According to People.com's StyleWatch, small braids are big news for Spring hair style trends. The timing couldn't be better, too, with prom and wedding season right around the corner. Anne Hathaway, Jessica Alba, Nicole Richie, and Lauren Conrad are just a few of the stars sporting this boho-take on the up-do. Best part is this is definitely a look you can do yourself without having to pay a stylist. We love it - just keep the braid loose, the look natural by not using to much product, and embellish with something that sparkles for evening.

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• Allure's Best New Spring Makeup Colors

I know that stealing is wrong. My Mother told me so. But I find it hard to reduce fashion plagiarism to a normative argument of "right" or "wrong," and here's why: Designer clothing is so very "You can look, but don't touch." So here we are, gals with a genetic predisposition toward cute clothes, fashionable styles and pretty dresses, looking and drooling at designer clothing from afar...but we're told not to eat of the fruit. Along comes Forever 21 and says, "Go ahead, pluck the apple!" as they dangle designer knock-offs in front of our noses.

The ability of copycats to so easily perform their evil deeds further complicates the issue. When my boyfriend covets a Porsche 911 Turbo, it's not like he (or a car manufacturer like Kia) can even come close to producing a reasonable facsimile of the object he desires. But with a dress, it's another story. To imitate (not reproduce) Fendi's color-block tiered frock above, one need only have access to fabric, a needle and some thread. OK, I know it's not that easy but let's assume, for the sake of argument, that you can construct a dress that comes pretty darn close (if you argue that Forever 21 can't make a similar reproduction, well then, we wouldn't be having this discussion.) Suddenly, it's the $2,500 price tag attached to the Fendi dress that starts to look like the crime.

But Mother also taught me that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, and it certainly doesn't make it right. And since this is a blog, I'll leave it at that for now.

>> Left: Fendi Tri-Color Trapeze Dress at Net-A-Porter.com, $2,490
>> Right: Multi Tier Sleeveless Dress at Forever21.com, $32.80

Is it a museum, monastery or hotel? The Budget Babe's International Travel Advisor Fifi LaMode reviews the Casa Santo Domingo in Antigua, Guatemala. —TBB


by Fifi LaMode
The Casa Santo Domingo in Antigua is a most unusual place. It's built along the ruins of a colonial monastery and in addition to being a 5 star hotel, the best in Antigua, it houses several museums. From the outside you can't imagine its grandeur, but once you enter through the gates, be prepared for surprises.

The hotel itself is outstanding - the rooms have fireplaces, balconies overlooking wonderfully colorful gardens (more toucans and parrots!), and along the passages are neat pieces of antique statuary and furniture. Very old-worldish. The ruins of the monastery are a museum in themselves, but they also house statues, paintings and other Spanish colonial artifacts. There are also a couple of art museums on the grounds, and a very small pharmacy museum. All are free to hotel guests, and non-guests pay a very reasonable fee.

The ambiance in the hotel is superb and the staff is dressed in these monk-like cream-colored outfits: loose linen pants with matching hooded tops and a brooch/clasp in front. Very elegant. The hotel also has the usual amenities: pool, restaurants, bar, etc., but more of an open air environment - you access everything by walking through the gardens. The restaurant serving the huge buffet breakfast is out of this world - made-to-order omelets, waffles with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, local specialties, fresh fruit and bread, everything your heart desires in the morning, accompanied by birds singing and a gentle breeze. The rooms are spacious and the bathrooms are grand. What more can a person ask for after a long day's touring?

UPDATE: And the winner of our Twisted Silver Love Bracelet contest is.......#129 Christina, who wrote: "I love the Glam Earrings!"

Congratulations to our winner and a great big thank you to all 181 people who participated.




PLEASE NOTE: This contest has ended.
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To enter the contest, visit www.twisted-silver.com and then tell us which Twisted Silver piece you like best in our comment section below.

Be sure to use a valid email address and include info(at)thebudgetbabe.com in your address book so we can contact you if you're the winner. Comments must be posted by 12 noon ET on May 2 to be eligible to win. The winner will be announced on May 3. One lucky winner will be chosen at random. Open to U.S. residents only.

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I think luxury fashion designers want to be copied. That's right. I think they're practically begging to be knocked-off. Why else would they dangle their luxury items in the faces of so many thousands of average Jills if not to elicit lust for their products - a yearning for designer labels that could only be fulfilled by going into debt OR through the acquisition of designer-inspired or imitated goods?

Think about it: The pages of every glossy magazine are chock-full of advertisements and articles touting expensive, high-end, designer wares. But who actually reads these magazines? Well, pretty much average gals like you and me, i.e., girls without the six-figure salaries that would be necessary to afford such luxury items.

High-end luxury designers also appeal to the masses by having celebrities rocking their wares. Now I understand that they can't control who wears what, but we've all heard it said that designers literally throw their stuff at stars, giving it away for free in hopes that they'll wear it, we'll see it, and it'll be the Next Big Thing.

So why do they do it? To create demand, I suppose. To profit from lower-end diffusion and bridge lines - so-called affordable luxury items - the bread and butter of most of these giant corporations. As I see it, in order for something to be the ultimate luxury, it must be desired by the many yet obtained by only the few. (a tricky Catch-22 - the most covetable items will by their very nature be copied...but then at some point you risk losing out to the copies.)

I could go on, but instead, I offer a simple solution (which probably has countless flaws that my dear readers will no doubt point out!): To stem the tide of luxury knock-offs, counterfeits and fakes, I suggest designers take the following countermeasures:

• Don't advertise to the masses. Ok, so this may seem wholly unrealistic in today's digital era, but they aren't even trying to keep luxury goods elusive, exclusive, and rare. Target only your audience: the luxury consumer. How hard can this be? Instead of taking out ads in InStyle, just send mailings to your actual customers. No one will see the mailings besides them (and maybe their maid).


• Stop giving celebrities freebies. Again, I'm pretty sure that people living in Beverly Hills know where to find you. Do you really need to shamelessly promote yourself with handouts? If your product is so good, let customers come to you by word of mouth.


• Make online luxury retailers members-only websites. Luxury items will then be largely concealed behind a simple login screen. Yes, that would exclude people like myself and make me very sad - but I can't covet what I can't see, right?