In Which I Demonstrate That I Still Wear Clothes

Hi gang.

It's getting pretty freaking chilly out. My cold-weather uniform hasn't changed much from last fall. I wore this outfit to a comedy show at the campus coffee house. (Yes, I am the girl in the picture. I did not go to college and get a sex change.)

(Hat: Target. Flannel: Target men's. Faux leather jacket: H&M.)

The cool part of this photo is that I didn't tweak the lighting or coloring at all. My crappy phone camera just came through for once.

What has changed is that instead of wearing my motorcycle boots (don't worry, they're still a staple of my footwear collection), I wore these adorable suede All Stars purchased, as apparently most of my outfit was, from Target. I love them. So comfy, too.

Another part of the outfit that isn't visible in the picture is these great Rivet De Cru jeans that I was sent to review over the summer. I've been meaning to write about them for ages, 'cause they'd win hands-down in a coolness battle with all my other jeans. Seriously. I mean, they have black studs on them, a laid-back grey color, and a perfect fit. Well, now that I've had them hemmed at least. My legs aren't that long. Sheesh. I'm not Chanel Iman. Or Iman, for that matter. I'm pretty sure each of those models has legs the length of my entire body.

Eh? Eh? Check out them studs on the seam above the pockets. Ain't life grand?

Actually, ain't fashion grand? I mean, have you seen the results of this current Fashion Month? I knew something was up when I was staring at Style.com for hours, muttering phrases involving the words "stunning" and "want" over and over again.

Ack

Movies in which characters dress in curtains:

1. The Sound of Music. It's okay 'cause the movie is quintessentially hokey. Plus, Maria is totally a curtain-ripping, guitar-strumming, convent-leaving rebel. Roar.

2. Cinderella. Again, allowed. It's a Disney movie, for chrissake. And let's face it - when mice and birds can sew a gown more quickly than Christian Siriano, no one cares that they used the window drapes.

3. Enchanted. Clearly allowed, since it's a parody of Disney princess movies. Not to mention that the resulting dress was adorable.

4. Lifetime's Coco Chanel.

That's right, you read correctly. Picture me, mouth wide open with shock, watching as a badly cast Coco Chanel spends a minute tearing apart a dress, pairing it with a piece of her own curtains, and talking solely in quotes from the real Chanel. Yep, the movie was that bad.

Oh, and did I mention the mystery of the ever-disappearing, horrifically fake French accents? And the stiff, terrible acting?

Then again, I must commend Shirley Maclaine for keeping a straight face while spewing out more quotes in a single breath than most people hear in a lifetime. Bravo, weirdly Americanized Coco!

Final consensus: Watch only for laughs.

Solestruck

I think I might be a bad person.

Solestruck.com gifted me a gorgeous pair of shoes a few weeks ago, and after receiving them, oohing and aahing, and spending some quality time prancing around the house and sticking my feet out for others to admire, I promptly forgot to post about them. Whoops!

Am currently remedying the situation.

Check out these lovelies:

These heels by Faryl Robin have a vintage-y, whimsical feel that I really love. They're quite different from the rest of my shoe collection, which tends to be black and slightly punk-ish (think combat boots and studded gladiators), but I can hardly be expected to stick with one aesthetic when there are so many shoes out there! And all right, so walking is a bit of a challenge as my balance is pretty bad in flat shoes, but hey, I like to live dangerously. They're not the comfiest things in the world either, but they're so pretty I don't care. I blame my weirdly shaped feet.

I picked these shoes out from the hundreds of options offered on Solestruck.com, and I'll have you know it was not an easy choice. It was a dizzying experience; it's cliche, but I felt kind of like a kid in a candy store. The selection there is extensive, and much cheaper than you would think. Very reasonable, actually. And the shipping was so fast! I'm a fan - and not just 'cause they gave me free shoes.

Jumeau Bags

Not too long ago, I received an email from Jumeau bags offering me two free bags to review. I responded with excitement. Jumeau has four collections in the Fall/Winter '07 line - the Institution Collection, the Now Collection, the Commando Collection, and the Green Collection. I was especially drawn by the Green Collection, because although it feels a little out of my means to always buy green, a bag "focusing on natural materials such as organic cotton, bamboo and natural dyes" seemed right up my alley.

So I picked the Keri bag from the Green Collection, opting for a cool blue acid wash color.

The second bag I picked out was never delivered (I don't know what's going on with that), so I'm not going to talk about it.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the Keri bag:

I like it. It's not exactly my taste (as in I would probably not pick it out in a store), but I'm kind of enamoured with the dark acid wash effect. I gave it a test run today on a trip to Old Navy (more on that later), and found it very satisfactory. The bag is extraordinarily roomy, with plenty of handy pockets. The strap is comfortable, and doesn't slip from my shoulder the way the straps on other bags tend to. The fabric is quite sturdy, and I can tell that the bag is extremely well made. It will last for a long time, let me tell you that.

My only complaint is that the bag is on the heavy side. It's large enough to hold a ton of stuff, but I find myself avoiding filling it up because any extra weight will result in some shoulder discomfort.

But maybe I'm just a wimp.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I'm happy with my Jumeau bag. For more information, take a look at the Jumeau bags workbook, or got to http://www.jumeaubags.com/.