Target: Devi Kroell

Devi Kroell, the designer behind the luxurious bejeweled and python clutches below, has come out with a more affordable line for Target. Her usual line is the perfect touch for a cocktail party or for a afternoon of meandering down Oak Street.

These two beauties are a little over $1000 which places them in the "aspirational" or "I'm not going to pay my rent this month" category of our wish list.

Kroell's line at Target, however, does not flirt with any number higher than 50 and is so cute and functional.

This little gold clutch will add some sparkle to your usual summer sundress ensemble and can hold the essentials as you run to the Whole Foods for a peach ice tea run. Since the clutch is $30 you can afford to pick up a few iced teas for your friends and share the love.


This tiny python print purse is perfect for night. The moody grey will look great with a purple jersey dress or even your standard lbd. And it's only $20! Who needs real python when you have youth and long nights with your buds ahead of you?

So, head to Target for more from Devi Kroell. She even has a couple of totes that could be used for work or school.

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Summer Trend: Metallic Nails

Black nails served us all well through the winter. Even if I looked like a giant puff schlepping in the snow, i felt a little more chic because of my darkly stained nails. Then we transitioned to white nails for spring, a look that was oddly appealing and reminded me of lazy afternoons in middle school, using white out as a top coat.

My favorite tiny fashionista is my littlest sister SAB and when I was dabbling with black nail polish she had already moved on to the world of metallic tones. She rocked a silvery color that I always used on vacations home (Its Wet and Wild and goes on surprisingly smooth).

So, inspired by the adorable SAB I have been on my own hunt for the perfect metallic shade. I found it last week at Max Studio when I noticed the pixie featured saleswoman's nails. They were a sharp blue with a metallic sheen. She told me her color was from OPI and after intensive Google research, I present to you, the ultimate summer shade: blue my mind by OPI.

It's fun but not offensive (some of those day-glo shades can be painfully tacky) and the metallic touch adds some glamour to a very downtown look.



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Chanel Couture

The Fall '07 Couture collections are debuting in Paris and this means oodles of decadent clothing.

This was the most stunning piece from Chanel. She's drizzled in sequins and the inside of the cape looks like a controlled version of a drip painting. I also love the Amelia Earheart'esque head covering, its like she's sashaying down a airplane runway, about to take flight.

If I had to buy one look from this collection it would be this short sequin dress. I love the bows on the shoulders and the draping cape makes it look less like a Paris Hilton party dress and more elegant and fit for somebody like Queen Rania.


There were 2 versions of this jigsaw dress. The other one grazed the gravel with a little tulle at the bottom and looked like something a mermaid would wear if she was visiting above the water for a day. I like this style especially because of the bunched leather leggings.
N.B. You my dear can probably never pull off leather leggings. But if you have the build of a model or the attitude of one, start looking for a pair. You'll probably have to wriggle into them, laying on your bed and pinching your eyes (and belly) so hard you'll start to tear, but paired with a lacey or more demure top, you'll look like a sexy rockstar, kind of like Kate Moss at Glastonbury (PVC leggings, the woman is superhuman)

What I love about this look is the length added onto the tweed coat. This jacket would look perfect with a skirt (something a first lady might wear...obviously not Laura Bush, someone more on the lines of Cécilia Sarkozy) or with ripped skinny jeans (like an Olsen twin).
I just love the universality of Chanel and the multitude of ways her look has been reinterpreted by Lagerfeld and the women who absorb the style in their own distinct way. ++
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From Malevich to Marc Jacobs

I've been obsesed with this Marc by Marc Jacobs frock for months. I love the tiny squares, varying in shade of grey and solid and striped patterns. It looks like mini glass panes but all that it reflects is your excellent taste. I also love the dainty collar and how it upturns gently on each side.

It reminds me of the geometric art of Kazimir Malevich. Both Marc and Malevich use small geometric pieces to create something larger: a sparkling dress or pioneering art.

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Guernica: from Picasso to Rushdie and Rifat Ozbek

Salman Rushdie's tale "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers" places the fantastical red slippers at the center of a raucous auction. The characters, from witches to political refugees, are all desperate to return to some time, some body or some place. They drip with desire for this tool and are armed with Uzi's and couture jackets.

One woman wears Picasso's Guernica on her back. The bombing of the Spanish town displayed on her body.


I came across this dress by Rifat Ozbek and was instantly reminded of the scene in Rushdie's novel. The Guernica'esque figures are etched onto her cool grey metallic shift.

I can see her slowly stepping around an auction house, only deigning to crinkle her dress to peer into the glass box with the ruby slippers.
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Dior: Reinterpreting Art for Fashion

My lovely roommates CW and SM have one of Hokusai's prints of Mount Fuji on our living room wall. The Great Wave at Kanagawa is terrifyingly stunning. Sharp white tendrils creep off the end of wave with calculated precision and Mount Fuji sits calmly in the distance.

I came upon this piece perusing through the Dior Couture Spring '07 collection and I love how Galliano reinterpreted Hokusai's work. The proportions are sinusoidal. They vary from the wide, bell sleeves and full hoop skirt, to the narrow, banded waist and slim legs poking out of the gown. The crinkled bow around the model's neck looks like an elegant wave but the graphic print creeps up the gown adding turbulence to the white stillness.
I love it when the lines between Art and Fashion blur. It's beautiful to think that you could wrap your most immediate form of expression, your body, in something inspiring to the many who meander through The Met.

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Balenciaga: The Scarf to Covet

Keira Knightley's article in Vogue romanticizes Africa from a colonizers point of view. There are photos of her in couture soaring above African "tribes people" and herding a group of cows in Marc Jacobs with "natives." I'm just going ignore the article (she kept an LV journal filled with musings reminiscent of a dimwit European settler) and focus on her look because frankly, I have minimal patience for such trite reading.

She is wearing head to toe Balenciaga. The side striped pants were all over the fall07 runway and are perfectly slouchy and fitted around her waist. She wears them with a bright blue button down and I love the thick white cuffs. The best piece is the fringed scarf. I'm obsessed with this accessory. It's the perfect topping with its light patterns and dangling coin detail.


On the runway, variations on this scarf were thrown together with intense gladiator heels and patterned dresses.
This variation was preppy (the fitted blue blazor screams Eton schoolboy) but tough. The scarf was pulled up close to the model's face as if she were a bandit, about to pull it over her face and perform the most daring (and glamorous) heist of the decade.
This scarf reminds me of the Palestinian Keffiyah. This symbol of liberation for Palestine has also become a controversial fashion statement. Freja Beha rocked one backstage at a Rag & Bone show.
So if a Balenciaga scarf isn't within your reach, check out Desert Store for $10 keffiyahs and wear it like Kiera or Freja, carelessly thrown around your neck.
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