Fashion Lesson 201: As a woman, you have to wear many hats. Why not literally wear many hats! All photos courtesy @lafanceenancee
“Fancy Nancy” is a 2005 children’s picture book series and animated franchise about Nancy Margaret Clancy, a 6-year-old girl who loves extravagant outfits, fancy vocabulary, and all things fabulous and French.
“During Covid, my family was trapped together. In an effort to avoid pushing one another off the balcony, my daughter (who still photographs all my looks) and I started @lafanceenancee. The face-covering began out of necessity when masks became part of everyday life, but I soon preferred it. I like the anonymity. It keeps the focus where I want it: on the fashion.” – @lafanceenancee
Fashion Lesson 139: Don’t drink and dress at the same time, or you will end up wearing two different shoes.
@lafanceenancee is a popular Instagram account that launched in April 2020. It’s the brainchild of an American-born, Paris-based digital creator who identifies herself only as “Faceless Fashion Curator, 70 Years Young.” The anonymity is intentional and central to the account’s concept, which emphasizes the joy of dressing up and the thrill of recycling and rediscovering treasures from past seasons.
Fashion Lesson 200: I’ve had these accessories longer than I’ve had my daughter. Now that I have my daughter, I don’t have my accessories
The faceless woman with sensational gams has culled one of the most enviable personal wardrobes I’ve seen. She’s even found a way to use her extraordinary accessories—hats, handbags, scarves, and more—as a fashionably clever disguise.
Fashion Lesson 283
We are so inundated with fashion content on social media that it’s becoming tougher to find something as visually arresting, entertaining, and unique. @lafanceenancee makes great use of Paris’s iconic streets, shops, architecture, and interiors, including her enviable Haussmann building and fabulous apartment.
Fashion Lesson 116
Each post is a philosophical, witty, often self-deprecating numbered fashion lesson that ends with “Stay Fancee, love Nancee.” For example, in Fashion Lesson 116, as you age and your eyesight deteriorates, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between one shoe and another. Nobody will notice”.
Fashion Lesson 310.
More often than not, it’s a treatise on aging, motherhood, and the trials and tribulations of living with a similarly fashion-obsessed daughter who often raids her closets. Fashion Lesson 310, “Never argue with a handbag that speaks French, or your smart-mouthed 34-year-old daughter. One way or another, they will get the last word.”
Fashion Lesson 265
“My daughter keeps saying I look like confetti in this jacket, but I know she’s just sweet-talking me so she can borrow it. If those butterfingers even touch it, she’ll be the one turning into confetti.”
Fashion Lesson 251
Sometimes, it’s a way to show how adept she is at DIY and to prove she can be her best designer. Fashion Lesson 251, “When your daughter leaves behind a golden mask, you turn it into a molten masterpiece. Never underestimate a mother with a glue gun and a vision.”
I wanted to know more about @lafanceenancee, so I emailed her a list of questions, and she responded. The American-born only child always had a vivid imagination and an early obsession with clothes. When she began modeling as a teenager, the treasure-hunting instincts kicked in. @lafanceenancee was constantly searching for unusual pieces nobody else had. It was that desire to unearth something special—the thrill of the hunt.
Fashion Lesson 174
In her late twenties, @fanceenancee entered the fashion industry on the wholesale side and began traveling regularly to Paris and London to scout trends. She moved to Paris after meeting her husband and, through countless European sojourns, amassed an extraordinary collection that she has fortunately been able to keep.
“I will always have a soft spot for the magic that Karl Lagerfeld brought to Chanel. He understood that fashion should be a fantasy. Maybe that’s really why I don’t show my face: it forces people to use their imagination.” – @lafanceenancee
Fashion Lesson 311: Never put all your eggs in one basket unless the basket in Chanel
@lafanceenancee is an avowed maximalist, drawn to pieces with an architectural quality, dramatic silhouettes, feathers, fringe, and embellishment. She has a soft spot for Chanel, especially Karl Lagerfeld’s designs.
Fashion Lesson 286
Among the other labels she gravitates to are Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Lanvin, Dior, Giambattista Valli, Mugler, Gucci, Proenza Schouler, Rick Owens, and Balmain, primarily vintage pieces. @lafanceenancee will only buy something new if it’s truly exceptional; something she feels no one else has.
Fashion Lesson 287
@lafanceenancee never throws anything out in her 40+ years of collecting, so I wondered where she stores all her clothes. “The kitchen, the oven, and the refrigerator, which now stores knitwear,” admits the self-professed hoarder and terrible cook!
But if it’s good enough for @krisjenner…never say never.
As for what’s next, @lafanceenancee says she would love to stitch all her fashion lessons into a coffee-table book, proving that style doesn’t retire just because you’re over the age of seventy. Touche!
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Marilyn, You look absolutely fabulous! And this Elsa Schiaparelli bag !!!! We have met a few times at different events.…
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