Isabel Marant

Now that we've established I'm obsessed with her sneakers, I can also advise I'm pretty much completely obsessed with Isabel Marant. She can't stand the pomp of fashion shows, and she is famously understated.

Taking her style cues from Americana and American sportswear, Marant's Autumn/Winter collection is a delightful bunch of utterly wearable garments.

Another thing I've noticed about myself recently (apart from my flat shoe guilty pleasure), is a love of slightly baggier, less skin-hugging clothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not wearing paper bags, but I'm also not drawing too much attention to my stomach or bum the way I may have done a few years ago. I'm loving playing with layers, and enjoying not having to mindfully suck my stomach in when in public. 

As she notes (and this is one of the things I really love about her, not really being a jeans wearer myself):
I tend to grab the most comfortable piece .. I've got a little boy who is quite tough, so I'm sensitive about the practical aspect of clothes. But at the same tie, I don't want to be just wearing a normal T-shirt and a normal pair of blue jeans - it needs to be something special."

She also has this to say about the pressure of being a designer, which really resonated with me, and which I think is equally applicable to the modern woman who seeks to balance a multitude of responsibilities, desires and day-to-day necessary activities:

I'm trying to have a very balanced and organised life. I say often that now designers are like sportspeople: you have to sleep well, you have to eat well, you have to keep in good health, because it's really a battle every season to be on time and to be on top. I think the time when you had the image of designers taking drugs and being out every night drinking and partying doesn't exist anymore. I practise yoga and swim a lot. On the weekends I go to my little cabin in the forest near Paris without water and electricity, and it's really the way I can breathe."

Amen to that. Unfortunately I don't have a cabin near Paris to retreat to, but I'm working on that. :o)