high street heaven

indeed, it's that time of year... the decorations are popping up in shops, the giftie catalogs are being sent in droves, and Kate Moss Christmas collection is in at Topshop. the lingerie is a bit adorable, and there are a couple of dresses and tops that make you go hmmm... cruise it - see what you're feeling.

girl rocks the daylights out of the clothing in the photos too - and her hair is hot 60's bed head fab. regardless of what i may buy (ummm... perhaps this lovely blouse?) i fully plan on sportin the hair...

i'm a sucker for the high/low. i'm picturing this top, my Alexander Wang black skinny pants, and this that or the other out of the shoe collection... top it off with a great bag and a pile of bracelets, and BAZINGA we are off to the races.

not a christmas miracle, but still pretty adorable

this little holiday set of nail varnishes tickles my fancy. partially because i am more than slightly obsessed with NARS cosmetics. they just kill it every time. gorgeous color, high pigmentation, and amazing quality. loves it. and the other part -- i am a sucker for little sets of things. they just make me happy for some reason. put a few things together and call them a set and i get all tickly inside. i'm diggin on all the colors in here too - there is a lot to be said for that, because there's usually one dud in the bunch - but this just looks like an all around fiesta of happy. not surprisingly, they're selling it at Bendels. which, not surprisingly, is where i shall head to do some holiday shopping. (already have some cute little things picked out for the nieces!!) odd bird that i may be - i find the holiday shopping infinitely more fun than the holiday... ah well, another story for another day...

wrap a doodle doo

previously, on the-e-stylist... the wrap cardigan gets involved in a tangled love affair with the stylist... try as they might, they cannot live apart...

ever since i stumbled upon my first wrap cardigan a few years ago, i have been obsessed. first off, it's a cardi. which is hands down the best upper body item of clothing to own. secondly, it sort of doubles as a scarf-ular type item, which is the best above the shoulder item ever invented. first came discovery, next came purchase, followed by collection. i have several, and love them all. cotton, cashmere, you name it. one for every season.

along with the lovely jewelry item gifted to me by my lovely bf, i received this new addition to the collection. the color is gorge, and it goes with everything known to man. and some things not yet known, i'm sure. it's a cotton/cashmere blend, so it is soft beyond reason and warm to boot. in addition to all things i already know and love about the wrap cardigan - i discovered yesterday that it also doubles as a perfectly brill nap blankie. who knew? well now i do. just more to love.

ode to a jumper

once upon a time i sat in a pub at Poole quay with my aunt. we were waiting for my uncle to do some sort of errands or something boring, and so we drank a few pints of hard cider. and got rather saucy. it's a major port, so when we stepped out of the dimly lit pub into the bright sunlight, there were loads of boats and upon them loads of sailors. one of said sailors, of the French variety, passed us and said lasciviously "bonjour madamoiselle". he was friendly looking, and also sporting the good ol' tried and true French matelot striped shirt, so it made me giggle. all just standard fare in the quayside pub afternoon way of things...

i have now a fixation on strip-ed tops. i suppose i like them because they remind me of France. every time i see a striped jumper i think "ooh i love that" and then i have to remind myself of how many of these items i own. some of the time, that stops me. this time, it will not. because i DO NOT have this little delight. when i was flipping through the new JCrew catalog, i actually said "OOOH!" out loud. (to just myself. and the catalog) you see, not only is this a lovely strip-ed item, it also has this ridiculously cute button detail on the sleeves. and the back! it actually makes me a little giddy, which i realize is rather ridiculous, so for today i blame it on the flu that i am currently enjoying.

i fully plan on owning this little lover, and i will prance proudly through the streets, and on occasion, just for old time's sake, i'll say to myself, or some passer by, "bonjour! mademoiselle!"

the talented miss richie

we all know i love me some Nicole Richie. she's just adorable. game, set, match.

i'm always equal parts intrigued and dubious when celebs do their own clothing lines. 99 percent of the time i look at in sort of sick fascination with the thought in the back of my mind "who in the name of all things holy would want to pay money to dress in the style of that person?!" i won't name names. rather than use their names, the lines could just be called "dress like a whore, just like me!" and the point would be the same. (Kate Moss is outside that heinous bubble. i like a number of her pieces for Topshop.)

ahem, anyway... now the talented Miss Richie enters the fashion fray. she started off with the House of Harlow jewelry line - which is uber cute (that reminds me, there's another ring i want...) and she expanded, logically, while preggy, to a maternity line for Pea in the Pod. again - super cute pieces. cut to spring 2010, when her new label Winter Kate will debut. (February to be exact)

the line will include 37 pieces, and will be sold at shops like Nordstrom, Neimans, Saks, Bloomingdales, and boutique-ier shops such as Ron Herman, Intermix and Kitson. the collection includes mostly tops, vests and bed jackets in colorful splashes of vintage-inspired silk, crepe and chiffon, based heavily on the style of her own wardrobe. as she puts it, "I probably wear the same two pairs of jeans every day as the background to a fabulous top," she said. "Bed jackets are a staple of my wardrobe because they are a gorgeous way to give jeans and a white T-shirt a completely different look." easy peasy and looking gorgeous. the styles and cuts lend themselves to layering, which allows limitless combos within your own wardrobe. LOVE it.

prices are set to be reasonable - her philosophy being that "Fashion should be accessible". AND my favorite quote of all, because it hits the nail of e-stylist philosophy square on the head -- the pieces she has designed "...can be dressed up, made casual, but most importantly, they
provide the wearer a means of self-expression and fun." that, as they say, is style in a nutshell.

is it spring yet?

line up yer chakras

well well well... this one managed to nearly slip right under my super heightened shopdar. (shopping radar, obvi)... luckily i cranked it up a notch and caught this.

we love jewelry. yes. we love Me&Ro. yes. we love deals. yes. do some math, combine those three and bazinga! one of the designers from Me&Ro teamed up with HSN, (seems to be rather trendy these days, the whole shopping network thing...) and did a line called Robin by Me&Ro. the pieces are directly related to their main line, just using cz's rather than "real" stones, and alloys rather than 10K and sterling. all in all - they are all a bit adorable!

i'm diggin on this big ring - and a bracelet, and some earrings, and a necklace.... oh for the love of buddha i really kind of dig it all...

dear shoe fairy...

if i leave something under my pillow, will i get these Jimmy Choo for H&M shoes when i wake up in the morning?

perusing the new Elle magazine, my eyes fell upon quite the fandango of an ad spread for the upcoming line... i know i've mentioned it - the magical pairing of Jimmy Choo and H&M - avails november 14... i already have it locked into the old brain vault, and now having seen some more of what they'll be offering, i have to admit that i am going to need to have a little fund set aside to procure some of these things. obvi - we knew that the shoes would be amazing. it's Jimmy Choo after all. and there are some cute bags, not a shocker there either. what i did not expect was just how much i would want the dresses... oh my STARS.

there will be a list of which stores will be carrying the items, on H&M's website. i'm half considering going to some obscure store in Kansas so i won't have to fight it out with the "ladies" that will be shopping in the NY stores. (that is most certainly not the word i wanted to use, but i'm a lady, ass face - so i will not resort to name calling)

but i do this for you, my dear readers. and so i shall go forth into battle, and lead you. we shall conquer the scary shopping "ladies" and we shall emerge victorious, in our new shoes and fabulous suede dresses. tally ho!

are you gellin?

i believe i have mentioned before my issue with picking at my nail polish... it drives me nuts, because i actually love having my nails all pretty and done looking. but it's like i'm physically incapable of keeping my picky little hands off myself - within 24 hours my freshly painted nails are usually naked again, and a pile of shredded refuse sits on the coffee table in front of me.

now, i don't want to jinx myself here by talking about this too early on ... so i'm going to give it the "wait and see" caveat... here goes...

i kind of love when the fashion mags do the "best of" beauty product blurbs. they name it all sorts of different catchy things - but the bottom line is it's "the best of's". usually voted on by both the readers and the beauty editors - so you get a bit of the real deal. one of the new items that i noticed popping up this year is the use of gel in manicures. (right here i wish i had Sheldon, from Big Bang Theory, to elaborate on exactly what consitutes "gel".) i became quite intrigued. then a few weeks back, i went with my friend Heidi to get toes done, and noticed a sign in the nail salon for the gel manicure. further intrigued. cut to yesterday, after not one but two picked apart, self-done manicures within 48 hours, i decided to seek professional help. i hopped across the street to the Dashing Diva nail joint, and asked for the gel manicure. she asked me which kind - but the options seemed a bit overwhelming since i had only had one coffee that day, so i said "the basic". i watched in fascination as the woman put layers of goops on my nails, one of which was nail gel, followed by the polish i chose. (it's a bit tricky to choose, since the results last a long time - so one must pick wisely... and if it succeeds, i may just bring in one of my own fave polishes for the next one). but i should not get ahead of myself, should i? the gel manicure will allegedly last me up to 2 weeks - so as mentioned above, "we'll see" - but a full 24 hours later, i have not picked at it... stay tuned for the adventures of Picky mcGee's gel fix.

small things make big happy

some people are of the major blowout birthday celebration variety. me, not so much. i prefer to have my attention paid to me one on one or in a small group. people may feel free to press lavish gifts upon me - i have no problem with that, just without all the hub-bub. that established, yesterday was rather perfect as a birthday. i had my hair cut and styled, ended up a bit fabulous. then went and had nails done - (more on that in a mo... )

then J, my love, came home early to me bearing gifts and cupcakes from Crumbs. a gorgeous wrap cardi in a gorge cobalt blue, and a HOT cream colored turtle-neck sweater dress. love them both and will be wearing the cardi to within an inch of its life, i can tell already. however, the best gift (aside from his love) was this pair of earrings. bit of back story here. he is not the biggest fan of picking out gifts, so in the past i have guided him to what i might like. but the times when he picks things out on his own - those are the ones that make my heart smile. (one of my faves - a bathtub shaped soap dish) anyhoo - back to the story at hand. now we all know i loves me some jewelry. it's just a fact. so, i open up the clothing, love it, and then he hands me a little fabric pouch which i instantly recognize from Anthropologie - and i said out loud "ooh!" because little fabric pouch equals jewelry. math people. simple math. opened up the pouch and therein were these beautiful, intricate swirly earrings. right up my little boho alley i must say. and a happy birthday to me indeed.

equal opp shop!

cold is a bugger. let's just get that out there. i HATE being cold. i always have. as a child i did not enjoy ice skating nor sledding, nor skiing. they all involved being outside in the freezing cold, which even as a child i found absurd and annoying.

each and every one of us should protect themselves from said cold. whether it is walking to the subway, doing a bit of shopping, or if you are so inclined, one of the afore-mentioned outdoor cold sports, we should all protect ourselves because humans are not built to have their fleshy bits out in the open when it is friggin freezing out. i was digging through my arsenal of warmth this afternoon, and happened upon my favorite beret. i went on a beret bender last year. warm, easy on/off factor, and low on the damaging hat-head scale. all around, a winner. my most favorite, a pale grey cashmere, was procured at--- wait for it-- Target. i know i've tooted Target's horn in the past for their visiting designers, but they really come through on some of their own stuff as well. including their little collection of cashmere cold weather accessories...it kind of makes a girl feel better about the spendy days in other stores... it's one of those win win sitchos.

a very useful winter obsession

although now that i think of it, so are bags and shoes... because it's not like i can walk around the city barefoot or carry ALL the stuff i need in my pockets...

before i delve further into that tangent, i'll get back on track here. several years ago, in London, i happened upon a little cashmere shoppe called Brora. inside said happy place, i discovered these little beauties they called "wrist warmers". along with being sinfully soft and lovely looking - the name was too alluring to pass up. i have wrists that are, for lack of a better word, tiny. and for my entire life they would poke out of sleeves and the bit between glove and sleeve would be miserably cold. so a "wrist warmer" was just about the best thing anyone could sell me. fast forward a year or two - and hop the channel to Paris... in the store Bon Marche, i found a couple more pairs of the delightful little fellows. a collection seemed to be forming... back to NY, and 3 more pair joined the fray. i've since lost some of them, which is very sad, as they were souvenirs AND they were part of my daily cold weather-fighting routine every winter... but these happy few remain, and i am still obsessed. fingerless gloves, wrist warmers, whatevs you would like to call them - i call them super fantastic.

not all of these links are to the exact items - as they have been collected over the years... but they are indeed wintery delights to add to your world - so have at them!
left to right: black cashmere -- Nordstrom; pink cashmere -- Brora; white cashmere "fishnet" - Marc by Marc Jacobs; black cashmere/Merino wool and leather -- Intermix.

baby it's cold outside...

i was in a cloudy monday funk most of today. and when i tried to get dressed, i failed miserably the first two times. i did the whole thing, head to toe, went and sat at the computer, and NO. so i went back to try again. whole thing, head to toe, felt a bit better. went and sat at the computer. NO. i was beginning to really get on my own nerves, so i did what any rational person would do and put on my favorite old, most beat up pair of Levi's jeans (sadly they don't make my fave color any more but the style seems here to stay thank the denim lords) and my Fiorentini and Baker boots. it is entirely irrelevant what i put on on top, because the bottom half instantly made me feel content. i'm not trying to make any major statement here. just telling a story with a happy ending.

coffee + topshop = perfect afternoon

being inside Topshop makes me feel happy because it makes me feel like i'm in England. old habits die hard, i reckon. being in Topshop with Melody -- extra happy. we were both a bit overwhelmed today by the masses of people plus the abundance of sequin-y items. some sort of bizarre mathematical vortex. thank god we had caffeinated first. despite the daze, we did manage a good happy cruise of all 3 floors. aside from the sequinery, there were some ubiquitous perfect Topshop items. not surprisingly, 2 of the favorite categories cruised - leather jackets and shoes. i am very much hoping that this particular jacket shall soon be owned by Mel. it is SO soft that it is almost absurd. neither one of us could stop touching it. ok, mostly me. but she really loved it so i hope she gets it, having exercised great restraint today. shoes-a-palooza aside, i also gravitated toward nearly all of the Kate Moss items - including this top... and a few others... and a leather dress... luckily for my wallet and bank account, i too exercised restraint. but let there be no doubt... i'll be going again soon. you know, for England.

what is happening here?

i'm so confused by this. it hurts my brain trying to figure out what is happening in this photo. like, seriously.... what?!?! is it intentional? i just don't understand. go home young lady. put on a burlap sac because that would make more sense to me. you're too pretty for this. please stop confusing me.

tick tock tick tock

the time is almost here my dears for the super fantastic pieces of art (aka jewelry) by my friend Juniper Rose to be hitting the Donna Karan stores. her work is gorgeous - bad ass and beautiful all mixed into one. they will be available at the end of the month- cuffs in the $500 range and necklaces in the $800 range. i dare you to put on a piece of this jewlery and not feel like a rock star.... even looking at them makes a person feel a little more ziggy. and so i say to thee - rock on!

photo - courtesy of Donna Karan

fromage!

the cheese comes from the fact that i desperately wanted to title this post "bohemian rhapsody" - but i just couldn't go there... well, i suppose i just did. in my defense - the image is decidedly bohemian, and the feeling it gives me is rhapsody. so there.

this Marc Jacobs dress is so beyond beautiful that it makes my brain hurt. i can't stop staring at it - the print is so utterly gorge that i want to wallpaper my bedroom in it. belt it tight with a black leather belt, my over the knee black pirate-y boots and a black leather jacket???? lovely and amazing. truly.

morning coffee obsession

ok, so it took me 2 cups to even get to the point of writing. but i have been thinking. in fact, since i saw this jacket in Barney's, i have not stopped thinking. i know that i have been on a bit of a leather kick, and indeed a leather jacket kick. this one however, knocked my little socks off. one of my favorite things in life is a cardi. it equals comfort plus warmth. my recent fave cardis are of the wrap-y and drapey variety. you can tie them, belt them, let 'em hang. sky is the limit with those things. but i digress... i was wandering Barney's co-op floor - aimlessly. i had purchased boots so now i was just looking at pretty things. and BAZINGA - this popped up in front of me. a wrap-y drape-y cardigan style leather jacket that PRPS seems to have made just for me. for the love of mike... i am using much willpower not to purchase... i try to distract myself with shiny objects to stop thinking of it... sigh. perhaps the sale gods will be on my side and suddenly there will be a massive reduction and there will be no reason that i should not immediately run out and incorporate this jacket into my daily existence... and in case Barney's is out of them (they only have it in store - not on their site) my resourceful side has located it at ShopBop as well. you know, just in case...

psssst..... sale quickie

quickie post - shopbop has put a patootie-load of new items on sale. and the markdowns are substantial! i may or may not have scored a HOT pair of Alexander Wang black skinny pants with cool zipper and moto-knee details for about 1/5 of their original price... oh yeah baby.

shoesday

haha you see what i DID was - i made up a day using my favorite accessory! haha! (ode to Karen Walker)

i believe i mentioned having an odd fixation with the Olsen twins. i have forever, ever since Full House. and then the 40 bazillion videos they made, that i watched with my nieces. i actually remember some of the songs... for example "brother for sale". a classic up there with Elvis...

other people clearly have the fixation as well, since the girls are doing incredibly well as designers and entrepeneurs in their own right. despite the sometimes odd looks they sport in paparazzi photos (so entirely unfair) they have quite a phenom fashion sense. their two lines, The Row and Elizabeth and James have quite a lot of really gorgeous pieces. the cut and construction is just right on the money. ShopBop has an great collection, and if you are in the old NYC - Bergdorf's or Bloomingdales can satisfy your jones...

of course, as i am an accessory fiend, i am drawn most to the shoes and jewelry. the jewelry has been around a while - and i got a silver dagger pendant a couple of years ago during a bit of an angry phase (job related - my loved ones should not fear for their safety) the shoes - a relatively new venture. and as i must do - i went and tried on a bunch of them. they are rather perfect i have to say... the little flats are adorable - but sadly my feet are so small that sometimes little flats make me look like i should not be able to stand upright. if any of you are bigger than a size six - go for it. this pair in particular is totes obsession worthy. but, and perhaps it's seasonally based, the boots are what cried out to me. they're flingin flangin perfect. comfortable, absolutely wear-able with whatever you can wrap your mind around. this pair is beyond... they also have a couple pairs of knee high boots that i needed to touch more than once. yes, i pet shoes. i'm not afraid to admit it.

shoe lovers, there is a new kid in town...

je reviens

hello me stylies. i am sorry i left you alone for some time... things happened that took me away from things... i hope you are not curled in a corner naked, avoiding your life because you have no idea what to wear... i hope that is not the case!! if it is - un-curl, come over here to your computer and i'll help. we'll get you dressed one pant leg (or legging leg, as the case may be) at a time. you are ok - i'm back.

so...let's get to it, shall we? this is perhaps the most perfect thing in the world that could happen right now to make us all smile. a COLORING BOOK of fashion. "My Wonderful World of Fashion: A Book for Drawing, Creating and Dreaming" by Nina Chakrabarti. seriously - what better way to bring a girl out of the duldrums or the mean reds - you have your coloring book and your colored pencils, and you just play and escape into fashion-y lala land. LOVE this. it is kind of blowing my mind how great this is.

it's available at Amazon.com, and most likely at solid 3-D bookstores as well - and just to warn you - if you are a close friend of mine, there is a very high poss that you will be getting one of these for Christmas.