Recently in Observations Category

Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed a nice day off yesterday.  I was back to work today, seemingly one of the few who was - - the city seemed very quiet!

 

I was thinking about 2008 and what new discoveries I made, and old things I really appreciated having and used a lot over the year. So here's my little recap:

New:

True Religion Jeans

Banana's New Tank Top

Juicy Couture "Serena" Platform Short Boots

Chanel Double C Earrings

Thin Hangers

Guerlain Aqua Allegoria - Mandarine-Basilic

Old Standards I love:

Mont Blanc Pen

Coverse Sneakers

Vuitton Cabas Piano

Pearls

Louboutin Classic Pumps

I am sure 2009 will be full of new discoveries, hopefully modestly priced recession-friendly ones (ha! one can dream). Cheers.

Since we're at the end of the year now, I think it's time to award the "Cheesiest Dresser of the Year Award".  I am going to have to say, without bias, Heidi Montag.  (I say without bias because I don't watch her show; and I've heard that if you do, one would have even more reason to dislike her.)

Here are some classic examples:

Yikes, I hope she had this dress taped on because her ridiculous fake boobs are about to fall out. And check out the hooker shoes, um, yuck!

This I don't even need to comment on, it speaks for itself.

Here we've got some really dumb looking and too short high waisted shorts with a weird scarf-shirt thing. Chanel sandals and an Hermes bag cannot even come close to redeeming this.

This dress looks like polyester that cost $10, it's what a hooker wears when she's trying to dress up and look proper.  And the shoes... uggghhhh!

Again horrible shoes, and why is she carrying that bag?  Totally doesn't match. The dress could have worked if she could ever mange to keep things simple.

Hot?  No, just nasty and cheap looking.  And sorry, those thighs are just not thin enough to wear shorts that short.

It's clearly a very sad case.  I wish her better luck in 2009. 

As mentioned in my last post, I finally went to the Mobile Art exhibit this past weekend. 

 

I had tickets for Saturday at 11:30 am.  They managed the whole thing beautifully, people with tickets just had to wait in a line for their time slot and were let in at the exact time, on the dot.  Since we arrived just a couple minutes before there was basically no wait at all.  (the unlucky people who didn't have tickets had to wait in a HUGE line) You are ushered into the container and they made you check everything: coats, cameras, handbags, everything!  And then you're given your headset for the audio tour.  The whole visit is paced with the narrator (at times, a bit too slow for my pace). I'm afraid to say that overall, I liked the architecture better than the art is housed.  The first room had a beautiful floral mosaic floor. One installation was a series of cardboard boxes with film projection of naked people running around inside them.  Another was a large shipping container (as in ocean freight container) with this poor giant black gummi bear like guy tied up inside with furniture, and then there is a screen where you see a film reel of a dominatrix woman beating on the bear.  At the end they had a big tree where you were instructed to write down a wish and tie it to a branch. There was also a giant black 2.55 bag laying on it's side with fur lining.  The experience was tranquil, I liked the narrator, I just thought she was a bit too slow at times. At the end when you get your coat and bags back they give you a photography magazine with some beautiful black and white shots done by Karl Lagerfeld and others. It also has a section about the exhibit and architect and the different places the container has been. You were not allowed to take any pictures inside so I only have pictures of the outside.  

I ran across this little feature on model Coco Rocha in a "pulse" slideshow in the Style section of the New York Times.  She explains her outfit, a vintage jacket from Paris, Rag & Bone pants... and Aldo boots!

 

She explains, "I believe if you see something you like and it's cheap, by all means get it. Just don't do it head to toe. Carry an expensive bag." I love that! Many of us have to do that because we can't afford to wear head-to-toe luxury designer, it's nice to hear it from someone who probably doesn't have to...  Of course this is not a new idea by any means. Fashionable people have been pairing Gap and even Old Navy with ready-to-wear for ages. Anyway, I just thought it was a nice little snipet and in this economy, practical. I'm going to go check out Aldo!  Maybe then I won't have to buy the L.A.M.B. $520 boots I'm dying for.

I also tried on some Tory Burch shoes at Bloomingdale's yesterday.  These big clunky lug sole pumps, $295.  I find the gold around the heel to be a bit garish but they looked so comfortable I tried them on anyway.  They are very comfortable, but they just didn't do it for me.

I also tried on a shoe very similar to this one below, but it had a sling back and peep toe, otherwise it was the same style. I didn't like the sling back. So this version, the "James" pump, $310 is better. I love the classic heel and round toe.  Again, I'm not crazy about the gold on the heel, but I could live with it.

There's also a new version of the Reva ballet flat, $235 that I really like.  A croco embossed leather with her signature logo medallion in leather instead of the normal gold or silver. Since it's such a large medallion I think it's a bit more tasteful not in a bright metal.

Like the LAMB shoes I saw, these were made in Brazil. I find that disappoiting. I very much prefer to wear shoes made in Italy, ONLY! I know the dollar is weak and that makes production there very expensive, but they just pass it on to us at retail anyway... I just think these are perhaps overpriced for being made in Brazil. At least with shoes made in Italy, you know you're paying a lot for the fancy brand, but you ALSO know that you are getting an incredibly well crafted shoe, nearly like art. That's why I don't mind paying so much for Gucci shoes. Even J. Crew makes many of their shoes there, so I cant' believe that Italy has become so expensive that the likes of Tory Burch and LAMB have been priced out. I think they're just pocketing the extra profit from having lower COGS. Anyway, sorry for that little rant, it's obvioulsy one of my pet peeves...

I am sorry to say that I have to retract my "favorite things" status of the Old Navy tank top.  They were such a great value, for a long time; but I find that the cotton quality has gone down severely. I guess this isn't too surprising considering that they cost only $6 (on sale) each. I have tons of them, and I guess they'll have to be worn to the gym only. 

The good news is that I've found a replacement that's only slightly more expensive.  The Gap "favorite ribbed tank" is $14.50 or $10.00 on sale.  It's got a finer rib and the cotton feels softer. Overall, it's thinner so better for layering and a bit longer which is good for wearing with low waisted pants. I think they run a bit big though, so size down.    

Another good option is the J Crew "solid washed favorite tank" for $16.50. I think it's a little thinner than the Gap one so the white would be somewhat see-through. Maybe it's a bit too long, but since it's thin material it scrunches up without being too bulky.

For the non-budget constrained, James Perse!  He now does his long tank top in a cotton/modal blend $45 at Bloomingdale's, Saks, etc. etc. I love modal, it's softer than cotton and more drapey.
I think the Gap option is the best value and the one I'm going to stock up on. I buy a bunch of these every season, so cheap is good. I can't stand white tanks that don't look pefectly white anymore, so I end up getting rid of a lot of them. And no, I don't like to use bleach because it's too harmful to the cotton fibers.

The April issue of Vogue, the "Shape Issue", features an article about Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte.  Apparently Vogue asked them last Fall to go on a 4 month program of personal training and healthy meal delivery, to be featured in this issue.  I found the article that accompanied their (the sisters') journal about the experience so smug and distasteful. It's truly cringe-worthy.  Here are a few quotes from Sally Singer's article. "Our hope was that these two talented sisters could learn to spend a little time on themselves and not devote every hour of every day to making magical, ineffably gorgeous dresses."  [nothing like a good old veiled insult] "We wanted these two young women to learn good habits now, so that they would have the peace of mind and the energy to prosper..."   [WTF, how insulting!]  "They were (and are) perfectly happy with themselves, regardless of what the scale or the jeans label says.  Both are completely without vanity where their own looks are concerned. (How rare to find women with such values. If only we could clone their parents!)"  [yeah, right we almost believe that you appreciate their values]

Uggh.  When did we all forget that vanity is a vice not a virtue?  I'm not saying that I'm against vanity or advocate lack of personal care I just think it's gross that Vogue would publish this when they clearly do not appreciate these two women at all, to Vogue they may be great designers but they just don't fit in unless they conform to the fashion world ideal better.

Has anyone else noticed that the number of amazing handbags in the marketplace has grown exponentially over the last several years?  It's impossible to keep up with.  Maybe it's even ridiculous.  It makes me think of Thomas Couture's "Romains de la Decadence" (it's hanging that the Musee d' Orsay in case you don't know what this is), except we now have EXCESS more so than vice (although us and the Romans are/were very good at both).  The excesses available to us are so compelling though...  back to the bags... you know, it used to be great if you had a Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton.  But now there are like a gazillion "it bags". Marc Jacobs, Chloe, Mulberry, Luella Bartley, Botkier, Kooba, Balenciaga, Burberry... it goes on and on.  Even stale old brands like Bally are getting into the game with updated styles that of course, cost about $1000. Here's Jessica Alba with her Bally "Jana" bag and the Bally "Soledad" bag $799, that is on sale right now at zappos.com for the bargain price of $599.21.

I was saying in my last post that I think Coach shoes are a good value.  I thought I might explain that a little more.  In my experience in talking to people about the Coach brand, most people have no idea what Coach really is.  Indeed, Coach's history is "American goods". Coach was founded in Manhattan in 1941 and began as a family-run leather goods workshop.  But they are far from this today, according to their annual report (10-k) they are "a leading American marketer of fine accessories and gifts for men and women, they "utilize a flexible, cost-effective global sourcing model, in which independent manufacturers supply our products, allowing us to bring our broad range of products to market rapidly and efficiently".  In other words, Coach does not make Coach products anymore.  It is a fact that many Coach items are made in China. To me, this is not a true "luxury" brand, but at the same time their prices are a lot lower too, so I think it's okay. Anyone really interested should read their annual report available online in their Investor Relations section.

I have to admit that I've scoffed at Coach in the past because I've known for a long time that a lot of their bags come from China.  But I have to say that I think they do a good job with design, marketing and making sure their products are of certain quality.  Having good fashion available at different price points is vital.  Especially now, with the US dollar so weak against the Euro, one cannot buy a European bag (Gucci, Prada, LV) for much less than $1000, most are a lot more.  The only thing that really bothers me about Coach is that it seems like they're trying to hide the facts, you cannot find anything about production or country of origin on their retail website...  Anyway, having said all of this, I have bought Coach in the past and I will continue to based on their quality to price ratio and strong design.   

The NY Times reported today that New York City shut down 32 vendors of counterfeit luxury goods yesterday as part of a Bloomberg initiative to curtail this sleazy business.  They seized over a million dollars worth of fake Prada bags, Rolex watches, Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses, etc. Yay!  I am really sick of seeing every loser on the street with a [fake] Louis Vuitton bag.  Sorry if that seems snobby, but I don't buy fake things...  I save my money and buy the real thing.  How could one ever feel good about carrying a fake bag?  I just don't understand.  Luxury items can be had by anyone these days... it just takes some of us longer to be able to buy them, and maybe we buy less.  But that's what makes these things special.

Okay, who would have guessed that J Crew has sold out for the season their "tangy orange" Bermuda shorts with embroidered yellow crab critters? I know this because I was on their website today to order them and they were not there, only the kelly green critter shorts are left. They are currently searching every store in the country to find my orange critter shorts for me.
Why did I dally? I knew I loved them the first time I saw them in one of the seemingly weekly catalogs they send. The reason was the very fact that they were "tangy orange". I thought this color was just too crazy to actually wear. But clearly I changed my mind because I was trying to order them today.

My feelings on orange have been changing for quite a while. My first dealings with the color include life jackets, carrots and the absolutely dreadful orange vanity in the downstairs bathroom of the house I grew up in. (yes, the house was built in the 70s!) I am quite sure that my dislike of orange continued all the way through college. It is sometime thereafter that the color started to change for me. I bought my first Hermes scarf in 2000 and I still have the beautiful bright orange box.  Hermes loves orange! How can they be wrong?

Of course I probably owe a lot to Christo and Jeanne Claude and their brilliant Gates exhibit in New York last year.

That totally did it for me, the orange juxtaposed against the bleak colors of the New York winter was brilliant and beautiful. These days orange is extremely common in both fashion and home fashion. Today I was surprised to see that a normally traditional home décor company (Peacock Alley) is offering bright orange "kumquat" linen accessories! Their show bed features a bright orange pillow against traditional blues and white.... again - brilliant!

Love live orange!

Hello and welcome. Flairvoyant is mostly a fashion blog, but also will include posts on cosmetics, fragrance, home items, travel, dining and art. Nearly everything influences fashion and vice versa so it makes sense to me. A little about me, I'm a 30-something who grew up in Vermont and has spent pretty much my whole adult life living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I absolutely love New York, it's a truly wonderful place to live. From museums, architecture, shopping, dining, outdoor activies to work opportunities - it really has everything. In my own way, I've loved fashion since I was a little girl, but it was certainly a lot more difficult in Vermont. The town I grew up in didn't even have a Gap store, if you can imagine that! (and interntet, for all practical purposes, didn't exist back then) I went to Paris to study my junior year, spring semester in college and that really opened my eves and was my first experience of having accessibility to really wonderful things. I bought my first 2 Vuitton bags then. (I'm sure it took me years to pay for them, but they were worth it!) Then after college I moved straight to New York, which of course is fashion heaven.