December 2007

Wii Fit hits Japan today, America’s still fat

Doesn’t Nintendo know we’ve got a bit of a weight problem going on over here Stateside? The company just released its highly-anticipated Wii Fit in Japan today, which will most likely sell like gangbusters, while simultaneously symbolizing the death of the hardcore gamer in Nintendo land to a small portion of the faithful not completely won over by Miyamoto’s latest charming contraption. Unfortunately, the Wii Fit won’t be crossing any oceans until early next year. Nintendo’s official Japan street date for Wii Fit was December 1st, but it seems that at least a few online shops are disregarding that pesky fact.

[Via Wii News]

Source: Wii Fit hits Japan today, America’s still fat

Red Patent Mary Janes. Please Get One For Your Baby! [Style Tots]

If you’re looking for a red patent mary janes similar to the Pediped Isabella but is not willing to pay the Pediped price(around $35), here’s a pair from Payless. This red patent mary janes with ruffles and bow vamp is only $12.99. I would so get this in a heartbeat if only my husband would shut his mouth about our daughter already owning a pair of a red shoes from Pediped.

Oh My, I have this huge thug in my heart to buy it online and when it gets here, I’ll just say, “Errr, Auntie Star bought it“. That would work really well if I am a good liar. I think this is one of those instances when I’ll say being honest is a curse. Dammit. Anyway, please get a pair for your daughter and make me happy(or jealous) .

Baby Girl Shoes, Baby Shoes, baby shopping, Holiday Shoes, Infant Footwear, Infant Holiday Shoes, Infant Mary Janes, infant shoes, Mary Janes, Red Patent Mary Janes, Red Shoes, Style Tots Finds

Source: Red Patent Mary Janes. Please Get One For Your Baby! [Style Tots]

Rules Of Style : Zac Posen [She Knows Best - Lifestyle Tips for Guys]

I’m familiar with Zac Posen in the women’s fashion department but never really knew of his work on Men’s fashion. That’s ok though. I can’t know everything right? . His designs have been seen on the fashion icons in Hollywood, such as Gwyneth Paltrow and his white denim gown worn by Katherine Heigl from this year’s Emmy’s got a lot of accolades. Anyhoooo, Zac Pozen shared his 10 Rules of Style with the DETAILS Men’s Style Manual and here they are :

1. You have to be taller than five feet eight to wear a double breasted jacket. Less than than and you’ll end up looking very square. Go for one-button jacket instead.

2. You should always carry a handkerchief. I’ve noticed that Men don’t do this anymore. Interesting huh?

3. Loro Piana’s linen shirts are a great thing to have. Wow, Zac has expensive taste :).

4. Scent that are soapy and sweet don’t work on Men. Go for citrucy, like an orange blossom. It’s refreshing.

5. Beautiful pajamas are essentials. Eh, don’t ’bout that. But I guess Zac likes the Sea Island cotton plaid ones from Turnbull & Asser.

6. I like long hair on Men with straight hair, but I’m not ready for ponytails again. I guess now we know Zac Posen’s feelings regarding the Man-nytails that the a few Hollywood Men are sporting these days.

7. Shoes are such an important element of style. YSL’s Johnny boot is his footwear of choice. He’s not very ecstatic about the evening wear and sneakers combo.

8. I’m not crazy about backpacks with suits. As a matter of fact his boyfriend used to carry it so he bought him an Hermes instead. Must be nice eh?

9. Sean Combs can wear absolutely anything and so can Andre Leon Tailey. He appreciates how they are risk takers, and enjoying it at the same time.

10. I love turtlenecks, but knit turtlenecks, not jersey. And he’s very adamant about that

*Picture : IMDB

Technorati Tags: DETAILS, Mens Fashion, Mens Rules Of Style, Mens Style, Rules Of Style By Zac Posen, she knows best, Zac Posen, Zac Posen Men, Zac Posen Mens Fashion

Source: Rules Of Style : Zac Posen [She Knows Best - Lifestyle Tips for Guys]

It’s Hard Out There For A Posh [Fashion Victims]

Poor Posh! The Guardian’s Emma Forrest suspects that Victoria is suffering in her new hometown of Los Angeles from her sartorial choices. According to Forrest’s logic, to show that you’re a super important L.A. type, you have to dress like you just don’t give a damn during the day to prove that when you do dress up, it’s because you are “working.” Continuing with this logic, Beckham’s consistently made-up face, heeled feet, and bondaged bod show that she isn’t actually important enough to get invited anywhere at all. (Ouch!) Below, a gallery showing Posh in casual day looks and Posh in, well, Posh day looks (click on any image to begin the show). Does she look like the coolest kid on the block or all dressed up with no place to go?
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Too Posh For La La Land [The Guardian]

Source: It’s Hard Out There For A Posh [Fashion Victims]

Even Suburban Kids Go Dutch [Fancy Footwork]

newVideoPlayer(”Early_Show_Jump_Rope.flv”, 475, 376);
Ray Fredrick’s been coaching jump-roping for 22 years. And it’s not just skipping rope. It’s quick-as-lighting double dutch, with flips, splits and crazy footwork. For four years in a row, the Bouncing Bulldogs of Chapel Hill have won the national championships. But the winners at the Apollo Theater’s Holiday Classic for the last ten years? A Japanese team. The Bulldogs will have stiff competition at the Classic this Sunday. Check out the video, above. [CBS News]

Source: Even Suburban Kids Go Dutch [Fancy Footwork]

Gianni Bini Lizzy [Shopaholics Daily]

I was spending some time  last night looking for the perfect pair of shoes and didn’t find anything that appealed to me. Must have been a first… but I did find these boots and fell in love with them in an instant!! They come in brown or black, but for these boots, the brown is winning out!

Available at Dillards

Technorati Tags: Boots and Shoes, fashion, Shopaholics Daily, Winter Trends

Source: Gianni Bini Lizzy [Shopaholics Daily]

Suri Cruise Is Going To Grow Up So Grounded [Rag Trade]

• 2-year old Suri Cruise has custom-made Christian Louboutins, making her the red-soled footwear company’s youngest client ever. [NY Post]
  
• “She was a great sport. She agreed to do something rough and tough and quite raw. It wasn’t days and days of hair and makeup,” says Marc Jacobs of Victoria Beckham’s participation in his Spring 2008 advertising campaig [WWD, 1st item]
  
• And in other Posh Spice news, Beckham has also posed in the buff for Jacobs’ t-shirt line benefiting skin cancer research. Uh, because she’d rather go naked than protect her skin from harmful UVA rays with one of his crummy T-shirts? Oh wait…huh. [Mirror UK]
  
• Justin Timberlake: Now designing womenswear under the J. Lindeberg label. What qualifies him, you ask? Yeah, we hate obvious punchlines. [Vogue UK]

• The 23-year old fashion boy wonder Esteban Cortazar (whom you may best remember from the person throwing the party for the yacht catering challenge from this season’s Top Chef where Howie finally got the boot) has just been tapped as the new head of the Emanuel Ungaro label. This makes us feel really insufficient. [WWD, sub req’d]
• To celebrate record sales, a Taiwanese lingerie company celebrated with a designated day where its female employees were asked to come to work wearing the goods. [Sassybella]
• Moschino has made a plexiglass doll — a plexiglass doll! how cuddly! — to be auctioned off as part of UNICEF’s children’s AIDS efforts. [Vogue UK, 7th item]
• H&M: Now with even more organic cotton! [FabSugar]
• Not-actually-made-from-seaweed yoga wear line Lululemon’s profits tripled in the third fiscal quarter. [WWD, sub req’d]
• In times of economic turmoil and poor consumer sentiment, J. Crew… predicts great holiday sales! God bless America. [WWD, sub req’d]
• Christian Dior cosmetics claim to have harnessed the power of stem cells in creating their new line, making for the swiftest wrinkle repair ever. Could this be the breakthrough that wins over the hearts and minds of the nation’s anti-abortion lobby? One can dream! [WWD, sub req’d]

Source: Suri Cruise Is Going To Grow Up So Grounded [Rag Trade]

The Killers Do Romeo and Juliet

We could hardly love something more, and we say that as big fans of both the Dire Straits original and the Indigo Girls cover. Man, the Killers are just so great.

Source: The Killers Do Romeo and Juliet

It Is More Than Certainly That Time of Year: The Holiday Dress

We’re pretty sure we could do posts on holiday dresses every day for the next month and still we would not have enough. Because. Holiday parties. There are millions. Er, actually, now that we’re thinking about it, we’ve only been invited to two so far, and they’re both in cities in which we do not currently reside. Harrumph.

Topshop has the most spectacular collection of holiday party dresses we’ve ever seen. In fact, it cracked our stony little heart, because we needed to buy a dress there recently, but one without a single sparkle or sequin (you can imagine: heart breaking) and we left empty-handed. What can we say, we like the sparkly things. This is just one of like thousands. Sequin racer back dress, about $120

This looks much, much less a giant, shiny sausage casing in person. We swear. Frill sleeve belted dress, about $90

Fancy! But sometimes fancy is what you need. Foley + Corinna cocktail dress, $473

We’re usually even more excited about Reiss party dresses, but the more we look at this one, the more enthusiastic about it we become. Maybe someone else will figure out how to purchase this online, from what they call their “online shop.” If you do, please let us know, because we’re baffled.

This almost qualifies as stately from Forever 21, no? F21 Athena dress, $19.80

We love this dress, especially considering the extreme-sale factor. Vivienne Tam dress, was $435, now $187.89

Source: It Is More Than Certainly That Time of Year: The Holiday Dress

The one where it’s all about eBay

It has taken me a hell of a long time to get this sorted out in my head so that when I post it, it comes across as semi-coherent to readers.  Some of you have been hankering after an eBay tutorial which strikes me as odd seeing as I don’t consider myself an eBay expert and the probable case is that you guys have your own ways of doing things.  An eBay routine as it were is rather a personal thing and you may disagree with my tactics and tips in which case this post has been a complete waste of time…. (but hey I am after all one of the biggest time-wasters around so this is no skin off my back!)

So to begin… as this is a PERSONAL eBay routine I’m talking about, I use eBay.co.uk to do my eBay-ing and expand to doing European and Worldwide searches because whilst eBay.com yields more results, when you find out sellers don’t ship to your country, it’s a little crushing and frankly, I’m not about to beg random people to ‘Puuuur-leeeeease’ ship to the UK so I’ll stick to eBay.co.uk for the time being.

   

I’ll cut to the chase and say that of course my reason for eBay-ing is to score designer stuff for cheapie prices.  Vintage/highstreet/misc finds are what come along the way but if we’re talking about the specific search list that I run through on a day to day basis, then yes, I am typing in Hussein Chalayan, Ann Demeulemeester, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Lanvin, Preen and the list goes on (insert your own list of favourite designers).  The good thing about you typing in a designer is that eBay will pick up on a similar ilk of designers under the search box and you could just go on clicking and clicking to your heart’s content.

I don’t like to set size/price/colour/garment limitations on my searches because I like to see what is the entire availability and I ALWAYS ALWAYS set the search to Worldwide.  Yeah, you may have to fork out for the shipping (though I find that US shipping is far more forgiving than one would think… Royal Mail just like to inflate everything….), but the gems that you miss out on if you stick to just searching within the UK (who are far-less profilific in listing items)…. it gives me a lot to browse for.

 

However, when a name like Marc Jacobs is yielding 4,064 results, then I might put my foot down and impose a £30 maximum bid price.  In any case, I’m not likely to want to pay more for what are likely to be fakes.  Yes….the dreaded China/Hong Kong factory surplus stock that clogs up eBay searches.  I can’t really distinguish between the fakes and the genuine stuff especially when it comes to Marc by Marc Jacobs clothing.  To be honest, I’m not fussed either way because the clothing is so H&M-ish that I often dismiss most of it and not to get excited about bidding for it.  I’m not a fan but hey if you get it at the right price, a cute dress is a cute dress wherever it comes from.

An annoying feature of the different eBay country sites though is that if you narrow your search down to say Women’s Clothing, you quite often miss out on listings that aren’t listed in any of the UK-specific categories (this especially happens with European listings) so if you were searching for something with a lot of beauty/cosmetics listings like Givenchy, sometimes you do have to trawl through a lot of unwanted crap to get to the good stuff.

Now are you seeing that basically I have no life because of this laborious eBay routine but what can I say?  I’m an addict…  It gets even more labour-intensive when you click the option to ‘Search title and description’.  I have triumphed with this awesome way of unearthing finds that aren’t designer but the seller is helpful enough to say something along the lines ‘This skirt is SOOOOO Prada AW07-8′ which means it’s not in fact a bit of tat but a bargainous nod to said designer.  This is especially useful when you search in the Vintage category as of course, so many vintage items do nod towards what’s going on today on the catwalks.  For example, searching for Gareth Pugh yields about 9 things that aren’t altogether very interesting but tick that little box and a stunner of a caped leather coat comes up that nods VERY heavily towards Pugh’s SS08 version.

This is similar to the mispelt designer label that SOMETIMES works but more often than not, the item with a mispelt ‘Chanele’ is a bit of a duff.  This isn’t a search tactic I use that often.      

The ‘No pic’ mint is a little annoying.  Some person here hasn’t put up a picture to describe his/her ‘Ruby Red Dress in Style of Christopher Kane’.  Who knows why but I wouldn’t ignore it as someone who is saavy enough to describe the item like that might be holding onto a real look-alike so I would badger this seller for pics by emailing them.

If you clock a stash of designer bargains with no reserve prices, check what else that seller is selling and tag them as a favourite seller.  I quite often forget to do this and thus miss out on a lot of plum listings.  I have no idea what her eBay name is but a stylist from Paris was selling catwalk sample Galliano shoes, Lanvin two season-old dresses and skirts with NR with a lot of the stuff going for less than 100 euros.  I can’t for the life of me remember her damn eBay name sadly….   

The other long winded search method I like to run through especially in the Vintage section is for embellishments that I particularly like… for example… ‘large gems’, ‘pleated’, ‘leather’, ’sheer’, ‘quilted’… this is especially fun on a grey/non-happening day.  I was being serious when I said that this is labour intensive….

So you’ve added a ton of items to your watch list (there used to be a limit as to how many you could add but I believe they have removed