fashionable duffel bags

It's getting down to shore house crunch time and I am in desperate need of a GIANT weekender/duffel bag to take with me every weekend. I am sick of carrying 2 smallish tote bags plus a giant purse on every weekend adventure I embark on. You would be surprised at how challenging it is to find cute duffel bags that are large enough to hold everything I need and that aren't LeSportSac. I don't *really* have anything against LeSportSac, it's quite the opposite really. I found this amazing tattoo inspired print (anyone know what I'm talking about?) at Bloomingdales on some of their smaller bag varieties. I believe it was called Ink. But Bloomingdales doesn't carry the extra large weekender (or any weekender version) so I searched and searched online to no avail. The LeSportSac website didn't offer the print and I couldn't find it anywhere. It was like the mystery print. So ever since then I haven't been able to find a print I liked as much. Some of them on the website are alright, but they're not the Ink. Sigh. But it seems as if LeSportSac has the monopoly on cute duffel bags because I haven't been able to find many other versions.

Most of the bags under Shopbop's weekender category just look like tote bags to me. I don't know what kind of people can fit a weekend's worth of stuff into a tote bag, but they are definitely not the same kind of people who religiously visit Shopbop. Anyway, here is my favorite of the weekend bag category:

(picture from shopbop.com)

It's the Distinguished Dot Duffel from Marc by Marc Jacobs. It measures 10" x 18" x 7". Seems too small. But it is marked down to $156.60 from $228....

Sadly, that's the only bag I've found that I've really liked and it's too small. Anyone know where to find a extremely large extremely fashionable duffel bag? Bonus if it's not LeSportSac. Double extra mega bonus if it's IS LeSportSac but it's the Ink....

PS - Remember those weird looking green platform sandals I told you to not buy the other day? Well they're on the front page of shopbop today scaring customers away from their spring/summer shoe purchases.

Peace and fun filled weekends,

TheFashionHead

thin strap convert

As I mentioned before, I went with the thin strap variety of Rainbows this summer. I wasn't quite sure how I would feel about them because I've been wearing thick straps for years now (and we all know how I fear/resist change). Well, let me tell you, I am fully thin strap converted. This past weekend I had to run out to the foodstore and somehow couldn't find either of my thin strap pairs so I had to put on my old thickies. And ug, they looked awful. Mannish. Not delicate or adorable at all. Gross, even. SO, it's thin straps from now on.

Yesterday after work I decided to treat myself to a little mall trip because of all the overtime I had put in this past weekend. I only allowed myself to go to Victoria's Secret and Macy's because I needed some new underwear and I've had these freaking Macy's gift cards since Christmas and I have yet to find ANYTHING worth buying there. (Sorry if you love Macy's but the one at KOP is seriously lacking). So I got a bunch of Pink undies and also, a new perfume called Oh La La. It smells really lovely. It's described as 'A flirtatious blend of mandarin, cherry blossom, and vanilla...' The bottle is adorable, it has one of those puffer things you squeeze like the old fashion-y perfume bottles. I squeezed the tester at the store and nothing came out so I'm not really sure why I thought it would be a good idea to buy it... But hopefully it keeps working. It just smells... lovely. Finally, I picked up their Very Voluptuous Lip Plumper in Nude. I haven't used it yet because I think I might look a little silly in a sweatshirt with no makeup, frizzy hair, and big puffy lips. So I'll have to wait for a night out to try it. Next to my regular lip plumper they had the lip plumper EXTREME which described itself as 'a dangerously hot combination of Collagen Microspheres and natural GABA..' It struck me as a strange way to advertise a product. Using the word 'dangerous' made me put it down immediately. I guess it's for those makeup rebels who like to throw caution to the wind and live on the edge.

I headed over to Macy's determined to spend these gift cards. I was looking at the only jewelry I like at Macy's: Betsey, Fossil, and Lucky. Nothing too fantastic. Then I saw this rack of turquoise, green, and brown stone jewelry and was immediately drawn over. It was called 'Turn Over A New Leaf' which I found out this morning is like Macy's own eco-friendly promotional brand. But the jewelry was really pretty. I'm a sucker for anything turquoise. Sadly, I cannot find any pictures of the stuff online so you'll have to settle for my amazing linguistic descriptions. I got a bracelet made of different sized natural looking turquoise-y stones. I also picked up two necklaces. One has a round donut shaped tan stone in the center connected to more smaller brown shaped wooden pieces with hemp. The other necklace is 3 strands of different lengths with alternating brown and light green stones. Perfect summer jewelry. They will be great at jazzing up plain sundresses. Jazzy. And I'm pretty sure the whole eco-friendly-ness of the jewelry was canceled out when the cashier put each of the pieces in their own plastic bag...

...23 days until the shore...

Peace and fake eco-friendlyness,

TheFashionHead

summer sandals

Yesterday while putting away some clean laundry, I realized that I have 16 single socks, all different, all without a mate. 16!!! That's a crazy person number. And I've had them for awhile now, just hanging out in the right hand of my sock drawer, hoping one day they will be reunited with their match (or that the mismatch sock trend will suddenly catch on again). So new goal: throw away allll of my lonely little socks and treat myself to brand new ones. I'll have to schedule a Target trip for sometime in the near future.

Oh god, I just wrote about sock drawer. I've just lost what little audience I had.

Let me try to win you back with some pretty shoe pictures. Like I've said before, I've always wanted to be one of those girls who wears high heels all the time, never complains about hurting feet, and looks fabulous at all times. When summer comes along, I get excited because my ultra comfortable rainbows go with practically every outfit, and even if they don't, who cares because it's summertime and the livings easy. (Yeah, I did just write that) But this summer is going to be different. It all started with those fabulous DKNY wedges. I am determined to wear heels as much as humanly possible.

(picture from shopbop.com)

This beautiful shoe is the Gala Woven Crisscross Sandal from one other then L.A.M.B. Why do you make such gorgeous and expensive shoes? I love the metallic. And the braiding. It looks way vintage which is pretty cool.

(picture from shopbop.com)

And here we have the Draped Patent Wishbone Sandal from Moschino Cheap and Chic. Their shoes are, unfortunately, not cheap at all. I don't really love the color (I'm always thinking about tattoo color clashing though so that could have something to do with it.) But the shape is really neat and unique and quite adorable. Also vintage-y.

(picture from shopbop.com)

Here is the Tab Wedge Sandal by Pollini. Holy crap, these shoes are $710! But they are adorable. These are the kind of shoes that you would look at and look at and finally decide to buy and then never be able to find the right outfit to wear them with. Although brown is just a neutral and yellow is the accessory color of the season....

Oh and these Marc Jacobs wedge sandals I mentioned before are now on sale at the bop for $266.

(picutre from shopbop.com)

Just something to think about...

And of course, a few high heeled sandals you should never, ever buy:

Black and blue together, yuck. Not only are they pretty unattractive, but they also look pretty uncomfortable...

Ahh! Too many straps! Too many buckles! Sweaty feet.

Reminds me of the matrix. And I've never even seen the matrix.

Who has the nerve to charge $350 for these foot atrocities? Well, Opening Ceremony, I guess.

And I'll end with these:

$425!!!!!! People are crazy...

Peace and summer sandals,

TheFashionHead

class rings & power hours

This weekend is my weekendless weekend, if that makes any sense. It's my weekend 'on call' at work which means I should basically be at work all weekend (note: use of word should). I have to be in work at 6AM tomorrow so I am being ultra lame and going to bed right after this post. Silver lining - I'll make a couple hundred dollars so I can un-lame (de-lame?) myself next weekend, hopefully.

My sister is graduating from high school in May and she just got her class ring pamphlet. I was looking at all the options and trying to help her pick out what she wanted a.k.a. trying to convince her that she should not go with a basketball on one side since she was in fact not on the basketball team. I took a look at the pricing sheet and I was shocked. It really makes you feel old when you start a thought with 'Back when I was in high school...' but, back when I was in high school, I kinda remember my ring costing (my parents) like $60 or something. Well, witness inflation at work. The cheapest ring offered was $130 and some of the more fancier styles were over $1000!! $1000!!! This really confirms my intuition that I will most likely be a pretty bad parent... 'Oh $1000 on a class ring, what a great idea honey. Here you go (writing out a $1000 check)... PSYCH, you WISH I loved you that much. Actually mom's going to go buy a new bag. Can't waste a perfectly good check. Oh, and would you mind driving so Mommy's friends can come along and we can drink at lunch? You're a doll.'

So I've finally had some free time and I've started to create my super amazing awesomely fantastic power hour mix for the shore this summer. Now you may think making a power hour just consists of cutting songs off at their one minute mark, however true power hour enthusiasts will tell you there is much more to this delicate craft. You can't simply start a song at it's beginning if the beginning has a long intro or a slow build up. You only have one minute to listen to the song people, you can't waste time on long intros. You want people to recognize the song instantly, take a shot, and sing the rest. So, you listen and listen and pick a good beginning spot. Add on a minute and then listen to the end. Where it ends has to make sense as well, even if it means sacrificing the one minute rule (hey, a power hour with 45 second songs is more efficient in getting you wasted anyway). It can't end in the middle of a word or even a verse really. Best places for ending are right after the chorus before a new verse begins. This whole process actually takes awhile and it gets annoying because you have to listen to the same parts of the song over and over until you have cut it off at just the right place. I worked on it last night and so far I have 20 songs on my power hour list:

Rehab - Amy Winehouse

Remix of Ignition - R Kelly

Sexy Can I - Ray J

Check on It - Beyonce

Temperature - Sean Paul

Crank Dat - Soulja Boy

In Da Club - 50 Cent

Snap Yo Fingers - Lil John

Heartbreaker - Mariah

This is How We Do It - Montell Jordon

College Girls Are Easy - NWA (a classic)

Mo Money Mo Problems - Notorious BIG

Baby I Got Your Money - ODB

Freek-A-Leek - Petey Pablo

Go Girl - Pit Bull

Shoop - Salt N Pepa

Drop It Like Its Hot - Snoop

There It Go (Whistle Song) - Juelz Santana

Work It - Missy

Too Close - Next

While typing out that list I realized it is a rap overload. I need to work more pop and classic rock sing-a-long songs into the mix.

Do you power hour? What are your favorite songs to power hour/pregame/sing/dance to?

My apologies for the lack of fashion related topics. All I am going to wear for the next few days are greasy jeans, old t-shirts, metatarsals (which are steel reinforced work boots to protect my beautiful toes) cause I work in a dirty steel mill. Prettier post next time, I promise, with lots of shoe pictures!

Peace and power hours,

TheFashionHead

i did it

As I mentioned yesterday, the Jovovich-Hawk sale was today on Hautelook. Anddddd I bought a dress! Oh the things I do for you, my loyal readers... I am so excited to add Jovovich-Hawk to my closet. I really can't wait to get the dress, I wonder how long it takes with the standard cheap shipping. I had some trouble deciding between two lovely dresses:

Here is the India Mini.

And this is the Misty Mini

I liked the color and print of the India better, but it looked like the Misty would fit me better (ie. not look like a giant flowery sack) because of the waistline. So I went with the Misty. I hope it fits and looks as fantastic as I picture it looking in my head. Can't wait to wear this one this summer....or, you know, the minute I get it.

Also, Neiman Marcus is having some crazy sale where if you spend $500, you get a $200 gift card that has some restrictions (I can't remember exactly because I deleted the email to avoid the temptation...) but still, its a pretty fantastic deal. Before I remembered the Jovovich-Hawk sale I was perusing the Marc by Marc Jacobs and Cole Haan bag selections. I really love those Marc Jacobs bags I posted about before (...if I had a million dollars...) because the colors are so bright and fun and springsummery. My unnecessary expensive bag purchase will have to be put on hold for awhile though while I recover from the Jovovich-Hawk and Bloomingdales sales.


I am on the lookout for more strappy wedge sandals similar to my DKNY ones because they are just so darn comfortable. I feel like I am just going to wear them so much this summer they will get pretty ruined. The floors of the bars in Sea Isle City are not known for their dryness or cleanliness. Basically when you get home from the bar, your feet usually end up looking something like this:

feet of an anonymous victim of the SIC bar floors

Anyway, the shoes are so high, I love it. I am a little weirded out by being taller then people I am not normally taller then, but I guess I'll get over that soon. Or I'll just request that everyone else around me wear shoes of similar height. Problem solved.

Peace and hippie dresses,

TheFashionHead

earth day and jovovich hawk

Happy Earth Day!!

Just a quick note - tomorrow Hautelook is having a Jovovich Hawk sale. (Hautelook is this awesome website that has crazy one to two day sales on new designer merchandise. It's like a private samlpe sale online. You have to be a member to partake, and you have to be invited in to be a member, so if you want in leave me your email address in a comment and I'll send you an invite. Just promise not to buy any of the Jovovich Hawk stuff that I want...) Anyway, I've been a member for about 3 months now and they have about 3 sales per week. (Actually that was just a wild guesstimate, I really have no idea how many they have per week but they seem to be fairly frequent.) I have yet to buy anything but my friend Courtney got some nautical inspired jewerly from Georgana at one of their sales. The cloesest I came was during the Ella Moss and Splendid sales. Today they are featuring Kritik, which is basically a bunch of glorified sweatpants. I believe I have never bought a pair of sweatpants. I still wear my high school track sweatpants with the giant hole in the crotch and I am perfectly ok with them. So fancy sweats don't particularly interet me. I would rather spend my money elsewhere. But anyway, on to the point of the post, tomorrow is the Jovovich Hawk sale, starting at 11am here on the east coast. I am pretty overly excited for this sale. Actually this is probably the most anticipated sale that I've come across. I really love the Jovovich Hawk line but it is like insanely expensive. I am going to do my best to buy something tomorrow. Hopefully the selection is good.

Alright, back to work.

Peace and recycling,

TheFashionHead

8 songs

Do you have any songs that you could just listen to forever and ever? I mean like sit there and put the song on repeat and just keep listening to it and never get bored or annoyed? (This was stolen from some other blog....)

1. Caress Me Down - Sublime

2. The World at Large - Modest Mouse

3. Throwing Stones - Grateful Dead

4. El Scorcho - Weezer

5. This Must Be the Place - Talking Heads

6. Remix of Ignition - R Kelly

7. City on Down - OAR

8. Crazy Bitch - Buckcherry

Anyway, on a more fashion-y note:

I got the new Nylon this week. Ever since I saw this cover at the airport awhile ago

and bought it, I've been getting free Nylon mags every month. I must have signed up for something but I do not remember doing so. So, thanks Nylon.

It was a Gossip Girls themed and they shot two covers (one with Blake Lively and one with Leighton Meester) and I got the Blake one. She's pretty but her expressions are always a bit strange. Like she doesn't have control over her facial muscles or something. She's wearing an underwhelming Elizabeth & James skirt on the cover that looks like you could probably get something pretty similar at Forever21. Elizabeth & James is pretty hit or miss.

They did an article on Christian Louboutin. I think I'm going to make it a mission to get a pair of his shoes. I think my biggest problem (aside from the money) would be just picking one. The classic black peep toe pump with the red sole is pretty timeless and chic but he makes such fun colorful and decorated shoes that I would almost want to go like crazy with them.

(all pictures from Barneys.com)

Top Row: Xatrinxia, Catenita, No Prive

Bottom Row: Fontanete, City Girl, Hotatio Sling

So I think my favorites are the Xatrinxia and the City Girl. But obviously I'm a label whore and I would want the red sole to be highly noticeable (no flats, wedges, ect.) and so I would probably go with the Catenita. I'll put them on the list of things to buy. Someday. Eventually. Maybe. I though this was interesting, though (from the article): "His creations force the hips to sway a little more, causing the wearer to strut instead of walk..." I interpret this as "His shoes are so high and painful you will look silly trying to walk in them so we're going to call it 'strutting' instead"

I know I really have no place talking about makeup or skin care products since during the week all I really do is shower and used Oil of Olay moisturizer for sensitive skin buttttt I found this to be pretty hilarious. So hilarious, it ALMOST makes me want to spend the $65 and buy it.

(Good In Bed Moisturizer, Prescriptives.com)

Quoting Nylon: "A good night's sleep and a titillating round (or three) of sex can do a lot for a girl's complexion. Many a beauty company has tried to manufacture the radiant glow that screams, 'I am well-rested and sexually satisfied' with little success. . . . So you wake up looking like you didn't spend half the evening up alone watching a Law & Order marathon"

Oh I hope some girl buys it and puts it on and shows up to work the next day and suddenly everyone thinks she's easy, her boyfriend dumps her because he thinks she's cheating on him, and ya know, everything else happens to her that goes along with being a whore.

OK somebody really needs to start showing me picture of non-gladiator sandals before I go crazy.

Peace and sexy moisturizers,

TheFashionHead

beer tab sightings

Check out these fantastically fabulous trendsetters:

Beertab necklace in Hoboken. She looks surprised that the paparazzi are taking her picture. They probably just saw the necklace and couldn't resist.

The necklace made it all the way out to .. Michigan.? I think.

We are just a few cities away from a national takeover. Get ready. Place your orders now.

Peace and Beertabs,

TheFashionHead

random thoughts

Don't you love it when you walk out of a building (in, say, a purple shirt with a grey waistband and a grey 3/4 sleeved cardigan) and you actually get warmer! It's warmer OUTSIDE then it is inside. It's really a lovely feeling.

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Dear boy at the gym who works out in tight under armor,

You're not training for an ironman. Please wear looser clothing.

Thanks,

TheFashionHead

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People who tell you that tanning does not clear your skin are just pale liars who want you to have acne forever.

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Dear man on the motorcycle in front of me on my way home from the gym,

You were going 30 miles per hour in a 40 zone AND slowing down around the turns. What kind of nerdy motorcycle man are you? Don't people buy motorcycles to go fast (or, at least the speed limit?) I was more amused by how slow you were going then mad about it though, so don't worry.

Take care of yourself,

TheFashionHead

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Shopbop is having a sale until midnight tonight and I have yet to find anything to buy. Tragic. I went back to look for that Elizabeth and James sweater I mentioned earlier but it was sold out. YOU'RE WELCOME shopbop. Imagine the leftover inventory you would have if I had never mentioned it in my world famous blog?

I am resisting the temptation of the 'gladiator' sandal basically because MKO wore them last summer and she's probably moved onto something new and fabulous by now, so I'll just wait around until someone takes a picture of her feet. And I'll buy whatever is on them.

OK so shopbop has a 'jumpsuits' category, right in between 'jumpers' and 'leggins'. I'm not sure how I feel about that, I'm pretty sure that I do not support jumpsuits.

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So just in case the Lucky suit does not work out, I got one from Victoria's Secret too. I FINALLY found a bra top bathing suit so I am excited to get it and see how it looks. I got this top:

(picture from victoriassecret.com)

and plain brown bottoms.

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Did jean skirts go out of style and no one told me? I've been looking for a good jean skirt for the summer and so far this is all I've found:

(picture from shopbop.com)

It's the sunset miniskirt by Seven. Although it is adorable and I do love the bright fun pockets, it's pretty impractical as a go to summer jean skirt. Plus I'm not a huge fan of the frayed edges.

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And finally, 37 days until the shore house. Woooooooo.

Peace and random thoughts,

TheFashionHead

i'm alive!

So I've been kind of busy lately. I'm sorry blog, I have neglected you. I started my classes 2 weeks ago and I've been busy because of that and plus I've been tired because of them too, so even when I'm not busy I'm usually sleeping.

Luckily, Bloomingdales had a HUGE insider sale this past weekend, so I have some fun 'look at what I bought' updates:

(picture from Nordstrom.com, cause the Bloom website kinda sucks)

It's really adorable, no? It will be great for the shore. My bra straps will be on display (unless I can find some sort of racerback style, oh that's a good idea...) but oh, well. Oh yeah, its the Ella Moss Grace color block dress and it comes in another color too.

(picture from Bloomingdales.com, weird)

It's the Tiki Tie Dye Jersey dress by Lucky. Oh man, summer just can't come soon enough.

(picture from RevolveClothing.com)

OK so this is the Baby Brother blouse by Sanctuary Clothing. I haven't heard of these guys before and this is usually not my style. I'm more of a flowy kinda gal but the print really caught my eye, it's really pretty. Another great summer piece. Yay.

And considering I brought like 22 things into the dressing room and liked almost all of them, I though I did a pretty great job at narrowing it down.

And just a little fashion lesson taught to my by Emily and Courtney:

One shoulder dresses with a normal bottom = looks chic and fashionable (and affordable, too)

Normal sleeved dress with a bubble bottom = looks like you're wearing a diaper under it.

I also did some dreaded bathing suit shopping... Bloomingdales selection was pretty lame but I did see this Lucky bathing suit there:

(pictures from LuckyBrandJeans.com)

Not in my size, obv, but I did come home and order it from LuckyBrandJeans.com, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Oh man, I also forgot to brag about this crazy awesome fantastic DKNY wedges I got at Loehmann's a few weeks ago:

They are called the Bailey. Shown here in brown, but I got them in Natural which I like better then the brown.

Shoe Ratings:

Stability: 9 out of 10

Comfort: 5 out of 10

Fashionability: 10,245,325 out of 10

Price: 10 out of 10 (go Loehman's)

Alright, I have some fashion homework to do.

Peace and strappy wedges,

TheFashionHead