This is how behind I am. Today I’m posting about a lovely day I had in Dallas a few weeks ago as I’m sitting in my hotel room in yet another city I sometimes wish I lived in that I’ll write about later. I meant to write about that visit to Big D when it happened because, if you are in the area, I would encourage you to stop by the Jean Paul Gaultier (JPG) exhibit (The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk) that will be leaving the Dallas Museum of Art on February 12, 2012.
Even if you don’t love the often over-the-top and sometimes S&M imagination of JPG, it is quite an experience to behold so many of his couture gowns and outfits in one place. I attended the show with my good friend E, who’s like my brother from another father. And mother. More on that later when he’s ready for me to share him with you. He’s not a rabid fan of JPG like yours truly, but judging from his reaction, I think it was a pretty cool experience for him, too. I wish they’d let me take pictures of the many gowns I’d only before seen from runway photos or magazine editorials or of the mannequins, including one of JPG himself, on whose faces were projected images of real people. So when the mannequins talked, they became more real than they should be! Very cool.
Anyway, before E and I moseyed into this exhibit, we–and by we I mean E sweet talking his way into getting us to poke our heads into rooms that were closed off to the public–wandered around the downtown area where all the new theaters and concert halls have mushroomed around the museums:
In the next entry I’ll feature something we saw at a particular museum that I’d like to try to find on my next trip to China. But remember, if you’re anywhere in Texas, run–don’t walk–to the DMA and catch an eyeful of JPG. Your imagination will thank you.
The buzz about JPG (Jean Paul Gaultier) chez Target started last year but the collaboration collection did not arrive at this mass retailer till March 7. I was definitely more excited about this designer than Sonia Rykiel mainly because I have been buying JPG for a very long time. His meshy, soft polyamide fabric is a dream to pack for (tropical) trips. It weighs nothing and can be rolled up into a tiny ball. Once you get to the hotel, hang it up behind the bathroom door. The steam from your shower will get all the wrinkles out in time for Mai Tais on the lanai. And the bold prints (that Gaultier is famous for) on your dress just seem to make more sense when there are waves rolling behind you. Don’t you always have a travel scenario for every item in your closet, too?
But anyway, I was really hoping that quality would not be forsaken for price, and when I finally got to the first store, I was pleasantly surprised by some if not all of the pieces. I’d seen the nautical themed pieces–which EVERYONE and their grandmother are doing right now–in press releases, but up close I thought the fabric was decent and I particularly liked the laser cut details:
This asymmetrical navy striped top was also cute:
I tried on all of the other tops and a few (age inappropriate) dresses, but in the end I loved most the tattoo-print pieces in that mesh nylon that will be great as layering pieces:
The fabric for Target is definitely inferior to the one he uses in his own collection–the close up shots here are of my dress from his main line and then of the shirt from Target and you can’t tell the difference with the naked eye until you touch them both–
but all of his prints here are just as whimsical. Where else can you find this funky print with insects on swimwear? And at this price point (under $20 for the top or bottom), how can I resist?
I can smell that sun lotion already. I’d better go do more core exercises though before I can leave the house in that.
Tags: Jean Paul Gaultier, Target
I’m pulling a Tiger Woods and making an unnecessarily public apology today. On the way to shopping rehab I’ve done a complete face plant. Have fallen and cannot get up. My shopping ban has been a total failure; I blame some of it on my weakness and a lot more on the releases of Sonia Rykiel at H&M and Jean Paul Gaultier (JPG) at Target on March 7. So after this week (hey, at least I’m not lying about cheating with JPG), I will head back to rehab. No timeline as to when I will return to the sporting world of shopping.
Since all of my shopping skeletons are rattling their way out of my closet anyway, I might as well confess about the jaunt to Robertson Boulevard this past weekend. You know, the short but deadly block where you can find the second Chanel boutique (I actually love this cozy location a little more than its big sister in Beverly Hills) a few doors down from the paparazzi’d The Ivy restaurant and the enchanting Les Habitudes boutique.
I had stopped by Robertson to check out the new 1969 boutique that the GAP has recently made a permanent fixture after using it as a pop-up store for the Stella McCartney for GapKids release. If you like denim as much as I do, this is a fun place to see all kinds of jeans openly displayed in a way that I wish I could replicate in my own closet. OMG I’m such a liar! I didn’t come here to check anything out…I came here to buy a jacket that had quickly sold out. I know, there’s a GAP in every town to supply the whole country but believe it or not, they do come up with something once in a while that becomes a hard-to-find best seller. The Robertson location had the only XS that I could find in this region. So here’s the $59.50 black knit motorcycle jacket (PS: my lil sis even had a 20% off coupon for me to use! what a score!):
But even standing inside the GAP at 109 S. Robertson, I could feel the gravitational pull from 125 N. Robertson. It’s probably whatever voodoo spell Karl Lagerfeld has put on me that made me march straight from the GAP to the Chanel boutique. I knew it was wrong, didn’t want to do it, but my feet went on autopilot, and there I was inside the breezy foyer of the store in under 60 seconds. Putting this Chanel addict inside the white walled boutique is like locking an alcoholic inside a liquor store. So many beautiful bags and shoes and clothes on display! Who cares that I’ve seen a Chanel jacket reinvented a million times–with each season’s new buttons and trims, it’s as if I’m looking at it for the first time. And I fall in love all over again. So maddening that Lagerfeld refuses to release an ugly collection when I’m on a ban!
Anyway, on the first floor near the window, what do I spy but a black knit motorcycle jacket–the very same one that I had seen from trunk show pictures earlier this year. The very same one that had been added to my Spring buy list:
Let’s just say the tax alone on the Chanel version is about 4 times the total price of my GAP one after tax. And except for the quilting on the hems and logo on the zipper pulls, I honestly can’t say I could justify the sticker shock. Chanel’s leather version of the moto jacket, however, is a different story. Now that’s one cool jacket but it’s also twice as much as its knit version. I clutch my GAP find a little tighter and think I’ll save my pennies for a classic Chanel tweed jacket instead. On some trendier pieces, it’s enough to fill the craving with something non-designer as long as the quality and fit are decent. And of course if the price is right!
Luckily the rain was coming and that prodded me to leave the store before I could talk myself into buying something…some thingS. I’ve already failed the ban and couldn’t make it worse by sticking around here. But this one brief peek inside the boutique did trigger a question, and I’ll blog about that in the next entry.
Anyhow, in the words of Tiger Woods, “I want to ask for your help. I ask you to find room in your hearts to one day believe in me again.” Because let’s face it, I don’t believe in me when I say I can stop shopping. Do you?
Tags: Chanel, Gap, H&M, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Robertson Boulevard, Sonia Rykiel, Target, Tiger Woods
It always starts with a bag. Another bag, then shoes. And the rest of my travel wardrobe follows rather easily. I pick things that can be versatile enough on the road to accommodate the predictably unpredictable weather mishaps, impromptu dinner parties, last minute business meetings, and off-road weekends. You’d think I’d need 3 bags and 10 pairs of shoes for 5 weeks on the road, but my rule of thumb limits me to 2 bags (one big, one small) and 4 pairs of shoes (flats, heels, sneakers, and boots). A pair of flip flops doesn’t count because that’s always pre-packed in my suitcase–you never know when you might go swimming. Wait a minute, back up there missy, you say. Don’t try to distract me with all those numbers…aren’t there actually 3 bags in that first pic? Oh! Did I forget to say along with the flip flops my luggage also always comes with a workhorse bag? You know, a bag that can take all the abuse on the road.
The colors of the shoes and clothes generally revolve around the 2, ahem, 3 bags selected. In general, black is my travel uniform of choice but sometimes the location is so exotic I have these vignettes in my head that dictate more colorful or, worse, simply impractical outfits. Most of the time the latter never makes it out of the hotel room because, for example, the I-think-I-might-have-with-James-Bond-in-Mumbai-to-exchange-highly-sensitive-information-to-save-the-world-and-requires-me-to-pack- my-Le-Smoking-tuxedo-jacket cocktail never actually materializes. Imagine that! But alas the jacket is the suitcase. But what’s a girl to do? Half of the thrill of fashion is in the fantasies in our heads when we are in our closets…right? OK, OK, perhaps my imagination is a bit much.
I will begin this trip overseas with a tough series of flights over the next couple of days, and during the first part of my travel I will be somewhat unplugged. I’m doubtful that I will have much access to the internet so what I’d like to do for the next 7 days is to schedule a look per day of items I’ve packed in my suitcases. Then once I’m back online from the road, we’ll see how it all works out in real life, in the actual setting. I’m sure I’ll have to change things up once I hit the ground but for now, these are looks floating around in my head as I pack. Sounds good?
So anyway, as you review the first look, I’m probably somewhere in the skies daydreaming about navigating the narrow alleys of a spice market labyrinth in my favorite Missoni caftan.
Look 1. Jean Paul Gaultier geometric top, Chanel camellia sandals, black large camera bag.
Tags: camellia, Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Le Smoking tuxedo, Missoni, packing, travel wardrobe
