Stuff I'm Falling For This Fall

Sorry it's a been awhile, y'all. As you well know, aside from sorting through a potential move to London (good enough for Kate, good enough for me, I say!) I've been in the hospital with a "fractured" "wrist." Fortunately, they've replaced my septum, I mean... set my wrist, and all is well in T.Loland. Let's get right to it!



First, dig the raddest shoes I've ever seen on one server at Sniff -- a suuuuper sweet-ass shoe boutique in London.
(Apprx $244 USD, Mishka, Sniff.co.uk)
Too bad if you don't live in London, but you can call and order 'em by phone. Yay for advancements in telecommunications! Their house brand is a self-described hybrid of Gwen Stefani meets Dita Von Teese. As long as they take only the best of those two, and not the shameful worsts, I'll gladly holla back at such adorbs shoes. Har.


($90, Alex+Chloe, the aptly named Icovetthis.com)
Having been both a blonde and a brunette (and a redhead and also a raven-haired lady), I can honestly say that brunettes DO have more fun. AND bigger boobs. That said, I really want this necklace. Someone buy it for me, or I'll have to get pissy.


($194, Petro Zillia, CoutureCandy)
I know this isn't very fall-esque, but if you don't think this is just the cutest thing this side of the moon, well then fie on you. I searched for that mofo on ebay and found and got this instead for the low, low price of $25. Yay me!



($76, 525 America, Shopblushboutique.com)
Onto sweaters... This striped boyfriend sweater completely makes me go "Woo! Fall!" I like that it's grey and not predictable black and white, though I do like B&W too.

And look!
It's unpredictably V-backed, so you can totes wear it either way. It's like having two sweaters in one! And basic math tells us that two of anything is better than one, except for cold sores. Yuk!


($425, Loeffler Randall, Barefoottess.com)
Shoetime! Q: Could Loeffler Randall shoes be any more scrumptious? A: Heckynaw! They're like the thinking woman's Jimmy Choos. (Oh yes I did.)


($520, Jean Paul Gaultier, eLuxury)
Um, hi. They fit the ENTIRE Eiffel Tower up in there! The same person who's gonna get me that Brunette necklace should just pop for this while they're at it. $520 is a tad outta my price range (hell, $20 is outta my price range at the moment), but I WILL find a similar piece of about 1/750th of the price. Just you wait.


($770, Jean Paul Gaultier, eLuxury)
While filling up your hypothetical shopping cart with Gaultier, toss in this dreamy Deco dress too. I know I would. Also, the model in that photo, does she or does she not resemble TV's Finola Hughes?



($270, Manning Cartell, mycatwalk.com)
Finally, as you probably know, squirrels are basically the new owls. You heard it here. So I'd be remiss not to own this nutty little number. Swoon. I probably never will.

Ok. Eight is enough. I go and leave you with this...

Wait. I lied...

I believe I've shared my <3 for AKA New York, and if I haven't, then I will now.
($350, AKA New York, activenendeavors.com)

($350, AKA New York, activenendeavors.com)
Nevermind the fact that that model looks like the sluttier Bush twin. I really love this dress. Especially the shirt dress, which looks even better with boots, as opposed to the prego look smock dresses with boots can sometimes create. Not that there's anything wrong with that. The latter is even fall-i-er looking. Loves.

Ok. I go and leave you with this:

Binge away!

Atlantic Fashion Antics!

This past weekend I took advantage of the gorgeous Indian summer weather and headed out to the Atlantic Antic, which is like the granddaddy of street festivals in New York (probably not the world). In addition to the masses of tasty treats available from the restaurants on Atlantic Avenue, the live bands, the demonstrations of martial arts and dance and workout moves, there was no shortage of fashion. I'm afraid my camera ran out of batteries and I didn't get to photograph enough of the wares, but there were a ton of beautiful African fabrics in booth after booth, and a smattering of indie-white-girl wares. I actually bought a quilted blue reversible miniskirt for the low, low price of $25 from just such a white girl. This is it:



It's by Fofolle, which is French for "wacky girl." Her very cool skirts can be found at Flirt in Carroll Gardens and Neda in Park Slope (Brooklyn, baby!). On the site I discovered I got my quilted skirt at a huge discount, since it usually costs $80. Woooh!

Here are some cool drapey dresses that I imagine were made by another of the species:





I also did a little street photojournalism, if you will. Here are some of my favorites:



The pic ain't the greatest, but these ladies were a vision of vibrant color.



Whoa.



Why is this little boy dressed in a prison jumpsuit, I wonder? Perhaps he is making his getaway...





Not that there's anything wrong with dressing in head-to-toe orange. This chica is making a fine case for it in her floor-grazing orange jersey number. People were talking about her. I bet she was so psyched to be able to wear it again. Can I get a hell yeah for hot weather? My vote for best-dressed.



Runner-up is this girl rocking the gray stirrup leggings. I haven't really seen these much. Good work, girl! Let's get a closer look, shall we?



Finally, I wanted to mention the awesome T-shirt company Campfire, out of my birth state of Ohio, who had a table covered in cute T-shirts. I had to walk away to ensure that I didn't accidentally buy several. They have a whole series of state tees, which would have been a boon back when I attempted to collect a shirt for every state. They also have a series of city tees.



This one makes me wish I'd popped out in Akron instead of Toledo, but what can you do?



Lucky New Jersey even gets its own shirt, in addition to the one for the state series (which is frankly kind of disappointing). How cute is that? A definite improvement on this pukey aqua blue and hot-pink shirt I wore out as a tween that said "Jersey girls, best in the world." I loved that T-shirt.



There is no shortage of humorous T-shirts, some with irony.



Shirts for design nerds....



...and shirts for grammar nerds! Sweet, huh?

And that's all the news that's fit to post. Long live Brooklyn, Ohio, and the world!

Fred Flare For Free!*

* Kay, not really free, but close to it. (I just wanted to make an alliteration). Nurse your Fashion Week high or hangover with FF's humungtown sale tomorrow. But only from 11AM - 2PM (?? What? Guess you don't wanna like give away the farm or whatever).

Anyway, if you want totes cheap cuters, like SERIOUSLY insanely, like little-kitten-licking-a-bigger-kitten's-head-and-the-bigger-kitten-is-
annoyed-yet-patiently-dealing-with-it levels of cute, go check it out. Oh yeah, and if you live in NYC, because that's where it is. (Don't weep if you don't -- their online sale prices are great).

LIVE FROM THE TENTS!

... Well, across the street from the tents, at least. While running errands, I paused for the cause, y’all, to snap a few pix of some of the decent style “dos” and egregious fashion errors surrounding the hub of New York Fashion Week. I won’t lie – I was slightly envious of all the peeps with badges around their necks, whose gift bags runneth over. I was more fortunate last year – they ran out of bags, but I did get a great spot at the Carolina Herrera show (pix here) and a handful of gratis Kinerase samples (which fetch a PRETTY penny on eBay, not that I'd know). This year I got a free handout of Tresemme hair spray and a spot on the sidewalk, but at least I snapped a few good ones. Let's begin!


JUST LOOK how psyched these fashionistas are to have their picture taken! I think they caught me. But, had they said something, I’d have praised them, particularly the petite one on the right – nice job of being a wee woman (like myself) and making it work in the case of the belted caftan and leggings. While the cowboy boots are dubious (HELLO, Sienna herself declared them OVES!), I love the floral pattern so much that I can overlook it. (I also say that because I will probably continue to wear cowboy boots too since I have a pair I love). It’s just retro enough that it’s fresh and fun and not so of-an-era that it becomes totally That '70s Top. (Here's a sorta similar one, though I wish it weren't brown).


This pixie-haired attendee will not give up summer. Which is okay, because she’s not dressed in a manner that’s completely seasonally deficient. I love the flowy spring-y dress — still quite warm enough to wear that here in New York — paired with a jacket (don’t particularly love THAT jacket, but it did fit her well, and looked even better in person [Ed note: I'd hope so. This outfit looks fairly wack to me. —Mary-Kate]) and her VERY F/W ’06 black booties. Of which I own a pair. That I bought several years ago, which is JUST how style psychic I am. But I digress.


On the other hand, this chick – who had an awesome accent – is obvs SO ready for it to be winter. So much so that she’s already busted out her sweaterdress and boots. Go ahead. (Sweat her sweater? Try these in descending order of esspensyness — Phillip Lim, Edward An, KAROO Mark Eisen — my fave! And a most affordable one from Urbs, even though it's actually a tunic, so please wear something underneath!) More power to you, mon French ami, as you look great. Rock it if you got it.

Which brings me to… the money shot:


Much like the old joke about the fire at the circus, this is in.effing.tense. Except this guy IS the circus and both he and his judgment are clearly ON FIRE. I should point out, lest you didn’t notice, his boots match. Perfectly. And his pants (leggings? knickers?? WTF?) are the same pattern, different colors. Either he’s a) certifiably insane, b) a professional clown, c) a fashion genius whose likeness and style will be revered and copied in the pages of your favorite oversized - slash - excessively heavy fashion magazine, or d) has one day to live and decided to wear something that just says “Fuck it all.”

God bless the camera phone.

Another Tale From the WTF!?!? Fashion Files!

I REALLY like indie designer Angela Johnson. Sure, many folks contend that the recycled/ deconstructed work is totally played, and yes, it's nearly pointless to re-reinvent the wheel, but I'm hard pressed to resist this t-shirt ballgown:

($400, le-fashionista.com.)

It's almost enough to make me end my sewing machine's excommunication. I ALWAYS mean to, but then, you know. Something comes on TV and again I'm left barely past the threading-the-bobbin stage of sewing infancy.

Anyway, we weren't talking about me. (Well, I was, but I digressed). So, Angela Johnson...

($102, unsungdesigners)

Apparently we REALLY need to talk. This isn't edgy. It isn't interesting. It isn't acceptable. It's just plain BAD. It looks like an undergrad costuming class homework assignment gone HIDEOUSLY awry. It's a horrendous hybrid of the body suit and an infant onesie. I guess as opposed to the body suit, you could sorta go to the bathroom more easily in this, but is it really worth the humiliation and shame of wearing this in public in the first place? Also, I'd like to point out that you could also go to the bathroom much more easily and efficiently IF YOU WERE WEARING A NORMAL-PEOPLE SHIRT INSTEAD! LIKE A NORMAL PERSON! Come on! Not even Juliette Lewis would let this shmatte see the light of day. A.J, please stick to making fun dresses out of XL t-shirts, mkay!? Pretty please?







** (Only Very) SLIGHTLY RELEVANT UPDATE! **

OMG. Maybe I will start sewing again:

($59.99, Target)

Clearly Target and the evil people at Sanrio are trying to KILL us with the kawaii.

Wal-Mart: The Next Target?

We narrowly missed getting into the Ashish N Soni show at the tents in Bryant Park*, but I've gotta say, I would've loved to check out the show that took place high above Times Square — staged by the house of Wal-Mart, which is now advertising in Vogue. While I highly doubt that the chain is approaching the fashionable heights of, say, Target (they still sell some truly unfortunate mom jeans), I did find a few non-horbz items on their website:



This is probably the most fashion-y item on the website. I daresay it's rather cool, and I may even purchase it. Capelet sweater, $24.94.



I'm actually tempted to purchase this cute short-sleeve velvet blazer, $16, which comes in chocolate, black, and plum. Is velvet in? It's gotta be, right? It's always sort of in for fall, isn't it? This'd be a good transitionary item...I'm really into little jackets these days.



Box-pleat tweed skirt, $19.57. Not bad, not bad. This'd look all professional with a nice pair of boots and a slim-fitting turtleneck.

Bubble skirts have got to be out by now, but for those of us still hanging on, this taffeta number is more sophisticated than the usual jersey version.

And that's about it for the things I personally would wear. There might be more merch in stores, though. I wouldn't know; haven't set foot in a Wal-Mart more than twice in my life. Any readers out there seen this stuff in person?

* While we are not reporting from Fashion Week, the good folks at Coutorture are doing a bang-up job. Julie, head Coutorturer, even had the balls to snatch a video interview with Anna Wintour. There's also an interesting interview with Times fashion writer Cathy Horyn about fashion blogging.

Buy Our Junk!

Come to our stoop sale. If you live in New York.

Saturday, June 9.

11 - 4

First Place between Smith and Court.

You'll see us.

We ONLY have cute shit.

And yes, a MUCH more exciting and inspired post tk, k?

Deuce, Deuce and a Half

While taking in some Sunday tennis at Arthur Ashe, I became insanely jealous of the amazing gear Polo had generously provided for the grounds folk. Never before had ballboys and girls and line judges been so handsomely appointed. For those of us who aren't lucky enough to have our own little knee pad at center court, Ralph's allowing us the privilege of buying our very own U.S. Open gear for a modest price. I'd write more, but I'm too busy trying to scrounge up 90 bones in my couch cushions to get my hands on one. As a wise man once said, it's not the velocity of your serve that matters, it's how good you look during water breaks.

Murr T. Sez: Table the Label!

Prepare to trip your face off without the aid of hallucinogens with this mind-reeling, spit-take-inducing clip of Mr. T hosting a fashion show. Drink for every blatantly gay overtone!

Clearly a Don't!

Where to start...I understand that people want to wear backless tops and dresses, but there are just some things you can't wear unless you are a six-foot model with no breasts, and even then, you should probably forgo the cleavage-bearing styles. I, for one, absolutely must wear a bra, and so backless styles are forever out. This is sad, but not as sad as this misguided chick who thinks clear bra straps solve the problem. They absolutely do not. The bra does not become invisible. Therefore you can still see it; therefore it might as well be red. Ugh. This blows my mind. Don't do it, people!

The British Are Leaving!

Unfortunately, unless you really hurry, it's probably too late to catch the the "Anglo Mania" exhibit at the Met, which closes tomorrow. Focusing on "tradition and transgression in British fashion" from 1976 to today, it shows both fancy period dress and punk stylings from the likes of Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Galliano, and more. I finally made it up there today, and it was, in a word: cool, especially in contrast with the rest of the stuff in the Met. Photography was not allowed and I was feeling obedient, so here are some photos snatched from various Flickr members who are obviously punkr than I am:















It was also incredibly crowded and stuff, so maybe you should just enjoy those pictures and let that be that. Cheerio, mates! (I'm full-blooded British, so I'm allowed to say that.)