Easter Dresses and Tresses: Not a Hare Out of Place

Wreath: Michaels

Dress: ELLE, Kohl's; Hat: Amazon

Bunny: A gift from the husband the Easter after we met

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Bag: Betsey Johnson, Amazon

Card: Target

Dress: Rewind, Kohl's; Hat: Amazon

This title is a lie.  There are many hares -- and hairs -- out of place in this post, starting with my messy mop peering through that tulip wreath.  But then, imperfection counts as its own kind of theme.  Speaking of which, you know how Minnie Pearl wore her hats with the tags on?  Well, I kept the tags on, not my hats, but my bunnies.  Because they're not my bunnies after all, but Easter gifts for my nieces.  

So, it's not a shoot worthy of Vogue or Good Housekeeping.  But that's okay, because, as you know, we're all a little mad here at The Tote Trove.

And I wouldn't hat have it any other way.

Fresh Crops are Tops

Black, mustard, and lilac: Pink Republic, Kohl's
Yellow floral: Delia's, Doll's Kill
Red floral: One Clothing, Marshalls
Fruits w/bird: Ziztar, Zulily
Pink: Wild Fable, Target

Crop tops are in this season.  Which I realize sounds kind of pretentious.  As if I'm some Manhattan mover and shaker who knows what's hot and what's not (a phrase, by the way, that would never pass a Vogue staffer's lips).  I know that the crop is big the way I know that anything's big: I see it out in the stores.  Then again, according to those in the know (ladies who lunch, plastic poncho models), when a trend becomes mainstream, it's well on its way to being passe.  But I don't bother myself with such details.  I like crop tops, and I don't care who knows it!  That said, here's a poem singing their praises:

Farm fresh
Showing flesh
Berry sweet
A trendy treat
From many a shop, many a label
Delia's, Ziztar, Wild Fable
For cougars and teens
And in-betweens
They keep you cool
And make boys drool
Crops are hot
Crops are tops.

Pause for jazz hands and sparklers.

Now, for a few words about Ziztar:

This food-and-bird-bedecked top is the only thing from the big Z I own, and I got it from Zulily for $12.  But Ziztar's website sells pieces that go for hundreds!  If snagging one of those isn't a sign of being in the inner circle, then I don't know what is.  Good thing there's Zulily, which is a sign of being in something else.  Like an outer square or wayward rhombus. 

Anyhoo, most of my crops are a misnomer, especially if worn with high-waisted skirts like the duo below.  No belly buttons saying hey here!  But that's for the best, as it's not exposure I'm seeking (that stuff about flesh and boys notwithstanding) but good old-fashioned, new fashion fun.  So far I've been mostly layering these over and under things like pullovers and dickeys.  In other words, I've been styling them as garments more popular with the shuffleboard than club circuit set.  I made my mocks even more retro by topping them off with my late aunt's necklaces. 

 Pencil skirt: Switchblade Stiletto, Amazon
A-line skirt: Bea & Dot, Modcloth

And now for a crop of a different kind.  Yes, it's produce from my kitchen counter!

I thought that it looked picturesque, especially with Mr. Brontosaurus standing sentinel.  (If Mr. Rooster [lurking out of frame] thinks that he's filching a strawberry, then he'd better pack his pepper spray.)  With plenty of vitamins and antioxidants, this roadside stand-worthy spread is just what a midriff-bearing (or concealing) body needs!  But if I'm being honest, the husband ate most of it.  Not because he's a glutton.  But because I'm too lazy to wash and cut fruit, instead eating the kind that comes prepackaged in single-serve bowls.  Like a toddler or a hospital patient.

Or someone who plays kicks ass at shuffleboard.

Dish Out of Water: Mother Mermaid Brigade

Bikinis: Venus 

Swim Cap Cutie Brooches

Maybe your mom was an Olympic swimmer.  (Okay, YWCA league swimmer, second string).  Or maybe she took you to the community pool every weekend and disappeared behind the latest issue of Vogue while you dodged loogies and played Marco Polo.  The point is, we all have our own chlorine-slash-sunscreen-soaked memories.  And our cruise director (Lifeguard?  Swim coach?  I don't know; this metaphor is getting away from me faster than a Swimmie sucked up by a pool vac) was always good old mom.  

With Mother's Day just behind us and Memorial Day fast on her kitten/wedge/stiletto heels, what better way to say thanks to matriarchs everywhere than with a little splish splash flash of felt?  I don't know about you, but I've always been a fan of the paradoxically frumpy glam charm of a skullcap smothered by flowers.  Still, I had my doubts that this awesomeness would translate to my hat lady brooches.  Mostly because, before I added the flowers, the caps looked like hard-boiled eggs or alien heads or, horror of horrors, bicycle helmets.  But the more color I added, the better they got.  By the time I was done, I had a bevy of bathing beauties, or, more to the point, red hot mamas.  Unless that's inappropriate.  Poll, please?  Nine out of ten moms say no.  And the tenth one swims in a parka.  

So, it's official: rocking a swim cap is the best way to play retro.  Not that we needed a poll for that.  

In the retro department, anything beats doing dishes.

Getting Through Thursday With Another Shoe Montage: All Hail the Wonder Wedge

Clockwise: Bucco, Kohl's; Kensie, DSW; ELLE, Kohl's; Qupid, Alloy; Madden Girl, Macy's; Betseyville, Macy's

Good things come in wedges (as opposed to wedgies).  Pie.  Cheese.  Footwear.  You know, everyone's favorites.  Floral fabric-covered platform wedges seem to be especially trendy this season, something I discovered not from reading Vogue but from blindly ending up with three pairs.  The tropical ones are my favorites, as they're like a vacation for my feet.  Visually, that is.  Not physically.  Physically they're probably the opposite of a vacation.  But that's okay because I plan to swap them for real vacation shoes -- flip flops -- when I drive. :)           

Book Report: The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

"Meet Carrie before Sex and the City." That's what it says on the cover of Candace Bushnell's The Carrie Diaries, a prequel to that other book that launched the popular HBO series of the same name. The idea interested me. After all, Sex and the City offered us little information about Carrie Bradshaw's background or her early days in the city, dispensing only small clues couched in glib one-liners such as, "I came to New York wearing Candie's," and "Sometimes I'd buy Vogue instead of dinner; I felt like it fed me more."

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I found. The Carrie Diaries takes place during Carrie's senior year in high school in a small Connecticut town, and it's all about those staples of high school drama, namely cliques, crushes, hookups, and back-stabbing best friends. It seems geared toward thirteen year-olds (for all I know, maybe it is) and made me glad that high school is far behind me. Furthermore, some of the details don't match up with those in the TV series and the two subsequent movies. For example, it turns out that Carrie is the oldest of three girls. Her father is a doting scientist and her mother has passed away. Yet there's an episode of Sex and the City in which Carrie blames her problems with men on her dad who ran out on her (which makes a lot more sense than her having a nice dad and a normal middle class upbringing when you think about it). Also, the second Sex and the City movie features a flashback showing how Carrie met each of the other girls. She bumps into Charlotte first, on a subway, Miranda second, in a department store, and Samantha third, when Samantha's still a diamond-in-the-rough bartender. Yet in The Carrie Diaries Carrie is dropped off by her father in the city only to have her purse stolen (to Bushnell's credit, this does happen in the movie), and is forced to borrow change to call a friend's cousin -- who just happens to be Samantha, who is already a successful advertising executive. These are all subtle discrepancies, I know, but it's hard to believe in characters when their back stories flip-flop like that.

Still, even disappointing stories have redeeming qualities, and The Carrie Diaries is no different. I enjoyed the parts about Carrie becoming a fashionista and a writer. An edgy girl in a conservative town, she wears vintage white go-go boots the first day of school (much to the horror of her best friend) and reinvents a destroyed designer handbag left to her by her mother by painting her name all over it in pink nail polish. Always creative, Carrie has been dreaming up stories since elementary school, but it isn't until she meets college boy George (no, not that Boy George) that she realizes the value of the old adage "write what you know" and begins documenting her own experiences in her high school's newspaper. Finally, we catch a glimpse of Carrie's budding feminist outlook as she relays memories about her mother, who went back to college for her architecture degree after having children, and who always taught her daughters that feminism isn't about being anti-feminine, but about living the life that you want. I liked that part. Critics and viewers have always argued about whether or not Sex and the City sends a feminist message. As in, are these women falling into the old trap of being obsessed with their appearance and attracting men? Or, are these women bending the rules of society, refusing to be tied down by husbands and children to build careers and do their own thing? As someone who's always been in the latter camp, I thought this section of The Carrie Diaries tied in nicely with the way Carrie's adult life unravels.

So, I Fell in Love With a Man Named Stephen Burrows

I was browsing the Target online clearance section looking for clothes with personality (plain white tees need not apply) and was striking out until a crop of candy-colored garments the likes of which I'd never seen exploded onto the screen. Turns out they were part of one of those special by-designers-just-for-Target lines, and the designer guest star was Stephen Burrows. Having never heard of him, I hopped onto Google to see what he was all about. A visit to his site told me all I needed to know:

"Stephen Burrows is the first African American fashion designer to achieve international acclaim. After graduating from the Fashion Institution of Technology in 1966, Burrows began making clothing for the O Boutique, opposite Max's Kansas City in New York. Stephen's window displays literally stopped traffic, and the young designer was soon besieged with orders. With friend Roz Rubenstein, he launched a ready-to-wear collection for Bonwit Teller in 1969. Later that year Joel Schumacher, Henri Bendel's visual director (now film director), introduced Burrows to Bendel's legendary fashion director Geraldine Stutz, and he was hired on the spot.

Burrows, influenced by music, dance, and the body, produced revolutionary clothing that was soft, comfortable, and chic. His innovative designs, which made use of color and technique, were revolutionary during a time when American fashion was strongly influenced by the European design houses: very structured, heavy, and lined. With the advent of stretch fabrics such as wool and rayon jersey, Burrows crafted a close fit and slim silhouette. He originated a finishing touch -- the "lettuce edge" -- that became a signature and remains in the collection today. His designs became a foundation for signature American style.

Stephen Burrows' World opened at Henri Bendel in 1970 and thrust Burrows into the limelight. It was an immediate success. His client roster included Cher, Diana Ross, Lauren Bacall, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Hall, Lauren Hutton, and Barbara Streisand. The industry took notice, and Burrows was nominated for a Coty Award, fashion's highest honor, in both 1971 and 1972.

In 1973, renowned fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert organized a benefit fashion show at Versailles, France. The show was a collaboration between the United States and France. Participants included the most influential designers of the day -- Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, and Emanuel Ungaro representing France; Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, and Stephen Burrows representing the US. An international sensation, the event brought acclaim to American fashion for the first time. Noted for his extraordinary segment, which introduced color in ways never before seen on the runway, Burrows received rave reviews.

Following this success, Burrows was recognized with Coty Awards in 1973, 1974, and again in 1977. Urged by Halston to set up shop on Seventh Avenue, Stephen soon left Henri Bendel and opened his namesake business, quickly licensing products such as fragrances, sunglasses, and furs.

On February 13, 2002, "Stephen Burrows World" reopened in Henri Bendel with an event dubbed "the party of the season" by Vogue. The collection has been applauded by the New York Times, the American, French and Japanese editions of Vogue, Essence, and New York Magazine, among others. Stephen has been welcomed back to fashion with a star on the CFDA's Fashions Walk of Fame on Seventh Avenue.

2006 marks Stephen Burrow's 40th year as a designer. In June of this year, he was honored with the CFDA's Board of Directors Special Tribute Award. Currently, Stephen Burrows is available at fine stores in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

"BURROWS IN PARIS " Stephen Burrows presented his Spring Summer 2007 collection in October of this year as part of the French Fashion Week. Suzy Menkes of The International Herald remarked "He is the Master of matte jersey and colour combinations!"

Pretty fabulous, huh? After reading up, I scrambled back to target.com to order not one but four of the Burrows pieces, including the middle dress in the picture at the top of this post (at 50% off I couldn't help myself). Sure, they were meant to be worn in the summer, but as a self-professed layering queen, I know no such seasonal bounds. In fact, if I like how everything fits, then I plan on revisiting the site to snap up the rest of my favorites.

One of the fun things about shopping Target online is reading the shopper reviews. The response for the Burrows collection was split, with half the shoppers loving the fun, vibrant colors and the other half dismissing the designs as something dreamed up by kindergartners. I sort of dress like a five-year-old, so once I read that I knew I was onto something good.

I'll let you know how it all works out. Not that you won't be seeing them in some future edition of Photo Shoot Friday. :)

Crafty Notes in Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

So, I finished rereading Confessions of a Shopaholic this weekend and am well on my way to finishing my reread of Shopaholic Takes Manhattan. (I decided to just go on and reread all five books in the series as if they were one big novel.) This time around I couldn't help but notice a few parts about selling handmade things. It's not that I didn't pick up on this during my first reading. But I wasn't selling my work then, so I had an entirely different perspective. So, what am I babbling about, already? Well, in Confessions, Becky goes to a school craft fair with her mother. Although she doesn't expect to like anything, she buys loads of stuff (of course). Then at the end of the fair she comes across "one of those really sad stalls which no one is going near, the kind people glance at once, then quickly walk past." She goes on to say, "The poor guy behind it looks really sorry for himself, so I pause to have a look. And no wonder no one's stopping. He's selling weird-shaped wooden bowls, and matching wooden cutlery. What on earth is the point of wooden cutlery?" (Kinsella 45). Becky decides she'll buy a bowl if it's only $5 (well, the British equivalent, whatever that is) but then finds out that it's been featured in Elle Decoration and decides to pay the $80 the artist is asking. Even though she doesn't like the bowl and thinks the artist wasted a week making it. Now, when I first read this I thought she was a fool for buying something that A) she didn't like B) that was valuable to her only because it was in a magazine, and C) that was clearly overpriced. I still stand by my conviction that no one should buy stuff just because they think they should like it. But as someone who sells artwork, I no longer think of the bowl as overpriced. I mean, I can see the poor guy huddled in his apartment, whittling away at the wood day after day, living on Ramen noodles to get the bowl just right. (Not that I know anything about whittling. Or have ever eaten Ramen noodles. But you know what I mean.) And I know how discouraging it can be to sit in your tent while people shuffle by, idling picking up things and asking questions and more often than not giving you false hope. So, even if her intentions weren't pure, I was kind of glad that Becky bought that bowl. (Even if she does unearth it in her mess of a bedroom in Manhattan only to reiterate its ugliness.)

The other, more prominent "crafty note" in the Shopaholic series is the whole picture frame making thing. Becky buys a picture frame making kit from a cheesy, pyramid-like company called Fine Frames hoping to make some extra money to help her get out of debt. She's supposed to wrap a bunch of cheap frames with fabric, but the whole thing is a complete disaster. Yet her roommate (er, flatmate), Suze, turns out to be a natural and goes on to design her own frames. A wealthy socialite, she has a connection at British Vogue and snags a feature, then puts her frames in a few London gift shops. True to her good-hearted and shopaholic ways, Becky ends up buying every frame that Suze has made (expect for the ones in some odd store out of the way). A department store takes note of the phenomenon of Suze's top-selling frames and offers her her own line of home accessories. Then Suze finds out that Becky's really responsible for her success and is a little miffed. And who wouldn't be? Because in a way, this turn of events is kind of depressing. I mean, if a stay-at-home heiress with connections at Vogue can't make a go at selling handmade goods without her friend intervening, then what hope is there for the rest of us? But even so, I couldn't help but find this whole segment kind of intriguing. Improbable or not, it's the kind of Cinderella story we crafters dream of.

See, isn't rereading fun? :)

Ugly Betty, Shoes, and Other Seriously Frivolous Things

For your viewing pleasure, another shoe montage. Some are old, others I bought not too long ago.

So, I was watching Ugly Betty last Wednesday night (can you believe that 10:00 time slot?!). It was a pretty dramatic episode. But the part that I'm going to talk about was kind of trivial. Wilhelmina (a.k.a Willy - how funny is that?) assigns Betty a story on the most comfortable stilettos. As usual, Betty is perturbed to be saddled with a fluff piece and pitches an "in her shoes" story idea about inspiring women and their footwear (think Habitat for Humanity builders wearing work boots). Willy rejects it and takes a jab at Betty by asking her to walk a mile in her stilettos, which she does, only to end up on crutches. So, why am I recapping this? Because I can't tell you how many TV shows and movies I've seen where the heroine is a magazine writer whining about how much she wants to write about something more important than shoes. I would kill to get paid to write about shoes! And I'm not even going to apologize for being shallow, because I don't think I am. Fashion is an art form. It's about experimentation and self expression and making otherwise dull days special. Ok, glad I got that out. Now, in all fairness, I've never worked at a fashion magazine. So for all I know they would destroy my quirky little shoe stories with their generic corporate stamp (remember when Carrie became a contributor for Vogue on Sex and the City? Sort of like that.) But that's a weightier issue for another post. Right now I'm just saying that writing about shoes or bags or jewelry for a living would be awesome. As for Betty, I didn't mean to attack her character. I think she's delightful. And I understand her struggle to raise an honest voice in a shallow world. I just think she should give shoes a chance. :)