episode 515 - December 21, 2009

Relationships. Impossible relationships. Fritz is mad at Brenda for Brenda being Brenda. Pope is mad at Brenda because he feels she's leaving L.A. Is his anger directed at losing a good cop or a former lover? Raydor is mad at Brenda because...just because Raydor and Brenda don't like each other...relationships...impossible relationships. It's tough on a day to day basis to deal with relationships--family, work, strangers on a freeway, clerks in a store, whatever-whoever, but relationships none the less define the very nature of who we are, who we want to be or who we should be. Without any sort of relationship, well life and The Closer would be a bit less interesting. Impossible!

Brenda's relationship with Joel has evolved over the past two episodes and tonight her snuggling and kissing and caressing just warms your heart on a cold December night. Brenda stumbled out of the bedroom in a vintage 1940's Beacon robe, from The Way We Wore, it surely must have been her Daddy's ( my back story) and underneath the robe was a yummy soft pink Cosabella whisper of a t-shirt and Brenda's vintage kitty cat pajama bottoms from Play Clothes in Studio City. Loved the messy bed head and braids, that Stacey K. Black created. Fritz was raging on about her habits and picking up after her and there were the Chanel shoes once again from last week's episode, I do believe we got our money's worth out of those shoes! And just as Brenda's relationship with Joel is blooming, her relationship with Fritz seems to be wilting. Impossible!

Since this was our last episode of the 5th Season, I pulled out the pilot skirt and mixed it with a peanut butter Irene jacket. Call it superstition, or sentimentality but that Alfani pilot skirt has been good to Brenda and me and our relationship! Since it's all about the power of color, Captain Raydor opposed Brenda in a contrasting Royal Violet wool Armani jacket. The original design from Mr. Armani featured a rusched detail on the shawl collar and pockets but in the wardrobe show and tell the producers felt the feminine detail on the jacket was not appropriate for Raydor, but they loved the color. So, Maria in the tailor shop came to the rescue, she took off the collar, smoothed out the rusching and re-cut the lapel, problem solved. It's a bit of a leap of faith that a police Captain would spend her salary on Armani, but in the world of TV., even though I like to keep it real, I just love hitting the Armani boutique at Neiman Marcus and this year the Armani collections have been pitch perfect for Captain Raydor...Armani and Raydor a good relationship!

You know that I troll eBay, almost as often as I take a breath, and sometimes there is an Irene suit that just makes me swoon, even with just a photo or description. It amazes me that a suit designed in the 1940's, by a costume designer, Irene, that had worked at MGM, is bought on an internet auction site and re-imagined for a Golden Globe winning, SAG Award nominated contemporary actress, Kyra, in 2009 by a costume designer, Greg, and said suit blends flawlessly into the world of the LAPD. I love that we can all go by one name, like Cher, or Madonna. This particular suit was cloud gray wool and had the most amazing detail the the camera couldn't pick up. On the left front of the tailored, sculpted jacket were four lines of top stitching that carried down onto the front of the A-line skirt and then this topstitching exploded into four pleats at the hem of the skirt. I kept the fullness of the A-line instead of having Maria turn the skirt into a tapered pencil shape. I certainly wish that Irene could have seen how her fifty-year-old suits are so fabulous today. If only she were still with us, I'd love to have met her and tell her how she has influenced me. Irene, Kyra and Greg; a beautiful relationship!

When Brenda showed up at the crime scene in the aforementioned cloud gray suit and met the gaze of Raydor who wore Armani again; a wonderful autumn mix of colors and textures. A charcoal jacket with a pewter knit scoop neck sweater cinched with a soft leather belt and the skirt was a confection of hounds tooth stretchy wool knit in brown and black. Wow! The colors the textures the pleats the looks that could kill. Brenda and Raydor--impossible!

The supporting character of Ally was dressed in Banana Republic and Theory, just what a detective on the fast track up the ladder could buy. Her paramour, Sgt. Dunn was Clark Kent handsome in his winter LAPD uniform and then when he was brought into the morgue I softened him a little with a baby blue cashmere pullover from Banana Republic, hmmm did Ally perhaps buy it for him? and a DKNY leather jacket from 1996 that I donated to the wardrobe stock. Ally and Dunn...an impossible relationship that ended badly.

Finally Brenda needed to feel comforted what with Pope and Fritz just ragging on her and she cocooned in her Ralph Lauren sandy brown cashmere cable knit cardigan from 2004 while eating Chinese food and then the next day chose a heather raspberry Pure Collection cashmere twin set and a chocolate brown Irene skirt, met Raydor, who wore a Winter Sky Armani jacket with a black dress from her earlier appearances, on equal ground and the pink and blue combos on the two ladies attempted to allude to the possibility of a cohesive relationship...not on your life. Impossible!!!

And that my dear Closer fashion fans brings our Season 5 relationship to an end, a short hiatus if you will until in the summer of 2010 we convene again in the rarefied world of cashmere and couture, vintage and Vivier. For me this has been anything but an impossible relationship!


The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer/speaker and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc.