Fighting Fashionista

I was in Manhattan staying at the uber-modern Hotel QT, heading out to breakfast when a fantastically stylish woman entered my elevator wearing a pair of gorgeous shoes: platform sandals in a buttery, orangey leather, with a hint of glinting gold.

Let me pause my story for a moment to say that I always try to increase my cool quotient when I go to New York, like, leave a little of my San Francisco “I HEART EVERYONE” attitude at home. I am never successful.

“OhmygodILoveYourShoes!” I exclaimed. Luckily she was completely friendly. (I actually have encountered very few Devil Wears Prada-esque women in Manhattan, and I have spent time in the Conde Nast building.) But her reply was beyond my wildest dreams: “They’re on sale on the second floor!”

Now how often does a fabulous sale come to you? I think we all know what happened next. The Loeffler Randall’s were mine, and for only $140… even better than the sale at Pink Mascara. Original price: $395. And they were made in Italy where I refuse to believe there are sweatshops. Oh and if you order them from Pink Mascara, I’d go a size up. I consistently wear 6.5, and the 7.5s fit me perfectly.

In the New York Times Magazine last week, Marc Jacobs wrote a story about rodeo fashion. The dominant jean, he wrote, is the Wrangler cowboy cut, which has a straight-leg, high pockets in the back so they don’t sit on their wallets, smooth rivets that won’t scratch a saddle, and front belt loops placed wide apart to make room for a championship buckle. The cowboy cut was introduced in 1947 and makes up 25 percent of Wrangler’s sales. Cowboys like straight-leg jeans that are four to six inches longer than typical Wranglers so they will fall “just so” outside the boot while on a horse. There were also some photos of cowboys with the jeans tucked in but very bunched up just below the knee. Skinny jeans aren’t really on their radar.

Miss Rodeo America 2007, Jacobs wrote, wore a custom full-length lime green lambskin dress to the annual wives luncheon, completing the outfit with Justin boots dyed to match and “big hair that she knows is big.” “The trendy skinny jean doesn’t go with Miss Rodeo America or riding horses,” she siad.

Love it. I wish I could have been there to see Marc Jacobs interviewing those gals. Now I’m going to try to catch up on this week’s Sunday Times.

One or two of you might be thrilled to hear this news. Or mildly interested. Anyway, after only six hours of wrangling with Word Press, here we are! I won’t talk about how my husband deleted the database to my previous blog and how psyched I was about that.

Do you like my star? I really, really love it. However, I wish the title bar were not so tall. I’ll work on that. Anyhoo, are we all excited to talk fashion? I know I am! I spent a lot of money on clothes this month and my husband’s not happy about it, but he deleted my blog so we’re even. (Hmm may have to rethink, he alto helped me build this one. Darnit!) Here’s one thing I bought for our vacation in Miami, just to kick off post number one on Fighting Fashionista part deux. Max Studio is having a fantastic sale on summery dresses. How cute and beachy is this? Was $198, now $88. The sleeves can get hot in 90-degree weather, but it’s O.K. at night and in the A.C. Max Studio dresses tend to be quite forgiving, too. I actually took a small in most of them, which totally made my day even if it was a lie. It’s really cute in black too.