Oh JLH, stay away from Marc Jacobs, his clothes are not for the busty

Do we need yet another photo to prove that Marc Jacobs' clothes are not meant to house boobs? He is just another one of those designers that would prefer women look like boys, and yet I still hope each season that he will be schooled in basic biology, i guess Jennifer love Hewitt does as well -


Now we know what happens when we are blinded by hope- we wear things we shouldn't.

And whoa - her outfit gets even worse as you pan downward and back up,


There are few trends I hate more than the dress-over-jeans phenomenon.

Public Transportation is NOT the Place to Groom Oneself

This a pet peeve, I have been noticing far too often lately that people think it's OK to clip their nails on trains and buses. I think its disgusting, the noise, the fact that they have no idea where the clipping will land, and the offenders obviously don't care at all. What is going on?

And to add to that, while on BART this weekend (the subway-like train that goes under the bay) a woman to my left was clipping her nails, and the "gentleman" behind me was clipping his NOSE HAIRS. I kid you not, but then he put away the nose hair trimmer, and pulled out a razor to full-on shave his beard. I didn't know where to throw my looks of disgust, there were too many options. Someone please tell me I'm on a gag-reel somewhere, that this wasn't for real.

Am I missing something? Did this behavior become acceptable at some point and I missed the memo?

Weekend Sales

eLuxury is offering 30% off of all sale merchandise, including the glitter flats I've written about time and time again, I might have to break down and buy those finally, the only reason I haven't is that I have a 'few' pairs of gold shoes already (sheepish grin, you can call me Imelda as I've said) -



Yoox is offering 15% off all shoes for the weekend, both for men -



and for women, we have these -


or if you prefer a sandal, these manage to have bling and fit into the gladiator trend -


Happy Shopping!

1 Bag a Year? It Better be a Great One

This NYTimes style article is about the creative director of Bottega Veneta, a brand whose tagline used to be "when your initials are enough." I love it.

Is Bluefly Ripping Us Off?

I have been a loyal customer of Bluefly since 2001, so in general I totally believe we get good deals from them. I mean you can't beat a pair of Joe's Jeans for $70 less than retail, however sometimes I have noticed that their "retail price" listed on an item seems incorrect.

Today, in my quest for a new jacket I was scrolling through and noticed they have some Via Spiga coats for around $150, with the retail price listed at $250, a full $100 more than Smart Bargains lists as retail price. Being the astute researcher that I am, I went looking for the real retail price.



Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the same jacket is $150 at Bluefly (above) and $148 at Nordstrom, FULL PRICE (below).




Bluefly has some 'splaining to do.

Today's Sales

JCrew is having what they are calling a private sale, take 20% off of purchases over $150, use code PRIVATE.

At Bloomingdales get 20% off of almost everything for the next few days with the code Psale3 (only online or from their cataloges).


Shop away....

More Men's Shapewear

I have noticed a lot of interest in the men's shapewear since I linked to a WSJ article last week, so I thought I'd give some details and what is it and where to buy it - the brand mentioned specifically in the article is 2(x)ist, they make things like form fitting t-shirts that help to smooth you under your clothes, like this one -



They make tank tops as well to go under your shirts, and many different kinds of underwear,
2(x)ist Pima Cotton No Show Cotton Brief Underwear
and

2(x)ist Bold No Show Trunk Underwear

As well as

2(x)ist Soy Comfort Trunk Underwear

and yup, you read that right, it's soy.

Happy shopping!

Cute Office Wear

I'm into Smartbargains these days, they have some cute things at amazing prices, like this adorable white shirt that's great for spring office wear-




I also really like this faux two-piece top, it's so cute, and a really easy way to add interest to your outfit(the layers do that for you)-



And they also have some great plus-size clothes, I love this top because it can be worn under a jacket or cardigan at the office, and by itself after work-

Bluefly Sale and then some

10% off of everything on Bluefly, WOOHOO!!!

Plus lot's of new markdowns at Nordstroms, like LAMB bags and this headband -

to help you get one of Whitney Port's looks from last night's premiere of the Hills, that is of course if you could get past the fact that she thinks G's should be pronounced like K's. How annoyin-k-!

And since we are talking about the Hills, can we talk about how the NYTimes called Heidi a feminist hero? She has had way too many cosmetic procedures to be anybody's hero. Like, um, yeah, how 'bout those seriously collagen-filled lips? Good thing it was cold in Colorado or we would have had to look at her boob-job constantly too.

WTF?

Generally I like to emphasize the positive but this 'designer' - a model most famous I think for being the future baby-mama of Matthew McConaughey has launched a line of bags. Now, as you know, I LOVE bags, but not these - this one in particular made me go WTF?

and get this, they are charging $450 for this. Ugh.

Can Hillary Have her Own Intern?

I love a good discussion on women in politics, and conversation today seems to have turned to why women in power don't have such high- publicity sex scandals as men. This Newsweek article spurred the discussion. I didn't know about/remember any of the women-politician sex scandals they listed, they seem kind of tame for the most part compared to Bill Clinton and Elliot Spitzer. I find the image of a Hillary-intern romance somewhat funny - what's interesting is why it's funny- older powerful women just aren't as conventionally sexy as men in the same position - and I say conventionally because everyone has their ideas of what is or isn't attractive or sexy, but on the whole we do not value older, powerful women, certainly not in the same way we do older, powerful men (although there should be some mention of the term 'cougar' somewhere here).

Jezebel has some ideas about the article and subject, mentioning how on the View they talked about teacher-student sex scandals and how the ones we hear about seem to be mainly women like Mary Kay Letourneau (who has 2 kids with her former student I believe). I wonder though if we aren't just fascinated by those cases because they go against our ideas of "normal" sex scandals.

In the end people seem to think that the only reason there aren't so many women-politician sex-scandals is that there just aren't so many women politicians, because according to a study quoted in the article, women's infidelity rate is quickly catching up to men's.

The Customer is Always King? Not in France

I had some good giggles while reading this piece in the New York Times by the soon-to-be-former Paris correspondent. My favorite part, as evidenced by the post title, is #3 - the customer is always wrong. I have my own stories about this oh-so-charming part of French culture, so I can relate!

This Week's Obsessions

With spring comes spring cleaning, so as I've been making piles of things destined for Goodwill or Crossroads, I have been thinking about some pieces I might buy to fill the void.

I have been obsessing over bags, nothing new about that whatsoever - but I need to share these beauties.

The first is a Botkier bag, I know, ridiculously trendy but I just LOVE it...



The second bag is by Kooba, another brand I have yet to give in to because of the visibility of the bags, but this one might really change my mind - the Kooba Gemma in rose gold -

There are some other Kooba bags that have caught my eye, like this one -
I love the belt and all the pockets, but it's probably really heavy empty. Not good for me.

This Loeffler Randall bag is smaller and really pretty, but also a couple hundred dollars more than the others -
And I love love love this Jill Stuart tote -

It's so fresh and fun looking, it screams summer while still looking incredibly sharp. So many choices...

Sunday Brunch Outfit

Spring is definitely here! It's gorgeous and sunny and actually hot today (it doesn't get so hot in Northern California usually) even when I went out at 9 a.m. So I thought how better than to celebrate this Sunday morning with a cute brunch outfit. I would start with this C+C cotton dress, very versatile(wear it with a cardigan or a t-neck underneath when it's chilly) and majorly on sale (reduced from $144 to $56!) at Fashion Chateau -

I like these adorable canvas peep toe wedges, and to make them even better, they are $22 from Target but they look much more expensive.

Or, for $2 more you can get these Isaac Mizrahi for Target gladiator sandals -

Isaac Mizrahi won't be designing for Target much longer, so get his goodies while you can! Liz Claiborne poached him to help their flagging company, we will see what Target does to fill the void.

But back to the outfit - for more colorful shoes, these Banana Republic flats are cute (and on sale!)

If you go with the colorful shoes you can go with a neutral handbag that will serve you well all spring and summer, like this one from Hype and available at Smart Bargains -

Happy Shopping!

Maybe LC Should Stick to "Reality" TV?

The WSJ has another article that might be of interest - a profile of Lauren Conrad, otherwise known as LC of Laguna Beach and the Hills, the fine MTV masterpieces of "reality" television.

The article is (supposed to be) about her clothing line, which is more than a regular celebrity licensing deal I guess (but you can be sure it's no L.A.M.B, by far the BEST celebrity line, so good that you can forget it has anything to do with a celebrity). Lauren's line, or some of it anyway is now available at shopbop - to me they look like ridiculously overpriced t-shirts, but that's just me. You can take a look for yourself -

This Audrina dress is $172. But if it doesn't even look good on the model, are people going to buy it? I think it might have been worn by Lauren's friend Audrina, and most likely looked good on her (but I think everything looks good on that girl, and yes, I occasionally watch the Hills, it's research) I mean what does it do for this model? It's not flattering, I suppose if you are super skinny you can wear this and not worry about it, but how many of us really are, or really think about clothes like that?

She also has a line of handbags by Linea Pelle, not sure if she designed them or if they are "inspired by her" but I can tell you they are not at all original. I mean check out the Linea Pelle clutch -

And here is a Cynthia Rowley clutch that came out long before this one -


Coincidence? I think not.

Style Advice in a Book? Feh...

I often wonder if people really use the advice offered in style advice books. I mean there are some things one can learn I suppose, but now with the internet, and you know, blogs like this, why bother spending money on them? And yet they continue to be published, and I guess they continue to sell.

The WSJ looked at some of them this week, and makes the point that many of the people who write them are out to create a brand rather than anything else - like I don't know, offering the world some great new idea and easy ways to be fashionable.

I do have my own list of worthwhile style books, like this one -



To be fair, I haven't read all of the new ones discussed in the article, but I think it must say something that I'm not even tempted.

Snazzy Earrings

I was checking out a website that specializes in independent fashion - meaning designers who haven't become mainstream, or sold at every cookie cutter boutique in the country. Can you tell my opinion from my tone? Yeah, I'm not subtle.

Anyway, this website, Style Scene, has a fantastic selection of jewelry. I love these earrings -

They are 2.5 inches long and come in a large array of colors, I can't decide which color I'd like the most, but this green is really pretty.

The same site also has this gorgeous coat on sale,

I love the color, the shape and the really interesting pieces on top.

Today's Sales

Banana Republic just put a ton of Spring merchandise on sale, great stuff like this silk colorblock dress
Which looks a lot like this much more expensive Marc by Marc Jacobs dress -



But back to the Banana Republic sale - I love this silk twist dress

and this cute short trench coat

And don't forget the accessories -
like this straw clutch

and I love the color of these adorable ballet flats -


And don't forget to use the free shipping code - BRSHIPSALE.

Beyond Banana Republic, Michael Stars is offering free shipping on any size order for the day!

Rami's Clothes on Sale!!!

Maneaterthreads.com is carrying Rami Kashou's line (from Project Runway in case you ignore such things - and shame on you) these pieces are pretty AND on sale. And of course there is a lot of draping...

Love the tulip skirt,

and this interesting top -

And this great dress -


Plus, get another 30% off sale items with the code SALEON.

More Must-Have Denim

Today Bluefly unleashed some great sale denim; high-waisted, low-waisted, skinny, wide-leg, they have them all, most for under $100.

I love the Joe's Jeans Muse style, a high waisted, wide leg one marked down to $86 -

The Joe's Rocker style is amazing, every time I wear mine people ask me if I've lost weight(I'm taking that as a complement) -

Bluefly also has some True Religion straight leg styles like this one-

Happy Shopping!