The appeal of fashion

I'm sure many of you saw this article in last weekend's NYT. Reading it made me think of all of you. Plus the writer uses what I think must be one of the most fun words in the English language: flibbertigibbets!

The Hills are Alive....

Sorry, it was a punnecessary evil.

Some of you know that I'm wont to be addicted to certain television shows for the clothes alone. I don't mind a dash of contrived drama, either. Case in point: Sex and the City.

I've come to be addicted to The Hills. Not only is it a "reality" show, it's a spin-off of a reality show. More so, it's a reality spin-off of a reality show that was inspired by a teen drama. I'll give you a moment to sadly shake your heads there. [e l e v a t o r m u s i c]. 'Kay?

So anyhoo, The Hills stars Laguna Beach "grad" Lauren Conrad. Lauren goes to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (Hi, Nick-from-Project-Runway-2! Hi! I miss you!), and she interns at Teen Vogue. We see Lauren manage work, school, friendships, and relationships. All the while, she and her friends wear some damn cute clothes. Basically, it's like all the mini-soap-operas I made my Barbies perform, only it's "real" life. You know, I kind of always hoped they'd come alive. The Hills is much less creepy than that would be, though. The show is in its third season (wow! OK, well, they're short), and there's much more buzz around it than ever because of the DRAH. MAH. that happened last season (Machiavellian boyfriends, major friendship upsets, backstabbing gossip - all of which is continuing this season.) Lauren also now has her own clothing line, plus a deal with mark. cosmetics (offshoot of Avon aimed at a younger crowd). It's become MTV's huge new(ish) thing because we all know music doesn't matter anymore...well, unless it's the most au courant single by some up-and-coming warbler that just happens to express the agony and ecstasy of a morning-after-drama brunch at [insert trendy cafe here].

Where is the fascination for me (aside from cute outfits) you say? Well... you'd think that seeing your life on TV would clue you in to some patterns, some leitmotifs perhaps -- but it just doesn't seem to happen. There is a twisted, yet very well-dressed, voyeur in me that enjoys watching this.

okey-dokey tokidoki

i couldn't resist. i answered the siren call of the dailycandy.com 30% off online discount for the le sportsac summer tokidoki collection. i got it in the mail yesterday and it's as cute and as satiny as i had imagined it would be.

i plan to use it on my travels. can't exactly find an excuse to use it for work. perhaps for the gym? how can we get some more mileage out of this purchase ladies...money doesn't grow on trees you know! but then again another cliche says that life is short...seize the day. oy vay.

ain't the graphic print cute!

Bag lady...

That was my mom's nickname at work for awhile. That is also a brilliant song by Erykah Badu, one of my favorites of hers, actually.

Bag lady you gone hurt your back
Dragging all them bags like that

I know I'm not the first person ever (or here, even, right, starbright oogi? hmm?) to go through what I'll call bangst -- but I figure I'd share mine in the hopes of healing.

This week I got it into my head that I need a new bag. Not just anything, but SOMETHING.So I've decided to use the interwebs to research this thing known as the "it" bag. I don't really want someone else's "it" bag -- I want my own. Not to say that I have not coveted "it" bags in the past.

I mean... it started a few years ago, with my yearning for this:

[amazon.com, bunnyshop.blogspot.com]

... a Marc by Marc Jacobs Stella. Preferably in aqua....or any color except pink. And now I don't even think it's possible to find one easily. Or maybe it's too easy now. Or something. I don't think I could have bought it then, though, and I guess I can't now, even if I could afford it. But it doesn't have the same freshness, anyway. I still love the shape and the straps, but the patch pockets look a little wimpy. I'm not fond of the shiny press-lock thingies either.

Sadly the current MBYMJ styles do not inspire the same lustful feelings in me. Quinn, Faridah and Deborah are a'ight, but somehow... meh?



[nordstroms.com]

OK well actually....kind of hot for that teal Quinn now. Damn.... She had dumps like a truck, truck, truck... I've always been fond of trapezoids. And the buckles on the Deborah straps? *melt*
[Interesting reading: this handy-dandy history and guide to avoiding fakes. ]

More recently, on a shopping jaunt with km, I fell hard for the Chloe Bay bags (below, below). Then I remembered I'd seen the Chloe Paddington (belooow, left) in Bazaar a couple of years ago and felt like it was another high-end bag I could covet in addition to the beloved Stella. And then after some fervent interweb trawling, I discovered the even more expensive Chloe Silverado (belooow, right) and Edith (not pictured) totes.

[net-a-porter.com]

But these bags are all fantasies. Castles in the sky, with chunky hardware. Though I like to pick up a fashion mag or two from time to time, and though I knew that Mischa/Lindsay/Sienna/Nicole/Kate/Kate/Kate were the ones making these bags "it" -- I wasn't really burned out on them. And so I would think of them, constantly, and how shocking it would be if I actually did buy one, because one would cost more than the rest of what I was wearing, all together.

I guess nobody ever told you
All you must hold on to
Is you, is you, is you

Well what kind of straps do I hold onto me with? This week I tried to pin it down. I looked up a bunch of "mid-range" "independent" bag lines. I even looked through my backissues of Lucky(bastards) and used the damn "YES!" stickers. [sidebar: I still find it weird to say "bags". They're "purses". But it seems weird to say "purses" because these things are freaking huge. "Pocketbook" is practically Shakespearean - it's like "bodkin" or "varlet".]

As I told lilbunny today, a lot of the thrill in this for me is the sticker shock, and the potential exhilaration of buying something yoooooge like this. But also, it was kind of fun for me to think about what exactly the hell I wanted: to put aside all the Debbie Downer-ism of price and functionality, and think about aesthetics. Now it might seem to you that I do a lot of that -- but I really don't.... Or I guess I don't think about it systematically, so this was new to me. And now that I think of it... probably pretty boring to you. Er, sorry.

I knew I liked bold hardware and a generally rugged-yet-cute look (still talking bags and not boys here). I knew I wanted leather, and a tote, shopper, satchel, maaaaybe a hobo (again - bags, not boys) shape. From perusing various bag blogs and the entertainingly named BagBorrowOrSteal site, I tried to pick out the common denominators (without balking over the math).

I like (not all once):
• rectangular/trapezoidal shapes or slouchy versions thereof;
• pockets on the outside;
• wide, flat straps;
• contrasting topstitching;
• a sprinkling of studs or grommets;
• either glazed leather or the buttery soft super-matte kind;
• a color that's neither black nor brown (favoring grey, blue and yellow right now).

I can do without:
• fringe or lots of tassels;
• ruchingruchingruching;
• quilting or chain (ick);
• any shape that looks "organic" or bodily (ick ICK).

But anyway. Newfangled brands that I like so far:
Kooba. Gustto. Gerard Darel. SHIH by Stephanie Lin. Hayden Harnett. Tano. ANI. Gryson. Aleya NY. Rachel Nasvik. Frye (OK not so new!) Ananas. Tylie Malibu (could I really buy something named that, especially when it's all looking Laguna Beachy?)

I'm told these are the shiz, but I say "whatevs": Anna Corinna, Botkier, Rebecca Minkoff (though her colors are nice).

Bag lady
Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go
Ooh, ooh
Girl you don't need it


I'd like to believe that.

[in other news, we need a new background and template. any suggestions?]