Style Forum Special from Music Guy on Vimeo.

Have a spare 45 minutes? Well worth watching this extremely interesting Tom Ford documentary!

We’re going to Sundance next week, which means we need to stock up on sweaters, boots, and hats—stat. We have none of that at the moment. It’s basically a disaster. A very cold disaster.

This has also piqued our interest in buying a Fair Isle sweater. We are obsessed with Fair Isle, and would go there right this minute if we could, even if it’s very cold and dark there. We adore this sweater, which appears in the new NYLON, and we’re annoyed because it was on sale at the Juicy Couture store but is no longer. Juicy Couture Fair Isle sweater, $200

We just went through a million of them on ShopStyle, and we, sadly, cannot recommend a single one. Either the color palette’s too boring or the shape is all wrong. Luckily, we only need one in our closet—and this one’s it.

Ha! That first week of work was really just too busy. Hmm. We’re not like so into the super busy, but there it is.

When not being just entirely too busy, we rediscovered one of our favorite things about shopping in NYC: the own-brand jewelry line at In God We Trust. This is already one of our favorite stores here, because everything is super cool and not very expensive, like our favorite new white-rimmed sunglasses. Ditto the jewelry: It’s that super cute delicate stuff we always want but can rarely find.

The bitty heart necklace is the perfect example: so small! So delicate! But perfect as an everyday-jewelry type of thing. Bitty heart necklace, $80

We’re seeing arrowheads everywhere. We’re trying to figure out how to get ahead of the next trend. Rocks? Melons? Darts? We’re going to keep guessing. In the meantime: Arrowhead necklace in oxidized silver,

These are totally wear-them-everyday earrings. There is such a theme going on here. Cage stud earrings, $120

This is our favorite but we’re putting it at the bottom because it’s so expensive. Arrow Point Cluster necklace in 14k gold, $400

Anyway, five picks from Madewell.

One of the very few Alexa Chung pieces left in the sale. Penny shirt, was $145, now $79.99

Buy now, and save for summer or wear with tights. Everybody’s doing it. Crosswalk sandal, was $188, now $79.99

A classic cardigan in warm merino wool. Bookworm cardigan, was $110, now $89.99

This is a fascinating (because we don’t do it often) departure from skinny jeans, just right for weekends. Widelegger jeans, were $125, now $49.99

This totally reminds us of Kristen Wiig’s top in Bridesmaids, which was also Madewell, if not this exact model. Softballer tee, was $42, now $24.99

So we took our first trip to the Marimekko flagship yesterday. Now: We love the Finnish textiles maker. It’s so bright! It’s so cheerful! We even like their clothes, which sort of look like someone took Marimekko fabric and wrapped it around a mannequin and then tied a belt around it. And we have, truly, been stalking their upholstery fabric section for as long as we can remember.

The problem with Marimekko is several-fold, and these were all problems we saw reflected in our foraging trip to the flagship. As adorable as it is, it can be difficult to live with, since it is screaming MARIMEKKO MARIMEKKO MARIMEKKO at you the entire time. The iconic prints are the best—but you’ve seen them 100 times before, just like we have. So as much as we like the Tuuli shower curtain, we just can’t go there—it’s the Coca Cola rugby shirt of shower curtains. (Whaddup, 1989!) Ditto the bloom print. Or, it’s just kind of ridiculous. We want all of it, and we want none of it. It’s a conundrum. We think of this situation as similar to Orla Kiely in that the emphasis is on the prints and textiles…but we actually want to live with Orla Kiely stuff, and the clothes make more sense there.

Actually, the one thing we did sort of want was a book that gave instructions for making little sewing projects with Marimekko fabric and was, more or less, about tying belts around things.

Also: this book was $49! We didn’t want it after that.

We sifted through the sale section, both online and in the store, and didn’t see much worth talking about—except maybe this dress for the spring.

Kori dress, was $225, now $135

Eh. It has a tie-belt. Really, we think, the only thing we really, truly want from Marimekko is a souvenir of its beautiful, iconic prints, because that, at this point, is where they work best: immortalized as art, rather than masquerading as our exciting new shower curtain. Luckily, they have plenty of copies of this book in stock:

Marimekko: Fabrics Fashion Architecture, $44.10

Marimekko flagship
200 Fifth Avenue, NYC
N/R to 23rd Street

Anyway, while we are all hopefully still on break (whether figuratively or slightly more literally), we wanted to make a suggestion. Chances are high you have already heard of this service, but if not, it is the best money we spend each month: Spotify’s Premium service. It’s $9.99 a month, which is the high-class option that allows for offline playing of playlists. This means that you can basically listen to anything, anywhere, forever [or as long as you pay them $9.99 a month.] We hesitate to mention it, because we figure you’ve already heard about it. But hey! Maybe you had heard about it but didn’t know there was a free trial going on?

Also, we made up a little Bunnyshop playlist for 2012. Click on the link, and it’ll take you to Spotify, where you can register. There’s some good music there!

We thought it might be interesting to take a look at awesome examples of gift wrapping today. Of course, most of our presents will be presented in, perhaps, brown paper bags, or perhaps just as is, a condition we describe as “au naturel.” (Because we’re lazy.)

We will say, though, that washi tape is the absolute best and most all-purpose wrapping agent ever. (See above.) And cheap: This set is $30, but individual rolls can be as little as a couple dollars. Washi tape set, $30

We especially like washi tape for books because it is easy as fuck. Here is our own usage:

There are several more million books about it at Kinokuniya, but if you’re stuck with Amazon, here’s our pick:

Japanese Washi Paper Crafts, $12.62

We also like this ridiculously great table (and some other washi projects) from Apartment Therapy.

This weekend, we were in San Francisco for the Renegade Craft Fair, and as usual, we saw a load of great stuff that would make awesome gifts. These are our favorites.

Actually, we didn’t even see this at the show. But we wish we had, because we totally would have bought it. Brass chevron triangle, $46

We really love her necklaces most but can’t find them online, so will make do with these lovely laser-cut designs. Molly M Designs print (medium size), $40

Also, we think this is a really good iPhone case for a dude, or a little brother, or similar. Or a girl! Whatevs, obvs. We actually had our stand next to the lovely Wooly Bison, and can reveal that she sold loads and loads of stuff. iPhone military-canvas case, $22

There are nine million iPad cases for sale, but we happen to like the people who make this one the best. Rickshaw Bagworks case, $30

We’ve been whining so much about holiday shopping that we thought we’d put up the funniest thing we’ve ever seen. These are Seven Minutes in Heaven with Mike O’Brien, an SNL writer, and they are amazing.

We forgot how much we hate shopping at this time of year. We love shopping. And we love (pretty much) the holidays. The two together: nein! No! Never! It’s all of what we like least about shopping (crowds, lines, high prices), plus cold weather. Please forgive us if we’re posting a little less than usual—we just object to money being shaken out of our pockets by the holiday-industrial complex. On the flip side, we’re so excited for the spring collections we can hardly stand it. When we were in high school, we worked at the Gap—actually Gap Kids—and every year, we’d get Holiday I and Holiday II—basically, lots of black, super brights, sequin—Christmas party colors. And then in January, once the sales were done, we’d get the most beautiful transitional collection in for January—all nautical stripes, whites, and soft colors. We’re psyched to go home and for Christmas and presents and all that—but man we look forward to going back to shopping with a bit of mental space in the mix.

Until then, we’ll be featuring bits and pieces here and there that we’re into—like this coin purse by Tracy Tanner, $39. We need this because every night we come home and take off our jeans and freak out when all the change falls out of our pockets. Also: Neat pattern and color, no?