S.B.A. c'est moi

alas, i am still so madly in love with last season's Burberry collection that i was incapable of giving my whole heart to this one. that being said,  there were certainly a few pieces that stole a nice big chunk of love and lust from yours truly.  (helllllooooooo first two photos)  i always have a soft spot for the bad-ass biker girl look, but i suppose i am softening a teeny bit with age - and i now like a more subtle bad-ass.  the olive ruched leather jacket and those insanely brilliant pants make me a) delerious they're so amazing and b) want to slap on my ipod headphones, crank up the led zeppelin and go have tea at Bergdorfs.   ladies and gentleman, subtle bad ass. Burberry style.

boot camp

i have spent the past week attempting to hide under a cool, mossy rock.  it has been hotter than a brick oven in nyc.  apparently the hottest it has been in 33 years. and as much of a summer-lover as i am, i must admit, it got the best of me.  i was useless. however,  i have crawled out from under said rock now, and have now decided to alternate between enjoying snippets of sun and summer glory, and blasting the AC and looking at fall clothing so as not to faint in a puddley mess of heat stroke.

hardly surprising - guess what the first thing is to spring to mind?   yes, my style dolls - SHOES.  boots, to be precise.  i had a dream a few nights ago that my aunt gave me THE most AMAZING pair of boots that i had ever seen.  sadly, in the "real world" they don't exist.  how boring.  but of course i had to do some searching and see if there was anything close....and searching in my "real world" price range (again - BORING).  note to self - if sudden riches occur - boots most closely resembling dream boots are at Burberry....  a perfectly acceptable, and very desirable second place goes to these Sam Edelman boots...  love the color - love the height, love the heel.  that equals love, love, love.   and i knew a guy one time who said "all you need is love"... so there you have it.

it's raining, it's pouring

 and rain boots are not boring.  they used to be -- when they were called "galoshes".  who wants to wear THAT?!?!

i remember one of the engagement photos of Princess Diana and Prince Charles.  (yep - i am that kind of Brit, thank you very much.  i have a nice collection of memorabilia) i was beyond obsessed.  she was wearing Hunter wellies - and she looked like the most glamorous creature i had ever seen.  years later - Kate Moss at Glastonbury festival - wearing the ultimate rocker chick outfit - and Hunter wellies to muck through the mud - again - style perfection. 

most likely after the Glastonbury photo - wellies got INSANELY popular here in the olde US of A.  and now, everyone and their little sister makes a rain boot.  if you're feeling traditional - the Hunter wellie will get you through any storm - including this disgusting mess outside my window right now.  if you're feeling a bit designer-y - Burberry is well in on the action as well.  and if you're feeling budget-y, Laila Rowe has a well priced and pretty adorbs collection of wellies to be had.

the rest of you may get soaked to the bone - but your feet will look cute and your tootsies will stay dry!

sir, yes SIR

the  danger of doing this blog is that it heightens my desire to acquire the items i blog about.  perfect examples are the Burberry skirt i cannot erase from my mind and that damned Balmain jacket. 
'member them?  i do.  and i do want them so.

there's this little thing called reality, and luckily it checks me.  not always - but it does at times.  so, in lieu of saying "eh whatever" to savings accounts, and purchasing said lust items, i'm doing the reality dance and looking for alternatives.  for the jacket at least...  as much as i adore the gorgeous original designs (and every now and then, esp with shoes - i crumble - but that's a story for a different day), this search for the "real world" option is one of my favorite things to do. here's one of the few i found on my ShopStyle quest.

i'm on the hunt i'm after youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....

Jackets by Victoria's Secret

rain? what rain?

right.  two things.   one.  it often rains in London.  if you did not expect or prepare for this, and only brought stilettos, well then... that's just silly now, isn't it?  two.   are you seriously going to complain about it when you're IN LONDON AT FASHION WEEK??   honestly.

ray of sunshine in said rainy times? the Burberry Prorsum show.  GORGE.  lovely and amazing.  i'm still not even close to over my obsession with the skirt from Burberry's spring/summer collection.  not even close.  and now add this in the mix!?!?!  we've got ourselves what is teetering on an addiction.  i cannot even fathom how much i love the over the knee boots in the army green/brown.  and the dresses?  and the bandage sweater?  i feel a bit faint - pass the salts.  seriously.   gorgeous.   stuff.   and call me a broken record, but how fantastic is the cobalt coat?


don't try to make me go to rehab for this one.  (insert Amy Winehouse song here)  this addiction stays in the picture, thank you very much, good morning.

award show 101

it's a bit like a warm up - it lets people get back into practice for award show dressing... (and allows others who are not deemed worthy of big boy and big girl awards to play) i speak, my stylies, of the People's Choice Awards. it's usually a fun watch, and sure it's a fun idea - to have the fans pick the winners... but there are some very un-worthy people in the world these day with fans - so let's not give them tooooo much credit, eh? (yeah i'm talkin to you - Jersey Shore wretches!!)

HANDS DOWN winner -- Dianne Kruger. a gorgeous woman in a Herve Leger dress is a bit hard to not love. but man, did she do it justice. the loose hair - ADORES. jewelry from H&M? more-adore! i know it's ridiculous that i love her even more so because she is dating Pacey/Peter Bishop/Joshua Jackson. but i do. so there. also big ups to cute little Taylor Swift. i'm totes late on her bandwagon - but i can't get enough of this little lady. she is so sweet - and this Jenny Packham dress makes her look amazing. the Louboutin heels help seal the deal by making her legs look 40 miles long.

in the hmmmmmmmm..... category - Katie Cassidy. i have to admit i am a teeny bit obsessed with this girl. part of it is my lingering adolescent fixation with Melrose Place, in its new incarnation. her character rocks. part of it is that she's David Cassidy's daughter. and part of it is that she's flingin flangin GORGEOUS. the hmmm comes in with this dress. first let me say i LOVE the hair, although i'm really not sure it works with this dress... just a bit too much goin on all over the shoulder-y vicinity. second - the dress by Talbot Runhof. when she is turned sideways like this, i kind of dig it... full frontal - not so much. it's like two dresses met up and had an illicit affair that created a confused bastard child dress. so i'm left a bit bewildered.

and then there's Jessica. oh Miss Alba. you are so pretty. you could probably wear a potato sack and look good. i wish you had. in addition to the fact that you need to eat several cheeseburgers, because we do not want to see your skeleton from the outside, this dress is taking away from your pretty. i love your pretty. but looking at this i think "holy hip hell!" and "hey wait - don't bend over or lift your arms!". on the plus side - LOVING your Burberry Prorsum shoes.

phew. ok - that's enough for now. for more pictorial delights visit the People's Choice site. and then set your style radars for the Golden Globe/SAG/Oscar trifecta!!!

artfully draped

i am a fan of draping in clothing. it is a beautiful trick that makes clothing look fluid even when standing still. when done right - it can be staggeringly gorgeous. however -- not always easy to pull off. i find it's best to choose wisely. for example, the draped blouse invariably ends up either falling off a shoulder (not in the sexy flash dance way) or exposing a boob. not a desirable outcome in the average social situation. it's nearly impossible to keep it from flailing around you - and it just makes a lady fidget. fidgeting is not attractive. it makes one appear as if one might need to go have one's demons dealt with in a quiet medicinal setting.

and so i say HAZZAH! to this lovely draped skirt from Burberry Prorsum. beauty. pure and simple. and nothing to flail around and expose, as it's all neatly contained within itself. LOVES it. and it can be styled any which way from over-the-top glam with sequins and heels, all the way down to a tank top or tee and flat sandals. the possibilities are both limitless and gorgeous. ergo - it's a perfect piece of clothing. i just love it when that happens!

(as a less pricey option - the ever on-the-mark trend spotters at Love21 by Forever21 offer up a similar skirt)

a snood by any other name....

snoods as sweet... it's staggering, my similarity to Shakespeare, no?

i do know i've yammered a bit about the snood before. possibly it's my Elizabethan fixation, or poss the friggin freezing winds that howl through the building tunnels here in NY in the winter... whatever the root - i think i may be obsessing on snoods this year.

now then - this little Burberry number here is quite the catch. the fringe is nice, to swish around a bit while you walk... and imagine the toastiness inside your little cave of cashmere. they have other colors available at Saks, although there it goes by another name - the "loop". between you and me - it's a snood. a snood is a snood. a "loop" is something you either eat, (as in "fruit-") or perhaps drive (just do a loop and come back east) or a knitting term perhaps? ... anyhoo - this is a SNOOD for goodness sake. and i rather adore it. it almost makes me not mad at wind any more..