Sale!

Did you ever wish you could find out immediately when your favorite brands go on sale at various stores? ShopItToMe.com does just that. You just select your favorite apparel brands (including great labels like Marc Jacobs, Prada, Banana Republic, Ella Moss and Juicy Couture), your size, the types of items you want (pants, dresses, etc.) and this site will search several online stores and send you an email with the sale items it finds. How awesome is that?! You can also choose how often you want to get emails (daily, twice a week, etc.). So check it out!

Inspired by the Real Thing: Madden Continues to Copy Louboutin

If Steve Madden is going to keep knocking off the maestro, Christian Louboutin, I'm going to keep bringing it to your attention, dear readers!

On the left, we have the Steve Madden Larrk which retails for $129.95. On the right, we have Christian Louboutin's Caracalo Patent Zip Pump which sells for $910. While $910 seems a lot for a shoe, my personal experience tells me that this is the better buy than the Steve Madden copy.

Dream Item of the Day: Manolo Heels

I'm a sucker for a d'orsay pump. It's a style that manages to be classic and feminine while the cut elongates the leg. I was particularly intrigued by these Manolo Blahnik lace hair calf d'orsays because of the unusual cut-outs. I could see this shoe looking great with jeans and a white shirt or a beautiful brown tweed dress for Fall. But with a $775 price tag, these Manolos will have to remain in my dreams...

What to Wear: Pregnancy Chic

While I'm not a fan of Nicole Richie or her "rocker" fiance Joel Madden, I must concede that her choices of outfits during her pregancy have been very chic and sexy without being tacky. I'm all for pregnant women celebrating their sensuality but I think this can be done without wearing a skin-tight shirt over your bump which was all the rage a few years ago. Nicole Richie makes all the right moves with an empire waist halter top dress and sexy Christian Louboutin mary janes. Bravo!

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Fashion Chick NYC's Fall Coat Picks

This weekend has been a chilly one in New York city and it made me think of the upcoming cool days of Fall. I love Fall coats! They aren't as bulky as winter coats and a nice one can really add flair to an outfit. Here are some of my favorites.

Super Splurge!

A coat is a great item to splurge on since you will probably wear it several times during the week and if you care for it, several seasons. I like Burberry's metallic trench because it's a classic style with a bit of a twist.

Burberry trench $995

A Little Pricey...
I love this Marc By Marc Jacobs Thick Wale Corduroy jacket! The color is a warm, rich purple that just seems so Fall-like to me. I also love the generous cut at the waist and hip which will allow you to wear heavier sweaters as it gets cooler.

Marc By Marc Jacobs $498

The price is right!

I've owned at least three Gap moleskin Fall coats over the past ten years. I've owned a trench, peacoat and a car coat version of the moleskin. All of them were really good quality and had a great fit and cut.

Gap car coat $98

Happy shopping!

For the Boys: Flight of the Conchords Style

One of my favorite television shows is HBO's Flight of the Conchords. While the show is hysterically funny with its quirky musical comedy, I love the two main characters' sartorial style.

Jemaine Clement sports a pair of retro 70's style pork chop sideburns and dark-framed eyeglasses. Bret McKenzie has a slightly more hipstery style and often wears sweatshirts with silkscreened animals on them. (Very reminiscent of Stella McCartney for Chloe's Wild Horses show!) Overall, they sport a type of effortless "geek chic" that I find charming. Here are some examples.

Boys, try a take on "geek meets hipster chic" with the outfit below.

Levi's Capital E Skinner Jeans $165

Converse Men's All-Stars Black $44.99

Dolce & Gabbana Men's Plastic Eyeglass Frames $189.95

Autumn Cashmere Breakdance Sweater $185

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Shirt Dresses for Fall

I had a fun day of shopping in Soho with friends yesterday and I couldn't help but notice that every store we went to seemed to have some variation of the shirt dress. While this is a pretty classic style that seems to rear its head every few seasons, like anything in fashion you need to be mindful of proportions and fit and find a version of the trend that works for you.

Case in point, I tried on this Gap shirt dress that R&B singer Amerie is wearing below.

On Amerie it looks flattering and chic. Since I am petite with full hips, the proportion was off and it looked like I was wearing a shirt that was too big and not a chic shirt dress. I would say the rounded hem is tricky to pull off, too, since this can make the dress look too casual and pajama-like. This is definitely not a dress for everybody, so let the buyer beware.

I recently bought this black shirt dress from Ann Taylor Loft.

The full skirt masks my hips and the cinched waist gave me a nice hour-glass shape. For those of you who are curvy women, I would suggest this affordable take on the trend. If you're like me, you might find all black a little boring so punch this look up by changing the belt or adding a pair of bright shoes.

I really adore this Lia Shirt Dress from J. Crew. In addition to having a funky city meets country feel, it combines two of my favorite things (ruffles and full skirts) in a fun, plaid print. Similar to the Ann Taylor Loft dress, I think this silhouette will flatter a variety of shapes.

I've been visiting this Juicy Couture shirt dress for weeks hoping that it will go on sale to no avail! I would probably buy the black version for myself since the pink is a little girlish for a woman in her 30's, but for those of you still in your 20's this color would work well for you. Once again, it has the adorable ruffles and body skimming skirt that can flatter a variety of sizes. And the knee length makes it flirty enough to wear to a party or for date night. I would also leave open the top button to make this look less conservative.

Inspired by the Real Thing: Marc Jacobs Stam

Since its debut in 2005, the Marc Jacobs Stam Bag has been a must-have for fashionistas. Inspired by Chanel with its quilting and chain handle and named after model Jessica Stam, the Stam looks great dressed down with jeans or dressed up with a classic dress. With a price tag of $1,350, a real Stam is out of the price range for most of us fashionistas who weren't born with a trust fund.

Luckily, Banana Republic has clearly been inspired by Marc's usage of chain and structured top handles on a frame bag and released their own version. At $198, I think the Banana Republic Fillmore deep satchel is a charming take on the Stam and a great addition to your Fall wardrobe.

For my fellow New York fashion chicks: I would highly recommend taking a trip to the Marc By Marc Jacobs store at 403 Bleecker in the Village. I bought the adorable dress below for $50 marked down from $378 yesterday! The dress is a bit sheer so I will be wearing mine with the white tank slip you see underneath in the picture. There were plenty of sizes and the dress was also available in white. Pair it with flip-flops and you have the perfect casual and easy dress for a Labor Day barbecue. Happy shopping!

SALE!!!

To quote The Devil Wears Prada, "Ladies and gentlemen, gird your loins!" It's time for the Barney's Warehouse Sale! For New Yorkers, this means sifting through racks and racks of clothing and accessories in an extremely crowded store to find that gem of a designer item at one third of the price. Here are the details:

DATE: August 16th - September 3rd
Monday to Friday: 10 AM to 9 PM
Saturday and Sunday: 10 AM to 7PM
Get a head start on 8/16 and 8/17 when the sale starts at 8AM

WHERE: 255 W. 17th St., b/t Seventh & Eighth Aves.

Frankenstein Bag: Part 2

I guess you can't wear a $52,000 handbag just once, right?

Beyonce wears that monstrous Louis Vuitton Tribute bag while leaving the MTV TRL show. Similar to her previous outing, she pairs the patchwork Tribute with a white t-shirt and jeans. What other wardrobe options are there for such an overpowering bag?

The Tragedy of the Cheap Shoes

I am the woman who lived in her shoes. Literally. There are shoes in almost every available storage space in my apartment. There are shoes in the bedroom closet. There are also shoes in the additional wardrobe my husband and I purchased since there wasn't enough room for all my clothes in the bedroom closet. There are also shoes in the linen closet, the coat closet and the storage closet. The one room that has not been used for shoe storage is the kitchen and that is because I fear the heat would damage my shoes.

I suffer from the problem of too much quantity and not enough quality. How many times have you been to a Nine West or Steve Madden sale and thought to yourself, "$40 for shoes?! Oh, why not?! I'd be crazy not to buy them at that price!" I've said this way too many times and now I'm drowning in shoes. But I've come to realize that although these shoes may seems like a bargain, you're not saving anything at all.

Let me present Exhibit A:

I purchased these Aerosoles slides in 2003. I know that may seem like a long time ago, but they are summer sandals and I don't wear them very often. Imagine my surprise, as I was walking to my office and my left foot began to feel like it was in a shoe that was a half size too large. The poor man-made materials, which I had thought were leather, on my cheap shoes had fallen apart!

Here's a better look at the damage:

Exhibit B: I also recently purchased these Nine West sandals since I thought they were a fun take on the gladiator style.

While they haven't fallen apart and are comfortable, they make an embarassing, loud squeaking noise when I walk. Unfortunately, I can never sneak up on anyone in my Nine West gladiator sandals.

Exhibit C: These are the Steve Madden knock-offs of those Christian Louboutin shoes I've been talking about for weeks.

I try to enforce a strict "no knock-offs" policy when it comes to my shopping out of respect for designer creativity, but I simply couldn't resist these. I knew I couldn't afford the real thing and these looked so sexy on. Big mistake! These are virtually impossible to walk in. They pinch at the toes and they give blisters in the heel. After an hour of wear, I had to hobble my way into an Ann Taylor Loft and purchase some flip-flops.

The moral of the story: I bought these Burberry ballet flats in 2003. (The same year as the Aerosole shoes mentioned above.)

Ballet flats can carry you across several seasons and I've worn these pretty frequently. With the occasional re-soling and cleaning, these shoes have held their shape and maintained the quality of their materials for four years! The style is classic and I'm sure I'll wear them for years to come. I remember buying these four years ago for $300 and thinking how expensive they are. But in reality, since I've been able to wear them so frequently (as opposed to those Steve Madden shoes I'll probably never wear again), the money spent was far less wasteful than what I've spent on other shoes.

I know that there are exceptions to the rule, but frequently you do get what you pay for. It is possible to find inexpensive shoes that are comfortable, but where you'll feel the pinch (pardon the pun!), is that you won't be able to wear the shoes for years like you will with shoes made of quality materials. If I took all the money I have spent on cheap shoes this year, I would be able to buy a pair of real Louboutins. So take a lesson from me and skip some of those "sales" and save your money for classic styles by the best shoe designers you can afford. Your feet and your wallet will thank you.