Is it cold in here?

Just for discussion's sake, I have to wonder out loud (in this bolgosphere here) what the surgery is called that left new Marc Jacobs campaign star Vicky P-spice with perma-headlights.

I mean did she get nipple implants? Did she have her body temperature permanently lowered? Does she smuggle stones in her bra? It is intense, and staying on the topic of this blog--how the hell is Marc Jacobs gonna stuff those things into his Spring/Summer '08 collection?

How funny that Cathy Horyn from the New York Times directly opposed Posh's femmebot presence at Jacobs' late NYC show with the subtly articulated sexuality he sent down the runway. The pairing of Jacobs and Vicky B is like some weird PR test tube baby. Weird.

Boot booty

I am on a quest for boots.

I've been hardcore shopping with the intention of replacing the totally cute but treacherous boots I was certain would carry me through a cold city winter. Unfortunately they until randomly turned into ice skates on three separate occasions and sent me flying. Some cheap, crappy, plastic material was used to make their narrow heals. It must have been magically developed in some fabled land of manufacturing as a solid alternative to WD-40, but wound up at the boot factory instead. My bloody knee is finally healing from the last spill and yet, no new boots. So, the search is still on.

Said search is infinitely complicated by my new dedication to only purchasing items that I am profoundly in love with. No hesitating, no rationalizing, no cheap impulse buys ("At this price who could pass this up? I'd be a fool not to buy it."). I want a wardrobe filled with self-expressing pieces; a closet carefully curated. Oh yeah, and on a budget.

These are the boots I am currently drooling over:


But drool will ruin them, and so will the winter sludge, er slush of NYC. They are not waterproof therefore there is no way I can justify the $185 price tag at Sacco. But, a girl can dream.


Did I mention I need flats? Waterproof and work-wearable? So many criteria. Any suggestions will be gladly received.

I want to button up.

When buttons are this beautiful,

who wouldn't want some cold weather to brace against?

I just want to have fun.

Someone call Cyndi Lauper and tell her her time has come again!

Her album She's So Unusual was my first prized possession and first lost love (after my brother stepped on it and cracked it in half, killing it). And what have we here? It's a vintage Cyndi look accessorized with modern technology as featured in Bill Cunningham's NYT "On the Streets Column" about Fall color.

Maybe with the escalation of global warming people will let their fluorescent freak flags fly all year long! Yay for greenhouse gasses!

Oh goodness...

My brain keeps asking, what's wrong here? I loved Balenciaga's strong silhouettes and flower powered prints but this...

It's just wrong. Maybe it's because Jennifer Connelly is not exactly the fiercest face in Hollywood. She's so much softer than those hard seams allow. You would think the flowers might work in her favor, but those brilliantly strong blooms are just as structured as the shaped shoulders hovering over her like inflated balloons. And the shoes? They were commander, warrior height on the runway, and here they look, well, neutered. De-sexed. Weirdly wrapped. Here's the thing about really good fashion: It doesn't work head to toe from runway to reality. The ideas should be dispersed, incorporated, mixed-up and in. She looks like she was invited to a costume party and decided to go as "Balenciaga Girl, Spring/ Summer 2008".

Her stylist should have to forfeit one of her favorite articles of clothing. Hit her where it hurts.

I want shoulder pads?!

I'm obsessed with the below photos of Ms. Carine Roitfeld, the editor-in-chief of French Vogue and the legendary stylist behind Tom Ford's erotically charged rise to fame at the house of Gucci. While Ford seems hell-bent on raising his cheese factor to heart clogging levels (nude shower scenes in Out Magazine?? His own sultry stare selling his perfume line a la' J.Lo??) Madame Roitfeld's still got it.

She is absolutely rocking shoulder pads. Tailored, pointy, elegant even; they are razor sharp and cutting edge. And, am I wrong or is she also working a black satin arm sling in a way that makes it look like some cool, strange fabric accessory that may help you to heal if you just so happened to break a bone? That is one prepared fashionista.

I just wanted to tell you...

This is the most excited I have been about commercial fashion in a long time. There is a newness in the air. A freedom of expression is floating around, loose from the over-sexed, over-shot, consumerist focus on wearable trends.

I want to be free from the trend, free from the unwashable $15.98, disposable facsimile of a dress I feel compelled to pick off the rack at "insert trend chain name here" because it is so cheap. I want to see how the cheap-o stores attempt to water down the newest Marc Jacobs show, which is all cut up and collaged. It is focused on texture and color with displaced and replaced references to the past, present, and future. In case you can't sense the sarcasm, I seriously don't want to see what they will make of any of the looks from his shows this season, like the ones below for Loius Vuitton.




This is not to say that I am wholeheartedly in support of the elitist, big-bucks fashion houses either. That is exactly why I loved so much shown this season. This is the thinking girl's moment to shine. Comb the racks at a vintage store, raid your mom's closet, and cut up everything you own then stitch it back together sideways. Follow Rei Kawakubo's example at Comme des Garcons and let your clothes out to play.





As for the claims that both Marc Jacobs shows this season were hijacked from Kawakubo? I say maybe. I also say so what? None of us lives in a bubble; no ideas are unique. If this random aesthetic is going to be the poached prize of the season, I say let it spread. This isn't polka dots or sailor stripes. This is mash-up randomness. Everyone should try it. Looks like fun.

I want to slap my outfits silly!

Let's go batshit crazy and wear everything all at once! Let's carefully curate a mish-mash of color, pattern, and shape that somehow looks quiet and comfortable. I love it. It is elegant eccentricity. I want something new and this feels new, less slick, less packaged for mass consumption, more freaked and tweaked and wearable. This is my favorite trend of Spring/Summer '08-no questions asked--except of course, how do i recreate it in my own closet? Here are some examples:

Dries van Noten's andro-greaser-housewife look.



Dolce & Gabbana's color war and giant checkered bag! Giant!


Balenciaga's sculpted flower-power.

I want to float too.

I can't decide whether this image of a floating Cate Blanchett channeling Bob Dylan makes me want to be reborn as a classy Aussie actress with great bone structure, or wear skinny boy suits for the rest of my days. Either way I love it.

On another note, I really hope that the days of ballooning tops over stretchy black leggings are a thing of the past, but...

sweet lacy half tights can just barely be called leggings. I predict they will be stretched delicately over hip thighs before too long. Just remember they aren't opaque and you should wear appropriate over clothes please.

A match made in heaven:

C-Love 3.0 meets her future self! Maybe she finally read her free copy of Karl's don'teat book.


Fashion week(s) round-up to follow.

I want to share it.

This is a little corner of my room that I love. The Divine Ms.M, makeup, Bitch, and a tiny E.Badu. Sometimes its the little things that do it.

I want you to watch it.

Follow the link to Karen O's amazing neo-vogueing performance on Letterman, whose end of song fawning raises the already superb "gig" to golden status.

I want to stuff it.

I once saw this Sixty Minutes segment on a national taxidermy convention where they handed out prizes for "Best in Show". They rated the stuffed animals on posture, facial expression, and hair quality; all the things that really matter.

I want to run down the street in it.

I want to twirl in it.

Two Dior dresses for two very different day(or night)dreams. A dark train rustling behind me as I run barefoot down a cobbled street at twilight in some glowing European city. A light, sparkle sprinkled confection of a dress built for twirling. A girl can dream...

I want to drum it.

She's like snow white with rhythm (and cleavage to spare). The red nails are my favorite part.

I want to wear it, damn it!

I want to wear it, damn it! Combing the streets, interwebs, and collective unconscious for fashionable objects of desire. Things I love, stuff I want, pretty pictures. A taste of things to come...

I want to be it.

*Isabella's mind blowing style. (rest in peace)

I want to funk it.

*Badass.

I want to ride a white horse.

*Princess Charming, Jean Paul style.

I want to slip those on.

*Madame Dietrich's perfect shoes.

I want to kiss it.

*Messy lips.