Gap Renaissance

Like every other preppy high schooler in my hometown, I lived and loved The Gap (in little old El Paso, J. Crew and Abercrombie were luxuries reserved for catalog orders and trips to cooler cities). Before the Gap opened in our nearby mall, I'd make my mom drive me to the bigger mall on the other side of town to shop, generally insuring that I'd be one of the only girls wearing Gap stuff at my school. This was key. And when the Gap opened a closer location one Saturday in ninth grade, you better believe I was waiting at the door for it to open at 10 a.m. I rememer that I bought a pair of adorable seersucker shorts that day. Clearly, I've taken shopping very seriously for a long time.

But since then? I haven't really been a huge fan of the Gap, generally favoring the consistency of J. Crew to the Gap's sometimes floundering and random attempts at reinvention.

Until yesterday. I stepped into the Gap hoping to find a few pairs of work slacks after striking out at Banana and White House, and omg people, the Gap and I are seeing each other again, reunited after years of separation based on irreconcilable style differences and friends?!? I loved everything in that place, (and almost bought everything too) most notably their "sunfade lightweight" cargo shorts in summery pastel colors (which I will wear fitted tees and heeled sandals; what else do I wear with anything?) and their super low-cut worn cotton tees which I got in five colors. I didn't manage to get away without a few pairs of "sunkissed khakis" either, in "periwinkle" and "peony," (muted purple and pink) so it suffices to say I am *ready for summer. And broke.

*can't you just hear my voice getting progressively higher with abject excitement? I am a woman possessed. Gap, I love you. Let's run away together.

Discount Fashion Retailers – Online

Living in a big city and in the electronic age, it’s hard to not be aware of luxury brand items and the high-end retailers of the world… and fall in love with them. It’s bad enough working on Michigan Avenue, but when it’s so easy to browse online boutiques and fashion blogs and web sites, ignorance is a kind of bliss no longer available to moi.

The truth is, you can – and I do - usually approximate super-expensive clothes at places like H&M or Forever 21 (if you can handle shopping at these stores mentally and emotionally, ye who are legitimately past 21 ((me)) and also legitimately way past waiting in a line for a dressing room ((also me))). I saw this great ballet-pink silk shirt in the March issue of Lucky magazine and found a top almost exactly like it in color and cut at Forever 21. I guess it all really depends on what you like about an item – if you like that it’s a pretty pink shirt that costs $220 the former is probably for you. Or if you just like the top, the latter.

Approximation aside, I cannot abide actual designer knock-offs. If you love a really high-end item, have coveted it for years, if you dream about it – in my case the Louis Vuitton Speedy 35 - do yourself a favor and save up for months or however long it takes and buy the real thing. You can’t wait for it to go on sale, because these items never go on sale.

But there are plenty of middle-of-the-road items like jeans and dresses and shoes that do go on sale or somehow make their way to the discount fashion retailers of the world – Filene’s, Bluefly.com, consignment shops, etc. These places are perfect if you aren’t looking for something in particular (you’re better off saving up or going the Forevs/H&M route when shopping for specific items) and have the fortitude to dig through racks of clothes or click through a zillion web pages. Being willing to fight someone is always a plus too.

Ok, so you know the stuff is out there, but how do you go about procuring it? Here’s my guide:

Online
Bluefly.com and the newly debuted sister site b*fly.com

Ok, so I have to admit that I’ve never purchased anything from Bluefly.com. Just as I am with Zappos.com, I get overwhelmed with the enormous amount of choice on Bluefly and log off before I have the chance to hemorrhage any money. But for the sake of this entry, I spent some time browsing (with a brown paper sack, repeating Whitney Port’s sage advice to “breathe…breathe”), and here’s what I like:

The cocktail dress selection is great, especially for brands like ABS and Nicole Miller. Their entire inventory is searchable by designer, size, color and various other metrics, allowing you to narrow down your search to a manageable endeavor. And occasionally, they’ll have items from an unexpected/favorite/obscure designer that you might never find anywhere, let alone at a discount (for examp, they have some ((albeit fug)) Dina Bar-El dresses up right now). But speaking of The Fug, that’s Bluefly’s biggest drawback. While most of the inventory carries in-demand names, you have to dig through a lot weirdo stuff that nobody wants before you find something good. And even then, the discount may not be discounted enough to warrant a purchase.

Side note: Bluefly just launched b*fly.com, a site that at first glance, trends a little more towards a younger set, with a focus on “hot” brands like Betsey Johnson (who, if you ask my mom, has been “hot” for 30 years. Way to be fashion-forward, Mama!) Tory Burch, and True Religion.

Bluefly.com’s hottest pick:

Before I break out in Blue-hives, I will leave you. Perhaps you’re of stronger mettle than I and have had good luck with Bluefly? Please share. Next up for review, Marshall’s and (my personal fave) Century 21.

Personally

A lot of people don't know that when I first moved to Chicago, I was hired as a personal shopper/stylist at Marshall Fields (now Macy's; pathetic). If you had asked me then, being a stylist was my dream job. I never took the position because I got a higher-paying offer at a law firm and needed to be able to pay my whopping $645/month all-utilities-included rent for my laughably tiny studio in Lincoln Park. (I thought I was straight living the dream, I really did!)

I didn't end up working in fashion, and I'm as close as it gets to working a realistic "dream job," but I still fantasize about being a stylist. But it doesn't pay well, the fashion industry is even harder to break into than the public relations industry, and I've already done that with my blood, sweat and tears, thank you. And who needs to start over when they've got a shoe addiction to furnish anyway?

Right. No illustrious stylist-to-the-stars career for me. But that doesn't mean I can't employ the services of one. Tomorrow I have an appointment with a personal shopper at J. Crew - a complementary service they offer at select stores around the country (check online for locations) - with the promise that they won't hound me too much to buy things. (We'll see.) I have been eyeing a few things from the Spring collection, and I'm going to be needing a new suit in the coming months, so I figure it's worth a try and will dutifully report back to you, reader(s), about the experience.

I know you're excited.

Vagabondia - Knoxville, Tennessee, or my "Knoxville moment"

Vagabondia
27 Market Square
Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 865.525.4842
www.vagabondiaonthesquare.com

The ad for Vagabondia would normally have dissuaded me from stopping by as it advertised “clothing in sizes for real women.” In the fashion world, that generally means size 12 and up. And seeing as how earlier that morning I had to ghetto-rig my size extra-small wrap-dress to fit tightly enough around my waist, I knew Vagabondia probably wouldn’t have anything for me. (I’m not bragging, it’s just a good intro.) (Ok, I’m sort of bragging.) But? I was wrong about that.

I wanted to explore Knoxville’s downtown Market Square, which is reminiscent in look and spirit of SoCo or North Guadalupe in Austin. There was even a café that had a sign for – no kidding – Blue Bell ice cream! I had a few hours of down-time, and to be honest, I just really liked the name, so I went in anyway.

The store itself is pleasantly cluttered with artistically displayed clothes and accessories. I was especially drawn to the handbags hung on the wall and busied myself with looking at them until I noticed the beautiful art that was everywhere. I don’t pretend to know anything about art, but these paintings were just compelling. There were impressionist-looking (?) scenes of glamorous, flapper-ish women in pretty gold and black hues. Anchored by a huge mirror in the middle of the store, these paintings were perfectly dispersed among the racks of clothes and gave the store a comfortable, shabby-glam feel. Collette, a sweet tabby cat lounging in a basket of scarves, definitely did her part to add to the cozy atmosphere.

(See Cynthia Markert’s paintings at www.cynthiamarkert.com)

The adorable owner Andie Ray immediately began chatting me up in that charming manner that Southern women have and other women just… don’t. We talked about her store, I told her what I was doing in town, and as I commented on the paintings she said if I liked them I was welcome to meet the artist who just happened to be sitting on this little sofa in the back near the dressing rooms!

The three of us exchanged cards and chatted for awhile longer when Andie’s eyes lit up. She grabbed her phone and called her friend - a local radio producer – and handed it to me. I did what any smart PR girl worth her salt would do: I immediately pitched my client.

I thanked Andie for the introduction, took a few complimentary postcard prints from Cynthia and was preparing to leave as a man and his wife entered the store – and I noticed his fleece had the logo of the local NBC affiliate. “You’re having what I call a ‘Knoxville moment!’” Andie said as I introduced myself to yet another producer. I had already booked my client on the network, but as luck would have it, this gentleman was the producer of… a style program. Tee hee! Needless to say, I told him about IHE and my head is full of ideas.

I cannot express how welcoming and gracious Ray’s little store is. It is filled with beautiful, affordable items (well, truth be told I only turned over the price tags on the handbags) and I imagine that more than one “Knoxville moment” has been had inside. If you’re ever in town you must pay her and little Collette a visit - “real women,” extra-smalls and all.

I Heart Rating: Five Hearts

Lola B - Knoxville, Tennessee

Lola B
Bearden Station
6614 Kingston Pike Knoxville, TN 37919 865.909.9059
www.shoplolab.com

“tory burch robert rod adam plus eve beautiful dresses norma kamali for everlast??? generra jersey love”

That is the text message I sent myself from the Lola B boutique today after work. I didn’t trust myself to remember all my observations but I didn’t want to like, take a notebook into the shop with me or anything because, DORK, right? To the normal person, the above message is probably pretty cryptic, but to me it makes perfect sense, and that’s all that matters. Me.

If I had to guess, Lola B is the only boutique of its ilk in Knoxville. It carries generous selections of a number of hard-to-find lines, even for Chicago, where of-the-moment designers get one rack at Nordy’s or *The Store before making into the mainstream. I was excited to see multiple pieces from one my favorite new designers, Robert Rodriguez, as well as some really interesting dresses by Everlast (yes, the boxing apparel-maker Everlast!) from guest designer Norma Kamali. I have been enamored with Robert Rodriguez since I discovered the line last year – lots of structured dresses and tops in basic, flattering black or white – with a few injections of color (think “Sprite” green and yellow) in the Spring line.

True to its ad in the Jan/Feb 08 issue of the Knoxville TravelHost, Lola B carries a huge selection of Tory Burch - more than I’ve seen carried anywhere except the namesake boutique on Walton St. in Chicago. I was heartened to see that my beloved Lucky Charms Reva ballet flats are still in style, although I still can’t get on board with the pumps. To each their own.

While I didn’t have enough money time to fully investigate the scattered jewelry and accessory cases, what I did catch a glimpse of suggested my usual modus operandi for shopping stores like Lola B: if you’re going to spend, stick to buying one or two designer pieces and try to replicate the jewelry and accessories someplace like Forever 21 or Target.

Throw in some absolutely gorgeous floral dresses by Adam + Eve on the sale rack and a lone black Generra jersey dress suspiciously similar to the one pictured below in “Blue Boots Redux,” and Lola B seems to answer what I imagine is a fairly pressing need for higher-end sportswear in a town ripe with college co-eds and a growing base of yuppies.

I left empty-handed. Even the sale rack was a bit too pricey for me, but I could definitely imagine myself shopping at Lola B in five years when my salary (and my taste – I’d say the targeted shopper is age 30 here) is a bit more mature.

I Heart Rating: 3 Hearts

*Fashion lesson – “the store” is the phrase most Texas women use to refer to Neiman Marcus, likely growing out of Vogue editor Edna Woolman Chase’s review of the department store in 1957.

“I dreamed all my life of the perfect store for women. Then I saw Neiman-Marcus, and my dream came true.”