Chopped.

Before / After

Apparently I'm behind the times, since she looked like this in some Spring 2011 shows I missed, but I am SO LOVING Carmen Kass's new cut right now.

I struck me while perusing pics of the Michael Kors show from the Fall 2011 shows. I love my long wavy locks, and I can't imagine cutting them this short ever, but I just had to point out that she looks soooooooooo cool. Maybe it's the smirk, maybe it's her general confidence. Somehow, the shaggy, effortless, pieciness of her look is just the pinnacle of cool to me. A big Bravo to her stylists.

Sara, I think you could definitely rock this look. Thoughts??

Michael Kors, Fall 2011.

All photos from Style.com

Rant: Dumbing it Down

As a continuation of my rant about "celebrity fashion lines" (see below), I would like to briefly mention how enraged I become at the sight of designer lines at Kohl's, Target, and H&M.

The best way I can describe my feelings are as follows: It's like Beethoven writing a jingle for toothpaste. Yes, it allows everyone to enjoy his music, but it's not really his music anymore. What made it beautiful and exceptional and unique was its opulence.

To me, Kate and Laura Mulleavy making shitty clothes for Target and calling them "Rodarte" is the same. Yes, it means that lower income (hell, average income people) can afford to wear Mulleavy designs. But in this case, what it really means is that you get a poorly sewn, shapeless dress made out of some of the most uncomfortable and unflattering fabric available. This is not Rodarte. Rodarte is magic. It is innovative and fresh. It involves strangely flattering cuts and perfectly draped fabrics. It is not a boxy dress made out of frizzy mesh. To me, it is a tragedy for these women to take their incredible talents and dumb them down, settling for imperfections in the name of accessibility.

I don't mean to harp on the Rodarte girls alone. Anyone who has tried on anything from Vera Wang's collection for Kohl's knows what I'm talking about. Roberto Cavalli did some pretty awful things for H&M too. Shame on you all.

That said, it's not all bad. I would like to give a big shout out to Zac Posen, who made some amazingly well-fitting dresses out of an affordable and comfortable jersey fabric for Target - one of which I happily purchased and flaunt in the summer. And from what I saw of Elber Albaz's Lanvin collection for H&M, he did his line and his talents justice. [Disclaimer: I didn't get to the store in time to sample the clothes myself before they sold out, so this opinion is solely based on a lookbook found on Fashionista. But man those clothes looked pretty!]

Thoughts? Have you ever bought a designer look for less and loved it?

Want.

So according to Fashionista, Lauren Conrad (despite the catastrophic failure and harsh criticism of her previous fashion adventures) is coming out with a new clothing line called Paper Crown.

Now I loved Laguna Beach and The Hills as much as any other fashion/reality tv-obsessed girl, but I am perpetually skeptical of fashion lines started by "celebrities" instead of actual, trained designers. Being fabulously stylish in real life does not make you a designer - in my mind they require very different skill sets. See: "Dear" by Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan's "6126", and Madonna's "Material Girl".


At any rate, morbid curiosity / my love of criticizing people who are cooler than me prompted me to peruse the look book available on Fashionista here, and I concede that it's a really cute collection. In fact, I WANT EVERYTHING. Seriously, I would wear every single outfit. I would be happy if they were the only pieces in my closet and I was a walking Paper Crown mannequin. Shocking, truly. But delightfully shocking!

Can't wait to see where it's available and if I can afford it!

Really liked this... thought I would share...

Wear what you LIKE  - the rebuttal to Michelle Obama's choice to wear Alexander McQueen for the sate dinner with China.

The fabulosity of flares

Things have been a bit grey and gloomy here in Chicago, so naturally I'm dreaming of Spring and a new wardrobe. I'm sick and tired of wearing the same bulky black snow boots with every single outfit I wear in public because I can't tromp through the snow and ice in anything less. I feel frumpy and creatively stifled. So to remedy my mid-winter fashion blues, I've started surfing fashion blogs with renewed zeal. (note: the fact that my final semester of law school is full of classes such as "The Law of Social Networking" is certainly helping)

Of the many new trends I've noticed from ravenous blog surfing, I've been particularly excited about the growing prevalence of slim and sexy '70s style flared jeans. First I saw them on Scott Schuman's The Sartorialist (below left), and then on Rumi Neely of fashiontoast (below right).

Goodness knows I've enjoyed the chic look of my skinnies for the last four years, but I really miss the incredibly flattering look of a great-fitting pair of flares. They make your thighs look slimmer, your butt look juicier, and create this great shape that accents whatever fabulous pair of shoes you have peeking out from underneath.

As much as I wish I could break out the flares I wore with love in high school, I have a sneaking suspicion they probably won't fit anymore... So here's to a fresh new look for spring, courtesy of a fresh new shopping spree! (as soon as my loan money comes in...) Who's with me?