Design Within (Closer) Reach
Air Chair: Now $112 to $140.
Forever on the hunt for good sales at Design Within Reach, which bring lusty objects of home design down to mere splurge status from stratospheric WTF status. Sometimes I want to buy the crappy post-seasonal stuff on sale just because it’s something I can actually afford there.
Tripod Floor Lamp, $207 base, $108 shade.
Heavens to Etsy: Homemade Handwarmers
Violent wool gloves with tuck and lace patterning here. $49.00
If you ride a bike or scooter, we’re at the point where naked knuckles get a little raw in the evening, especially for people like me with blue fingers by November. Too early for full-on leather gloves, knit handwarmers are a good way to ease the transition. There are tons of handwarmers on Etsy, no need to big-box for this kind of thing.
Knit orange and brown warmers, $15.00.
A somewhat out-there felted mitten and scarf set, $116.
Puffy knit fingerless gloves, $28.00.
Web tricks
Lovely, feminine and still oozing with creativity, the Philly native retailer Anthropologie continues to supply fashions that are a great balance of DIY and couture.
They’ve taken that great attitude to their website and are up to some cool new tricks. Take a gander at the “ADORNED” section. This season’s favorite accessories are not just highlighted in a photo spread. Fufill your voyeurism fetish and see a video loop of models tricked out in florescent eyeshadow and teased manes flaunting Anthro’s latest pieces. It’s beautiful, creepy (the models don’t move!), and captivating and nothing I’ve seen from other retail sites. Check it out.
Keep on rockin’ me, baby
My internet window shopping is incomplete without a stop at Velocity Art and Design. When it comes to housewares and living, they’ve got it all; furniture, accessories, wall art, and doodads for pets and babies. And it’s always the coolest I-have-to-have-it stuff.
For months, I’ve been eying the shell rocker chair (a knock off of Herman Miller’s molded plastic armchair). But it appears that Velocity Art and Design has succumbed to their design conscious and now sell the real deal. For an extra hundred bucks you get the H.Miller authenticity as well as do-gooder street cred for buying eco-friendly products. Herman Miller makes their shells from recycled (and recyclable) plastic.
The knock offs are still out there (check out Modernica) and made of fiberglass. They’re not only cheaper but also less cool since they aren’t green. However, Modernica makes a strong case for the original fiberglass fabrication.
“You may not know this, but fiberglass has actually been recycled for decades. Fiberglass can only be recycled into more fiberglass products; it cannot be blended in with most other types of plastics… Recycled fiberglass is less expensive and can be stronger, lighter and more durable…In this era of adopting and adapting to the concept of sustainability, we also have to consider when a high durability material is environmentally superior to a low durability material such as polypropelene. The general consensus is that fiberglass is a better material choice for a product that needs to be long-lasting and wear resistant. That’s why you’ll find fiberglass chairs in areas like bus stations and on trains where polyproelene would wear out quickly.” Modernica
Green and authentic or a bargain and well-suited for bus stations. It’s a tough call.
Fan Gear
E! A! G! L! E! S! EAGLES!
Last night’s game proved Philly victorious over the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, Philly didn’t prove victorious over fashion cliches.
At the game, I couldn’t help but snap a pick of my favorite victim (see above). He’s decked out in head-to-toe douchebaggery; from the embroidery-embellished jeans to the fedora placed just so.
But dude, if you’re reading this, don’t be mad. I got called out too. A die hard fan in Dawkins jersey and cargo shorts cat-called me as I left the stadium: “Hey there, BOOTS! Hey BOOTS! Look, it’s the last day of summer and this girl’s wearing boots!”
Yes, a tank dress and boots is preferred over ill-fitting polyester team jerseys. And hey, we won. Looks like they’ll forever be my lucky Eagles boots.
Dur Dur D’être Bébé
If your after work stroll takes you down Walnut then consider popping into Bebe at 1423 Walnut. In-stores, and today only, all sale merchandise is an additional 65% off.
Sure, maybe Bebe’s signature naughty secretary look isn’t your jam, but at such a steep discount, it’s worth a shot. So pick up some skin-tight pencil skirts and ruffled chiffon tops, don your best wonderbra and be glad that today it really is cheap to look cheap!
Marriage now part of anti-depressive living
Style blogs are abuzz with news that the first man of anti-depressive living Jonathan Adler is now officially off the market.
Fabsugar has the low-down on what Jonathan and his partner of 14 years, Simon Doonan wore to the San Fran ceremony.
Locally, Matthew Izzo carries some great Adler pieces. I should have gotten the ceramic piece that says “Dolls” back when, because it appears he’s out.
Scoop Adler stuff up for cheaper on eBay.
We’re gonna party like it’s your birthday!
Disney just couldn’t wait and has given you your 2009 birthday present early!
Next year your birthday celebrations are on them. Well, within reason. Pick your coast, don some mouse ears, and walk into the wonderland of your choice free of charge. Birthday boys and girls (and moms and dads and 30 somethings grasping at youth) will receive free entry in honor of their special day.
Start here and register for your 2009 birthday treat.
Style crimp: Not Very Comcastic
The Consumerist addresses the letter Comcast sent out to its subscribers admitting the 250GB downloading limit.
Even by chronic Bit Torrenting standards (cough, cough), this is excessive, and as Comcast says, such insane downloading “degrades” other users’ use.
“We have an excessive use policy because a fraction of one percent of our customers use such a disproportionate amount of bandwidth every month that they may degrade the online experience of other customers.”
Read the whole letter at The Consumerist here.
Simon Le Bon’s Wife Apparently Forgives Him for Duran Duran
That’s not all: Yasmin Le Bon, formerly a model, just topped a list of Best Dressed British Women Over 40. (Yasmin is 43.) Elle McPherson came in second, and Kim Cattrall was also in the top 10. The list was devised by Jane de Teliga, who’s the fashion director for, erm, Good Housekeeping.
The magazine has been trying to shed its Betty Crocker connotation for years now, but it’s tough. I mean, that name alone suggests baking in a homely smock. By invoking Yasmin, however, it’s right on the money. She’s always incredibly well turned-out. I guess it doesn’t hurt that she’s exquisitely beautiful, but she is quite stylish as well.
Is she not divine? Some people have midlife crises when turning 40, but there’s really no need. Well, if you’re a supermodel, that is.