worthy of giving thanks

i am not a huge fan of thanksgiving.  i like being thankful.  i do that every  day.  but the amount of work and food for that one meal just seems a bit mad if you ask me.  anyhoo -  let's focus on the giving thanks.  today, let us thank the collaboration spirits.  another doozer from H&M - it's had the interwebs buzzing like mental for months - and it just happens to hit stores November 23.  (so you could feasibly wear a piece while cooking a 49 billion pound turkey)  that's right kittens - it's time for Lanvin H&M collection.  it's been tres hush hush in terms of images leaking - but Vogue UK has a perfect slideshow to drool over while making your pick list...  this dress is a bit adorbs, but i am mainly focused on the jackets.  LOVE.  the little cropped fur (faux i hope) jacket is perfection - and i'm enamored of the trench coats as well.  my hope is that most of the crazed women who will no doubt be lining the sidewalks waiting (the Jimmy Choo collab was like getting into an exclusive night club) will be snatching up the dresses - leaving all the jackets for me to pick from at will.... and for that, i shall be truly thankful, making the holiday more meaningful.  and well dressed.

neutral territory

i'm not always a huge risk taker in the color realm. i usually tend to splash out with accessories and stay a bit more to the neutral side with the clothing. it gives you a lot more options in how to play with accessories, which as you may have gathered by now is one of my favorite pass-times! there are arm-fulls of lovely pieces out for fall in a variety of colors that can be placed comfortably in the neutral category. this makes me a happy camper. or shopper as it were. the H&M fall lookbook was just put out - and once again those price-minded mavens have done the season well. any (or all, considering their price point!) of these pieces could slide easily into anyone's wardrobe. i'm already imagining the white shirt over leggings and over-the-knee boots... or the belt cinched around a military jacket... not that i'm picking favorites. i shall remain neutral. (haha)

fringe benefits

tis a previously posted fact that i am in love with my JJ Winters fringe bag.  i put it away for the freezing winter and have recently put it back into rotation full swing for the nice weather months. these little boho babies seem to be popping up EVERYWHERE now - and i'm feeling the pull of temptation to add a little more fringe into the mix!  wearing fringe just feels good, it swishes as you walk and it just makes you feel a little bit more sass in every step.  LOVE it..  you can run the gamut on what you spend.  in the interest of fiscal responsibility, i will skip the lovely fringed bags by Jimmy Choo and Givenchy.  there's a fantastic mid-range with from JJ Winters, Charlie My Love and Susan Farber.  AND you can also go the route of the super cute bag my niece got at H&M, or this cute Forever21 bag... get swingin' dolls!

low price loooove

i know i only recently sang a song of love for H&M. so perhaps this makes it a full on spring fling, or even true love.

i'm a bit bemused by all the "festival fashion" advice being flung aroud out there. it's a wild homage to Kate Moss, really. before the shots of her in her adorable Glastonbury duds, no one gave a rat's patootie what to wear to a rock show. it certainly wasn't worthy of so many style guides. if you're a rocker - you rock it out. seems simple enough.  but it is quite the buzz out there right now.

unless you personally email and ask me - i will not go there.  where i WILL go is to a little collection that H&M is doing. it's called the Festival Collection (hence the above babble) but what it REALLY is, is a collection that will donate 25% of sales to AIDS awareness projects. that in itself is super-fantastic - then on top of it - there are some really adorbs pieces. a LOT of them actually. all counted there are at least 5 things i'll be running to get my stylie little mitts on. (HELLO fringey dress!  come to mama)  at their prices a girl can afford to go a little nuts. the collection hits stores on May 20 - so mark the old calendars.  rock shows attendance optional.  looking fabulous? let's all do it!

gardening at night

it's not nighttime as i write this, but how can i resist using an REM song as title for a post?

i am a wee bit late in the game with this collection - but it's one i wanted to see for myself, and it has been a bit of a doozer of a month, so i've just now been able to....  H&M recently put out a "garden collection" made of sustainable or recycled materials.  and the pieces are GORGE.  i took my sister in law and 2 nieces to H&M, and we all went completely mad and tried on almost the whole collection between the 4 of us.  i may go back for more too - the prices are INSANE.  my sister in law and i each got the pretty little hippie tunic - it's shown in white in all the ads, but it also comes in a realllllly pretty soft pink which we chose.  the beauty of it lies in the fact that the 2 of us have very different styles - so these pieces can work for everyone.  i'm big on the sustainable/recycled idea - and i really hope that they re-stock (as always - any new collection at H&M does have the habit of flying out the doors) AND hope they continue doing new collections in this vein.   i didn't purchase it - but this little red jacket is abs fabu.  and there are a number of other tunics and tops that i LOVE.

the long and short (yep maxi and mini dresses are in the collection!) of it is --- go check it out!

sales and pondering

ah well. the bird that i heard that mentioned the word of an additional 30% off at Bergdorf's was mistaken... sad, but probs for the best in terms of shoes i should not be purchasing. there were, however - some great markdowns - and some amazing new stuff, including some fun new jewelry on the 5th floor, "5F" as they like to call it - including Jennifer Zeuner. i always like finding someone new whose stuff i may not have seen - and i have to admit i spent some time looking at her pieces. so much so that it distracted me from the shoes on sale. WHAT?! (as a little aside - there is also a great selection of her jewelry online at singer22)

i'm in the resto at B'dorfs, waiting for my friend Laura in our meeting place of choice for hightea service. i am staring at a table of 3 women. i wonder (as i often do in B'dorf's) where in the world they get their money... married into it? family? can't quite figure it? these ladies fall squarely into the category which proves one of my commandments. "money does not equal style". now -- this works both ways. there are skads of girls on the streets of NY, London, Paris who ooze style - it wafts around them like a heady perfume. they are not decked out in designers or the latest trend. they're in things they've most likely altered themselves. (a fave passtime of yours truly) and they are wearing what will most likely be the NEXT trend. on the flip side of the coin - there are the tragically rich. they ooze money. they have expensive hair, makeup, clothes, the works. and not one ounce of style. i wish there a word for it. what it is, is a sloppy rich mess.

until Laura arrives to block my view - i can't take my eyes of the 3 such creatures. one may or may not be that Fantasia person from American Idol. there's a blinding amount of enormous chunky jewelry. the other 2 are blonde. fully (overly) made up - artfully (overly) coiffed. attempting to be casual with Uggs - but missing the mark with the contrived "outfits" and dizzying amounts of diamonds and fur. (of note, the hideous atrocity that is a poncho made out of a multitude of furry tails. it's literally an ass poncho and looks thus) they believe it all works. it makes me feel a little bad for them.

all the money in the world clearly could not buy them an idea of style. i sit and sip my water, and mentally rifle through what i am wearing. an old thermal undershirt that i shredded the neck off; an old Missoni tunic thrown on top of it; an ancient beloved cashmere hat stretched almost beyond regognition; a scarf from H&M; my Levis jeans, and rubber snow boots. Laura arrives and squeals that she could spot me from the entrance by how much style i was projecting
across the room. i smile and i feel like a million bucks.

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!!!

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!

H&M must be mixing in with today's oxygen

only an hour or so ago i was pontificating on the glory on online shopping with H&M. and happened to mention the Jimmy Choo collection coming November 14th... well imagine my surprise when upon the interwebs i did find a couple of pics from said line. seems mr. choo is expanding into clothing for this line, including this pretty adorable sparkly cardi. ($129) "hello Christmas parties!" but far be it from the magical choo to leave out accessories. this little bag ($99) is kind of ridiculously adorable and i want it. i can't wait to see what else is in store (haha) for us come November. and am i one of those people who will go on the first day? you bet your sweet buns i am!!!

my bank accout is smiling

well well well... what do we have here?! a little birdie tells me that very soon - H&M will be opening online shopping. what's that? you just heard angels sing? me too!!

H&M has been for quite some number of years my (tied with Topshop) numero uno high street store. (that's brit speak for trendy shop that won't set you back a million) they actually care a bit about the quality of the clothes they're selling you, and they have a lovely habit of teaming with designers to do collections. as a little FYI - there's a Jimmy Choo partnership coming in November. wipe the drool off your face - you're at work, behave!

living in NY and travelling regularly to England to see the fam, it's relatively easy for me to get to an H&M. but what about those long nights when nothing satisfies but a troll of the internet plaza? one of the things that chapped me a bit was the lack of being able to scratch the H&M itch at any given moment. to look, perchance to buy... coming soon - we can. i say to you all "YES WE CAN".