Copycat Candy

As anybody around can tell you, times are tough.  Aside from those heinous Kardashian's, nobody is making enough money these days and, trust me, it's not the best idea to be constantly tossing away those paychecks on designer outfits.  I am not one of these bloggers and who takes daily pictures of myself standing broodingly on a cobblestone street draped in Miu Miu and Isabel Marant.  Who are you girls and where the hell did you get all of the disposable income to not only blog all day (jealous) but to do so while wearing amazing clothes?  

So as a shockingly under-paid PR girl, you have to get creative and by creative I mean...Forever 21.  I know a lot of you will turn your nose up to this store and yes, I have before as well, but something has changed over there.  Yes, it is still unbelievably mass-marketed.  Yes, it still isn't the best quality, will only last you one season, and yes, you still can't put it in the washing machine as it will shrivel up to something the size of a mitten BUT certain pieces have gotten a definite makeover. Their store is a lot less trashy-Miami-club-gear and now a lot more cute-dress-to-wear-on-a-date.  Forever 21...it's not just for high school girls anymore.

 Black Lace Back Top - $14

 Gray A-Line Dress w/Belt - $24

 Black/Cream 3/4 Sleeve Striped Dress - $12

 Burgundy Cowl Back Knit Dress - $28

Rust High Low Skirt - $14

VMAaaaaaaaagh

Over here at D&D, it is becoming a bit of an award show tradition to do red carpet recaps the day after the show.  Regardless of the event, there are usually a few people looking amazing, a few looking like trannies, and the majority who fall in between.  After last night's very flat, very over-hyped Video Music Awards that was just not the case -- just about everyone looked like 5th Avenue the day after the Gay Pride Parade.  Tattered in rainbows, sequins everywhere, pieces of fake hair strewn around, and an overall stink of spilled booze. Yikes.

While I like to keep the Not Best Dressed List in Abe's capable hands, I've just got to make mention of some of the atrocities I saw last night. 

Nicki Minaj looks like Fraggle Rock threw up all over her.  Not one thing is attractive about this.  Not one.

 

Deena needs a stylist in the very worst way. It's like she's trying to make herself look even uglier.

This is still happening?  We are still paying attention to Justin Beiber?  He weighs 88 lbs, talks like Eminem, and those leopard loafers?  Killing myself.

I feel like Katy Perry is trying to be the bright, crayola version of Gaga. It's like she is so desperate to be avant garde that she ends up doing this to herself - dressing herself like a geometry textbook.

 

Miley Cyrus doesn't look awful...she just doesn't look good. Her dress looks like those frosted glass windows at Grand Sichuan on 9th Avenue.  You know what I'm talking about...  Tiger print, asian lotuses, and weird squiggly stripes. 

On a completely different note, Beyonce looked perfect.  Glowing, pregnant with Destiny's Child and just too fabulous for life. 

A Cashmere Affair

I'm one of those people who goes to my favorite restaurants and eats the same thing every time.  Some people might say that it's a boring way to be, maybe a little obsessive-compulsive, but it's just that when I like something - I stick with it.  So on the same vein of sticking with what I like, please be forewarned that this is yet another J. Crew post.  I know.  I know.  I'm like a love sick teenager.

Did anyone get their September J. Crew catalog yet?  In my opinion, this is the REAL September issue. Mine popped up in the mail on Friday and I couldn't handle how perfect it was.  Few things are as achingly beautiful as the ballet, but Russian ballerinas paired with sumptuous cashmere?  Dying.  

Left In Stitches

I'm still on the hunt for fun/quirky things to put on our bedroom walls and after cruising around the internet, I found some seriously cool embroidered pieces from Castle.  Handstitched with love on a variety of fabrics, including vintage French linen, flax Belgian linen, Australian wool and moleskin, these original pieces are embroidered using a number of fabrics like felt, linen, wool, velvet, and cotton.  

Something about the use of felt makes these seem very Brady Bunch to me and coupled with the bright disco colors on each, I think I'm officially obsessed.

Arm Candy

Lulu Frost for J. Crew?  Um...swoon.  Inspired by Lulu Frost designer, Lisa Salzer's personal collection of brooches, belt buckles and pins, the capsule features a total of 14 Art Deco influenced pieces - all in bright hues with sparkly Czech crystal accents.  There are several high-gloss resin bangles (perfect for layering), a selection of colorful stone-and-crystal pendants, and a trio of elegantly geometric earrings.  

Ranging in price from $45 to $135, the collection marks the second collaboration between Lulu Frost and J. Crew.  I'm really starting to think that, as a brand, J. Crew can do no wrong.  Seriously, Jenna Lyons is well on her way to becoming some kind of crazy fashion superpower who might also fight crime and balance the budget in her free time.  She's that good.

Image courtesy of Hip Hip Gin Gin.

Beautiful. Imperfect. Life.

The video lookbook is by no means a new trend in the fashion world and not to toot my own horn (well - maybe a little), Abe, David, and I have been producing these for a few seasons now. Need I remind of you of a sweaty Reeve Carney playing the guitar in MNRKY gear?  Exactly.  Those two dreamboats strutting around the West Village in Scott James? Yep.  Delish.  But I digress.

I mean...MNRKY may have gone belly up, but these two are amazing.

The thing that I find captivating about video lookbooks is that they allow the brand to be as avant garde as they want to be while providing a much bigger platform to set the tone for that season's collection.  These films are about 900 times more engaging than just thumbing through a catalog of images. I feel like any brand worth their salt in this extremely competitive market needs to crank out some kind of lookbook video or film, if only just a behind the scenes video of that season's shoot.

While I really love Vanessa Bruno's star-studded, perfume ad-esque videos (this season with Kate Bosworth is sooo beautiful but sooo weird), my current fave is from Rachel Roy.  Along with director Cameron Ruddy, she created Beautiful. Imperfect. Life. which captures the FW11 RACHEL Rachel Roy collection.  In  my opinion. this is a perfect video for a fall collection.  Half-dressed gorgeous people, fireworks, fabulous clothes, spot-on styling -- it makes me excited for fall and nostalgic about the summer ending all at the same time.

Homemade Hauteness

Luella and June, Honestly WTF, and PS. I Made This have some of the best DIY's around.  I love that "do it yourself-ing" has become a trend - I've been making my own friendship bracelets and tote bags for ages.   Sometimes it's just a lot more fun to just create something yourself and it's a very cool thing to have catch on.

Today's DIY Envelope Clutch on Luella and June is almost too good to be true and it's so simple that it seems that it might be almost impossible to mess up (famous last words).  The envelope clutch is such a huge trend right now - they are slick, serious, and fantastic. And since you're making them yourself, you could crank out tons of different colors.  I'm thinking of creating something in a neon hue, a little crocodile doodad, and maybe one in a cognac shade of brown. I am IN LOVE WITH THIS IDEA.

For all of my girlfriends, don't be surprised if this is what you're all getting for your upcoming birthdays.  I am doing this asap and it will actually come to fruition this time unlike the lucite clutch project I started last spring that sort of fell by the wayside...

Images courtesy of Luella and June and Pinterist.

Pretty Little Things

1- Asos Cream/Navy Peter Pan Striped Dress - $87
2- DvF Cumin Suede Roxanne Pumps - $280
3- Ban.do Magenta Pop Flower - $75
4- Tiffany & Co. Yellow Citrine Cushion Cut Cocktail Ring - $1600
5- Catstudio Brooklyn Pillow - $149
6- Tom Ford Coffee Table Book - $85
7- Beklina Turquoise Virginia Johnson Sack - $310

Dew Drop

This is my newest beauty obsession, Rodin's Olio Lusso.  This body oil made of a fabulous blend of essential oils that give Rodin it's near-magical powers when smoothed onto your skin.  First of all, the main oils are jasmine, argan oil, sweet almond, and apricot which creates one of the most luxurious scents in the world.  After you get out of a shower, you drop just a little oil into your palms and smooth over shoulders, arms, chest, or anywhere you need a little extra moisture.  Voila, you are left feeling dewy with the slightest hint of jasmine buzzing around you.

The story around its creation is sort of amazing as well...  Linda Rodin (stylist and ex-model from the '60s) started mixing oils in her bathroom in a coffee cup.  When she finally got the recipe right, she bottled it in those little brown chemist bottles and would bring them to photo shoots for people to try out.  Photographers, models, and editors fell in love with the product and that's when it started to take off, there was never a business model in place or any exchange of money, Rodin just loved that people loved her oil.  When it was time to get down to business, she chose the font on the bottle from an old postcard she's had taped to her fridge since 1979, and chose to name it something Italian as she is 100% convinced that was Italian in another life.  "Olio Lusso" means luxury oil (even though it's not even proper Italian - it should really be Olio di Lusso or something like that).  She has each bottle  manufactured and filled in New Jersey by increments of 3000 as she thinks it's easier to control the quality to her exact specifications.

Rodin Olio Lusso is just such a simple, good product that I recommend it to EVERYONE.  It won't change your life, it won't turn you into Gisele, but it will make your skin deliciously dewy and refreshed.  Her product list also includes a face oil, lip balm (which I've heard is beyond), and a luxury hair oil.  Unfortunately, at $110 a pop, she's definitely passed the point of giving it away in those brown chemist bottles...

The Art of the Bar Cart

Ever since we've moved into our new place, I've been obsessed with finding the perfect bar cart.  It's not that I'm looking to glamorize our alcoholic tendencies (although that is a plus), but there is just something so decadent and Mad Men-esque about a fabulously curated bar cart.  They seem like the holy grail of accent furniture and when you find the right one, they have a way of standing there looking really, really cool.  

The mirrored, polished ones are my absolute fave, even though they are usually the priciest.  I'm looking forward to upcoming Sundays, digging around for something vintage, fabulous, and a little dinged up at the Rose Bowl Flea or Melrose Trading Post. 

Images courtesy of Cupcakes and Cashmere, Apartment Therapy, Design Sponge, and Society Social.

This Isn't Change I Can Believe In

Apparently watching the Jersey Shore immediately after watching last night's Republican debate in Iowa has led to some scary hallucinations throughout the blogosphere.  These hallucinations would lead one to believe that your average American voter is starting to use the same formula as the wizards at MTV casting.... No thought on Earth is scarier.  Without further adieu, I'd like to present the cast of the Jersey Shore as the  Republican cast of 2012.

The Situation is Mitt Romney

He's an untrustworthy narcissist with way more money and screen time than he deserves.

Ronnie is Rick Santorum

He's a total douchebag who makes terrible decisions and overcompensates for a tiny penis with confrontational behavior.

Pauly D is Tim Paulenty

He's a harmless grinning idiot who doesn't cause much drama and who no one really takes seriously.

Vinny is Ron Paul

He's the sweet one who is almost adorable until he opens his mouth, then you realize that he's just as ridiculous as the others.

Snooki is Newt Gingrich

He's a disgusting little goblin that repeatedly gets his ass kicked on the way out the door, yet somehow manages to stay relevant.

Jwoww is Michelle Bachmann

She's the hottest chick in the room, which isn't saying much, and she's damaged to the point where she can't tell when she's hooking up with a closeted gay dude.

Angelina is Sarah Palin

She's not even officially part of the show, but she still manages to make appearances, and everyone just fucking hates her.

I wish I could take credit for the brilliance above, but there is nothing more hilarious than Coke Talk on a political rant.   

Garden Party

Kate Moss' wedding photos are below, were featured on Vogue.com, and are presented without comment.  What a perfectly bohemian, glamourous wedding...  

All images courtesy of Vogue.com.