25 Most Stylish Bostonians of 2008 -- Doris Yaffe

Doris Yaffe

Age: 79 1/2

Profession: I'm a consultant for the international and nonprofit community. I'm not a socialite.

Residence: Boston waterfront.

Who are your biggest style influences? Saint Laurent and Coco Chanel - pre-Karl Lagerfeld. The real Coco Chanel. And wait a minute, Akris. It's the only design house in the world today that has a school that teaches how to cut and sew as they did in the '60s and '70s. And that is so important.

Where do you shop? I have a modest budget for new clothes, so I shop in my closet for my vintage designer fashions from the '80s when I was fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue. Akris is where I occasionally fill in my wardrobe. Also discount stores for funky accessories and tops to update my vintage fashions. I am not spending a fortune. And also Lahcen Guemanou on Berkeley Street; he does custom clothes. He's a master at leather. He's fabulous. Nobody makes pants like him. I sent Liz Walker to him.

You understand how to mix and match colors and accessories, no easy feat. Where did you learn how to put outfits together? I don't even have a black sweater. I don't even have a black T-shirt. I have black leather pants. The rest of my wardrobe is all color. I have a trained eye. I worked with [Alfred] Fiandaca for 10 years, 1966 to 1976. And he only worked with color. And I was exposed to that and it became part of my milieu. He taught me so much about color, it was a 10-year-long course in color coordination. In the dead of winter I'm ablaze in color.

Not many mature women rock leather pants, but you do. How do you keep your look so youthful? I go to pilates twice a week for private lessons, and I try to walk 3 or 4 times a week for two miles. And that's it. And I eat everything in moderation.