Stylish with Substance

The Fall season is pretty much upon us in the fashion hemisphere, and many of us - I know - can't wait to get started on shopping and even wearing Autumn-toned goodies.

Now how to wear a gorgeously warm looking scarf in the dog days of August, a month that also celebrates the hot hot reds of the Earth?

An Hermès silk scarf in a sharp graphic print is perfect, and don't get too scared, this Silk Twilly is only $115. That's not bad for a die-hard fashionista or a moderately-budgeted H. admirer. The print is too fashionable and the price only tells you this accessory will last.

I'm out of touch. It's been a struggle blogging and working through the on and off heat waves, having no boss, doing other work, with that site outage, etc. etc. And with my interest in indie and less blogging, I'm not even up to date on the trends.

It's impossible to research and post with current information and style in one short night (especially as the cookies are calling me, the chocolate chips have my name spelled out) so I propose we play a little game.

Type a list of fashion and accessory trends for Fall and hot topics; celebrities, companies, anything. You can even start a thread at your favorite forum and link to that back here.

At the end of the week, I'll make up a visual presentation or a few, and hopefully we'll all have a little more information.

However you choose to use it though is up to you. Read at your own risk and trend responsibly!

I've been putting off debuting my shop and my own items, thinking, "I'm not ready!" and "I want the optimal day/time/exposure!" Oh bah. Stop procrastinating. My readers need to see this! I'm going to feature one of my items every week, so as not to over do it. ;-)

My designer company name is Milly & Nans, and I stress everything yarn, knitting and crochet accessories. I have lots of jewelry made and eventually will have lots of great purses.

What you see here is a large coin purse, knitted, with a zipper and a bracelet wrist strap and decorative button. It features a gathered design and is fully lined. It measures 4.5" x 3". Price: $14. Buy here on Etsy! Craving another colour? "Convo" me through Etsy!

This was the first purse I've ever made, but I have more in the works for Fall.

*Update* What I meant was it's the first purse I ever designed and made. It's still the only style of which I've brought to life, but I'm working on another and more are waiting to be made!*

My shop address is www.millyandnans.etsy.com and the blog is at www.millyandnans.com! (The ad to the left is moi, easily clickable anytime!)

Yes, congratulations to me, I'm starting my dream! And I'm really enjoying it. :-D

I apologize for KM*S being down all week. The reason is all so very technical that it took me nearly the entire down time to understand what I do of it (I don't completely, and never could), but it's important to discuss this in detail. However you bloggers will know what I'm talking about, if just a little bit, and it's important you, especially, read this.

You know when your content gets "scraped" and put up on a splog - spam blog - and you get that rude trackback, to boot? That's apparantely called referrer spam. And it's made possible by evil (and I mean EVIL) spam types sending "bots" to crawl pages for content, but I still don't know how it's posted to the splogs.

But the truly damaging point IS in fact that crawling. It takes "CPU time" and bandwidth and can drain a domain's entire shared server, causing on and off 500 Internal Server Errors on any and all domains hosted on one machine with your company. (This is the part in which I feel guilty even though I'm quite innocent.)

And the next part is the point that should make you bloggers using your own hosting nervous. My host had to shut down Kiss Me, Stace until we figured out why it was such a drain and then set up a script to prevent it. It took 5 days. Of downtime. And a Final Warning letter from an advertising service I use (eek!) notifying me the ads could not be found at the location (well duh, nothing could be).

But the bright spot is there in that script. It can be used with any blogging script, even! I believe it's necessary for any blog getting lots of posts published elsewhere in this manner. It's helpful for any blogger, even (as long as you host your own blog so you can actually upload the files).

Get it: Referrer Karma

And I'll be posting again starting today, not Monday. Let's hope things flow normally from now on!

Spam is not chic. It's not even fabulously ugly. It's a nasty, falling-apart, little child-hands-bleeding, terrorist-supporting counterfeit. It's evil.

I love handbags, I was even addicted to designer purses and got myself buried in debt because of it. But that's exactly why I'm against purses that cost $20,000, $200,000 (um, we're getting close to buying a whole house there!) and even more expensive bags. Lavish materials seem luxurious and enviable, but there's really no point past a certain extent. Diamonds are nice, diamonds on a purse may even seem like a good idea ... but an accessory, albeit an essential one, costing the price such extravagances bring them to---is completely overboard and past any sensible reason. There's no excuse for a purse ringing in at over $1 million!

The new record breaking purse price is one-million point 63 dollars! It is adorned with diamonds, oh and it's also made of platinum. Yes, it's an evening purse, and not the least bit practical.

Heck, I'm not even sure I like the looks of it. (That strap appears far too fragile, for one thing.) By jewelry designer, Ginza Tanaka, it boasts over 2,000 diamonds totaling 208 carats, and let's not forget the platinum shell body.

It's beyond words.

What do you think?

*Via Bag Bliss*

Is just really stupid.

Hopefully by accident, Miu Miu (by Miuccia Prada) has put out a common-styled black heel. Okay, no big "designer design" in that, not her own or anyone's ... but then - yes, that's the red sole of famed Louboutin!

Hmm, now I bet the entire shoe is starting to look a tad familiar, perhaps.

Caught "Red Soled!"

OK no-name bargain cheapo companies ripping off IT looks is a no-brainer. People want the "cool" look effortlessly, and businesses want their cash.

But even as an accident---and who doesn't know about Christian's red sole? Come on!---a big name designer copying another brand's claim-to-fame detail is really .. really .. really dumb.

It's about advertising. Only the hugest of fans will probably recognize your shoe on the street. Most people who know anything about designer fashion might just think it's Louboutin (or a copy, but they still think of that designer). This is advertising for the competition. I guess, since this was approved and is now for sale, you guys get what you deserve if this turns back on you.

(Oh and by the way, I don't think this pump would have fooled me. Uh-uh, no, I don't think so. No sir. :-) )

*Via* Counterfeit Chic

*Update:* Louboutin's camp is now trademarking the red sole.

The "Dentelle" floral lacing on Louis Vuitton's new Speedy is kind of beautiful, until it's embroidered onto the busy LV monogram pattern both the company and fans are addicted to.

Do I like it? As a fan, but not an obsesser, I can be fair. And personally, I say put it on a light canvas, like the designer's Damier Azur, and it could really rock. Of course, putting it on a more "blank" canvas, like a black suede - would truly make it art.

A lot of Vuitton's monogram embellishments are things crafty and creative fans can do themselves. (And they even come up with their own ideas and post photos online.) And well, I think I could seriously make this with the embroidery machine I just purchased on eBay (I'm ecstatic). Still, I'd rather put it onto my own print, which I can make myself as well with either screening or printable fabric I also purchased and my new ink jet printer (needed a fax upgrade - finally!). Yes, I am awesome.

OK back to the ponderment at hand. LV's Dentelle MC Speedy 30, is it a classic made elegant or an overpriced exploitation by Marc Jacobs of the house? Fabulous or ... trashtastic?

The Spice Girls are back for a (teeny tiny: read very few cities) "world" tour and I'm excited. Or I was until I came to this thought: the Spice Girls were interesting partly because of their individuality and fun looks. Sure, it was all so fashionably criminal to the capitol extent, but somehow deliciously appealing. (Or well hey, I was about 15, so what can I say.)

Here is what the "girls" look like now: UPGRADE = absolutely (except for Posh, absolute reversal in the wrong direction, so sad... Get the brunette dye on your head PRONTO!)

And here is an example of Original Spice:

Although the women now look more beautiful and stylish, their old costumes showed off lots of color, pizazz and personality. And I feel the way they differentiated themselves added tremendously to their success. Fans got to know and love them more, and audiences could tell the members apart. Plus a stage show is more interesting with wild looks.

On the other hand, we're in a more grown up time, so would the old schtick work? Well, I feel fans want to recapture the old magic.

So can there be SPICE without FLAVOR?

Since Rihanna's new single, "Umbrella", features mon nom I just have to feature today's "treasury" selection on the front page of Etsy.com: all rain and umbrellas!

A treasury, until items sell out, is actually always available when you click on the creator's username. You learn something new every day, huh? Here is the link for this Rain Rain Go Away collection.

Of course, if you are just now learning for the first time about Etsy's existence, get to shopping! All indie, all hand made. Oh yes. I'll wait here. (Or at Etsy, myself.)

Sparkle and charm with America-themed jewelry from Etsy sellers.

 

Diva $$$: American Icons Charm Bracelet: $70

Fashionista $$: Lampwork Bead Bracelet: $22

Budgetista $: Shooting Star Fireworks Earrings: $14