bunnyshop shopping fashion blog

The Solestruck Giveaway Reader Mail Competition: The Ultimate Designer

It's Day 3 (of 5) for the Solestruck.com giveaway: send us a question, and if we use it today or tomorrow—and it gets the most comments!—the question-writer gets any pair of shoes they want! (Within reason! Which means under about $100!) For some reason we're incapable of running a contest that's not exceptionally convoluted. Anyhoo: today's question!

If you could hire any designer (past or present) to make one article of clothing for you, who would it be and what would they make?  My hands-down choice would be a dress by Hubert de Givenchy; his designs in the 50's were simple but still the most elegant dresses I've ever seen!

Ah! Lovely answer. Ours would be a whole closet full of Courreges. Who else has an answer?

Above: not giving up on summer yet. Chinese Laundry Razor sandals, $39.95

OMG, We're in Nylon!

Triple hurrah!

The Solestruck Giveaway Reader Mail Competition: The Fashion Hypocrisy!

Shoes! Free shoes! From Solestruck.com! At least one pair (of reasonable price, which means not much more than $100.) We just erased like 200 words on the etymology of "Indian giving". Anyway! Shoes. Again, the most commented-on  entry wins a pair of their choice....

What are the fashion trends you've "caved" on? I'd love to be the trend-setter, but it usually takes me awhile to get used to certain styles. I remember letting out a big "Oh HELLS no" when skinny jeans first appeared and now I have...four pairs and counting. This question is prompted by the fact that the other day I caught myself checking out a pair of silvery formal shorts...formal shorts?! I used to see girls in them and think "I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that!" When did I start to think that it was an o.k. look, or even, dare I say it...a cute one? The mind boggles. Share your tales of fashion hypocrisy! But don't feel too bad about it, we're all probably just being brainwashed by advertising.

J.

We love this question because there are so many, a billion trillion things. Tank tops. Fitted tops. We mean seriously: If we'd just kept going down our given path, we'd still be wearing soccer shorts and t-shirts. But. We all evolve. Occasionally into skinny jeans. First you mock. Then you understand. Then you're at Bloomingdales, thinking how nice the wide-leg jeans look.

We just pray this doesn't mean we'll ever wear Crocs, because then it's just all over.

Above: We think this are adorable. Steve Madden peep-toe striped heels, $99.95

Sale of the Day \ A Question

We're just wondering: How much is everyone spending on clothes these? We'll say: We are spending fuck and all. Recession! It is no stranger to the magazine industry, which, unfortunately, happens to be the one that we work in. (For now. We swear, we made better money waitressing.) In the past, we haven't minded putting $300 dresses on the site, because there are some occasions that call for it. But at least at this point in time, it seems a wrong-headed. We're sure, as we come back from our summer slowdown, that we'll show $100 jeans again, or $300 dresses, and we maintain our belief that some occasions still call for them—even if they're fewer and farther between. But we also think that until the financial picture improves nationwide, we're going to be a little less buy-minded than previous. (Ergo the contests and stuff we've been doing lately.)

Anyway: as always, click here for the sale item of the day. It's under $10!

Our Exciting New Contest!

Well, we think it's exciting because there is a large measure of choice in it: Win this contest and choose any pair of shoes from Solestruck.com! (Above, our choice, at least for today. It may be almost August, but it's always summer somewhere. Er, more or less.) We're running it exactly like the Jocasi reader mail contest—we are just too attached to reading people's questions \ answers. Unlike Jocasi, this contest will only run a week, and each question has two days to garner as many responses as possible before we close the comments.... So—send us your questions! We're transferring this one from a late-coming (but not-unexcellent) question from the Jocasi competition, but moving forward, please put "SHOES" in your subject so it doesn't get lost amidst all the Nigerian oil fortune emails. Hurrah!

What is your favorite season for clothing? Not necessarily meaning fashion week season, but like, what season are you most comfortable with what to wear and what's available in the stores? Since I was raised in New England, I can't help but get all girly and squealing-like excited when fall comes around (I think it's the leftover nostalgia of buying a back-to-school wardrobe in my younger years). I love that it's cool enough outside to layer, but that you can still get away with a light sweater or jacket outside. I also love the warmer colors, and scarves! I love scarves!

We love this question! Basically because it gives us another chance to talk about how much we love summer. We love summer fashion-wise as well, because it's generally less expensive—no $500 coats to think about—
and also because we, personally, just think about clothing so much less, because we are too busy figuring out ways to get to the beach and why we can't replicate that thing our hair does when it's been in ocean water all day. We just totally love it.

That said, we do love it when the first autumn J. Crew catalogue shows up.

Now! Send us your questions, and comment for sure!

Above: Dolce Vita gladiators from Solestruck, $59.95

PSA: A Friend's Stoop Sale

Observe the amazingly designed flyer! (Click through for the full size.) We have had stoop sales, but none with such a lovely flyer. We would totally go, if we were in town. Go! We fully endorse this event. And we expect photos!

The Tim Gunn Jocasi Reader Mail

This is such a smart question! We interviewed someone last night, and they were like, "That is a really great question" and we felt like Jeremy Paxman for a moment. Or Christiane Amanpour. We were excited anyway.

Moving on, and in tribute to the new PR:

here's my question—I was flipping through Tim Gunn's book the other day, and in its wonderfulness he drops references to Roland Barthes, Diane Von Fursterburg, and I think he compares a closet to Kirkegaard in the first 40 pages. (It may be a more obscure theorist than Mr. K, though, I'm blanking a bit). I think in my guide to quality, taste, and style, I'd drop references to

Susan Sontag (always hot)
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (a truly fashionable book)
the Gilmore Girls, who have truly inspired me,
and Steve Martin, that silver fox.

What sort of pop culture/high culture ephemera would make up your hypothetical style book?

E.

You know, all we hear are great things about Gilmore Girls, but we've never seen it. Ours would include mostly films! The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover, Lust, Caution—may we say that if ever there was a serious need for a semi-colon in a list-oriented sentence, this is it—Sabrina. We would also be thinking really hard about what we could put in there to make us seem smart. Plato? Like, the Plato story about how we're all halves of a whole, searching for the other side, like in Hedwig? Er, A+ here.

Moving on: Remembering that the most-commented-on post wins the Jocasi prize, who has some ideas?

Above: Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style, $12.21

Today's Jocasi Reader Mail Entry: The $1000

July! It is the slowest of months. Except maybe for August. Or January? Eh. We're not sure. But our Jocasi reader mail contest edges ever onward.....

Today, from P.:

If you had $1,000 to spend any way you want, what would you spend it on?  This has to be material purchases, i.e., no donating to charities, etc...purely hedonistic items such as jewelry, clothes, shoes, make up, facials, hair, etc...

Personally we are fairly sure we'd be spending our $1000 at the student loan boutique, or perhaps the American Express store. (Really, a big chunk of money like that—what could be nicer than seeing a bill balance go down by that much? We love shopping a bit less when it turns us into indentured servants for various credit card companies. Though we'll add that of all of them American Express, by far and by always, treats us well and fairly and has billion-times-better customer service.)

Er, anyway: We'd spend the money on a week-long yoga retreat in Bali. How we'd get there—once again, we leave it to Amex.

Comment below! As always, the most-commented-on post wins the Jocasi loveliness....

Above: Prana's Amaya top, $46

BS Reviews, Road Tests and Mucks About: The iPhone 3G

We know we are not a tech blog. We do not even try to be, we don't front. We know how to do anything technical we want to do, but we were recently confounded by an additional cable wire when connecting cable because we didn't realize that there was ANOTHER cable wire coming from the wall. We do like gadgets, it's true - but while we're not complete nerds, we're not complete idiots, either. We did not, despite what people may say, buy an iPhone because we like things that are shiny, or because we could get a pink case. We bought one, just as we buy anything else, because we wanted it. Here is our review!

We were one of those sad sacks/excited folks (depending on your outlook) who waited in line on Friday morning. We met a lovely, lovely, lovely librarian and we had a verbal altercation and public humiliation of a line jumper. We very loudly accused him of making a complete dick move, and, after he said he didn't care, asked him what was so freaking hard about understanding where the front of the line was. We were not scared, as he was in line at the APPLE STORE. And wearing sandals. Apple was nice enough to have coffee, water, and cheery Apple store staff roving about to keep everyone happy and caffeinated. 5 hours later, we left (there were issues, it shouldn't have been that slow). Once we finally got our phone up and running, 4 hours later, we were cautiously eager. Would it be like magic? Would typing on a touchscreen keypad make us want to poke our eyes out? Would the 'app store' be worthwhile? Would we, could we, like it more than our BlackBerry?

The answer to all of these questions is a mediocre yes. This thing isn't life saving (though we very much like the easy directions/GPS [though it's barely a GPS]), but it will tell you where the nearest Starbucks is, along with cheap gas. The keypad is a bit annoying, but like anything, we're sure there's a learning curve, and the predictive texts are pretty on point. We're enjoying stupid things like being able to see web pages in full view, emails that we don't have to squint to read, and we bought a sweet video game that you control by moving the phone. Oh, and YouTube videos look amazing. Our Loved One was astouned to realize that it has stereo speakers. We also really like how it syncs with our Mac (something BlackBerry struggled with, even on the good days).

The downside? The plans aren't cheap - that's for damn sure. The battery life has gotten a resounding FAIL from us so far. The 3G just seems to eat battery life and doesn't make the phone that much faster (though it will connect to wifi if it's available, and that's cool). It's a little bit bigger than we're used to, and accessories (chargers, etc aren't cheap. We spent $50 on chargers - just chargers - today). The camera doesn't have a flash (truth be told, we don't love on camera flash on phones - it always looks night-vision green), the camera is 2.0mp, and it doesn't zoom. Kinda weak.

Our total rating? ***/5. It's not awesome and life changing, it won't do your laundry. But if you have a couple bucks to burn, have ATT, or just dig neat gadgets, go for it. Chances are, you'll have a pretty top of the line phone, you can use it to take a couple pictures, it's easy to email and text, you can store enough music or podcasts to keep you going for a little while, and you can read BS in full page glory. We're happy we bought it, but we're not yelling it from the rooftops. We do like it ever so slightly more than our BlackBerry, though.

Anyone else have on and want to chime in?

-LB

Today's Jocasi Reader Mail Entry: The Damnable Thing

And remember—we're taking entries for a few more days, so if you have a question, email it here. Moving on!

Less controversial than yesterday's, today's no less interesting question is from R.:

What is the most embarrassing outfit you ever wore in high school?

I will answer here, God help me:

orange bodysuit
light blue denim daisy dukes passed on from a friend
purple opaque tights
purple docks

I was also known to rock the orange and green socks with purple Docs look.

Clearly I was still exploring my fascination with colour (nowadays I like to be a little more subtle—like a turquoise flower necklace, or a bright handbag.)

Ha! We will reveal: red balloon pants. Twenty years later, we still remember ourselves walking down the middle-school hallway wearing red balloon pants and a black-and-white Esprit cap. Oh! We weep for our former selves.

Again, moving on: Who else wants to share?

We're certainly not featuring any bad middle-school clothes here, so we decided to be very grown up about it and share these delightful sandals: gold K. Jacques sandals, $195

We Saw The Most Fashionable Girl In The World Wearing This

We looked high and low for the right shade—this pink-ity-pink—and this is as close as we can get. We look at this and say: too much pink! But obviously it is perfect for summer. That is all.

Rescue Beauty nail polish in coral, $18

The Jocasi Reader Mail Contest: This One Is A Strange One

Whoa! Well, our Jocasi contest rolls on: In short: send us a Reader Mail question—the most-commented entry wins the author the Jocasi bag!. Today's question—it's a doozy:

Dear BS:

I know this is not your usual type of question, but here goes: Just a little while ago, I thought I might be pregnant. I swore to God that if I wasn't, I would go on the pill. I'm not—thank God! But now, I don't want to go on the pill (all those nasty hormones). On a scale of 1-10, how badly am I testing karma if I don't? I am very conflicted about this.

I know you usually put something to buy along with these questions so maybe you could just put up this dress that I as thinking of for my shotgun wedding.

Love,
C.

First, we want to say that we did not write this. Okay. Now that this is resolved, people-reading-this-to-whom-we-may-be-related, we move on. We would say, on a scale of 1-10, this is tempting fate a 9. At least an 8. 8.3 That is our vote. We would love to know yours! Comment below!

Above: J. Crew dress, $385

Our Jocasi July Reader Mail: The Celebrity Closet

This may be our favorite contest ever—which of course means there's another question today. Long story short, the question with the most comments wins the Jocasi handbag prize. And so this is how we make our way through July. Without further ado:

My question is:

Question: If you could raid a celebrity's closet, whose would it be? And what would be the first thing that you would snatch?

My answer: It would have to be Kimora Lee Simmons because she owns every single piece of Luis Vuitton there is! The first thing I would snatch would be the Louis Vuitton steamer trunk. *swoon*

Best,
Ms. Fashion Gal
www.fashiongalindc.blogspot.com

As for us, it'd be ... Chloe Sevigny. She must have endless amounts of clothing, and we would happily all of it home. Even the Big Love stuff. Which we would burn. Anyway.

The Jocasi Reader Mail Competition: The Fabulous Thing

Today it is practically like having a guest star! As our question comes from Ms. Spinach herself:

What was the last fabulous thing you bought? {Er, fashion-wise, of course.} Where/how/when will you wear it? Details, please!

I'll start: On Thursday, I stopped off in the Goodwill in the middle-of-nowhere Delaware, and emerged with a fabulous black silk swingy vintage opera coat. It has the most perfect faded pale pink lining. I can't wait until it gets a little cooler (i.e., less incredibly sweaty) outside so I can throw it over LBDs, Sixties-starlet style. Oversized sunglasses and sky-high heels required, of course.

Oh, and I also bought some L'Oreal Superior Preference this morning, which qualifies as fabulous because my grays need some serious attention. Plus, DIY hair color is totally Elle-endorsed!

Love,
Ms. Spinach
www.fashionisspinach.com

We have our own answer, and we will say that we can be seen wearing it in the video above—it's the blue and black French Connection dress we bought half off and have not yet worn except in this, our latest effort to get on the Amazing Race. (NB: This is different from last week's, God help us.) We don't like this one as much as that one, and our mother helpfully pointed out how awkward we look in it, and how our friend K. is the superior dancer (We're all, "Argh, that's the point, arghargh.") Eh, there it is. Please completely ignore our wild mane of out of control hair here.

So—what is your most fabulous purchase? Fill us in! And remember—the question-asker with the most answers wins an amazing Jocasi bag—so be comment-generous! 

Reader Mail: The Film Moment

The contest continues! We actually had an editor fire us once—from, by the way, an unpaid job—for opening a story with the verb "continues." That was awesome.

Er, anyhoo: The Jocasi contest does, indeed, continue, with this question. Again, the rules: the post with the most comments wins the prize. Easy peasy.

This one is from M.:

What is your favorite fashion moment from film history?

We had to think about this quite a bit, but our favorite recent fashion moment was actually Leighton Meester wearing a Jennifer Behr headband for TK. She really is, in our opinion, the best dressed character in filmed entertainment at the moment, and when we saw that headband we were just like: How does something so beautiful exist without us knowing about it previously? Historically, we usually go with our inevitable Audrey Hepburn answer—probably Sabrina—but lately we would recommend that movie Priceless for no other reason than the dresses Audrey Tautou wear are unbelievably excellent.
Also, bizarrely, we have perhaps never coveted any accessory so much as we did Scarlett Johansson's Mulberry bag in the otherwise not particularly notable Match Point.
Who else has an opinion? Audrey H. in Roman Holiday? Audrey H. in Breakfast at Tiffany's? Someone with a name other than Audrey?

T-Shirt of the Week

We're really absolutely beginning to despise those little targeted ads on the side of our Facebook page: If we see "33 and overweight?" or "25-34 and looking for a diet?" one more time, [hollow threat here]. But we will be very annoyed! We did! Not! Check! A box! Looking for a diet! Argh. (However, we still invite you to join our Facebook Bunnyshop group, or our very new anti-mall-air-conditioning other group, If We're in the Middle of an Energy Crisis, Why's the Mall so Freaking Cold? We are emailing mall management firms and harassing them. Join us!

Anyhoo, so generally we find these annoying, but today we got one about MBAs in New Jersey getting rid of their Che t-shirts, and we can generally get behind that sentiment, so we clicked through to find this sufficiently clever t-shirt benefiting Iowa flood relief. They actually have other t-shirts we like better, but none as charity minded, so we're going with this one. Buy now before Urban rips it off.

Iowa Flood Relief t-shirt, $15

Flash Contest!

Ah! We just got home to discover the world's most exciting delivery on our doorstep: an entire box of Sew U: Home Stretch books. We love both this book and the original, not least because the co-writer, Eviana Hartman, is one of the most awesome people we've ever met. We are convinced that by the time we work through this book we'll be ready for our true destiny on Project Runway. The fact that this is a gross error in judgment should not dissuade anyone from enjoying this book.

Anyway, the contest: comment below with the item you'd most like to make on a sewing machine. (We want to make a purple coat just like this one on Carla Bruni.) We are actually going to choose a winner tonight and then present the winner by YouTube. Very exciting! Sort of exciting.

Sew U: Home Stretch, $17.15

Reader Mail: The Favorite Things

We're keeping the magic alive here this week with more amazing reader mail questions—again, we're measuring contest success by the number of comments this time, so the author of the post with the most comments wins a super excellent Jocasi bag. Clearly earlier posts have a comment-gathering advantage, so if you have a reader mail entry for us, be sure to send it over, stat!

Today's entry is from S.:

 

What are your favorite staple clothing items—the kind of thing you buy five of in every color or multiple versions of because they're so perfect for you that you never want to wear them out/run out in case they get discontinued—horrors! Mine would be:

 

- American Apparel tri-blend v-neck shirts

 

- These Demise skinny jeans from Forever 21 (above, $29.80) that are awesomely fitted yet stretchy and look like vintage Levi's—but updated!

 

- Flats from Rainbow

All we will say about this is that we seem to be a new American Apparel hoodie every time we lose ours—though we are hoping we will stem the losing thing now that we've embroidered a giant Gothic-print D on the chest.
Also, black Havaianas, even though our current ones seem to have been infested by some sort of trip-inducing evil spirit.

Tell us yours!

BEST HOLIDAY EVER WE LOVE IT!

Hurrah! Summer! Fireworks! It could not be better! Unless it were just a bit sunnier! But perhaps tomorrow!

Have an amazing holiday and see you Monday!

A Public Service (Amazing Race Style)

 

We are, very literally, eleven time Amazing Race rejects. We are about to send in our audition tape—and we thought, for an exceptionally brief time, we'd share it here. We would really love any thoughts or comments on it—it's not too late to fix!