Tag Archives: fashion

Shopping the Gap

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The other day I was in our Gap store in Regency Square Mall in Florence, Alabama — I usually cruise by every week or so to check out what’s new. And as a new grandma, I usually wander over to the Baby Gap side. Who can resist? Anyway, I found a couple pairs of knit pants for sale and this adorable little outfit and figured I’d better call my daughter Liz to check on sizes for grandson Nolan. “Hey, sweetie,” I said on the cell. “I’m here at our Gap …” She laughed. “Oh my gosh,” she said. “I’m at our Gap, too.” She’s in nearby Huntsville, Alabama, which has a Gap (after closing stores in the two malls) at the newly opened Bridge Street Town Centre. “That’s so funny,” I agreed and continued, “but listen, I’m looking at something cute for Nolan.” She laughed even harder. “Let me guess,” she said. “Is it a blue patchwork vest with pinstriped pants? I”ve got them in my hand right now!” Great shopping minds think alike. I’ve trained my children well.

Losing Stylishly

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Ouch! Football fans all over the SEC are shaking their heads over sad and unimpressive — but predictable — games on Saturday. Vanderbilt lost its chance of a perfect winning season — and who ever thought we would read those words? — to Mississippi State, Tennessee continues to limp its way to a perfect losing season after a trip to Georgia and Auburn demonstrated its lack of defense as well as offense in a loss to Arkansas. Alabama fans are happy, of course, since Texas picked off top-ranked Oklahoma* and made room for the Tide to move up, thereby validating coach Nick Saban’s multi-million-dollar contract. To fans, at least. And as is the way in the South, football drives fashion. An AP story today reported that Alabama’s rise in fortune has meant a rise in Tide merchandise sales. There are still some brave Auburn holdouts, however, such as Collage Designer Consignment in Birmingham, which had this display at the front of the store recently. Adorable, stylish and loyal, all at the same time. Because true fans never give up, so why not look cute while you’re supporting your team? Even if you’re not shopping for football, Collage has some great buys and a diverse inventory, with jewelry, evening, bridal and plus-sizes. I got a like-new top there for at least a third of retail. You can’t beat that. Now, if only some of that luck would rub off on Auburn. Check out Collage at http://www.shopcollage.com/

* My husband, sports editor of the Tupelo, Miss., Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, pointed out that Alabama this weekend performed the near-miraculous feat of winning twice without even playing, riding to on-paper victories with Oklahoma’s and Auburn’s losses. Is there nothing Saban cannot do???!!!!!!

Florence Fashion

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If you’re not wearing a team T-shirt to the football game today, try one of these super-cute BCBG MaxAzria tops. They’re lightweight enough to be comfortable under jackets but look great on their own whether you’re pairing them with jeans, nice pants or a skirt — versatility plus! And, as always, they cover all sorts of bumps and lumps. My true figure is much more like the green top than the black top, sadly, but both of these tops are so flattering. They’re from Marigail Mathis women’s boutique in Florence, Ala. Check out the Web site at http://www.marigailmathis.com. Marigail recently closed her adjacent shop MG2, and her husband, artist Tommy Mathis, moved his gallery, ARTifacts, into the space. It’s sumptiously decorated and the perfect spot for taking an art break. Visit online at http://www.tommymathis.com/

Mother-Daughter Style

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Both of my daughters are great shoppers. I’ve taught them well! My younger daughter, Carolyn, goes to school in Birmingham, Ala., and she loves shopping in consignment and charity stores there. Mainly she looks for T-shirts she recycles into other projects, but she also finds great retro/vintage buys perfect for a 20-something college student. She got the three tops on the left from a Goodwill store in Birmingham. The red wrap dress was about $9 — she’s going to wear it over T-shirts and jeans. The polka-dot white top was about $3 — again, wonderful with jeans. The pink cotton embroidered tunic is Free People and was about $5. These tops only needed good washings and they were good to go. She found the embellished yellow slip for $7.50 at Golden Temple Natural Grocery in Five Points South in Birmingham. Somebody had added lace and little satin roses to this slip — maybe to wear as a dress? Anyway, it’s adorable and the perfect length to wear under a couple dresses she’s got.

Carolyn had come home for a quick visit this weekend and showed me her shopping treasures. But before she went back to Birmingham, we had to negotiate a deal. She liked a new dress I had bought and wore to church on Sunday (see post below). I have to admit it looked a lot better on her than on me. So, in exchange for the dress, she gave me the pink Free People top, which she said didn’t really fit her but it was a $5 Free People top so she had to get it! Of course, it’s exactly the hippie-boho style we all wore 30 years ago, so naturally I love it. Thanks, Carolyn!

TJ Fashion

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This is why I love TJ Maxx: I found this short-sleeved, fake-wrap jersey BCBG Max Azria dress in a cute fall print — it’s actually called Fall Leaves Print — for $25. Yes, $25. I’ve had lunches that cost more than that. It’s flattering on my menopausal pear-shaped body, is the perfect length — not too short or too long — and is completely just right with sandals for our hot and humid early fall weather here in northwest Alabama. Plus, when it gets cooler (and it will get cooler, it will get cooler, it will …) this dress keeps going with the addition of turtlenecks and tights, our layering best friends. And the best part? The original tag says “$240.” Even if this dress never actually sold for that amount, I feel as if I scored a bargain.

Fashion Friday

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While the rest of the fashion world is focused on New York this week as designers show their spring 2009 collections, there’s other style news with a New York connection: two lines of “Sex and the City” clothes are in stores and online. Left is a look from SATC designer Patricia Field, whose Destination Style New York is sold as pre-orders now at hsn.com and live on hsnTV from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27. Think edgy, sexy and Vogue cover. Right is a dress from The Kristin Davis Collection, sold at belk.com and in Belk department stores. Think sweet, feminine and Real Simple cover. The Patricia Field line seems meant to directly evoke SATC style — many outfits are complete recreations of some of TV character Carrie Bradshaw’s more memorable looks. On the other hand, Kristin Davis’ line seems more evocative of the actress herself and not related to the show so much as just to be some wearable and pretty clothes.

Aren’t we glad we’ve got choices?

Jacket Weather

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Even though the temperature is summer-like today, I still want to wear this jacket. I absolutely fell in love with it when I tried it on at Reed’s department store in downtown Tupelo, Miss., the other day. You know how you put something on and you know immediately that it was meant for you and you for it? There is such a thing as love at first sight. I adore the tailored half-belt in the back and the sort of pleated sleeves and the slash pockets and seaming in the front. I usually don’t like double-breasted jackets — reminds me of Mr. Howell on Gilligan’s Island — but this one doesn’t even seem double-breasted for some reason, even though it obviously is. It fit perfectly (even though it looks square in the photo, it’s definitely not when you put it on) and of course who can resist a pumpkin-colored jacket for fall? I’d never heard of the brand “liquid,” but my fashion-savvy college-age daughter assures me that it’s a hot name, so there you go. Actually, this jacket sort of reminds me of the car coats every self-respecting female had to have in her wardrobe about a million years ago — when I was younger.

Now I just need a day that’s less than 70 degrees. C’mon, fall!

Shoe Envy

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At www.net-a-porter.com, Sergio Rossi two-toned pumps, $650.

At http://www.net-a-porter.com, Sergio Rossi two-toned pumps, $650.

I must be entering a shoe crisis. Apparently my favorite pair of brown sandals became jealous of all the attention the demise of my favorite black pair of sandals received and decided to commit shoe-icide by unraveling the string of wooden beads decorating the T-straps. I had to make a hasty save with a quick Gorilla Glue repair. (And, by the way, am I the only person who has to continually buy new bottles of Gorilla Glue because after I open a bottle and use it and close the bottle, I can’t reopen it the next time because it’s glued completely shut? Surely other people have this problem. Surely?)

But, really, I think my incumbent shoes are worried because I am absolutely smitten, over-the-moon in love with the new fall shoes showing up around town. If I had unlimited funds and very cool places to go, these are the shoes I’d buy (left). And I bet I’d never have to Gorilla Glue them.

Goodby Ol’ Sandals

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Appropriately, as summer is ending, so are my favorite wear-everywhere-with-everything black sandals. I’ve loved these sandals for years — perhaps too much love for too long, since my younger daughter cringed everytime I pulled them out. “You look like somebody who wants to be a cowboy,” she’d say. I thought the Western details were cute. But maybe not. The sandals had started to develop an unhealthy sort of rattle in one of the soles and I really didn’t want to investigate to find out what it was. I gradually had begun to swim out of the pool of denial and to think that maybe the end was near. On Labor Day, after tramping around a garden picking okra, it came to me as I was digging out little sticky things and washing off the dirt that I had to say “goodbye.” I was sad. My daughter was ecstatic. And really, when I looked at these shoes with a freshly objective eye, I realized they were so horrible that I was embarrassed to take a photo of them. So just use your imagination. And then double the ugly factor — they were that bad.

Click here to read more:

http://http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20080905/ARTICLES/809050301/

The Once and Future Dress

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You know the rule that if you wore a trend the first time around, you should excuse yourself when it reappears? Well, rules are made for breaking, right? Because I know for a fact I had a dress exactly like this in eighth or ninth grade — we’re talking late 1960s/early 1970s — but I could not resist a redo when I saw this at Reed’s Department Store in downtown Tupelo, Miss., today. This funky KLD dress is hand-wash polyster but feels just like soft brushed cotton. Cannot wait to wear it with black tights and boots or flats and channel my inner Stevie Nicks. And speaking of Reed’s, http://www.reeds.ms/, it’s one of the few local and family-owned department stores left. The downtown flagship location anchors a vital and growing Tupelo and includes a gift shop, bridal registry and Reed’s Gum Tree Bookstore that specializes in Southern writers and writing. There’s a smaller store in Tupelo’s The Mall at Barnes Crossing and ones in Starkville and Jackson. A signature of Reed’s, besides its local community focus, is its friendly and helpful staff. Take my dress, for example. The downtown store didn’t have the size I wanted, so the woman helping me called the mall store and found my size. So, of course I had to bring it home with me after that, right? It wouldn’t have been polite not to, after all that effort. That’s my story, anyway, and I’m sticking to it.