The Return of the Turban (and me)

The New York Times says the turban is back.

(not this kind)

They're back, they say - and yet they've never quite gone away. Kind of like a low-grade infection - ready to dominate once resistance is low.

They're making their usual strong statement:

"I know what I'm doing."

You see, turbans represent a sophisticated, well-traveled woman. A self-assured woman.

A woman confident enough to wrap some cloth around her head and throw her head back with a throaty laugh. (The kind of laugh I never have unless I have a cold.)

A woman like Greta Garbo.

An exotic cover girl.

The unmistakeable Tyra Banks.

I mean - Kim Kardashian.

Anyway, turbans are suddenly everywhere.

On the runways:

On the streets:

On Oprah:

Well, that's a cowboy hat but it's still a brave choice.

(No call back from O Magazine, if you're wondering.)

The Times article made another great point about wearing a turban: it takes guts.

Like, "F*ck You - I'm Wearing a Turban."

And when done right, one transforms from Pretty Model into Worldly Starlet.

a la Kate Moss at the Met Gala in 2009

& Salma Hayek, who stole Stella McCartney's thunder in Paris

But for us mortals, turbans are - well, scary.

How do you tie them? What kind of material? Will it be cumbersome?

You worry, you know?

So young, cool fashion bloggers are posting tutorials on how to tie a turban.

(tutorial at www.theglamourai.com)

In order to look like this:

A sort of eclectic, streetwise sensibility. WITH A TURBAN.

To be honest, it has inspired me to try turban-wearing. Which would be a big deal for me because the closest I've come to unusual head gear is when I'm tipsy with friends and we all put on a drinking hat.

(Someone else always gets the cool hat.)

Anyway, I am excited to see more turbans. I like when fashion gets risky and glamorous - a heady combination.

And I'm also very pleased to note that at Zazou, we once again found our own way with this timeless trend.

Behold some photos from our Spring 2011 catalog shoot - not yet released.

Our Silk Sari scarf.

The amazing Shibori Silk scarf.

Enyonam, our intrepid fashion student/packer/all-around talented girl, fashioned these head wraps on our lovely and patient model Jennifer.

It was a lot of pressure considering the last head wrap was done with less than five minutes remaining on the clock at the shoot. (Otherwise we go into costly overtime.)

Well done Enyo!

And I'll be your next model. I'm nothing if not willing to experiment.

A polite reminder

OPRAH!!!!!!!!

Oprah? We've got giraffes

Since I have not heard a word from the good people at Oprah's magazine and tomorrow will be officially a week since submitting our scarves (or four business days, which is not a long time really, but who is counting) I will focus on the future.

(Even though I did get an Oprah tattoo, but I don't want THAT to influence the decision.)

(And maybe I carved her a corn maze, but again, no pressure.)

We just got some first strikes for Spring 2011 and I am very excited about the one we're calling Wool Giraffe.

Hot.

I especially like the rusty one in the middle and the maroony-cocoa one on the right.

I like the black and grey one. I want to wear it with a white tank top and biker boots.

And I can't really ignore the classic black and white and brown ones.

I guess I want them all.

I've decided I'm going to keep them on for good luck until I hear from O.

Even though it's going to be very hot for the next two days and I'm still recovering from my tattoo and I haven't finished Oprah's ear in the corn maze.

But please take all the time you need. I'm fine.

An open letter to Oprah Winfrey

Dear Oprah,

Today your O magazine staff is considering two Zazou scarves for the December issue.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ms. Winfrey, in case you are not at that meeting (though in my imagination you are, sitting thoughtfully at the head of a long table, passing out healthy muffins) - well. Let me just tell you how much this would mean to Zazou.


Everything! That's what!


Until I get an answer, I am on high alert waiting to hear back from the O senior accessories editor, Tamara. Today I made all Zazou staff have an "appreciate Oprah moment" for good luck.


I made your picture my screen saver.


Let's just say my whole day has been a bit of a YOU couch-jumping moment.

For one thing, your hair can do anything. And from what I understand, IT'S ALL REAL.

glossy curls (my personal favorite)

shiny shag

long and straight (hi, Michael J. Fox)

sassy bob

well, we've all experienced the 1980s

You cry with your audience and we believe you.

You aren't afraid to touch people. Even when you became uber-rich.

(the pregnant man)

You've won an Oscar.

"... But I'll kill him dead fo' I let him beat me." (I love that line.)

And a beauty pageant!

Best hair again.

You wear the jacket-jeans-heels combo better than Stacy London.

I read somewhere that you single-handedly got Barack Obama a million votes.

Obama-Winfrey love-fest

Oh, and you are good with dogs, which means a lot to me.

In short:

Even if we don't get into your magazine.

But I will send this blog to Tamara before the final decision is made.

Thank you and best regards,

Vickie

Scarf kills, is killed

I'm going to tell you a story from the past and one from the present that in my mind somehow relate.

From 1877 to 1927 lived Isadora Duncan. She's famous for being the mother of modern dance and dying in a very peculiar way.

Here she is:

Look at that confidence.

Duncan made her fatal mistake by flinging her big, Russian silk scarf around her neck, exclaiming (in French) "I am off to love!" But something cut her off.

Her scarf became entangled in the spoke of the car's wheel and, well - you can imagine.

Euphemistic re-enactment.

Her story somehow reminded me of two pictures I happen to have on my iPhone. One which happened to me and the other to a friend of a friend who had the same thing happen to her. She's pregnant by the way and I have no excuse.

Friend of friend's car.

My car.

I guess sometimes the scarf gets you and sometimes you get the scarf.

Cat knows how to model

Leafing through an old Zazou catalog, I was (not very) surprised to see our owner's cat, the infamous Baby, modeling some scarves.

(He was also kind enough to sign it for me.)

On a re-run of America's Next Top Model, I saw a photo that gave me deja vu.

Copycats.

The Great Sari Discovery

Last year three very big things happened in the world of film and fashion.

1. Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture.

2. Hollywood stars began to show up at events in everything but a bhindi.

Well done, Helen Mirren

...Oh, Oprah

3. Saris were suddenly couture ...

And ruled the runways...

And Zazou introduced the Vintage Sari scarf.

These are some of our simplest scarves, but still my favorites. There's something magical about vintage fabric. You touch them and can almost feel a story buried in the fibers.

I often find myself in their little corner of the warehouse when I need a "shiny-things" break.

Anyway, I had to know where we got this fabulous fabric and pestered my bosses. It was hard to get them - Claudia Koch, owner and Christopher Carroll, designer - to actually cough up the story.

(The secretive Chris and Claudia.)

Turns out Claudia travels to India at least once a year. She walks the bazaars, haggles with vendors and - in the case of the GREAT SARI DISCOVERY, as I'm now calling it - once found a hidden warehouse of wonders.

Here's Claudia's account, excerpted from an e-mail I forced her to write:

"We liked to frequent a certain Chor Bazaar in Bombay. It was not until much later that we learned that 'chor' meant thief and that this bazaar had nothing but supposedly stolen merchandise in it. There was a certain 'sari wallah,' literally the sari salesman who ran a shop in this bazaar.

(Not actual Sari Wallah.)

"It was so hard to find that we had to pay a child to show us the way. Up narrow alleys, up stairs, down stairs, through a muddy area filled with cows, around and around until we came to a narrow ill-lit hallway where the sari wallah had his mountain of saris.

(I couldn't find a photo of a mountain of saris.)

"We were invited to 'climb the mountain' and pull out what looked like promising candidates. Many of the saris had obviously never been worn and were wrapped in plastic - undoubtably part of some woman's dowry. Some were really worn out with holes in them. And some were....

"... fine brightly colored silk with fabulous border work."

Claudia's story made me think of all those women - from different classes and walks of life in India - getting rid of their old saris either by happenstance, convenience or by choice.

Who were they and why did they do it?

Maybe they were affluent women choosing Western clothes near the end of the Century. Or middle-class women discarding their old saris and replacing them with new. Or poor women (who Claudia saw by the sides of the road) with their worn saris barely covering their breasts as they worked the fields or squatted and begged.

Women like us, yet not like us.

However saris make their way to America, manufacturers are still coming up with ways to recycle and market them.

Sari bedding

Sari skirts

Sari journals (Really?)

Claudia's first memory of a sari was at one of her mother's fancy parties - which I now believe is the first recorded instance of a wardrobe malfunction.

Take it away, Claudia:

"My mother had one which she wore to one of the fetes she liked to throw and which, sadly, fell off at her grand entrance."

But that is another story.