ShoeSense

Call to Carnivale: Festive Fashion

It's time for me to host the Carnivale of Couture for next week, and although I had quite a few ideas about the theme, the obvious question just slapped me in the face while walking through Rittenhouse Square and getting stared down by the pervasive glare of Uncle Sam, conveniently perched on a makeshift stage:

What is the proper attire for 4th of July?

In other words, can you be festive without being tacky? What does a fashionable woman or man wear while overloading on hot dogs and fireworks?

Inspiration was everywhere on the streets of Philadelphia (4th of July is a big day here, as you can imagine). Observe for example this lady, whom I spotted walking outside my house and who graciously posed for me:
With the exception of star-spangled headgear, she pulls off an age- and holiday-appropriate outfit. The hat, however, is a bit much for my taste.

The boutiques also dressed up for the occasion. Behold the centerpiece of the window display of the fancy-shmancy Joan Shepp boutique, dead-smack in the center of the city, and Philly's only source of straight-off-the-runway designer duds:
Catchy, non? Ok, so maybe this was an ironic statement regarding the 4th of July sales going on at the moment (seriously! 20% off Chloe! Prada mules 1/2 off! et caetera, et caetera).

I'll tell you what I wore on Tuesday when the time comes. In the meantime, what's your 4th of July fashion choice? Send your answers by next Friday (July 7th) to shoesense at gmail dot com, or leave them in the comments.

UPDATE: This whole 4th of July business threw us all off our schedules, so, as The Manolo says, the Carnivale for this topic will be posted for the next week, July 10th. So, review your festive fashion, and send your stars and stripes messages over this way.

posted by Diotima @ 4:50 PM