Top Of The Drops.

Yesterday I braved the beautiful sunshine to get a look at Topshop New York. I had every intention of going in, but the drop of the store was unbelievably successful and the queue (yes, the queue) was around the block and then some. Here's The Budget Babe's footage of the loooooong line.



A video of the line lasts 1:52, that's a long friggin' line. Despite the gorgeous line-waiting weather, I opted out of the mayhem and just poked my nose around the windows and the crowds instead.

My favorite part of the opening was actually the great tote bags that Topshop had handed out to potential shoppers in the days leading up to the event.

Each tote came with a gift card worth anywhere from $5 to $500, brilliant move because most of the people who were waiting on line said they were there to redeem the only-valid-yesterday cards. It made the event quite the scene. Well, that and tell any fashionista worth her fake hipster glasses that Kate Moss is in a ten mile radius and she'll be there. It's a given. It's a rule.

Here's a fascinating discussion about the difference between what Americans expect from their Topshop and what the British want. Apparently we need bigger dressing rooms. Not because we are bigger (yeah right!) but because we expect more space.

I'm so happy that I live here and can go at eleven AM on a Tuesday. I'll have a full report when I can shop sans stampede and overcrowding. It'll be much more thorough and less anxiety filled. Cheerio kiddies.

Floss Like Moss.

Click image for bigger image!

Kate Moss is a stylecon of the first order, highest rank, and greatest import. Her star still shines bright after all of these years, and it's because the girl knows how to use her noggin even better than she knows how to use her good looks. She was born to do what she does, and thank the lucky fashion gods, she decided to do her thang with Top Shop, a reasonably affordable outpost for fashionable finds. Her collection is coming to America peeps, this Thursday, to Broadway and Broome specifically. It's full of Liberty Prints and casual cool rockness. I'm loving the bandanna with two little flower patterns. This is big, like a British invasion of the fashion realm. Yippee. Cheerio. Rubbish bin. Cheeky. Tired and emotional. That's all I've got.

Here are Kate's Liberty Prints, based on classics from the storied fabric design house and reworked by the modesigner for her collection.

Aren't they purdy? Or, ahem, swish? I don't know if that even works...

Stylin' & Profilin': Ranna

Meet Ranna. She's a twenty-something Scandinavian chick and a freakishly adept thrifter. Her finds are incredibly cool and seamlessly mixed into her well stocked H&M and Topshop wardrobe. She throws in a few designer pieces and snags from her mom's closet for good measure, and documents it all on her blog Only Shallow.

My least favorite thing about the super fashionable is that they often appear completely unapproachable. But, Ranna is cute as a button. She's the type of girl who I'd have no trouble going up to on the street and saying, "Great dress! Where'd you get it?" Although, seeing as how she's a university student in Helsinki, I don't think I'll be bumping into her anytime soon. Fortunately for all of us Stateside, I know exactly where she scored her finds, and we can all buy them ourselves from her Etsy shop. The prices are dreamily reasonable and with what I'll save on airfare to Finland, I can afford a boatload of her cool wear without caring too much about the steeper shipping costs. It's like combing Europe's greatest second-hand stores with an expert guide, all from the comfort of my couch. Thank goddess for the internet.