All For The Kids

The orange carpet was all a buzz this past weekend as the stars turned out for Nickelodeon's Annual Kids Choice Awards Saturday night. Miley Cyrus showed up with her peace sign in tow, Rihanna and Chris Brown once again denied that they are actually a couple and Cameron Diaz fit right in with the young crowd. Hosted by Jack Black and his many a green outfit, the most coveted prize of the night, the honor of getting slimed, went to Indiana Jones himself, Harrison Ford, as well as Pirates star Orlando Bloom.

America Ferrera shimmers in gold

Cameron Diaz was honored with the Wannabe Award (even better to her than winning the Big Burp Award the previous year)

Heroes star Hayden Panettiere is just that, a hero to her many young fans

Rihanna successfully pulling of yet another amazing outfit, look at those shoes, the hair!

Teen heartthrobs the Jo Bros give their fans something to swoon over

Miley Cyrus flashes the peace sign before rocking out to one of her hit songs later in the evening

Designer Handbags for Target by Joy Gryson

Accessories designer Joy Gryson is the latest limited-edition collaboration with Target. Her new line will be available in stores nationwide April 6, 2008. New York based designer Gryson's collection includes these chic textured handbags. I love the rich hues, including slate blue and forest green.

Peacock Pretties By Tricia Fix & More

Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might... have any of these peacock-inspired dresses by Tricia Fix, Milly and Hayden-Harnett.

You totally expected some peacock rhyme, right? Well, I am lazy, and nothing rhymes with peacock, so here are the dresses.

($275, Tricia Fix, Couturecandy.com)


($330, Tricia Fix, Couturecandy.com)


($259, Milly, Neiman Marcus)

($210, Hayden-Harnett)

Oh Hayden-Harnett. I just cain't quit you.

SS08: The "IT" Shoes

The other day when I was at the hair salon flicking through Vogue, I came across what they claimed to be the new "it" shoe this season- these Etro sandals below.
The term "it" shoes is apt. Cousin IT shoes that is. First Prada had these fringe things all over the place SS07, and now these shoes. Gladiator sandals with fringe piled on, I really don't see the attraction. They kind of look like sandals pretending to be boots or the other way around. Just not quite right.
No matter how they matched it on the Etro runway, there MUST be other better footwear out there to match these cute printed outfits. More simpler sandals perhaps? Heels? Barefoot??? Just when I thought perhaps it was just a one off random thing, I see the exact likeness on the Zara display window. For a moment I worried that this will become a prominent feature in daily fashion (it IS Zara after all). However, HG has convinced me that this is just one of those fashion items that are picked to featured to look cool (I don't know where they get these ideas from) but not really meant for mass consumption- or so I hope. Fingers crossed!

I mean, would YOU wear this????

Image Source: Elle.com

Cea ma influenta style icon in UK

Nu este nici Victoria Beckham, nici Kate Moss, nici Sienna Miller, ci Coleen McLoughlin, logodnica fotbalistului Wayne Rooney. Ea a fost votata de 1200 de femei, cititoare ale revistei Look, ca cea mai influenta style icon britanica. Clasamentul arata astfel:
1. Coleen McLoughlin
2. Kate Moss
3. Sienna Miller
4. Victoria Beckham
5. Cheryl Cole
6. Kylie Minogue
7. Gwen Stefani
8. Keira Knightley
9. Lily Allen
10. Angelina Jolie




credit foto: coleen-mcloughlin.net

Look of the day: Lauren Conrad

Lauren Conrad la lansarea Lauren Conrad Collection in Canada

Totally Sanitary Target Purchases: Gryson For Target

Pweeeease hurry up and let it be April 6th already! That's when the shopping herds can trample down upon the Gryson for Target capsule collection. These leather-esque bags look to be some of the nicest pieces I've seen in the GO International collections in quite a while.

A few of my faves:




In select Target stores from April 6 - June 21. More at the fabs FabSugar.com.

OH! And, AND, AND: next up: Botkier bags! WhutWhut!

The Cult of the Luxury Brand

I love book shopping. Strolling leisurely along the aisles with rows and rows of books, you never know what treasures you might come across. Some of my best discoveries have been books that had randomly caught my eye. I like to think its fate. This is probably why I love book shopping. But anyway, my latest treasure has been, "The Cult of the Luxury Brand," by Radha Chadha and Paul Husband. I'm sure you can imagine why it might have caught my attention.... This book focuses on the cult of the luxury brand in Asia, which takes up 37% of the $80bn USD global luxury brand market, while Europe and US only take up 35% and 24% respectively. I think in this case, "cult" is definitely the right word. Living in one of the centers of this phenomenon, and admittedly to most degrees being part of it, I've always wonder why we behave the way we do. And as much as I wince at being labeled as part of the luxury glutton society, I must say, Chadha and Husband comes up with some intriguingly insightful points.

Their main thesis is that "luxury brands are a modern set of symbols that Asians are wearing to redefine their identity and social position," which I guess for the most part is true, but that is kind of obvious. Here are a few other points which I thought were interesting:

• The Spread of Luxury model, where they split the luxury evolution in Asia to 5 stages: Subjugation, Start of Money, Show Off, Fit In and Way of life. I think they are all pretty self explanatory and pretty accurate
• The single parasites is the group of young women aged 20-35 in Asia who are still living at home with their parents. Since they do not have to pay for rent etc, they have a larger disposable income to spend on luxury goods- which they do in hoards!
• One of the reasons that luxury consumption is so big in Japan is because while the Western culture celebrates individuality, the Japanese culture (and indeed most Asian cultures ) places great emphasis on conformity and fitting in. So when the majority of people wear luxury brands, the rest of the people need to wear it too. That is probably why 94% of Japanese woman in their 20s own a Louis Vuitton
  
• In Tokyo (and other small cities I suppose), because the apartments are so small and expensive, it is difficult to show off wealth and success. And so people have turned to luxury brands as the best way to display their success- by literally wearing it!
  
• For the Chinese, their love for brands stems from their Confucius roots, which places a lot of importance on "family face." And so, today Chinese see luxury brands as a way to show "face" and signify their success
  
• In Hong Kong, luxe consumption has been adopted as the central ideology. Making money and blowing it on the luxuries of life is the one thing that the people are clear about, while on everything else, from politics, culture to patriotism, ambiguity reigns. Coming from Hong Kong, I must say, I totally agree
• In Korea, there is a clash between their love for luxe (Burberry is apparently the Korean word for trench coat!) and their culture. Luxe consumption is seen as "sinful" since frugality and moderation is very big in their culture. Additionally, nationalism is also very big and so wearing imported goods is also frowned upon. No wonder Koreans typically dress in more subtle designer brands (those I know anyway)!
  

These are just some of the more interesting points that I remember off hand. At this point, I'd usually expend on how awesome this book is and how much I love it. But I find that this time, I cannot quite do that because I am still unsure about my feelings towards this book. On one hand, I thought it made some very clever, valid and insightful points about this phenomena. But on the other, I felt that it made the consumers caught in the heat of this phenomena sound like a bunch of fools continuously chasing after greater materialism trying to fit in and outdo each other at the same time. Maybe they were just writing it as it is and I just took it too personally because I admit that despite being fully aware of this materialistic path I am taking, I am still part of this phenomenon. Maybe the truth is just hard for me to accept, when put down so matter-of-factly. But I still cannot help but feel defensive. Now you can see why I feel so unsure about this book.

Image Source: Cult of the Luxury Brand

Celebrity casual outfits

Andi Muise, model canadian

Blake Lively din Gossip Girl

Mister JT

Vanessa Hudgens

Jennifer Lopez incepe sa revina la silueta de dinainte de nasterea gemenilor

Victoria Beckham in pulover de casmir, jeansi evazati, geanta Miu Miu si nelipsitii ochelari de soare

More Evidence BK Target is GHETTO SQUARED

So I was trying on a few things in the Brooklyn Target just now, and I have to tell you what transpired. I was bringing in this item:



Xhilaration tie-dye bikini, $30, and the very nice Jamaican lady attendant told me that there had been "a problem" and I was not allowed to try on the bottoms. Shady, huh? So I tried on my stuff, and the bikini was great, by the way. On the way out I asked the lady if it was at all Targets or just this one that you couldn't try on bathing-suit bottoms, and she said just this one, and repeated the ominous phrase "there was a problem." I asked if someone had bled on them. She nodded sadly, and then there was a whole "aren't people disgusting" exchange. And then she added that it had happened more than once. WTF people? Who is so hard up for emergency swimwear that they have to do this? Gross. Just gross.

Anyway, here's what I "purchased" (that Christmas gift card was burning a hole in my wallet) in addition to the bikini:



Skinny patent-leather belt, $9.99 in store. Apparently I'm in a skinny belt mood these days, despite the fact that I'm not really a belt person at all.



Mossimo printed hoodie, $19.99. So cute.

Thanks Mom!

First Lady of France style

Carla Bruni, Prima Doamna a Frantei, i-a cucerit pe britanici prin eleganta, diplomatia si atitudinea ei umila. In timpul vizitei la Londra, Carla a purtat trei tinute create de designerul britanic John Galliano pentru Christian Dior. Primul ansamblu a fost unul gri cu o haina navy, a la Jacqueline Kennedy, al doilea a fost un costum cu pantaloni, tot gri si cu haina mov, iar pentru banchetul de la Guildhall a ales o rochie burgundy si bijuterii Chaumet. Pentru ca Mr. Bling-bling, asa cum este poreclit presedintele Sarkozy, este mai scund decat ea, Carla a purtat balerini Chanel, iar el pantofi cu toc de 2-3 centimetri.

Cri De Coeur Shoes

These stylish shoes by Cri De Coeur have an elastic band that hugs your instep adding extra comfort and support. This line is not only chic and stylish but is also produced from 'green' materials and trees are planted each time a pair is sold. $220-250 at Ravinstyle.

How Not To Wear Colour Leggings

First off I must confess I haven't worn colour leggings myself before. I am simply not creative or bothered enough to actually buy them and do the whole mixing and matching thing with the rest of the outfit. Hypothetically, if I were to wear colour leggings, I would probably just do it the boring and simple way: colour leggings with a casual black dress like in the picture above. And yes, I know it's spring now and leggings is more of a F/W thing, but I thought I would share some of my observations here.

As the title suggests, these are my observations of how not to wear colour leggings/tights. A few weeks ago, I saw someone on the streets wearing something like this:

A bright yellow tee (way brighter than the tee in this image,) a green, half-length trenchcoat, a flowery skirt (very popular in UK highstreet stores this season) and bright, solid red leggings. OK, so obviously I am not a colourful dresser, but I'm usually pretty open minded about style. Now I'm not criticising this girl's outfit exactly (-I'm all for personal style), but I do think that she went overboard with the colours. Wearing solid green on the top (the coat) and solid red at the bottom (the leggings) just does not look cool, arguably except for Christmas day. If you wear colour leggings, please refrain from wearing ten million other colours. Really, colour leggings are colourful themselves already.

And just yesterday, I saw a women who looked at least 45 yrs old wearing shorts and bright red leggings. I'm not actually sure of her age, but she certainly didn't look that young from afar. Sure, colour leggings are fun, but isn't it something that is more for younger women? Is it wrong for me to think the maximum age that anyone should wear these colour leggings is 30? And I don't mean to discriminate against age, but I just really believe in dressing suitably for one's age.

There you go: just a bit of how not to on colour leggings. What are your thoughts on my two points?

Image source: www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk, www.topshop.com

Actively Endeavoring to Save You Cash!

Loveys, one of our favorite online supa-stores, Active Endeavors, has sweetly offered a deal to you, the loyal Bingeketeers. Go binge away on their site, enter coupon code fashionbinge20 and you will magically recieve 20% off your order! It lasts through April, so there's plenty of time to sift through the site and watch the new arrivals section like a hawk. Here are a few of the fab finds you could score right this minute:



Kooba "Micki" bag, $695 regularly; $556 with Fashion Binge discount. Whee! I've been thinking about splurging on a nice bag (more on that later), and I'm in love with this bag. Simply gorgeous. Let's have a closer look:



Seriously, how cool are those zippers?! Moving on...



Maria Bonita Extra thin braided patent-leather belt, $60 regularly; $48 because you love the 'Binge. Such a versatile piece for spring, to cinch a poofy dress, hold up your fat jeans, etc.



Reyes camisole, $324 regularly but just $262 for being in the Fashion Binge club. Still 'spensive, but boy is that purty.



Coven ribbed top, $246 regularly; $217 cuz you roll with us. Flashdance with a twist! I love it.



Ulla Johnson "Eleanor" silk blouse, $275 regularly; $220 with binge love. I think TLo might have blogged this before, but even if she did, it's well worth another look.

Unfortunately, you can't use promo codes on sale stuff. But here are some undeniably awesome deals, most of which are marked down way more than 20% anyway. Check it:



McQ by Alexander McQueen tank top, $30. Great, unboring layering piece, no?



Sunshine & Shadows pleated dress, $93. Love the bold color, fun print, everything about this.



Even better! Trovata "Olivia" silk dress, $97. Doesn't the model look so happy to be wearing it??



This one goes out to Ms. Spinach, though I'm not sure the bow is big enough for her: Julie Haus "Secretary" dress, $128.

Gotta go, but remember the discount code: fashionbinge20 ! And let us know in the comments what you bought, mkay?