In the meantime, let’s throw practicality to the winds!  I really love these two new friends now hanging in my closet – and I love even more what I paid for them.

For $198, you could buy the J. Crew Musette dress:

$198 for a mass-market mini sack dress?? Say WHAT???

NB:  I’m making fun of myself because I actually did almost consider buying this dress. Thankfully, I didn’t because a) The pre-pubescent proportion would have been rough on me and b) I was able to save a whopping 50% and bring home a dress straight from the Shipley and Halmos runway (and who cares if it was so 2009??):

Only $90 at Tokio7!!

The sleeve and collar details are beautiful, and the proportion is way more sophisticated than the uber-shortness that I’m sure the J. Crew dress would have been.  Plus….$90?  Seriously?  For a legit runway piece?  In ecru, which I need more of in my life?  No brainer.  If only the staff at Tokio7 were friendlier….

Something else I also considered purchasing from J. Crew, since I love their tuxedo tops for work, was this Calista Flecked Cami:

Yes, it’s purty, but it’s also about $20 more than the solid Calista Cami….and why?  I can’t imagine a printed textile costs THAT much more than a solid.  A ripoff even for me who loves the shirts.

By not buying this speckled shirt, I was able to get a version of this Swiss dot gorgeousness a la Derek Lam:

I have those pants, too!

The only difference between the top above and the one I purchased is the the sleeves:  my new top is sleeveless, with a ruffled armhole.  If I love tuxedo shirts, I really really love sheer black shirts – and I was super thrilled to add this one to my collection.  In fact, I’d be thrilled to add anything from Derek Lam’s fall 2006 collection to my wardrobe (hello out there, Derek, if you are reading!).  The pants rock my world, too, and like the shirt, look even better in person.  Even better are the prices. The shirt, which I got at Cadillac’s Castle, was a steal at $85 – even cheaper than the J. Crew top!  The pants, which I got 2 years ago at The Closet, priced in at maybe $135.  Woot!

A weekend of guiltless shopping:  my favorite.

I’m not the biggest hat person myself – but only because my head is too big for the cloches, pillboxes and toques that I’d really like to wear.  (NB:  This is not a metaphor for great intellect, snobbery, or any other figurative types of big heads.  It’s a physical fact – my head is actually too large in size to fit these hats.)  I do love admiring these vintage hats, though, and dreaming about how I’d wear them if I could.  If you’re in the mood for some light reading, here is an excellent article on Vintage Fashion Guild about the history of hats.

I like Philip Treacy hats because they’re what I think hats should be:  things to add fun and whimsy to your style.  As you can imagine, the girly, frilly ones are always my favorites I love this one in particular, available on Net-a-Porter.

Veil schmeil!  This hat is so way cooler.  If $2,000 was in my budget for a headpiece, I would wear this without hesitation.  Alas, though.  This is another of those dreams “slightly” beyond reach

This hat wasn’t on the show last night (probably a bit tame for the challenge), but if it had been and I had been designing for it, I think I would have gone a Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief route:

Raise your hand if you’re not surprised that this is my favorite hat (though not outfit – bah) from last night:

Happy Friday!

Then I thought, hmm….maybe there will be more headbands for me to try on at Wink.  So I ambled a block up Spring Street.

Cut to why I usually avoid this store like the plague:  Not once have I had a positive experience there from a customer service standpoint.  No one says hello or welcome.  No one smiles.  No one even really talks to you – they just stand there, slouching and skulking, and only talking to each other.  Boo.  Shoddy customer service at pricey stores is my biggest pet peeve ever.

Anywho, I went in, in search of a duplicate of one of my favorite headbands, possibly in a different color.  I bought this Rachel Weissman headband over a year ago, and I love it and wear it all the time:

Rachel Weissman Applique Headband

By some odd twist of events, they had the headband again – and in new colors!  I happily left with a very luxurious sapphire blue one (happy birthday to me) and I’m so excited to wear it.  To top it off, I came home to a birthday box from my mom that included a very similar headband but with multi-colored jewels.  Yay!

I also scored a pair of BC Footwear sandals in pewter that I cannot find an adequate picture of….I’ll just take one at home later.

So, the moral of the day is:  Sometimes, it’s okay to not let snotty shopgirls keep you away from a sparkly headband.

I love you, B.

Happy Friday!

Devi Kroell's "Nastro"

The only thing that is throwing me off is the name – isn’t Nastro a beer?  I would have pegged these shoes as more of an “Aurora” or “Matilda” or some other equally precious name.

Anywho, it is nice to daydream

I was very excited today when I came across my new favorite thus far:  The Alice Safety Pin Flat.  Fine – I will admit that I did not “come across” them by happenstance – I was actively trolling the Loeffler Randall site looking for new things to covet and there they were!

Alice Safety Pin Flats

Yes, they do approach the precipice of hip urbanity that I  sadly cannot wear, but I think that the safety pins geek them up enough to put them firmly in the whimsical category that I love.  Plus, they remind me of the Loeffler Randall skull flats that I missed the boat on (or maybe my boat never sailed at all since apparently no one carried those shoes in size 10).

I think they’d pair well with a pair of American Eagle jeggings (yes, I said jeggings – but don’t knock them til you’ve tried them because they fit amazingly well!  plus, they’re so cheap – and for something trendy, cheap is an operative word) and this Etoile Isabel Marant top (available on net-a-porter):

Ruffles a la Isabel Marant

Happy Tuesday!