Oh dear god

If Alexandre Herchcovitch is suggesting that this is the new trouser fashion, count me out. Thanks to The Guardian for this sneak peek at what YOU could be wearing next spring at the office....

Mama's got a whole new bag...full of shoes that is

So I'm back from Canada. It was lovley - a month off filled with excessive eating, friends, family and the lovely sounds of my credit card going swipe swipe swipe. In a style truly my own, I purchased four pairs of shoes, which was less than I had planned but more than necessary. Upon my return I made good on a promise to M that I would at least reassess my old pairs - which resulted in me binning one pair...:)

Today I wore my lovely blue Kenneth Cole's and was reminded why I'm not good at little heels...they get stuck everywhere! I lost my shoe on the stairs up at the train station and some lovely man handed it to me...that was sweet...he must have realized how pretty they are and couldn't bear the thought of someone trampling them in their mass exodous to work.

Other than shoes I picked up a couple pairs of jeans and some tops - really I didn't go overboard on the shopping...I did go overboard on the eating, but that is ok as I totally resolve to loose weight this year;)

Well kiddos, I should sign off for now...work is calling and apparantly I'm paid to worry about it...so I shall do my best to be concerned while really dreaming about the next pair of shoes I'll buy:)

Excited but a bit annoyed

I wrote a post about how excited I was to be on my last day of work before heading home...but then the internet gobbled it up and spit it out, so now I'm a bit annoyed.





Oh well. These things happen I suppose. Better the internet gobble the excitement up than a faulty engine and crash landing tomorrow, right?





In other news, on Friday I passed my theory test for my UK license- now I just need to do the practical. To celebrate I bought a new pair of very gorgeous Carvela shoes (they were on sale so I thought it was only fair)...I bought them in tan brown but they are this style. I'm not taking them with me on my trip so yesterday I had to put them in the closet and say goodbye for now....



This leads on to the next part of my excitement for the trip. I've given myself the free reign of my credit card for shopping. Clearly I might need to rethink this but for now, I fully anticipate bringing back a suitcase of amazing accessories, stunning shoes and fabulous frocks:)

Well, I suppose I should do some work...after all, it's only 5.5 hours to freedom...

Remove the Fucking Price Tag!

In an attempt to perhaps breathe some much needed life into this blog (does anyone still even read it now that I've left the vast majority of my readership in the cold tundras?)...I am about to open yet another debate on fashion faux pas's (?)...

I have generally noticed that women in the UK tend to buy a lot of their shoes from clothing shops and not shoe shops (ie. Le Chateau vs. Aldo). While I still contend that these fashion shops overcharge for uncomfortable, low-quality pleather shoes, I can accept that their shoes reflect the most current trends out there...which is why there is such demand (however as a Naturalizer convert where fun and exciting LEATHER shoes are sold at a decent price and are of the utmost comfort level, I will do my best to avoid purchasing any more foot crushing shoes from the likes of topshop, zara, dorthy perkins, etc)....(See this link for confirmation that shoe sales are higher in clothes stores than shoe stores, well, increasing anyway: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=419273&in_page_id=1879)

Moving on. So since the majority of shoes are purchased in clothing shops, they tend to be crudely priced on the bottom of the sole with a very large and obvious white price tag. And when you purchase the shoe you don't get a pair from the back shelves in a nice box, you get them handed to you in a bag, with a glaring large white price tag on each and every sole.

No problem. Common sense dictates that you go home, remove the lable and then prance around in the shoes until your feet feel as if they've been run through a wood chipper and pressed to extract every last bit of blood...usually within an hour of wear with most of these styles. Right? WRONG!

The women of England (I can't speak for N. Ireland, Scotland or Wales) instead go home and put the shoes straight on. They LEAVE the ghastly, glaringly obvious white lable on the bottom of both shoes and head out the door! Are they oblivious to the fact that while they may have matched (unless we get into the whole black/brown debate) every last detail of their outfit, that those walking behind them get the view of the price tag, and that's ALL anyone can see? It's disgraceful!

Today I wanted to tell the woman in front of me...I wish I could compliment you on your shoes but frankly I haven't noticed them. Instead I've been mesmorized by the white pricetags that are so blatantly calling out to me : I bought overpriced shoes the other day and now I'm wearing them! Look at me!

Sigh...for some time I thought I was alone in my thoughts but just last month a reader wrote in the daily paper and said something along the lines of 'I'm not from this country so I don't understand why British women seem incapable of removing the price tag from their shoes!'...So it's not just me...If I had any british women readers I would hope that they would pass on these words of advice: REMOVE THE PRICE TAG ON YOUR SHOE; but alas, I fear I have no readers..let alone the group I most desperately need to reach....

I'm fearful of all the white tags I'll soon see as women of England step out onto the streets post xmas in their new shoes...oh the horror...

The devil wears barney's

How a pro pro (I don't know how to spell that!)

After a breakfast of six almonds I went to decide what to wear on this fine August day. I decided to wear my Barney dress pants...which are my favourite work pants. They are red and white checkered/striped and they look really good on me (and my bum). They should, I spent $70 on them a few years back, which is a hell of a lot of money for me to spend on a pair of pants. Thinking about it, they probably rate within the top ten most expensive items of clothing I own (leather skirt, grad dress, MEC snow wear, winter jacket, etc are also in that list).

So ANYWAYS, the whole point of the story: I put my beloved pants on and they don't fit. But they don't fit in a good way. They are baggy. Yay for being sick for three weeks! It's like the line 'I'm one stomach flu away from being thin enough for Paris'!

And there you have it. I never thought I'd be mourning ill-fitting pants based on less chunks not more, but I am. Oh well. I guess this means that I just have to go to pizza night tonight and have a couple of pints to round out the meal...and other parts...

that is all...

Massive Attack

Cue 9 AM.

Out of the doors of City Hall we run...towards the sidewalk sale on second.

Past the shoes we go, the wafting smoke from the outdoor bbq beckoning us, yet we resist. Tonic does not excite us in the least and we cross over to the other side and join the mob. Pants flail and capri's are tossed aside. Skirts and tops and jackets are pulled from the tables and the women run inside to try on the wares. The crash and rude of the bunch try on the wares in as discreet a manner possible, cogniscent that skirts are far better for this than shorts.

45 minutes of standing in queue and lo and behold, I have done it. I have embraced Saskatoon's only fashion statement.

I now own a pair of Lulu Lemon Pants, and for only $40.

Lock your women in the house, they may never return. The end of the world is near...Lulu on sale, no! It couldn't be true.

It is...it is.

I failed

I broke. I went to the mall. I bought pretty pretty shoes (the naturlizer ones that D tried on) and a purse. I am a terrible, but well dressed, person.

Whats up with D's blog?

A Response

While brief and somewhat weak, I am happy to report I receive the following response from Robin...perhaps D will also receive a response and share it with my readers (all five of them!)

Dear Lyla,

You're right. Some styles are utterly unattractive on an extremely thin
physique. I will certainly keep that in mind for future stories.

All the best,

Robin


Robin Givhan, fashion editor
The Washington Post
251 W. 57th Street, 12th Floor
NY, NY 10019
212-445-4900 (p)
212-445-4853 (fax)
202-258-0622 (mobile)
givhanr@washpost.com

A Letter to the Columnist

This is so much more than Black and Brown....

Read:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/01/AR2006060102048.html

Rant:
Reading your article I was offended by the overused and generic message that you were sending. Why is it that female fashion faux pas' tend to only focus on those with a little extra? Why don't we ever admit that some people are too thin or disproportionately shaped to pull off certain styles?
Never do people suggest a low cut top on a girl with minimal breasts can look rather disgusting...nor do they boo when a skin and bones girl flaunts her ribs in a bikini (and not just Nicole Richie but even Kirsten Dunst recent France swimming episode left something to be desired), or when slit dresses expose legs that may be thin but are scrawny or unshapely (like Kate Moss -- her legs are 'not perfect' - we all know this, but she's not chastised for exposing us to them).
It makes me upset that the media (being you) continually overlook that thin isn't always the best frame for clothing. Do I wear low cut jeans, mini-skirts, shrugs and flip flops? Absolutely. Are some styles more or less flattering on my 5'6, 145 pound frame? Absolutely. Yet the same is true for people of all sizes and shapes, so stop picking on the people with a little more to love just because you can. It's an easy way to write an article without requiring any thought. I hope next time you research the subject a little more before you write down your own discriminatory expertise. I expect better from the Washington Post.

Hookah Shoes Part Two, ULOB Part Four

Hmm...perhaps this all relates back to what Kundera said about noticing what we want to create motifs in our life...
After the Hooker shoe incident I went over to my brother's house and hung out. Randomly I asked if they had Salt and Peppa on CD and if I could borrow it. I don't know why I wanted to listen but I had an urge. So today I was listening to 'None of Your Business', S&P's best song, and one of the lines in the song is 'the difference between a hooker and a hoe aint nothin' but her feet'....creepy huh!

Ok, on to ULOB:

Awesomenes Insight #4
'Tereza went in to get dressed and stood in front of the large mirror.
No there was nothing monstrous about her body. She had no pouches hanging from her shoulders; in fact, her breasts were quite small. Her mother used to ridcule her for having such small breasts, and she had had a complex about them until Tomas came along. But reconciled to their size as she was, she was still mortified by the very large, very dark circles around her nipples. Had she been able to design her own body, she would have chosen inconspicuous nippes, the kind that scarcely protrude from the arch of the breast and all but blend in colour with the rest of the skin. She thought of her areoloae as big crimson targets painted by a primativist of pornography for the poor.'

Who hasn't analyzed their body, and their breasts (for the females) and wondered why they were stuck with what they have? I think that breasts are in particular a source of examination for females. I mean, I find myself in awe of the perky breasts I see on the the big screen for mine look nothing like them. I don't have that cute, upturnedness that other, more popular breasts do...mine I suppose are like big pouches hanging from my shoulders. Sigh.

Then there's the nipple issue! Like I remember going WTF when I watched the breast scene in American Beauty because a) one boob was bigger than the other and b) her nipples were massive! So to have a line regarding crude pornography in the best book of all time was quite apt, because it is true...The imperfections we all have become like this larger then life subject when we analyze our own selves...they become characictures for our bodies...do people wish I spell checked...oh well...

Once again, lyla's thoughts on the awesomeness of kundera.

PS: Lyla has her thinking cap on and its gonna be big..stay tuned for the unveiling..ok its not that big but it makes her happy...