Coco Chanel provided an endless amount of great quotes over the course of her lifetime, but here are three that I hope will inspire your personal style:
A few months ago, my husband and I were a part of a pink wedding. My husband was a groomsman and the bride asked that all the female guests wear their "favorite shade of pink." My first thoughts were, "WHAT? I'm 33! I don't wear pink dresses!" But then I thought since my husband was in the wedding, I couldn't just ignore the bride's request. So what to do... what to do??? My personal mantra when faced with a style challenge on this level is: W.W.G.K.D. or "What Would Grace Kelly Do?"
I was perusing the latest boots by Marc By Marc Jacobs on Zappos and I noticed the following:
These are boots that make the wearer appear to have on shoes with socks. "How peculiar?!" I thought. But this is Marc and he's known for doing odd things, so I ignored it and kept clicking.
Then I saw these by Giuseppe Zanotti on ShopBop:
And these semi-cute versions of the style by Jill Stuart:
Marc by Marc has an even fuglier version of this style:
I really can't imagine why anyone would wear these. First of all, high-heeled shoes with socks can be a difficult look to pull off in general. So why make boots that are meant to give the illusion of this look? And what does one pair them with? Other than the Jill Stuart ones, these all look far from sexy or feminine. And I suspect next year, as you're weeding through your closet for things for the Goodwill, these are going to scream WINTER 2007! and be among the first things to go. I wouldn't consider these a classic style at all. I will be passing on this trend, but if you absolutely adore any of these, click on the pictures for purchasing information.
I will often come home with a new purchase and point out some obscure detail on it to my husband that makes me squeal with delight... while he gives me a blank stare. While small details in women's clothing and accessories often go over my husband's head, I'm a person who appreciates little design elements that in a mass-produced world make an item feel unique or evoke quality and artistry. Here are a few of my favorite details:
Covered buttons
Do you hear me squealing as I write this? I really have a thing for covered buttons over your garden variety, plastic uncovered ones. They feel very sophisticated and feminine in a Grace Kelly in a Hitchcock film way.
Handbags with feet
I'm sure I've said this before, but while I love my handbags, I also treat them very poorly. They get dumped on the floor in restaurants and bars... Hurled on the floor as I'm walking into my apartment after a stressful day at work... Or used as a battering ram on a crowded subway car. For this reason, bags with protective feet on the bottom are a must to keep me from scuffing the bottom portion of my purses.
Dresses with lining
You can always tell the difference between poor quality and well-made dresses when you hold them up to the sunlight. If you can see through your dress, you have a problem. This is why I love dresses with built in lining. There are certain parts of my body that I don't want to share with the general public and I appreciate designers who use materials that allow a woman to have a little modesty.
Embroidery on boots
This may sound strange but I like detailing on boots a lot. These Charles David ones with the embroidered design down the side are always a conversation piece when I wear them. This kind of detail on a boot is unexpected and it looks fresh in a sea of black and brown Fall boots. 
What are your favorite details??
Liya Kebede is a supermodel with a mission. Born in 1978 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Liya was discovered while in school at the French Lycee by a film director who introduced her to a French modeling agent. When she finished school, Liya moved to France where her career took off.
Apparently the people at Coach have gone and lost their minds. The above monstrosity (how about some more hardware? I think there's an inch that's free) is being sold for $20,000. $20,000!!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again until someone starts listening to me... People in the market for $20,000 bags DO NOT BUY COACH. Arghh!! And this bag's ugly sister is selling for even more. If I didn't love my new boots so much, I would retract my ode from last week. When will the folly of the overpriced handbag be over? It's ridiculous. What next? A $10,000 Le Sportsac?
I'm not going to write about Emmy fashion. (Don't be alarmed. It's just sheer laziness.) But other bloggers did. Here are my favorites.
A friend once asked me what my favorite brands were. I listed my usual: Marc Jacobs, Banana Republic and Rachel Pally. "Oh," she said. "I thought Coach would have been one of your favorites, too, since you have so much stuff from there." I was dumbfounded. Really? REALLY???! But she was absolutely right. I do own a lot of Coach items and interestingly I don't consider them among my favorite brands.
Like many fashion bloggers who are not fans of Coach, I discount them as a great brand because they often bring the fug. Their logo print and that horrible patchwork thing they do appeal only to the label-whoriest label-whores. They can also make their bags too busy by piling on the hardware. As a mid-luxury brand, Coach often tries to extend itself into high-luxury territory with ridiculous results. (A $7,000 bag from COACH??? Does this company know who their customer is??? Do they know who they are? Why would I buy a Coach bag when I can get an Hermes Birkin for nearly the same price??)
So you might be wondering where exactly is the "ode" part in this post. There is an area where Coach absolutely excells, and that is the everyday, functional boot. If you were unaware, they are the master of this style. Every Fall, I end up buying a new pair of Coach leather boots. Not because I need to, because their boots hold up remarkably well, but because they will have a new style that is more fabulous than the one I had last year. The quality of the leather is exquisite. The materials, the seams and the craftsmanship of the boots are impeccable. These are the boots you will wear everyday to run errands in with jeans or with your work slacks because you need a "comfy-heel" day. These aren't the boots you're going to wear when you want to look fierce, but they are the ones you can live in comfortably and still feel stylish when you leave the house. As a testament to the comfort factor of Coach boots, on a particularly busy day of hanging out with friends last year, I walked TWO MILES in my favorite pair of Coach boots without a blister or pain.
These are the "two mile" boots I bought last Fall. They still look pretty good after quite a bit of wear. Did I mention I also wore them in the rain?
I ordered the Maxene boot in black for this Fall. I just couldn't resist them! And they're available in this season's hottest color: gray.
The Weslyn boot is a charming riding style as well.
For those of you who don't find the Coach logo print as appalling as I do, try the Meadow boot.
Try this tip: Always take new boots to the cobbler to have a rubber sole added to the existing sole of the shoe. This lengthens the life of the boot and makes it more comfortable since the rubber absorbs some of the shock your feet will feel from walking on concrete sidewalks and streets.
There is a reason I've given my blog the catch phrase: "an ordinary woman obsessed with fashion." That would be because I have no formal training and I'm not a fashion editor. For that reason, designers like Gareth Pugh get a blank face and a "Huh? What?" from me. For example, this was his opening look for his Spring 2008 London show.
I don't get it. Here are a few more looks I don't get.
The model below is wearing a stole made of white mink mice with red eyes and tails. Um... okay....
Does anybody actually wear these clothes or are these just outfits for fashion-insiders to editorialize about? Of the 15 looks he showed, this was the most wearable:
And I think I'm stretching it a bit by saying "wearable." I guess his particular role in the fashion game is to provoke and keep things interesting. Read more about Gareth Pugh's show here.
The Fashion Bomb and Cut, Sew & Blog give some really thoughtful insights on the dearth of African-Americans in the fashion industry: from the lack of influential editors to famous designers not using Black models. Check out a great post from The Fashion Bomb here about a recent forum on Blacks in Fashion. Malcolm Harris gives his take on the subject at Cut, Sew & Blog here. Definitely food for thought!
I absolutely LOVED the shoes from Tory Burch's Spring 2008 showing. I am definitely getting these adorable, gold gladiator sandals.
I will be sure to pose like this model whenever I wear them.
And this sunny yellow Marc by Marc Jacobs dress will be perfect for Spring. I love the bow detail, the silhouette and the flowery print.
Although, unlike the model, I would have to smile in such a happy dress! I guess I should start saving for my Spring 2008 purchases now....
As I've been looking through red carpet and various celebrity photos from my favorite gossip blogs, I've been noticing more and more that starlets are choosing to not wear necklaces with their formal wear. It's become more about statement earrings and bracelets and leaving necks bare. Here are three examples from the 2007 VMAs.
Rihanna
Beyonce
Alicia Keys
And the trend continues with three celebrities at the Heroes Pre-Emmy Party:
Ali Larter
Kristen Bell and Hayden Panettiere
I live a jeans-appropriate existence. The fact is, for the majority of my day-to-day activities, jeans would be okay to wear or be the expected style choice. My job is fairly casual with its dress code. And New York city has become increasingly more casual with jeans worn at events that used to require formalwear such as going to the opera. "Dressing up" is often considered dark wash jeans.
But the fact is, I'm a woman who loves dresses. I am actually much more comfortable in a dress than jeans. And if I could wear an A-line dress with a slim fitting bodice that poufs out from the waist everyday, I would be a very happy camper. So in my dream life, I'm a "lady who lunches." This dream woman lunches at fabulous restaurants during the day with her lovely girlfriends and attends charity balls in the evening... And, of course, her wardrobe for this life is exclusively Oscar de la Renta.
He started his show with beautiful suits like this one. (Very appropriate for a smart lunch with the girls, right?)
Next, came some gorgeous ethnic print dresses that would be perfect to pack for that upcoming vacation in South Africa.
Oscar showed some lovely solid-colored dresses. In my imaginary life, I would wear these to the various dinner parties I had to attend and be the most chic woman in the room.
And finally, what's a girl to wear to that formal gala or red-carpet event? Oscar has that covered, too.
In my opinion, I think his show embodied everything Fashion Week is meant to be: gorgeous, aspirational, stylish and feminine.
I agree with 
