Bubble trouble

After seasons of bubble looks, the WSJ (www.wsj.com) suddenly announced that "the bubble is back" in the latest weekend journal. Then the article went on to talk about how difficult it is to make the bubble look flattering or to make it work for office outfits. Are you kidding me?

It was not the first time the Style page on the WSJ shocked me. The bubble skirt article looks so outdated that I thought that I got an old newspaper (then the H-P article on page one confirmed that the paper was current). The column on the WSJ style page is simply too conservative and too fashion backwards.

How does that happen?

Apparently, the writer of the column looked at the wrong sources. Diane Von Furstenberg, Rachel Roy, and Adam+Eve are all so called contemporary designers who do not create trends but are trend followers. They normally capitalize the successful styles from the high end designers a couple of seasons after the trends are around. Marc by Marc Jacobs' look was used in the article as well, but if the writer looked at the Marc collection from last year, she would have realized that the bubble looks had been around for so long. To make it worse, most of the quotes from "experts" and "stylists" are from women in Des Moines and Denver where the majority of the women still wear "mom jeans". How could it not be fashion backwards?

In addition, the writer consistently looks at trends from an "average" woman's perspective. The fact is that there is no "average" woman. Macy's "regular" women don't buy bubble skirts because those bubble skirts sold at Macy's are not well-made, not because women refuse to take volume. If the writer visits the Marc store or Neiman Marcus' contemporary department to look at the sales, or takes a walk down on Madison Avenue, she would realize how mainstream this look has become. Did she just ignore the fact, or forget to do a little bit of fashion research?

The article ended with with a quote from a 29-year-old female New Yorker who refused to wear the look to the office. Come on, I work at downtown financial district, and I wear bubble skirts all the time and I saw bubble skirts all the time. How could you use such a biased quote to end an article with such a large audience? The only principle the readers need to know is to balance the look instead of refusing a trend without thinking. I have been wearing bubble skirts to work for at least five seasons, and nobody said it was inappropriate. In fact, I get positive comments all the time regarding my bubble skirts (the record is six times a day on my Marni skirt, with four in the elevators in my office building).

The WSJ is always forward looking on the financial markets. Unfortunately, the style page failed to do the same and even became a victim of a male dominated industry. Women working on Wall Street should have our own agenda and fashion sense instead of following the "normal" and "average". To empower the female on Wall Street, the style page should look at the fashion forward designers (Marc Jacobs in NYC and most of designers in Paris) , and help people to incorporate the latest looks to everyday outfits. Articles such as the bubble skirt one, only ridicules itself as a style page on a major newspaper. WSJ, it's time to change. Either the theme of the style page, or your columist.

TGIF, I saw Nicolas Ghesquiere!

After trying many belts with the Balenciaga pants I own, I realized that the belts shown on runway was the only perfect choice. The only place that sells them after the spring season is Barneys New York. I called two days ago to put one on hold, but I was stuck at work every single day and I never made my way to the store. Today was the day, no matter how much more work I had to do over the weekend, I HAD TO MAKE IT.

The train was extremely slow today, it took 30 minutes for the "express" train to drive from Bowling Green to 59th street. I started running with my three-inch heels and a messenger bag full of documents on the dark 60th street.

I entered the store and asked for help. My SA was not there, and the lady who helped me couldn't find the belt on hold. I was so disappointed but wandering around the display case looking at those beautiful belts (which I had looked at for many times). I wasn't really watching my way, and then I bumped into a belt rack - with my Balenciaga belt hanging in front of me.

The lovely lady turned on the register to run the belt for me. (Thank you!)

I got a call earlier today that my alteration was ready, so I asked the SA if it's too late to catch it. "Well, it's closed, but you can give it a try." Why not, I've run that far.

The elevator stopped at the fourth floor, and then I saw "Balenciaga" letters everywhere. It was the party for Balenciaga! I saw Nicolas Ghesquiere himself with his charming and lovely smile. Apparently he was signing the book "Balenciaga Paris". It was a very large book with very detailed history about Balenciaga. Talking about impulsive purchase...then you know what happened; I got my book, signed by Nicolas Ghesquiere, and chatted with him briefly.

The room was full of models and fashion celebrities. Julie Gilhart was one of them. She was surprisingly tall and thin. I had never seen so many Balenciaga outfits. They were from different seasons, in different silhouette and worn by different people. It was a very interesting party to look at. I also spotted a guy who had the standard Dior Homme boy figure. He was wearing a breathtaking beret with feather on!

All those beautiful people and beautiful clothes made me happy. After a whole day of discussion on real estate and fixed income (which is interesting, but work has been stressful lately), I ran to a completely different world. All it took was a little run in heels and a little extra effort to make my way to the fourth floor.

Case closed

I was looking for the Ann Demeulemeester boots for months last winter. Ann's sizes run large, so I need to find size 5. I visited Alan Bilzerian, Barneys New York in Manhattan and Neiman Marcus, but no luck. One year later, while the memory started to fade, I saw the pair on the last day of the Barneys Warehouse sale with hundreds of women and men fighting for bargains.

My heart almost skipped a beat when I saw a piece of leather hanging down the shoe rack yards away. Is it the one?

I ran to the rack and picked up the boots within a second as if somebody was running after me. Yes, it was the one. The one I was looking for a long time, the Ann Demeulemeester boots, in size 5.

Eventually, I stepped out of the warehouse sale with three pairs of Ann's shoes in hands. The other two pairs were from the Spring '06 collection with very comfortable padded soles and almost 4" heels. The total bill came to $235, and my boots only cost me $105. It still felt like a dream to me.

The following are the boots' pictures from Elle.com

That piece of rubbish to you is treasure to me

I like to go to sales, especially the big, competitive ones. Apparently I need to be in the right mood to go, but it's always interesting experience to look at how different people pick out clothes based on their first instinct. It means shopping is dependent on personal style and one has to make a decision within a second. In this kind of extreme situation, a piece of rubbish to you might be treasure to me, and vis versa.
I went to the Barneys Warehouse sale last night. It was crowded, but not as bad as I expected. Still, girls were changing in front of guys and people were looking at the clothes on other people's bodies. Some girls wouldn't look at anything above $100, some ran straight to pick whatever Marc by Marc Jacobs items they could see, and others looked at those amazing Lanvin pieces then grabbed them without hesitation. Girls go to those sales with their own missions.
I was looking for THE Rochas suit that the talented Olivier presented on the Spring 2006 runway show. Unfortunately my size was not available, but I saw a Rochas A-line skirt at a little forgotten corner. The shape is simple yet the fabric is so different. It's a mix of linen, silk, and a kind of material I've never heard of. It's very muted yet beautiful. With all the respect to the designer I got the skirt. It belongs to me.
Then I thought about it. How many people tried it on before? How many people saw it at the Warehouse Sale? It eventually ended up coming to my wardrobe. Isn't it like a kind of unknown connection between us? I really want to share my experience with you, because I am sure that kind of joy, like how you feel at the moment you found the one in your life, hits you once a while, too. Right?

Can you make a dress with 28 scarves?

Can you make a dress with twenty-eight scarves? The sales people at the Alexander McQueen boutique can.
When my husband and I stepped into the McQueen boutique in the meat packing district, our eyes were caught by a black silk dress made of twenty-eight skull scarves that many fashionistas are to die for. I asked the SA how they came up with the idea, he just said that it was a quiet morning so they just did it to kill time.
I wish I could come up with a brilliant idea like that! Yes, just to kill time.
Isn't it amazing? A beautiful evening gown made of twenty-eight scarves. If I'm one of the celebrities, I will seriously consider wearing such a gown for an evening out. The cost? Six thousand dollars. The creativity? Priceless.

A little knowledge about fabric

Remember the overpriced miu miu dress I mentioned in the previous entry? I was wondering why they couldn't use silk but polyester. An expert at the Fashion Spot explained to me:

The skirt has a certain kind of embossed texture on it--you need heat to make this permanent and so polyester is the way to go! It just doesn't work like this with natural fabrics, unless you do a different way... like maybe embroidery to create embossed prints.

So now I know why. It's probably very difficult to make the pattern...but I still think that the dress is overpriced. I've seen similar dresses before, and they were not THAT expensive. The point here is though, I've just learned something:)

The new miu miu

Shown in Paris, with better quality and higher price point, miu miu has evolved. In addition to the traditional wool felt coats, jackets, and pants, miu miu played with volume and bold prints in the FW06 season. Intrigued by a picture in the August issue of the British Vogue, I paid a visit to the Soho shop.

In the Vogue picture, the model wore a similar outfit to the one shown on runway: a stripe shirt, a cardigan with a strap closure, and a print puffy skirt. I loved how everything worked together, and I figured that I really needed that cardigan to update my traditional cardigan plus cute skirt looks.

I picked up more than ten items off the racks including some items featured on the runway show. The strip shirt was very sexy with the back splitting to two pieces (deconstruction, plus point) but it was so awfully oversized that I had to pass. The print skirt, on the other hand, was made of heavy silk with a great deal of volume (think Balenciaga). The skirt was way more puffy in real life than it looked on pictures. "I'd wear either the print or the volume, but not both." I told my SA, and she nodded.

The skirt's price was $1,060. A new high for miu miu, I guess.

The grey cardigan with a strap was also unfortunately oversized. It was designed for the puffy skirt, so the bottom of the cardigan would be stretched apart to show the strap. It was a brilliant idea, but it was useless without pairing with the puffy skirt because the bottom would look too generous.

A red cocktail dress became the new "it" dress in the store. A handful of girls tried it on within an hour. I put it on, too. It was really cute. I liked the idea of the shape although it had to be tailored here and there. The price? More than $2,200 – for this Polyester dress. The SA told me that there were three people on the waiting list already, and she could guarantee that I'd receive mine as long as I leave my credit card number. "No thanks". I was talking to myself: there was no way for me to justify it.

Eventually a cardigan with a built-in knit scarf caught my eye. The cardigan fell on my body in a flattering way yet with a twist. An oversized golden pin also dressed it up. If my budget allowed, I would have also got a black wool felt skirt, a pair of straight leg wool pants, and a pair of ankle length boots. After all, summer will last for another month, and I still have plenty of time to figure out what the most crucial items I need to update my fall wardrobe. With more interesting design and the free tailoring service, I will definitely go back. At the same time, if you happen to visit miu miu, be prepared, don't be shocked by the Prada level price.