Blue and Green Muses and ... Fan-O-Rama!

(*Late-Breaking Note from Jan about trying 

Google+Comments !!!

What an epic fail.  I've gone back to regular Blogger commenting, and in the process, lost your darling posts. Google+Comments won't, I find, allow many of you to comment, so it's outahere.  Many apologies ... and I hope you'll forgive me and stop back by!  I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog viewing.)

The best thing about style blogging is other bloggers. Their blogs are where I get to tap into the Collective-Style-Consciousness. Here's where I get to see what other women are thinking and doing. Blue and green combinations seem to be particularly prevalent in the aethers of the CSC right now, and two of the most memorable examples come from these great women: 

Beverly:  Going Green and Blue at her blog,

Beverly Like Hills

Curtise:  Visions of You in Shades of Blue  at her blog, The Secondhand Years

And here's what I did:

  ... one of my favorite summer dresses from Thakoon Panichgul's collaboration with Target.

 Cynthia Rowley ... big value acquired from TJ Maxx

Of course this isn't just blue and green, but a lot of that as well as some purple. These unusual color combinations feel new. Optical blends like these appeal to the wannabe

 Impressionist in me.

(Wearing my turquoise suede heels by Guess, 

snagged at TJ Maxx.)

And of course, here you've just seen the some of the fans I've been threatening to show you, and in last week's post, as well.
I bring you ...

Fan-O-Rama!

Folding hand fans. I began carrying them when we first moved into the eternal rice-steamer that is the South-Central US. That was in the menopause years, and although those are over, I rarely leave the house without a fan from spring until late fall. 
( Yikes! I sound ancient. Nonsense, I just got over menopause very, very quickly. That's what.) Even into the fall and winter, especially if I'll find myself in a life-at-armpit level crushes that short women sometimes experience.  

I love my fans. They're an accessory that's as much a part of my personal style as shoes and handbags. In future summery posts, I promise I won't bore you with every one, but I'll show you the ones that I think compliment my clothing choices.

Folding hand fans are light weight and small enough to put in all but the eensieist of handbags. They don't require batteries. They are most often made of biodegradable and sustainable materials. They can be bought at any price point, made DIY if you wish, and can make you much more comfortable when you're miserable without a doctor's prescription. I can use my little fan to keep from sweating away my makeup in 115 degree weather and 90 percent humidity. And that is power. It's control over my immediate environment.

And because they are driven by woman-power, you will burn a few calories when you use one. Not many, but every bit helps.

The ones you see above are part of my basic-basic everyday fan wardrobe. I can quickly come up with a fan to match or complement any outfit I own. I use one almost every night that I'm at the restaurant, especially in the summer. I even bought a bulk lot very inexpensive Asian party-favor fans to hand out to my woman customers when they drag themselves into the restaurant from our often triple digit heat. The style you see here comes in almost every color , and I bought these for under $2.00 each. They're fabric and bamboo, and if I lose one they're not a big deal to replace.
I got them here:  Oriental Decor  at their dot-com link*.  Their service has been consistently great, and their shipping fast.  

(*Not a paid or swag-induced add at all, just a personal recommendation based on experience. A quick Google will give you all kinds of options. You could spend the day and more looking at all the styles and price points.)

Louis Vuitton designed a line of lace fans a couple of seasons ago ...

at $2,515.  Just for the fan.  

(Marc is a LV fan Fan, it seems.)

Ralph Lauren used them as a motif in his flamenco inspired collection.

I'm not even suggesting that everyone run out and buy an expensive one or even a bunch of inexpensive ones. I just love pulling one out of my purse, instantly retaking control of the temperature of my own personal surrounding atmosphere. An on-demand cool breeze is no small thing in the misery of deepest summer.

The history of the folding hand fan that we know so well is long and fascinating. I won't give a complete history here, but you'll find links below that tell the story of this famous low-tech air conditioning system. You'll read about the lovely Asian fans of many countries, the flamboyant Spanish fan, the evolution of the romantic and elaborate fans we associate with English ladies of the Pre-through-Post Victorian eras. You can hop from link to link to your heart's content there.

It's my second best hint for a more comfortable summer, with love from me to you.

(I'm saving my best hot weather hint for later, so stay tuned.)

                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~

History of the Folding Hand Fan links

The Hand Fan: The Cell Phone of the 17th Century  ... from a link off the Purdue University site) 
Place de l'Eventail  ... lovely French site that goes for miles via links, for history geeks!

                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll be at the Peripatetic Patti's Visible Monday  ... join me with all the rest of her loyal FANS!

(I had to do it, and you KNOW you thought about it yourself!)