Author: Christy DeSmith

Weekend shopping notes: Work and family obligations might’ve kept me from Gwen Leeds’s legendary garage sale on Friday and Saturday, but I did stumble upon a pleasant surprise upon visiting the Lava Lounge yesterday afternoon. I’d stopped in with the boyfriend. (I’m trying to diversify his tastes–there is life beyond Len Druskin, you know.) There, I found a nice selection of modest-priced dresses. And they weren’t all funked-out, as I’ve found their dresses to be ever since turning twenty-six. (The Lounge was a favorite prior to my reaching that ripe, old age.) The current stock tends toward the flirty. I didn’t buy the pink ‘n gray dress with the wrap-around, bandage bodice. As it happened, I wasn’t feeling too hot and just couldn’t muster the strength to feel pretty in the thing. But I’m seriously considering a post-work pit-stop this p.m. As for boyfriend: He didn’t buy any of the fluorescent muscle shirts, which he found on the clearance rack (and which I quickly nixed).

Yes, my little obsession with Target’s GO International lines persist … I actually liked Patrick Robinson’s boho beachwear better than I suspected I would. I even ended up buying this dress and these shorts – both of which get positive reviews from the likes of me, even if the fabrics leave much to be desired. But the cumulative purchase price of these items was under forty dollars, for crying out loud. What do you expect?

To answer that question: Not much. On Sunday, Target launches its next line: a bunch of Hamptons/school girl numbers from the usually artsy-punk-and just a lil’ bit prep LA-to-NYC design team known as Libertine. (Their design process usually involves re-cut, screen-printed, and then re-assembled vintage pieces – but not this time around.) I wasn’t too impressed with these pics from the Target pressroom (including that above – which, believe me, is the best of all). But Style.com showed a little love today. And the clothes certainly look a lot cuter, if somewhat cuddly, in the film-fantasy-ad on the Target website. Wait ‘n see, I ‘spose.

Am I the only one irritated by Posh’s posture here? Yes, yes, I know she’s got her some awesome clavicle, but jeez, jutting one’s bones in such a manner (and you’ll see more of what I mean if you click through Style.com) is just so obnoxious.

Our June issue included a short Fashion As It Happens piece about babydoll and potato sack dresses. And while the photos that month weren’t my favorites, the piece’s overall point remains: The figure-obscuring, Christening dress look has been pretty hot this summer. I bring it up now, a month later, because more than one man has mentioned to me, since the article premiered, that he doesn’t much care for this trend. In fact, a friend just mentioned that her husband was “disappointed” in me for having done this piece. Why? He doesn’t much care for the “maternity dress” look. Heh.

What do gents like, then? I’m sure this comes as news to very few of you, but dudes dig the sundress. It’s a genetic predisposition, I swear. If there is one thing I can count on from my significant other, it is this: If a woman comes breezing by in her sundress–hell, if we even walk by Local Motion’s window display, where there are oodles of sundresses–my boyfriend ceases to hear me, see me, or, in general, notice that I’m alive. Because I don’t wear sundresses–save the few that have been gifted to me, generally by ex-boyfriends, which are relegated to the back of my closet and only come out for housework and long road trips. To me, sundresses are dinosaurs, reminiscent of a time when women didn’t have their own money and had to beg daddy or husband to buy ’em some new threads (sundress as symbol of oppression – ha!). Ironic though it may be I much prefer my poofy (or “full”) and even rather infantile-looking babydoll dress. But boyfriend calls it my “clown dress.” Hmpf.

From Women’s Wear Daily:

J. Crew may be going to the dogs. According to a research report from CIBC World Markets, the preppy retailer filed a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for Crewmutts, a concept for dogs that potentially could be sold in stores and online. The patent for Crewmutts covers products for dogs, including leashes, clothing, dog beds, shoes, bathing products, blankets, bowls, life jackets, toys and treats. “In our view, the higher-end dog clothing and accessories market seems fragmented, comprised largely of local boutiques. Therefore, this could be an opportunity to take share, both as the stores and online, of a customer who generally may be less price-resistant to decking out their dog,” the report said. J. Crew executives could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

[image via DogCarnival.com, where there’s already plenty of WASPy doggie wear]

As you may or may not know, the internationally acclaimed, Minnesota-based photographer Alec Soth runs a fairly fabulous blog. And his latest post should appeal to the sensibilities of readers of this blog — I like to think of you all as tasteful and yet substantive folks with deep inner lives (you also happen to be Minnesotans).

Paris Minnesota is the fashion magazine Soth shot in a mere four weeks. He did it for Magnum, a photographers’ cooperative that commissions a single photographer to complete one of these hefty things annually. In Soth’s instance, the result pairs images of Paris couture with that of Minnesotans dressed up in their Sunday bests.

In other words, Minnesota is the counterpoint to, and perhaps the very opposite of, Parisian haute couture. Brothers and sisters, I thought you might like to know …

One final thing: It’s worth noting that Soth hasn’t always been the most popular of fashion photographers. Check this dispatch from one of his earlier posts. Still, his status as an artist is well solidified. Oh, how I want to feel this magazine in my hot little hands!