the new black is 60 percent off (Richard Jaffe) :: Colette's new website advertises sale boldly

"It's still very clear from the results the most important thing is price," Richard Jaffe, retail analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, said. "The new fashion is frugal. The new black is 60 percent off."

From the sexiest LBD you could ever imagine to your cabochon-encrusted clasp clutch (tongue twister, eh??); the hottest pieces in stores are on sale for at least half-off. (I think it'd be a tad inappropriate to say, "Yay recession!!") Even Colette's brand new webbie is celebrating its relaunch with a site-wide sale?!! The Balmain jackets ― to die for, and this asymmetrical satin and voile de tulle skirt by Comme des Garçon, which I'm inexplicably drawn to - 50% off!! (I'm not crazy about the gathered waist; a more structured sash and shorter hemlines, and it'd be perfect. Perhaps, I could update it. *wink*)

in briefs: Trovata S/S 09 sequined short shorts

Given the obvious biting cold settling in on most parts of the northern hemisphere, one would think I'd be raving about the sweater or cashmere sales, like everyone else. Unfortunately, I'm not everybody else. I will mention that my fave sweater dress of the season is now 50% off at Seven NY, Christian Wijnants' dyed interwoven sweater dress. *tickled*

I've taken a tumble, instead, for Trovata's Spring 09 sequined hot pants, or bikini briefs, really. They seem a tad risqué, I know, but I've been in love with them since I saw them on Trovata's runway in September. Okay, maybe I'd prefer an inch more of fabric attached, especially to reduce the shorts' über-convexity or ― how do I say? ― pelvic- and derriere-grazing attribute; which lends itself more to the underwear variety of clothing than typical clothing. The sequins, of course, should convey the fact that it's not a piece of underwear, but you never know... HA!

Notably, Karl Lagerfeld did put out the perfect sequined short shorts, two spring seasons ago. Certainly the appropriate revival of the burlesque shorts with just the right measure of an inch and a half inseam. (I need that entire outfit please, thanks.)

L: Trovata. R: Chanel

So how do I get my style fix ASAP?? Patricia Field's high waist sequin shorts!! I'm a little concerned about the nature of the material used. I can see the outline of the shirt tucked in the shorts. Eeck!! I think I'll google 'sequined shorts' or search out shoppes which sell dance gear and see what I come up with. **Ooh, I just found this pair at Oli UK. They look five sizes too big on the model; but I kinda like 'e a little. The sequins don't pop as much though.



Glitter-smacked kisses.

roger me this

I'd been patiently waiting for the 17th of this month; an otherwise unremarkable day made ― oh ― just a little more remarkable with the launch of the Roger Vivier website.
*cue: Hallelujah Chorus*

You see, when we (women, and some men!) fall in utterly manic love with a pair of "shoes", more often than not, the shoes have "stiletto heels".

"All I want are high heels, high heels. If I was a girl, I'd wear a lot of high heels. High, stiletto heels." ~ Isaac Mizrahi

We glimpse a fabulously grand pair and our hearts beat faster, louder. The second we slip them on, the surge of endorphins transforms our very beings into glamourously chic superheroes. Never mind that an hour standing in our fave heels and they become the banes of our existences; we'll go through great lengths for these, the current objects of our desires!! We owe all our pleasurable shoe-induced frenzies to dear Monsieur Vivier.

After her smile, the second sexiest thing a woman can put on, really, is a pair of heels! ~ Yours truly.

I must have spent at least an hour on the RV webbie. My appreciation for Vivier's signature convex heel and buckle only swell, classic elegance. The couture shoes ― gloriously outrageous ― are to die for, natch. It gets better, I'm thoroughly tickled by the video diary (anchored by Ines de la Fressange, the brand's creative consultant). This first episode explores Paris' Indian Quarter. One shoppe sells lined notebooks like my sisters and I used in kindergarten and first grade whilst learning how to write!! A tad nostalgic. "[Les] carnets très anciens, vintage," she called them. I laughed at the 'vintage' part.

A little secret... My absolute desire for a pair of yellow pumps stems from my love of Roger Vivier's classic (yellow) ballet flats. I didn't find the pumps this season although I'm sure they've been made before and Bruno Frisoni could easily reproduce them. So, I'm biding my time.


Bisou. Bisou.


P.S. You have to watch Ines' video diary and listen for when she mimics an Indian (my most fave! ever!) accent "Mixed curry powder, very good indeed!". I l.o.v.e. it!! (It's about three-fifths into the video.)
P.P.S. Save your dirty thoughts re my title. Thanks. xx
Aren't these just gorg?!!!

chic simplicity life lesson #12: (expect) little treasures in the most unexpected of places

And this, darlings, is why Karl Lagerfeld rocks my world. A man through whom I'd be made whole by the merest caress of his intricately studded jacket, or gloves. So ummm... I'm terribly broke ― apparently there's a recession in my pants and I suspect it's got a fair bit of nothing to do with the price of rice in China. Yes, gibberish. But pants or not, I called my store... and that's all I'm going to say.

Precious lingering kisses.

B is for Bold and Berluti

Last Saturday evening, I defied the sudden onslaught of bone-chilling cold and headed to Neiman's to wish my fave Sales Associate, Bill, a happy birthday. I also figured I could pick up a dress I'd been eyeing, but that's not the point. Bill is a darling of a man.

A few bon mots with Bill and my new purchase neatly folded into my handbag, I thought I'd revel in my defiance and walk the one-stop-train-ride to the movie theatre. Only, I got there between showings and didn't feel like waiting, so I nipped in next door to my one of fave hotel-restaurants, Jer-ne, for her green salad and delish house-prepared vinaigrette. (Please don't flatter me, I'd been stuffing my face with fried foods all week. This was merely an intermission; okay, well I kinda felt sick with all the greasiness.)

Two seconds into sipping my ginger-ale, a man was settling into the table opposite mine. I looked up, and smiled mid-sip ― he was looking at me, I couldn't not smile!! My palate cleansed, I took a nice gulp of my Veuve. My new neighbor ― he couldn't have been less than fifty! ― switched seats, and leaning into my table and remarked on the seeming spectacle of my sandals (since it was getting cold outside?!); something of a compliment masked with a not so subtle curiosity. I was wearing a pair of thongs.
(Blasphemy! or not.) Please, I needed to enjoy my last moments exposing my toes. I explained my irreverent love for thong sandals even when common sense dictated otherwise.
He smiled.
I looked down at his shoes. Driving shoes. I commented on their uncomplicated reliability, and in his case, their nicely worn quality. He thought I was being smart. I wasn't. It was a compliment; but I suppose it didn't come out quite right. I attempted to clarify: I explained my passing knowledge of men's shoes gathered from my father's random pronouncements, "I won't buy another shoe for a very long time"¹ "very durable" "Bally makes very good shoes!"² "John Lobb is the oldest³ shoemaker in London, and the best!" Did I mention "very durable"?? etc etc. 

I mentioned my fave men's shoe house, Berluti, my inexplicable love for the calligraphed finish ― crude, and yet refined. The House prides itself on creating beautifully made shoes to be worn by the wearer for years, until the shoes take the very shape of the owner's feet, like a mold. Until, the shoes become worn out. Oooh, I just l.o.v.e. it.

I must have gone on and on. He chimed in, explaining a few details about men's shoes. 

We talked some more.

Some of my fave Berluti shoes...

He was an unexpected, but very companionable date.

After dinner, I thanked him and we parted ways with me smiling and thinking I really would love to shop for men's shoes. I'm bizarre, I know. I also thought,"Now I want, very terribly, these loafers (Chanel)!!" (I'd seen them earlier in the women's shoe dept.)




Salutations and kisses.



Footnotes:
1. I think I may be able to count how many time I've seen my father buy shoes on one hand.
2. This, was in response to some shoes my father bought us, his gyrls (pre-teen) as school shoes. These were very sad tan-colored mary janes with flexible soles, the shoe could practically be rolled into a ball lengthwise!! Ahh.. dear dad.
3. I'm yet to figure out if the "oldest" part is true

trains of thought

I've disappointed you ― being away so long ― I know.
[Pause]
Well, getting on with it... (haha!)
Going through my unpublished archives, Stéphane Rolland's Fall/Winter couture collection set my heart aflutter all over again. It's the grand spectacle of it all; exaggerated trains trailing ― cascading ― in the wake of my sashaying hips. Yes, I've imagined myself in a few all of Rolland's dresses.

It was love at first sight with practically every piece, really. A number of critics decried, the proverbial gilded lily ― secretly, I wondered, "What's couture if not grandeur?!" It was a delightful prettiness ― Rolland's show; models dispatched with an edgy chic I find oh so alluring. Especially refreshing as one thinks of typical couture garb and maquillage, which, let's face it, celebrates an uglfied magnificence; strutting misfortunes ― the result of a cranky time-machine or designer. Oops. Ahh... I get it, 'twas too pretty for couture!! *tsk tsk*

Just as impressive, I think, are Rolland's sensibilities. You notice the merest hint of his earliest influences ― Balenciaga, and yet his designs are distinctively his. A decade ago, at the age of thirty, Rolland became the youngest couturier on l'avenue Montaigne. His clothes ― he ― makes me swoon. (He does look like a shaggier Olivier Lalanne.)




Kiss me.
Loads of fashionable love.
I need a nap. I haven't slept in twenty-four hours. Don't ask. (Partly to blame: insomnia.)


Footnotes:
* One of my wedding dresses perhaps: Since I will be wearing four dresses on that day, whenever it will be. LOL. I'd love the skirt below my boobies though, an empire waist perhaps ― without making me look pregnant. I looove my boobies, we know this, so they can't be hidden. HA!! It could totally be the dress in which I dance the father-daughter dance. Yay!! I've also being thinking about a bodice and underskirt in Nigerian/African prints. Hot or what?!
** Ignore the lack of boobies. haha. I'd rather sport the dress with more covering from the upper waist. I don't like exposing my belly bottom for some unknown reason. It could be that I'm too old to do so. *giggles*

pretty trenches, prehistoric barettes and skirting the issues: japan fashion week S/S 2009

Given that I subscribe to the techie, avant-garde stereotype (sorry!) of our anime-famed pioneers, I think I was a bit underwhelmed by Japan fashion week; well, at first. As I pondered the seeming odd disparity ― that I, no doubt, was conjuring up and making a big deal of ― between the Japanese fashion industry and well, every other industry in this very driven economy, I tucked into some of my delish shortbreads. I'd been positively gagging for them. Off putting choice of words, haha!

The crumbly goodness intoxicating my system, I began to appreciate some of the forms I was seeing on the runways. The trench has never exuded such casual chic (L: Support Surface, C: Lep Luss); the graffiti coat (R: Gut's Dynamite Cabarets), a refined rocker edge.

I need our capitalistic Westerners to refashion (read: steal and copy) these miniature ― but really, dramatically large ― dino barettes (Mintdesigns). (Then the Chinese markets can go to work replicating...)
I'm obviously asking for it, with all these darned stereotypical talk, no??
And I couldn't resist the prettiness of Hiroko Koshino's skillfully constructed skirts.
There are even more treats, come to think of it. Do like me and take a peek, then proceed to google your life away the designers and any shoppes that may carry or not! their pieces!!


Butterfly kisses.
Here comes NY fashion wk!! *big grin*

spatterdashery: spats by Posso.

No, spatterdashery is not a word. Spatterdash is; archaic, albeit. But no worries, I'm allowed to make up words because I'm super cool. HA! I can't tell you why exactly I fell in love with Posso's revamped spats, but it was one of those excitedly dizzying, love-at-first-sight episodes. The refined rocker-chic edge, which the spats offers, appeals to my somewhat classic and yet, remarkably undefinable ― seemingly more so, everyday ― sensibilities. Perhaps, it's the impending change in seasons kindly proffering a logical excuse why I should require more than two pairs. When winter rolls around and my mental faculties go AWOL, thus causing me to parade in mini dresses at negative temperatures, these spats will come in just handy, no?? I discovered the Posso brand (designed by Mary Louise Pels and Vanessa Giovaccini) at my Euro-mode darling of an emporium, Seven NY. (It's why Seven rocks my little world!!) What's even more charming, the spats are reversible.

This pic from the Posso the spat webbie cracks me up. I want to twist the models' arms because they look plastic. Life in plastic... Or not!!


















My faves:

Blowing you kisses.
P.S. Speaking of, its Japan Fashion Week (S/S 2009). Can't wait for the madness that will be NY fash week!!

sheer delight

While my blogspot interface was busy acting up the past week, I was cheerfully preoccupied with fall's fashions. Not that I'm acknowledging the imminence of fall or any such thing ― it's summer for another month, dropping morning temps or not!! John Galliano reconfirmed my predilection for his dramatic flair, well, sans the drag makeup, natch. I especially loved his Fall Couture sheer skirts. I don't know if I'd ever do a sheer skirt showing off my bum, but never say never huh. On the other hand, sheer pieces on my top half is just bewitching.

Which got me thinking (and reminiscing) about my Hannah Marshall bat-wing dress. I got it for half off at my-wardrobe (ahh... the joys of online shopping!) and I can't wait to get nippy wear it!! The right pic below is fall 2008's updated version of the batwing dress, pretty but certainly not as daring. And Hannah Marshall's love for all black: killing me softly. She's succeeded in making LBD's that can only be described as beautiful.

Which got me thinking (again!) of Junko Shimada, la plus parisienne japonaise!! I spent a futile hour trying to dig up uncommon knowledge about the venerable Shimada. She keeps the lowest of profiles. However, I've noticed that she's a season or two ahead of our most lauded designers. I w.a.n.t. to kiss her!! Happily, I now have one gracious philanthropic deed to accomplish during my time in Paris in a few... A stop at her boutique on Rue St Florentin, and possibly, her design studio if they let me in!! *fingers crossed?!*Yay!! Below are my faves from this season as well as a delightful piece (right) from A/W 2006-07.


Beautiful kisses.

just because...

Chanel Iman (featured on style.com) in Bill Blass A/W 2008; just because... umm perhaps... she is gorgeous!! She's got on fall's hottest color palette and that dress!!!! Never mind what the critics say, Peter Som did a wonderful job in his debut as Bill Blass's creative director.



Pretty kisses.

chic simplicity life lesson #3: a pump may double as a weapon engraved with your distinctive insignia

...or Stella McCartney's idea of it.
And a chic weapon, if I must state the pretty obvious.
(At Neiman's and Bergdorf's.)



Truffles and kisses.

ahh... king richard the chai

Yesterday, I woke up to Saks' online feature web-rag, "Meet the Designers We Adore." I clicked through to view the pieces before returning to watch Micheal Fink's clip with each of the new designers, thus verifying their interpretations for myself. (I try hard to shake of the geekiness that pervades my entire being. It doesn't work. I don't know why I take fashion so seriously sometimes, man.)

Anyway, one of my fave pieces from Richard Chai's fall collection, in which I'd brazenly delighted earlier this year is now available on the webbie. It's the crinkled chiffon top pictured. Price tag: four digits. Did I mention it was a top?! I'd just been marinating on the idea of shopping only sale items for the rest of the year. If I could buy it, I'd be wearing it as a dress, maybe with teeny shorts underneath; but that's not the point. It is a top. I love it, but this is completely ridiculous and I cannot afford to buy a top for that price. That top better... [insert preposterous and absurd, never-happening-not-in-seven-years-at-least functionality for said piece of garment.] I say 'seven' years because Hussein Chalayan, as you know ― or should know ― is well on his way to producing solar-powered flying pieces of clothing. Umm.. you don't know?!! Go to style.com or somewhere and look up some of his recent 'constructions'. I am not your fashion instructor. (Read, I'm lazy and don't feel up to it. :))

Double air kisses.

photographers limited editions

Recently, I came across this darling treasure of a webbie, Photographers Limited Editions, PLE. Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, PLE "present[s] the extensive works of today’s most respected and renowned photographers to a rapidly growing group of enthusiastic fine art photography collectors in a contemporary format and make[s] these accessible” according to its oh so brilliant founder, Andrea Preiss.

I'm not really into many forms of art (I think) ― except wearable art *sly wink* ― however, as with great photography, some of these images evoke the most pleasurable of feelings. And some are just, well, darn pretty!!
My fave portraits found on the PLE webbie and available for purchase...
• Carrie Donovan (by Jesse Frohman, edition 11, 20x24in): love the reticent knowing manner with a twinge of smugness in her facial expression ― her left hand caught mid-air ― and those Chanel glasses!!
• Iman (by Roxanne Lowit, edition 20, 20x24in) in her haute rockstar girl-of-the-moment. It's an instant I'm inclined to think of as à la Naomi Campbell, but Iman did come on the scene first. She embodies a refinement we all dream to possess; this photograph illustrates a notably beautiful contrast ― to her personality, and importantly, her aptitiude as a model in a moment of her "work" day.
• Then there's this image of these men, Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta, together (also by Jesse Frohman, edition 11, 16x20in). Sheesh!!









Kisses.

chic simplicity and rihanna do the same hervé léger skirt on the same night. yikes!!

**I love my friends, sometimes.
They force me to do things I'd rather not, torturing my already fragile sanity...
"...you have to put yourself out there!" ― the primary undertones of the rather s.h.a.r.p. reprimands I occasionally endure from my so-called friends. But then, it's why I love 'em. Sometimes. :)**

I'm not a pic-taking gyrl for the simple reason that I'm not a pic-taking gyrl. And lest you mistake this for gracious modesty (ha!!); a more accurate reason would be that I try to avoid any instances of my shameless narcissism captured on camera for the world to see.
(All of this to say I am somewhat shy, but, not really.)

This is one of the rare occasions, I willingly took a pic, or two.
By chance, I donned this skirt last Friday night in DC, when I went to a Jay-Z concert disguised as a fashion show.  No, concerts are not my thing either. (Rihanna wore it in NY.) Oddly, I'd wanted to pair the skirt with a sheer, black button- or French-cuffed shirt, half sleeves, but didn't have a sheer cuffed shirt. Note to self: You must find and get said shirt. So anyway, I went with an old basic button-cuffed shirt (from JCrew). It worked, naturally. But what a coinkydink. And on the same frigging day, huh?!

While I'm never in a photo op mode trying to show off my whole outfit ― I refuse, lol;¹ my dearest friend, pictured (who will find out about this pic in all of two minutes), and I had several dozen takes!! Narcissism, I tell you. (Said darling friend is an undercover Jay-Z fan like none I have ever seen, and you wouldn't even think it!! So while I was excited about the show; she was patiently biding her time, waiting for her (ahem) man.)








truffle kisses.


Footnotes:
1. Truthfully, I skipped my pic-taking/posturing lessons at the Emily Post Tyra Banks School of Modeling and Etiquette.