Now that the 4/18 Club has been established, my trips to NY will always begin with a board meeting called by Mlle President, Lil A, this time at a darling French bistro La Bonne Soupe:
She wants a full briefing on (1) the damage I’ve sustained in her town (dress and jacket that have since been taken back to the boutique for complimentary alterations)…
(2) the sights and sounds I’ve experienced…
and then (3) back to more of the shopping bits re Saks, Soho Chanel, and Banana Republic…
She, of the same shoe/bag/clotheshorse DNA, approves of my report thus far and off she sends me to hit the pavement for more stories…
Hello NYC!
Tags: Banana Republic, Chanel, La Bonne Soupe, NYC, Saks, Soho
For some of us, Boxing Day is a secular holiday that falls on the day after Christmas. It may (depending on your employer) buy you an extra day off at work to spend more time with family and friends. Or in my case, with strangers, all of whom afflicted with the same shopping addiction in varying degrees of seriousness. And so this begins the diary of a mad “boxer.”
5:56am: I beat my alarm by 4 minutes but wait in bed to listen to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy as the alarm goes off on my phone. Usually the music puts me in the holiday spirit, but this early on a Sunday morning? Bah humbug!
7:35am: I turn left on Bedford from Wilshire Boulevard to enter the parking structure at Saks Fifth Avenue. Twenty-five minutes till the doors actually open and already there are lines in front of every entrance. I clutch my steering wheel.
7:50am: It’s freezing out here as I queue up at the shortest line I could find. I should have worn those ugly but comfy shoes I wrote about earlier and jeans and a hoodie, but this morning I got into this get up instead because I have an appointment later that requires me to look, well, put together. So I’m in some theory black jeans, black longsleeved tshirt, and Chanel chain link cardigan and captoe mules.
I know, totally inappropriate for power shopping, but heck, I am standing in the middle of Beverly Hills and I even spot a few furs. It’s in the 50s right about now, and that’s basically freezing point for us Angelenos.
Did I say there is a line everywhere I look?
Let’s see what the other gals are wearing, shall we…
8:00am You know all the polite chitchat that was happening in line while we were waiting? All of it goes out the window as soon as the doors fly open, when the women rush in like ants to a piece of candy on the floor. They run, push, pull, shove, shout until they get to whatever item it is that they think they must have to avoid certain death. We are all mad, I tell myself, and some of those women can swing their elbows as effectively as any professional boxer!
I want to run in the opposite direction, but too late; I’m dragged in by the crowd’s momentum, just like on a subway train during rush hour in Tokyo.
9:05am: I’m already done scouring the 3 main floors. Pretty much everything on sale gets another 50% off (except for shoes/accessories), hence, the madness. Gucci and Chanel are excluded from the extra discount, which makes my shopping a lot shorter. I’ve already tried on about 15 items and end up with only the Marni tanks and an Alexander McQueen dress:
I think I’ll get a lot of use out of those fun Marni tanks for layering under cardigans. Here’s how it looks when I try it on later this evening:
9:30am: The shoe department at Saks looks like a disaster area and everything I pick up is not on sale. And I’m not about to stand in line for 3 hours just to pay full price, so these shoes will just go on my wish list for the Spring buys:
9:55am: I hear Banana Republic is also doing a 50% off all sales so I use my Yelp app on my phone to find it in Bev Hills. Turns out it’s just one street over from my favorite corner in this place…hmmm, wonder why 
:
Anyway, I find a gorgeous, long, black hand-knitted cardigan at Banana for $45. I sortof want to wear it out of the store because it’s still so cold outside!
10:30am: I’ve made it to Century City Shopping Mall to exchange a gift I got from JCrew. Surprisingly I have no trouble finding parking and I’m in and out in under 30 minutes. I pick up a taupe silk shantung embellished top ($21, I kid you not!)…
and a sherpa lined dark green jacket (not $21!) in exchange for the cardigan that was too big:
I kinda want to wear this jacket out of the store as well. It’s much too cold to enjoy this outdoors mall.
Noon: Sheer madness, I tell you, but I’ve just made it to the third mall! Luck must be on my side today because someone gives me her parking space as soon as I pull into the parking garage. I’m here to return a Chanel jacket that was sent to me in two sizes too big. Experience alone tells me that I need to stick to my true size, no matter how great of a magician my alterations lady is. But am I really only here to do a return? Mouhahahahaha.
Let the madness continue in the next entry …
Tags: Alexander McQueen, Banana Republic, Boxing Day, Chanel, Gucci, JCrew, Marni, Saks Fifth Avenue
For sure I’m no Chanel expert, but every few days or so I’d get an email from (mostly) strangers who ask for my opinion about this label’s bags, RTW, shoes and sometimes even jewelry. I’m happy to oblige, not because I like to dispense advice (no one heeds it anyway!) but because if there were a contest to see who could talk the longest about fashion/Chanel, I’d probably be the last one standing…er, talking.
If I were a more responsible blogger then I’d contribute content of much worthier substance to the blogosphere, but I find it so much more cathartic to dish about…fluff. I enjoy taking photos of the details of a special bag or the buttons on a jacket and showing them to you because I know in some place far, far away a pair of nimble hands put these beautiful things together for our enjoyment, and that should be celebrated.
These designs, beautiful things, were inspired by someone who may very well have walked down some random street that you or I might have droned by on our way to work–but saw something that triggered an idea that became a pattern that begot a sweater. That’s just how the fashion universe works…inspiration leads to work product that drives a billion dollar industry that’s fueled by consumers. And as a consumer, I’m part of that fashion world, if just merely on the receiving end.
Anyway, no idea why I just wrote the above except that it was supposed to introduce the seventh look of the Fifty Ways To Wear Your Lover series. I meant to talk about the celebration of fluff and all the pretty things that make the stresses in life a little more tolerable. Fashion won’t cure cancer but it will put a smile on your lips. And sometimes that’s enough.
Look 7: Chanel 09P heavily braided black sweater, Banana Republic slim capri pants, Manolo Blahnik watersnake boots, black jumbo caviar classic flap. My mom and I were talking about snakeskin bags yesterday so this look came from that conversation.
There is a tiny silver plaque on the back of the sweater…look closely…do you see a purse? I smile.
Tags: Banana Republic, Chanel, classic flap, FWTWYL, Manolo Blahnik
During my first year of law school I had a section-mate who was an older student. He was in this late 30s when we were all mostly in our 20s. He had a Harley and wore clothes befitting someone who would own a hog. We had nothing in common except for the afternoon rides up the winding, narrow hills behind the school and sometimes Mulholland Drive. It was a fun way to break up the monotony of studying. I’ve never learned to ride a motorcycle myself, but my favorite travel memories are usually of seeing countrysides, mountainsides, alleys, freeways and just everyday traffic from the back of one. I think it’s a little about the danger, a lot about the speed, and mostly about the thrill of putting your life into someone else’s hands. For this control freak, it’s a great release to not be in control. (Sidebar to my parents who may be freaking out if not surprised as they read today’s entry: I always wore a helmet).
Anyway, I don’t really do the whole rocker chic thing in my real life. It’s mostly just in my head, but I do love leather jackets, especially the motorcycle style. I’ve never met a cow I wanted to eat but do have more leather jackets than anyone in her right mind should, yet I am still lusting after a grey Balenciaga motorcycle one…for years now. Can’t find it anywhere but it’s still on my fashion bucket list. This season I’m lucky that so many designers have embraced the motorcycle vibe in their collections, and I’d like to FIMTSO a couple today.
Test Item: Banana Republic nubuck moto jacket in a stone color and the recently released red Zac Posen one for Target.
Look 1: the idea of this look should probably have stayed in my head because i’m not sure how i feel after i see it in the pic, but here is the BR jacket over an M Missoni dress and Dior patent slides.
Look 2: The Zac Posen version is a better fit on me, and I’m pairing it with an Alberta Ferretti LBT (Lil Black Top which we gals–and by gals I mean me–can’t seem to stop collecting), black theory slim flood pants, and crocodile Prada mules. Remember what I said above about cows? The same applies to reptiles!
Look 3: This is probably how you would find me on weekends with the Zac jacket over a Chanel tank, Exhilaration skinny jeans in an extra dirty rinse, and the same Dior slides in Look 1.
I really want to do at least 4 looks per FITMSO episode but I’m having one of those days where I just feel fashion-blocked. Give me a rain check and I’ll see if I can’t FIMTSO this test item again later this week, esp the Banana jacket whose color I am still swooning over.
Tags: Balenciaga, Banana Republic, FIMTSO, leather jacket, motorcycle, Zac Posen for Target
What does a gal do with her last 3 hours on a sunny morning in Madrid?
Well, she grabs a quick bite to go with her espresso (in her Rodarte for Target tshirt and Banana Republic cashmere cardigan)…
at a hip, light-filled restaurant…
that looks out at the Puerta de Alcalá :
Then on a caffeine high she speedwalks to the Plaza de Cibeles (goddess of fertility), where the grand, white post office–that’s now the mayor’s office–can be found:
With two hours left, it’s a brisk stroll through the Parque del Buen Retiro which I’d mentioned to you on my first entry about Madrid. This park takes center stage, literally, in the heart of a bustling Madrid. You could easily spend an entire day in this large park. A lovely spot to visit is the Rosaleda del Retiro (rose garden):
And there are stretches of paths for running or strolling:
In another part of the park you can find an art gallery inside the Palacio de Cristal:
It is still rather cold this morning, and there is ice instead of water in most spouts:
The park is so enormous that it can accommodate an artificial pond, Estanque del Retiro…
that surrounds the Monument to Alfonso XII:
So that’s how this gal spent her last 3 hours in Madrid. I can’t wait to come back!
Tags: Banana Republic, Estanque del Retiro, Madrid, Monument to Alfonso XII, Palacio de Cristal, Parque del buen retiro, Rodarte for Target, Rosaleda del Retiro
