What It Seams To Me: A Fashion Blog

Fashion Week in action. Photo: Getty Images

I will be stalking various sources covering New York Fashion Week and once it’s over, serve you a plate of trends that summarize the overall Spring 2009 collection. This will most likely be in segments. I will also highlight the drama, the memories, and the jaw-droppers. So in the meantime, take care of your eyes and repel from the monitor for once!

*Edit: Sorry for the fall-out of this. I won’t do this again next time.

Photo: overstock.com

When the book made its successful debut back in 2001, it was as obvious as the pink elephant spotted in a vacant room that a follow-up movie is bound to revive the mania surrounding “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” as well as three other books that accompany this tetralogy, all written by British author Sophia Kinsella.

It’s a crime often practiced but seldom spoken out loud: around the ripe era of a woman’s life, say 18-30, materialism, glamour and the sudden want for both seems to spawn out of nowhere. The majority of the female American population searches to find a detour down their road of the unsatisfying middle-class income – which, in reality, is as far from being disposable as some wish for it to be; and although this road is paved with erosion-prone bricks from the Mom and Pop’s store down the street, the slick lamination of a piece of paper with a number code embroidered on the front and a magic black bar slapped on the back can magically turn this abhorrence into a road made of the world’s finest marbles.

As easy as it is to obtain a credit card, it’s surprisingly much easier to forget reality and swipe to one’s content. After all, it’s an unwritten law to shop but don’t say a whisper as to where all this mysterious money is coming from.

This beautiful road is actually a walk-in closet, supplied by the world’s most well known retail stores. With a hefty credit generously given from a London bank, Rebecca Bloomwood (played by Isla Fisher) has no reason to abstain. Her months of joyful opulence echoes a situation that hits too close to home for many women and in my case, I have many reasons to sympathize with her.

However, let me bring my ramblings back to what I’m really trying to say: what a terrible time to release a movie like this! It’s already depressing to see homeowners oh so desperately trying to sell their home to an almost non-existing market and residence of the country frantically matching up the pace it takes to pick up their pennies to how fast these pennies fall out of the widened hole in his or her’s pockets. So much for catering to a recession-stricken country.

Although Rebecca quickly realizes she has a problem and gets a job to resolve all this, the amount of product placements, name droppings, and to-good-to-let-it-pass deals will just shoot eager spenders out of the movie theaters and to a nearby department store. Lastly, lets hope some viewers aren’t the type to re-create the movie world into reality, thinking that applying for a credit card and quickly getting a job afterwards to alleviate the debt will go by as quick as a 2 hour movie.

Truthfully, I’m very excited for this movie to premiere because a) I can never get enough of movies that shimmers fashion and b) the movie trailer made me scream in my seat. It has been six years since I picked up this book and religiously read through within a span of a few days. I predict a revisit in this series, as well as finally reading the last two books I have yet to read.

Sources: youtube.com, andpop.com, amazon.com

Alice + Olivia for Payless and drooling as I type this. Photo: payless.com

A couple of weeks ago, I had enough green in my wallet to splurge on a pair of oxford heels I’ve been DYING to own prior to actually purchasing it at the Nordstrom located within the Easton shopping center. It was a gorgeous pair of Vince Camuto’s Karl Oxfords with a giant gold statement buckle perfectly aligned along the side. Since then, I’ve been envying myself in front of my mirror with the pair hugging my feet like a long-term boyfriend.

Dampening my mood is the question of “when to wear them” and “how often should these be worn?” Granted, the style is casual enough to be worn in an everyday manner, yet oil-slick sleek for even the most formal occasions. Like seeing your dog come home with a wound on its paws, it’d tear me apart to see even the slightest scuff on my precious oxfords; and as similar as taking your wounded dog to the vet, a little bit of maintenance for every scuff and ripping seams can add up, which is why I seldom wear them unless a special occasion arises on my agenda.

Athens, OH is definitely on the list of towns with the worst terrain for one’s stilettos to clack through. The town is notorious for it’s lack of maintenance with its brick roads, as well as having a ton of brick roads and sidewalks in the first place. (Call us, “Brick City.”) To take public transportation or even transportation in general during a night out is absurd and unnecessary when the destinations within the college town are walking distance. Mais dans le nom de la mode, there must be an alternative to this sacrifice!

Alas my prayers were recently answered in the September issue of Vogue (surprisingly). Of course the answer wasn’t tucked away within an editorial or featured article, it was within a three page advertisement for Payless.

I circled around a particular pair of Booties designed by Alice + Olivia for Payless and the circles continued to makes its rounds until the pen’s last drop of ink, because that’s how giddy I was about this particular collaboration. Payless has recently, since last year, jumped on the designer hook-ups bandwagon, along with Target, H&M, UK’s Topshop, and many other retail shops. Alice + Olivia joins the list of designers which includes Abaeté, Lela Rose, and Patricia Field, who is the known stylist for hit series “Sex and the City.” (On that note, I was slightly disappointed with how “cheap” – quality wise – that collection looked.)

At a deal breaking $48.00, the brand’s Jane Back Zip Boot is an ultimate must-have to accent my wardrobe and delightfully enrich my collection of shoes. I’m not too wacky about the other shoes in particular (maybe a few of the Mary Janes), but maybe that’s just my reaction to a tight budget. I think the open-toe version looks like one too many steps have been taken in the editing process, thus the step back is satisfyingly picture perfect – which is what I’m excited to be with the right dress and jacket, and a sigh of relief from the daunting sacrifice of the other pair of the too nice shoes.

Sources: payless.com, allbusiness.com

For many women, the belief of the fact that a higher price correlates with better quality seems logic. Advertisements wrap them up in chains and reel them in to their $70 face elixir because without it, they might as well sag with the times.

Realistically, it’s hard for some of us to part with $70 for a face cream when we’re better off spending that on clothes, or invest that chunk of cash into our savings jar for the Marc by Marc Jacobs bag we’ve been drooling over. And why should we anyways?

I am a victim of department store cosmetics and for a while thought the quality, selection and brands were the only way to go. Instead of taking a walk down the CVS beauty aisle to overwhelm myself with its excessive selection, I preferred a personal consultation by a beauty adviser from the Clinique counter, to save both the time and headache… yet not so much my wallet. Although their Acne Solution line works like a charm on my face, I start to wonder if the other products they’ve handed out to me could be offered at a better price from a different source. The first product that came to mind – and was still absent from my medicine cabinet until recently – is a jar of night cream.

Last Friday, I took the opportunity to take a stroll down one of the many beauty aisles at Wal-Mart in search

Nightly affairs. Photo: amazon.com

of affordable, yet high quality night cream. A jar of night cream is a must-have for any beauty regimen, as a bottle of face moisturizer with SPF is during the day. Although my face is oily and acne-prone, my experience with many acne solution drug store brands have been less than memorable. In fact, disappointing.

One particular brand that, surprisingly, hasn’t been given a chance from me is Aveeno, even though the brand alone has been paraded by many as the go-to brand for top-quality moisturizers. That Friday, however, was the start of a relationship between me and a jar of Aveeno Ultra-Calming Night Cream. When my friend Erin dropped me off from our trip to the castle of low prices, I proceeded to my bathroom to complete my nightly beauty regimen and threw in the night cream to give it a go. Once the cap was twisted off, there lies a small amount of cream, which started off very thick to the touch, making me a bit apprehensive about its potential result. If a user is sensitive to fragrance, this might not be the cream for him or her as the odor could fragrance a whole room. When applied, the cream transform into this weightless mask and you forget you’re even wearing it in the first place. Night becomes day, and I wake up to a refreshing face: oil-free, baby-butt smooth, smaller pimples and lack of redness.

A miracle cream and a drug store delight.