it's SALE TIME stylies!!!

hear ye, hear ye. and all that. it's a SALE TIME post me lovelies.

Nieman Marcus' "Last Call" sale, to be precise. it tends to be a doozer - where you can score some good designer items for up to 75% off their (to be frank, and let's be frank, rather pricey) regular prices. i have picked up some really beautiful things picking around the sale pages there.

happy hunting!

nieves lavi - me lovee

ye shall learn, as we go along the stylie path together, that i am obsessed with Nicole Richie. not the too skinny hot mess girl she was, but the woman she is now. cute, cute mommy with a bangin' body and a fantastic bohemiam, luxe-hippie style. i love her.

a couple of years ago, i was cruisin the mags, as is my wont. and i saw her wearing an oh-so-adorable mini dress. i did my hunt and it turned out the dress was from Nieves Lavi. so i went on hunt part deux. found myself at Saks, before taking my visiting niece to American Girl (or as i now know, "little girls addicted to dolls like they were crack") for a special birthday tea and shopping spree. anyhoo - i grabbed some Nieves Lavi pieces and hit the dressing room with my little lady in tow. tried on the first dress - and she said out loud "wow - that is so flattering". two things here - one: how cute is that, and i love her two: if a 10 year old says that - it's real. they don't know enough to say "no that doesn't make you look fat". dress was purchased and my love affair began. they do sell on their website, and also have a list of other retailers and websites who sell them.

most of their pieces are silk - and so ridiculously light and comfortable, and yes, flattering that you could live in them. they do also do cotton pieces. i hunt and i scour, because the-e-stylist likes things on sale. i'm just that way...and i have collected a few dresses and tops that i LOVE. they feel like air on your skin and as a special bonus, you get to feel just a little bit Nicole Richie bohemian luxe-hippie for a day. it's a win-win sitcho my friends.

perfect pumps please!

i am more of an "interesting" shoe person. so i don't often shop for the "traditional" kind of shoe. however, necessity sometimes calls, and like any polite person, i must answer.

this brings us to the pump. not a shoe i normally wear, nor crave. however, a staple to have in the old shoe wardrobe no doubt. i have a rather large place set aside in my heart for Karen Walker from Will and Grace. she is pretty much my favorite tv character of all time. and that's saying a lot, because miss e-stylist here watches a rather large amount of television. don't judge please. ANYWAY - Karen Walker is, 99% of the time, wearing full on uptown Manhattan rich mama clothes. not my personal style, but the woman looks impeccable. i like that. she's perfectly dressed right down to her pumps. perhaps that is what swayed me into thinking i should probably own some. (in case at any moment a magic wand is waved in my direction and i become a fictional billionaire socialite...or a real one, i'm not fussy)

and so, some time ago, i began one of my hunts. as i do. i went pump huntin'. usually i wear flats. this may be because i live in NY and have to walk a lot every day, or it may be because i am a klutz and am afraid of falling. that is neither here nor there. i just wear flats a lot. so heels were a challenge. i decided to start small. i tried on approximately 40 billion pairs of shoes. (give or take a few) in the "ok i can totally manage this without injury" category, i ended up with Christian Louboutin simple pumps in the lower heel height. (left photo). now, let me say here that i can't really afford to buy these shoes full price. i love them like chocolate, but they are pricey. worth it, but pricey. so if you are like me, (i really don't like to pay full price. i'm a sale fiend) i suggest trying them on at a shop, then doing the online scouring to score them on sale. Neiman's often has sales, and Bluefly is a great resource for markdown designer goodies.

0nce i had become ok with that height and worn them out a few times, i decided to get really crazy and go high. this still scared me a bit, so i decided to try a platform pump to even the playing field, so to speak. what i ended up with here was a pretty hot looking pair from ye olde Banana Republic...(right photo) they have enough of a platform in front so as not to give me vertigo, but they look high! i practiced a few nights in my apartment - then went out to dinner wearing them and felt spectacular and fancy. i felt like a lady. well, i felt like Karen Walker, and as she once said "I'm a lady, assface!" what's not to love?!

flapjack to fab

like any lady, i have, in various states of zeal, (verging on the "OH GOD WHY?!") submitted myself to the task of finding jeans that fit and flatter. it is one of life's mysteries that this arduous undertaking is so dreadful.

a few years ago i got into a Levi's kick. and i still hold fast and true to my love of Levi. one style in particular fits me perfectly - the low rise skinny (531). love them. but sometimes a girl craves a little designer jean flare, n'est-ce pas? and so i ventured forth on a quest that lasted years. sadly, every single designer i tried, every one - made me either look like a sausage squeezed into a too snug tube, or made me lose my bum entirely. we're talking flat as a flapjack. either way, NOT good.

i then read about Paige denim. i don't really remember the article or blurb particularly striking me in the moment. it did not spark in me my hunting instinct, but it did apparently lodge in my subconscious. some time later i found myself at Bergdorf Goodman, waiting on a friend to have high tea. she had found herself stuck in a meeting, so i had an hour to kill. i wandered to the lust-worthy 5th floor, thinking i'd cruise the shoes... but i found myself in the midst of jeans. the first thing i saw was Paige - and i thought "hey, why not check this out?". i pulled a few sizes and styles, got secured into my little dressing room - and suddenly my world was transformed. you see, i am a girl who wears jeans almost every day in the fall, winter and spring. i live in jeans, i love jeans. jeans are my uniform. and suddenly - i was looking at myself in jeans that gave me a pleasingly plump posterior. my personal favorite styles are the Blue Heights skinny and the Laurel Canyon, but i will keep on trying what comes next... i'm a fan for life.

i didn't purchase in the moment, i got distracted by the tea. so i went home afterward and started up the old hunt on the web. some scouring later, i had secured two pairs, and on sale no less. they do sell on their site, and they are also sold at loads of other sites, and in loads of stores. they're nice and easy to find. these babies are well worth the full price - they are magical. but they also do go on sale from time to time. i do suggest trying on each pair, the styles i have tried, i vary in sizing. but they really are amazing. this lovely woman Paige is more about fit than fad - and that is a rock solid idea in a slippery word . and now i look like i have a rock solid bum!
Paige - i thank thee.

oh, hello!

i had to have a little nasty round of NINE shots into my back yesterday. not fun AT ALL - but that is not what's on the table here, so i shall not stray. after said procedure, my caring bf accompanied me to the pharmacy (thank god - i was more than slightly left of center from the anesthetic) as we were waiting on line, i looked down and saw my shoes. god i love shoes. god i love THESE shoes. i got them last year - and they have remained one of my almost every day, go with almost everything staples. i. love. these. shoes.they're made by Matt Bernson. they do sell on the site, and there's also a selection at Piperlime (by the by - an awesome website for shoe freaks like myself)

after initially seeing them on Nicky Hilton in a magazine and doing my usual hunt it down!!! thing, i purchased the shoes with happiness in my shoe-heart. the shoes are really well made, and all in all, just pretty perfect. i am completely obsessed with them. i also found on my hunt these lovelies and another pair that are no longer made... so i guess it's true that good things do come in 3's... although i may break down and buy another pair this year. so maybe good things just come.

underthings....

summer is about comfort and staying as cool as poss in the NYC humidity. (well, it's actually all about the beach - but life happens and i can't be on the beach 24/7 so this post is about reality)

over the last 2 years i became obsessed with dresses. it's one piece of clothing. it looks nice, and it's super comfy. i went on a rampage, and now have a happy little collection from which to choose when i get dressed every day. one glitch in the system is what might need to go UNDER said dresses... there are a couple that are a teeny bit sheer in bright sunlight. not ok. i have no desire to show my butt to the streets of NY. i don't feel they deserve it.

armed with the challenge, i went on the hunt for the perfect slip. it felt kind of glamorous to tell you the truth. very 1940's languid movie star. i perused every website and every lingerie section possible. i tried about a billion slips on. the creme de la creme has turned out to be Commando slips. you can buy them online, but they also do sell them at Saks, Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. the one annoying thing is that they are a bit expensive - but they are worth it. i bought a mini full slip and a half slip, and i wear them CONSTANTLY. i don't know what the fabric is, but it never static-sticks to anything, and each piece has teeny little weights in the bottom, so it doesn't ride up like so many other fabrics do. the dress extravaganza of my summers now feels complete.

that's about all i have to say about that....