Happy Friday! Today, we have another installation of Catalog Police, where I critique lookbooks and catalogs currently hitting both our mailboxes and inboxes. My goal? To take a cold, hard look at fashion marketing in all its glorious ridiculousness. This week’s victim is Wildfox Couture, which recently dropped its Spring 2015 lookbook. As the New […]
Month: January 2015
- Consignment
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How I Wear Skirts in Winter
Ever since the trauma of the 2014 Polar Vortex, Manhattan is poised to panic at the mere hint of snow. This week’s weather predictions unleashed a level of hysteria I’ve never seen in my six years here. Offices closed. Trains ceased service. Normally sane city dwellers to succumbed to madness, buying every beer and bread loaf in the tri-state area, hash-tagging ever […]
Nasty Gal: The Name Says It All
Two weeks ago, self-appointed “Girl Boss” Sophia Amoruso surprised retail industry hawks when she left her CEO post at Nasty Gal, the e-commerce company she founded in 2006. Amoruso’s abdication of her self-built throne was all the more surprising because Amoruso made herself a household name when she authored the leadership tome #GirlBoss. (It’s a bit like Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean […]
Winter-White from Head-to-Toe
When I wear winter-white, I have two general parameters. One: Go the whole hog. Winter-white means completely monochromatic — one palette, all the way down to the shoes. Two: Don’t get within a 10-block radius of a cup of coffee. I love all-white for its complexity. White is one of the most neutral tones out there — but […]
Catalog Police: Zara’s Latest Lookbook
Zara has been on a hot streak lately. After several uninspiring years churning out polyester blouses in varying shades of neon, the Spanish fast fashion giant has pared down its designs and embraced the sleek minimalism currently ruling the runway. Zara has never showcased its manufacturing prowess when trends veer toward loud designs, like lace or too-elaborate patterns. […]
Does Your Perfume Tell a Story?
My first bottle of perfume was a bottle of Charlie purchased at Eckerd Pharmacy in 5th grade. It smelled wretched, like a mixture of mothballs and formaldehyde. But perfume was a passport to adulthood. And because I wanted nothing more than to be a grown-up, I dutifully splashed myself with the nose-crinkling concoction daily. I graduated […]
Taking a Break from Eye Makeup
For the past few weeks, I’ve had a little problem. It started last month, when some late-afternoon mascara flakes fell into my eye. After a swipe of make-up remover, I felt fine. Two weeks later, a dreaded sty appears. No problem. I swabbed that sucker with some antibacterial cream. Cut to last week. I’m in Vermont with a house full […]
Skip Pandora For These Lucky Charms
When I wrote about the inexplicable craze for Pandora charm bracelets last week, the responses I received were as priceless as any diamond. One friend said Pandora bracelets were the “family car stickers” of the jewelry world. Another compared fans’ devotion to the misguided fanaticism Beanie Babies. And yet another suggested that Pandora include subversive charms like diet pills […]
The 5 Weirdest Things You Can Get at Harrods
When I last visited Harrods in London, my husband and I spotted a ludicrous gold-plated serving tray in the shape of a sheep. It didn’t have a price tag, so we started playing a version of The Price is Right, trying to guess how much the tray cost. By the time I wagered $10,000, a sales associate interrupted […]
Why Are Pandora Bracelets So Popular?
Until last month, Pandora bracelets were a phenomenon I knew nothing about. That is, until I saw an enormous line of Pandora worshippers queuing for a chance to shop at the Pandora in Miami’s Aventura Mall. (I felt the same bewilderment when I saw a throng of shoppers waiting patiently to shop at Abercrombie and Fitch — in Paris.) I was […]