Sunday, July 27, 2008

Tar-jay

Botkier came out with a line of inexpensive bags for Target, offered for a limited time only.


Question: Can you tell which Botkier bag is from the Target line?







I love the idea of making an expensive brand attainable to the everyday consumer. Target is a great vehicle for that kind of thing. It's part of their Design for All campaign which highlights great designs at low prices. I am a huge fan. I will certainly be making my way over there soon.


Answer: The first bag retails for $595 and the second bag is featured in the Target line for $49.99

Saturday, July 26, 2008

While I was out...

Sorry about the mini-hiatus...

Life has been pretty hectic the past week and a half....excuse me...not life...work (oh wait, that is my life). Last friday, saturday, and sunday (and this friday, saturday, and sunday) I helped out the Nordstrom Men's Clothing department with the anniversary sale. If you don't know Nordstrom very well, men's clothing = suits = not cheap. It has been surprisingly un-busy (if I may use a word that doesn't exist). My job is to write/ring up alterations tickets, clean the dressing rooms, and tidy up the millions of tables of sale trousers. Nothing you wouldn't expect from a normal retail store. It doesn't seem like they really need that much help though...on the first day, sales were down 80% from last year. I had no choice though really. I am a work-a-holic. I hate being broke and I hate sitting around doing nothing. (call me crazy...but it's true)

One perk is that I get to use my hearty 20% house discount for all of my anniversary sale purchases (and there were plenty). I stocked up mostly on jeans and shoes and threw in few extra things on the side for good measure. My biggest saving: Dior sunglasses. Originally: $350. On Sale for: $149.90 + 20% off = What. A. Steal

Meanwhile, back at Glamour...

We got a new intern (the other one left), she's fabulous. We spent all of the week before last running around new york city getting things for the staff to bring with them to their offsite in the Hamptons (isn't thattt nice.....). They left Wednesday morning and came back friday afternoon. Sarah and I spent the whole week stuffing 3,000 envelopes (the ones featured in my first entry)...all of which still need to be sealed and sent out (a fun project we will tackle next week). Tuesday we went to help out at the Projekt Revolution concert in Jones Beach. Our job was to act as the GlamJam street team and get people to come into the Garnier Fructis Styling Cabana to get their hair styled for free and enter the raffle to win a bag full of free Garnier products. It was, well, tiring --to say the least. I couldn't believe how many guys wanted their hair styled...
Oh, important side note: our driver was a lunatic...he almost ran us into a guardrail and he didn't know how to work his own GPS. I'm just glad we made it there in one piece.

Last thing. The other day I watched True Life: I'm a Compulsive Shopper on MTV. I actually thought I was looking in a mirror.



One girl even said to her boyfriend, (after leaving dinner halfway through to run to the mall) "...I mean, you have to admit, I need jeans", which I've definitely said numerous times before (although my bf says I only have a mild case). I am working on it though. I'm working hard to separate the "needs" from the "wants", but right now it's all just one big blur. The worst part about it is, all I've been thinking about this whole time is how I saw a girl wearing this dress that I've seen at American Apparel before but didn't think looked cute when I saw it...I might have to pick it up...this might actually be a need, but I'm not exactly the best person to make that call. I'll make sure to keep you posted.

Until then....

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Fall is TOMORROW?

Here are some things to note about the upcoming Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, aka "Fall. Fashion. Now":
1) The doors open at 7:00, 8:00, or 9:00am depending where you live.
2) If you don't like crowds (or crazy shoppers), I recommend ordering everything online. Merchandise will be available starting at Midnight, pacific time.
3) You can order by phone starting at 5:00am pacific time.

Fall is without a doubt my favorite time to shop. I love layers, dark hues, and warm textures. Not to mention I'm going into my last and final year of school, so I've actually had an excuse for all these years. So, in honor of fall, I thought I would share my top 10 must-haves for fall this year:

1) DARK DENIM



2) EMBELLISHED BOOTIES




3) OVER-SIZED HOBO BAGS



4) LONG CARDIGANS




5) BOW BLOUSES




6) SWEATER DRESSES



7) TEXT
URED SKIRTS



8) PATENT LEATHER BELTS


9) ANIMAL PRINTS



10) CHUNKY-HEELED BOOTS




Those are just a few of my personal picks. Now I'm even more excited to shop for fall. Keep a look out for the purchases I do make.

Credits: Neiman Marcus, ShopBop, Saks, Net-A-Porter, Express Fashion
Clothes/accessories by: Chloe, Tory Burch, Christian Louboutin, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Express, Fendi, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Botkier, Stella McCartney, Miu Miu, Doo Ri, Citizens of Humanity, J Brand

Friday, July 11, 2008

Outfit Dilemma

Have you ever walked out of your house/apartment feeling only so-so about your outfit choice only to get to wherever you are and wish you had changed? Story of my life.

This time I had no choice. I didn't sleep at my house last night and since I'm ALWAYS in a rush I packed up an overnight bag and jetted out without thinking much about my outfit choice for the next morning. I threw in a black skirt, white tank blouse, and a long green cardigan. Big mistake. It somehow slipped my mind that this was the same black skirt I wore 2 weeks prior and promised myself I would get rid of the second I got home. (oh, and if you're wondering why...let's just say it was one of those impulse purchases at a really cheap chain store in cali. There are threads hanging off the hemline, the zipper is broken, and the fabric is a cause for concern...it's just not a good skirt). So when I woke up the next morning to put on this poorly chosen outfit choice, I was not a happy camper. You know how you think of how an outfit will look in your head and then it just doesn't turn out that way? I spent the whole train ride devising a plan to buy a new outfit before going into work and starting completely from scratch. When I got off the train, I weaved through the usual mob of commuters trying to squeeze into the 4 foot-wide doorway and up the flight of stairs and headed to the Barami on 7th ave to see if I could find a low-priced black dress to change in to. After 10 minutes I still couldn't find anything worthy of purchasing and since it was 8:45 and I was 6 blocks from the Conde offices (and have to be at work at 8:30...) I gave up and went on to work. Maybe I was being overdramatic. I realized no one even cares, as long as you act confident about it. That's the moral of my story. Just be confident and remember that you're probably the only that has a problem with your outfit in the first place.

Helping out at Nordstrom this weekend. Updates on that next week.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

More Sale Talk...

Sorry I've been MIA the past week. Not much happened: I worked, shopped, and didn't see fireworks. Nothing new.

So given my obsession with Nordstrom, I naturally spend at least 5 minutes a day perusing through the website to see if there are any new arrivals out that I can't afford. With the Anniversary sale coming up next Friday (I will be talking about this for the next 3 weeks, bear with me) I have a lot on my plate right now: 1) Call Erin in HR @ short hills and beg for a job on weekends. I need money and I need clothes. Why not kill two birds with one stone? 2) Apply for the Nordstrom VISA card. So here's the deal, I in no way support applying for thousands of store credit cards (or general credit cards for that matter) but the Nordstrom VISA card gives you points for your purchases (2 when you shop at Nords and 1 when you shop anywhere else). And 3) Go through the Anniversary Sale Catalog and pick out all of the things I want (and can't afford). I'm convinced that everything I want will be gone by the time the sale starts, so I've already started making a game plan. You might think I'm crazy, but their level 2+ customers have been busy pre-sale shopping since Monday morning. Just to give you an idea, my bf has a personal pre-sale goal of $11,000 (Which, he just informed me, he has already doubled). For some reason, the more I hear that the Enzo Angiolini Menswear-inspired Booties are almost sold out, the more I want them. There's a certain necessity-factor that develops when there's limited inventory involved (for me at least...). These customers are sharks. Last time I checked, the economy was down and fuel prices were sky-high...maybe I'm the only one experiencing that...

And here's my dilemma. With such limited funds, do I buy summer clothes/shoes for 50% off at Bloomingdales, or jumpstart Fall with 33-40% off at Nordies? Such hard decisions.

In other news....This morning we (the CNP interns) had a GQ Editorial Seminar with the Director of Editorial Projects and the Director of Special Projects. They talked about the upcoming annual Men of the Year Issue coming up in November and showed us all of the shoot pics from past issues. They basically just told stories about all of the celebrities that were featured. Hilarious.

Oh, one more Nordstrom-related comment. I pre-ordered this MAC beauty exclusive...

It's a MAC cosmetics bag with a 5-piece brush set and brush holder (which the MAC artists begged the vendors to provide this year). Genious. You know how you buy a new make-up bag and then after one day it's ruined because of your dirty brushes? Well, it happens to me, so for $49.50 I couldn't say no.

Okay, enough retail ramblings for one night. Be back soon.