The Mama Wore Prada

Growing up in Kenya, attending University of Maryland and starting her life on the Hill a decade ago, Winnie Yagan was always a fashion plate, but when motherhood, divorce, then nannying and daycare duties and the recession hit, Yagan did what fashion plates sometimes have to do in these situations.  No, she did not take down the dusty velvet drapes and sew a gown. No, she did not  place the last photo of herself taken  in  a short skirt and a long jacket into a gingham-covered scrapbook and pull on Mom Jeans.

Instead, Yagan boxed her hats, tied on one of her bright scarves , strapped on her Gucci heels, and headed to the park to chase, feed and play with  toddlers, later  putting little pieces of tape on the spit up and food stains for the dry cleaner  to catch.

From Lincoln Park in Prada heels to Buckingham Palace (technically just on the grounds  for the changing of the guards, standing impossibly chic in a military-style jacket), Yagan disarms with her chic and visually stunning style and ease with which she pulls it off despite the circumstances.

Well-made heels are more comfortable than cheap ones. “There is nothing worse than a pony walk,”’ she says about hobbling in uncomfortable  heels, and are safer than flats – her big tumble in shoes was last winter in flats. This Hill mom wears Missoni to baby showers and Hermes to the corner coffee store (where she brings her own tea), who sometimes would have five young boys in her care. One of the playmates of her son, now seven, once asked her, pointing at the spikes on her shoe, “What are those for?”

The better to chase you with my dear. She explains to me the difference between walking in six inch stacked Dior  heels to four inch heels to me, and describes how the brick sidewalks of Capitol Hill  can skin the leather off the shank. We both shudder.

Yagan downsized her wardrobe when she moved from a three bedroom house to a one bedroom apartment, realizing she had too much stuff, including ball gowns from her ballroom dancing days.

“I was really disgusted with myself,” said Yagan, who rode her beloved powder blue Huffy with a basket for her Burberry bag to the interview.

Photo by Elizabeth Festa

She decided to pare down because she discovered that the more stuff one has the more one wants, while a simpler wardrobe makes one more creative.

When styles change she doesn’t rush out and buy something new – she has hemlines raised or hunts for a specific accessory or piece, consigning older apparel to Secondi for balance. Right now she is on the hunt for an Alice Temperley knit dress and covets the new look of oxford shoes (cognac) with print dresses. She recommends J Brand jeans for the Moms out there because the back end is higher, but the jean is still lowrise. Get it?

“I used to be more conservative,” said Yagan, “but if you wear what you see on the mannequins, you look the same as they do.”

She avoids clothes from J. Crew because “I don’t want to walk into a room and wear the same dress a 20 year-old is wearing,” she says. She is aghast that suits worn with sports socks and running shoes atop hosiery is still, “alive and well,” in Washington 15 years after she arrived, and bemoans fleece vests blanketing the Hill in all their, well, fleeciness. Sorry, Winnie. Yagan prides herself on her unique look. Now, she wears citron yellow and tangerine orange in winter, white after Labor Day, hoop earrings and summer print silk dresses with Spanx tights whenever the mood strikes, and wows fellow Mom-friends, among which she has many admirers.

“Winnie is the only mother I know who can wear Prada to the playground, still chase the kids around, and look natural doing it,” said E.V. Downey, a well-connected Hill mother who knows Yagan personally and professionally.

Yagan is able to afford her fancy wardrobe by not paying full retail, accomplished through shopping at consignment shops like Clothes Encounters (where she gets great deals on handbags) and The Remix here on the Hill, and Secondi, in Dupont Circle.  Nordstrom Rack gets her feet in gear, and she visits “secret distribution outlets” run by Saks in Aberdeen, Md. where Chanel purses behind glass counters await shoppers invited in, or makes trips with a friend to Last Call by Neiman Marcus at Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Md. She no longer pays full retail price for designer goods and gets basics at, gasp, Forever 21. She talked up the long-lasting and smooth $2.50 solid  camisoles and the $5.50 shells, worn under sweaters to cut down on dry-cleaning costs, so I had to go see for myself. Nothing less than Winnie could have gotten me into that store.   I also found after speaking with her, I was unable to avoid a quilted handbag in patent chartreuse.  No winter dinginess for me.

Darn that Winnie! I also want a touring bike, so infectious is her style. Yes, she rides her bike in skirts and heels. You might not notice this at first, especially if she is wearing a vintage cheetah print faux fur coat as she pedals by.

Yagan is hoping to start a style consulting practice and launch her website, Winnie Chic, soon. She is already helping one friend – a Hill mother of three – transition her wardrobe and style from law student to career lawyer as she takes the bar exam, and has loaned out dresses from her closets to other Moms looking to sparkle  and shine at some event around town.