Tuesday, October 31, 2006


i love ebay models.
the first two pictures below are from plastic pony vintage. while this girl manages to look totally cute in the rest of her pictures, these are the hilarious exceptions. i actually really like the second dress - it goes with the 'fall 06: hipster woodsman' esthetic i've been trying to pull off since seeing vetiver at warehouse nextdoor. and yes, i WAS ebay searching 'overalls.' is that embarassing?


the third picture is from hotdiggity dog vintage and looks like part of the press kit from the first season of blossom. this store has some okay stuff, a really cute pair of flats in particular, but i think it might be run by a 15 year old. case in point. also, they don't accept paypal.
the guy in the fourth picture is my favorite ebay model of ALL TIME: "jason" of killermerch. they always have really good shirts but even if i can't spend any money i'll sometimes check them just to make sure he's still completely disinterested/see how his roots are growing out. the best part about him is that he looks like that ALL THE TIME. every picture is exactly the same; it's like when you scroll over the available colors when you're shopping online for a couch or something- the shirt changes but nothing else does. amazing. killermerch rules though, i've bought from them a couple different times and they ship like 11 seconds after you pay. plus this guy has WORN YOUR SHIRT.

Monday, October 30, 2006


leggings were EVERYWHERE so quickly that they were deemed ‘over’ before they really had a chance to get started; fall is their primetime. they’ll extend the wear of summer dresses for another two months, and come winter, they’re cozier than tights (and can be layered on top of them) and can be worn with boots. and with anna sui, behnaz sarafpour, imitation of christ, and jovovich-hawk showing leggings with their Spring 2007 collections (to say nothing of nearly every major fall06 show), they’re legitimately fashionable and not going away anytime soon. the trick to separating yourself from the legions of forever 21 teens (i’m not hating. i shop there. you shop there. but admit it; we are not their target demographic.) is to wear them WELL and wear them AS YOUR OWN. tips:
no mas jean skirt. when leggings hit street fashion last spring/summer this was a really fresh look, but it's now been done to death. if you can’t give up the leggings-and-denim combo at least try something new: leggings under a pair of otherwise-too-short jean shorts, frayed (with converse or hightops and a t-shirt; though i admit, it's getting a little cold for that) or cuffed (with a longer top, cropped jacket and boots) would both look sharp. or be the one to find a new interpretation of the skirt idea – just avoid at all costs the longish, ill-fitting jean skirt worn over leggings that are bunching, very unfortunately, at the knees.
get fit. leggings can be flattering on many different body types, but they are a purposely body-conscious style and you’re not doing yourself any favors when they’re too large or small. they should fit like tights - skinny jeans look great bunched at the ankles and knees but if your leggings are doing the same then you need a smaller size. too small, though, and you'll get that sweet bulge at the hips and where ever they hit on your legs. Very Unattractive. if you’re having difficulty finding a pair that fit well, try buying low-rise knit tights and cutting the feet off. this is also a great alternative to those “footless tights,” which tend to be banded at the bottom a little too tightly - and this way you can also customize the length. and while length is another point of contention, as a general rule i’d go with the shorter the top, the longer the leggings.
don’t even consider: above-the-knee cuts (grunge is back, but the biker shorts of the early 90s are NOT), running shoes (save it for the gym), flip-flops (save it for the west coast), or wearing anything on top that doesn’t cover your bum. stilettos are also, in my opinion, Not Good, but you do what you like.

if you're still of the i-hate-leggings camp (and many, many people are) try tights instead, they're available in all the same colors and you'll probably run less of a chance of inciting anyone's anger. both tights and leggings can be found on the cheap at target (around $8), and while my favorite pair of leggings i got for around $1 at a thrift store, my american apparel ones ($26-$36) run a very close second.


picture 1 from american apparel; picture 2 lifted from the cobra snake.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006


one of my favorite scenes in the movie 'mean girls' is when regina george (rachel mcadams) is posing in her playboy bunny halloween costume for her mother's camcorder; her father looks on, distraught and close to tears. lohan's voice over explains that 'in girl-world, halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it. the hardcore girls just wear lingerie and some form of animal ears.” it’s sooo true. halloween IS a free pass to wear something you normally never would (or secretly want to), but instead of trying to find a new variation of the ‘sexy cat’ costume you've been rocking since twelfth grade, this year try to experiment and come up with a stylish and creative alternative. some ideas and shopping tips:
decades. while i hold the firm belief that a decade is NOT a costume, it is a good starting point. DC area vintage shops like glad rags in takoma park, junction and meeps in the district, and the remix in alexandria all specialize in decade-specific looks. you might spend a little bit of money, but you can probably find costume pieces you can work into your regular wardrobe. some stylish icons of each era include marianne faithfull, jean seberg and francoise hardy for the 60s; ziggy stardust-era david bowie and pam grier for the 70s. if you’re going to go 80s don’t even consider like-a-virgin madonna (or britney) - think lita ford, think joan jett, think about grabbing two more friends and paying tribute to the runaways.
pop culture. i’m convinced that thrift stores are a gift to the stylish-but-broke contingency, and even more so around halloween. pop culture costumes are good but there’s nothing worse than having to explain who you are all night because you’re just wearing some mixed up version of your own closet. guys can get cheap-looking suits for borat costumes, or get three and go with friends as stella. at this point all the fall and winter merchandise is out, so there are a ton of margot tenenbaum-worthy fur coats (real and faux) to choose from. or buy one of those crazy-elaborate wedding dresses they always seem to have, dye it in the bathtub, and go as marie antoinette. the thrift shopper is probably the best online resource for thrift stores, ever, in the history of the world.
my boyfriend has a theory that girls will just throw the word 'sexy' in front of anything and there's their costume. if you can’t resist using your free pass to show some skin at least try not to be generic about it - no mas kitty/bunny/nurse/devil costumes, please. and come to think of it, i do have a one-piece safari shorts suit i thrifted months ago and have been dying to wear…sexy jane goodall, anyone?


'marie antoinette' as interpreted by jessica olympia sheridan. photo: rory sheridan. makeup: allie maddox at kibana salon & spa in silver spring.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006


i love this viktor&rolf for h&m dress but at $99 it's still kind of expensive for a statement dress - people are going to REMEMBER it (hello, neck ruffles). i guess you could change the belt up, but it's so cute i don't know why you'd want to; it also seems a little TOO girly (despite the color) to wear it with a heavier shoe (though some simple, brown, heeled boots would work). all their other stuff is like thousands of dollars so if you can justify a hundred bucks it's a steal, comparatively. of course, you could always buy it and resell it on ebay for gazillions of dollars (which is what happened to large chunk of the stella mccartney for h&m collection), but you'd probably have to fight for it. literally.
*okay i thought about it, and i admit that you can probably style the dress a hundred different ways - but the fact remains that i shop at h&m because the dresses cost like $40. if you have a job where you have to dress up, you might consider this an investment piece; with tights/boots/vest/jacket combinations it can carry you through fall and winter. but how many times in a row can you really wear a dress with a neck ruffle?*

highwaisted jeans! i'm so stoked! these have been kind of bumping the edges of mainstream fashion for a while, and i'm not sure if they'll ever totally hit (and if they do, it's going to take AT LEAST a few years to pry the last vestiges of the low-rise flares from both the west coast and the teendeathgrip). it's funny though, right now i feel like fashion is working at these two totally different extremes - slick ankle booties are coexisting with slouchy, above-the-knee boots, and the grey color that is EVERYWHERE right now is offset with 80s skate punk fluorescents. and the same with jeans. i don't think skinny jeans are going anywhere for a while, and those look best in very basic black, white, grey, or in darker washes. so it's rad to see kate moss show up at fashion week wearing highwaisted, STONEWASHED vintage bellbottoms. literally every option is available right now. vintage stores are exxxxcellent resources for highwaisted, 70s-inspired (well, actual 70s) denim, and for skinny jeans i like cheap monday, and i wear silence & noise. i've also heard from three different people that they love their new levi's - especially the skinny slouch cut.
on a side note, i got bazaar yesterday and alex + chloe is featured.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

alex + chloe probably isn't news to most, but with the mad simplification of jewelry of late (ie: layered, unadorned gold chains) i thought it might be worth the reminder. their 'from my neck of the woods' collection ranges from glammy folk-inspired pieces to sleek, sharp-looking cutouts:

i like that they're just enough to wear alone but not so overwhelming that you can't mix them up with a few more simple necklaces. and they've got a wicked sense of humor; check 'alex's octopus,' 'coco is dead: buried alive,' and 'coco is dead: knife fight."