April 2009 Archives

J. Crew's "Jersey Lomellina" swimwear collection is made with a refined Italian jersey fabric and perfectly finished seams. A special typle of swim fabric - - Nylon/Black Xtra Life Lycra® spandex gives the pieces a rich luminescent appearance and allows them to keep their shape longer.

It comes in several styles to mix and match tops and bottoms and 3 styles of one piece suits.  I like this top with its gathered design.

Jersey Lomellina Kauai Halter Top, $58. Shown here in dark slate.

And the Jersey Lomellina Hipster with Flower, $56.

They also have a plain version with a little bit more coverage and without the flower for the same price, here.

The buzz has already started, anticipating this year's Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala.  The gala is Monday May 4th.The honorary chair is Marc Jacobs and co-chairs are Kate Moss, Justin Timberlake and Ann Wintour. (sorry, but Justin Timberlake, huh? that's odd)

This Spring's big exhibit at the Costume Institute is "The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion".  It opens May 6th and runs through August 9th. The gala celebrates the opening of the exhibition and its main purpose is really fundraising for the Costume Institute.

The day after the Gala is always so much fun, to look through the pictures of what everyone wore. (here is my write-up from last year) I suppose some people must skulk around the Met to see everyone go in in person, but I am not THAT interested and certainly not star struck. 

Boo hoo, I guess as a rather plebian level member of the museum I didn't merit an invitation.

For all those Caudalie lovers out there, this is a such a great deal... they are offering a FREE FULL SIZE Contour Cream Eyes and Lips, which is $53!  You get it with any $100 purchase and they're also offering free shipping.  The offer goes through May 7.

Then, they're also have another great offer for those of us in New York or visiting... for their fabulous spa at the Plaza.  $50 off any body or facial treatment, good through July 31st.

The signature 50 minute Caudalie massage is $165, so even with the $50 off, it's still expensive... but the overall experience at a Caudalie spa is so far beyond average that I think it's worth it.

Over the weekend, it was SO HOT here in the city.  My friend said he heard on the radio that it reached 90 deg. + in Central Park!  EEEKK, it's not even May!

So I was thinking about how in the hot Summer, you want to have several flowy cotton tees to wear with shorts and minis to help keep you cool. 

Banana has some nice ones right now made with a slubby cotton that has a nice look and feel.  It seems like Banana is always having some sort of sale these days.  These tees are normally $30 each but were selling for $20 the other day in store.

Cap-sleeve sccopneck tee. These seem to run a bit big, I'd order a size down.

In the same fabric, they also have a V-neck.  It's got a deep V and this one fits more normally, I'd order your regular size.

I thought Gwyneth's Goop auctions on ebay would be over by now... but there are still several items.

Among them is this fabulous Chanel bag, whose auction ends tomorrow!  Right now it's bid up to 530 GBP, or about $770.46... that's still very reasonable for a Chanel bag.

There's also this super cute Sonia Rykiel owl pendant.

I just love owls!

I ran accross King Baby by accident a while back while on zappos couture site.  A lot of it is way too biker-look for me, but they have some great fleur dy lys pieces and even some skulls that are pretty cool.  It's all made in sterling silver, the prices condsidering that are very high though.

Here are a couple of the designs that I really like.

Fleur de Lys Padlock, $437

Large Fleur de Lys Pendant, $434

I'm not sure that I'd really wear this one, but I love the intricate design. Dia de los Muertos Skull Necklace, $605.

I was taking a look at the Miss Trish of Capri Collection for Target.  Have to say I'm not loving it. Three of the styles are wedges, and I just don't like those... and most of the flat styles just don't appeal to me.

I think the best style is the Lion Sandals, $29.99.

That doesn't look like a Lion to me...?

Clearly, the quality is nothing even close to the original Miss Trish sandals. They're made with faux leather uppers and bonded leather soles, and made in China.

I wonder what happened to the real Miss Trish?  I can't seem to find her quality sandals online anywhere right now.  It seems that Zappos normally has them, but when you go to their Miss Trish page, they say they are "currently out".

I was walking around Bloomingdale's over the weekend and I ran into this great Marc Jacobs bag. I was happy to see that you can still get a decent sized nice bag for less than $1000. (seriously, how sad is it to even say that? $1000 for a bag is still a lot)

Marc Jacobs Collection Multi-Pocket Bag, $975

The leather felt really nice and soft and the bag doesn't weigh a ton like my other Marc Jacobs bag (mine has a really heavy metal shoulder strap). Bloomingdale's online doesn't seem to have it, so I can't link to it there. But eLuxury does sell it online, here.

Net-a-porter's sale site is now open: theoutnet.com.

All the same great brands as at Net-a-porter, but the stuff that didn't sell.  Some of it looks ugly (like I know why that didn't sell) and in some cases only certain sizes are left, which can be frustrating.  Also there's stuff that was very expensive to begin with, so even on sale it's still expensive. It looks like they'll be selling out fast.  For example, these fabulous Louboutin pumps would have been great... on sale for $310 - 60% off!  BUT, they only had two bigfoot sizes left and anyway those are sold out!

The site is set up nicely, it lets you narrow things down within a category to specific size, brand and/or color.

The movie "Coco avant Chanel" about young Gabrielle Chanel is opening next week at select theaters in France, we don't know yet when it will open here.  The New York Times had a brief write-up on it on Monday, you can read it here. There's also a trailer on YouTube, here.

It's supposed to be quite spectacular visually.  The Times called it "a pleasant gallop through the well-known story and Ms. Tautou turns in a star performance of moods from truculence to the delirium of love." I am looking forward to it.

Bluefly is having an extra 10% off everything today. I love how they have a selection from the very top brands that you often cannot find online like Chanel and Hermes.

What caught my eye is this Gucci Tote. I've been looking for a black bag with gold hardware, all of my black bags have silver hardware...

Gucci Babouska Top Handle Bag, Retail $1,595, Bluefly $1,276, Sale $1,148.40.  It is from last season, but that's okay...

I like the giant grommets, and the zipper on the top is nice. In the city, you want to make sure your bag is closed up properly, especially when you're sandwiched in on the subway!

They even have 2 wallets that go with this. Hysteria French Wallet (sale $273.60) and Babouska French Wallet (sale $331.20).

I have to admit that this is a very clever design.  (sorry, but somehow I have a bias against anything from the Olsen sisters)

This single piece can be a classic trench coat; or, unbutton the sleeves and wear it as a dress; or, wear the sleeves piece alone as a cute jacket.  Wow, talk about versatile!

Elizabeth and James Trench Coat Dress, $595 at Net-a-Porter.

Coat:

Dress:

(ooh, loving that bag - it's Mui Mui)

Jacket:

It's nice to treat yourself to an Hermes scarf in the Spring (or Summer, Fall or Winter for that matter).  Here's my pick: Promenade Au Pays de Cezanne. Silk twill, hand-rolled, 36 inches square, $375.00. This one comes in 4 different color ways, but this is clearly the best one.

Wow, isn't that beautiful, it really looks like the South of France.  I'm not going to get one though.  I am going to go shopping in my own closet.  I think I have about 8 Hermes scarves, and I haven't got them out for a while.  I've been taking a scarf break.  But I should get out my little orange scarf tying book and get inspired.

Today's Goop newsletter mentioned that Gwenyth is ebaying some of her "favorite and most treasured things" to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation.  Wow that sounded really cool, so I checked it out.  You can view the ebay store here.

There are some cool things: Tod's Platform Sandals, Michael Kors Dress, Tod's Short Trench etc.  I don't know if I believe they were really some of her treasured things though, some of them are listed as new.  Anyway, it's a nice gesture and it looks like some great deals could be had.

Pictures: the Tod's platforms and Kors dress.

I wish they were my size, boo hoo...

Speaking of Goop,  I love it.  I think it's always great and full of wonderful thoughts and ideas.  And the recipes always seem compelling, I haven't tried one yet though.  I don't know why the media made such a big deal about it.

I hadn't really ever noticed that the L.A.M.B. collection included clothing. I would expect it to be quirky sportswear like track jackets or something.  But, eLuxury has this beautiful silk chiffon dress by L.A.M.B. ($325) available right now.

It features the very popular Greek goddess one shouldered style and layers of silk chiffon. I can totally imagine Gwen wearing this. (and me too!)

Yesterday was the launch of Kate Moss' new collection for Topshop.  You can see it all here.

Some things are sold out already.  The $510 diamante mini dress for example is sold out (online at least). 

I don't know, personally I don't love it. The collection is heavy on short dresses, little jackets and knit tops.  The only jean option, the bleached skinny jean, is heinous. And the tiny "hotpants", just ridiculous - - as we know from paparazzi photos, nearly no one can wear those and look good. Only airbrushed models and 12 year olds should be wearing shorts that short.  The price points aren't cheap either... the most flagrant example is a $70 scarf made out of POLYESTER, please, as if anyone sane would even wear a scarf made of polyester, forget about paying $70 for it.

Anyway, I still haven't been to a Topshop since ours in NYC just opened Thurs.  So I don't know how the quality is.  I'd be curious to take a look at how well they are sewn, etc. Do the high-ish prices (for Topshop) come with decent quality or is one just paying extra for the Kate Moss name?

The New York Times today has a nice article desribing the scene at the store opening, read here.

A shipment of Dolce & Gabbana is coming to Loehmann's tomorrow!

I know it's a bit depressing to shop at such an ugly store (the one in Philadelphia, that has since closed, looked no different than a K-mart), but for deals like this it is so worth it!  I am still loving my Diane Von Furstenburg silk jersey dress that I got there last year...

Speaking of J. Crew, the April catalog arrived promptly in my mailbox yesterday. The entire front section of women's clothes features the beautiful Liya Kebede.  

Apparently this was the first time they used only one model.