photo du jour

Dear Life,

Sometimes you amazing and delight me, like when Kanye put bunny ears behind Marc Jacobs’s head. This is definitely making being indoors on a sunny Monday that much better.

Warm regards,

Zinzi

{Photo source, no duh.}

no more 100% wuittom for you

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of buying someone else’s old, stolen or pretend luxury goods, take note. Something big happened this morning: a French court ruled on the two year old dispute between LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennesy) and Ebay.com on the side of the big bad luxury giant.

Ebay will have to fork over 40 million euros (about 63.2 dollars at the moment) in damages both for turning a blind eye on rampant counterfeiting practices and for allowing the genuine items to be sold outside the their desired retail channel.

On top of that, they have been ordered to stop selling cosmetics and fragrances immediately, with a 50,000 euro pricetag for every day the items are still available on the site (that’s about $79,000 daily).

So I don’t know, what are your thoughts my dears? There goes the internet? Or should they start in suing Canal St. and Santee Alley too?

{Story source, WWD. Photo source, mindwhatyouwear.com, where the bags are also available.}

just the devil, not the pope, in prada

History is ripe with well-dressed Catholics. Jack and Jackie, Daphne Guiness, Jean D’Arc, French people as a genre…

Last year Esquire magazine published a best dressed list that named Pope Benedict II it’s “Accessorizer of the Year” for donning red Prada loafers with his Papal habit. And while, yes, it’s been a year (we all know Italians aren’t known for their punctuality) the Vatican newspaper L’Obsservatore recently stepped out of the shadowy marble corridors to clear the air. Catholics aren’t always known for their modesty, true, but sometimes adornment is not always favorable and one’s thoughts should be directed toward the good lord, or so I hear. Anyway that’s what the paper had to say: “The pope, therefore, does not wear Prada, but Christ.”

While Prada recently confirmed Linda Evangelista as the face of their Fall ad campaign, Christ still has the Pope as his spokesmodel. And round and round the hype machine goes.

{Source: Morning Edition this morning. Go figure! Photo: Esquire.com}

so, what’s going on with the menswear shows?

Menswear presentations are kind of weird and awkward on the whole. The models are usually these over-inflated, lubed-up and chisely Ken dolls, all Grecian and proportional and generally off-putting. These presentations are, I guess, necessary, since men (supposedly) have to wear clothes and evolve and have style ethoi for the new millennium too, but menswear is kind of like US foreign policy or digestion — you want to know it’s being taken care of without having to think about it or actually see it happening.

So that’s why it’s been sort of shocking to me that the menswear presentations have been pretty interesting for S/S 09. First, they borrowed some things from the girls. Like, a lot of things (see below). Then the fine specimen of a man above graced the Vivienne Westwood runway, then all the men decided to have torso tats.

So I guess it should have come as no surprise when Yohji Yamamoto sent cute little old men (one of which was Steve McQueen!!) down the runway yesterday. The thing is, even more so than Mr. Fabulous over at Viv’s show, the old guys were really refreshing. It was like seeing my dad wear something other than Hawaiian shirts and black jeans — wow what a surprise! You look good!

So I say, to menswear at large, keep up the good work. You may even have a new regular customer.

snapshot

Dear Girl in Suspenders,

How do you do it?

You’re great.

xo

Z

{I don’t remember where I pulled this one from (anyone recognize it — leave me a comment!), but I just stumbled on it on my desktop — is a crazy whirlwind of files.}

fashonista.com is ruining my life one day at a time

Not only have they been reporting on a whole merry-go-round of awesome sample sales in New York, complete with model and designer sightings that would make any California girl jealous, but now, today, those darn fashionistas have brought Polyvore.com to my attention. And now all my free time is officially out the window.

The online program works from a huge online shopping database allowing you to make outfits and dream of maxing out credit cards opening soon. So, go! Enjoy yourself! But consider yourself warned.

{Oh, and if you happen to love my fashion mash-up (dedicated to the new Girl Talk no duh), here’s what it all is: hat, earrings and sunglamix are Top Shop, dress is Matthew Williamson, shoes are Prada and the bike is a little something called “12 Bikes for Girls” available through coolhunting.com, evidently.}

oh, this also happened today

Heidi Montag’s single “Fashion” hit the internets and it’s everything I hoped it would be.

She even uses a French accent to pronounce designer’s names during the bridge. Yes, even the non-french ones. Ahlexahndare Meec-Qweeen!

You can hear it here (don’t miss the comments section, there are some true gems), but I highly suggests giving the lyrics a once-over for full effect.

go on brush your shoulder off

During my ride into work this morning, Nigella Lawson (my domestic love of all loves) was on the radio chatting with Renee Montagne about what essentially boils down to the dos and don’ts of dining al fresco. In the midst of their chat Nigella described going out into bright sunshine in a constricting black cocktail dress as “dusty”. I could really go on and on about Nigella and her many wonderful attributes but doesn’t dusty (which followed “contrived”, but I think is more evocative anyway) really just do it for you?

I find that whenever the seasons change, or I find myself in a new locale/mindset/day of the week suddenly something can seem a bit off about what I’ve chosen to adorn myself with. The clothes themselves may still be on-trend and well-fitting, etc. but something is wrong and they just aren’t meshing with my surroundings/daily outlook on life. Dusty. Great. Love me some Nigella.

Conversely, when you see someone who seems to be getting it right doesn’t it feel refreshing, clean, orderly even?

Long story short, this is how I felt today when I came across the Spring 08 collection from dace. So. Not. Dusty. The clothes themselves are easy, loose-fitting in a simple, muted (“simple, not plain” as my Nigella would say) palette. Plus, they conjure up just the images I would love to have of my summer: vintage biking, margherita popsicles, park picnics, big fluffy dogs and t-strap flats.

hello old friend

Hey guys!

I’ve been out in the world touring with my boy’s band. Wireless internet not being as readily available as I thought it might be (yeah, even in Seattle…), no posts posted! Solly! I’m back though and ready for action. Just as soon as I sleep off this cold…

Love,

Zinzi

{Photo source: here}.

let’s do it for our country, the red white and the blue

{Photo courtesy projo.com, yeah that’s my hometown newspaper.}

Anyone who has recently spent some time in front of the T.V. gasping “Dude, do something about your stylist!” in reaction to Hilary’s wardrobe (or anyone who’s been reading GQ or Vogue lately) knows that the clothes really do (or can seriously help) make the man. Sometimes (read: most of the time), this fact is sorely overlooked in politics. Slightly tangential, but hey, it’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to, one of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain reads, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little influence on society.”

And with that, Hilary, with her jewel-tones and her pantsuits, infamously blousy and tapered in all the wrong places, took a final bow.

Now that the general election seems to be picking up some steam, Americans (and our beloved liberal media) are changing gears and refocusing our efforts on more important levels of scrutiny, like marijuana usage and first lady fashions.

{Photos courtesy of mediabistro.com, nytimes.com & reuters.com}

Here’s the part I love best. In addition to being named an “It-Girl” by Vogue magazine and fêted by André Leon Talley next week, Michelle Obama recently had a whole article in the New York Times devoted to how great she looks. The Times even went so far as to compare her (although it’s not hard with her bright pencil skirts and big white pearls) to our paradigm of the fashionable first lady, Jackie Kennedy.

Like Jackie before her, Michelle Obama strikes a balance between traditional and respectable first lady attire with more daring elements, whether playing with color, volume or embellished details. What political wife would dare to wear shocking orange or purple (a potential Camelot reference, says the NYT) or bare their back in a ruffled halter dress?

{Photos courtesy of smh.com.au and nytimes.com.}

A partial side note: The controversial (but adorable, let’s not forget!) purple dress Mrs. Obama wore last Tuesday for Barack’s victory speech was designed by one of her favorite Chicago-based designers (and former Geoffrey Beane assistant) Maria Pinto. Looking forward to Michelle stepping out in this little number!

But, really? Truly? I just can’t wait for the day Michelle Obama sits down to coffee with Carla Bruni Sarkozy.