I saw this first pair of Giambattista Valli shoes on Shoelust and fell in love so, I had to see what else the designer had to offer. This man can do a platform! Gorgeous!!!
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heels
So, I pre-ordered these crazy Jeffrey Cambell “Clinic” wedges from Solestruck eons ago and they should arrive today. They don’t carry half-sizes (I HATE HATE HATE when shoe makers don’t make half-sizes) so I ordered a size 6 instead of a 6.5 since everyone said they’re a bit large. I was wondering what I was going to do if they didn’t fit so I checked what they were going for on eBay since they’ve sold out 3 times already and won’t be available again until June. Oh… they’re going for $100 more than what I paid for them. That alone was weakening my love for them. $100 extra in my pocket? Hmmm…
Then, Solestruck did a sneak peak on Twitter of these new Jeffrey Campbell “Dirty Lady” shoes that will be available in May. SWOON! I love them even more than the Clinics! These could stand the test of time! They’re not as flashy and still have all that wedge heel personality. They’ll probably cost a bit less than the Clinics as well since they’re lacking a lot of details. My love for the Clinics was weakening even more.
Yesterday, I went to DSW while the bf was getting his hair cut to find some cute practical black flats for Spring. I saw these completely impractical BCBG heels on the clearance rack. $110 shoes for $50. They’re just gorgeous, and I’ve been wanting some multicolored heels for ages. So yeah, my mind is now made up. I’m selling the Clinics, keeping these, and waiting for the Dirty Lady wedges in May.
Oh, and I finally got to play with that odd curling iron I got for my b-day. Total B.S! I tried. Believe me I tried over and over to get that thing to work like it was supposed to but no dice. I got defeated by a damn curling iron and well, it’s being sent back today.
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- Hipster Puppies! The captions kill me.
- clara is always first to change the subject to politics, but gets 90% of her information from gawker and the daily show
- muffin arrogantly insists that she doesn’t “own a tv,” but still watches mad men and arrested development on her macbook pro
- trigger says the words “bike culture” out loud at least once a day
- lucky thinks this unagi is too salty, and he knows because he lived in japan for a month
- Retail therapy and spoiling myself a bit. I am an extremely generous person but there comes a time when you have to say to hell with a bit more debt and get yourself something you really really want. Having a birthday coming up is the perfect justification – because I’m beginning to feel as though if I don’t spoil myself, no one else will. I can’t wait for these to arrive! They’ve sold out twice already so I put myself on the waiting list and as soon as I received the email, they were mine! I have no idea when, where or what with I’m going to wear them. Yes, I know they’re ridiculous but sometimes ridiculous things just speak to your heart – like my two pet rats, red eyeshadow, that time I let my friends dread my hair, and rhumba panties. No regrets. They can sit next to me on the sofa while I watch Hoarders for all I care.
- I’m finally meeting some of my favorite Richmond Twitter ladies for coffee on Wednesday night! I’m really excited! Between this and my lady friend dinner last week I’m giddy about getting out and about with cool chicks. This winter has driven me mad!
- How does one forget they have a brand new red wool pea coat in a storage closet for oh… say, 8 years!? No idea. It’s from the Victoria’s Secret catalog and I bought it new with tags off of eBay for like $20 one summer, put it away in a garment bag and just recently found it, thinking something else was in the bag. I’m a genius.
- My painting project is coming along nicely. Slowly but nicely. I will post finished pics soon!
- Moggit picks out the most nonsensical and utterly stupid examples of modern design. Hilarious.
via indexed
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- I’m in no way a PETA nut. I love meat – try to buy humanely raised meat/dairy every chance I get, but I seriously will not give it up. I am one pork chop away from being an anemic mess. Anyhow… I hate the circus, I hate zoos, I hate Seaworld, etc. I am sorry that trainer was killed but we needed a wake-up call. No animal should be used for entertainment (under the guise of education) unless it’s already a domesticated breed (petting zoos and pets in general), is receiving medical attention/rehab to be released back into the wild eventually, or there is no way it could survive in the wild on its own for whatever horrible reason. If it’s possible for people to take a little peek at these animals then fine. Large fish aquariums don’t bother me that much but for christ’s sake! Mammals! Killer whales are intelligent mammals who live in families, travel hundreds of miles a day, have sophisticated modes of communication – all reduced to some deluded egomaniacal asshat standing on its nose to pop music so someone can make a buck. Give me an effin break! I’ll get my animal education from documentaries thank you very much.
- Let’s get back to the retail therapy thing. I used to be a compulsive clothes/shoe shopper. I wouldn’t make major purchases but stuff starts to add up and after I got rid of over 50 pairs of shoes and purged my closet in preparation for a move, I thought I had seen the light when I saw all that money I had spent get donated to Goodwill. I have been sooo good for almost a year. Well… I really just redirected my spending on my bf’s and my first apartment together. That was healthy and fun spending for legitimate things we needed but it still satisfied something inside me that needed to be excited about something. Lately, I’ve been stressed/disappointed like whoa and well, I’ve caught myself getting sucked into the clothing/shoes spiral again. Today, I went out for an hour to blow off some steam (shop) and had about 20 things in my arms to try on. Had all of it fit, I seriously was going to buy every damn thing and eat ramen until the end of next week. Thankfully nothing fit right (damn tits) so, I stepped back and reassessed my stress and bad habits. This is something I’m going to have to keep in check for the rest of my life.
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In the early 90s, I was in private school against my will and wanted so desperately to be different, with the dress code and all. Big clunky shoes were my thing. Giant stomping heels that managed to draw attention to my scrawny chicken legs. This lasted into my goth days in high school.
I don’t know why this shape trend is coming back for anything other than the goth scene. These are neither feminine nor flattering shoes. They make your feet look enormous and they’re heavy, cumbersome and awkward to walk in. Childish at one glance and wicked schoolmarm at another. For some reason, people in the fashion world are going nuts over these monstrosities, like this is the new shape of shoes to come. I sure hope not.
Miu Miu is doing them for Spring 2010 in god-awful dated and juvenile prints on delicate satin. Proenza Schouler for Fall 2010 is also embracing the chunk but they’re even worse in leather with that curved heel!
Spare yourself this passing fad but if you MUST, then I would just invest in some cheap clunkers from a goth store. Good grief they’re ugly!
Don’t do it!
Miu Miu S2010RTW
Proenza Schouler F2010RTW
(above images via style.com)
And here’s your standard $40 chunky goth heel fare:
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- Mighty Girl’s 100 Skills Everyone Should Master is great. I still need to perfect #s 34, 38, 44 (the snow chain part), 65 (I hope not), and 68. Not bad.
- These thoughts on NYFW spoke to me. It’s all really getting out of hand.
- Oh these Valentino Glamorous Bow Pumps are perfect! I’ve been wanting nude pumps for ages and these cross the line from blending in to edgy sexiness. Completely out of my price range. Sigh.
- These shoes by Jeffrey Campbell are sold out again but will be restocked in March. They’re just plain sick and I want them – badly. Oh, and wedge heels are coming back in full force for Spring. I am stoked!
They feel a lot like these Givenchy SS2010RTW wedges, no?
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Japanese artist Yuri Fukuda, who calls her line Emogayu, makes beautiful intricate ceramics.
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Sign up for this free online list-making tool to help you get organized. It’s very intuitive and user-friendly. You will love it! Here’s a super cute demo video to check it out!
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I don’t have an iPhone or Blackberry but if I did I would want one of these classy free Jonathan Adler wallpapers!
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I saw Nicole Richie on TV this week wearing this dress and I loved it. Maxi-dresses really are my favorite but I’m so short I always have to get them hemmed. Well, this dress is part of her new clothing line called Winter Kate. Nothing is available in stores just yet but according to the March issue of InStyle (where I scanned the image from), it’s made of silk and will be sold at Neiman Marcus for $260. Love the muted shade and flattering shape. Would look great on any woman.
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Godammit, I’m Mad! is a fantastic fashion-y blog written by one pissed off woman. I heart her.
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Neighbors who are unobtrusive, help out, appreciate and extend kindness and just generally seem to rule at life are cool.
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Shitty neighbors who are always miserable, passive aggressive, and totally suck at life can eff off.
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I had a humbling blogging experience in regards to this post, about 3 hours after it went up. I had seen the shoes on a blog I follow and traced back to the original source. I was misled and in turn provided misinformation that the designer of the clothing had also designed the shoes, which are blatant rip-offs. Bloggers have to be very careful about their sources and can’t assume anything. I’ve learned my lesson.
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The final season of LOST is driving me insane. I have a bad feeling that way too many questions are going to be left unanswered. There’s just no way they can do it.
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Fighting off malaise, headaches, body aches and general yuck this week is dragging me dooooown.
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Who am I to judge, right? I’m Lara and I will judge the hell out of some things, one of them being an odd little 13 y/o girl who is receiving some serious worship right now in the fashion world. Who am I to judge a child? They’re off-limits right? Well, it would seem so until they become a public spectacle. Other than my beef with the amount of credibility given, and focus placed, total absence of a parental presence, and blatant use of her for novelty’s sake, I think her fashion sense is god awful. I’m sick of it. If you can’t stand the heat… if you want to run with the big dogs… if you want to act like a grown up… you get my drift. Had the blog world been around when I was a fashion obsessed kid of her age… my god.
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It’s one thing when a cheap brand you expect to do a ripoff does it (cough Steve Madden cough) but Katie Gallagher used shoes for her Fall 2010 show sponsored by Irregular Choice. Shame on Irregular Choice! I really thought they were totally innovative but check them out next to the Maison Martin Margiela Varnished shoe from a few seasons back. Just sayin.
the Margielas
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Holiday season is upon us and that means everything in the stores has a thick crust of sequins on it. I would like someone to tell me how all these things are going to wear over time because I have experienced nothing but heartbreak. (We aren’t even going to talk about glitter because if you own it, you deserve to suffer the consequences. In the early 90s, my bff bought a pair of fuchsia glitter Doc Martens and they started looking pretty rough rather quickly.)
Sequins are made of fragile plastic with a metallic paint coating that rubs off and eventually looks worn out. They are also prone to cracking in half and falling off. Then there are the ones that are glued on. You can spot a missing or misaligned sequin a mile away. At least I can, but I may have a mild case of OCD.
If you must wear them… there are good sequins and bad sequins.
GOOD SEQUINS
Not much can happen to this embellished tank. You still have to carefully hand wash it in cold water and it won’t last forever but you still have a chance.
To avoid looking like a Miss America contestant, sequined dresses should be short and to the point. This dress will also require special care but with no belt to rub, cap sleeves, each sequin neatly lined up (not shingled) and tightly secured, and being all one subtle color, this would work well. Minimal accessories needed.
Other good sequins can be found as a light mist on something sheer, a pair of panties you don’t plan on keeping on for very long, and as the most delicate of details that makes something plain very special.
BAD SEQUINS
You know how your shoes wear, so what’s going to happen at the bends of these Converse? They’re part of the fabric so you can’t even sew on new ones to repair!
These sequined leggings are almost $350 at Saks. What is your ass and the backs of your knees going to look like after a while? Like a worn out Las Vegas hooker, that’s what. $350 at Saks or $20 at F21… they’re both going to look like hell after a few wears.
More bad sequins – on jeans but at least they would be easy to remove when they go bust, on handbags (those giant sequin bags and tiny 80s prom clutches), those hoodies everyone got obsessed with (my hoodies earn their keep), and anything else tight that would bend harshly with your body, and doesn’t respect your hard earned cash.
So ladies, you may want to spare yourself the trouble and financial waste and just put on a sparkly cuff bracelet instead!
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- My Parents Were Awesome is a collection of photos of parents… when they were young and hip.
- The bf scored a second interview! I’m so proud of him!
- A lesson to be learned – if you see an awesome deal on something you love, grab it immediately. I saw the most perfect pair of round toe, recessed platform, cone heeled, black leather Nine West pumps for a steal a week ago. I don’t know why I didn’t just get them but, sometimes I sabotage myself like that. Anyhow, I couldn’t get them out of my head so I went back to the store today and of course, they were all gone. Every last one of them. So, I bought two other pairs of shoes instead! Ha!
Nibbles appreciates a high heel. I want to pair these with black rolled up trousers, and pretty much everything else. These have a hidden platform which I’m really not a fan of but, this platform isn’t exceptionally high and I love the seam going down the middle of the toe. I needed a pair of simple round toe black pumps since my last pair has been re-heeled 3 times and they’ve stretched so much I can’t keep them on.
Nom nom nom! This is why I can’t have nice things. These are embossed snake with black metallic flat studs, three buckles at the ankle and a back zip. I have no idea what I’m going to wear these with. Maybe those black satin harem pants. Size medium was way too big and I sent them back for an exchange. I think I’m going to have to cut the waist off and re-hem the drawstring pocket to lift them up a bit and keep them low slung. No biggie.
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Exploding Dog Pictures‘ is a collection of quirky, subversive, and often sad little drawings based on submitted titles. Matted signed prints are now available here. They would make a cute gift for someone.
- Going to Target with the bf and him asking me if they carry Yankee Candles… that he had been reading someone’s blog and had heard about this certain candle… so cute! (it’s my favorite)
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- There are two things looming over my head that I need to learn all about. These two posts will help me (and you!) get through it all. First there’s Google Wave and most importantly, there’s Farmville on Facebook. I saw my friend’s farm last week and being an avid SimCity player back in the day, I must do this! Time to get to studying!
- I’ve always been a city girl at heart but now I’m starting to question living in such close proximity to strangers. I love my apartment but I’m beginning to hate my neighbors and I wonder if we moved at the end of the lease, if it would just be the same type of issues with different people in some other city apartment. There’s the certifiably insane girl behind us who screamed bloody murder for an hour one day and got hauled off by an ambulance, after the police beat the hell out of our door thinking it was us. Then, a week later she beat on our kitchen wall because we were talking normally at 10pm on a Friday night. She also complains to the landlord about everything. Thankfully, he knows she’s nuts. There’s the chronic coughing man in the building next door, the hysterical dog barking mania throughout the day, and the loud parties (with a loud fight at 4am when a girl refused to leave). We can barely use the shared washer and dryer because the new tenants have made the “all utilities included” deal a public service to their friends. Then there’s the people below us. I think it’s 4 guys who manage to stink up our apartment on a regular basis with the stench of onions, they play electric guitar at all hours of the night, sound like they’re moving heavy furniture, slam doors and stomp up and down their hallway every single night… who just immaturely mocked me out their kitchen window a few nights ago for hearing me in the sack with my bf because we accidentally left the livingroom window open and well… I’m kinda loud sometimes. A simple note would’ve sufficed. Like, “hey, just so you know… we can hear you.” I would’ve been fine with that and sincerely apologized. I guess I was living in denial, hoping they didn’t hear as much as they did. I’m over it and will be keeping my trap shut until we’re out.
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- on a neutral note – I am pretty passionate about my distaste for the unethical blatant designer ripoffs out there. If you know better, you should do better and pass up on supporting the theft of intellectual property. I was recently asked what the difference is between that and the diy ideas I suggest for recreating designs conceived by others for the home and being fashionable. The difference is that I am not suggesting you mass produce something similar to someone else’s design, slap your name on it as if it was your own idea, and sell it to the public. I think it’s fun to try your hand at new things, to learn new skills and how to utilize unfamiliar materials and tools. Having an inspiration point to guide you is a good way to start. A lot of home design out there is just as ridiculously expensive as high fashion but some of these things appear incredibly simple to make. If cobbling shoes was easier (and something I think I would even be remotely good at) I would’ve been making my own a long time ago and I would proudly say I made them myself with so-and-so as my inspiration! As soon as you make a profit off of someone else’s idea, you’re treading ethical thin ice. Hope I cleared that up.
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Well here they are. THE shoe we will see over and over for the next few months. Right now, there aren’t many pictures available and I will only post my favorite one from Jak & Jil. Click here to see the rest (seriously, go look), and check out here for a humbling picture of them sadly wrapped in plastic in a box, via Susie Bubble. (It’s obvious Nickolas Kirkwood is a big fat liar.) :)
There are no words for how much I love this shoe.
The first time I saw the pair on Jak and Jil, I bookmarked them in a rush and was left to think about them for a day. I debated over the design. How terribly heavy would they be? The heel is really no different than any other heel, the placement looks comfortable, (I’ve heard Kirkwoods are a dream to walk in)… I just couldn’t get past the weight factor. Then I went back to look at them again and I quit caring! They are just purely sublime and the soft leather cutwork looks like it would feel beautiful to wear. I sound like a shoe fetishist but seriously, these shoes are a masterpiece. You could wear a burlap sack and have dead flowers in your hair, but with these shoes on, you would look amazing.
In a realistic world, not all clothing can be art but there are instances when you have to step back and truly appreciate craftsmanship and a talent that hasn’t been seen in a long while.
With life reflecting art and then art mirroring back at us, it makes me think about the mindset we’re in at the moment. With these raw industrial style shoes, all the black leather in jackets and leggings and everything in between plastered everywhere, and all the spikes and studding and rips and slashes, and all the less expensive imitators, and all the fashion blogs beginning to look the same… where are we? I’m sure some people despise this style, as I despise most floral prints. What gives a certain group their moment in the fashion sun and why this, why now?
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So, I was just perusing Alexander Wang’s Spring 2010 collection and I couldn’t help but notice a similarity with Prada’s Fall 2007 RTW collection – open-toed knee socks with open toed thick-heeled shoes. I am totally down with this style and rocked it quite a bit a few years ago. Nice to see it coming back.
Alexander Wang S2010RTW
Prada F2007RTW
photos via style.com
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