Sep 20, 2013

Happy Weekend!

MIZHATTAN'S WEEKLY ROUNDUP

9/20
*DEAL AT FIVE*
*Coco Chanel: The Woman Behind the Legend
*FRIDAY FRUGAL FINDS* Tortoise and the Flair

9/19
*DEAL AT FIVE*
*Coaching Style
*A Few Cozy Things

9/18
*DEAL AT FIVE*
*FAB AND GRAB*
*SALE HUNT* Online Sales Roundup

9/17
*DEAL AT FIVE*
*SAMPLE SALE* Saddling Up
*GET HER LOOK* Kathleen Kelly
*Michael Kors Spring 2014

9/16
*DEAL AT FIVE*
*MIZZY'S WEEKLY WARDROBE* Birkenstock Arizona Sandals
*STYLE CRUSH* Jessica Alba
*MIZDEAL* 25% Off J.Crew

9/15
*SUNDAY WINDOW SHOPPING* Bergdorf Goodman (Sept '13)

{Image credit: Costume Finland, September 2013}

6 comments:

  1. The rest of the Philip Lim for Target packages (note plural arrived). What I am keeping:

    A big surprise--the item I most love is the one I bought on impulse, the Power Lines dress. Online it looked like a slightly incoherent white, sleeveless sheath with black lines all over it. I confess I picked it for its name alone. I bought a 2--the size I most often am in US clothing--and it fits fairly well, though I'll need to get it tailored (by someone intelligent).

    What I love about it: the power lines are not just black lines on a white background. They are bold in front and fade to gray, like one of those masterful Chinese ink paintings. You can't even be sure they are power lines at all, and you end up staring at the print, trying to figure out what is going on, so the print itself at once looks very old, but also very modern. The fabric has a wonderful weight, an orange peel crepe quality, which means that its surface is also full of texture and weight, and that someone spent considerable time trying to get just the fabric for this dress right. I was impressed.

    The dress comes with an anemic black belt made out of who knows what. I replace it first with a wide black obi like thing with studs, and the effect was tremendous fun, playing up the whole Asian ink painting quality of the print. Then I swapped this out for a thinner black leather belt and the dress changed again. And then it dawned on me that this must have been what the designer intended. We are supposed to change belts, and the belt will change the dress. This is a fun dress. And the damned thing came from Target.

    I urge you all to track it down if you can.

    Some miniscule quibbles. My dress came with a stain inside the lining. Perhaps it was worn in one of those photo shoots? Whatever--I'm not exactly going to get Target to get me an exchange. I will have to get the top altered, but this is an ongoing problem for me.

    In short, now I *get* Philip Lim, and now I want to cobble together a few hundred dollars . . . or more to see what else he has. This dress was made by a thinking person, and I love it.

    The other piece I will keep: the floral blouse, which I figured would be a winner. It, too, features an interesting print. Yes, flowers but also sort of weird flowers that aren't pretty. Most floral prints are unabashedly pretty, and of course I like that. This print puts together colors which certainly go together, but there is something about the juxtaposition that is very unusual and unsettling, and thus makes the flowers a little disturbing. In a good way. The buttons all have 3.1 printed on them, while is a nice touch. There are odd flaps on the shoulders which I'm not really sure I can pull off as the shirt is a little big (I got an XS, the smallest available size). But the busyness of the print will hide any strangeness when it comes to fit.

    I am on the fence about the blue cotton sweater with the bit of sparkle on the collar. The blue is very flat, and I'm nervous about the shape of the sweater. I don't do baggy particularly well, but each time I put on the sweater, I think it's not a bad baggy. Somehow the shape of the sweater flatters. I don't know how he did that. I don't know how he made this baggy cropped thing actually work on the body. Like, that's some idiot savant understanding of shape. The sweater is cotton and might stretch. There are loose threads. But then again . . . it's an unusual sweater. Or maybe Zara has the same thing, and I just haven't given baggy sweaters their due.

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    Replies
    1. The powerline print dress was an excellent choice. Nice job! I like the ruffle tank version of it as well. I'd skip the blue sweater with the embellishments. The blue doesn't even look right in the photos. For heavy weight sweaters, my rule is to always spend a little extra--it's totally worth it in the long run.

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  2. Things I won't keep: the green blouse with the same shape as the floral print. I LOVE the green, but the fact that the XS is too big for me is obvious.

    I'm not keeping the blue pullover with the green sleeves. I love the color blocking, but other companies do mixed media and colors like this, and the top isn't special enough.

    The animal print tuxedo shirt -- I have no idea how to wear this. Is it a shirt? A jacket? Kate Moss would know. I do not. I think it's truly too big to be either, though again I bought the smallest available size. I like the yellow and blue combination for the animal print--again, two things you wouldn't think go together to make animal print, but do, but because they are unusual make you feel slightly ill at ease. Like the air is slightly polluted. Which of course it is in most cities. As I write this, I realize I'm still on the fence.

    Trying on these pieces weirdly had the effect on me of making me feel like I was being introduced to a personality. To a thinking person. This doesn't always happen with clothing. It made me insanely curious about Philip Lim.

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    Replies
    1. Good idea on returning both the green blouse and the blue/green pullover. Not my faves from the collection. The animal tuxedo is a shirt but can be worn over a thin top. I'd wear it with a pair of jeans.

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  3. Thank you so much for your advice. I'm keeping the Powerline dress and the floral top, and returning everything else. I go back and forth on the animal print shirt, but the truth is that it is too big for me, and I cannot see how alterations would make it work--it isn't really constructed to allow for the kind of alterations I would need. I am somewhat sad to miss the Boom sweatshirt. Thank you again!

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  4. I bought the powerline design dress too!

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