President's Day! Which we are acknowledging with Shepard Fairey's Obama posters. Not necessarily as a reflection of our own views—we will admit we are John Edwards-style populists (health care for everyone, whoo!)—but as an acknowledgment of the winner of our Bunnyshop caucus.
Anyway: back to our normal programming tomorrow. In the meantime: pls observe our newly exciting categories, generally to the left of this post!
XO
BS (and LB)
Christmas is almost here, and our shopping is ALMOST done. We are still trying to find adequate gifts for some family members - as the time to find the perfect gift has passed. Actually, we DID have the perfect gift in mind for one family member, but we weren't sold on it. We were told last night that actually, it WOULD HAVE been perfect - except now we can't have it shipped in time. Grr. So, with that, we will try to bring you some of our shopping tips.
*If you still need a random gift and you want to buy it online, some of the larger sites will still guarantee shipping. We've had good luck with LL Bean (gotta order by noon EST today, though), Overstock (same shipping requirement, though), and even QVC (though there is an additional charge). We have to say, we have some insiders at QVC and we know they bust their butts to give amazing customer service. And what can be had at QVC? Let's just say they have excellent prices on things for older generations - some of whom we KNOW read this site, hence the vagueness.
*Embrace shopping online with store pickup. This seems to be most prevalent at electronics stores, and grocery stores, for some reason. Since you're not likely to give a box of pasta for Christmas, places like Best Buy and Circuit City make the store experience a lot more pleasant.
*Also, e-gift certificates! Sephora offers e-gift certificates that are sent via email and redeemed online. We would just like to say we see absolutely nothing wrong with gift cards for presents, but if you buy one that HAS to be redeemed online, cough up an extra $5 to cover shipping when the recipient places their order. It just seems fair.
*When in doubt, a raincheck is semi-appropriate. This is appropriate with two catches - one, you HAVE to make good on it (we are still waiting for several presents from one particular family member), and two, it has to be worth the wait. If you are torn between giving someone a gift card for Barnes and Noble, or a really, really awesome handmade thing you saw on Etsy, give them the better gift. But make sure you explain the raincheck. Don't just be like, oh sorry, you have to wait!
*Make sure the person can use what you give them. We have been given Christmas ornaments every year for about 3 years, despite the giver knowing we do not, nor will we, have a Christmas tree. If you get someone the universal gift (aka an iTunes gift card), make sure they have iTunes. Or drink coffee, or eat packaged meats.
*If you do go out to the stores in person, remember: it's not worth getting mad about it We have to tell our Loved One all the time that it's not worth fussing over a parking spot, or someone taking a while at the register, or waiting for the restroom. Maybe we are just particularly low-key, but none of that junk is worth getting in a tizzy about. Chalk it up to experience.
Hopefully, we'll have something special to show you on Monday. Gotta get permission, but check back!
-LB
As promised! Answer Guy could not have returned at a better time. He is back, with a truly splendiferous and ... far-ranging set of ideas for buying that person you are currently dating. Without further ado:
AnswerGuy's "Gift Ideas For Boys That Don't Suck". Er, "Gift Ideas That Don't Suck For Boys":
Okay, I admit that it's hard to shop for modern boys. We can be particular or disinterested or ascetic or not seem to need or want anything or some combination thereof. iTunes gift certificates [BS note: this is so our default present] and Black-and-Decker power tools and scarves and ties (and whatever else we men have to pretend to like so we can have sex sometime after Christmas morning and before New Years Eve), well, these are not the best gifts ever. I'm intimately familiar with the disappointment of crappy holiday gifts of all sorts, so instead of complaining.…
For the emo/metrosexual BF:
Concert Tickets, or a Ticket Master Gift Card. You know what bands they like, and even if you're not into Rogue Wave or whatever crap he listens to while thinking about his ex-girlfriend, here's something that you can do together while acting like you care about his interests.
Gourmet Cooking Classes? I'm not sure about this: it sounds like a gift that you benefit from more than the BF, but if he's up for spending some time in the kitchen, why not make the results more palatable?
Body Grooming Things, like our favorite, the Philips Norelco Bodygroom. Sometimes getting shaving kits, etc., say: "you're a little gross right now", [our prudery means we must censor, but everyone can use their imagination], this can be thought of as a romantic gift. Then there's the Art of Shaving, which has some locations that offer a Barber's Shave, which, I'm told, is an amazing experience. I'm sort of against nose and ear hair trimmers (that's a little mean), but whatever. Still, this is sort of a stocking stuffer present.
For the Geek:
Rock Band Special Edition, available for the PS2, PS3 and XBox 360. If you can't tear your BF away from the video games, why not join him? You play guitar, he plays drums, someone sings, a good time is had by all.
Ear Muff Headphones. End the age old question of "Cold Ears or No Music?". I normally eschew anything from the Sharper Image (other than the Ionic Breeze, of course), but these are amazing.
For the Manly Dude:
Sporting Event Tickets. Get him off the couch but still within his comfort zone. I think it's best to wrap them in an envelope that reads "Opera Tickets" or something equally unimaginably cruel.
Motorcycle Lessons. Well, hopefully your manly dude already has his motorcycle license, but even experienced moto riders can have fun at advanced lessons.
Firearms Training. Okay, I realize that some folks are against firearms, but if your guy likes to shoot stuff, why not make sure he's adequately trained? I'm a fan of Frontsight, which offers courses in Las Vegas and California. [And here we add that we do not believe in the citizenry's right to firearms.]
For All (Most) Boys:
Tattoo Time. Find a great artist, send your boyfriend, hopefully he doesn't come home with "Mom" tattooed on his ass.
Porn. I can almost guarantee that he watches it, even if you don't know about it. Why not join in? Just make sure not to confuse this with the Lost Season 2 DVDs if you're opening gifts at your parent's house. Along the same lines, but hand-made, we think [again]. If you're not that adventurous, [again] coupons with [and again] are perfectly acceptable. [And again, but not for why we might have thought.]
Liquor. Lots ofit. This is especially useful if he has to spend the holidays with your family.
As always, I think travel (somewhere HE wants to go, not spa weekend in Palm Springs), and hobby-oriented lessons are not bad too. If you insist on buying clothing and/or accessories for him, if he hasn't specifically asked for it, tread carefully. Look at his wardrobe. If this is a guy who never wears French cuff shirts, why get cuff-links? If he never wears a suit, why get a tie-pin? And if you must do gloves, think John Varvatos.
Er, we're back. We are believers in the idea that an unvarnished (though, in this case, lightly censored) truth is always more valid tha liars lying and suggesting crap nobody wants. So this is a guy's perspective, and not necessarily the views of the management. Disclaimed. Etc. Still, we're thinking, also quite useful.
It is question so many people we know are asking:
Dear BS,Let's just address this now—shopping for a boyfriend is hard, I don't care how long you have been together. And with the holidays upon us, I find myself walking aimlessly through malls looking like a little lost child. My man is into the whole 'sneaker' culture, a la Undefeated and A-Life (which I know nothing about, being more of an Audrey Hepburn fan), but he also really wants a wallet ... which leaves me scratching my head, as a sneaker is not a wallet. I'm thinking in the $100-$200 range...?
Thanks!
G.
If we didn't, we'd get him this nice Smythson (about $280). Is it us, or is it difficult to get passionately involved in a man's wallet? We mean in general, not in the contet of this question. A $200 wallet is a great present.
And later today: The most fabulous boyfriend-buying gift guide, ever, we swear.
This year has been quite a Christmas conundrum, as we have vowed to hand-make or otherwise free-source as many presents as possible. (Santa: We would like cash, please. Er, and clothes! And a new microphone for our video camera. Anyway.) What we are realizing is that while we might like to think we are being thrifty, we are being the opposite, because we're going to try to make things, but then they'll suck, and we'll have to buy presents anyway. Christmas: the holiday that keeps on giving.
So anyway: While everyone we know is different, etc., and the best present is a personal one, we also believe that there is strength in numbers, and that many people have best friends with vaguely similar tastes. Here is what we are getting ours. More or less. We would love to know what everyone else is getting theirs.
We love non-romantic jewelry for friends. Actually, we are not entirely sure we would buy this for her. The truth of the matter is that we had the best system ever with her, whereby we would go to the mall and just hand each other $20. (This was amazing.) However, if someone asked us, 'What should I get my best friend?' we would certainly suggest this necklace.
But like we said, strength in numbers. Who else has present ideas for the best friend-type?
Odette oak necklace, $132
Before we go we'll note that our BFF (we always want to end that, "our BFF Jill") would prolly be just as happy with this, and we can spend the rest on magazines. Or at least this is what we can tell ourselves ... as we spend the money on magazines. Bestie necklace, $14
Dear Friends of Bunnyshop,
So not like you have 30 million things to do or something—is it us, or December actually so busy that it can't, also, be the most-fun month of the year?—but we are taking the long view here at Bunnyshop these days, and looking to 2008 as the time when we really bust this shit up. So to speak.
So we're asking you this: If you have anything about BS (besides our ridiculous initials, which you think we would have been more concerned about when we named ourselves) you especially like, or especially don't, we would really love to hear. More contests? More prizes? More discounts? More store listings? More interviews with designers? The return of our erstwhile stylist, for asking? Er, so we are actually planning on doing all of those things, but we'd really love to hear what you'd like from us, if anything. Think of it as your Christmas present to us, because nothing makes us happier than knowing what you want. Or diamonds. Etc.
Holiday XOs,
BS + LB
Sequins! Light-reflecting. During this light-challenged time of year, we need all the light-reflected materials we can get our hands on. Plus: sparkly!
Kylie Minogue, we are estimating, is the sparkliest person on the planet. We missed her show at the V&A but there is quite an extensive website featuring much of her exceptionally sparkly wardrobe here. She may be the patron saint of the sequin dress. The funny thing about her, we think, is that you see these clothes on the page, without her, and you're just like, "vomit," and then you see them on her, and if you're us, anyway, you're sort of like, "Well, that kind of makes sense."
Anyway:
We can't help it. We love this dress. This is the kind of dress we see, and try on, and even if we can't afford it, we put it on hold, just so we can pretend that we're coming back for it. French Connection dress, $218
We love the big, chunky and especially black-on-navy sequins here. Topshop dress, about $150
Ditto here. These sequins are so big they're actually pailletts. FCUK "Sequin Fancy" dress, $178
There is a version of this "zebra" dress in white and black that is about 10% as nice as this one. Foley + Corinna dress, $385
And this is just absolutely perfect with leggings or really, really heavy tights. Sparkly! Etc. Topshop sequin top, $110
We have to say, we're not quite in the holiday spirit yet. It was almost 70 degrees a week and a half ago; our dog just got a laundry basket stuck on her collar and ran around the room to dislodge it (she's fine and we've removed the basket from her area); and this year we are going sorely miss the holiday bonus we used to get at our old job. We can't even find the light-up fake candles to put in our windows, and this led to actual tears being shed in Target. However, the holidays won't stop approaching just because we want them to. Here are some of the gifts we're giving:
Above, the Galileo Galilei ring seems to be the perfect gift for our older sister. We're never quite sure what to get her, and when we were wee, we would harass her and force her to tell us the story of Orion (the myth/constellation). We distinctly remember throwing a fit because she wouldn't tell us the story while standing knee-deep in the Atlantic. We love most things from Etsy, and this ring is no exception - plus, the seller who makes it will make it with any constellation you want (within reason, we imagine). And at $70, we won't be TOO annoyed when our sister loses it, along with her jacket that was ours or something.
For our best girlfriend, our partner in crime, the only person we'll let see us get super sweaty and disgusting and then go have pie with - this set of 3 stackable rings from Delia Thompson. We're big on words (not that that's a surprise), and we love that we can pick the text that goes on them. We love supporting handmade, and we just also just think they're beautiful.
And finally, for our secret holiday gift exchange pal - we actually have one of these pouches from Bungle Bear, and we use it to hold coupons and spare change. For $7, how can you go wrong? Brown nesting dolls on a cream background! We love it!
We know we love Etsy, but we're surprised at just how much excellent stuff we've come up with.We strongly suggest that anyone looking for a unique, handmade, reasonably priced gift check them out. Just order early, and don't hesitate - one of a kind stuff is usually just that, and doesn't come back around.
-LB
Wherein we discuss all the things we really, really want for Christmas, without really wanting them, if you know what we mean. Like, if we lived in a TV commercial, this is what would make us jump up and down. Er. For the chief engineer behind a website devoted (er, we like to think) to intelligent consumerism, we're feeling exceptionally un-consumerish these days.
Anyway: We still like jewelry, especially excellent little things that are all clever and subtle, like this. Adina Reyter gold tiny star nnecklace, $245
Because, when all else fails, our dogs will make us smile no matter what. Don't forget to enter our contest, and we've already gotten a whole bunch of entries! Just make sure to indicate what color you're entering for! We hope everyone has a safe, happy holiday this year.
-LB
We love Halloween! We do! We love kids in costumes, dogs in costumes, the general spookiness, the Great Pumpkin and Charlie Brown, and everything else!
And hey, what other day can you wear AA's Vegas Leggings and get away with it?
-LB
In today's Reader Mail:
Dear Bunnyshop,
I really liked your story last week about all the slutty nurse Halloween costumes, and how it can be so annoying sometimes. I was wondering: Will you ask everyone to name the best costume they ever saw? Will you answer it, too? I bet someone might have some really good ideas. Halloween's just around the corner!
Love,
T.The funniest costume we've ever seen was our ex-roommate, who is an ex-football player African-American, wearing a tennis skirt and carrying a racquet and calling himself Serena Williams. Actually, it was pretty mean, and we like Serena. But it was funny seeing our friend (who's a guy, if that's not already clear) in a skirt. Ha! We're easily amused, clearly.
Anyhoo: We'd love to hear from everyone their best Halloween costume sighting ever. Ideas, please!
Above: the Old Navy dog costume, $7.25
Today we summarize a batch of mail we have recently received, with this one, which most closely encapsulates the general vibe:
Dear Bunnyshop:
Halloween is just around the corner. I want to dress up, but I'm always freaked out by how everyone else at the parties is Slutty Nurse, Slutty Cowgirl, whatever. What can I do? I'm not even sure I want to go out at this point.
Love,
A. Oh, Halloween. We mean, really. We remember being in elementary school and dressing up as a "Dutch girl" (which we were, in fact, sort of) with the clogs and the peaked hat. And then maybe we'd be a hobo or a witch or whatever. We don't remember what happened in between elementary school and college, but something definitely had, because suddenly everyone was dressing like [Fill In Occuption] Slut. Or Slutty [Fill In Occupation. Slutty nurse, slutty secretary, slutty schoolteacher, etc. Here is a list from Extreme Halloween:
Sexy Dorothy
Glitter Mermaid
Vixen Pirate Wench
Mile High Captain Uniform
Pretty Plumber Costume
Wizard Wanda
Teacher's Pet Sexy School Girl
French Maid
Bettie Page
Sexy Saucy Marie Playboy Costume
We. Are. Just. Not doing this. We are boycotting. We will say: We have lived almost exclusively in cities with traditions of taking Halloween very seriously, and every once in a while—we saw a couple of these last year and were very pro, and were all, "Hmm, wish we could think of something that clever." But we can't. Unless we thought about it very, very hard. We're sure for some people, clever Halloween costumes come very naturally. For us, they do not, and we need that section of brain to figure out, say, how to ... knife? carve up? dice? an onion. (Because obviously we haven't entirely wrapped our head around it yet.) We will be somewhere between Austin, TX, and Denver, CO, for Halloween this year, and we are planning on spending it in a Motel 6 room somewhere (glam! not! but actually, we love Motel 6! as long as there are no meth addicts there! like that one time! at least we think it was meth!) watching Comedy Central or reading Suze Orman books or, we don't know, falling asleep.
Our position, in short: Fourth of July. Love it. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Labor Day. Pro. The thing about holidays is, we don't need to participate in all of them. Hate to be the grinch here, but for us: Halloween: pass.
Anybody else have a position?
We have not yet determined the recipient of the all-important Bunnyshop 2008 presidential endorsement, but we thought that instead of sharing that Posh-flag-waving picture for the third time, we would say that we really like Elizabeth Edwards.
Also: Shopbop sale on til midnight tonight! (Central time!) Of course the whole idea with these $20 off $100, $50 off $250 etc., is to get as close as possible to the amount you need to spend to get the discount, thus maximizing the percentage discount. So lovely that we are using all those math skills.
Above: Serfontaine Avatar jeans, $152 (-$20=$132. We could have done better, but we really like these jeans.)
So there it goes, 2006. Here's to a bigger, brighter, and ever better 2007. It is an idea that must be illustrated with this picture of a cat and a dog, commingling. We hope we will spend more money on clothes, less money on overdraft fees (fuck you, Bank of America, and fuck you again) and the same amount on wine, which means we will have maintained our one glass = tipsy, two glasses = asleep going-out style. We hope we will pay off some bills and still be able to afford one of the nicest pair of boots we have ever seen.
MXMJ button boots, $530
And we really, really, really, really hope we will get on The Amazing Race, because that will mean all of our dreams have come true.
Plus, the pole dancing.
2007: fingers crossed.
Back to even-better-than-full strength here on Tuesday.
And! We really are going to start sending out a newsletter soon. If you haven't signed up for it yet, now's the time. Really. Just send us your e-mail address here. We promise: nothing stupid. Nothing stupider, anyway.
MERRY CHRISTMAS XXXXOOOO BS
Our 2006 holiday malaise is a subject for another day—though we will say that if we see that TV ad where the kids go nuts over the robot box on Christmas morning, and this suddenly makes it okay for adults to be equally pant-y about a new BMW, one more time, we will put a screwdriver through our temple—but: If you know any very small children, 'this might be a very suitable present.
We are totally against "pornaments," we would like to say. They are not the Christmas miracle of which we have dreamed.
They are, however, completely sold out, everywhere on the planet. Our fingers: not on the cultural pulse, apparently. Pornaments from Rubberroom, prices vary but most sold out
Our favorite moment of the day just happened, and it was when we remembered we bought a cookie from Mrs. Fields and forgot to eat it, meaning it should be somewhere in our apartment, just waiting for us. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find it. This is not as upsetting an event as we might have thought. Really we are just happy knowing that the cookie is out there.
Still, there was a dark lining to our silver cloud of cookie-ness. That, we have to say, is our least favorite thing about good news, in that there is so typically bad news involved in there somewhere. (We know, the optimism is just tremendous.) There is no dark lining, we are delighted to say, with the new holiday collection from Jocasi, which we are extremely excited about.
This is what we want the most: Metallic Gatecrasher waist belt, about $100
Gold clutch. Seriously. All you need is a gold clutch, and you're covered for 90% of holiday-party scenarios. Metallic Brockenhurst, about $100
Generally we pass on printed handbags leather handbags—it's like, hmm, what?—but these we actually quite like. Japan print Merlot bag, about $155
Holiday season. More fun when you are buying presents for yourself, we're thinking. We've always thought, we should say.
All we're hearing re: Smythson is their new designer-designed line, like this one from Missoni. This is possibly too much design for us. Fashion Diary by Missoni, about $410
We sort of like the Zac Posen one, but still we're thinking it takes up a little bit too much space in our brain. ZP Fashion Diary, about $410
We guess what we're thinking is that the limited-edition line gives us a little bit of a headache. Maybe we would buy it for a friend, if we had a friend we loved $400 much. Do we? Maybe we do, maybe we don't. But this is about buying for ourselves—even saying that, we feel a little dirty, but we persevere. Persevere in our greediness. We love this fashion diary, for what it is, which is a ridiculous indulgence. We will put it this way: If we found $400 on the street, and we were forced to spend it at Smythson, we would definitely spend it on this. Smythson Fashion Diary (featuring "Smythson edited fashion title section including fashion show dates, fashion council listings and fashion guides to London, Paris, New York and Milan. The city listings include fashion, jewellery and accessory shop addresses, places to eat, drink and stay, city maps, national holidays and key days and dates as well as year planners for 2007 and 2008"), about $350
Thanksgiving night conversation:
A: "Did you know that the Christiana mall is open at 3 a.m.?"
B: "No way."
A: "It is."
B: "And all the stores are open? All of them? Because you know you're going to get there and it's going to be you and the inspirational paintings store."
A: "No. It's all of them."
[Pause.]
A: "Tax-free, in Delaware."
[Pause.]
B: "Do you want to go?"
A: "Do you want to go?"
[Endless pause of non-commital-ness. End scene.]
Honestly, this is the one day of the year we're staying as far from anything with a cash register, excepting doughnut stores, which we truly intend to make our first stop.
Ooh, we're lying to ourselves. But we're going to try to resist the power.
If you are in as web-surf-y a mood as we are, we would like to suggest:
- Our stylist's current top suggestions for the holiday-party onslaught
- Our short-lived love for booties
- Our top holiday songster, if going to IKEA is considered a holiday
- Our favorite holiday jewelry
Velvet dresses make us think of holiday buffet tables and shaking hands with cousins whose names you're not entirely convinced of, but still: Isn't this a pretty dress? We don't love it as much as the French Connection one, but still: love the balloon hem, and bow-shoulder. If we knew anyone who had a real job, at a company with a budget for fancy holiday events, first of all we would be so happy. And second of all, we would totally make this person, who would obviously earn much more money than us, buy this dress for us.
DVF velvet dress, $385
Holiday dress = sequins + black = much easier that way, really. Honestly, "holiday" might be our favorite word on the planet. Such a lovely mixture of cookies, parties, and island vacations.
Metallic dresses. Make holiday dressing less complicated. To be honest, we just want the gold Burberry dress Sienna Miller wore to Anglomania at the Met.
As that is currently unavailable, and completely unaffordable even if it was, we look now at other gold, silver and similar dresses. Because as far as we're concerned, wearing the same dress to half of our holiday parties is not a problem.
This is almost too similar to the Burberry, without being quite similar enough. And we wish the waist was a little more nipped in, and the neckline a little more generous. And we are opposed, really, to designers biting each other. Oh, we wish and wish and wish. Malcontents, really. Privee metallic mini dress, $345
We looooooove this dress and if we were attending a suitably fancy event we would buy it in the number of heartbeats it took for us to type our little credit card numbers into the computer. Vera Wang gold dress, was $670, now $402
This is a little overload-y but we've seen it close up and we think it's excellent. Gold, in dress form, is, in our opinion, always preferable in mini-dress form. Sylphes dress, $298
This is sort of the opposite of the one above, in that it is very sleepy. But sometimes we don't need our gold mini-dresses to do quite as much as we think we do. Empire waists always make us ask ourselves the question: Is it at all in any way possible that I look like I am growing a child, or a teddy bear, or a bowling ball beneath this dress? And only when we can truly answer in the negative do we proceed. Vince silk charmeuse dress, $230
The Bunny "We freaking hate this freaking holiday, as it is not a holiday, it is only an excuse for bazillion iterations of the 'Dirty [Fill In Occupation]' costumes" Shop Halloween costume:
Part 1: Unisex knee-high tube socks, $10
Part 2: Interlock running shorts, $22
Part 3: Sheer scoop neck t-shirt in white, $22
Part 4: Lame triangle top, $26
Part 5: Cooperletter letters from Dutch Trade Shop that read "UNDERAGE," two sheets at $8 per sheet
Part 6: 32-oz. spray bottle for instant wet-t-shirt American Apparel shoot, $2.99
Part 7: American Apparel model "costume," composed entirely of items we already own, except for the kneesocks and the spray bottle, which we are sure we will find some reasonable post-holiday use for, priceless.
First we must say: We want pictures of everyone's favorite costumes. Send them in. The favorite wins another Bumble & bumble prize. Deadline is Friday. Send them here.
Honestly: We hate Halloween. This dates back to a year we can no longer remember, when, supposedly, or at least as we remember it, some nefarious gang was, like, promoting members based on the number of women they slashed on Halloween. We're not even sure if this is true, but we remember being very, very scared about it. That doesn't mean it was true, either, because we can remember being scared of like nine billion things that do not exist, or at least probably do not pose much actual harm. (Marauding asteroids? Rutting deer? The Sandinistas? Check, check, and check.) Nevermi
