Fashion Radar

A Marc Jacobs ad campaign by Juergen Teller. Ok, not really. Just my wee homage to the duo.
I finally made it to the Marc by Marc Jacobs store on Damen Avenue in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, and in a word, it is heavenly. In true Chicago style, I take pride in the fact that MJ chose to house one of just a handful of Marc by Marc Jacobs stores right in my own backyard, just blocks from my last apartment, no less. Speaking of which, I can not believe how much the hood has changed but I won't bore non-Chicagoans with that speech.


The Marc by Marc Jacobs Chicago storefront
The shop is stunning. The clothing - arranged by color - handbags, jewelry and accessories are presented like artwork in a gallery (not uncommon for fashion boutiques, I am aware, but just setting the scene). Exposed piping and the dark denim blue and gray color scheme suggest he took clues from an Army Surplus store (think Urban Outfitters, for lack of a better analogy). The window displays featured huge photographs of Marc by an artist whose name escapes me at the moment...again adding to the whole artistic vibe.


View from the entrance
This is a place for creative types to dream. I wasn't at all put off by the fact that I couldn't afford anything. I was content to look, get ideas and just admire Marc's talent. It took me back to a warm and fuzzy place back in the '90s when grunge was cool, and Starbucks hadn't yet invaded the Belmont and Clark intersection where hipsters and punks once reigned supreme. Marc is just so desperately needed in fashion. And here's the budget part: There are bins of cheap trinkets and baubles and trashy kitschy junk for as little as $1 - and I LOVE it! I scooped up a pair of fingerless gloves for $5 and an adorable fuchsia quilted wristlet for $23.


View from the rear of the store
And did I mention the friendly staff? One of the employees called me out on the Forever 21 Marc knockoff I happened to be wearing that day (gulp!), saying it looked just as good as the real thing. Not sure her boss would feel the same way, but I appreciated her down-to-earth attitude. She even offered to take my picture in the store when she realized just how obsessed I was. Yeah, I felt like a tourist but who cares? I got my photos, got my little "consolation prizes" and left feeling happy and inspired. I suggest you pay the store a visit next time you're in the Windy City, too. Take the Blue line towards O'Hare, get off at Damen, walk north to 1714 N. Damen.

Fabulosity, Kimora Lee Simmons' junior line for JCPenney, is now available in stores and online. I was not looking forward to the launch of this collection, and after seeing the limited selection of tees, tube tops and denim pieces that are now at JCPenney.com, I gotta say it ain't good. Now let's just forget about Kimora for a moment here, because at the end of the day, she is irrelevant. You may admire her ambition, her work ethic, and her no-nonsense approach to business and even motherhood, but at the end of the day, as a customer, you will be stuck wearing a tacky t-shirt with a cheesy "Fabulosity" logo that bears no resemblance to it's creator and her high-end, jet-setting lifestyle. I felt the same way about Bitten by Sarah Jessica Parker - as much as I adore the actress and everything she's done for fashion, I couldn't find a single wearable item in her so-called clothing line for Steve and Barry's. Fabulosity is fake streetwear. It's big companies saying, hey! Let's make a buck off what the kids are wearing today! So don't be fooled. I truly admire streetwear, and the real deal is not sold at JCPenney. If you want streetwear, shop at Karmaloop.com or Untitled. Fabulosity is akin to wearing a Hannah Montana t-shirt or SpongeBob SquarePants PJs - it's gimmicky, it's tacky and it's not cool unless you're under 10 years old. And if you don't believe me, I would simply say that I obviously do not decide what is and isn't cool. Cool is fleeting, cool is ethereal, cool is, well, something we're all chasing. Fabulosity is not it.

>> Not convinced? Shop Fabulosity at JCPenney.com

The Project Runway Season 5 Premiere airs tonight, Wednesday July 16th, at 9/8 C on Bravo. Don't miss it!

Express Fashion has finally realized there's this thing called the Internet, and guess what? They decided to launch an online store. This is good news for budget babes, bargain queens, and cheap chicas because we crave options - oh yes!

So far, it looks like the selection is slim and the prices are steep but let's give them a chance, shall we? Once they get the hang of this e-commerce thing, I expect they'll have more goodies to choose from, juicy sales, and fantastic markdowns so that we can shop to our heart's content.

>> Shop Express.com

Sal from Already Pretty kindly tagged me with a 2008 Premio Award, which means this is the perfect opportunity to introduce you to some more fabulous fashion bloggers:

Broke & Beautiful, unbridled enthusiasm for affordable fashion
Cute But Affordable, a keen eye for all things cheap and chic
Economy of Style, impeccable taste, approachable budget
Girl-Woman-Beauty-Brains-Blog, smart, sophisticated, and stylish
Shoe Smitten, the authority on fabulous footwear
Budget Lexicon, straight talk on how to live rich for less
Fatal Attraction 2 Fashion, incredibly inspiring perspectives on fashion

The rules for passing on the award:
1) When received, you may post the premio to your blog.
2) Link to the blogger you received it from.
3) Give it to 7 blogs
4)… link to those 7 blogs
5)…and leave those seven bloggers a comment about receiving the brilliant premio.

XOXO,
BB

From Yahoo! Finance: "Steve & Barry's LLC, once a growing force in low-priced fashion retailing, said Wednesday that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the latest merchant to succumb to a harsh consumer spending climate."

"It joins home furnishings chain Linen 'n Things Inc., catalog retailer Lillian Vernon Corp. and specialty retailer Sharper Image Corp. in filing for bankruptcy protection this year."

Judging by the initial response we got from readers after we reported that Steve & Barry's was in trouble, they won't be missed very much. Sad, but true!

More and more brides today are breaking free from the white wedding gown mold and donning colorful dresses on their big day instead, according to a fascinating article in the June 2008 issue of W magazine. (Western brides, the article notes, have been wearing white since the Victorian era, when Queen Victoria started the trend in 1840 for her marriage to her cousin Albert.)

Of course this is nothing new: Who can forget Gwen Stefani's 2002 marriage to Gavin Rossdale where she was decked out in a pink dip-dyed Dior wedding gown, or the black Morgan Le Fay frock which Sarah Jessica Parker wore for her 1997 wedding to Matthew Brodderick? Plenty of bold, confident women today think outside the box when it comes to picking their wedding outfits.

I've personally known two brides who did not wear white, off-white or ivory on their wedding days: One friend wore a splashy teal chiffon dress, and the other wore a rich green satin gown. As for other "nonconformists" that I've personally known, there was the Aunt who wore a stunning white lace suit, the hipster friend who wore colorful blue shoes, and at least two brides I can think of offhand who skipped veils altogether.