This Hurts...

...my feelings, my head, my soul -- my entire existence is pained by this.



It's made of NFL football jerseys. Used ones. Oooooh, good googly-moogly. I have to go lie down now.

Go here for the story. I can't talk about it anymore.

The Backup

Reader Sara alerted me to the fact that the link in last week's post for the Free People Ruffled Jacket wasnt working, so I checked it out. Turns out Piperlime was sold out of them. (I hope it was my readers who got 'em all!) So I did a little research and found a couple more places where you can get it, if you fell hard for this jacket like I did. Click on the photos for links.





It's still available in black in a couple of places.

(This is black, it's just a bad photo.)

But, interestingly, I also found it in a lovely deep red color

and, even prettier, winter white:




Oh, I love that.

Then I decided to post a few more jackets, just because there are so many great ones out there. All of these strike me as the sort of thing you might like if you like the ruffled one above. Tell me what you think.

This is Dolce & Gabbana. It's fairly spendy, but it is on sale.


This is Givenchy.

It is not on sale. Still -- very cool denim jacket.


This is wonderful:

LOVE! Twill jacket with taffeta collar!! Also -- great price!!

This is from Love Moschino, which is a line the company has launched that's supposed to be more affordable. And the prices do look a little more in line with what I think of as reasonable. (The name "Cheap & Chic" has always pissed me off a bit.) This jacket is available in black, but I love this fuchsia. Delicious little thing.

Also Love Moschino. Another fantastic jacket -- it's a heavy knit. You should click on this link so you can look at the detailing and the back, it's really wonderful.






No ruffles on this one, but it has that quasi-military quality that I like so much. I think this is a great way to do this military trend and still get a jacket that you're going to be able to wear for several seasons -- it's not so extreme that you won't be able to pull it back out next spring without feeling embarrassed about it.

It's the sleeves here, of course. I adore this -- so soft and feminine and yet still with a great shape. I would live in this jacket.

Perfect with a pencil skirt and pumps.

Miu Miu. Very wonderful.

Jil Sander. This makes me a little dizzy...

YSL. This makes me VERY dizzy.

I could easily have spent another hour looking at jackets online, but I had to get to bed. Here's hoping something in this lineup tickles your fancy. Tell me which ones you like best!

Getcha Some Boots!!!

Today is Piperlime's 3d birthday, and they're running a special!!

Order today and celebrate Piperlime's 3rd Birthday and get a $25 gift certificate towards your next purchase! Shop now while supplies last! Ends 10/25/09 until 11:59 PM PT.

(And remember -- they do free shipping on orders over $50!)

So you could get some boots! (Click photos for links!)

You could get comfy-but-stylish boots:

(Aerosoles!)

You could get waterproof-yet-sexy boots:

(Sperry! I LOVE these!)

A beautiful-yet-budget-friendly boot with a not-too-high-heel:

If you're thinking you want to play with the over-the-knee trend without spending a fortune:

If you want a classic boot but your calves require a little extra room:

(Naturalizer, with wide shaft. Also available in black.)

So, go!!! Shop!!!!!

It's Never Too Early...

...to start thinking about your holiday party wardrobe!

Mostly I say this because I found this dress and I think we should ALL have one, because it's so gorgeous:

Isn't that lovely? It's by Yoanna Baraschi and you can find it at chickdowntown.com. (I couldn't find a specific link for the dress, but I promise it's there!)

Seriously, I think this is a nearly perfect party dress.

Look how easy that is -- elastic waistband, so you can eat lots of hors d'oeuvres and drink plenty of festive sparkly beverages. This is an LBD Plus -- a beautiful black dress with a gorgeous floral print that will make it stand out brilliantly in the sea of other dull LBDs at the party. (And you know there will be one -- let's start making book on the percentage of women in black at any given party you go to between Thanksgiving and New Year's. I'll bet it's a good 70%, especially in This Economy.)

This dress is not especially trendy or season-specific -- you could really wear this year-round and for several years to come. And would you just LOOK at this beautiful print!!

::sigh:: I'm so in love with this. And the great thing is how much fun it would be to accessorize. Afraid you'll be chilly in sleeveless? Top it off with a gorgeous jacket, there are lots out there.

(Click on photos for links!)

Ruby velvet from D&G that could do double-duty at the office, or even on the weekend with a pair of sharp jeans and some boots -- you'll wear this to shreds, I promise.

How about satin? So festive.

Oof, that's beautiful. Silk organza. That color is so unusual and pretty and this is oh-so-on-sale.

But it doesn't have to be color, black would work beautifully, too. The look this season is sequins, sequins everywhere. But I think a full-on sequined jacket would be too much with the print, so maybe just a touch on the lapels:

How about classic, wear-for-a-million years black velvet?

(From Banana Republic, so incredibly reasonable.)



This one made me gasp a little:

Ooooooh, my goodness. If you don't love that, you have no heart. (Also, not crazy expensive.)


If you are going to wear a black jacket, at least pleaseI'mbeggingyou wear a brightly-colored shoe.

These are adorable and they are a STEAL.

The shape on these is classic sex-kitten, and the price is great for a good pair of drop-dead party shoes that will never go out of style.





Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!! Sparkly!!!!!!! Style Spy loves her some sparkly! These are Nine West so they're also super-reasonable (and they come in some other fun colors).


Plan on doing some dancing at your holiday party?






How about these great gold wedges with a t-strap? Nice and stable, and they'll stay on your feet while you do the Charleston. (Or the merengue. Or the Hustle.) Plus -- on sale!


Every woman needs a dress like this in her wardrobe. I don't necessarily mean this dress specifically, but a dress that can be worn different ways in different seasons for a good many years to come. Most of us do have them and mostly they're LBDs. And that's great -- une petite robe noir has gotten all of us all through a sticky fashion situation at one time or another. But isn't it time to branch out a little? My personal challenge for everyone is to try to resist the impulse to buy one more black dress -- next time you're shopping for something special, see if you can't score a color or a pattern that lights you up and makes you smile. It takes a little more work -- the world is filled with black dresses and yes, some of them are truly great -- but it's worth it to not disappear into the crowd. Let's make this as bright and colorful a holiday season as we can this year -- it's been a rough one and we deserve some cheer.

Pretty For Friday -- October 23

Well, my version of pretty, anyway...


I'm just in love with these pants and have been for ages.

(click on all photos for links, as usual)

Slouchy deliciousness from Ann Demeulemeester's Spring 09 collection. They're on sale at LUISAVIAROMA.COM, although still well out of my range. I've been on the lookout for something in this vein for a while, though, including checking out men's pajamas.

I want to wear them with a superfine wool or cashmere t-shirt, something like this

from Banana Republic, and then top it off with a nice looooooong slouchy cardi,

like this one. (This is Vince . I have really come to love the clothes in this line -- they're mostly basics, well-made and not boring.) I am so feeling this long slouchy thing right now, I'm not quite sure where it comes from except that it feels very French to me and I'm pining for Paris in the worst way.

I'd wear the whole look with my brilliant Donald J. Pliner Haiden brogues, which are in danger of being worn to ribbons this fall -- I keep pulling them out of the closet and they keep being perfect with everything; buying those was an impulsive stroke of genius if I do say so myself. They still have them in Plum at zappos.com and don't think I'm not mighty tempted by that knowledge, but if you think black might be more useful to you, you could do a lot worse than these little lovelies





which are also Pliner and have the same shape, heel, and overall feeling. Dayum. Those are sharp. (And yes, to answer the inescapable question, they are comfortable. Pliner makes excellent shoes -- I wore those brogues and furniture shopped with my mom all day Saturday.)

This weekend is probably going to find me wearing some variation on the outfit above, although I'll have to do some improvising where the pants are concerned. How about you guys? What are you pulling out of the closet this wekeend?

Time To Buy That Bedazzler

Because, seriously? These jeans?

Are ON SALE for over $5000. ($5437.00, to be precise.) And that price? Is 50% off.


Yes, they are super-cool. Yes, they are Balmain and apparently if you are a big-noise fashionista life is not worth living unless you have a closet full of Balmain these days. (I somehow seem to be soldiering along, but I'm strictly bush-league, I reckon.) And the work really is gorgeous. But come on.

It's starting to piss me off a bit, it really is. Honestly, I find the idea that there are $10K jeans out there, no matter how sparkly and fabulous, a wee bit insulting. (And I think we all know that expensive clothing as a general concept does not trouble me overmuch.) There's really no point in me being cheesed about it, I reckon, because it's not my money being spent and if someone wants to drop that much cash on pants who am I to judge? But it just seems like there's this whole tier of people in the fashion world who have absolutely no idea about what's going on in the rest of the world. Remember when a $500 shoe was absolutely out of this world expensive? I am routinely seeing shoes for twice that nowadays. Who is buying this stuff? All the news reports in the business are about how the stores are having to lower their inventories and put things on sale earlier, and yet what's coming into the stores continues to get more & more expensive. I don't get it.

Someone explain this to me. Please.

Is Greasy The New Black?

I'm wondering what it is about these ads that is supposed to make me want to buy the products...



I'll grant you -- Eva Mendes is a gorgeous woman with a ferocious body. But... yeccch. I would never call myself a clean freak (and neither would you if you saw my kitchen floor), but this is just gross. I am utterly turned off by the looks of this, and the thing that really, really drives me crazy is that I want to pull that hair off her face! Don't you know this poor girl stood there for god knows how long while a team of photo stylists massaged her head with Crisco and then one by one arranged those locks of hair on her face to give them juuuuuuuust the right air of spontaneous, tousled perfection. And then she had to stand there some more while they took the photos and you KNOW it had to drive her crazy, that she was DYING to just reach up and PUSH THAT HAIR OFF HER FACE!!!! See, that's all I can think about when I look at this ad -- I do not think, "Boy those are cute jeans." I do not think, "Hmmm, I wonder if my ass would look that good in those jeans." (Puh-leez...) I think, "God, someone get that hair off her face!!!!" To me, that is not effective advertising.

I also wonder, what goes through a young woman's mind when she agrees to do ads like this? Specifically, a young actress's mind. Models model, that's what they do. But, presumably Ms. Mendes is working toward a long career as an actress, presumably she would like to be respected for her work, presumably she would like to play the sorts of roles that are typically considered "Oscar bait." Appearing oiled up like a sardine and splayed more-than-half-naked in every American magazine not specifically marketed to children doesn't seem to me the straightest path to that goal.

But I'm probably wrong -- what do I know from Hollywood? Nudity and public displays of sexuality are so commonplace anymore that they probably don't work against someone in the way that they used to. And maybe Ms. Mendes harbors no such pretensions -- maybe she's just getting hers while she can and who can blame her? If I had that body, I might also be pretty tempted to paste it onto the largest billboard someone offered me, especially if they were tossing out the kind of cabbage I'm guessing you get from a mega-company like Calvin Klein. So who am I to judge?



I know that some people will interpret this photo as Ms Mendes undressing the guy, but I think she's just slipping off him and clutching his underwear in an attempt to stay put. Sorry, but I think it's a lost cause, Eva. Just give up and slide on down.

Images: Stylefrizz.com