Spring Style

I am really into the clothes by young French designer Vanessa Bruno. Her clothes have incredible drape, so while simple and easy to wear, they look amazing.

Her collection includes gorgeous tops like this -

or this one-

or her ruched front dress



She also designs bags and shoes.

Morning Coffee and Sale

For me a good morning consists of great coffee and email after email announcing sales at my favorite stores. Lucky me to wake up to new markdowns at Shopbop including a ton of denim. So, if you want to try a new style now would be a great time - either the wide leg trouser jean like this style from Anlo



These are marked down from $200 to $100, and I love the color and the back pockets. However these are low rise, so if you are more in the market for something higher, those are definitely available too, like this fantastic style also from Anlo

Happy Shopping.

Stick-To-It-Ness

Not sure that is a word but I'm liking it, so I don't care.

I have a friend, and a mother actually who are obsessed with Donny Deutsch (not even sure that's how you spell that) and his show with all the ordinary people who thought of something, made it and sold it, and then sold lot's of them.

So I am thinking of them when I link to this WSJ article about a woman who had a plan for a new way to size clothes, but she doesn't actually make the clothes. She decided designers should use her sizing plan so that women will have a better idea of what they are trying on and buying. Some stores like the idea because among other things, it could eliminate a lot of returning that goes on(and people return a lot of what they buy). She was very persistent, and got some people to listen to her and even implement it. Good for her.

A Good Foundation...

Since I linked to an article on men's undergarments I thought it's only fair to ink to something for women - Daddy Likey did a great post on bras for "big-busted beauties."

Men's Shapewear?

Yes, you read that correctly. It's like Spanx for men and the WSJ has an article about the new market for them.

Check it out.

And you can buy them here - Over 400 Mens Styles - T-shirts, underwear, socks and more at BareNecessities.com.

and the T-shirts here -

Extra 15% off at Yoox.com

This weekend Yoox.com is offering an extra 15% off, they have some great pieces these days including Diane von Furstenberg skirts and dresses. They are definitely worth checking out.

Is it a Clutch or a Tote?

I love Gwen Stefani's line L.A.M.B, the clothes, the bags, all of it. Of course I knew I wasn't alone, but this surprised me:

Cameron Diaz is carrying the LAMB bag that when closed is a clutch,

Cameron is holding it unclipped, as a tote. I love the style, it's like having two bags in one.

Other designers have similar ideas, like Kate Spade:

Nine West has even gotten in on this style:
So, you can find them in all price points and a lot of different colors and patterns.

Rami Won in My Book

This is a Rami Kashou filled week! A friend called me last night to tell me she met him at the Seeds of Peace Benefit in New York, and today I read an interview with him in Jewcy magazine.

His clothes were always my favorite week after week, and he seemed just like a really nice guy. My friend who met him concurs, and the interview is a nice one. Read it here. And New York Magazine's coverage of it here.

I would love to own some of his clothes, it looks like he will be selling them at Big Drop.

This Week's Obsession

I love jewelry. I like to joke that it is in my blood since I come from a line of goldsmiths. One of my favorite places in New York is the young designers market where I can get really cool, cutting edge, trendy jewelry directly from the artists before they get big and more expensive. Since I no longer live there I have to make do with what I see here, and to be honest generally just stick to my diamond studs for every day, but I saw these Anna Beck Designs earrings at some point last year, probably in a gossip mag because the likes of Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan have been seen wearing them:
They are around $200, so I thought nah, I don't need to pay so much for a peace of such trendy jewelry. But when I saw a knockoff at Forever 21 I will admit that I bought them, I mean for $4 how could I not? Well, I didn't even make it through 1 evening wearing the knockoffs, they were so heavy and painful it was torture. So here I am constantly thinking about ordering these puppies, the Anna Beck website doesn't seem to have the size i want (2 inches long) but I found them at Jennifer Kaufman. They are the perfect shape and size for me and I love how interesting they look, like an armadillo.

But again, I keep thinking for trendy jewelry it still seems like a lot, and what if the real one is heavy also, so I keep looking for other options and I found some, like these from Viv and Ingrid,

These are still big and gold, but really subtle and very light, but still not the same.

Guess I will have to keep looking, any suggestions?

Retail Man

For my birthday last summer my boyfriend took me to the theater, to "Shopping: The Musical." No, I'm not kidding, and yes, it was funny.

One of the numbers was called "Retail Man," the guy who knows what he wants and goes to get it, no looking for a better price, no comparison shopping, nada. Just in, buy, out. I thought maybe only my boyfriend did that, so of course that made this number funnier and more memorable.

And then tonight I checked out the Wall Street Journal and saw this headline:

Fashion Online: Retailers Tackle the Gender Gap

Hmmm, two things that always catch my attention - fashion and gender. It seems that men spend more money online in shorter amounts of time (no comparison shopping) and return much less because "As long as the product is good enough, [men] are less likely to return it." So true.

Read the whole thing.

Calypso

I walked into Calypso last week while in New York. I generally don't bother as it is a store designed for the "I winter in St. Barth's" kind of crowd which most definitely does not include me, but I viewed this visit as research. Plus I know when they have sales, they have SALES.

They have these short dresses that I thought were so cute, but also seem to be part of a trend, cute summer dresses in a fabric that will make you sweat even more than usual. This is a real problem for someone like me, i.e. a sweaty mess on a hot day which is not to be confused with what Christian, the Project Runway winner, calls a hot mess - got that? I become a sweaty mess, NOT a hot mess, this is a very very important distinction (to me).

Check out the Calypso version:


Which looks a lot like this Cynthia Rowley dress:

This one is reversible to plain black.

Ok, with one on top of the other they suddenly don't look so similar, but they are made of the same material, a silk taffeta, and I just don't understand who thought it was a good idea to make a cute summer dress out of it. Maybe people who winter in St. Barth's don't sweat?

On another note, Calypso does have some great stuff on sale, like this Foley and Corinna city tote, a style that achieved it-bag status pretty quickly. I never thought it was worth full price, however marked down I might want to re-think that, the leather is really nice and it's a useful bag.


So, to review, clothes that turn me into a sweaty mess = bad; cool bags on sale = good.

Love Thyself

Is thyself really one word? It looks wrong, but there are a couple reasons for that- either it is, or I'm just not used to typing it.

Anyway, Catie at Cuffington wrote a lovely post this week about coming to terms with her height, and learning to love it. Every woman has an issue or two with their body, probably spending a lot of time and energy trying to ignore or camouflage, but then you see women and girls walking around all slouched and hunched over, whether it's to hide height, a big chest, or whatever else we have imagine is 'less than perfect.' We need to get over it, throw our shoulders back and walk tall (even if you are a measly 5'3 like me). So go read this.

Cherries are out of season but...

I am kind of obsessed with these shoes:

They are from the brand Oh Deer, and go for $149.

I love them, but I cannot decide if they would be cute on, or weird. I need to go back to the store where I saw them today(Belle Cose on Polk in SF) and try them on. You can find them here: