Monday, February 22, 2010

Crazy Bachelor Birds

This season of The Bachelor has been by far the most entertaining. Rosalyn, the girl who supposedly hooked up with a staffer, has been made out to be the most dramatic moment, but I strongly disagree.

This flock of crazy birds has provided moment after moment of delicious drama. There's the girl who refuses kisses, the girl who insisted she was the only one who was "really" there for Jake (as there is every season), Vienna, the Brooke Hogan look alike, who everyone hated and conspired against to no avail, and so many more.

So here's to the reunion episode, where they'll get together and peck each other to pieces as our bachelor, Jake, smiles awkwardly at inappropriate moments. Enjoy!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

First Twitter, Now Lord & Taylor

In the past few days I have caved to both Twitter and Lord & Taylor.

The Twitter account is partially an attempt to make myself a more well-rounded candidate for jobs in media. Every job I've applied to lately seems to mention Twitter amongst various other social networking platforms I need to be familiar with in order to succeed. So far I've Twittered about twittering and my profile, my lunch choice, shopping and other scintillating subjects. Maybe I'll get better.

Lord & Taylor was a long time coming. As a somewhat regular shopper there it has become a bit of a hassle to ask my mom if I can use her card every time I want to get an extra 20% off. Plus I hear you don't get the coupons unless you have a card. So the very sweet saleslady, Louise, was able to talk me into a card. This should do wonders for my shopping problem.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Intermix is a Mean Girl

Walking through the large glass door I knew I wasn't going to find anything at Intermix. The wavy racks sparsely filled with overpriced clothing stretched out before me and even though I knew it would garner disapproval from the shop girls, I went straight to the sales rack.

In my all-black casual garb of Hard Tails and Havianas it was obvious that I was going in there for one purpose: browse the end of season sale rack. I didn't even bother "browsing" the full price items; because Intermix is a mean girl.

Unapproachable, coolly cordial to those who she sees as her own kind and dismissive to the rest. She has long shiny hair and I am wearing glasses and haven't showered today. So no, I would not bring my lunch tray over to her table, I would just cruise past and glance instead.

Yesterday I'd been in Scoop at Wheatley Plaza, Intermix's approachable sister. The nice girl in the group who knows she wouldn't be all that popular if other mean girls hadn't paved the way and allowed for her to wear the same costume without having to claim her position by force. There I felt at home. There I let them start a fitting room. Still, I didn't get anything, but at least I didn't feel insulted.

After finding less than nothing from the 20 or 30 items in the sale rack, mind you that this number includes multiples so it took me all of 3 minutes, I walked out past a cougar in a mini dress that she would surely wear to Glo, or Four, or Blackstones on a Thursday, all I could do was laugh.

After all the shopping, and the studying of designers in the "Contemporary" department, and reading magazines like textbooks, I'm still not one of them.

And damn proud of it.

Friday, February 19, 2010

On "Jeggings"

First there was the labradoodle, then there was Brangelina, and now, the jegging.

In a world where some women want the look of skinny jeans without the muffin top and the hassle of stuffing bulky denim into their knee high boots that are so in right now, designers decided to ignore their better judgement and create the jegging: a legging that appears to be made of denim, but is not.

Whether you want to spend $10 for them at Target or almost $200 with Helmut Lang, you can get your hands on a pair of these practically painted on pants. Personally I have no idea why you'd spend more than $50 on any trend item, but I suppose this is one particular item that could look even more terrible when made cheaply.

Now don't get me wrong, I certainly see the appeal of these den-impostors. They hold a similar allure to Uggs or (from what I've heard) Crocs - comfort. But I'm not a girl who dresses for comfort, I dress for what is the most figure flattering and fun and it's going to take a serious devotee to convince me that jeggings are either.

It may be the 90's turn to come back into fashion, and I welcome flannel with open arms, but I'm just not ready to pull on a pair of acid-washed would-be jeans and call it fashion.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Red Wine and Potato Chips

After a long and draining day, rather than make the intelligent decision to go to bed, I am indulging in red wine and potato chips and bad TV. The roomies and I are watching The Real Housewives of Orange County.

After watching a few episodes in a row we're ignoring the drama and just critiquing the fashion. Best dressed at dinner goes to Vicki who, for once Vicki is wearing a flattering, non-harsh, brown dress. We are all surprised.

Worst dressed goes to Alexis who, in her off the shoulder ruffled top, looks like that Barbie head so many of us had when we were younger, the one whose make-up you could do with the real hair you could brush and style.

Soon enough they'll all be drunk and things will get messy, but amazingly enough they will still all look perfect. If only a hair and make-up crew were on hand for touch-ups on my nights out.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Dear Vera:

New York City is buzzing with energy and audacity this week as New Yorkers do two things they excel at: pushing to the front of lines and fashion. Each morning I've been scanning the updates on New York Magazine's website and, while I don't go through every designer's entire runway show, I spend a little of my morning tea time with the designers who catch my eye. This morning's collection: Vera Wang.

Alas, dear Vera, I'm unsure if that was a good thing or a drab thing. This season the designer has apparently decided to go back to basics, as so many of her craft claim when they’re minds have drawn a design blank. The show was filled with black, and white, and gray, with separates all over, and some LBD’s that will surely go straight to the sales floor.

While wear-ability is refreshing, especially considering the mile high shoes that have been making the models fall like Bambi on ice and fur that makes me wonder if designers have insider information about an upturn in the economy by Fall 2010, my issue with, our lovely and crowd pleasing, Vera is that she's pulling what I call a "GAP rinse cycle."

You know how every couple of seasons the GAP decides they're going to do white shirts and jeans? They may call it The American Classic or the 1969, after the year they were founded, but no matter what you call it, you're selling button downs because someone dropped the spool in the design department.

Other times they need to clear customers' collective memories of Crayola colored items from the season before, so they throw in some bleach, and rinse away any remaining memories of the rainbow and bring back those "basics."

So Vera, while I am a firm believer that one can never have too much black, white, or gray, I just wanted to let you know that the average consumer is on to you.

See you at Kohl's.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Favorite Tees

There are few things in life I love more than a good t-shirt. It can be dressed up with a great necklace, or made rocker chic with a leather jacket. Not to mention that a tee is the perfect attire for my favorite bar, Effin Gruven, which can be a hipster haunt at times. What says hipster more than a deep v-neck?

For awhile I fell victim to the graphic tee, particularly ones with puns or clever sayings. It got to the point where my friend Victoria had to have an intervention of sorts and explain that they were no longer age appropriate or current in regard to fashion. We had a final blowout for my collection on my 26th Birthday, a punny t-shirt party. One of my more successful theme parties to date.

So now I'm back to the plain tees. Mostly solids, a few pretty patterns here and there. Loose fitting cotton, v-neck or crew,
these are my favorites. So when I walked into the GAP and they were having a sale on "boyfriend tees" for $10 a piece, needless to say, I went a little crazy.

6 t-shirts later and I can't wait to wear them all and my t-shirt drawer tells me I'd better wear some old ones out to make more room.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Back into the Blog-o-sphere

So it's been awhile, but I'm back. Fresh off a 1-month, self-implemented shopping ban and trying hard to fight those retail demons.

You may be wondering, as most of my family and friends were when I ceremoniously announced it, what was the reason for this shopping ban?

Contrary to popular assumption, I'm actually not in debt. My emotional side runs the shopping trips, but my anal retentive side rules the checkbook. So in this day and age of I want it all, I want it now, and I'll win some sort of contest or the lottery to pay for it, I am happily old fashioned in my spending.

Don't let this high and mighty "I'm in the black" talk fool you though. If I have it I'll spend it and therefor I am terrible at saving and can relate all to Rebecca Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shopaholic when she said, "When I shop, the world gets better, and the world is better, but then it's not, and I need to do it again."

So I made up the following 3 criteria for the ban and I had to meet 2 of the 3 (I'm a realist, what can I say?) before it could be over:
1. February 1st - 1 full Month must pass with NO personal shopping.
2. Everything in my room must be put away and have a place (an exploding closet like Ms. Bloomwood's is simply not acceptable).
3. Pay off any and all credit cards (mostly residual Holiday purchases)

So now it's mid-February and I succeeded and it feels better than I even expected. Not buying new items meant I had to work with what I had and I came up with some new outfits that I really love.

It also reminded me that some of my favorite items are from H&M and Old Navy and that not everything needs to be (discounted) designer, but I'll get into that at another time. For now I'll just enjoy my clean room and streamlined closet and my return to the blog-o-sphere.