aimee's thoughts here

ok, only aimee has a question. fair enough.

here it is:

"have you ever handmade a pair of shoes? i've always wanted to try it."

here's the answer:

i have made some pairs of shoes in my life. most of them have been made with some sort of machinery, whether it's a sewing machine, or some of the more technical shoe-making things like grinders, etc:

(the last one is a shoe for kids- i made it as part of my graduation project at f.i.t.)

i have to admit, it's not my favorite thing. it's pretty labor intensive, and can require a lot of wrestling with leather. 

i kind of like re-making shoes. you can see a pair that i did here.

however, the brooklyn authority on making AND remaking shoes is kat:

check out her blog for how to redo things yourself, or take her class at third ward.

girl fight!

do you guys ever read refinery 29?

it's a pretty cute little online fashion magazine, headquartered (i believe) in chicago. they do "local" coverage of chicago, nyc and la.

in general, i would say it's safe to say that fashion magazines (either traditional or online versions) are prone to hyperbole. however, sometimes it's just too much.

check out this feature from late last week on refinery 29:

(image courtesy of refinery 29)

ok, cool. this lady sounds pretty hip.

but wait!! it's only been 4 days! she's been usurped!

(image courtesy of refinery 29)

jeannie lee might be one of the most stylish.... but apparently des kohan is tops.

glad we got that settled. i'm sure we'll be safe from the "most stylish" owner of a store in l.a. until at least....

august?

man. i hope kate mulling is more faithful to friends and lovers that she is with retail proprietors!

questioning lucky logic: the premiere

do you guys read lucky magazine?


may i ask... why? i don't mean to belittle the choice to read it. i read it myself, almost every month! but i just can't figure out why.....


with the exception of jean godfrey-june, who is my hands down favorite beauty writer, i just can't find any really redeeming features in this magazine. the writing is so juvenile as to be practically insulting, the styling is incredibly safe, boring and middle of the road (a la in style, another of my un-favorites), and the product features honestly seem like the same thing every single month.

however.... come the end of the month, i eventually find myself pulling an issue off of the magazine stand (after having already devoured vogue, elle, glamour, nylon, vanity fair and maybe, maybe marie claire).


this time, it was easier to justify than usual, since christina hendricks is on the cover.


perhaps my undying affection for the cover lady allowed me to finally uncover the root of my attraction to this publication......


i love love love to make fun of it!


i thoroughly enjoy sitting on my couch, scoffing at the silly use of language, and imagining who on earth would ever wear the somewhat witless fashion combos that their editors put together.


sooo..... since it's more fun to make fun together.... i thought i'd start a new (potentially regular) feature for this blog.



with no further ado... join me, below:

"roundup". giddy-up cowgirls! (oh, you cowgirls just wait for brunch-time...)

also- if this is what you wear for the next four days, you are officially dead to me.

an $18 bag that always adds polish?

as my l.a, noire playing husband would say......

doubt.

i am also not a fan of that plastic-y "faux leather" bag paired with ballet-pink patent flats. but i'll let that slide..... especially once you take off the cheap polyester blazer.

omg. are you going on a date with joey buttafuoco?? in that case, i do think that a faux leather skirt will be perfect. otherwise...... wait, are you the nanny?

right..... all things from forever 21, h&m, gap, old navy, kohl's, american eagle and payless are absolutely unique.*

totally.

ok, ok. nothing too bad here. nothing too exciting, either.

i'm imagining the military jacket, romper and boots to be pretty bad on most people, but there are certainly some m.o.d.'s that could pull it off....

please! please please please send me photos of groups of girls eating sunday brunches in outfits like these!

minus the boots, i am thinking that these are more appropriate for the rodeo? 5-year-olds? prom?

*don't get me wrong- i think it's absolutely great to mix pieces from these high street/fast fashion brands in with vintage, second hand, re-worked or higher end pieces. as you know, these used to be my lifeblood!

so, friends..... am i being too harsh? is this the way that american girls dress?

or is this the way you read your lucky too? if it is, and you enjoyed the above.... let me know. i'm sorta considering fully embracing my catty-ness, getting myself a subscription, and sharing my incredulity here each month.

it's kinda of cathartic.

lets be friends....

i have a new fan site on facebook.

please "like" my page, if you....

y'know, like my blog.

thank you, kindly!

love vs. love to do

my first foray into beauty writing was just posted on slow fashioned.

i really enjoyed meeting with mordechai alvow, the founder of yarok hair...

and i am absolutely obsessed with beauty blogs like into the gloss, and beauty counter at style.com.

but, you know how they say that you should "write what you know"? i think it's really true.... as much as i'm interested in hair care, and skin care, the newest lippy and of course anything nail-art-related....

i think i'll be leaving it to the experts. i can't quite wrap my head around it, and i don't think i'm adding anything really new to the conversation.

it's just not my bag.....

(this is also not my bag)

collab

i have such mixed feelings about the huge trend of "designer collaborations". on the one hand, i think they're smart from a business point of view- creating a limited edition collection creates buzz around both brands, and can get shoppers into the stores at a specific time of the year or quarter, when maybe the retailer hasn't had such great sales in the past.

so, on that tip, it's pretty good.

from a consumer's point of view, i think it's more of a mixed bag- it does give fashion lovers a chance to buy products designed by huge talents that they otherwise wouldn't have access to. great. however, more often than not, the quality is so compromised that the clothes are very flash-n-the-pan, wear-a-couple-of-times-and-toss-out..... and are very over priced for what are essentially impulse buys.

on that note, i want to point out to you prabal gurung's collection for j. crew. 

this is a collab that i feel pretty good about. first of all, it's a small. doing 6-8 pieces is a nice little mini-collection, rather than a huge marketing and media event (like this).

secondly, it's a well-known, mid-market retailer (j. crew) collaborating with a newer, just past "emerging" designer (gurung). the aesthetic that both brands work within compliments one another. it's not a luxury brand combining forces with a company that normally makes something uber predestrian (like this).

and the last thing that i really like about it is the way that it's presented- the lookbook combines pieces of the j. crew main line with the pieces that gurung designed.  they work seamlessly together, and really highlight the way j. crew wants you to think about wearing your clothes- j. crew wants to be the mid-market brand that folks mix with their designer pieces.

so, essentially, i think this little collection is nicely "on brand" for both companies....

the down side?

j. crew only produce 50 pieces of each item. so, twenty four hours after the launch, there are only a handful of items left for sale.

i understand the idea of a hit-it-and-quit-it buzz, but.... cmon. that's just too limited.

(though perhaps it's good that i got to spend the last 30 minutes thinking about the above, rather than suffering over which piece to order.....)

sample sale season - part 1

one of the best parts of living in new york is shopping. and one of the best parts of shopping in new tork are sample sales.

although most often, they are not sample sales at all (lucky for me, as i am not a size 2/4, as are most samples), but are usually overstock sales. this is much better for most folks, since there are usually a range of sizes, and actually production run colors, rather than the sample materials and colors that might be used for development.

one of the sales that has come to be my most favorite on the twice-yearly calendar is the bird closet sale. jennifer mankin's store has become known as one of the most influential in brooklyn, and her buying is impeccable. twice a year, tho, she cleans out her own personal closet, and does a sale at the store in my neighborhood. i think she's been doing this for the last couple of years, and in the past it's been a fun evening- the store gets a bit crowded, but there's wine and snacks, and great prices on "gently used" clothing.

this year, it was totally insane. there was a line at the door, before the sale opened. there was diva behavior from business owners who shall remain nameless bitchy. there was pushing and shoving! and dirty looks!

fortunately, for me, since i've attended the sale in previous, calmer years, and i happen to know that ms mankins and i wear the same size jeans. rather than wait in the 40-person line for the three fitting rooms, i crossed my fingers that neither jennifer, nor i had gained or lost much weight in the past year, and grabbed a few things. after culling down my selection (returning to the racks a $35 t by alex wand t-shirt dress, a pair of fur lined clog boots for $95 and cute pair of navy suede pedro garcia flat desert boots), i decided on my purchases:

1 pair acne high waist, slightly wide leg jeans (medium wash)* - $25

1 pair earnest sewn high waist, wider leg trouser jeans (dark wash)* - $20

1 pair no. 6 bone color peep toe clogs - $20

1 pair isabel marant black linen shorts - $25

(i missed out on a beautiful, black mid length asymmetrical dress from zero by maria cornejo. it got snatched off the rack right in front my longing gaze.... but i'm a lover, not a fighter. i'll be very happy to see that girl strolling down smith street, looking lovely later this summer.)

you can read all about the madness in a racked.com article, complete with a really flattering photo of me. click on my head to read the article:

* turns out that jennifer and i are still the same size. however, it also turns out that i'm at least 2 inches taller than she is (still). fortunately, the earnest sewn jeans must have been hemmed for wearing with heels, and are barely long enough for me to wear with flats, and the acne jeans looks really cute cuffed. 

phew.

trouble in paradise...

as i said the other day...

i am getting pretty worried about barney's new image. here's another video that i seriously take issue with:

"snap shots of spring" from barneys new york on vimeo

it's like the nordstrom-ization of barneys.

where's the edginess?

since when are sixteen year old models who live on their own in downtown lofts, and wear shoes that don't fit them the aspirational customer for this store??

no. where is the barney's we love??

couldn't resist

i wasn't going to say anything about the looks at the met costume ball last night...

but i think i will.

category one-
i know it's hard to find the right shoes for a ball. but try harder:

sofia, your feet are plenty big already. why exaggerate?

ditto, above.

opposite problem. it's the shoes that are too big here.

nope!

ms meester excels at making her own legs look shorter.

this photo might be better in the second category.

ick.

same general problem as sofia & mila. but with more terrible calves.

category two-
disasters:

it was nice of the royal family to donate their curtains, 

but i liked what you did with kate's dress much more.

props on the mcqueen, but i'm not feelin it.

it's so hard to pull attention away from her amazing smile, but.... 

apparently possible.

tom! how could you let this happen!??

i think you got lost. here's your map.

this is just wrong. looks good.

totally inappropriate for the occasion.

shalom! it means "goodbye" too, right?

oh doll. i love you, but... too floaty. 

not enough wiggle.

category three-
yah! is goot:

...and elson translates to "do no wrong", right?

love the contrast between sorta sweet hair and sophisticated dress.

and the bum, obviously.

this is how to do a shoe! and a leg! and a hair!

and a lip! and a waist!

class.

oh fun!! fun! i wanna hang out. k?

and this is also how to do a shoe!

(couple of points deducted for not so flattering dress for the legs.)

category four-
bam. nailed it:

amaaaaazing. love love love the hair.

the arm. the skirt.

hands down favorite. this girl is seriously growing on me.

the necklaces totally clinches it.

glaaaama!

name of the game. right. on.

i wasn't trying to be rude in the last post.

the goal has been achieved.

other thoughts?