Vera Wang Rock Princess Fragrance

So a few weeks ago my friend Kim was in town from Dallas visiting, and of course, we headed straight to the mall to shop. We were crusing through the fragrance counter when we spotted this sort of crazy looking black bottle. It was Vera Wang Rock Princess. We both sprayed it on and were completely enraptured by it. As we kept shopping, periodically one of us would just stop midsentence and say "...we smell sooo good!"

I am terrible at identifying fragrances, so here's the (very weird, actually, in my opinion) description from Sephora:

Each verse is equally captivating in the dark, fruity scent that channels
sultry rock-star attitude. It takes the stage with an exhilarating intro of
succulent white peach, bittersweet red raspberry, and an illuminating flash of
vibrant bergamot. The chorus reveals itself in lovely layers of ultra-feminine
florals. Hypnotic heliotrope, vintage-inspired rose, night-blooming jasmine,
delicate lily, and an unexpected riff of sharp, spicy accents. The melody
bridges to a finale, cloaking the essence in the warm, sensual glow of plush
cashmere woods, smoldering musk, elegant iris, and creamy coconut.

I don't know about all that, but it seriously smells amazing, sort of sweet and musky at the same time (I know...I could not write for the Sephora fragrance department).

Don't let the bottle scare you, it sort of looks like it's designed for a goth teenager, but I think you'll really like the fragrance. It's $72, so I'm hoping someone will buy it for me as a gift (so wish my husband read this blog!).

Kari and Jocelyn Discuss: Louboutins and shopping at high-end department stores

And now, time for a new blog feature, in which I basically post email conversations between me and my friend Jocelyn. The other day, she sent me a picture of these gorgeous Louboutin shoes, and the conversation began.

Joc: You would not believe how close I was to buying one of the above two pairs of shoes. It was scary Kari. Really scary.

Me: Louboutin--that is terrifying. They are both gorgeous, so I completely understand the terror you almost brought upon yourself. There is something about that red sole...

J: EXACTLY. I can totally pick those out on any celebrity. I just really love that oversized boxy toe they have. I also am obsessed with just the classic black platforms. I will say one thing - those suckers are TALL. I must be 5'10" in them. I loved it. I probably would have cried if I actually bought them.

K: YES! I am obsessed with platform pumps right now. I can't believe you even tried those on, I would be so afraid that I would love them. You are very strong, Joc.

J: I did try them on - and tacky style too. I took off my Reef flipflop in the middle of saks and took the shoe off the shelf and got right in. I felt so trashy...I was not dressed appropriate for Saks. I had on a $16.99 TJ Maxx dress and flip flops. Shameful. But really then you feel kinda like Julia Roberts in pretty woman and you feel like you have to prove that you can afford this stuff when, typically, you cannot. Its depressing.

K: I feel that way everytime I go in Neiman's or Saks and am looking at high end stuff. Feel it is obvious that I cannot afford anything I am looking at, but at same time, feel the need to project that I could buy whatever I want, which makes me shuffle around uncomfortably, making it very obvious I cannot afford anything I am looking at. Vicious circle.

J: It is terrible. I pick things up, look at prices, and think to myself - good god, are you serious?! And I want to drop the item instantly in case there is a fee to even pick up said object. But I must disguise my face as - Oh thats not bad. Maybe I should get one in each color.

Hate the fact that you have to dress up to go into certain stores for fear they will shun you. That is another reason I love Nordstrom--they are nice to me no matter what!

Project Runway Week 3 Recap

I didn't post a recap last week because of technical difficulties, but decided to do one this week because I knew being a team challenge it would full of dra-ma!

The challenge: create a California surfwear look. The real challenge: work in teams of two. Duh,duh,duh... (collective groan from designers)

Team 1: My girl Sharin and Carol Hannah.

Team 2: Mitchell and Ra'mon. Ra'mon was terrified to work with Mitchell since Mitchell had been in the bottom two the previous two weeks. Who could blame him? Mitchell said he chose Ra'mon because he wanted someone who could carry him in the challenge.

Team 3:Qristyl and Epperson, who clashed from the beginning because Epperson kept bossing team leader Qristyl around.

Team 4: Jordana and Nicolas (who decides to create "an ombre of macrame" - huh?)

Team 5: Irina and Johnny

Team 6: Logan and Christopher, the no-drama team

Team 7: Althea and Louise

The teams consulted with surf girls, got their fabric from Mood, and then headed into the workroom, where you could tell which teams were working and which were headed for an implosion. Qristal and Epperson snapped at each other and tossed back Tylenol, while Mitchell made snide comments while watching Ra'mon do all the work.

Tim enters with a surprise. Each team has to create a second look: an avant-garde design which coordinates with the surfwear look. Duh, duh...okay you get it.

Basically, at this point it becomes very clear that Mitchell cannot sew. "I have wonderful ideas in my head, but technically, I'm in trouble...I'm in big, big trouble." Dude, how did you get on this show?? At a certain point, Ra'mon just started doing all the work without even telling Mitchell what he was doing. He was still sewing and hand dying fabric with less than 30 minutes left until the runway. He just kept plugging along, and he miraculously created their two outfits pretty much single-handedly.

Max Azria of BCBG was filling in for Michael Kors and adorable Rachel Bilson was a guest judge as well.

I thought most of the teams did pretty well--I LOVED Sharin and Carol Hannah's collection, but they were just safe. The two top teams were Johnny and Irina, who had a really cute macrame theme, and...Ra'mon and Mitchell! Whaaaat??? Ra'mon looked so relieved. Mitchell admitted to the judges that Ra'mon did pretty much all of it except for a swimsuit that is totally hidden by the dress. The judges love the looks and are amazed that Ra'mon did all of it himself.

The bottom teams were Qristal and Epperson, obviously, who seemed to forget the judges were there as they basically just carried their bickering from the workroom to the runway, and Nicolas and Jordana, who sent down a sheer lace bodysuit with garters that was pretty hideous.

Ra'mon won the challenge! And in a twist, Mitchell was eliminated, even though his team won--as Heidi told him "Three strikes and you're out." In my opinion, Mitchell should have gone home last week--those shorts he sent down the runway were even more ridiculous than Malvin's egg-top.

Project Runway is BACK! Here's the recap

I was so excited for Project Runway premiere night that I decided to do a recap for you guys! The change from Bravo to Lifetime was pretty seamless--not too many changes to the format. They did change the workroom with the move to L.A.--I liked the old one better, I thought the new one looked really cramped.

The night started off with a two hour all-star challenge. Santino, Sweet P, Mychael, Daniel, Uli, Chris, Jeffrey, and Karto were the all-stars from past seasons competing for $100K. It was really fun to see the contestants again. Roughly 1/6 of the show consisted of images of Chris snoring. Chris snoring while everyone else sketched madly. Chris snoring while everyone else fights over models at the casting. Chris snoring on runway day while everyone else runs around madly sewing dresses on models. I guess it worked for him because he was one of the top 4.

Korto and Daniel were the two finalists. I loved Korto's collection, which was full of gorgeous prints, textures and shapes, but the judges chose Daniel as the winner. Eh. To me, his collection belonged in a gross, 80's gym. I loved his red carpet dress, which was a short cap sleeve dres made out of a black fabric with a beautiful sheen and bright white side panels. But the other looks were basically athletic tops alternately paired with a bubble skirt or tight pants, all based around a garish sort of teal color. Maybe it was too visionary for me, I just didn't get it.

Then we were on to the premiere of the new season, hurrah! The challenge was to create a red-carpet look. Apparently, Malvin doesn't know what a red carpet is: "I don't differentiate between different colors of carpet." Uh...sure you don't. Oh Project Runway, how I've missed you and your pretentious designers! Which brings me to Ari, who does a handstand against the wall while everyone else sketches, because she does not sketch. She "just sort of mediate(s) on the mood of where the garment will be and who will be wearing it." Awesome.

I love Shirin, who is from Richardson, Texas and is adorable--my love for her is completely based on the cute little vintage hat she wore on Day 1 and the fact that she is from Texas. It takes very little to win me over.

Johnny, who said he previously battled a meth addiction, had a mini-meltdown on Day 1 when he changed his design like 5 times, and sort of broke down to Tim. He finally confessed to Tim that he was afraid to fail. After a pep talk from Tim ("You can do it Johnny!!!"--love him!), he got it together and went to work, and ended up sending out a really pretty draped dress.

Malton tried to describe his dress, but really couldn't. "No one can describe the type of garments I do. There's not really a vocab for them yet." (eye roll) Um, Malton, you sent out a sleeveless dress. Calm down. (It was a cute dress though)

Out on the runway, out walks guest judge...Lindsay Lohan? Kinda weird, but okay.

Ari's outfit was...I don't even know what it was. It was hectagon shaped tiles out of silver metallic fabric sewn together to make a sort of halter tunic with a hood. In the workroom, Tim expressed his concern that the top was going to look like a "halter diaper." No Tim, according to Michael Kors, it ended up looking like a "disco soccer ball," which at least beats a halter diaper, IMO. When pressed by Nina Garcia to specify which red carpet her model would be walking, Ari cited the VMA's-- in 2080. Oh, and apparently the model is also receiving her nobel peace prize the same night. (At this point, LL bites her lip worriedly, as though concerned someone is going to make her wear this thing)

Christopher, who is a self-taught designer, won with this really cute, short, textured dress with a fun high-volume skirt. In the end, Mitchell, who sent out a completely sheer neck to floor caftan, beat out Ari, and she was sent packing. Honestly, I think I would have sent Mitchell home--at least I felt Ari's outfit was interesting (and would not get you arrested while wearing it in public, which I always feel is a plus). I will miss her, she was wacky and wonderful.

Overall, I thought the dresses were mostly really interesting, and it makes me really excited for the new season. You can check out profiles of the designers and see all the looks from last night's show at the new PR website. I don't love the new website, I find it really hard to navigate--just trying to find pics of the outfits from episode 1 was painful.

RIP John Hughes

So sad to hear about the death of John Hughes, director of so many 80's movies that I loved. His movies had so many fashion moments that were imprinted on me, but none more than the pink prom dress Andie crafts from a secondhand dress her dad gives her in Pretty In Pink. Not only did the girl have to go to prom alone, she had to sew her own prom dress! But she did it with style. May have to watch it this weekend--the only danger is that every time I watch it, it makes me want to pull out my sewing machine and start ripping apart old clothes that I know I will somehow sew together into a fashionable new piece. Which if you sat by me in Home Ec., you know is extremely unlikely.

Nancy Drew

I loved this article from the New York Times about the continuing influence of Nancy Drew.

"Nancy Drew was invoked last week during the Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor. She has said that her Nancy Drew represented boldness and intelligence, the books a gift from a hardworking single parent. In recent years, Laura Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gayle King and Diane Sawyer have described themselves as fans."

Nancy had a big influence on me as well. I grew up reading all the old Nancy Drew books, and loved reading about such a fearless, smart heroine. Yes, I loved her sleuthing, but I also loved her style: classic, preppy, all-American, and okay, maybe a little prim. My image of her is in a little sweater set and pencil skirt, with a scarf in her hair as she drives her little blue roadster around River Heights. What would Nancy wear in 2009? I'm thinking Marc by Marc Jacobs, 3.1 Phillip Lim, and of course Tory Burch.

Nancy Drew Modern Wardrobe by austinshopping featuring Tory Burch

Polyvore

Have you guys been to the Polyvore website yet? If you're into fashion, you need to go check it out immediately! It is so fun. The New York Times recently ran an article about Polyvore:

Polyvore is a user-generated fashion magazine filled with user-generated ads. The people who go to it play fashion editor and create collages featuring pictures of clothes, accessories and models from across the Web. Readers view the collages, which the site calls “sets,” and if they click on a dress or necklace, they are taken to the Web site that sells it.

Even if you don't want to take the time to create your own collages, some of the sets that the other users put together are amazing. For example, search for "Chanel" and you might find the adorable outfit shown below, put together by a user of the site. If you click on any of the items, it will take you to the site where you can purchase them. It is such a great mix of creativity and commerce, I'm loving it! Warning: highly addictive!! I could play on this site all day.

shopping at chanel with LC and Lo by amandarocks featuring Forever21

Spending Spree

I have to say, I was shocked at the news that Black Friday spending was up this year by 3% over last year, especially as news broke yesterday that the U.S. is officially in a recession (which is not exactly a news flash to anyone who has been paying any attention to the economy).  

Personally, I have lost a lot of my love for shopping lately, as I'm sure you've noticed from my recent lack of blogging.  I just haven't been shopping lately, and haven't even wanted to.  Instead, I've been doing something radical--saving.  I've been shopping for the best c.d. and savings account rates instead of shoes and clothes.  My reaction to all the bad economic news is to withdraw from the spending cycle and institute a bit of a spending freeze.  It makes me feel better to have no credit card debt and money in the bank than a closet full of new clothes or a pile of Christmas presents under the tree.  Maybe some people's reaction is just the opposite--maybe spending more in the midst of this economic crisis somehow makes them feel better.  If so, that smacks of some serious denial to me.  Or maybe the crisis just hasn't affected them--yet.  

While I haven't been personally affected by the economic downturn (other than the free fall of my 401(k)), my instincts are to cut back on spending and increase my savings.  I have a set budget for Christmas presents, and I stay within it.  I hope most people are doing the same.  I find it scary to think about people going out and charging a lot of expensive electronics and gifts on their credit cards right now. I hope that this economy will make people focus less on spending and more on saving.  This New York Times article seems to indicate that at least some people are cutting back, even though for the people profiled in the article it appears to be by necessity rather than by choice.

GoodShop

My friend Jenny just told me about a great website called GoodShop. You go to the site, enter the charity of your choice (they have a ton of charities, including the Austin affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, one of my favorites). Then you click on a link to any of the participating online merchants, and the merchant will make a donation to the charity you chose. The amount of the donation varies depending on which merchant you choose. And they have a ton of participating stores, like Gap (2.8% donation), Amazon (1.5% donation), Macy's (3.5% donation) and Target (up to a 3.5% donation). This is such an easy way to get your favorite charity some extra money. I am adding this site to my favorites and will definitely be using it as the starting point for all my online shopping.

Check out their news page for articles relating to the site.

Botox for Bridesmaids?

I found this New York Times article about brides asking their bridal party and mothers to do botox and other cosmetic procedures to be both horrifying and hilarious. Here's an excerpt:

A bride’s request that you whiten your grayish teeth can strain a relationship. Samantha Goldberg, a wedding planner in Chester, N.J., recalled a bride who asked her attendants to get professionally spray-tanned for a Hawaiian-theme reception.
Alas, two women were claustrophobic and couldn’t bear standing in a tanning capsule. “They asked the bride if they could use regular tanning cream from a salon,” Ms. Goldberg said. The bride refused; she wanted everyone to be the same shade. The women ultimately declined to be bridesmaids. “Friendships of 20-plus years gone over a spray tan?” Ms. Goldberg said. “Sad!”

If you ask your friends to all get spray-tanned for your wedding because you want them all to be the same shade, you deserve to lose all your friends. Sorry.

Tight Rolled Jeans Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about tight rolled jeans, which my friend Blair sported in Chicago as a joke, but which I subsequently realized were coming back in style. I now have evidence! I give you Exhibit A, a horrifying picture of Katie Holmes rocking the look. Thanks Blair for sending this--I'm pretty sure you revived this trend single handedly. I may never forgive you.

Project Runway Season 5

Don't forget, Project Runway is back tonight with the Season 5 premiere on Bravo. I'm so excited, I've missed Tim, Heidi and the gang!

I'm back!

Sorry readers, I have been away on vacation but am back now and ready to blog about fashion once again!

While on vacation with a group of friends, my girlfriends and I started talking about fashion's golden era: the 1980's. We were recalling fondly the days of "tight-rolling" our jeans--the process of taking our jeans (which were already probably somewhat tapered), folding the hem over and rolling them up to our lower calves, making the jeans both too short and as narrow as possible at the bottom. It was possibly the most unflattering look imaginable. Of course, this was usually coupled with two pairs of slouch socks in neon colors on each foot, and a different colored converse sneaker on each foot.

As a joke, one of my girlfriends tight rolled her jeans as we walked to the nearby train station. She got quite a few looks, including one from a construction worker who I'm pretty sure was pitying her apparent lack of fashion sense. I have a picture, but out of respect for our friendship, will not post it.

On the flight home, I was paging through the July issue of Vogue when I came across a picture of a model with tight-rolled jeans. I kid you not. Now she was wearing heels instead of slouch socks and converse, but the effect was no less unflattering and disturbing. In fact, I think going all out old school with the look would have been better, in an ironic-commentary-on-the-80's sort of way, instead of a sad attempt to resurrect a trend that should remain buried for all time.

Personally, I will fight the tight-rolling of jeans until my last breath. You have my word on that.

Random Posting: Encounter With A Bachelor

Readers, forgive this post, which blatantly has nothing to do with shopping (although, one of my friends pointed out that I could try and infuse a husband-shopping angle somewhere?). I went to a wedding Saturday night, and who should be there as a guest but Brian W., current star of The Bachelorette (above, center)! My friend Jenny (above, left) and I are huge fans of the show, and have been watching every season of both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette since the first season. We love the psychos who manage to squeak through the selection process, we love the teary confessionals from the people who get kicked off, and we love counting how many times the contestants say they "feel a real connection" with the Bachelor or Bachelorette. It is an awesome show, and if you are not watching it, you should be. Anyway, when we found out Brian W. was at the wedding reception, we were pretty much giddy with excitement. We are both married, by the way, so our obsession was not romantic in nature. We were just really excited to get to see someone from the show in person, and decided we had to get a picture with him. We were a little embarrassed to ask him, but after relentless teasing from our other friends, we approached him. He was SO nice and obliging, and not only took a picture with us (see above), but talked to us a little bit about the selection process and inner workings of the show. I'm definitely rooting for him to be picked by Deanna (the current Bachelorette). Okay, I promise the next post will be about shopping!!

Weekend Shopping Report

I went to Houston this weekend, and met up with my dad at the Galleria. It made me miss the Galleria in a big way--when I lived in Houston, I went there all the time, and that selection is pretty unbeatable. Anyway, I have the best dad in the world and everytime he sees me, he wants to buy me something (this is only one reason why he's the best dad in the world!). So we immediately set out to look for something for me.

Now, it is a time-tested rule of shopping that as soon as you have the opportunity to buy something, you will not be able to find anything that you want to buy. This kind of happened to me this weekend--I choked. We went to all my standard favorite stores, but I just didn't find anything I loved. And my new shopping rule for myself is don't buy anything you don't love. I also didn't want to pick out some crazily expensive thing for my dad to buy me. I found some gorgeous shoes in Cole Haan, but they were sooo expensive, so I passed on them. Then we went to Nordstrom and I found a cute Marc by Marc Jacobs top, but I think my dad was kind of shocked at the price (which, to be honest, he probably should have been, it was a tshirt for over $150--kind of ridiculous). He said I could get it, but I didn't want him to buy something he didn't think was worth the money. It was getting late. My husband called and was circling the Galleria to pick me up. I was getting desperate. I called a shopping hail mary and dragged my dad into Saks Fifth Avenue.

Normally, I don't even bother going into Saks. I love to look in there, but most things are too expensive for my budget. But in the hope of finding a sale, I made a last ditch effort. We made a beeline to the one area of Saks that I can (sort of) afford. Sure enough--HUGE SALE! I found two shirts by Theory and one Juicy Couture shirt that I loved! All majorly on sale. I settled on the Theory shirt above but I got it in black, on sale almost 50% off. I love it, it's so comfy and cute, and I can wear it to work or on weekends. I was happy, and my dad was happy that he got to buy me something that he felt was worth the money.

Moral of the story: Don't be intimidated by high end stores. Hit the sales racks and you may get lucky!