It is coming on sweater season for most people – but as far as I am concerned. sweater season is year-round. I won't bore you – I have written about keeping sweaters in the car, not just for myself, but for any extras who might join me in a restaurant and not want their dining experience ruined by air conditioning. Especially in the summer. We love Annie's Thai Castle here in Atlanta, and we order for pickup so often that they've got our regular order on file. (Call and order for Mashburn and see what happens!) Takeout is usually our move, although on occasion we'll dine in. It is really, really fun to actually go there. They have an old-school, L-shaped bar, it's super dark, and it feels kind of sexy, like we are out of town, since we rarely see anyone we know. BUT — I can forget about wearing anything that shows enough skin to look sexy, because it is always freezing in there. Am I the only one with this problem?
The thing I am needing lately is something that is both warm and sexy.
And I think I have found it in the new Johnny Collar Cydney. I have written about our Cydney shape before — both the V-neck and the cardigan in previous posts. Depending what you've got on underneath, those might make you feel sexy on the inside, but the newest iterations for this fall show a little more skin... sexy on the outside. Or at least, sexier. The shape is still slouchy and easy like all the other Cydneys. But the face-framing of the johnny collar (why is it called that? who is Johnny?) and the dip of the neckline feel extra appealing to me right now. It is the same idea as unbuttoning our Boyfriend or Icon Shirts a little... showing some decolletage can make you feel like a woman in the best way. I love a deep polo for the same reason. Tomboy style is something I have already gone on and on about – clearly it is my thing – which is why I am so excited to have a new shape in my arsenal! And the thing with this one that, unlike with a polo or a normal shirt, where you can control how low you go... the johnny collar just IS.
On occasion, I will take a shirt just a little too far. Sid has suggested – more than once – that I button up just one more notch. I roll my eyes ("Sid. Come on. Do you remember that when you met me, I was working at Vogue? I think I know what I'm doing.") But when he can tell exactly which bra I put on, he finds it a little distracting. Understandable. And sometimes he is not wrong. The fact is that every shirt is a little different and every woman does not have the same proportion between her breastbone and her neck. Sometimes we will have a shirt that I love, but the difference between button 3 and 4 is the difference between being too dowdy or too exposed. You can guess which side I err on.
But the amazing thing about the johnny collar: it IS what it IS. You don't have to make the calculation in your head. My point is... it is meant to be low. And I have a feeling that when we're sitting at the bar at Annie's, Sid's not going to mind. If you are someone who likes to cover up more... a scarf would look fantastic. On the plunge spectrum, the next one up is the V-neck. This is terrific in aqua if you've already got the neutrals. Or just really lean in to the modesty thing and go for the turtleneck. I will tell you, I must have a dozen navy turtlenecks collected over the years. But I am kind of dying for this one!
a sweater that's sexy on the inside
Katharine Hepburn, unlike me, erred on the "covered" side most of the time — in almost every photo, she's got some kind of high collar. So I am sure Spencer Tracy never asked her to button up. She often skirted the question of the button drop by adding a turtleneck UNDER the shirt, sometimes flipping up the collar. (I might add that we make a super lightweight funnel neck that is PERFECT for this kind of layering.) I won't be wearing the Cydney turtleneck under any of my shirts, but I will wear the prettiest silk bra underneath. I wonder if Kate did the same?
So I am grabbing both of these Cydneys this week. One for feeling sexy on the inside, one for looking sexy on the outside. That is, if you consider a sweater sexy at all. At least with the air conditioning at Annie's, it's as sexy as I'm going to get.
