Category — Fashionista / Wannabista

Do you shop online? I do. I think everyone does: my 80+ year old mother just bought something on Etsy!

Burberry, Cartier, Hermes, Gucci, Prada, Tom Ford, Tory Burch, YSL, Mont Blanc: do I have your attention yet?

I take time out of every day – sometimes out of every hour – to see what’s on sale online. I subscribe to way too many deal websites, emails, twitter accounts, even text alerts: and have gotten some great deals: a fabulous bed retailing for almost $2000 for less than $300, 2-for-1 photography tours of the Everglades, dinner for 2 at a very chic restaurant at family-style prices, pilates classes, half-price frozen yogurt, ZipCar annual membership: I see the item and know it’s something I’ve been wanting, or that would make a great gift. Done. Happy customer.But I can never spend my money on designer luxury flash sales: yes, I see things I’m interested in, and sometimes even shopping for: but rather than spurring me to whip out my credit card, the ticking flash sale countdown clock makes me wait… and miss out. But I keep on looking.

I’m a regular customer on HaveDeals, a coupon code site I use to buy everything from groceries to printer ink to flowers to dog food to bath towels to hotels to personalized M&Ms. But I never thought of HaveDeals as a luxury site: just to buy every day necessities and gifts. Then I was clicking the New tab and discovered TrendsBazar. This site has designer clothes, accessories and housewares at discount prices: with no time limit. You can shop for as long as the product is available, not just until the sale ends. And with HaveDeals I not only get the site’s discount prices, I also get HaveDeals’ TrendsBazar promo code, and get an extra discount!

Kyle Richards in Hermès Constance Belt

Is there anything worth buying on TrendsBazar? I scoped the accessories: purses, sunglasses and shoes. And belts. There they were, my current belt obsession: Hermès reversible H Constance belts. The classic. You seen them on TV: Kyle Richards wears hers regularly on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Giada Delaurentiis recently wore one on Rachel Ray, and Khloe Kardashian and Kelly Rowland are photographed frequently in the H belt.

I have one H belt I purchased in Paris at the bi-annual Hermès sale, in classic black and tan and a gold H. And I’ve been craving another, preferably in red. But I no longer live in Paris, and I’m not willing to spend the retail price. I even recently pinned my craving for a red H belt on Pinterest.

And there’s a whole selection of Hermès H Constance belts on TrendBazar. Assorted colors and sizes. Far cheaper than retail. Free shipping. Plus an additional discount from HaveDeals. Best part of the deal: I can take my time and decide which color I really want: there’s no timer blinking at me.

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It’s 5:19am so of course I’m on the couch emptying the DVR and skimming through moi iPad. Mrs Eastwood is a hoarder, but luckily she’s an unopened gift hoarder and I look up to catch her opening a leather scarf belt adapter: a clever little buckle that turns silk scarves into gorgeous colorful belts. Hers is blue (I think) and as she quickly tosses it aside, I remember I read about the Asprey scarf belt in the NYTimes a while back, and meant to put it on the wish-list. Tres clever, tres practical: I have a stack of gorgeous scarves I used to wear daily when we lived in Paris, but don’t wear as much in the US. But they’d look fabulous as belts!

The price seems steep: $235 up to $500. A quick google search shows me lots of ways to tie my scarves and use them as belts, but I really want the shiny leather belt buckle and the sleek finished look, so I amp up my search. Hmmmm, lots of belt buckles that I could use to loop the scarf into a belt, but still not right.  More google…

Score! Tallulah and Hope sells beautiful leather scarf belts with metal trim for £25… uhoh: UK: about $40. Of course there’s international shipping to deal with, plus VAT. More google search finds a promotion code for 20% off my 1st purchase, and when I apply, the scarf belt rings up at $20: yes dollars! This could be worth pursuing… The totals:

Now, let’s see how long it takes to arrive!

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Everything old is new again. When a celeb wears a dress on the red carpet that was shown on the runway 2 years ago, stylists proclaim it “vintage”. Apparently I have alot of vintage in moi closet.

I attended a business luncheon at a country club in Ft Lauderdale, and the guest speaker had flown in that morning from LA. As expected she was dressed very elegant and professionally, but typically my eyes went straight to her bag. Vintage Coach: a very chic and practical black basic bag. I had one just like it… back in the 80s. Then a couple weeks later I spotted a very similar bag, this time in red, on a woman in Miami. I thought about it enough to email a couple friends and advise them to be on the hunt for vintage Coach bags from the 80′s: apparently they’re trendy again. But at what price?

I googled. And discovered that Coach has reissued Coach Classics: limited edition reissues that are available for a short time, and only at coach.com, and 4 stores: 2 in NYC, 1 on Long Island, and 1 on Rodeo Drive.

And then, I shopped moi closet. For some sentimental and inexplicable reason, I have been hauling my 80′s Coach bags from house to house, apartment to apartment, country to country. I believe TBG gifted me my first Coach bag when we lived in Syracuse in 1988. You laugh? You have things hidden in your closet over 25 years? Need I remind you:

I do remember finally donating one Coach leather duffle in British tan about 8 years ago, the stain was never going to come out, I was never going to wear it, and a moment of sanity overtook me.

But when I went searched through the highest shelves of my Chicago closet (yes, that closet that fell to the floor twice in the last 4 years due to overabundance) I discovered:

• 1 black classic shoulder bag
• 1 black classic willis bag
• 1 black janice legacy bag
• 1 black studio legacy backpack
• 1 British tan briefcase (a gift from my team when I left Syracuse: I think it’s a man’s case: love it!)
• 1 British tan portfolio
• assorted black and British tan wallets

With a bottle of leather conditioner and cleaner and about an hour, my bags and I were ready to appear in public.

But I have to ask: why didn’t I buy any red bags?

Chic and Classic: C’est Moi, C’est Coach!

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Summer and barefoot go together: freedom, casual, easy living. Heading to a wedding on the beach? An afternoon on your yacht? Poolside at the resort? Don’t let your toes go bare with just a little polish: flash your feet with style!

No, I’m not talking ankle bracelets or toe rings: they’re soooo last millenium. I’m in SoFlo and the trendy beachwear are almost sandals…. literally: Almost Sandals.

I’ve seen them on the beach, but hadn’t seen them in stores until I saw Almost Sandals in the window of  The Legacy in downtown Delray Beach.

Perfect for when you want to go almost bare…with style! $19 at The Legacy or online. Personally: I like the shell style!

The Details:

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Every August we start to hear the question: Is it OK to wear white after Labor Day? Mais oui! In fact, as I’m writing this its a sunny 42° September morning in Chicago, and I’m wearing white jeans and long-sleeve black t-shirt. However, it is time to switch-out my summer white Furla bag for a Fall bag.

Last week TBG had a short trip to London, and while normally I’d finagle my way to go with him, the trip was so short I didn’t even consider it. Due to international travel hassles, TBG arrived at Heathrow nearly 3 hours before his flight, and after a touchy-feely British TSA invasion, he ended up with nearly 2 hours until boarding time. How to spend a few hours in the airport: shopping at Harrods, bien sur! So when the cab brought him home Friday night, Mignette and I were downstairs to greet him. The first thing out of the cab: a giant shiny green Harrods bag. For Moi.

In the bag: a new bag! I scored a new black Jimmy Choo hobo bag, light weight with lots of interior pockets. (Apparently it was also available in plum, but no returns to Heathrow!) For the last 6 days my new bag has stayed in its Harrods bag, decorating our bedroom floor, but this morning I decided to make the seasonal bag switch. (Yes, I use other bags throughout the season, but I always have a go-to bag ready each season. And btw: I do have a winter-white bag I usually use around the holidays.)

So I dumped the contents of the Furla onto the bed, anticipating a quick switch to the Jimmy Choo. Even I was surprised at a few things I found on the bed:

• a folded up stack of $20s: $80. Who knew?
• 2 iPhone earbuds and a charger: apparently I fear going into iPhone withdrawal
• 3 different bottles of eye drops
• about $4 worth of change: no wonder the bag was so heavy
• a fan, and battery operated pen-fan: I was using the bag in SoFlo, so that makes sense.
• 2 containers of migraine pills: both with pills (on my trip to Boston in July I had the containers but no pills: and a migraine )
• lipgloss, eyeglasses, empty eyeglass case, tide-out, Altoids, hand-creme, plastic hairclip
• reusable plastic shopping bag (which Trader Joes would probably like me to use)

Naturally no wallet or sunglasses: they were on the dresser. But not bad! The change is heading to Starbucks for a “free” chai latte (tall, skim, extra water, extra hot) and the $20s are my little secret…TBG never reads my blog.

Note: I didn’t ask, and I haven’t checked, but I’m guessing it would have been cheaper for me to fly with TBG to London than his airport shopping spree.

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Color Blocking is the hot summer fashion trend that is carrying over into the Fall: combining 2 or more bold colors that normally don’t go together.

I’m taking fashion to the tailgate: I’m color blocking my M&Ms! For TBG’s book party a few weeks ago, I went online and purchased single-color bags of M&Ms in the traditional Notre Dame colors of blue and gold, plus added a few bags of green M&Ms, which ND has been sporting more and more the last few years. Ten 7oz packages at $6.99 each with shipping almost $100: yes I did! Then I mixed them together to flaunt the ND colors. (You can buy the bags already color-mixed, but that costs even more!)

But a few handfuls later, those M&Ms quickly dwindled and only the photos remain.

Now that Notre Dame tailgating season has commenced, I wanted to recreate the ND color theme: at a lower price.

So yesterday on my now-weekly Target trip: voila! I bought the 42oz party size bag of plain M&Ms for $6. Last night watching Flipping Out (how appropriate!), I poured the entire bag into a bowl and picked out the blue, green and gold M&Ms and put them in a clear water bottle for decorative, sanitary tailgate munching. Then, I picked out the red M&Ms, leaving me with a bowl full of orange and brown M&Ms: perfect for Halloween next month.

And the left-over reds? Dessert!

Not bad for $6 and an hour of TV-watching.

note: yes, I know that is not the traditional ND blue: but have you seen this year’s The Shirt: Kelly Blue!

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For sister Lisa’s 40th I needed to celebrate both the big 4-0 and her recent move to the burbs.

With two little girls she’ll soon hit soccer mom status, and cold windy Chicago Fall days ensure some long Saturdays with a folding chair and a venti extra-hot Starbucks while the teams learn the rules of the game.

How to heat-up the day? Try a mini-flask studded with pink Swarovski crystals, and personalized with her name.

39 years 51 weeks...and counting

I bought it at McAdams Ltdfor $35.00, plus engraving. Lisa can provide the liquid heat.

Tres chic! Bon Anniversaire Lisa!

Moi tip: if anyone is reading, Christmas isn’t far off and Moi would love her own personalized crystal flask!

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Save the Date: Global Holiday Marketplace

I’m in NYC  to kick-off the holidays, and I’ll be sure to check-out the holiday edition of the Indagare Souk  at New York’s Taj Pierre Hotel  November 15, 16 & 17.

One of my deepest impressions from my 3 weeks in India last year is color: vibrant blues, hot pinks, shimmering golds, electrifying greens. The colors, the smells, the sounds, the tastes: it’s impossible to use words to share the welcome but overwhelming assault on my senses. Just look at the gorgeous sarees we saw worn by local women as we toured:

How can you sample the colors and patterns of India? Just in time to start your holiday shopping:

Indagare Holiday Souk will be at New York’s Taj Pierre Hotel November 15, 16 and 17:

The Indagare Holiday Souk is a special trunk show featuring treasures we have discovered on our travels. Cult fashion label Irving & Fine will present gorgeous new tunics and coats as well as chic silk dresses. We also have new evening and resortwear from Cambodia and the Philippines. Among the treasures that make special, one-of-a-kind presents: hand-beaded bags and jewelry from Venice and Florence, brightly colored silk scarves from Cambodia, delicate knits from Peru, incredible suede and leather coats from Kenya, cashmere shawls and blankets from India and crocodile and python clutches from Nicaragua.

You too can experience the stimulation and excitement of the exotic colors and style of the fashions of the world: See you at the Souk!

Indagare is a sophisticated travel site that not only shares insider’s information on travel, but provides a format for members to share tips and experiences and recommendations for turning your dream vacation into the journey of a lifetime. And now, through the Indagare Holiday Souk, travel shopping can come to you!

the details:

• Monday November 15 – Wednesday November 17
  • Monday November 15 12noon-6pm
  • Tuesday November 16 10am- 8pm
  • Wednesday November 17 10am-6pm
• The Taj Pierre Hotel New York, 2 East 61st Street, Suite 1025  NYC (at Fifth Avenue)
  
• for more about Indagare travel and shopping insider tips sign-up for Indagare’s newletter
  

Moi Tip: a subscription to the Indagare newsletter is the perfect holiday gift for your favorite traveler: and it’s free! Or for the extra special gift, a membership to Indagare!

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A tweet from Saveur Magazine featured international candy bars that are hard to find in the US: British Cadbury Crunchie Bars, Swedish Daim Toffee Bars, and Indonesian Silver Queens. That’s the problem with being both a traveler and a grocery store junkie: you easily become addicted to foods that may not be easily available.

When I get a craving for  ethnic groceries I head to World Market, a one-stop global shopping bazaar for

• foods: Cadbury chocolates, German cake mixes, Italian olive oils, Indian curries, Dutch cocoa powder, spices of the world
• fashions: jewelry, purses, scarves
• beers and wines from around the world
• furniture and accessories including beds, sofas, candles, rugs and curtains, artwork
• kitchenware: platters, French coffee presses, grilling tools
• bed and bath: towels, soaps and lotions, storage units [Read more →]

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One of my deepest impressions from my 3 weeks in India last year is color: vibrant blues, hot pinks, shimmering golds, electrifying greens. The colors, the smells, the sounds, the tastes: it’s impossible to use words to share the welcome but overwhelming assault on my senses. Just look at the gorgeous saris we saw worn by local women as we toured:

How can you sample the colors and patterns of India? Just in time to start your holiday shopping:

Indagare Souk will be at the Chicago Peninsula Hotel Tuesday, October 26th through Thursday, October 28th:

The Indagare Souk is a special trunk show featuring an edited selection of products from designers and artisans who we have discovered in our travels in such countries as Cambodia, Colombia, Argentina, Kenya, India, and Italy. The well-curated selection includes fashion, accessories, jewelry, objects and housewares, many of them hand-crafted. Most of the vendors also support local communities in their home countries.

You too can experience the stimulation and excitement of the exotic colors and style of the fashions of the world:

• jewelry from India and Venice
• accessories from Africa, Asia and Peru
• cashmere from the Himalayas
• clothing from the Philippines, Lebanon and
• and sooo much more!

See you at the Souk!

Indagare is a sophisticated travel site that not only shares insider’s information on travel, but provides a format for members to share tips and experiences and recommendations for turning your dream vacation into the journey of a lifetime. And now, through the Indagare Souk, the travel can come to you!

the details:

• Tuesday October 26 – Thursday October 28
• The Grand Suite at The Peninsula Hotel Chicago, 108 East Superior Street
• 10am – 6pm
• for more about Indagare travel and shopping insider tips sign-up for Indagare’s newletter

Moi Tip: there will be a special talk at 6pm on October 27 by Melissa Biggs Bradley, founder of Indagare: The Best Trip You’ll Ever Take: Planning and Executing Life-Changing Travel.

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