Stylish with Substance

Neiman Marcus is giving a gift away with a $700 Manolo Blahnik purchase. It's too bad that the shoes usually cost between $520-$650. And the gift is random, not very Blahnik: espadrille thong sandals and Bobbi Brown Beach fragrance.

So, spend well over $700--probably over $1,000--on Manolo Blahniks to receive cute but cheap-ish shoes (that don't look particularly comfortable) and a tiny bottle of fragrance. What is the incentive, here? Just focus on the Manolos!

I'm naturally not feeling very excited, today. I usually find a beautiful shoe to display, but I have been wondering if I should move on to Designer Mondays, and mix it up. What do you think?

Excitement! I am to host the Carnivale de Couture on April 10th! (I am so busy in March!) So, I will post my topic on about April 3rd. But there's plenty of time before then, I just had to share the happiness.

This week's topic, from Verbal Croquis, is

You are throwing a little dinner party featuring fashion glitterati, past or present, dead or alive. You are only allowed to invite 5 people. Feel free to include designers, style icons, journalists, models, moguls, intellectuals, you name it.

More excitement!

Here is my list of personal choices!

• Coco Chanel - She created the most elegant and classy designer line that today inspires others and remains a powerhouse while still being true to the classic Chanel. And the woman is fascinating. I've read so many of the things she's said; she is both inspiring and sometimes bewildering, even infuriating ... all at first read. Eventually, the quotes are realized to be so natural as women are themselves, she had such wisdom and truth. Wouldn't you love to speak with her?


• Tyra Banks - She is a true model, a role model with a brain, personality, a real body, and a natural beauty. I would love to associate with her.


• Isaac Mizrahi (and his dog, Harry, so he doesn't have to leave early to walk him) - He is an adorable riot, a doll, and is a gay man who should be my friend! I think we'd get along with some of our similarities. Plus, I've got to speak with him about his not wearing socks! ;-)


• Marilyn Monroe - Talk about a real, buxom beauty. She deserves to come back to life. I'd get her to give great quotes for press, and we'd discuss the skinny ideal society has, today.


• Rebecca Taylor - Another designer I love partly for her personality (equally for the clothes), she is a happy, spirited soul. I'd love to hear her go on about rainbows and glitter. ;-) She would bring out the child in me.

The Food:

I believe in cocktail parties; if I must endure a party, it should be classy and I should dress to the nines (otherwise I'd like to leave at 9). I would serve sweet margaritas and mimosas, etc., lots of cheesy and chocolaty bites of hor's duevres, honey-mustard salmon, rice and roasted carrots for the main course, then a dessert of chocolate silk pie with frothed hot cocoa. Wow.

My Attire:

And I would need appropriate dress. I can't afford Chanel, so I'll have to be excused on that. But I would have Isaac Mizrahi for Target's Tulle Skirt altered to fit my short legs, and pair it with a flirty top from Rebecca Taylor's Fall line.

I would like to be pleasantly surprised by what my guests wear.

The Party:

I'm not exactly a social expert or butterfly, but I think I've picked out a group that would mostly get along. I definitely picked people to get along with me, and not for glamour (although we're all such pretty ladies). I want to have a good, Ella kind of time. I think we'd have a fascinating conversation lasting through the night. Of course, Isaac might get in trouble asking about unmentionables, and I hope he doesn't poke or prod the two busty beauties. (No dresses with built-in support, ladies!) Le Sigh! It's all in fun, why not have a little controversial conversation starters? I'm all about talking, and I think it would be a success.

Express got a recent shipment of items for Spring, among them were some interesting bags. The brand doesn't have an online store, so when I find great items, I like to snap some camera photos and inform you all!

So summer-ready are the lukewarm-toned wooden beaded wristlets and beaded sack hobos. While showin' some toesies and baring arms, it's also fun to celebrate the sultry and carefree time with special accessories just for the momentous period; like espadrilles in shoes and for bags: raffia, straw, wood, bamboo and ... and ... the hot new trend: tortoise shell.

But Summer is also fleeting, so it's great to participate in its trends for bags at stores like Express, with lower prices. Except with no online shop and an early stock primed to sell out, are we in the mood enough to brave these winter winds and snow flurries, in time to buy?

The I am Fashion girls question for the Carnivale of Couture is

Surprise darling! You have just won the lottery! How will you, the super fabulous fashionable blogger, spend your US$10m winnings? Tell us all about your money-spending plan!!

My plan would be to put my dream into actual motion: start a handbag design company. Yes, just like Mallory! And like Mallory, I practically could have said this myself:

"I’m pretty particular about things, so they’d have to be the best, which in turn would lead my handbags to become major sellers in the industry."

Great minds! great ... compulsive minds!

I was so excited when I saw that we had the same idea, I was inspired to work more on this thought.

The Basic Plan Ideas:

I'd decide which handbag line to open with (I want to have 3!). We're assuming I don't go for clothes, because handbags are my biggest weakness, therefore the first fantasy in mind.

Should I pick the line with the least expensive bags to make (the fabric, sometimes quirky-cute bag line)? Or the line that would send me straight to the IT list, with quality leathers and signature styling (not logo, but side belts [yes, that into them], side decorations & horizontal details, but not all one gimmick)? That's an expensive one, though. Of course, there's the one with my name all over: Elle, the line with jacquard signature bags (and some leather bags, of course, with a huge focus on outside/cell pockets). That might be best for being more known, and my alignment attention will make the bags expensive. I can't decide, at this point.

All three will aim for *logical* pricing, practical wearability, lots of pockets with easy to reach cell phones, etc. I should fill needs in consumer's shopping (and my own, quite importantly).

I would put together a team to help. I need a math person (maybe my best friend) to calculate and make sure every little thing on the bag is aligned right, symmetrical, standard, perfect. I need the fabrics expert, the studied designer. Then I need business people.

We invest in company trademarks and logo copyrights.

From there, we set up a studio and offices. Get a manufacturing team and design, business and techie employees. And we need seriously Monkish obsessive-compulsive inspectors (I can't overview every bag!).

We get PR. Make a website. Etc. Etc.

Don't ask for a monetary breakdown or even a solid business plan, at this point. I am so not that girl, and this is so not the medium! (Besides, The Bling Blog pointed out that after taxes, we only have $6.5M. Well, I don't know if that's the same in all states, I know nothing of such sorts. So forget that!)

But I can dream about when things take off, and how many levels I can take it to. Then I go nuts!

I could go on and on ... but it's depressing thinking about it in technical terms when it's fantasy, and not just my ideals that keep me urgently dreaming. It's all depressing in the end, because I am definitely not winning the lottery (well, there's a big jackpot, tonight!). But who knows, I could work hard and earn enough income. But it won't be like a fantasy!

Now, read Mallory's dream plan for this money, it's much more breezy!!

And you really must read my more detailed, general plan on Kiss Me, Stace, which includes a few things about my clothing and shoe design ideals!

Here is a sample of Milan's Gucci Fall/Winter 2006 show:

Left: No one can pull this off. Not even Paris Hilton can come out of her top that much in one night.

Thank goodness for Hollywood Tape.

Right: Now we have more dead makeup, much like John Galliano's Dior Spring 2006 couture. Spare us! I'm tempted to recolor her face with Photoshop!

You'd think I'd find it refreshing to see different kinds of faces on models at these things, but well these unfresh faces leave me cringing. (That was so mean.) To be fair, I think it's mostly the eye makeup.

Breathless has moved to a new name and location: High-Fashion High at www.fashion-high.net!

Moi is no longer blogging there, but there are two great new bloggers!

One is Miss Cinnamon, from Style Spotlight. The other is brand new to us, Jane Choo! Good luck, girls!

Please check in for all the runway Milan and Paris action, as well as Spring shows, and more fashions!

Delight, the blog that shops and discovers new delightful things, has discovered and featured Pursed Lips, with a focus on our speak out against knockoffs!

Do you know how to spot a knock-off Coach from the designer original? We didn’t either - that is, until we checked out Pursed Lips and its super-interesting “knock-off speak-out” section. That’s right, this site covers buying designer bags on eBay and even profiles some fantastic sales and new styles. If you’re interested in spending some hard-earned cash on a designer bag, stop by for the full scoop. 'Cause if it's a deal that seems too good to be true, maybe it is.

Thanks for the compliment, but we'd like to remind visitors that Pursed Lips is a total handbag blog, literally obsessively covering the hottest styles!

Some like it steamy, some like it romantic, and some just like it haute.

This is the review of two different products of media. Actually it's two very different reviews, and please hang with me for both.

To preview, a summary of Some Like It Haute, the novel by Julie Dam.

Alex is the type of girl who manages to make it through everything out of luck, maybe some talent, but little else. She is surrounded by the finest things in life, without appreciation for the little things. And we hate her ... yet we still want to be in her place, in her shoes.

And a summary of Some Like it Haute, the blog by Alex Simons.

We also still hate [Alex], with brand new every day pictures of Prada and other designer shoes. [But] we love [the blogger] for knowing so well the insight to our souls. Finally! Another person who gets it---and she explains it so well. It's very well written...

A novel by Julie Dam, called Some Like It Haute, was released today. The book tells the story of Alex Simons, a former-awkward Texan just trying to make it in the fashion world as a writer for the famous British Weekly. Of course, she's also trying to hide her old self in her expensive-designer-clad new exterior. She has lost any sense of all identity amid the Manolos, Chanel, and the snobbitude that follows her barely-afforded new lifestyle. Alex is living a lie, and suffers for it.

The whole plot is a fantasy that I found hard to stomach while reading. - Example: In grade school, Alex had a sexy French teacher, whom she meets in Paris, as he's now working in a department store. All believable by stretch (I find the class-wide school girl crushes ingenuine and a bit disagreeable to my psyche's sensitive palette) but then there's this obstacle: he is finely dressed himself, it's mentioned that as a teacher, he only wore custom designed shoes. - Yes, Monsieur Jacques is out of wack with the reality I know.

Then there's the love interest. I couldn't get into Nick, for the fact that he's the typical hot guy every woman wants. (Well, in the story they want him, and we're all supposed to want him.) I prefer my characters human and imperfect (can't you tell, already?). The story gets a lot pop culture from there, when we learn Nick is on a reality show. - Do I like that twist? Think it's a clever use of the au courant to reach us better? - Well, it's a little tongue-in-chic hilarious that the story is partly set on a reality show, the type of show we know has little reality, when this book is much the same.

As for the writing, it's light and typical, fine for technical fact-telling, but lacks style and creative device in its flow. Still, it is not an easy read for even a common fashionista. To quote my article on Fashionistas Poor Portrayal in the Media (which picking this book up greatly inspired), "I find myself not even able to grasp the long list of designer garments in these novels (blogs fare better for the pictures)." Blogs and magazines do fare better, for fashion is a visual medium, in its entirety. I so believe that argument strongly. For one to describe such things in a novel, I'd expect only a masterful, highly crafted, literary genius to pull off the nuances of every flourish and cut of a dress---and keep the momentum for an entire novel. Even stating big or IT designer names, like Balenciaga, cannot give the perfect image to everybody, not one person can understand and visualize everything in the book. In fact, such listing can give readers the feeling of being excluded and missing out.

What needs to be done for fashion novels, and I haven't yet seen it -- is all (okay, most) of the apparel and accessories need to be fiction. At least the writer cannot assume anything, since when are authors allowed to?! The writer must describe as one does in any genre of storytelling. - Eager style experts who can construct great sentences think they can write great books in this typical way, but it always fails.

Therefore, I don't put blame on author Julie Dam for her efforts, and I plead that she not be upset that I'm giving an honest, unbiased review. I ideally want to be more journalistic and therefore cannot morally be swayed by complimentary advanced copies or knowing she is in the fashion blogosphere with me. To be a journalist, I cannot be afraid. But now I digress.

In the end, I didn't get what I wanted from the story. There was a happy ending. - Yes, I didn't want that. - I wanted some huge enlightenment, even perhaps with a drastic change of life. Yes, even a sadder (not so, possibly, with light chick lit, but) imperfect closure. I would also want some sense of humble humor about the plot, itself, so readers can be more than entertained, even while truly enjoying the light-heartedness and style talk.

The moral I did get is that Alex is the type of girl who manages to make it through everything out of luck, maybe some talent, but little else. With what should be a budget, she instead has it all, and buys any of the rest of it she wants (two links to pages of the book on Amazon). She is surrounded by the finest things in life, without appreciation for the little things. And we hate her ... yet we still want to be in her place, in her shoes, in her wardrobe and her access to luxuries. Yet with our own personalities to do the gifts justice.

Some will still love this book for that fantasy, and in fantasizing, we do often leave behind the practical world. It is fine to enjoy this book, this is really one opinion.

On a brighter side, the blog! ...

The blog, Some Like it Haute, is a fun, purposefully tongue-in-chic, journal of the confessions of the Shoeaholic, Alex (ghost written by Julie Dam). In this blog, we see the human side of the shopaholic, and witty "admissions" of the faults this infliction causes. We can even see ourselves in this blog, and can relate to the muses on fashion and shoes. We also still hate her, with brand new every day pictures of Prada and other designer shoes, and the ease with which she plops down thousands for a trendy Louis Vuitton. But it's entertainment, remember, and we hate the persona while loving the author. We love her for knowing so well the insight to our souls, we love her for understanding true handbag lust. Finally! Another person who gets it---and she explains it so well. We know she lives this, herself.

Yes, the blog is the opposite of the book. It's very well written; actually one of the best in the fashion community. Don't let the fact that it's based on a character scare you off, it's a great read.

Julie, if blogging is good enough in your eyes, I say make it a job, milk an income out of it, because you belong here!

I haven't posted about boots in a while, and I can feel the western trend slipping away. But with coming Spring, we can both wear boots while the chill remains and stock up for next Fall. Also, trends recycle in an evolving process, so boots with western hints are now pretty chic. These Seychelles Against the Law boots are so cool for girls with attitude. With a trendy heel and sleek details, these are in good taste. In opposition to the name, they don't warrant a call to the fashion police. They may inspire some sinful coveting, but that wrong answers to a different power.

Urban Outfitters is at the out.fitting, again, but this time they only have their trend following to blame.

First, we must mention the Spring 2006 trend: nautical-inspired, navy-toned stripes. Fine. But they're always laid out horizontally. Doesn't everyone know that horizontal stripes widen the figure? Models can scrape by with the look, but all women beneft from an accentuated waist, the larger want slimmer hips, and most look better with a taller appearance. Conversely, mixed diagonal lines coming in to an arrow point is actually flattering. They can create that waist or emphasize a bust (like in this photo).

Next (on the right) Urban Outfitters displays a von Furstenberg-ready print in a tunic-sack shaped frock. What's worse is there's a wide, white band across the widest part of a woman's body: the thighs. It removes the view of the natural waist and moves it down, which forces odd proportions onto the body.

I don't know what designers are thinking, but as women we should carefully consider these aspects of what we buy to adorn our bodies!