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

Christmas Slowdown

I know this might sound kind of crazy, but I'm sort of liking the effect that this economic downturn is having on the holiday season. I think maybe more people are stopping the spending frenzy that usually characterizes Christmas, and are more focused on spending time with their families and creating meaningful holiday experiences. I really like this article from msnbc.com, talking about a new trend this year in a more simple holiday.

"Although it’s still early in the season, many others say that they, too, are
seeing more than just a financial benefit to cutting back. Harris, the
mother of three in Colorado Springs, remembers a time years ago when her husband
had just gotten out of the military, she was volunteering full-time at a church,
and “we were broke — dead broke,” she said. Using a small donation she had
received, Harris bought each child a laundry basket and filled it with their
favorite junk food. Then she gave them a cleaning tool along with a coupon
giving them a weekend off from cleaning. Even today, the family still has a
tradition of giving their boys a bottle of soda for Christmas, and she said all
of her sons still have the cleaning tools from that Christmas years
ago. “They remember that Christmas far more intricately than any other
Christmas we had,” Harris said."

I love the renewed focus on the non-material elements of the holidays. When you can get the focus off trips to the malls and long gift lists, you have the opportunity to enjoy being with your family and friends and celebrating the season in a much more meaningful and less stressful way.

Olympic Fashion

I don't know if anyone else is obsessively watching the Olympics, but my husband and I love it. Of course, from a fashion perspective, you have to watch the opening ceremonies to see the outfits the teams wear, and I saw them all, the good, the bad and the ugly (and there were definitely a few ugly, sorry to say). I really like this audio slide show judging the fashion from the New York Times.

My personal favorites were France (top picture) and England (below). Ralph Lauren designed for the U.S., and I was not very impressed. The hats especially looked weird to me.

Bandaids as Fashion??

Here's a bonus post for you guys for the weekend, an article from the New York Times about people who are wearing bandages for fashion purposes only.

Here's an excerpt:

When Nicholas James Brown prepares to go out for cocktails at the Tribeca Grand or to a clambake in the Hamptons, he sticks on a few boldly patterned Band-Aids by the Brazilian fashion designer Alexandre Herchcovitch.

To Mr. Brown, 24, who works at Esquire magazine in New York, the colorful strips are an important accessory, and he’s careful to coordinate them with his Kris Van Assche sweater or his Balenciaga bag. He generally wears one on his left hand or arm and balances it out with two or three on his right leg.

He doesn’t put them on his face because, he said, “I don’t want people thinking, ‘What happened?’ ” And if anyone does ask what he’s done to himself to need all of those bandages? “I’ll lie and say, ‘I have a cut,’ ” he said.

Ugh. Is he serious??? The picture above is of Mr. Brown, so I'm afraid that he is. I'm all for cute bandaids if you like, cut your finger, but to wear them as accessories is so weird to me.

Gossip Girls Fashion

I'm out of town for the rest of the week readers, so here's a little bonus post for you. It's an article in the New York Times about the fashion of Gossip Girls. If you don't watch it, you should. Yes, I am over 30 and I am a Gossip Girls viewer. There, I said it. I am not ashamed.

The article is about the fabulous clothes they were, and they do wear super cute, expensive clothing with very unique styling a la Sex and the City. The article questions the reality of the fashion, in the same vein as the "Carrie could never afford to dress like that" criticism that people have of SATC. Personally, it doesn't bother me. I don't want to see television where the stars dress like normal people. That's boring. Regardless, I think the criticism is less justified in the case of GG, where the characters are all super rich people, possibly working with personal stylists.

The article makes an interesting argument: that we all fall into either the Blair or Serena fashion camps. Personally, I'm with Blair--I love a cute headband.

Enjoy the article, and catch up on the reruns of Gossip Girl this summer so you can start watching the new fall episodes.

Michelle Obama's Style

I saw this article in the New York Times this weekend about Michelle Obama's style, and thought it was an interesting bookend to my earlier post about the candidates' fashion choices. The article compares her style to Jacqueline Kennedy and...Barbara Bush? I'm not sure about BB, but I definitely see the Kennedy comparison. I love her outfit above--note her outstanding use of accessories. Personally, I love her sense of style, and it's nice to see a potential first lady dress a little more fashionably.

The Fashion of Sex And The City: The Movie

I am embarassed to admit that I have not yet seen the new Sex and the City Movie, but I'm dying to go, especially to check out the fashion, of course! In the meantime, I'm having to read about it in this New York Times article , which is not totally complementary of the styling choices made in the movie. They make the point that Carrie could never afford all these clothes in real life, and that the movie is rife with materialism. I agree, but...it's fun!

Chipped Nail Polish As New Trend??

There's a horrifying article on the New York Times website reporting that chipped nail polish is now considered chic. Um...okay. Personally, I think it looks messy and sloppy, but apparently that's the point.

From the article:

“Before, when nail polish was chipped you absolutely had to run and get it fixed,” said Ji Baek, the owner of Rescue Beauty Lounge and a manicure doyenne who has noticed the Olsens and Lindsay Lohan with less-than-impeccable polish. Now, clients like hers are “wearing perfectly-tailored clothes, they have $5,000 bags and equally fabulous shoes, but their nails are chipped and they’re saying, ‘I don’t care.’ They don’t want to be too perfect.”

Huh. I guess this is a problem that I am lucky not to have. I have never looked in the mirror before going out and thought, "You know, I just look too perfect. I'm going to chip my nail polish and mess up my hair before I walk out the door." Maybe if I had a $5000 bag I could pull it off. Until I acquire one, I'm going to try and keep my nail polish unchipped.

Only SJP...

Huh. I'm not sure what to make of the butterfly garden/peacock graveyard perched atop her head, but I gotta give her credit for gumption. This kind of courage has not been shown since the Bjork swan dress incident of 2001.

People.com has the story on SJP's hat.

NYT Article: Shopping with Mindy Kaling from "The Office"

Thursday is once again my favorite day of the week thanks to the return of my favorite show, "The Office". So I was pretty happy to see this great article in the New York Times about actress/writer Mindy Kaling and her passion for shopping.

On her character Kelly's style:

"On the NBC sitcom, Ms. Kaling plays Kelly Kapoor, the catty customer service representative who dresses, as Ms. Kaling described it, “the way she thinks J. Lo would dress, if J. Lo worked in an office and shopped exclusively at Ann Taylor Petites.”"

On her own personal style:

"Bows and sparkles lure her like a magnet. “My aesthetic is grandmother meets rapper girlfriend,” she said. “I like color and embellishment. I think it’s an Indian thing.” "

Read the full article here. The article also mentions her blog "Things I've Bought That I Love", and it is hilarious, check it out.