Fighting Fashionista

I just found this adorable bamboo top by Pamplemosses on StyleHive. I would, of course, wear it with pants. But I love the swooping back and the pattern around the bottom. Plus, pamplemousse is my favorite foreign word, and the brand is a cute play on the Frenchy word for grapefruit. I also love the off-the-shoulder tee — I love an exposed shoulder — on their site (see below). The brand doesn’t have a ton of outlets (you can buy this shirt here on sale for $66), but when I emailed their info

address about where to buy their garments, they promptly returned a very nice email saying they could ship whatever I wanted directly to me, and even send me pics of their new Fall line, which isn’t on the site yet (I’ll post them when I get them!)

Steve & Barry’s, the insanely inexpensive ($9 dresses) retail chain that sells Jessica Parker’s line, demands ethical practices from its subcontractors, according to a New York Times story published yesterday. How is it possible that a $9 dresses were not made in a sweatshop by 11-year-olds in Bangladesh? The article quoted the owners of the billion-dollar company, Steve Shore and Barry Prevor as well as “chief partnership officer,” who it seems would be responsible if Barry and Steve found themselves in a Kathy Lee Gifford-style debacle. Prevor said the key is the razor-thin profit margins.

No eco lines yet, but it can only be a matter of time. And my excuse for not previously knowing anything about Steve & Barry’s was that they don’t have a story in San Francisco. But, alas, they do indeed.

My favorite online shop has a whole section of eco-friendly clothing. Awesome, no? This little organic cottong number is from Beau Soleil, and their whole line is eco-friendly, according to the green label on Shopbop. But $300 for a giant sweatshirt? I might pay it. But I wouldn’t be happy about it. At least until the first time I wore it and felt fabulous.

The Fug Girls are blogging for New York Magazine during fashion week once again. I’ll be refreshing Heather and Jessica’s page regularly to get the real story from Bryant Park — the aesthetic atrocities, the pretension, and the booze to ease the painful feet.

I knew it would be a cliffhanger! OK it’s not really a cliffhanger because everyone knows the magazine folds. But it figures Bridgette would be the one who texted Andrew and Rachel first with the terrible news that their dream jobs were being cut tragically short, which she not-no-secretly relished delivering (Boy did she look like an idiot during that “pull,” but I do think she’s cute and stylish. Now i have to go take a shower). Hated how they fuzzed out everyone’s face while they were packing their sad cardboard boxes — apparently they didn’t sign releases. The morbidly curious part of my brain really wanted to see their expressions. Poor Jane.

Janjay and Tina are like the picture of sane and normal while the rest are just disintegrating before our eyes.

Read Jezebel’s take here.

So I went to Anthropologie for the sale, and of course found something awesome that was not on sale. Love this dress… it’s shiny, soft linen. But it’s not too flashy — you could wear it to work or out at night. It’s super comfy and covers my arms, which makes me happy. Plus it’s not too terribly expensive even though it’s not on sale ($158). UPDATE: The shiny goes away.

Fashionista Diaries is “officially awesome,” according to Jezebel, and those gals know awesome. If you haven’t been watching, you can catch up here. The show, on SoapNet on Wednesdays at 9pm, features three sets of “assistants” trying to “make it in the world of fashion.” They work for Jane magazine, Flirt! cosmetics and Seventh something PR firm. It’s all pretty juicy and catty and all-around makes for an entertaining hump day night. But the episode I’m dying to see is the one where Jane gets shut down. I feel a little guilty about this because I loved Jane, but I’m morbidly curious to see a magazine fold in front of my eyes. I imagine it could be a learning experience — you never know when it might happen to you!

I could waste quite a bit of time browsing through lookbooks like the ones at ShopBop. Here’s an outfit from their latest; I covet this top and wish very much for it to be in my closet. Kinda pricey ($326), dammit.

Oh by the way, I went to Madison, Wisconsin in June for my friend Katie’s awesome wedding (at this beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright building), and visited the ShopBop store, where it all started. The sales girl told me they had recently opened their second warehouse for online sales. Unfortunatley, husband was in tow so it was sctrictly a window shopping affair.

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.