Though I'm not sure I agree. I had my love affair with them -- specifically between the years of 1991 - 1996. I remember going to the Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and "visiting" the Doc Marten black lace-ups that'd soon become mine once I'd saved enough babysitting money to pay for half of the $80 price, which I thought was SOOOOOOOOO much for a pair of shoes. My mom was reluctant to help me pay for the other half of what she alternatingly referred to as "shitkickers," and "Nazi boots." I remember going to the counter and her saying "these better last til you're in college." I was in eigth grade then, and they definitely did. After years of moving with my dusty black Docs (they barely looked like I'd worn them after all those years), in plastic Rubbermaid bins, I finally got rid of them a year or so ago. It was really time. BUT, all sentimentality for the fashions of the early '90s aside, I'm not really that pleased to see should I see DOC MARTENS creeping back into my inbox and onto the pages of catalogs and magazines this fall.
The first time I saw them -- in mainstream fashion -- was a few months back in their Benneton iteration -- half Docs, half motorcycle boots, all patent leather:
My love of leopard-printed fashions is well documented. Even leopard-print shoes. (Or cheetah-print. Whatever. Tomato/ tomahto.) But not boots. Ack.
Anyway, so back to motorcycle/engineer boots -- they're HUGE for fall, and they're everywhere -- Michael Kors, Aldo, Steve Madden, Guess, Frye (of course), but the best ones I've seen -- and probably the most expensive ones are these:
Golden Goose is a line of luxury riding-inspired boots designed by Italian designers Francesca and Alessandro Gallo. They ain't cheap, but they sure are purdy. Each limited-edition pair of boots are marked with a serial number, and they come pre-distressed and destroyed. WANT!
Attention sneaker freakers (actually, attention regular peeps, because sneakerheads probably already know this)... Twenty-one years into the future, you can FINALLY wear the once-fictitious Nike dunks Marty McFly made famous in Back to the Future II. The inspired-by sneakers are coming out later this summer and are, inexplicably, going to be repped by Kobe Bryant.
PLEASE, whatever you do, do NOT take a cue from Mary-Kate (Olsen, that is, NOT to be confused with Mary-Kate HOPKINSON!) and go out and buy yourself some Lennon glasses, like the ones she's shown here wearing at Sundance. (And holla at Binger JP -- Chicago JP for those of you keeping track -- for standing next to Ashley. And yes, I realize how lame that just sounded -- shouting out someone for merely STANDING in the presence of someone whose claim to fame was appearing on Full House, but whatever.) And do you really want to be seen in the same sunglasses as Howard Stern? They're detestable. In fact, I think they're probably my least favorite fashion accessory EVER. Not even if you smoke an eighth of wizard a day should you let that be an excuse to wear these terrible things. Truly, it'd be more advisable to stare directly into the sun and burn out your retinas. At least that way, you could blame your lack of taste on your blindness.
A far far far better celeb choice: the always-adorbs Lily Allen's green Chanel wayfarers:
Lily wears these bad boysEVERYwhere, and why? Because she is a teensy, precious little bad ass. And because they rule. Admittedly, the multi-colored Chanel branding makes them a bit tacky and too dear, but fortunately, knock-offs abound!
Amazon seller Vintage Designer Sunglasses may not have employed maje creativity in naming their shop, but their goods are on point, with all kindsa vintage wayfarers in non-played colors like bold matte yellow, lilac and dark green. Noice!
Inches MATTER, people! And I'm not talking about the fleshy kind. I'm talking Weather Channel. Where's the snow, yo? Anyway, since I've woken up excited to find piles of the white stuff (not THAT kind of white stuff) outside my window and have pulled back the curtain to instead find dry sidewalk or general wetness (wow, the innuendos are totally unintentional, I swear), let's take a look at some lighter jackets -- trench coats and the like -- some of which are ridiculous, shall we?
One of the fun things about brightly colored rain slickers is that they're bright and they're colored. One of the less fun things about them is that often, when they're vinyl or satin, they look like graduation gowns, church choir robes or those things you wear at the hair salon. A not-fun thing about this one is that it's $1,970. Oh well.
As compared to the jackets above, $595's a freaking steal. I'm normally not really into the idea of beige trenches -- yes, they're a total wardrobe staple as anyone with a modicum of fashion sense will remind you, but, a.) beige is so.... beige; b.) they get dirty really easily. That said, I might bend for this because while the color's sorta expected, the cut is nice and edgy -- yay for the asymmetrical buttons and big front pockets.
Again, beige = sorta boring sometimes, but this is a fun variation. I like it in their grass-green version, but then again, I had a green duster/ trench, and I got really sick of it, so I guess I'm a hypocrite.
I saw this in grey at the store, and while I was attracted to it from afar, I was dubious up close, because it sorta felt like weird, gauzy post-consumer-recyclable material that they make shopping bags out of and that you're glad exists for the Earth's sake, but you'd never really want to wear. It felt like something you'd wear to go white-water rafting, not that I ever would. But it's got sort of a fun retro feel.
Refinery29 did a little piece on the Distilled's flak jacket, and while it's green (though olive here) AND for dudes, I think it'd do quite nicely for ladies, if the fit's right.
Um, I really don't NEED a glass gourd. I don't even need a real gourd. But this is the kind of cute decorative thing I'd imagine people who are REALLY good at seasonal decorating would use to trick out their garden, and it sorta makes me wish I had a garden to the begin with. A garden that someone else tended to, of course.
Homegirl over at SovereignState posted an image of a super cute pink and grey checkered flannel jumper as part of her Fall Fashion Wishlist. I have now added it to MY wishlist:
The problem is, however, I have NO idea where it's sold. I do know it's $39. JP (of Chicago) said it looked maybe like Lulu's Fashion Lounge, though a search proved fruitless. Mary-Kate told me, unsolicitedly that she did not like it (boo! says the girl who LIKES the jester tights!) and said it's perhaps from Delia's. Also a good call, but after that search, I'm still emptyhanded!
Okay, a wee bit out of my price range, especially since I absolutely belabored a $118 purchase of a jacket today at Macys. But if I were in the habit of dropping close to 2 grand on a jacket, this would be the first one I'd drop it on. And I love that its color is called "dove." Sigh.
Any greener and this would be too green, but the light mint is sort of lovely. There's something very Pacific Northwest about this jacket -- and in a good way.
Definitely cute. (This is the "sandcastle," btw). Reminds me of a similar jacket I had in college and makes me wonder what the hell happened to it ("it" being the jacket, not college, though sometimes I wonder what the hell happened to that too).
Once again, Lulu's Fashion Lounge (and I swear I don't work for them) hits one out of the park with an awesome looks-ten-times-more-expensive-than-it-actually-is piece. This jacket is truly adorable, and again, looks like Mike & Chris, and I'd totes buy this if I weren't positive I'd stain it by the third wear.
In the spirit of sites like Shopmycloset... I'm selling this really cute Delia's shirt... it's really cute on me (note: that's not me), but it'll be EVEN CUTER on YOU!
It's size Large (though fits a bit more like a Medium), and I've only worn it once.
It's $14 + $2 for domestic shipping. If you want it, Paypal me at tamron@gmail.com (or email me there with questions), and it's yours!
Note I did NOT say MAD! Eventhough it's hotter than two bullfrogs here, I've been all about the most-unsummery plaid for some reason. Mucha what I've been admiring is dresses, several of which are by Marc Jacobs. So, I've been reduced to fantasy shopping, but if I were actual shopping, here's what I'd get:
($198, Marc By Marc Jacobs, Shopbop) Lovely and colorful, but...
($24, Forever 21) Also lovely and colorful cute and nearly $200 less!
N'sure how much it is, but it's super cute, and it's from World Market.
($25, Paul Frank, Karmaloop.com) K, it's not plaid, but it sorta feels like it could be related to plaid, doesn't it?
($30, Forever 21) Again, not plaid but it IS patterned. I threw this in because I was totally surprised to see something so elegante at f21. If I woulda said this was by Cynthia Steffe, you could even believed me! Case in point: ... But... lyin's for suckahs.
($104, Talla, Beklina.com) I truly adore this amazing top.
Because I'm feeling charitable, check out this amazing clip of Clay Aiken's soul-crushing horbsness. Why the fuck is he waxing nostalgic about "kids today" like he's some 85-year-old dude who once played the Catskills? Anyway, if you wanna skip over that, head straight for 3:00, where he does his rendition of "Baby Got Back" followed by "Like A Virgin." Seriously. Someone get this kid a tutu.
($110, Doc Martens, Delia's)
