spreads

We've come to a decision about our Fall look and we feel the need to share. It came to us through editorial osmosis, from seeing these two items separately, and then together, and then separately, until we finally began to feel like this should come to represent our entire fall look. The ankle boot and short pant combination, editorialized at left in the Topshop Fall 08 look book, is easy to put together at any price point. Our plan, in case you're curious, is to start with the trousers and boots and build out our other blouses and frocks and jackets once those two key pieces have been established (we're thinking a navy trench, marching band jacket, Lyell blouses, and sheer boyish tops). So, this weekend we went and bought the LD Tuttle Nebula boots which we'd been eying for some time. To save some money on the trousers we intend to employ a little DIY by finding an inexpensive trouser at Express, The Gap, or Uniqlo and then having them tailored in the Lower East Side to be on the short and narrow. We're hoping to find a range of colors. We're pretty excited. We'll keep you posted on our work and in the meantime, if you fancy this styling for your Fall wardrobe, our favorites are below.

Michael Kors is moving overseas by opening 25 collection stores in Europe, starting with one in Milan. To which we say, whaa, Michael Kors, lover of jetsetting advertisements and perpetual tans, doesn't have any collection stores in Europe? Are we the only one's who just assumed he did? Anyway, this first space in Milan is taking over the Viktor and Rolf store (Viktor & Rolf just sold stake to Deisel) and opens on September 23rd. Another twist in the story is that Kors is opening a Palm Beach boutique shortly thereafter and Kors himself acknowledged that the venture is a head-scratcher to most people, "A lot of people look at me and say, ‘You don’t have a store in Palm Beach?’ So much of our clientele spends a good part of the winter season there. It’s really our first resort store. I have always loved designing resort and things that have a resort mentality, and Palm Beach is one of the few places left on earth where a jeweled $800 bikini is a basic.”. We don't watch Project Runway but we've always loved Kor's articulate and humorous sound bites. Of his Chicago store opening he said, “I am a camel hair and gray flannel kind of guy and Chicago is a camel and gray flannel kind of town.". Which basically makes us love him. Below, some spring and fall offerings from the designer.


Click here to see the Michael Kors Fall 08 collection

Grey Ant, our favorite contemporary brands from this summer, will be participating in one of the eponymous Urban Outfitters collaborations. The collection will be cleverly titled Grey Antics, and feature the same kind of seventies inspired bottoms and billowy tops that the ready to wear line puts out. Last time we went to Urban Outfitters (while in SF) we picked up a jumper from some jumbled pile and discovered it was one by Geren Ford (we think, we can't remember). You have to be carefully skilled in deciphering what, to us, feels like waaay too much information and waaaay to many piles of crap that need to be folded, to find the 'special' pieces. We're not sure, but we fear that these neat little collaborations get lost in the piles of other jumpers and other tshirts and other billowy tops that the retailer stocks in the first place. We suppose that's fitting though--if you can't decipher the collaboration from the Free People offer, what's the point in caring that they be separate and tidy within the shop anyway. On that note, let's forget all about Urban Oufitters and just shop the real Grey Ant collection--it's marked down to an Urban Outfitters price point which kind of solves all of our problems right here and now.

You're not too old to put these on your holiday wish list. Nor are you too young to invest in some nice hosiery. So, no excuses! We pulled some Falke hosiery for our The Sun Doesn't Care photo shoot and, compared to the drug store pairs we ripped up and experimented with, they were silky pieces of art. Too beautiful to touch. We decided we'd never wear another pair of 'black mist' Duane Reade pantyhose again. We called them knock-offs, we threw them out. After all, we rationalized, if you're wearing reputable undergarments, it will show through your clothes. That is you'll feel better and walk with confidence knowing that just underneath those superficial layers is very expensive, very thin pieces of lace and silk. Oh la la.

What makes Falke extra-special, over the other luxury hosiery options, is that their specialty is sportswear. Borne in Germany, Falke has over one hundred years experience creating innovative garments that are functional rather than superfluous. Unfortunately the hosiery shots didn't make our edit, for reasons completely unrelated to their performance, but we just couldn't leave out the post. If an epiphany in undergarments occurs, 'aint no pictures necessary.

This shoutout is long overdue--the Total Turnaround Visible Skin Renewer is one your editor's must-have beauty products. To be honest, we often leave the beauty posts to our beauty bloggers, for their knowledge is so impressive that our olive-oil and sunblock beauty routines seem a bit simple in comparison. We've realized, however, that we are not alone in loving this particular Clinique product. We buy mostly everything online but something, time and time again, we forget to purchase in advance is our moisturizer. It seems before we know it we're scraping the bottom of the glass jar and making some time in our day to run to Sephora for an instant replenishment. This happened for the fourth time in a row this week and for the fourth time in a row we dredged all the way over to Sephora only to realize that the moisturizer was sold out. Why we hadn't learned our lesson the first time is another matter completely. From this experience we learned two valuable lessons. One, our mousturizer of choice is acutally a lot of people's moisturizer of choice, and, shopping online takes the cake every time!

The Clinique Total Turnaround Visible Skin Renewer is super light and almost mealy to the touch. It leaves our skin actually glowing with out the sparkles that so many 'glow'-titled moisturizers secretly pack in their bottles. It always gives our skin just the right amount of moisture; never are we oily, never does our face feel dry. Quite frankly, it serves us better than any moisturizer we've ever tried and (our mom and grandmother always said, 'As far as skincare goes, only trust the French') it's from a company that's been with us since our teenage years (boy, did our skin glow back then). Below, the star mousturizer and a few other Clinique products we have scattered about our powder rooms.

If you want the goods in our The Sun Doesn't Care photo shoot you can have them at anywhere from zero to eight hundred dollars. You can also have them for Resort 09. Yep, we're all over the map this week. Our spread below includes those current season goodies in our shoot courtesy of Shopbop--all will undoubtedly work for fall (heck, some of them are fall). From the pink sequin ombre frock to the elegant purple blouse, it's all up for grabs. As for the clothing in the shoot not shown in the spread below, well that's Pencey and we'll be bringing you the low-down on that line and the Resort collection later today.

Finally, anything randomly ombrized (oops, we just made up an awesome word) well, that's our styling skills with the help of e-commerce aficionado and former Anthropologie display coordinator, Stephanie Draves. From the chain and feather necklace, to the purple rope necklace, and its matching ascot necktie, it came from us--we dip dyed in our bathroom until the wee hours of the morning with the help of Ms. Draves. There's not too much DIY advice to give aside from making sure you don't splash your roommate's white towels with a giant orange ombre bow (soaking wet). We just hope that you take our interpretations as encouragement to embrace the sweltering weather, buddy up, and get wild with some drug store dye.

Staples has always been our go-to space for the coming of a season. Being that we are more or less, total nerds, the concept of 'basics', 'must-haves', and, well, 'staples' have always been of keen interest to us. When we were little, going to Staples (the store) meant fresh everything--from never been sharpened pencils to pristine notebooks. We have to say that we get a similar feeling now, when we start imagining our fall wardrobe. After we makes lists of what we'd like and edit our closet a little bit, we go after the staples. Putting away a new leather jacket or pair of trousers feels almost like it did to put that loose leaf in our trappers. That said, on our list this season is a new pair of black boots. If there's anything that's making its rounds on e-commerce right now its these items, so now is the time to scope out what requires replenishing. From motorcycle to riding boots, the variations of black boots are diverse but, overall, we're noticing high rises (right under the knee and right over) and sleek, seamless shapes. Black boots with a sheen (mostly by way of patent leather) are also popular as are the dipped cuff that we see in riding boots. Sigh, if only everything were as simple as it is at the beginning of a season, or first page of a notebook.

A classic Fall staple, reinvented by Celine. This four thousand dollar biker jacket is, depending on your perspective, a must-have for Fall. If your budget doesn't warrant such spending, there are always options. But let's talk about the Celine version for a second, shall we? Celine, the French fashion house owned by LVMH, is now headed by Ivana Omazic. Omazic has on her resume stints with Miu Miu, Jil Sander, and Prada which is probably why this brand keeps popping up on our radar. The jacket, with its wide lapel and scrunch-worthy sleeves, is modern enough to separate itself from the classic vintage versions without leaving 'classic' out of the equation entirely. In fact, this piece is something we're sure the owner would wear for seasons to come. So, if there ever were a time to spend such money, and we know the recession doesn't help matters, now would be it. No matter which leather bomber you opt for (some gals forego black all together) the trick, we think, is investing in one you know you'll wear for seasons to come. Staples like these deserve a bit of extra attention.

Three key pieces made our Island Life shoot from eLuxury. Namely, a hot pink Marc by Marc Jacobs bag, and a patchwork bag and pair of patent peep-toes by Dolce & Gabbana. Our concept for the shoot was swimwear and acessories: the only purchases outside of a sample sale that make sense this time of year, and so these pieces made our wishlist from the e-commerce site. A rundown of their draw, below.

Dolce & Gabbana Runway Miss Pocket Patchwork Bag: Clocking in at four grand, this bag is intricately detailed and luxe in the best sense of the word. Narrow horizontal panels of genuine snakeskin make up the exterior of the bag and a super-soft grey suede trim adorns the frame. Trust us when we say this bag, in person, is a show-stopper. Each panel of snakeskin has its own unique color, sheen, and perforations making it look, from afar, like a beacon of exotic skin dangling off the arm. On the practical side of things, there's a cell phone pocket inside and has (we love this in a bag) a long strap and short handles, so you've some styling options at the end of the day.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Pretty Nylon Little Tate Tote: This bag certainly falls in a different category that the patchwork number but it still made our wish list for eLuxury nonetheless. We thought the $158 dollar nylon tote, for its color and size, would be an apt accessory for the remaining summer months. One thing we hate about the generic canvas tote is how supple the material is and how dirty they can get in a matter of days. This bag is easily washable and would not pick up every grain of sand it touched. Furthermore, the Tate Tote is quilted, giving it more girth than your typical beach-tote (which makes it feel more like an actual handbag).

Dolce & Gabbana Patent Lace-Up Bootie: Reasonably priced and Fall-ready, these shoes made our list for their sheer end-of-summer appeal. Because they are open-toe, these booties are more than appropriate in warm weather and, come fall, could be worn with a sheer sock or pair of stockings just fine. They're sexy, masculine, and trend-appropriate shoes and they are, indeed, something to swoon over. For the shoot, our pairs were grey and snakeskin but the shoes also come in patent black. As we know, seven hundred dollars in today's world can buy you one sick pair of shoes.

After the Capsule parties that kicked off the work week, we're thinking we might dedicate ourselves to loungewear this weekend. There's nothing better than taking a night off and wearing some 100% cotton incarnation, making tea, and reading or watching movies. Our network partner, Style Bubble, posted a little while back on a grey Rebecca Turbow sweater that had us thinking we might give our bedtime clothing a makeover. Yes, we think our Bum Equipment t-shirt is going to have to remain a staple, but surely a new pair of sweatpants couldn't hurt. Now, we don't endorse track suits or anything like that. The only person who should see your sweats, for that matter, is your local barista and even then you should be careful. No one should have to put on makeup and skin tight jeans to go grab their morning coffee, but a little effort needs to be made. Below, we've picked out some of our e-commerce options. No, this is not our ideal fashion topic but something needs to be said. A gal should feel good about what she's wearing even when she's not supposed to.