Rules Made To Be Broken

The WSJ has a story about a young model sent home early from Paris Fashion Week for gaining 5 pounds. She is a 17 year old girl who is still rail thin (23 inch waist) but designers want their clothes only on the gauntest, most sallow unhealthy girls I guess.

Last year there was all this hoopla about new rules concerning minimum-weight in models and sticking to them, and what happens? Nothing apparently. It makes me so mad because we are told the clothes look best on a hanger, not a person (essentially these rail thin models act as hangers, no curves to fill out the clothes). And young girls look at those unattainable bodies and think they are supposed to look like that. let me tell you, having lived in Manhattan and seen a few of these models in person, they look like giraffes. When a successful model talks about looking awkward when she was young i totally believe it, these girls are incredibly thin, and incredibly tall at a very young age.

At least this particular girl has a mom with a good head on her shoulders. Read the story here.

Retail Therapy Makes the News

The AP is reporting something they somehow think is newsworthy, that "Sad, Self-absorbed shoppers spend more."

My first reaction was incredibly childish, a big fat DUH.

Have they never heard the term "retail therapy"? 4 universities participated in a study of how sadness changes people's buying habits, it's a cool experiment, except I think they would have gotten way better results if they dangled something better than a water bottle in front of people. I am literally a professional shopper and I cannot imagine being satisfied with the purchase of a waterbottle. Although, now that I think about it, I was really excited when I bought my cool and pretty aluminum Sigg bottle to replace the apparently dangerous Nalgene bottles.

I do however, totally take offense at how they portray personal shoppers in the article. They claim we "prowl the aisles for others" who look blue, because they spend more. I guess this refers to personal shoppers employed by department stores but I don't care - it's a gross statement.

You can read the whole thing here.

The other day I found myself staring at a woman's pants, i LOVED them and had to know what they were. Lucky for me they were Joe's Jeans (means they have a funny looking double J on the right back pocket)

These were the jeans:

They are Joe's Jeans Muse style, available at Shopbop. I have to say, these are some sharp looking jeans.

Fashion Weeks Continue...

I didn't cover the London, Milan and now Paris fashion weeks, so I thought I would give a quick look at what we've missed, like the Moschino show -

the beauty:

and the beast:

Don't get me started on that monstrosity above. ick.

Then there is Burberry Prorsum (no, that is not a typo)

the beauty:

and Oliver Twist?

Maybe it's more Raskolnikov than Oliver Twist, either way, someone get this man some calories and some fake tan so he doesnt look sallow anymore.

My New Obsession

I'll admit it, it took me a while to get into them, but now I'm totally into them - the gladiator shoe.

What, you ask, is that? a shoe for Russel Crowe-looking fighting men in weird outfits?

Not exactly. It's more like this:
This Pour le Victoire Nanette will ease you into the trend, unless you are ready for the high heeled version by Charles David:



Bluefly has this cool Stuart Weitzman wedge version that I am totally loving:

This one seems less obvious as part of the trend than the others. I'm into it.

Happy Birthday Dad!

In honor of my dad's birthday I wanted to do another menswear post, so I thought why not about a fool-proof men's work outfit. Some friends in the corporate world have regaled me with tales of inappropriately dressed first year employees, these two pieces(non-iron shirt and easy-to-wear pants) can be particularly useful to a guy just starting out in the work world - just get a few of of the shirts and a few pairs of pants and mix and match.



The Brooks Brothers non-iron shirt ($79-$89) comes in a ton of colors and patterns, Lands End also makes them and they are less expensive($39-$45).

I love light-weight wool flat-front trousers like these I recently discovered at Banana Republic:

Lands End also makes non-iron flat front chinos for men whose offices are less formal.

Now there is no excuse to show up to work in wrinkled shirts.

Oscar Coverage

Some websites already have great posts on Oscar fashions, you can check out fabsugar for trends and red-carpet photos!

I LOVE all the red dresses, and Helen Mirren is one woman who knows how to dress her body and for her age, or perhaps she leaves it to a trusted stylist like Jennifer Garner who I will forgive for hiring Rachel Zoe since she clearly does a great job for her.

Nordstrom's Upgrade

The WSJ has an interesting profile of Jeffrey Kalinsky, the man who started the very successful New York store Jeffrey, known for bringing European avant garde fashion to the city. Nordstrom has hired him to bring luxe designer brands into the store to maintain customers who might go elsewhere for the high-end items.

It's funny how a person so good at bringing high fashion to people wears the same thing everyday.

Time for a New Man-Bag?

My father has been hinting (Ok, requesting daily) that I find him a bag. It apparently wasn't just my mother that passed down the gene requiring me to carry everything I might need (you know, the basics like a notebook, camera, home-made first-aid kit, tissue, pens for everyone, enough change to do laundry for my whole building, etc) He has it too.

I find that men don't really have many options when it comes to a daily bag that isn't a computer bag - you know, the man-bag or murse.

For the young hipster it seems easier to find a bag, the smaller messenger type works - like this one -
available on ebags for $45.

Or this J.Fold's leather version for $140:



But for my father who could not pick a hipster out of a crowd let alone define the term the right bag needs to be something a little more refined, more appropriate for his life. So, to start looking I went to the sites I would search for a bag for my mother and checked out the men's options.

This eco-friendly option available on Tobi for $70 lies somewhere in the middle:

It's got a very clean look, and is still very cool.

Cole Haan has some nice options, although they are a bit pricey (no surprise there, you pay for quality) such as this leather newspaper bag for $295 :



Or the canvas/leather version for $275:


But those aren't quite right.

Jack Spade is always a good option, such as this messenger available at Nordstrom:

A smaller version of this bag is available at the Jack Spade store, you can call to order it, just check out the website for the information.

Of course leave it to Ferragamo to make a really gorgeous version available at Nordstrom:

I'm not sure we have found the right bag, but this is certainly a start.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Going into the Crawl Space?

This isn't really fashion related, ok not at all, but it's hilarious - George Clooney went to a TIME reporter's house for dinner and they filmed him looking for a bum smoke detector or something. Scroll down to watch the video even if you don't want to read the whole article, it's very amusing. I think that he really is Doug Ross his ER character.

Is Cashmere Mafia Getting Good?

I might be one of the few who has stuck by this show, I tried Lipstick Jungle and found it horrific so I hope my new-found enthusiasm for CS isn't just that next to Lipstick Jungle it feels like Casablanca. Last night's episode had a joke so funny I actually had to pause, rewind, replay and call someone to repeat it.

Ahh, the beauty of DVR.

Some Brides Just Don't Want Much of a Gown

I do not mean to focus so much on bridal wear, but today's NY Times fashion section has an article about brides who want, how shall we say this, a lot less fabric in their wedding dresses, complete with visible tramp stamp! (for those who aren't familiar with the term that's the tattoo on the lower back)

They argue that this is a woman's shot to have a real photo shoot and be in the limelight, I agree with that, however I'd prefer to remember myself as more Audrey Hepburn than say, Jenna Jameson. Am I alone in that?

Read the article.

Shlumpadinka?

I come from Chicago which could be more accurately described as the Land of Oprah than the Land of Lincoln these days. My mother and pretty much everyone else loves her, so this morning I watched when my mom told me I had to - Oprah had a stylist on, Lloyd Boston, and they styled a neighborhood of suburban (are there actually neighborhoods in suburbs?) stay-at-home-moms.

It was a nice show, very funny, the women agreed with everything he did -who wouldn't - he made them stop wearing sweatsuits and start wearing real clothes and real shoes. He gave his list of 10 things every woman should have in their closet and while a good list (black trousers, trench coat, etc) I'm still trying to figure out what makes his list different from Tim Gunn's. In other words, it wasn't earth shattering, but unlike those other makeover shows, he and his shlumpadinka (a real Yiddish word I'm told by my mother - but Oprah never actually explained that to the audience) group bought everything (or was given?) at J.C. Penney, so the pants were all under $50, the bags were cute but affordable, all-in-all, a fun show.

They also had another stylist, a woman, espousing the magic of the Brooks Brothers non-iron white shirt.

You can check out clips from the show, and plenty of before and after shots on the Oprah website.

The Miracle Shoe

My sister and I started shopping for her wedding dress yesterday, and we started with the best - Vera Wang. The most surprising thing we discovered (the amazing-ness of the dresses was not surprising) were the shoes! They gave her a pair of shoes to try on with the dresses and the shoes had the most incredible padding worked into the sole. I have never seen such a thing actually and I am a little obsessed. The brand is Filippa Scott and they are crazy expensive, however I already came up with a way to make it more worthwhile - they are dyeable satin, which it's true, I might have talked about how ugly those can be - this brand is an exception, one peep toe version in particular:



So, back to why it might be worth spending so much($345) - hello, comfort? The pink parts on the sole that are a little visible in the picture are deep cushions, what a great idea! If you want a hot shoe that you can actually wear all night, this has got to be it, plus - if you dye it black, you actually could wear it with every dress you have, right? It's worth trying.

I want her to start making all kinds of shoes, why only bridal? No fair.

Bargain Buys

I got an email today from Anthropologie - they want us to think spring and start shopping. I'm all for that, but the short sleeved jacket they put in the email looks alot like the Target jacket I blogged about last month. Check it out:

Anthropologie version for $98:

The Target version for $24.99:

It's true that the Target version doesn't have butterflies, but as far as I'm concerned, that is a good thing- very few adult women can pull off butterflies. Plus, this is a trendy shape that won't necessarily be wearable next spring, I would advise people not to spend much on this kind of piece.

Anti-Feminist Feminism

In Friday's WSJ Elizabeth Wurtzel had a really interesting piece. It was her theory on why women hate Hillary Clinton. Wurtzel has a history of feminist theorizing, after her critically acclaimed Prozac Nation she wrote a book called Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women. I hated that second book, and most critics seemed to agree with me but Friday's piece demonstrates more thought and dare I say even maturity. Part of the argument:

A young woman I respect in northern California describes Hillary as "grotesque." A middle-aged successful artist I know -- herself a bit of a virago -- thinks she's "evil." And my mother, who is admittedly a Republican, is capable of going on and on about how Hillary is in it all for herself, that she'll do anything to win, that she'll kill to push her agenda through, that she's just a disgusting human being, that the sound of Hillary's voice is enough to send her racing for the remote control to turn off her beloved Fox News. The New Republic points out that many Democrats describe Hillary Clinton as "mendacious, brutal, willing to bend (or break) any rule in pursuit of power." And they're on her side.

This special anti-Rodham anger is especially troubling because it's impossible to separate from sex or sexism. Hillary Clinton reminds me that it's possible that all powerful women are, as my friend puts it, "grotesque." They are exaggerated humans, extreme cases, everything to everybody.

I guess we aren't so ready for real change, no matter how often Obama says it.

President's Weekend Sale

Apparently this holiday is a great excuse for all kinds of sales.

Banana Republic is offering 30% off select pants for men and women, and it looks like many of their belts are on sale as well.

eLuxury is offering an additional 30% off of sale merchandise, and free shipping for orders over $150. I LOVE this adorable flat from Pedro Garcia:

They were originally over $300, now once you add them into your cart they are $157, soooo cute and perfect for Spring!

Active Endeavors has an impressive amount of merchandise on sale, a lot of it would make perfect transition clothes for moving from winter into spring like this silver jacket that would dress up any outfit of jeans and T:

Or this adorable dress, marked down to $79 (from $264), that can be worn over a turtleneck or with a jacket or cardigan when it's cold, and on it's own when the weather turns warm:



Bloomingdales and Macy's are also having amazing sales this weekend, through Monday night.

Bargain Skirt

I am constantly telling women they should have a denim pencil skirt in their wardrobe - It's the perfect piece because it's still denim so it's comfortable and easy to wear, but because of it's shape it is much more sophisticated than your average denim skirt. And then today I was checking out Fabsugar and they alerted me to a sale at Sway&Cake where this skirt is marked down to $46 and it's available in pretty much every size:

Why are you still reading this post? Go buy it now!

Painter's Smocks Might Be In Now

Ok, so that post title might be an exaggeration, but perhaps you too have noticed all of the clothes that look paint-splattered?

There are those ads in fashion mags for a high end brand, of course I'm blanking at the moment but I'm pretty sure it isn't YSL even though they seemed to start the trend with this gorgeous dress:



From Robert Rodriguez we have this green paint splattered one($319 at eLuxury):

And this Vince version for $285 at Shopbop:


Or this other Vince version for $245 at Tobi:



Even BCBG has it's own version at $142:


At first I wasn't so sure about the trend, but I'm into it now. It makes for a fun dress and if the splatters are well placed, could help camouflage those flaws as we like our clothes to do - such as the second Vince dress which is black on top and looks as though the paint "drips" down onto the white bottom- that is perfect for someone who is bigger on top.
The Robert Rodriguez dress is great for someone who is long-waisted (has a proportionately longer torso) as well as for someone who doesn't have much of a hip to waist ratio (what I lovingly refer to as my tree-trunk bod, otherwise known as "boyish")

Anyway, these are fun looks to play with.

***Update - when I posted this I hadn't checked my email, Shopbop sent out an email today with pictures of 3 dresses and the title "Wearable Art" - we must be on the same wavelength, although they did not include any of the dresses I posted.

Bridesmaids Dresses Give Back

Yes, you read the headline correctly, we can finally do something with those annoying dresses that we hate having to spend so much money on and then never wear again -did you all love the scene in 27 Dresses with all the brides echoing one another saying "you can just shorten it and wear it again" as much as I did? Now you can give back and even get back something yourself.

The Princess Project of the Bay Area accepts dry-cleaned formal and semi-formal dresses to provide to girls who can't afford a prom dress. How great is that? And to add a cherry on top (or for me since I hate maraschino cherries it's more like the whipped cream or chocolate sauce) if you are in San Francisco and donate through the Fillmore st. boutique Her, you get 25% off of one full-priced item.

2 great things rolled up in one good deed, very cool.

And if any readers know of a similar program in your neck of the woods, please submit a comment to let others know.

Fashionable Career Women Clothing

I'm still sick, and irritable, and flew to Chicago today where it is very cold, but I perked up when I saw this great article in the WSJ that highlights the work-friendly clothes from last weeks fashion shows. Since sometimes it feels as though the ridiculous/fantastical shows get the good reviews I love this article for finding the wearable options - and of course backing up my previous posts about the Michael Kors show.

Who Do We Dress For?

WWD has an article addressing who it is we dress for with quotes from men and women. Retailers and other fashion people asked the question at fashion week to try to get at which trends will survive. I'm not sure this is the way to figure it out, but it's an interesting read.

Spring Has Sprung

I know it is still really cold in much of the country, but here it has been beautiful the past few days - warm and sunny. Of course I got a cold now. Sucko.

The fall fashion shows this past week had me kind of forgetting about spring, but I looked at Shopbop today and they had some adorable new stuff, so now I can happily plan for the coming season with outfits like this:
Please ignore the hideous shorts in the picture. The top is Tbags, I'd wear it with my skinny or wide-leg jeans I think, or a skirt if it's very warm, and this Gorjana necklace:

it can be worn doubled or as one long strand. And we can't forget the shoes:
Ah, I can feel the sun on my face already.

Shopping Disaster

While I normally only deal with clothing and accessory shopping, when i saw this article I had to comment on it:

A woman took her laptop to best Buy to repair it because she had purchased their $300 three-year warranty. Rather than repairing it they "lost" it - most likely an employee stole it is what it looks like, and then gave her the run-around for months as different customer service people with the report in front of them that the computer was "missing" continued to tell her it was in the process and would be ready for return shortly.

So, now she is suing Best Buy for $54 million. She says she doesn't expect to get that, but when the store finally admitted the computer was gone and only offered her a $500 gift card she was understandably upset. That doesn't cover the computer, software or music she lost, it's hardly more than the freaking warranty. She chose the dollar amount because of the story last year where a guy sued a dry cleaners for $54 million when they lost his pants. You might recognize that story from the recent Law and Order about it, of course they made it much juicier - related to a corporate cover up of the distribution of poisonous chinese-made toothpaste. Gotta love Law and Order. I could watch it all day, in fact i have done that on many occasions.

Anyway... back to the matter at hand, awful shopping experiences. It's true, interest in customer service has taken a nosedive in many places but from the comments attached to the story, it seems that it is actually a corporate strategy to screw people this way. I had hoped that was more of a wacko conspiracy theory, but apparently not.

So take that all of you with a Y chromosome that visit and can't believe how small my TV is. I prefer to buy things that don't require a warranty - like shoes.

Business Model for Brand-Building

The WSJ has an interesting article about Tory Burch - yes, i hate all of their logo-covered things, but some pieces aren't shameless self-advertising. Anyway, the article informs us that because she and her wealthy husband had the capital and connections, they were able to build a brand incredibly quickly and successfully. While she seems concerned about a glut of logo covered pieces, i have yet to see that translated into their products. And if all the reports of lowered spending and pulling back from ostentatious spending (anything logo covered seems to me to be included) is true, will her brand suffer? Or will the fact that it's "mid-priced" make all the difference? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Someone Else's Rant on Sloppy Academics

A reader, Ok, it was my mom, pointed out this article on making a dress code for academics. The comments are funny also, some from people who get it, and some who clearly do not. My favorite does not apply only to academics, but to everyone who thinks by not dressing up they are somehow fulfilling their desire to be seen as artists or protesters of societal norms:

"More faculty members need to understand that their refusal to play the cultural capital game (by dressing poorly) is just another form of game playing. Anti-style is still a style, it just looks lousy."

Amen.

Women Have it Tougher

Ok, so the title is not exactly news in many realms, but Nicholas Kristof has a great column in today's NYTimes called "When Women Rule." I have been saying for years that women are much more critical of other women than they are of men, it's terrible but true. If women are too attractive other women don't like them, if they are too unattractive women don't like them, we criticize everything and revel in things like "she has fat ankles." It's embarrassing.

Read the column.

Links

Flair has a great post on what to wear if you are top heavy.

The New York Times on Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle.

Omiru has a wrap-up of trends seen at NY Fashion Week.

Bagsnob got to hang out with Oscar de la Renta. Lucky.

The Fug Girls cover fashion week at New York Magazine. As always hilarity ensues.

Flats Shouldn't Hurt

I love flats, those are flat shoes for you novices. Ballet flats, pointy toe flats, embellished, plain, I am an equal-opportunity flat lover and my closet sings that loud and clear (or really it's the gasp I hear when people see my open closet for the first time and all the shoes crammed in there, and yes I occasionally answer to Imelda)

Sadly not everyone else understands my love of flats because if you choose the wrong ones after a day of walking on them you feel like you have been walking directly on concrete (it hurts in the ankles, knees, pretty much everywhere). I can help steer you away from the bad ones.

First, if they are cheap, it's highly unlikely they are good. Sad but true. Unfortunately price is not the only way to tell because there are plenty of expensive flats that have no business being called "shoes" - they are more like slippers and pretty unwearable outside. So, as cute as the Loeffler Randall line for Target is, don't expect those flats do be well made like their regular line with prices more in the $300 range. But also don't look to J.Crew for well made comfortable flats. In my experience their flats have absurdly thin soles - and a hefty price tag in the $118-$165 range.

I have also made the mistake of buying Nine West ballet flats. While incredibly cute, I can only wear them when I am spending the day on carpeted surfaces, or walking less than 2 blocks. After a few blocks outside my knees feel like I've just run a half-marathon (I would say marathon, but I've never actually run 26.2 miles all at one time).

My favorite line of flats, as I've said before on this blog is Me Too, (like the yellow one above) they are really well cushioned, and all cost well under $100. But I also love my Cole Haan flats, while not cushioned exactly, are so well made that they absorb shock, are very wearable and they aren't even the Cole Haan/Nike Air collaborations. The ones with Nike Air technology are even better.

The downside is that those can get expensive, but Calvin Klein actually makes less expensive flats with a lot of cushioning as well. I got a pair for ridiculously cheap during one of Bloomingdales' amazing sales (I mean around$40) so keep your eyes open. I found them on Zappo's at full price:
Zappo's has this cool price-matching deal that if you find a pair of shoes cheaper, they give it to you for even less than that cheaper price, and I know they really follow through with that deal so shopping around is always a good idea.

But, if you don't like embellished, and I totally get that - there are plenty of options. Personally I like the bling, but HATE logos, which is why I won't buy one of those incredibly popular Tory Burch flats. I just don't want to pay a lot of money to be a walking ad for her. And I never want everyone who looks at me to know exactly what I'm wearing. I don't see the fun in that.

So find some comfy flats for Spring. Happy Shopping!

The New Sample Sale

If you have been to a sample sale you know it isn't pretty nor is it often a 'nice' experience - it is shopping at it's most feral- knocking people over for that pair of shoes in your size marked down 70%, digging through trays of trendy jewelry priced at a fraction of retail...plus the long line to wait to get in -more often than not when I saw the line to get into a sample sale, I didn't even bother. Maybe that says something about how much I'm willing to suffer for fashion.

Some smart people have figured out a way to get around all of that by starting online sample sale sites, but when I first heard about the sites I did find myself scratching my head and wondering what this was about. So I thought about it.

I realized that beyond saving us from waiting in line and all of that, it helps the clothing lines because it means the extra stuff doesn't end up on Bluefly and at Nordstrom Rack, which basically means death to the line - a glut of sale merchandise diminishes the cache of line and can lead to ruin. Some lines have managed to come back from that front, like DKNY a few years ago for example, when you couldn't go to a sale site or Nordstrom Rack type store without tripping over piles of their ugly crap (the line was restarted and now produces nice pieces again)

These new sample sale sites allow the brands to sell leftover merchandise and even increase their cache because for some of them, you have to be "invited" or some such nonsense to shop there. They include Ideeli, Haute Look, The Gilt Group.I think Haute Look is the only one a person can just sign up for.

Besides avoiding the crappy warehouses and little(or big)-miss-greedy grabbing the clothes right out of your hands, these sites take credit cards and for clothing at least, they take returns. Unheard of for real sample sales and a real plus in my book. But of course you aren't able to try the clothes on to see if they fit when you order them online, so I guess it's a wash.

Brain Freeze

Since leaving grad school last summer my reading list has included many decidedly un-academic titles, like the collection of essays on the trials and tribulations of womanhood "The Bigger The Better The Tighter the Sweater." While it was amusing I can't say it's much more than that. I have read some great books, mainly food memoirs by Ruth Reichl and the surprising page-turner Heat by Bill Buford (if you haven't read it yet go buy it NOW). But Catie over at Cuffington has a lovely post on a few fashion memoirs. I have already ordered a couple of them from Amazon, including the one about Andre Leon Talley who I swear I saw walking in Union Square last month. Check out her post here.

And there is also this other book I have been thinking of reading. It's by a shoe historian and curator so maybe we can consider it 'serious' reading!

Pet Peeve

I get so annoyed at some coffee shops. Why do people stand 8 feet behind the person ordering their coffee? It isn't an ATM or airport customs, is someone's coffee order so secret that the rest of us have to stand so far away we can't see which scones are left? I was craning my neck over the woman with said annoying habit to try to see what was left in the pastry case, and she actually looked at me like I was doing something wrong. I'm sorry, when did the coffee line gain rules like the ATM? Plus, said lady was wearing a sweat suit. In public. Complete with elastic at the ankle opening of the sweatpants. So who was really doing something wrong?

Funny AND Talented

Every season of Project Runway makes me like Michael Kors more. This season he is so funny, and so totally one of the girls, I love it. It seems he is also turning out incredible clothes, from his high end line to the mid and lower priced lines as well. His high end show looked fantastic, like Clark Kent and Lois Lane with oomph, or a Dashiell Hammett story(The Maltese Falcon, etc) come to life, for instance:

So Clark Kent or '50's private eye, right?

And this one:

Maybe a little more "Mad Men" then Clark Kent.

And for women:
I love the purple, and the shape of course.

You can see the rest of the images here.

That's Not Lingerie I'm Eyeing...

I generally don't look at Victoria's Secret catalogs, but I got one today that was all Spring clothes and I had to peek. I was pleasantly surprised, they had some great pieces that recreate a lot of the looks that I love, like this high waisted skirt for $59.50:

Or this tulip skirt for only $29.50:

It comes in black also, yippee!

There skirts are both great ways to build outfits like those coming down the runway just this week.

Happy shopping.

Doo.Ri? Hmmm.

I don't really care if it is a weird name, her clothes are gorgeous. Check these out:

The detail on the dress and shape of the coat are gorgeous!
I also love this sweater and the slim pants are actually refreshing considering everyone else is only doing high waisted wide leg pants.

These are highly wearable outfits, yet interesting enough still to set them apart. Very nice. To see the rest of the images from the Door.Ri show, click here.

A Woman After My Own Heart

Diane von Furstenberg showed her fall line yesterday in New York and she and I must be on the same wave length(really!) - everything was obviously influenced by the '20's and '30's - they looked a lot like the Hopper paintings I mentioned earlier, here are my favorites:



If you'd like to see the rest of the photos from the show, you can check it out here

Last Day of Bloomingdales Sale

Everything that was already on sale was marked down ANOTHER 50%, but I guess that sale ends today - so scoot on down to a store or check out the website. The Diane von Furstenberg dress I blogged about a few days ago - the liquid metal jersey dress ends up being about $100. How can you not pounce on that? They also have some maternity tops mixed in with the 'regular' contemporary tops, so get to shopping! 

Packing Advice for Men

The New York Times had an article this week with packing advice for a well dressed man, it sounds a lot like the advice I gave last week. I'm patting myself on the back.

We've Come a Long Way Baby, Or Have We?

I have been reading Vogue since I was 9, or at least that is the earliest I specifically remember reading it. So I can tell you things have changed recently(like maybe the past 10-15 years) - Paris and Milan no longer have the only serious fashion shows, New York has taken the spotlight in a big way and American designers are no longer only producing equestrian inspired clothes like Ralph Lauren in the old days.

Although some things look really familiar, like Herve Leger bandage dresses which I have loved since the OG of supermodels sported them in the '80's (Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, think the cast of that George Michael video circa 1989-90), Max Azria of BCBG -bought the line and the show went on this morning. Lately PYT's of Hollywood have been seen wearing the dresses again. Since Herve Leger was actually a man's name, when his name and brand were purchased, he had to change his name. That is pretty F-ed up. You can read a review of the show here, and find out Herve's new name.
I love this red dress:
This dress however gives me pause:

gives me pause and makes me think "WTF?"


Max Azria's other line, BCBG also showed this weekend, in what I can only describe as a colorless color palette, I guess he interprets the new trend towards the 'non-showy' for the shrinking economy as we should all look sallow and starving in khaki, although the shapes of the clothes were beautiful, like this one:



Alexander Wang showed clothes all in a range of black and gray, The pieces are great, but for some reason the models walked with ripped pantyhose - he calls it 'edgy', I say its tired like grunge, anyway, ignore the stockings and enjoy the clothes like this fantastic skirt:

or this belted cardigan/dress: