We really thought we'd had enough of the online sample sale, until we heard that Lil Bunny got two Foley + Corinna bags for about $5 at HauteLook. We. Are. Converted. Aggravatingly it's too late to partake of that one, but NB: William Rast is up today. These above are seriously on sale, but we're sure HauteLook will have some equally excellent buys. Consider the Kool-Aid ingested.
William Rast flares, were $249, now $99
So we've never smoked pot, but we have been on the loser's end of a gas leak the last 13 hours, so ... we're really not sure if we can assemble a subject-verb sentence at the moment. We are wondering if this is what smoking pot is like. We are guessing no, but with significant loss of brain cells. Anyhoo, in today's Reader Mail—and by the way, more than ever, you'll be helping us out if you have a reader mail question to email us:
Dear BS:
I know I've read here before that you hate capri jeans. Me too! But I'm obligated to wear them at my summer job. Can you find one pair you like, please?
Thanks!
B.
Oh! We do hate them, and fiercely. They are designed to make short people look shorter, an unpleasant situation by any measure. But we will say we particularly hate the shorter ones, that come right below the knee. We were in Dubai last week, and noticed loads of fellow Westerners in them, skirting by the whole no-bare-knees thing. (We very grumpily wore ankle-length jeans the entire time.) But if we were forced to wear them, we'd wear these—these are practically ankle-length, in any case.
We do love those chunky heels as well, btw.
We're wondering: Does anyone else hate capri jeans as much as we do?
Above: William Rast capris, $190
In today's Reader Mail:
I just finished grad school and am about to start my first real job with real benefits and stuff. I was a Peace Corps volunteer before grad school, so I've really never done the professional dress thing. I'll be working for an NGO in Washington DC and basically need to buy a whole new wardrobe of office worthy stuff. Most of my money will be going towards my student loans, so I was wondering if you or your readers have any tips on being thrifty and professional—any staples I should have? Stores I should know about? Any advice would be appreciated!
We've apparently gotten much more comfortable with posting questions we can't personally answer, because this is definitely one of those. One of the funny things—oh, ha ha!—about being freelancer is that you can basically judge your periods of feast and famine by your clothes, because you'll buy a whole bunch of things when you're actually making enough money to support yourself, and then go eight months without buying anything. The good thing, though, is that you can pretty much get by as long as you have your interview dress (we're still looking), the dress for when your friends get married (H&M!), and leggings (American Apparel). But to the question above—as we say, we don't even have the interview dress. We go to the store and think we've found it, then bring it home and realize that we definitely have not.
When we get really desperately broke we'll work in an office, as we did this past very-early-spring, and we swear we wore the same sweater at least three times a week. But we hated them so it didn't matter.
So we're really looking for outside information: What's your number-one office staple? And where do you buy it?
We think ours would be some professional-looking jeans, but what do we know? Nada. Joe's Jeans trouser jeans, $174
Above: Lately all we want is Diane von Furstenberg. We will say that we quite like her American Express—it is American Express, right?—ad, where she goes out and talks to the trees. DVF sandals, $275
And these may be exactly the jeans that we need. Dark, slight flare, etc. It's well past time we returned to the flare \ flair. People's Liberation jeans, $180
In today's Reader Mail:
Dear BS:
Everywhere I go, I'm seeing people with their jeans rolled up. What's up with this? Are you doing it? Should I?
Baffled,
R.
We know! As soon as we got this message, we started seeing this everywhere we went. (As above, which we took this weekend a half-block from our house.) This to us is suspiciously like one of those fashion memos that go out and then everyone does it, and then it's a trend. When we were in Paris last month, we saw all these kids—12-14, we judge—sucking pacifiers. This is practically the same thing to us.
We're still wearing skinny jeans that are too tight for breathing, much less rolling. If we had looser jeans? Well, we do enjoy wearing them long, and walking on top of the hems with our shoes, and grinding sidewalk-dirt into our jeans. But the whole thing reminds us of last week's Law and Order: SVU, when Robin Williams started talking about all the sheep. The other cool cats out there who watched this with us will know what we're talking about.
We want to add that we love both pairs of shoes here.
Who's rolling up their jeans?
Edited to add: We felt very sure of our position when we wrote this post—but then we were out this morning at a meeting, and while we were looking for the bathroom at 202 in the Chelsea Market, we found a full-length mirror—and lo and behold, one leg of our too-long gray jeans were rolled up! And we looked at them, and were like, "hmm, so we're not getting them all dirty." And then we reached down and rolled the other one up. Fickle!
Our taste meter must be totally off on this by the way, because we thought that was the greatest SVU ever, and apparently everyone in the entire world thinks we're wrong.
The last recipe for the day! From M.:
I hope you're thirsty. Instead of sodas, in addition to lemonade, we drink this orange smoothie lots.
1 cup milk
1 cup ice water
6 oz can of frozen OJ
buncha ice cubes (8-12)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 cup sugar
pour into blender and blend for 2 minutes
yum. yum. yum.
That's it for now! Don't miss part one or two, if you're so inclined.
And finally: the cropped pants, $92
The next recipe is from S. It's the last one for today, but don't miss part one!
My favorite summer recipe is a strawberry shortcake sorta thing with hot milk cake. I found the recipe on epicurious and it is le awesome!
Ingredients
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 extra-large eggs
2/3 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons self-rising flour
2/3 cup whole milk
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound large strawberries, hulled, thinly sliced lengthwise
1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray six 3/4-cup custard cups with nonstick spray. Using electric mixer, beat eggs in medium bowl at high speed until thick, about 3 minutes. Gradually beat in 2/3 cup sugar; beat until thick and pale yellow, about 1 minute longer. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Add flour and beat 30 seconds. Bring milk and butter just to boil in small saucepan, stirring until butter melts. Add hot milk mixture to batter; beat until blended and smooth, about 30 seconds. Divide batter among prepared cups. Place cups on rimmed baking sheet.
Bake cakes until tops rise (tall rounded peak will form in center of each), turn pale golden, and are firm to touch, about 16 minutes. Cool in cups at least 20 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cool completely in cups, then cover and let stand at room temperature.
Toss strawberries and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in medium bowl to coat; let stand 20 minutes for juices to form. Using electric mixer, beat cream, powdered sugar, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon vanilla in another medium bowl until peaks form.
Remove warm or room-temperature cakes from cups and transfer to bowls. Cut off rounded top of each cake.
Spoon some of berries and juices over. Cover berries with tops of cakes. Spoon whipped cream over, garnish with remaining berries and juices, and serve.
Above: We swear, we only buy premium denim during sales. Hudson jeans, were $176, now $123.20
We are so torn by J. Brand's new organic cotton mini-line! ("Mini" as in two choices.) Why are they not skinny? Why? We don't, we just don't get it. We're shaking our head, and moving on. Luckily, we're totally into this idea of wide(ish)-legged jeans at the moment, but we don't know why you don't make your big eco move with your brand-signature style.
We love this dress. We wish it were a couple inches shorter, but otherwise, we're in organic-cotton love. Linda Loudermilk wrap dress, $280
(Not organic cotton, but in hemp:) Like the dress above, from Beklina, one of our new favorite sites. Hand-printed scarves, $45
C&C California have a load of organic-cotton tops (as we would suspect they might), of which this is our favorite. C&C California organic cotton dress, $110
This tote bag design is a little bit more ... hippy than we tend to go, but lately we've been watching a lot of Jesus Christ Superstar so maybe it's all good. And if we had a nickel for every time we've bee called a "free spirit," we'd be writing this from our mansion-house. Organic cotton tote, $29
The next recipe is from A.—or see the next one, here.
Don't let the name confuse you. This is an EXCELLENT chilled summer dessert!
2 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
3 egg whites
Soak gelatin in cold water, dissolve in boiling water. Add sugar and lemon juice. Stir until mixture thickens, then add to stiffly beaten egg whites. Beat until thick enough to stack- be sure the gelatin mixture doesn't settle to the bottom!!! (or as Mom says "Beat like h---!").
Refrigerate.
Custard Sauce
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
Scald milk in double boiler. Add sugar and salt to slightly beaten egg yolks. Combine 2 mixtures and continue cooking until custard coats spoon.
To serve: Spoon "snow" into individual serving dishes. Top with custard. Custard can be served warm or chilled.
See the next recipe here. Above: AG Adriano Goldschmied jeans, were $168, now $117.60
We like our jeans best when they're $140 off. Click here for the sale item of the day.
In today's Reader Mail:
Bunnyshop-
I think your site is above and beyond this [ed note: we are above nothing; we are practically sea-level in this], but I wonder if you could ask your readers if anyone knows of any kind of pants that have a fit that is similar to Express. I am having a huge problem finding pants that fit. I am tall and thin and have virtually no hips or butt. Express fits, but not every style. It is also expensive. I am on the verge wearing the same pair of pants over and over and over like a European .....
Please help. Thanks.
L.
Let us say this: We are definitely that sort of person, who—well, for we don't really wear a lot of pants, being more of a denim sort, but when we find a fit we like, we don't stray. (Topshop Baxters, pls—cheap and they fit, so perfection.) So we say—European or no, if you find a fit you like, stock up. We are reminded of this story we once heard about Drew Barrymore being a particular Anthropologie shirt in every color in came in, though maybe this was more a story about the rich being eccentric than anything else. We see nothing wrong with the repeated wear—that's actually more our style, in all things, actually. We once ate the same thing for dinner every night for two months. We can be a bit focused like that.
Anyway! Who has a suggestions for L.? Since Express doesn't do online sales we're showing our Topshop jeans, but you get the idea. These are so the jeans we want: not even dark blue but navy. Paradoxically, so super-duper spring, if you ask us. Baxter navy skinny jeans, $80
Wide-leg jeans! We're completely converted. These are on sale.... Anlo jeans, were $198, now $89
But we also like these summer-weight ones. Anthropologie jeans, $110
In today's Reader Mail:
Dear BS:
I'm looking for a new brand of jeans. Can you tell me what yours is, and your favorite style from them, and maybe a little about your body type? (And ask everyone else?) Thanks!
XO,
D.
Well, this is an easy question, and we like few things more. All of the jeans we're wearing now are Topshop skinny jeans: buy enough of them, rather than the $200 premium types, and there's sufficient savings to pay for the ticket to Britain. (Or, er, buy one, and it'll cover way more than the shipping.)
Above: snow-wash Baxter jeans, $80
In today's Reader Mail:
Dear Bunny,
I see that you were recently in Paris - le sigh! I leave for Paris this weekend; it's my first time there. Since you manage to be sassy and fashion-y while being totally reasonable, I want to know: what are the must-pack items for gallery hopping, landmark visiting, marathon meals and general wandering about?
Lots of love,
C
Toronto
Oh, we just love the travel-y questions! First, we must say, our top top top recommendation for Paris will always be: Caves Saint-Gilles, a tapas restaurant in the Marais (our favorite neighborhood, btw.) It is amazing. It is so great we spent a birthday there, and our friend K. spoke Spanish to all the waiters, and it was amazing. We don't even mind using that word twice, it was that great.
We spent our time in Paris on the border of the 4th and the 11th, and we prefer this part of the city to any other. Maybe it's not the Louvre, but we love love love the Promenade Plantee, an elevated park tres pres de la Bastille—it's the prettiest thing in Paris, especially at this time of year. We were there a week and a half ago, and it was fucking snowing. But we've been there this time of year in years previous, and it's been perfect.
If you have any interest in contemporary art, we beg you not to miss the Sophie Calle show at the National Library.
Shopping wise, you have to hit Colette, Spree, and basically everywhere in the Marais—we are paper freaks so we adore Papier Plus, also in the Marais.
Anyway, this is clearly supposed to be about clothing. Three things hit us on this most recent trip:
1: We saw a million girls in swing jackets. Anthro swing set jacket, $118
2: High-waisted, wide-leg jeans. We didn't think anyone actually wore these, but we saw them all over the place and were totally jealous. 18th Amendment Colbert jeans, $218
3: Scarves. We could practice for a thousand million years and we will never be able to wrap a scarf like a French woman can. Topshop scarf, $30
Ooh, so if we had any money left over after paying our taxes (which we won't) we would use it on Shopbop's Tax Day discount code: $25 of purchases of $150, $100 off $500, etc. We'd get: these jeans....
J. Brand high-waist jeans, were $187, after sale and discount around $120
and, since we'd need to spend $150 (pre-discount), this Helmut Lang tank. Then we'd be all, Why'd we get that tank top we barely even wanted just to get the discount? And we only needed to spend $20? Tss. Anyway. Helmut Lang tank, $140
We feel like we have been living out of a suitcase for the last 2 weeks - we've only been in 3 or 4 states, but the travel has been so consistent that we have not had time to do things like laundry. We wouldn't say we have a ton of clothes, but we definitely missed the variety we have while on the road. We also busted a pair of jeans (R.I.P Joe's Socialites. We had a good 4 year run.), completely stretched out another pair, and wore American Apparel running shorts far, far more than we would like to admit.
We got home super late the night before last, and we stayed home from work to recoup. By recoup, we mean call our traveling companion that we just spent the last 5 days with and go out shopping with her. We were in desperate need of some jeans. We went to the mall, and after complimenting our friend on her jeans (that she wore all week and we could've sworn were 7s), we were floored to find out they were from a brand called iT. We imagine it's a clever play on 'it' rather than 'information technology' or whatever IT stands for. We were in a trying-on mood, so we were happily surprised to find out that they fit well, are relatively inexpensive, and are a little under the radar.
Here are our favorite pairs, but we would definitely suggest checking around stores - the pair we got today was about $35.
Above, the standby of dark and skinny - but with the nice touch that the back end is higher than the front, so the butt-gap should be less so.
Rising Starlet, $74
These have a horribly unfortunate name, but we love the simplicity behind them. We have to say - we love our super skinny jeans, our bright blue, our nicely faded - but these are just the kind of jeans we would wear every day and dread when we had to put them in the wash. They even come in 2 lengths!
We would wear these work every day. Seriously. We bought one pair and we're tempted to return the new pair of Joe's we got and 3 more of these. We do wonder who the hell they have naming their products, though.
Dream Diva, $74
-LB
Loads of them! These are definitely the favorite, as they are somewhat normal. Garland jeans, now $109
These are slightly less normal. Lollobrigida jeans, now $218
And these are even less normal, though Le Train Bleu says they're 18th Amendment's most popular. There goes our trend-spotting abilities. Colbert jeans, $218
They are feeling a bit 2006/7 to us, but still: gray jeans! They go so nicely with all of our favorite spring colors: lemon yellow and cobalt blue.
Above: MiH Oslo jeans, $220
And the version that costs about 15%: we're sure these are cuter on than they look from the image. They sort of look like something you'd wear on a hayride here, we're thinking. Forever 21 straight-leg jeans, $29
Seasonal affective disorder: We get it! With, in our opinion, everyone else in the appropriate hemisphere. We fucking hate winter. Hate it, hate it, hate it. But it's over! Done and dusted! We checked, and Yahoo! Answers (whatever) is saying that spring began this morning at 5:48 GMT ,which is, we think, 12:48 a.m. Eastern time. Hallelujah! We are so doing the flip-flopping hemispheres thing, as we have previously planned.
Moving forward, for no particular reason, the five things we want most for spring. Once again, we ask everyone else what they would like for spring.
More than anything, dark denim jeans. We honestly cannot believe we haven't bought these yet. Citizens high-waisted Genevas, $180
A super-bright dress. This is for the lifting of the spirit following the long, dark, but surprisingly non-snowy winter. Cathay circle dress, $294
Cuffed shorts. Cuffed shorts, in our opinion, make legs look slimmer. And that is the only sort of weight-management consideration we are ever going to get into here. American Eagle, by the way, is rapidly becoming our under-$30 clothing source. (By the way, that ridiculous self-tie is removable.) AE Paper Bag shorts, were $39.50, now $29.50
Gladiator sandals. Easy peasy, and these are cheap. Hopefully functioning as a slightly more together version of Havaianas. Topshop sandals, $30
Pink lip gloss. The only proper shade for spring. Tragically, the shade we're talking about has nothing to do with the one pictures. We want the frosted pink. Surprisingly adaptable! Stila Lip Glaze, $22
It's that time again! New Kate Moss at Topshop. We can't look away. Even if everyone in the world is like, 'Er, can we please get Agyness Deyn for Topshop?'
We love this top because it is very Tucker but like 1/3rd the price, which, given the exchange rate, is incredible. Oh! We hate our international currency policy! KM for Topshop star-print blouse, $70
We don't mean to gross anybody out, but we totally threw up all over our last Kate Moss jeans. Before that, though, we loved them. We love TS denim: super cheap (compared to US premium brands) and fits awesome. Awesomely. Whatev. Zip skinny jeans, $90
We're not sure this qualifies as special, but we guess we like this top. So. Like we said. Agyness for Topshop? We're waiting. Double layer top, $56
In today's Reader Mail:
Dear BS:
Can I please get your position on light-blue jeans, like these? I'm torn.
Love,
A.
We will say this: Once, we were so excited, because our friend Elizabeth had come all the way from Greece to visit us. We went all the way out to Newark to meet her at the airport, and brought her back to our apartment, where she fell asleep (jetlag) and then, when she woke up like a billion hours later, told her that her jeans were too light to go outside, and that what worked in Greece wasn't going to work in New York. We regret being a twat. But our prejudice has lingered.
We are literally tapping our fingers on a desk. We can't help it: Despite years of ill will toward the light jeans, we want to wear them. We would not wear them after, like, four o'clock in the afternoon. We still need new dark jeans much, much more. But these are so nice, and would go with our nice yellow cardigan so nicely.... We say yes. Who does everyone else say?
We don't know why the model isn't wearing any shoes, but ... Ksubi jeans! 70% off! She should have been able to at least afford flip-flops.
Ba-dum-dum.
Ksubi jeans, were $265, now $79.50
You know those times when "sale" means "actually still quite expensive"? This is one of those times. But it's eLuxury, so we can't say we weren't warned, and if we learned one thing from working Fashion Week, it's that sometimes, as much as want to rationalize it about 100 other ways, we really need to spend a whole fuckload more money on clothes than we spend. Fucking fashion industry. But again: We can't say we weren't warned. In any case, if we had an all-out event that we needed an all-out outfit for, we'd rather get it on sale. (Or at Century 21. Can we just say: We're finally getting double-duty out of a dress we wore to a friend's wedding last year, and are wearing to our best friend's wedding in two weeks) and we are practically jumping up and down with joy. Century 21 was where we bought our lovely $550 Filippa K dress for $49.99(!)).
Anyhoo: final clearance at eLuxury! We don't think there's any getting around the fact that this is a gorgeous dress. Versace gathered dress, was $1550, now $697
These are basically the only jeans in the entire sale that we want. Or would accept as a present. J Brand straight legs, were $158, now $109
This may be the most beautiful jacket we've ever seen. Narciso Rodriguez wool jacket, was $2170, now $977
We love how weird and Marc Jacobs-y this is. Marc by Marc Jacobs silk chiffon dress, was $388, now $289
We have two things to say about this dress: (1) It is incredibly unflattering. (2) We can't stop looking at it. The fact that (1) is not enough to override (2) is our personal cross to bear. Karta bubble dress, was $334, now $199
Dark jeans. We absolutely, positively need dark dark dark jeans. We actually had a conversation, with our boss, as to whether our jeans were sufficiently dark. (They weren't.) They amazing thing about dark jeans is that, in our opinion, they are basically black pants without being pants, but, rather, jeans. And we thought about it, and if they cost a day's salary, then they just cost a day's salary. They're a necessary part, we're realizing, of our work-world closet.
These are our top choice: We really want something slim but not skinny; they just require too much attention, and we really need something to be a workhorse. This is what we want: so dark they're almost black, and no bright stitching. Hudson boot cuts, $154
And these are our second choice. Citizens of Humanity Geneva Kelly boot cuts, $172
These are also the right color. And because they're Forever 21, they cost about 1/7th as much. Gyselle jeans, $27.80
These are basically the skinny dark jeans of our dreams, and about half the cost of the premium ones. Madewell jeans, $98.50
And another reasonably priced choice: Lux skinny jeans, were $68, now $49.99
