I learned today that a harness + floral shirt + bangs + dominatrix shoes = confused people.  Very funny to me. 

F21 shirt; handmade harness; Citizens jeans; Promiscuous shoes

I have been having WAY too much fun with this harness.  I want to put it over everything.  Even after the bondage/dominatrix/Home Depot associate commentary.  It’s just too damn cool to leave at home.  If it had pockets, I’d never carry a purse again.   Srsly.

UPDATE: indeed this harness is the work of my own hands.  I Heart Norwegian Wood makes some great ones, but I wanted mine to be a little more simple (read: with 2 straps instead of 3).  =)

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Soooooooooo, is anyone else super geeked to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine?  Admit it.  You know you are.  

I won’t tell you how excited I was to know that the original Ragin’ Cajun (for my purposes and interests, at least) Remy LeBeau was getting some live action screen time.  Ok, I will.  I was HELLA excited.  I think I screamed when I saw the trailer.  I can’t lie…I had a bit of a young-kid-who-doesn’t-know-any-damn-better crush on his cartoon character.  I think it was the accent.

RAWR.

May 1st  I will be at the movies.  And I swear, if they don’t do my memories of this character justice, I’m going to have a  major attitude.  MAJOR.

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Don’t forget to enter the HoneyRoom contest if you haven’t already!!

I probably should have told you all that I was going to be selling my beloved Guess boots to lessen the sting of buying the Colonial Madness boots that I want. 

I know, I’m sorry. 

I figured I could hock them on ebay, but I knew that probably wouldn’ t work out desirably. 

No deal.

Then it occured to me that Lulu’s side-blog/marketplace Shoes and Your Mom was frequented by people who would actually want to buy them.  Done deal.

They were posted earlier this morning.  I would have posted a proper link, but they’re already gone.  It’s a bittersweet moment, but it warrants an endorsement from me.

Sell (or buy) shoes.

Time to catch up on reading material and expand horizons…Enjoy!

Links à la Mode : April 16th

• 39thandbroadway.com – The Evil Fashion Boss
• 3stylelife – Microdesign F: Chalk
• A Few Goody GumDrops: – A Few Goody Gumdrops is “Inspired” by Handbag Designer, Katherine Kwei and Her Eternity Knot
• Being High Maintenance, not Bitchy: – Getting to know… designers of Be & D Handbags
• Breakfast at Saks: – Brand Love: Ellery
• Broke & Beautiful – ECIG: JaJo Couture
• Daisy Fairbanks Vintage: – In Your Easter Bonnet – The Art of the Hat
• Debutante Clothing: – Thrifting Words to Live By – Search High and Low – A Tale of Prada
• dramatis personae – Beach Blanket Bingo! Kiss & Dashing Diva Beauty Giveaway
• fete a fete: – Eminence Biodynamic Collection
• Independent Fashion Bloggers: – Top 5 Traffic Yielding Social Networks for Fashion Blogs
• Instant Vintage – Lil Shop of Horror: Urban Outfitters 
• Munique Fashions: – Organizing Carrie Bradshaw’s wardrobe
• Retro Chick – Totally Clueless
• shopfair: – Fair Trade Jeans Special
• Solo Lisa: – From Shanghai With Love: An Interview With Helen Lee
• Super Kawaii Mama – Being Joan
• SwanDiamondRose: – ~the SWANclothing TINY ROSE purse~
• The Coveted: – This Old Rag? Our Lurking Treasures
• The Curvy Fashionista: – Top Fashion Do’s for the Plus-Size Curvy Fashionista
• The Demoiselles – Birds of a Feather: Lady Smaggle

Well, almost.  It’s hella windy this week.  

vintage jacket, AA U-neck dress, handmade skirt, vintage Bruno Valenti wingtips

I’m with MollyCake; there is no way in hell that I am ever going to be able to wear this AA dress on it’s own.  No. Freakin. Way.  I would like to blame it on my booty, but really, the dress is just short.  Not a bad thing (and possibly quite cute) on a smaller frame, but extra umm, hooker-ish on me.  Definitely a no-go if I plan on leaving the house.  LOL. 

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Mom came to visit me at work today.  About a half hour passed after she left and someone came by my desk.

Your mom is really nice.

Thanks! 

Is she single?

*pause*  Yeah.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Note to all of my single, male coworkers:  No, you cannot pop at/try to woo/date my mother and, by extension, wish to be my new “dad.”

Ever.  

Kthxbai.

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If you haven’t already, throw your name in the “Three Pairs of Sunglasses from TheHoneyRoom.com” hat.  If you already have, your entry has been counted.  =)

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MORE CONTESTERY – Krystal of What is Reality Anyway is hosting a giveaway of her own featuring a supercool tiger cropped tee by Wildfox Couture [via ChickDowntown].  Apparently I’ve been missing out on great stuff that ChickDowntown has to offer (call it a combination of spendthriftiness and…umm…a non-designer budget; LOL).  Check out the site anyway.  We all can dream. 

…told me that Betsey Johnson was having a sale tonight.

Everything is 40% off (excluding lingerie, jewelry, and swimwear).  Even sale items are 40% off the sale price!!!

 I’m assuming this applies to all stores, so have at it.

You’re welcome  =)

Now, the point of this post is not to dole out Tyra-ish advice about how to look great on film (blame the reference on the ANTM marathons on Oxygen every weekend).  The point of this post, dear readers/lurkers/browsers, is the giveaway I have for you.  

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

The lovely Andrea of The Honey Room, an online accessory boutique featuring sunnies, scarves, jewelry, and more, contacted me with a most generous offer; the person who could find me a pair of the SS08 Marni wedges in a size 8 would be the new owner of THREE pairs of sunglasses from her shop.

No?  Not so much?  Ok, I was just kidding about the Marni part, but everything else is completely true.  

Head on over and browse the selection; there is plenty to see and get excited about.  After you do, come back and leave a comment (there will be a test to see if you actually went).  The comment entries will be closed at 6pm on next Tuesday, April 21, and the winner will be selected. 

Sound good?  Cool.  NOW GO!!

Oh wait!  For those of you who don’t want to wait until next week, you can use the code instantvintage to get 15% off of an order of $30 or more.

Ok, now go…

This horror story is a little different from what you’d expect.  Indulge me.

So we’re all pretty much aware that UO and F21 are well adept at knocking off big designers, right?  I mean, I can understand why.  Most people shopping at those places aren’t on a designer budget.  No biggie.

HOWEVER, I am starting to take issue with the increasing rips off of small, unknown designers that I’m seeing more and more of lately. 

Case 1: Sunday, I popped into Space Fifteen Twenty, the extra chi-chi, well merched Urban Outfitters on Cahuenga.  Being the masochist I am, I browsed for about two hours noting stuff that I was going to get my hands on come May 1.  Then I saw this:

You can imagine the SUPREME side eye I gave this after posting about amerrymishap’s necklace and etsy store.  Believe me when I say that the original (I’m willing to wager that her’s was first) is exponentially better in terms of construction and cuteness.

 Case 2: While making my rounds about the blogoshpere and visiting the queens of Kingdom of Style, I caught wind of the Necklush, those wonderful, layered jersey scarves, and the etsy store where they are available:

While I was talking to J. about the first offense and looking for a photo to  show her why I was outraged, I saw this:

Ok…ok…ok…

Biting major designers is one thing.  Biting etsy designers…that few people by comparison know about…who do things by hand and not necessarily for major recognition…who probably don’t get to show in markets or fashion shows…well, that’s just low.  Very, very low…

Or Urban Outfitters is the originator and people are insanely creative and able to come up better versions of what they have to offer and should be lauded for their skills.

Double standards.  I know.  =P

But seriously, I will always side with small, independent operations.  Always. 

I’m not using this as a reason to never shop at UO again (that’s extremely unrealistic because I’m still on these boots and several other things), but I get pains when I see stuff like this happen.  I think I’m going to start a campaign to support smaller designers when I can spend money again.  Who’s with me? 

If you didn’ t know, every Easter there is a contest.  A contest where people make dioramas with Peeps.  The end results of people’s work makes for great entertainment.

**this is one of the favorites last year**

Go LOOK!  Various news items made appearances.  

Peep Show

Dang…it’s been a week since my last outfit post…

Laziness, I assure you.  

Stuff from Target, Amy Appy, the usual jeans and brogues…

This morning, my imagination’s montage (or Insanity Theatre as I refer to it) played on the back of my eyelids until about noon.  Later, I ended up at Alpine Village in Torrance looking at strange and interesting liquors from Europe and eating German food.  There was meat in damn near everything.  They even give you ground up Vienna sausages paté to eat with the pre-meal bread.  

Note to self: you are a vegetarian for the next week.  That is all.

If you aren’t afraid or disgusted by copious amounts of animal fat, go for the German fare that Alpine has to offer.  ACTUAL Weinerschnitzel is freakin’ delicious (and has absolutely nothing to do with hot dogs) and their house-made apple streudel is enough to make me take another trip down the 110 very soon.  There’s also plenty of lil’ shoppes here and there to check out, so it makes for a pretty good time.  

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I think I’m getting too comfortable with this sloppy/just rolled out of bed look because I’ve looked like this pretty much all week.  Last Friday was when I deviated from the new norm (only) because I decided to debut my handiwork.  For reasons I can’t explain, I really wanted a harness.  No, I don’t know why; I just did.  

It looks like a holster.  Now that I think about it, that’s probably why I wanted one so badly.  Watching season upon season of Law and Order: Criminal Intent will do that to you.   =)

In my pursuit of the perfect jumpsuit/romper, I stumbled upon iluvfinch’s etsy store.  Within 3 minutes, they had completely won me over.  I love everything in it.  Seriously.  There really isn’t a way for me to express how I feel without sounding overly exaggerated, so you will have to believe me.

My “army of yes” (© Zana Bayne)  includes everything you see here.  I’m actually thinking about getting rid of a lot of my wardrobe to justify buying it all.  Closet paring complete. 

May needs to hurry the hell up and get here.  Mama needs a new jumpsuit, sequined dress, et.al.

Monochrome palette.  Classic pieces with a twist.  Slight androgynous vibe.  And a simple  jumpsuit.

Absolutely perfect.

Check out iluvfinch here and here.