Awesome "Cheap" Jeans...

So, this weekend I went on my first significant solo outing since the incident. I went to Saks in Union Square on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, figuring everywhere I went would be crowded and I wouldn't worry much about my surroundings. It was a good move except that being out with a scab on my swollen lip is not pleasant, the looks I got, or people trying hard not to look, was not nice. That's what I get, but it was their Friends and Family sale and I had a gift card that was about to expire.

Anyway, I did make a couple of interesting discoveries, the first is this Rock and Republic Recession Collection jeans - they are much lower priced than their normal denim, about a $100 less. I LOVE these jeans - I had to buy them, they are really flattering on my body, creating curves where I have none which is always nice.





I like that it has no whiskering and the narrow leg is perfect for all of my flats.


The other discovery was even more surprising to me - I never jumped on the Seven jeans bandwagon. They just never looked right on me, but now they make this petite version of the A-pocket jeans and these fit me perfectly!





In standard 7 jeans, the rise is too long for me and I guess the knee break was always in the wrong place, these fix both of those issues for me AND I don't have to get them shortened, perfection.

Sample Sales this week (Lauren Merkin, Tory Burch, Issey Miyake and more)

For women this week Gilt has Lauren Merkin bags( !) and Richard Chai clothes today,

Tuesday - Amrita Singh Jewelry, the perfect statement earrings, necklaces and bracelets, Issey Miyake women, Gryson and Matt and Nat bags, Matt and Nat are really great leather-free bags

Wednesday - for earth day they have eco-friendly clothing and accessory lines Edun, Loomstate and Stella McCartney for Le Sportsac

Thursday - Tory Burch, Furla, Foley and Corinna and Charriol

Friday - Adam, Women's Samsonite, Valentino Pret-a-porter


For men -
Tuesday - Issey Miyake Men's

Wednesday - Edun Men's

Friday - Samsonite by Alexander McQueen

Sale at Bare Necessities

Bare Necessities has a great sale going on through today - it's a buy more, save more kind of sale -

$15 OFF $100 Orders. $25 OFF $150. $50 OFF $250 Orders at BareNecessities.com. Ends 04.20.09.

If you need some new bras and underwear for the summer this would be a great time to get them, like shapewear for under your summer clothes, you can choose from so many different shapes and styles these days, and the new light fabrics they are made from are so much more pleasant than the armor women used to wear. Just look at these styles -








or a strapless bra for your bare summer tanks, like this Wacoal version -



or this Maidenform one -





Or how about this awesome combination of a strapless bra and shaper - ideal for under your strapless tops and dresses -



I might have to get one for under my bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding.

The Best Men's Jeans...

Out shopping recently I encountered these fantastic men's jeans - the 7 For All Mankind Standard in Sri Lanka -





They are a slim cut without being too hipster skinny, perfect for a guy who gets lost in relaxed style jeans. They come in other colors which are also really attractive, but this Sri Lanka is a great light blue, perfect for Spring and Summer.

I like this darker blue as well -




Both available at Revolve which means free shipping and no taxes if you are outside of CA. A good deal...

Botkier Flats On Sale at Gilt...

I have been watching these Botkier flats in both gold and silver (the bread and butter shoe colors of my wardrobe because they go with absolutely everything and always look interesting) - they have been on sale at Revolve for a while -




and




The sale price at Revolve is already half off and a good deal, BUT...if you can get there in time, they are both in the Gilt Final Accessories Sale for $98. Crazy... click here for an invitation link to the sample sale site.

The Jeans I want...

So, not to be morbid or dark, but the jeans I was wearing the day of my "incident" are unwearable. They were my everyday, go-to jeans for sneakers and flats and I want to get another pair for the same uses. But this time I'm not cheaping out and getting only what's available on Bluefly, instead i'm going straight for the good stuff, the ones I really want -




The Ingrid style by Citizens of Humanity. I love them, they are a fantastic everyday jean for a body like mine (i.e. no waist to hip ratio to speak of, or is it hip to waist? whatever) they have a bootcut leg and the right rise.

I do also want to get a new pair of the straight leg style Ava, I wore mine to death (they actually developed a hole in the crotch)




I wore these as my skinny jeans before I could bring myself to wear actual skinny jeans, the leg is really flattering and these work with just about any shoe or top you want to wear. I might have to get two pairs...

Getting back to life and the fun stuff - sales!

I am recovering and trying to slowly get back to my regular life, and the first thing I am excited about (ok, second or third, ice cream and bendy straws have become important parts of my life this week) but Gilt has some amazing sales this week, starting with the FINAL SALE, today. I'm so excited I can't even tell you. I looked at all the brands and its insane. They are expecting so much traffic they already had a warning on the site yesterday that they might not be able to handle it all, and in fact it seemed like they had a practice run of glitches as well.

If you need an invitation link click here.

The final sale is divided between two days, on the first day you will find Helmut Lang, Doo.Ri, Tibi, Milly, Lauren Moffat, AG jeans, Marc by Marc Jacobs and tons more. The second day brands include Ali Ro, Shoshanna, Cacherel, Vera Wang Lavender and so many more.

Saturday is the final sale for jewelry and other accesories (bag and shoe heaven i'm guessing)

They do have sales for men too - the "Main Event" sale for men looks fantastic, but that's over tonight so get to it.

I have to admit I already bought myself something(s) this week from Gilt, a great pair of Wendy Mink earrings and a Cynthia Steffe skirt. A girl needs some cute things to help her recover, and as my lip heals I'm looking more normal which is always a good thing.

Concussion for Passover...

To be honest, fashion and blogging are not exactly in the forefront of my thoughts this week. Although I had posts for last week I actually spent 2 days in the hospital recovering from an assault that happened at 9 AM on a huge busy street here in San Francisco. I think it was a crazy homeless guy who had been harassing me on the bus, he followed me off and punched me. It gave me a concussion and I have no memory of the actual incident. I was lucky, I needed some stitches in my top lip and lost most of my top two front teeth, but it could have been much worse. Initially I had a lot of memory loss, I remembered I was married but was really happily surprised to find out my husband had moved in with me. I also kept asking my husband what had happened, he told me he didn't know, and I asked over and over again "wait, I have my ring? I have my purse?" He said yes to both, and over and over I shook my head and said "Amateur..."

I finally remembered the guy who did this, and I have called the San Francisco police department over and over again to tell them, telling them specifically what information I had - that a crazy guy who assaulted me in broad daylight was sure to do this again and maybe next time the poor person hits the ground so hard they never get up. And over and over again I have gotten transferred to phone lines that aren't answered, once someone talked to me and she said my report had been misfiled in the fencing department. I have no idea how that happened, but it certainly doesn't give me any peace of mind that they know what the hell they are doing, or that they give a damn.

I always thought these crazy homeless people were something like a benign nuisance, but never again. This is not a PC thing to say, but let's be honest, most of them are mentally ill and untreated and therefore completely unpredictable. The city of San Francisco does nothing to protect it's citizens, and MUNI? That's the SF public transportation system, and it's such a joke, forget it. I would guess that less than half the people I ride the bus with each day ever pay a fare. But MUNI is too stupid and slow to bother doing anything about their system, and they bleed money and have the nerve to cry that they don't know why. I don't know, how about entering this century with their systems so that people actually have to use a ticket to get on. Crazy, I know. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago and took the bus my entire life, but there no one gets on a bus without paying. Which of course makes a huge difference as to who rides the bus. I'm not saying bad things don't happen there, but you are much less likely to have a homeless person sit next to you on a bus there than here, where it's pretty much a rule.

Anyway, I am so dedicated to fashion that from my hospital bed I forwarded an email on my blackberry to my sister about a sale at eLuxury, with the shoes I have been wanting to order. I asked her to order them. Concussion or not I love shoes, and my sister took this as a sign I would be just fine.

The Best T-Shirts Ever....?

I am looking for tops for myself for the Spring and Summer and as usual I'm being quite picky...but I tried on some T-shirts the other day and fell in love with them, starting with this Splendid banded version -




I love the white, I can just picture it with my dark denim pencil skirt and a long necklace or big chunky bracelet, oooh...

It also comes in bright colors, papaya and turquoise -





They are kind of expensive at $60, but the drape of the fabric is so flattering, and the fabric is so soft and feels cool to the touch, perfect for summer. My problem here is deciding what color to get.

I also tried on a couple James Perse tees, they are expensive too but they fit like a dream,




I love the low V-neck, it looks kind of ridiculous on the model but in real life it fits really well. It also comes in black and white.

Spring/Summer Clutch

I am really into light greens this season, and I'm off to a passover seder tonight, which always makes me think of green anyway- I imagine it's all the parsley on the seder plate. I love this adorable clutch by treesje -




It's expensive, I'll admit it, but if you are going to buy one clutch for the next couple of seasons this would be a great bet. You can wear it with dressy outfits, and also with a denim skirt and flipflops when it's hot. It's so springy, and those metallic embellishments, I love it!

.

Catherine Malandrino Dresses For a Steal...

Somehow the prices on some contemporary lines have increased a lot lately, Catherine Malandrino dresses, as I've noted before, hover around $500, but this lovely black dress is marked down to $159 - unbelievable!




The fitted empire waist is incredibly flattering, creating an hourglass figure where there isn't one, or emphasizing one where it already is, the placement of the straps is also really nice. I also love the detail around the neck and at the waist, so it isn't your average black dress (not that any Catherine Malandrino dress is average) and you really cannot beat that price. It's silk, for some reason the one on the model is very wrinkled so it's not so hard to understand why they didn't fly off their shelves...but this would make a great addition to anyone's wardrobe.

This is another fantastic Catherine Malandrino on sale -




It's gorgeous - the flowy shape and the interesting neckline, I love this one. It is more expensive at $263, but that's half it's original price and with the beadwork at the neckline it's totally worth it. I can just imagine it with strappy sandals and a brightly colored clutch.

What Sarah Brown Should Wear...

I cannot stop looking at this picture of Michelle Obama and Sarah Brown from last week -




Say what you will about Obama's interesting sweater, I cannot stop looking at Brown's suit - it's a little like a car accident, I want to look away but I just can't. She is in an impossibly tough position, I mean just imagine how much easier it was to be a first lady in the past, it wasn't hard to look nice standing next to the past few American first ladies but now this poor woman is on the world's stage with Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni Sarkozy.

I would want to stay in bed the entire term. Between those two women pretty much everyone else would look frumpy and poorly dressed, let's be honest.

There is hope though, it would just take a little thought and work - to find clothes that flatter her. She could learn from Michelle, A-line skirts, dresses that skim the body rather than 'hug', these would be great silhouettes for her as well. And really high heels would work for her too.

If I were her stylist I would teach her all about spanx and other shapewear to smooth her out -



and put her in clothes that fit her. I bet an A-line skirt like Obama's would look nice on her, this Alberta Ferreti dress would look lovely on both of them -



There are some well priced versions at White House Black market - and don't forget the great deal they have now, $20 off a Merchandise Purchase of $80 or more at White House Black Market. Enter 8822 at Checkout. Offer Valid 03.23.09 – 04.26.09. Online Only.

Italian Sneaker Obsession (Jennifer Garner likes them too!)

As a teenager I took my first couple of trips to Europe, neither was to Italy but there were Italian tourists all over the place and they were all wearing these sneakers (in all kinds of colors, Jennifer Garner is wearing them above in navy) -




I was a little obsessed with them, but they seemed expensive to me back then and I could never find them in the states. Now I'm a grownup and I still love them, and $80 no longer seems crazy for a pair of shoes (yikes, does that say something about my spending habits?) and we can get them here in men's, women's and kids styles from Endless which means free shipping and returns. Seems like a great spring shoe.

Look at these adorable toddler versions -




and