Neiman's Last Call

Shit! I didn't even realize people were reading this. I promise to post something relevant later today. Bear with me.

OK, as promised, my Neiman's finds for all of you freaky fashionistas like me:

The biggest score: These Lambertson Truex booties, 75% off. Also notice my favorite picture of my beloved Wally in the background.



The favorite find: This yummy, fabulous Marc Jacobs evening bag, 50% off. I'm obsessed with golds, browns, coppers, etc. right now.



The other big score: This cashmere La Rok (I just love their stuff) sweater, also about %75 off.



The cute blouse: Alice & Olivia, which goes swimmingly with the booties and the bag—I tend to think in entire outfits, which either makes me truly deranged or a true fashionista—also %75 off.



And just so you don't think me a selfish, superficial bitch, which this anonymous commenter has accused me of being over at Dish, I also picked up some great Hanukkah gifts for dad, mom, godson Kobi and best friend.

I also wanted to post some pics of my soon-to-be-evacuated apartment while it's looking all spiffy for my house guests arriving today.

The living room:





The bedroom:

Looking the Part

I have many philosophies, most of them silly. One of them relates to careers and success, and is quite simple: look the part.

Fashion editors should be fashion plates. Beauty editors should be pretty, well-groomed or at the very least have fabulous skin.

I once lost a job because of this philosophy. Often, job interviews are about concealing your true self and spouting the company line. Well, I interviewed for an editor position at this shopping magazine called Shop Etc. Naturally, I dressed to the nines to meet with the editor in chief. Me: Calvin Klein silk skirt and top, Wolford tights, Chanel pumps, fab jewelry. Mandi Norwood, editor-in-chief: Pleated gray trousers, beige turtleneck, no jewelry. Ugh. (OMG, even in the Hearst company bio she looks frumpy. Oy!) This is a fashion magazine? I wanted to scream. Look the part, Mandi. And then, when she asked me what my favorite store was, and I answered (you betcha) "Bergdorf's," she actually scoffed and said that the magazine would be a little more downmarket. Well, then, I guess she did look the part.

I think this is why Vogue is my book of choice among the glossies. All of its editors, each and every one (with the exception of Alexandra Kotur, whose mommy is someone famous), is chic, pretty and sophisticated. They practice what they preach. I worship at the altar of Vogue and always have.

The other rags? Eh, not so much. Nina Garcia at Elle



is a trainwreck. That hair? Ugh. Go see Fekkai or Blandi, honey, please. She looks like she belongs down here in Miami. And don't even get me started on Glenda Bailey at Bazaar.




Ewwwwwwwwww. A picture speaks volumes (she's on the right).

The Ghost of Grandmom's Past

Roxy, my deceased grandmother on mom's side, was gifted at one thing: shopping. She was an intriguing, striking woman in both wardrobe and wit, but she wasn't the nicest person in the world, so we remember her most fondly for the jewels and accessories she left behind. Sad, but true. I could analyze her to death, but the truth is that Roxy cared mostly about appearances, and, as a result, amassed a collection of clothing and jewelry that could rival any Park Avenue grande dame.

My mom and her sister inherited everything, and I've been the lucky recipient of many of mom's hand-me-downs. 75% of my jewelry is from Roxy's collection. And a few of my most prized accessories as well. Of the latter, I especially adore these snakeskin, vintage Judith Leiber belts, and I wear them frequently. I have never seen them either in stores or worn by anyone else.





Imagine my utter shock when I looked over at one of my parents' friends at the bat mitzvah party Saturday night and saw her sporting this Roxy belt.



Mom was unconvinced, so I had to confront the woman, introduce myself and tell her my Roxy anecdotes. I examined the belt with my eagle eyes and sure enough, it was the same. I was curious--where had she gotten the belt? How old was it? I needed to know, for Roxy was long gone, and these are grave issues people! She said she'd just pulled it out of her closet and that she'd bought it about 20 years ago. Mom and I have carbon dated it to more like 30 years, but whatever.

I also have a particular favorite item among my mother's Roxy haul. It's an exquisite, unique, Chopard cocktail watch that practically gives me orgasms every time I gaze upon it. It's on a black alligator strap, with yellow gold and white diamond pave hearts framing the diamond-shaped face, which is also yellow gold with rows of diamonds and the company's trademark floating diamonds inside. If I had to choose one item from Roxy's stash, this watch would be it.

So mom lets me wear it to black-tie events when we're together. I wore it to the party Saturday, and had my mom's friend photograph it to share with all three of you loyal fashionistas, but damnit if the stupid photos are nowhere to be found on the roll. (It most resembles this--click on the fourth from the right picture--beauty from Chopard's current Happy Diamonds collection.)

Sometimes I think Roxy haunts us. Perhaps it's because we scattered her ashes around the oak tree in our backyard next to those of her mother, whom she abhored, while hastily reciting the mourner's kadish. (And then later we scattered the ashes of our beloved lhaso apso, Betsy there too, but Roxy actually liked dogs....so that couldn't be it.) Perhaps she thinks I'm not divine enough to fill her diva shoes. I mean, we are talking about a woman who stipulated in her will that her jewelry could not be sold or traded in by her heirs; it could only be reset. The woman was beyond batty, so missing pictures of her beloved Chopard? Par for the Longboat Key Club Course.

This Site Rocks

One of my 2 daily readers e-mailed me about this site he works for called Shop it to Me. It's awesome; you choose your favorite designers--lots of good, high-end ones are listed--and then the site e-mails you sales these designers are having online. You also choose your size, so the e-mails you receive are specifically catered to your designers, sizes, etc. No more need to scour the web for deals. Why didn't I think of this? I eagerly await the post-Thanksgiving e-mail.

My favorite things

Obviously, I am one terrible photographer.
But you know how despite a closet (or several closets) full of clothes, you tend to wear the same favorite pieces over and over? The same goes for jewelry. In fact, I'll let you in on an insane little secret: One of the reasons I joined all these charity boards/organizations down here was so that I would have excuses to wear a lot of the fancy clothes and jewelry I never get the chance to wear. I know, I am truly, truly sick. Anywho, here are some of my favorite and most-worn pieces of jewelry.

These jade-and-diamond earrings and bracelet were Roxy's. They are some of my favorite hand-me-downs, and even the blind date guy, who happened to work for Graff Diamonds, approved. The heart pendant was a cast-off from mom, and when she gave it to me it was yellow gold. It is embedded with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and saphhires, and I decided it would be much chicer in white gold. Lynn has the same pendant and when I visited her in PB a couple of weeks ago, she couldn't believe how great it looked in white and said she was going to do the same thing. Now, I'm sure mom will want it back.

Anyway, for those of you jewelry newbies, did you know that any item of gold you have can be turned from yellow to white and vice-versa by the simple use of rhodium? Any jeweler will do it for you; I do it at Landsberg all the time. Just ask them to "dip it" in rhodium. So, since the popularity of yellow vs. white gold tends to fluctuate along with fashion trends, don't buy new jewels, just dip your old ones!

This was originally a brooch of my paternal grandmother Lillian (nanny). Last time I was in New York, I had Landsberg turn it into a pendant, and with its diamonds and emeralds, it goes very well with the above jade set.

Mental Fashionations

Damn, I just stumbled upon another possible title for this blog. I kind of like "Fashionation" better than Fashionosophy, but hell, I'm not doing this all over again.

Today's post on Dishalicious is fashion-related, so be sure to check that out too. I'm trying not to overlap. Long story short, you can create a non-wedding-related-pseudo registry over at Neiman's web site that's called a Wish List. Here's the link to my over-the-top Wish List, and I encourage you all to create one as well. It's soo fun. You can e-mail it to friends, family, lovers, spouses etc. and you can look up someone else's by punching in their e-mail address.

Anyway, do any of you fashionistas plan out your wardrobe for certain occassions (even mundane ones) days, even weeks in advance? No? OK, then you're not as sick as I am. Because when I know I have an event, a date or a party coming up, the mental wardrobe preparations begin as far in advance as possible.

Sometimes I start with the jewelry and work backwards. E.G. tonight--I have an outdoor symphony event and I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to wear, but knew that I wanted to sport this awesome new gold-and-diamond ring from Landsberg. So then I went from the ring backwards and here's what I came up with: gold chandelier earrings (paternal grandmother's), antique, blue-enamel-and-gold necklace with enamel, gold and diamond pocketwatch suspended on the chain (Roxy's), gold charm bracelet (mom's), brown-snakeskin, gold- and tiger's-eye Judith Leiber belt (Roxy's), C&C light turquoise T-shirt (Neiman's outlet), Habitual jeans (Barneys), classic, kitten-heel, chocolate-brown Chanel pumps (Bergdorf's) and small, pleated, tan-and-chocolate-brown Dior shoulder bag (Dior outlet at Woodbury Commons).

Whew. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, and I don't know why any of you want to read this, but there it is. All the thought processes and preparations it takes to pull off the whole "casual chic" look. And men wonder why it takes us soo long to get ready? Hello?

Luxe Linens

I know Pratesi, Frette and Porthault are the linens of choice for the social set nowadays, but I was raised on Yves Delorme. I adore the patterns, the mix and matchy elements and the sheer variety of styles the company offers. But once I moved out of mommy and daddy's abode, these linens were resigned to a fond memory, due to the exorbitant pricetags.

Well, imagine my sheer delight when I discovered an online, Yves Delorme outlet for the company's discontinued patterns (which are some of the prettiest, I must say). It's almost too good to be true, and thanks to this site, I now have a full set to call my very own. This site is brilliant. And nobody seems to know about it.

This is my duvet, and these are my shams. I also have matching hand towels in the Jubilé pattern, but it looks as if they've sold out. I love the message on the web site too: "You spend a third of your life in bed, so make the most of it."

It Starts with the Handbags, Honey

Fashion 101: Every Day Handbags, Black
As most of you know, I am a bit of a handbag whore, so I'm not advocating my lifestyle in anyway nor am I presuming that building a collection is easy or cheap. I am merely pointlessly pontificating, and hopefully among this dribble, some of you may find some applicable pointers.

First of all, a women should have every day handbags in at least two colors. For me, it's primarily black and some shade of brown. We'll tackle other colors and patterns later. Also, depending on where you live, your colors and fabrics will, unfortunately, vary seasonally. I will tackle that later as well. For now, it's basic black, daytime. Evening is a whole different, er, bag.

Black-and-gold is very in this season, and it's always been a fave combo of mine, so that's what I tend to rock the most right now.

These are my current daytime, black-and-gold bags. Let's start from oldest to newest...



You can never go wrong with a Chanel. And this one is a true classic. Mom and Lynn bought this bag probably 20 years ago. Mom handed it down to me about three years ago, it's still in great shape and apparently, I've inspired Lynn to break it out of the archive. And mom keeps saying how she wants it back, but then she goes into her closet and promptly forgets. My mom rocks.



Another classic, this one the Gucci Jackie O. They've been producing this style for years. When I first moved to NYC six years ago I had a (former) good friend who worked for the company, so I got this one at 40 or 50% off. It's suede though, so I don't get much use of it anymore due to the climate and the fact that suede is sooo difficult to keep pristine. (Schwartz, wanna borrow?:)




I absolutely adore this Dior bowling-type bag. It was a birthday gift from mom, purchased at the Woodbury Commons Dior outlet a few years ago, for more than 50% off. Though as much as I love it, I don't use it much either because it's heavy and hard to get in and out of. Though due to the multitude of hidden pockets and nooks, it really came in handy traveling after the liquid/gel restrictions took effect.



Out of all my daytime black bags, this is my current fave. It's another Chanel classic and I actually bought this one at full price, as a present to myself for my 30th birthday. I love, love, love this bag. It's the perfect size, the shoulder strap is comfy and there's an outer side pocket that fits my cell phone and Bluetooth. I don't think I'll ever tire of this bag.

I don't like writing about fashion when I'm sad

I'm in a bad mood and in a fight with my best friend, so see today's Dishalicious post. There's a bit of fashion in there. Tomorrow I will post here about laying the foundations of your fabulous new wardrobe. And I'm always available for fashion questions/problems via comments.

Oh yeah, I'm starting to do some freelance stuff for this luxury web site, they are launching a Miami version. I submitted my items today, so I will let you know when they are published. juli b

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, Princess

So I espouse outlet shopping and bargain-buying, but do I practice what I preach? Indeed I do.

Case in point: For my 31st (ugh!) birthday in September, I wanted a fabulous designer dress to wear to a symphony event I was attending. Prior to moving to Miami, I had never been a dress girl. Who wears dresses in NYC? Nobody-- it's jeans, jeans and more jeans. So where to go at the last-minute and on a budget? Why, Neiman Marcus Last Call of course. I'd already been there previously and made some fab purchases, see Dishalicious: Paradise Found, so I knew it was likely to have just what the doctor ordered.

And it did not disappoint. I ended up with a to-die-for Tuleh NY Mag Tuleh Bio dress that retailed for about $1,500. Neiman's price? Just under $300. Score. I paired it with my favorite hand-me-down baubles from Roxy--jade earrings and a matching jade bracelet--my every day diamond necklaces and my paternal grandmother's diamond-and-emerald brooch in the décolletage. I also threw on some sheer, black Spanx leggings for the trendiness factor (it is South Beach after all) and black, satin, strappy Yves St. Laurent sandals. (Also note that the Spanx were purchased at Neiman's Last Call as well and the YSL sandals at the YSL outlet in Woodbury Commons a couple of years ago).

So people, we are talking about an outfit (sans jewelry) valued at $1,950, purchased for approximately $450. Priceless.

After a quickie Google/NY Mag search today, I discovered that the dress was from the Tuleh Fall 2005 collection. So, it's a year old and a size too big, but it's fairly classic and I will wear it for years to come. And having it altered is on my to-do list.

Here's the picture of the model wearing it on the runway:




And below is how I did it. I added a sheer bodysuit underneath, as it's completely see-through. And now that I'm looking, it seems like the model paired it with sheer leggings too!