Shopping

MY SEARCH FOR A WINTER COAT IS OVER

I've been trying to find a nice, short coat for winter, but nothing seemed to fit me stylistically. That is until I came across this little gem at Urban Outfitters. It also comes in black and tan. Perfect!

Fashion News

PALIN SHOPS TIL SHE DROPS, YOU BETCHA!

Ms. Tina Fey glasses has been burning up the GOP funds with shopping and beauty spending. Republic campaign finance reports released today show the actual breakdown of Palin's shopping sprees:

• $49,425 was spent at two Saks Fifth Avenue locations.
• $75,062 went to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis.
• $4,716 on hair and makeup in September alone.
• $4,902 was spent at Atelier, a top end men's store, suggesting the party also paid for some of Todd Palin outfits.

Reports say that Emmy-award winning stylist Amy Strozzi was paid $22,800 over a two-week period in October for Palin's makeup. So much for the "average hockey mom." I'm sure Joe the Plumber would be proud.

Link of the Week

Retail Me Not is a website that has promotional codes for thousands of online stores. The other night when I was looking for a way to get free shipping on the Avon products I was ordering, my husband found me a code in three seconds from the site. Check it out here.

I Love Barbie!

PLASTIC PASSION

I've always been a huge Barbie fan. When I was a kid, I had Malibu Barbie, Beauty Barbie, Skipper, Ken, and several outsiders like The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man, Donny and Marie Osmond, Cher, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and the good witch, Glendela.

I was walking through Toys-R-Us today with my 17-month old son and passed a whole wall of new collectible Barbie Dolls. Since I'm still drawn to her plastic pulchritude and tiny stylish outfits, I had to stop and gawk. If I were a collector, I'd be in heaven. There are some really interesting dolls out there now, including a "Barbie Loves Elvis" Barbie, a Badgley Mischka Barbie (Live from the red carpet at an E! event), Kimora Lee Simmons Barbie, Juicy Couture Barbies, a whole line of fashion model Barbies, and a Bob Mackie line of dolls. You can find it all here.

More Stuff I Want

It's not fashion-related, but I think this would go really well with my new purple shift. A girl can dream. . .

Link of the Week

My good friend Jim Brown works at The Gold Door, a shop in Portland, OR that carries amazing jewelry, folk and tribal art, and rare finds from all over the world. Owner Jerry Shover and staff (including Jim) travel the globe in search of the rare and exquisite pieces.

Over the years I've received some really lovely gifts from Jim and have been lucky enough to shop in the store. If you're not in Portland or fortunate enough to have Jim Brown as your bud, you can shop their online store. You can also buy gift certificates online. Go Now!

Store Info: 1434 SE 37th Ave, Portland, OR 97215
503-232-6069 or 800-310-6069

Stuff I Want

CHASING PAPERCHASE

My favorite stationary company has some very cute bags available like this colorful bowling bag that I'm absolutely in love with. I'm excited to actually shop in a Paperchase store when I'm in London next month. Perhaps I'll grab this bag if it's still available (and they don't have it at Borders where some Paperchase products are available).

Addicted to Sugar

I haven't posted in a while because I've been getting my fashion ya yas from this site. It's a lot of mindless fun: You can make "bookmarks" of things you like on the web and then put everything into a little wish list. You can make "lists" of things you like, etc. etc. . . and then see what other people are bookmarking and listing. I guess it's sort of a networking site for shopping. Since I have no money to shop in real life, I can "window shop" online and save bookmarks for later. Check it out!

GO International at Target

ROGAN FOR TARGET

Beginning May 18, Target will feature a new GO International line by Rogan. From the video I watched on the website, it looks there a few promising peices, but a little too many animal prints for my taste. I guess I'm still an Alice Temperley fan. Check out all the Rogan looks over at FabSugar by clicking here.

FASHION REPORT de PERU
Part Uno
Let's Go Fu$*ing Shopping

I've been away in Lima visiting my husband's family for the past two and a half weeks.While I was there, I kept a keen eye on the fashion scene. Like most Latin American countries, Peru is rife with cleavage and muy short skirts. And HIGH heels. I saw a woman teetering on a pair of heels one day that threatened to double as stilts.

One nice thing about the style scene here is that despite the fact that there is a large eating disorder problem in Lima, there are few women that look startling thin. In fact, butts and boobs are la sopa del dia.

The advertising in Peru, particularly in Lima, is proof of this. Everything, from ice cream to beer to shoes, is caliente in Peru. On TV, I saw a game show featuring a "sing off" between pairs of lingerie models.

I also saw a variety show hosted by a drag queen in a traditional Peruvian dress and seven inch fetish heels. Behind him a group of salsa musicians dressed in Hawaiian shirts shook marracas while scantily clad models shook their gold-tipped tatas and thong-choked butts at the screen. This almost beats the game show I saw a few years back that involved stripping housewives.

My son and the Brahma Beer girls.

The mannequins here have a little more meat on their bones and by that I mean more cheek on the butt and more boob on the chest. I saw one shirtless female form in a shop window that had painted-on nipples. This was a very middle-of-the-road women's clothing store, mind you, not a trashy lingerie shop. I got my camera ready but before I could get a photo, the clerk pulled a top over the mannequin's torso.


A while back while she was visiting us in the U.S., my mother-in-law discovered the word "fuck" and began using it as an adjective to modify everything. . . including shopping. So as she says,
"Let's go fucking shopping":

First stop: The mall. It's a place in Lima called Jockey Plaza and looks like anymall USA, filled with Payless Shoes, Steve Madden, and Starbucks. I did find a few must-haves there, however. Case in point: the top I bought at a store called Joaquim Miro. It beckoned to me from the shop window -- all cute rosettes adorning a boat neck and cap sleeves (not as cheesy as it sounds). When I went in to inquire about it, the sales clerk apologetically informed me they didn't have any more in red, but they had one left in black. SCORE.


They don't wear black the way we do. It's considered a little bit morbid. Also, they only had a size Large. Normally I wear a medium, but this shirt fits like a glove. The fit has more to do with the fact that clothing runs smaller down there than in the US. Either that or I've eaten one too many papas rellenas. In any case, I've added one more to my collection of a gazillion black tops for only $22 (on sale).

Another stop was at TopiTop. It's like Forever 21 for Limonions. Lots of cheap trendy finds. I found a pale blue shirt that I decided would break up the black for only $15 soles, which is about $5 American.


After that we went to the South American rip-off of the MNG brand store, called Marquis. I liked their collection better than the MANGO by MNG store we have in the US, but it was equally as expensive. Pretty much all of the clothing there is as expensive or more pricey than the clothing in the US. I guess that's why my mother-in-law always buys mountains of clothes here when she visits.

The big department stores there are the Chilean owned Saga Falabella (I love to say that) and Ripley. There is an ad campaign going on right now for the Saga store featuring numerous billboards donning models with the words "HOT en tu closet." I don't know why that made me laugh so much, but every time we passed one of the billboards, it had me in stitches.


I was certain to visit the Indian Market in Mira Flores. I go to this place every time I visit Peru in order to visit one specific store called Joyas Vivac, which carries beautiful sterling silver jewelry at very reasonable prices. I had a mother of pearl ring made for me this time. The setting is about the size of a half dollar and the ring itself is thick sterling. It only cost about $30 to have it made specifically for my finger.

A trip to Peru would not be complete without visiting an Alpaca shop. Luckily, my mother-in-law is in the know and took my sister, her husband, and I to two Alpaca outlets in Arequipa. This is the primo stuff. No mixed alpaca-wool-whatever here. All baby alpaca.

As I was milling around the shop, I noticed the overwhelming smell of horse crap. I followed my nose to an area out back where they have actual alpacas, vecunas, and llamas grazing. Now that's advertising. My sister and her husband both bought beautiful winter coats made of pure alpaca for roughly $100 each. My sister's husband's coat was even reversible. I didn't buy anything as I have alpaca up the ass at home. I just love to pet the clothes; they're so creamy and delicate.

LINK OF THE WEEK: My friend sent me a heads-up email about an online beauty shop called StrawberryNET.

It has TONS of brands at discount prices. My favorite hair masque by Kerastase is $50.50 instead of $58. You never see Kerastase discounted. F.Y.I.: For whatever reason, they list hair care under skin care.

J. CREW'S LI'L SIS COMES OUT

I just read about J.Crew's flirty, younger sister, Madewell, in Allure. AND I'm pretty intrigued. Apparently the store has been a big secret for a while among celebs like Winona, Reese, and Uma.

But the store has since come out of the closet, so to speak, with stores in Dallas, Vegas, L.A., Austin, even Natick, MA, and Short Hills, NJ. BUT not an established NYC store...yet. Right now there's a temporary store in Soho at 532 Broadway, and one set to open permanently at 486 Broadway.

For chicks like me that live outside of any of these cities, we'll just have to browse the website for now, and maybe one day we'll be able to actually see just what they have to offer besides a "spring preview."