For the love of oxfords

I love oxfords: Flats, heals, laces, ribbons.  Any way you serve them, I love oxfords. I fully plan on getting a few pairs this year.  There was a picture in Burda style last year where a model wore a pair of studded black and white oxfords.  I searched high and low for a pair, but could not find them.  My solution?  Get a pair of plain ones and pimp them myself.  I do worry that adding studs to shoes will lead to leakage, but that is the sacrifice I will make if I have to.

I also really like some of the oxfords that nordstrom is carrying for the summer with cutouts.  I am not sure what they would be practical for, but I am sure that I will figure it out as summer approaches.

 

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My search for jeans continues

I have been searching the world for the perfect pair of non-brandi jeans.  I am a bit disheartened to learn that it will be difficult not to spend upwards of $200 to get a pair of jeans mainstream brand free.  I have found some interesting things though.  I never thought of using pennies as buttons like these from Hartford Denim Company

How cool are those?

I also discovered a place called indiDenim that allows you to custom design your own jeans according to your own measurements.  They even ask you questions about how jeans usually fit, such as if they are too tight at the waist or if they gap.  You choose weight of fabric, color, stitching, even decorative details.  I think that it sounds pretty cool, but I am still skeptical.  The hunt for the perfect pair of jeans has everything to do with how they make my butt look.  I am afraid to buy a pair of jeans without this knowledge.  Even if they have all my stats, will they do my butt justice?  

The search continues...

Is it still considered brand whoring if:

So now I am a few weeks into my commitment, and I have a few dilemmas that I need to work out.

Is it still considered brand whoring if:
1. It is vintage.  Does vintage Versace still count as Versace?
2. I get it at a consignment shop or 2nd use shop.  If I get my citizens at Buffalo Exchange?
3. I make it from a brand name pattern.  If I sew a dress from a Vogue pattern, am I still a brand whore?

Number 3 is my dilemma today.  I am going to Hawaii in 2 months and I need some sundresses.  We didn't get much sun in Seattle last year, so I did not have a reason to buy summer clothes.  I have a Vogue pattern that I want to make a dress from, but I am wondering if it is still my being a brand whore.  I am going to go with no, on the basis that when completed it will be label free.

Here is the dress in question:

Bellbottoms are back!

I really hated the skinny jeans movement.  I opted for slim fit.  I am slim, but I am not twelve.  One of my favorite fashion porn sites is netaporter.com.  Do you have any idea how excited I was to learn that bells are back?  What I love about this style is that it is flattering on almost everyone.  I didn't just hate the skinny jeans movement because I didn't want to wear them.  I also hated it because it wasn't flattering on women with curves.  Guess what?  Women have curves.  I know "curvy" has been used to describe women with a little extra weight.  I don't use it like that.  I am curvy because I have an hourglass figure, but 125 pounds does not make me fat.  Curves are fantastic.  Bellbottoms accentuate curves and complement them.

All that ranting leads to this: I now have to find a pair of bellbottoms or flares that are not name brand.  I get a little faint thinking about it.  This means that I have to go through the torture of trying on jeans because I don't know what will fit.  Historically I can grab any size 27 citizen or J brand and I know that it will fit.  I can't do that now.  What will I do?  Fear...

I received a special offer from Coach, and I changed my mind.

I hate it when the strap breaks on my purse (which happened on Christmas Eve last year!), or the zipper gets caught, or it starts looking shabby after a few months.

Coach sent me a really good deal, and I was inspired, but not by Coach.  Ok! Fine! I admit that I did spend about half an hour looking through the lovely pictures of Coach handbags and thinking about how nice it would be.  Then I reminded myself of the fiasco nearly all of my friends have met with concerning their coach bags purchased over the past year.  They fall apart.

Have I mentioned that I knit?  I hardly ever knit for myself because so many people in my life ask for knitted things as gifts.  Last weekend I ran off and purchased 3 balls of Lorna Knits hemp yarn in sapphire and got to work.  I am knitting myself a handbag.  It's taking me a little longer than I expected.  Hemp yarn is hard to knit with because it doesn't give, it is waxy, and it is rather course.  However, hemp is an amazing, sturdy, renewable natural resource.  I'm looking forward to being finished.

This is my first attempt to replace something brand named with something not.  I admit, this is totally cheating.  It is cheating because I am not actually searching for a comparable replacement item to purchase out right.  I need to take baby steps with this.

A Brand Whore Defined

What is a brand whore?
-You know labels.
-You know how current labels are.
-You will choose a top brand over an unknown even if the unknown is of equal or better quality.
-You don't trust unknowns.
-You feel better for buying the "best" brand.
-You think a brand reflects a personality.

A brand whore doesn't have to be
-A shopaholic
-In debt
-Rich
-A snob (though you are one in secret)
-Pretty
-Obvious

I think that we are raised to be brand whores.  It's part of consumerism, which is what our economic system is based on.  Consume Consume Consume.

I used to think that buying less, but better brands meant that I was less of a consumer.  Ideally my purchases were going to last longer and be of better quality than non-name brands.  This may be the case sometimes, but it is not the rule.  I am not giving up quality and I am going to purchase a bunch of crap.  I am just redefining how I think about my consumption.

It wasn't always like this

I was not raised to be a brand whore.  Actually I was raised quite differently.  My father was a metal musician and my mom was an anti-the-man libertarian with an anti-consumerist agenda.  I never got what was in fashion, I had to come up with my own.

In fifth grade everyone had Pumas.  I wanted them so bad.  I begged my mom for new shoes.  I obsessed, and finally she took me shopping, but it was with one condition.  I had to choose something that wasn't Pumas.  I could have anything else.  There was no budget, but it had to be something that I legitimately liked because I liked it, not because I was conforming.  I got sparkly Doc Marten boots, something that became a signature to my style. That is how it was through the years.  I didn't get Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, or Ralph Lauren.  I had to create my own style, sometimes to great and other times horrible conclusions.

Then there came Coach.  I had been working at Nordstrom for about a year when I decided to buy a little coach handbag.  I was tired of my purses always falling apart and I really like the construction.  I still have that purse and it has held up beautifully.  Then came the jeans.  I discovered how amazing designer jeans fit.  At about four times the cost of jeans I had been buying, I could have a pair that looked and fit so much better. Citizens, 7, Joes... Before I knew it, I was a brand whore, and not just for clothes.  I am fully outfitted with Apple, my home has designer furniture, I eat name brand, clean with name brand, and it is time to stop.

What is a brand whore?  A brand whore is someone who works really hard, and then gives most of her money away to big brands for very little satisfaction.  I confess, I am just that.  While working at Nordstrom I decided to go back to school. I cut back on my brand whoriness, but it still existed.  Then I quit my job to focus on school, then a recession hit, then I graduated.