Links for a lazy weekend IV: When the light bulb goes off, and other stories

As I was reading the article about whitening creams on the Fashionista, I thought, I should write one of these, too! But I read on and realized that this article can't be topped. Finally, someone has taken on the subject of dark spots, why all the cosmetics companies are releasing lines designed to deal with them, and how they work. Also, it explains why my expensive Chanel Le Blanc serum, cream, and cleanser have been doing zip, zilch, nada to clear up the giant sun spot on my left cheekbone.  And why I should just buy another bottle NuFountain Vitamin C serum instead.

Don't they?

We've all been subjected to numerous photographs of "arm parties"--that stacked bracelet craze that's been around for a couple of years now. And frankly, a lot of the time, the stack looks kind of tatty. I don't know whether people want their bracelets to tell a story, but I see stories that look like "OK, here's my watch even though I really use my phone to tell time, and a beaded friendship bracelet that my daughter made for me, and a bangle that my husband gave me when we were dating, and a set of three costume bangles, and a double wrap leather bracelet." And they're all higgledy-piggly, and look a little sweaty.

So here's District of Chic showing us How It's Done.

It doesn't hurt that there are two Hermès bangles in the mix. Or that she's carrying a Chanel flap.

In other news, I am entranced with a lot of the new styles that are coming out for fall. I'm at a stage in life where I occasionally need to wear a dress. And not an empire-waisted, one-shoulder dress six inches above my knee accessorized with platform sandals, the whole outfit designed to make me look like an adolescent giraffe. At least, that would be the end result if I were seventeen years old.

Therefore, I'm absolutely in love with the stuff I've seen coming out for fall. I had to dig around a bit on line to find it, since the stylists for the catalogs are doing their bewildering best to cobble together outfits that look like the sort of thing I'd throw on if my house were on fire, and J. Crew, I'm looking at you.

Here's a thought: don't. Unless you really, really want to look like a fashion blogger.

And don't think I'm not aware of your lapses in that respect, NORDSTROM. Blame your catalog stylists for the fact that I went to the Anniversary Sale on the first day ... and didn't buy anything but makeup.

Anyway, I'm in love with the longer lengths I've been seeing for fall. Ditto the paucity of platform shoes, which have started to look really dated even to me--and I cling to my favorite styles like a terrier with a bone. I'm pleased to see that waistlines appear to have headed south from the supposedly-flattering empire waist that has bedeviled me (and my Balcony) for the past several years. And I love the peplums. Although these are not great for those of us with Hips. However, they are helpful for those of us who have developed Elephant Ass, adding much-needed fullness to our meager side view. 

Not to toot my own horn ad nauseum, but you can see the stuff I've been admiring on my Pinterest board.

I mean, honestly--what's not to love?

Meanwhile, I'm sort of on a spending moratorium until I have time to hit the stores and check this stuff out in person.

In parting, I'd like to wish you all a wonderful weekend, as we wind our way into August and the end of summer. Get outside, eat watermelon, have a drink or two on the porch, find a large body of water and gaze at it. And you'll never guess what I'm doing this weekend, so I'll tell you. I'm dragging Mr. Buxom to a dance studio in Chicago to learn Balboa swing dancing. Check it out:

I mean, seriously. Look at those shoes. How could I not want to do this?

Links for a lazy weekend III: the you're not getting older, you're getting better edition

So ... is everyone ready to watch hundreds of youthful athletes do amazing things with their perfectly trained bodies? I'm not usually one for TV sports, but I do plan to watch some of the Olympics. While drinking a bottle or two of beer. Light beer, she added hastily. And getting off the sofa once in the while to head to the gym.

I may be old enough to be these athletes' mother, but I refuse to become decrepit any sooner than I have to.

Right. In other news, Advanced Style is covering Lanvin's decision to use older models in their Fall, 2012 campaign. Here's a post about 62-year-old Tziporah Salamon and 82-year-old Jackie Tajah Murdock. Just think: I'm only seven years and 50 pounds away from becoming a model!

Now let's talk Pinterest. Because I'm sure you've spent the least several days wondering where the hell has Poppy wandered off to this time? Well, God forbid I introduce you to yet another internet rabbit hole, so I won't tell you how much time I've been spending on Pinterest.

Nor will I attempt to get you to sign up. Or to follow me. Even though I have carefully put  my juiciest, most stylish, and visually arresting boards right up top where you can find them very easily.

Not to mention that if you click through a lot of my pins, you'll find some very interesting content on other blogs.

So, no pressure. But do check out Diane Von Furstenberg's board for Fall, 2012. It's a combination of an inspiration board and a preview of her fall line, and it's beautifully done. 

Word of warning, though. I don't know whether you've noticed, but internet has been known to make me buy things. Which--I know. Of course it does. It would be foolish to deny it. The evidence is all over this blog.

Well, Pinterest is no different. And guess what dear Manolo pinned?

Reader, I bought them.

What with the Olympics, and the Royal Jubilee, and me being a prize-winning Anglophile and a member of the English-Speaking Union--how could I resist?

So I guess this weekend will involve watching the Olympics, tearing myself away from Pinterest to head to the gym--and waiting for my new ballerina flats to show up.

Meanwhile, whatever your country, stay patriotic!

Hope springs eternal, or, on-line shopping

Oof, I just went to the post office with a huge box of stuff to send back ... the long black dress that everyone admired as well as a couple of other lovely things. Everything was wonderful, but nothing fit.

There's only one word that comes to mind if you shop on line and when it comes time to try them on, only Eileen Fisher's clothes (famously easy and body-skimming) actually fit.

That word is diet.

So I swore off on-line shopping. But then I followed a link in a blog and discovered these boots

Apepazzo Strasburgo booties in black from Goldyn

which were on sale. And when I went to order, I discover a coupon code for an additional 30 percent off.

So $189 boots for $92.61, free shipping and no tax? Sold!

I just hope my feet haven't gained weight.

A data dump, because otherwise I'll never manage to post again.

OMG, people. I'd tell you that real life has me by the balls, except I don't have any. And I have so much to do today, I can't stand it. So I'm going to do the blogging equivalent of what I do when I haven't written my mother a letter in a really long time and the stuff I need to tell her keeps mounting higher and higher and I get carpal tunnel syndrome just thinking of how many pages I'll have to write to get her up to speed.

(My mother is old skool and expects written letters.) But sometimes the idea of writing everything down is overwhelming, and I have to just dump the data. So I call her up and babble at her for an hour.

So let's pretend that I called you up, and you asked me how I was.

1. As soon as Christmas was over, I got going on Operation Get The Girl Child Into a Private School, because honestly? I really don't see her doing all that well at the huge John Hughes-ish high school in our district.

So there were campus visits and shadow days and SSATs and application-writing. The good news is the more we found out about the local private schools, the more we realized that only one would really work for her, so that's the only school she had to apply to. But then? She didn't get in. So that accounts for about six weeks of being crazily busy, culminating with much time spent comforting the girl child.

2. The many Clean House mini-marathons I've watched since discovering this amazing show have inspired me to really take charge of my house, but the cleaning alone is overwhelming--and that's not even dealing with the clutter. And I think I'm getting a little compulsive. I mean, I'm sitting here thinking about how I really need to mop the kitchen floor.

3. I haven't been talking about style because my shopping has been confined to Christmas presents and the cleaning product aisle of the supermarket--with occasional trips to Bed Bath and Beyond for closet stuff.

4. In related news, how did I not know about the wonders of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser before now? I bought one a long time ago and discovered it sitting in my broom closet, still in the package. But when I opened it up and tried it on a stubborn scuff mark on a baseboard, the clouds parted and a chorus of angels began to sing. And then I ran around looking for stubborn scuff marks to clean. I also did an entire bathroom floor, at which point, the plump, exuberant, snow white Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was reduced to a sad, skimpy festered lily--that's how much fun I was having.

5. You should see what a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser does for a stainless steel kitchen sink that has been sullied with tea and coffee stains. Shines it right up.

6. I'm thinking of using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on my teeth.

7. Just kidding.

8. Blackbird tells me she approves of the rebooted Talbots. Have you checked it out? Everyone talked about the new Burberry and the new Brooks Brothers and the new this and the new that, but where's the love for the new Talbots? I tell you what: I've picked up a few things there and have been deliriously happy. The latest is these gold hidden platform sandals

which are lovely and retro and astonishingly comfortable.

9. Recently, Jen and Wendy and Susie Sunshine and Blackbird and I had a combination girls' weekend/Tour of Homes, where we checked out Wendy's addition and Casa Fletchcaster and my place too, although with all the Mr. Clean Magic Erasing, I'm surprised there was anything left to see.

Interested parties were also treated to Jen and Poppy's John Hughes movie location tour. We visited Kevin's house from Home Alone, the park where Kevin visits Santa, Cameron's House from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Jake Ryan's house from 16 Candles.

When I admitted to never having seen 16 Candles, we had a movie night and watched it. And I'm so glad I did, for several reasons. First of all, Anthony Michael Hall is completely adorable in 16 Candles, which is great because he makes me a little crazy in The Breakfast Club. Also, Jen wasn't giving us any of her home-made lasagna until we'd watched the movie, and the lasagna was incredible.

10. Jen gave us all pre-publication copies of her latest book and first novel, If You Were Here. John Hughes cognoscenti will understand the title, which I understand now too, courtesy of our movie night. Anyway, I read it and it's great. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up. If you like Jen's books and/or John Hughes movies, you'll love it.

11. And here's an extra bit of data as a GWP: I recently made a complete fool out of myself by calling on my twitter army to shame Crate and Barrel into delivering the sectional I ordered from them in October. This was pretty much of a total failure, since I have no twitter minions to speak of. Still, if you'd like to see how a baby boomer who grew up watching syndicated episodes of Gilligan's Island uses social media to bend a major corporation to her will, check out my twitter stream.

What worked for me this summer, or the Almost-Labor-Day-Blues

As the season draws to a close, I'm thinking about packing away my summer clothes, moving my winter clothes out of storage, doing inventory, and figuring out what I need--and whether what I need has any relationship whatsoever to what I want.

(Usually it doesn't.)

But have I actually started doing it? No, I have not. Not when it's not Labor Day yet. There's time for a few more Mojitos before I have to do all that, right?

So I thought I'd dedicate a few posts to the things I'll regret packing away. And I'll begin with an astonishing item:

White shoes

I don't know what hit me, because fashion experts have been railing against white shoes for years. I can hear the chorus even now: "They only look good on brides!" "They make your feet look huge!" "Only if you're a nurse!" But instead of looking dorky, like a farm machinery salesman from Sandusky, they looked fresh and clean and summery.

I wore the hell out of this pair of Kelsi Dagger Women's Ivy Espadrilles. They looked good with pants, but were particularly nice with dresses and skirts. And the wedged heel made them incredibly comfortable.


The other pair of shoes I'll miss is also white, wedged version of an espadrille--this time in white patent leather from Michael Kors.

Now, I think of espadrilles as very preppy. Thirty years ago, preps wore Jacques Cohen espadrilles. Nowadays you'll find espadrilles being produced by prep favorites like Ralph Lauren and Kate Spade.

But I opened the Zappos box, I couldn't decide whether the big silver MK and all that patent leather didn't so much say "preppy" as "retired Vegas chorine." Seriously. I don't do patent leather. Or logos. I felt edgy! But oh, my goodness, were these comfortable. And I loved them with white jeans.

Ah ... summer.

I interrupt my eyeshadow thoughts to wonder about these summer booties

at Nordstrom.

They come in black

which I was totally going for!

But then I clicked on the gray ones.

Which somehow seem so much more summery.

Now, keep in mind that I don't really wear dress shoes all that frequently. Especially in summer, where I shout "hallelujah," pack away the high-heeled shoes and mostly dress like I've been crewing on a friend's yacht for a week. Plus let's not forget that I'm a size 14 and tend to dress conservatively. Talbots-y, even.

In other words, I don't usually rock high-cut sandal/boot hybrids with four-inch heels.

So which ones should I get--gray or black?

The Five Cs of keeping your look fresh: Compromise

Hi there! If you've come over here from Jennsylvania, greetings! Just so you know, I've just spent a month blogging about things you can do to look younger. Feel free to look around and check them out. And I'm not being pushy. Really, I'm not. I just thought you should know that I don't always blog about my weird taste in shoes. (And if you have a blog you'd like me to check out, please leave a comment. I promise to click back and check you out.) Thanks--and make yourselves at home!

One of the pleasures of having traveled down the fashion road a good long time is being able to rejoice (whole-heartedly and to the accompaniment of cash registers ringing) when a favorite style is revived.

Confession: clogs are one of my favorites.

I wore them when they were first in style (early adopters were wearing them as early as the late 1960s, but for most of us, clogs didn't go mainstream until the 1970s.) The eighties were a clog-free decade, and the nineties my cravings for clunky shoes were pretty much satisfied by a single pair of Doc Martens. But in the 2000s, as soon as I tried on my first Mephisto Satty clog,I fell, and fell hard. They had all the comfort of the traditional clog, but with a cork bottom encased in some kind of miracle man-made material for a soft, cat-like tread. I think I went through three or four of this style in black, and two more pairs in a darling chocolate brown suede. For knocking around the house, tidying up, doing laundry, cooking, and doing dishes, nothing beat my uniform of jeans, t-shirt, and clogs.

I was in good company. Chefs, surgeons, nurses, and anyone who stands for hours and hours wear clogs. Women with wide feet swear by them. But they've always had a practical reason to wear clogs. No one was wearing them because they were in style.

Clogs as seen on the Chanel runway for the Spring, 2010 collection. Photo courtesy of style.com

Well, they're back in style. Chanel showed clogs for this spring, complete with big interlocking Cs on them. So if you want to spend $790 for a pair, feel free.

Fashionista early re-adopters Ashley Olsen, Shenae Grimes, and Mary-Kate Olsen wearing clogs. Photo courtesy of CollegeFashion

Naturally, the news that clogs were actually considered stylish made my heart leap with joy. But then I discovered that there is a very loud anti-clog backlash, particularly amongst young fashion bloggers. Only the very, very avant-garde express any interest whatsoever in wearing clogs.

This is because women in their twenties equate clogs with middle school. Or with moms. For these younger women, clogs have really negative connotations. And that's a lot of baggage for an already heavy shoe to have to carry.

But for me ... the connotations are positive. I wore clogs when I was in my teens, so to me, clogs are cute. In an ugly-is-beautiful way. And young. And they're comfortable. And they make my feet look tiny.

And anyway, big clunky shoes have been in style for a few years now. After all, you can take only so many years of wearing thin-soled pointy-toed stilettos before everyone needs a break. You've noticed all the platforms, wedges, and clogs in the stores, right? That break is occurring now.

How to wear clogs

How does a woman of a certain age wear clogs without looking insanely frumpy or insanely trendy?

You have to compromise.

Compromise is the secret to style success

And this goes for almost everyone. A very young, very thin art student in New York City can wear pretty much anything. To the likes of us, a vintage slip, wellies, and a Mr. Rogers cardigan looks like laundry day at Goodwill, but if she has second thoughts, our slim New York art student can say it's performance art. But she represents about .0001 percent of the population.

The rest of us, who are a bit older and (dare I say it?) a bit more chubby, have to try a bit harder to make things work.

How I plan to wear clogs out in public

First of all, I'm ignoring the designer versions. They're incredibly expensive and are even clunkier than the Mephisto clogs pictured above. The good news is that the non-designer clogs are more refined and elegant-looking than the ones by Chanel, Prada, and Miu-Miu. Even the $300 clogs at Anthropologie are insanely clunky-looking in comparison to some far less expensive ones I've seen.

Once in a normal price range (and I really think you could stay well below $150 even for a pair of superbly well made clogs) I looked for something with a heel and a low-cut vamp to lengthen the leg. High-cut shoe vamps are very trendy right now, but you'd need legs like Catwoman to get away with a high cut vamp added to the general clunkiness of a clog.

Then I looked for studs, laser cutting, or some other some kind of detailing to refine the look even more.

Here are my semi-finalists:

Biviel laser cut taupe Nubuck clogs from Zappos

Steven Barc suede from Zappos $139

Steven by Steve Madden Brisi clog at Shoes.com for $139

And the pair I actually paid good money for?

TopShop's $80 Ollie clog

Please don't mock me!

Now, how am I going to make them look modern, and not like something I've kept in my closet for 30 years?

If I were slim, I'd wear them with with cropped pants, or with my pants rolled up. But I'm sure they'll be fine with straight-legged pants.

I might rock a 70s revival and wear them with flared white jeans.

Or, for a combination military/70s boho look, with a knee-length olive green pencil skirt, a long-sleeved jersey, one of my new long fluffy scarves, and a luggage colored cross-body bag.

I might even try them with tights.

Where would I wear these? Lunch with a girlfriend, a museum outing, BlogHer's annual conference in New York.

So Internet, have I gone mental? If you ever wore clogs, would you wear them again?

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 26: Bags are the new shoes

I've been reading the fashion press long enough to realize that about every month or so, I'm going to run into yet another essay about women and their shoes.

So I'm not going to bore or insult you with rehashing the same old points--at least, not at length. Yes, women love shoes. Yes, they're easy to shop for. Yes, you can gain or lose a bunch of weight and they'll still fit.

But here's something else to think about.

If your feet are easy to fit and cooperative, you can go to town with shoes. My 87-year-old mother wears some of the wildest heels you've ever seen. You'll see her at a New Year's Eve party wearing turquoise patent leather sandals with four-inch heels. I love that she wears them, and I pray God I inherited her feet. They're working fine--she has a healthy arch, and no diabetes, bunions or other problems.

But if I don't end up with my mother's feet, I have my strategy all worked out. Because what else is easy to shop for, comes in all kinds of styles, updates an outfit like nobody's business, and works no matter if you've gained or lost 20 pounds? Bags.

Lately I've been a little obsessed with cross body bags. I carried them in the 1980s and early 1990s and loved them. So now that they're back in style, I've been looking for a luggage-colored leather cross body bag. Not too formal. Sort of satchel-ly. To sit right at my hip, with an outside pocket or two at hand for me to flip open so I can grab what I need.

Say hello to my little friend

I found it on the Top Shop website. It's $65.00. It's not leather, but so what? I'll tell everyone it's vegan. I think--I hope--it'll be insanely practical. And it will update everything I wear.

My point? Shoes aren't the only accessories that can update your wardrobe in an angst and Spanx-free manner. So think about it. We all carry a bag--is yours lackluster or dated? I'm not saying you have to rush out and buy the latest "it" bag, but if you're in the market for a new one, why not get one that's on-trend?

Shoe image courtesy of Amanda Clark

In case you haven't noticed

Bettie

Page

is

alive

and

well

and

shopping

for

shoes

at

Neiman

Marcus.

Or if she isn't, she could be.

The latest way you can tell I am out of it

I've been participating in a usenet group, alt.fashion, for over eight years. AF is supposedly devoted to the subject of Fashion-with-a-capital-F, but it has evolved into a freeflowing discussion of more mundane matters such as what so-and-so wore to the Academy Awards, which long-lasting drugstore-brand lipstick is best, and whether ponchos and/or Uggs are So Totally Over.

I've been reading AF long enough to have it become my primary source for information on celebrities and their style. Or the lack thereof. For example, I know all about "the Rachel," not because I've ever watched Friends, but because of the discussions of Jennifer Aniston's appearance that I've read on AF. Ditto Sex and the City. In fact, AF has become my own private Sargasso sea of style-related trivia. I pretty much refuse to watch television, but I learn everything I need to know there.

Yesterday, in yet another attempt to waste time on the internet, I checked the posts and saw one headed "What color were Laura's shoes?"

Well, I skipped this entire thread and read a bunch of other stuff, because who cares about some random soap opera star's shoes? I mean, even when I'm wasting time, I'm not going to read every single post if I have no idea who this "Laura" person is. I realize that my attempts to waste time on the internet are hampered by my inability to waste time watching television, but that's just the way it is, people. I have my limits. Call me stubborn, but I'm not going to start watching soaps just to gratify your every whim. When it comes to wasting time, I have my priorities.

I swear, it took me about 20 minutes to realize they were referring to Laura Bush.

Orgy Night ...

... and it's not what you're thinking at all, so cut it out. If you're looking for pervy stuff, go check your email. If you don't get enough pervy spam to keep yourself sufficiently occupied these long winter evenings, let me know, and I'll forward mine to you. OK?

No, dear reader, the orgy I speak of is the vast pile of new books and toys I accumulated today, plus the fact that my New Favorite Television Show will be on tonight. (See previous entry.)

So in addition to watching "How Clean is your House?" I get to read my new library book, Fer-de-Lance, by Rex Stout, which only happens to be the first Nero Wolfe mystery, that's all. And being the geek that I am, I fully expect to read through all of the rest of the Nero Wolfe mysteries, in strict chronological order, because that kind of thing makes a geek really feel alive.

And as if that weren't enough enjoyment for a single evening, I get to also flip through two new magazines, Esquire and Shop, Etc., both of which look very promising, as well as a copy of InStyle magazine's Getting Gorgeous which is just like an InStyle magazine except there are no ads, how cool is that?

And if that's not enough, I have a new jar of bath salts and three new pairs of shoes. And don't break out into a nervous sweat or start to drool or anything, but one of these new pairs of shoes is a pair of ponyskin leopard print pumps by Casadei with a tiny keyhold opening near the base of the toes and a teeny little leather bow, a slightly rounded toe and killer four-inch stiletto heels. They are so totally Honey West that I may wet my pants. I realize, dear reader, that you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but for Baby Boom women, that is an image that resonates powerfully. We all were in thrall to Honey West. Trust me on this.

So after reading my new books and magazines and watching my new favorite teevee show and taking a long bath with my new bath salts, I'll probably spend some time admiring my new shoes, and maybe even taking them for a test spin around my bedroom.

Hmmm, on second thought this is actually starting to sound kind of pervy, so I'd better shut up now before I embarrass myself.