia’s pieces at TEDWomen a few weeks ago, and was stopped often by women, wondering where I had found such an interesting piece which transformed my basic black into something outstanding. This is what women want and need and deserve: clothes to feel fabulous in, clothes which recognize their curves and allow their flaws, clothes which celebrate the fun of getting dressed.

This was the original concept for my business, Fifty/Fifty, and I am thrilled to see it coming to light under the auspices of artfulhome.com.