Thanksgiving Special

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so in the spirit of the season here’s what the FashionistaLab is giving thanks for:

My latest SF discovery that I can’t wait to return to:

Wasteland – a delightful mélange of old and new, high and low, modern and classic. Browsing the Haight this past Sunday, I wandered into Wasteland a confused shopper. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but based on the name I anticipated a hodge-podge of clothes from the Haight hippies of the past. Upon crossing the threshold I was presented with a cavernous room, but I soon discovered held racks upon racks of cool clothing. Whether second-hand or brand new I liked what I saw. And that’s the magic of wasteland. I saw new selections from Ark & Co, Beulah, and Funktional (among others), vintage clothing, and second-hand designer selections. The prices were so good I didn’t even think about a sale rack.

 

The end of season 6 of Project Runway and the coming of season 7:

Blogs agree – this season was exceptionally weak. Nobody was surprised when Irina won, but in a past season she might not have made it to the top three, and there’s no doubt that neither Carol Hannah nor Althea would not have made it. Thankfully Nina and Michael are confirmed to be present at judging for every episode of season 7, and the show is back in New York. Let’s hope the producers get it together and produce a strong season! Until then, I leave you with some of my favorite reviews of the season finale, and season re-caps:

The Pop Academic: Irina “Super Bitch” Shabayeva Wins Project Runway – So What?
Fashionista: 10 Questions for Project Runway
Fug Girls: Thoughts on the Project Runway Finale
The Cut: Obvious Winner Creates No Drama, Results in No Fun
Bluefly: Project Runway Rundown: We Have a Winner
Racked NY: Project Runway Top Ten: And the Winner Is…
Stylist: ‘Project Runway’ Winner Irina Shabayeva Tells StyleList, ‘I’m not really that mean’

 

Tech-Saavy Friends:

Lucky for me I have a friend in Berkeley who knows html, and has some extra time on her hands. Once we can synchronize our schedules she’ll show me a thing or two and this blog will get a facelift! Or at least a nip here and a tuck there. Stay tuned

Recessionarama?

Last weekend I was on a mission – find a holiday party dress. And isn’t it always how it goes that when you absolutely want to find something, you don’t. Not right away at least.

The first distraction appeared as soon as I exited BART in Union Square and spotted this sign at the Gap:

Is this what happens on Fridays when everyone else is working? If so, I need to take more Friday afternoon shopping breaks. Last weekend was already the Gap Inc. Friends + Family weekend, which meant that most shoppers would be getting 30% off, so perhaps this was a consolation prize to shoppers sans coupon. Pretty understandable since I’m sure they’re trying to drive holiday sales, but what was even more surprising was the coupon I received after I bought something – 40% off the first 3 Wednesdays in December. Is Gap going to start giving away their clothes?

A similar thing happened with J. Crew a few years ago, remember that? They used to sell things like chunky lambswool sweaters, long sharkskin skirts, and Vachetta leather slides. Remember? They had a series of sales like, $20 off of $80 and such. And then all of a sudden they came out with exclusive fabrics, trendy jackets, and cute embellished tops:

But I digress. Last weekend turned out to be quite the recessionarama. Seen in Hayes Valley:

Bath and Body Works is giving away stuff too!

Not only did they give away anti-bacterial gel, they were giving away the “signature collection body care item of your choice” with a purchase, of course. And last but not least, seen at Nordstrom’s Rack in San Leandro:

Whenever I walk into a store I can discern the price level by looking at the hangers. Wood? It’s probably expensive. But this turns my whole system on its head! And isn’t it weird to see a Versace jacket crammed up against other stuff like that, and on plastic hangers! At least it’s not wire. No… wire… hangers!!!

Social Calendar, Weekend of 11/13

There’s a lot to do this weekend – and even next week too. It’s been a while since I had a good healthy shopping spree, so I’m very excited to get paid on Friday and lighten the load on my wallet on Saturday. But most important – Fashion Feud on Tuesday!

Friday

Ambiance: Late night shopping party at the Union St. Ambiance. 1864 Union St,  5-9pm.

Saturday

Mission Casbah: Weekly indoor market featuring indie designers, artists and artisans. 2183 Mission St, 11am – 6pm.

Fabulous Fashionista Sample Sale: up to 70% off BCBG and Ella Moss. Fort Mason, 10am – 3pm.

Make Over America: Clinton Kelly from What Not to Wear is touring the country with Macy’s, giving people makeovers and hosting a fashion show. Pleasanton Macy’s, 2pm; RSVP at 800-786-2665.

Tuesday

Fashion Feud San Francisco: Round 3 of 3, live Project Runway for indie SF designers. Designers have an hour to create an outfit, the audience votes with applause. Mighty, 119 Utah Street (Potrero Hill), 7-10pm.

Ongoing

Leaf & Petal: Fall sale continues through Monday, Nov 16th. Palo Alto.

Best Week Ever

VH-1 has nothing on this. Last I discovered three very delightful websites that will undoubtedly become part of my daily habit.

1. Swirl – a new online sample sale site from the wonderful team at Daily Candy. I love my Daily Candy updates but I wonder what will set Swirl apart from similar sites such as Beyond the Rack, Gilt Groupe, Ideeli, or Billion Dollar Babes. Broadcasting great deals is a far different beast than creating them yourself. Granted, they do offer weekly deals for their readers, but scoring small items at 15-25% off is again, a far different beast than scoring “clothing and accessories from the world’s best designers” at up to 80% off. But they are very good at finding the beautiful, the cute, and the whimsical. Add to that their original illustrations and concise yet witty blurbs and I don’t doubt that a successful new venture is far behind.

2. America’s Most Stylish Blogger – I’m a sucker for “America’s Most” anything, but this site is really fun. Every week, Stylist.com sends 8 fashion bloggers a different piece, courtesy of Bluefly.com. These fashionistas style the piece in different ways every day for a week, and send in a photo of their top look. The blogsionista (bloggerista? flogger? fashionista/blogger?) with the most votes will be deemed America’s Most Stylish Blogger. These 8 women have very different looks and it’s inspiring to see each one interpret the same piece in her own way.

3. Rent the Runway – Manna.from.heaven. (I’m not usually prone to using biblical metaphors, but RTR is that exciting.) How many times do you want a new dress for a special event but don’t want to buy a new one? Or can’t afford the flashy frock that you desperately desire? Enter Rent the Runway. Deus ex machina, if you will. Starting at $50, you can rent the designer dresses that you could never afford. They’ll even send you two sizes (at no extra cost) to make sure the fit is right, and they do the cleaning. You can save on the dress and splurge on everything else! The only thing that’s missing is more occasions for dresses like these. That should be their next project.

***More links in the Blogroll to the right. Check it out —>

The lion, the witch, and my wardrobe

I love dresses, but wear them relatively infrequently. I blame my closet: it absorbs every dress I buy and releases them into some abyss where, like a trip to Narnia, I can only access them by digging deep into the back of my closet.

 

 

Ok, ok. So maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but still – that’s a pretty unwieldy closet. Especially for someone like me who believes that a well-organized closet goes a long way towards looking your best, every day. I try to keep my closet organized after a few basic principles:
- if there is crap in the closet, I will wear crap (it’s inevitable).
- out of sight, out of mind (it’s true).
- everything old is new again (is this even a principle?).

If there’s an item I can’t remember wearing, don’t think I want to wear, or have no idea where I might possibly wear it, it has no place in my closet. I usually put these things in bags and put them in the corner for a couple of years before I finally get around to giving them away. As for the clothes I do like and wear, if I can’t see them I tend to forget about them. I simply wasn’t seeing my dresses well enough and it became easy to forget about what I had. So I rearranged my closet to make them more visible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the old closet jackets, some sweaters, and tops were all on the back row, while dresses, skirts, and other sweaters were on the side rack. cramped. In the new closet dresses, tops, and skirts are on the back row while jackets, all sweaters, scarves (!), and go-to flats are on the other rack but moved to the outside of the closet. so very less cramped. And now (enter the third principle), I haven’t just rediscovered my dresses, I’ve rediscovered nearly everything in the closet. If you’re ever broke (like I am, sometimes) rearranging your closet is a great way to stave off hunger pangs for a shopping spree.

Flower Power

If I were a superhero, I think my uniform would be in florals. I looked like a normal person in the Paris subway, but once I realized it was raining outside I whipped out my trench coat and umbrella. Too bad I was wearing canvas shoes.

As it turns out, Michelle Obama also likes floral prints! In fact, the Cut blog thinks she may be addicted. I’m just going to go ahead and flatter myself by saying Mobama and I have something in common!

One more thing – Toms shoes are the new Birkenstocks – or at least the love child of Birkenstocks and Vans. My sister should be happy about this because she hated my Birkenstock phase. But seriously, you can slip them on and wear them nearly everywhere. They’re not nearly as supportive as Birks are (and don’t come in leather, since they’re vegan), but they just as hippy-dippy/granola and they come in so many prints!

… short hiatus…

Hello!

I’m currently traveling in Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona during the next two weeks. I’ll have access to my computer while in Dublin and *may* do a post, but I might also just be off the grid this entire time. I should come back with some wonderful photos of European fashion though, and I will resume posting after October 20th

School of Vintage

I didn’t go to the Vintage Fashion Expo because I love vintage clothing. I went as a skeptic who wasn’t quite convinced by the idea of “vintage” clothing. Skeptical because the vintage clothing market seems flooded with dated, costume-y pieces, and I’m not interested in dressing myself out of another decade. But I’ve seen people wear vintage clothing with a modern feel, so I knew it could be done. I was skeptical, but ready to learn the secrets of the vintage fashion world. For that reason I brought a co-worker who is a vintage pro. She has a really creative look heavily supplemented with (if not entirely created by) vintage clothing, and it was my secret hope that she could school me in the finer points of vintage. We were also accompanied by another co-worker; a skeptic like me who came largely because she had nothing else to do, but also with the faint hope that she’d find a dress to wear to a Mad Men themed party later that night.

*

Schooled I was… but not in the way I had anticipated. Both the skeptics and the pro were in for some surprises.

It didn’t take me long to understand that I wouldn’t need my friend to teach me the finer points of vintage shopping – because there aren’t any. I thought there was some secret about where to look and how to find knock-out pieces, but what’s a knock-out depends entirely on your personal style. Were there a lot of costumes? Yes. But there were also pieces that had the character of another time and still felt timeless. As my co-skeptic put it, “[they] actually had wearable stuff there.”

Funny, I was so concerned about wearability I wasn’t at all thinking about something equally important: affordability. In past forays into vintage stores I’ve been surprised at the prices I’m supposed to pay for something old and musty, just because it’s old. I would agree with another friend in attendance who like I, was surprised by the prices as she lamented “the high prices for pieces that I didn’t find that extraordinary.” Which brings me to the second lesson learned:

Vintage is not cheap. As one woman who did her best to sell me a $225 cowhide and leather vest for $175 told me, “this is vintage, not thrift.” I told her I’d make a note of that and come with a budget larger than $100 next time. I made a similar promise to the friendly couple that offered me a gorgeous citrine ring at $350 (no tax) instead of $425. I half-heartedly explained the concept of my budget to a Russian man who was altogether too willing to negotiate on an amazingly gorgeous, hand crafted, gold-threaded, coral and jade beaded necklace. The price tag had an alien amount – it was well over three months’ rent, but he encouraged me to make an offer and I talked him down to a discount between 65% and 70% off. Did I commit to paying nearly a month’s rent for this necklace? Maybe… Nobody will ever know. (It all happened so fast- like that time I bought a Persian carpet. There was a blinding light, and when I came to, I had just signed my name on the dotted line.)

And what surprised my friend the pro? The open, communal fitting rooms. As she recounted to me, “I HATED the room where you have to try on clothes. I walked into one of them as this woman wearing a thong was bending down so the first thing I saw when I walked in was this GIANT moon.” An unfortunate experience indeed.

(break for pictures: just for fun)

In the end I bought a blue silk cocktail dress for $65 (a steal), a blue printed silk scarf for $10, and a necklace whose price shall remain undisclosed. And I came away “convinced” about vintage fashion. Convinced that with the right pieces (and at the right prices), it can make sense for anyone. It takes time, patience, and a lot of scrutiny, so I probably won’t make this a habit; but you will definitely see me at the next Vintage Fashion Expo.

(the keepers)

Ode to Ra’mon (or, Where’s Nina? I’m bored.)

I can’t believe Ramon got Auf’d. I blame it on the fact that Nina seems to have disappeared. What happened to “Don’t Bore Nina!”? Given that the other creative spirits (Ari and Malvin) were given the boot in the first and second episodes, respectively, I guess I should be happy that Ra’mon stuck around so long. I was convinced that it would be Gordana and Louise in the bottom two, that Gordana would get through on based on her sewing skills the judges thought so highly of, and that Louise would go home on the account of the muddled creation she sent down the runway. I understand that Ra’mon’s outfit was a monstrosity, but vision and creativity used to count for something.

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Other people have noticed Nina’s – and Michael’s – absence as well. The SF Examiner asked “Where are Michael Kors and Nina Garcia?” and I found the answer from the LA Times. Apparently Nina cites that fact they essentially have day jobs to attend to. How come your day jobs never interfered during the previous 5 seasons of PR?

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In the course of trying to unearth the mystery of Nina’s disappearance from the judging panel, I came a cross a super juicy article in New York magazine detailing the feud between Nina Garcia and another Elle editor, Anne Slowey. How did I miss this when it came out a year ago? If only Nina had stayed, they might have been the Anna Wintour vs Grace Coddington for the next generation.

London Calling

London Fashion week is upon us! …It has been for a few days actually (I have 44 shows to catch up on). London isn’t known for being a heavy-hitter of fashion shows, but more for being the rowdy, rebellious one of the bunch (the bunch being New York, Milan and Paris). In fact, a headline came out of London today that I’ve never seen before. It wasn’t about the usual subjects for fashion articles – not about trends, or collections, or even about models not eating (although it could almost be about models not eating), but this: Stylist at London Fashion Week resigns over designer Mark Fast’s decision to use size 14 models. Maybe next they’ll get in a tizzy over a designer actually using models of color.

*You can view the Mark Fast collection from New York Magazine or Style.com. Style.com also covered the brou-ha-ha.*

Seriously though, the idea was that the designer wanted women to understand that you didn’t have to be stick-thin to look good in his clothing. Especially in this economy, it makes total sense to me that a designer might want to communicate wearability to the people who would ultimately be buying his clothing. Unfortunately, his stylist and creative designer didn’t agree, and walked out. That kind of reminds me how every season on Project Runway the designtestants bitch and moan when they’re presented with the “design for real women” challenge. I’m obvs totally down with the “real woman” thing, and while I commend Mark Fast’s gumption, after seeing his models I wasn’t convinced that he has the right idea of who will look good in his clothing:

Do these pictures inspire you to wear those dresses? Maybe it’s the dress, because I still don’t like it on the skinny model:

Much better (at least she doesn’t look lumpy), but still not very exciting:

This one he got right:

On second thought, maybe his stylist and creative designer quit because of the clothes he wanted to put these models in.

*All pictures from/link to Style.com*