Shopping with Cheapy at Banana Republic

The Saturday night before Christmas, Cheapy and I had a babysitter and nothing much to do, so we had some wine and went shopping. He wanted to buy some clothes for his dad for the holidays. There was nothing much to be excited about in the Gap (either for me or for my father-in-law) so we hit Banana Republic, and we hit it hard.

Cheapy purchased several items for his father as well as buying another version of his favorite outfit--a grey t-shirt, a grey sweater and khakis. (I'm sure I've mentioned how dull his closet is.) He did bring in a little color with a medium green tee which was a tad surprising for the king of beige. The wine must have made him adventurous!

The wine also made Cheapy want a Material Girl fashion show. I tried on at least half a dozen dresses, even more jackets and sweaters (I bought two sweaters), and a handful of pants.

Cheapy and I and the sales person (who kept saying, "That is hot!") all loved this dress on me.


If you're a regular reader, you know that I would leave the house covered in sequins every day if I could. This dress is a beauty. But, realistically, I have no idea where I would ever where it. Not that that's stopped me before--I have a few treasures in my closet just waiting for the perfect occasion to eventually arrive. This treasure was a tad pricey, even at 40% off, to be a one-day-I'll-wear-it dress. (MSRP is $225.) It's now on sale for $129 plus an extra 20% off. If I had somewhere fancy to go on New Year's Eve and it was going to be above 55 degrees that night I'd be at Banana tomorrow to see if there's one left in my size.

Instead of sequins, I went home with black taffeta. I tried on the animal print version pictured below which I loved, but Cheapy was in favor of the black (he's got a thing for LBDs) and he was buying, so black it was. I'm pretty crazy about this dress. I really did not want to take it off when I was in the dressing room. Oh--and it's got pockets! I'm not in favor of the dress with a necklace as it's shown below, however--why fussy up that interesting neckline? I'll just wear it with formidable earring and some amazing shoes. (More on those in a future post.)


If you dig this print as much as I do, click over to the Banana Republic site or hit the store--it's on sale for $109 from $175, plus an extra 20% off. (They're having a major sale in store and online. Maybe I will be at Banana tomorrow...)

The One Thing That Always Makes Me Happy No Matter How Crappy the Weather Is: Boots

Greetings fellow shoppers! Did you miss me as much as I've missed you? It's been more than a month since I've posted. Why, you ask? Could it be that Material Girl has not been shopping?

Pretty much.

It's not the bad economy stopping me--it's winter. Getting dressed is just a big cold ball of no fun in the winter. I can't bear the thought of icy breezes wafting up a skirt or dress. And having even partially bear legs in 20 degree weather...ugh. (Sure, there are tights. But tights are not particularly warm and I've yet to find a pair that doesn't give me at least a little bit of a muffin top.) So it's pants pants pants. Trouble is I only have like two winter weight pairs and they're both too short to wear with heels. (Go buy some new pants, you say? Spend a few days being 5'2" and go pants shopping then tell me that again.)

So it's really just jeans jeans jeans which is boring boring boring. Normally in troubled times like these I would shop to cheer myself up. I went out a few times (pants shopping and otherwise) and always came home empty handed. Oh so sad. There was only one thing left to do: Buy boots.

I'd recently purchased a white zip-up pair of Docs that I really love (with my pants), but some days are simply not white boot days, so I took advantage of a sale at onlineshoes.com and bought the Doctor Marten's Zena boots in black (love the zippers!). They're make me feel a little tough on snowy and icy days (when wearing heels would just be silly).



But this basic black goth kid-ish boot, while comfy, versatile and useful, wasn't quite cutting it as the footwear to pull me out of the winter yucks . I needed something cuter, girlier...shinier.

I'd been coveting a pair of gold Alexander Hotto ankle boots on 6pm.com for a couple of months. They'd been sitting in my shopping cart. I visited my shopping cart several times a week to make sure the last pair in my size hadn't been sold out from under me. So I made a declaration: If they still have them on Monday when I get paid, I'm buying them. (Because who doesn't make shopping declarations? Come on--at least once you've said, "I know that sweater was too expensive, but if I go to the store today and they still have one in my size that must mean I was meant to have it.")

Shopping kismet was in my corner and the boots arrived on Wednesday. They're quite fabulous and, indeed, quite shiny. Kinda like wearing the sun right on my feet. Ha! Take that winter!

Saturday Night with Cheapy: Dinner, Wine, Fly London & My New Sweater

Shoetopia, the fab shoe store next to my favorite date-night restaurant, had an anniversary sale this weekend. I planned my date with Cheapy: wine store, shoe store, dinner, bar.

Cheapy bought me these incredibly comfortable Fly London buckled pumps for $20 off of the MSRP. (Cheapy is not so cheap after a sampling half a dozen wines.)


I almost got them in grey and black--I liked the combo and they'd go with everything--but Cheapy insisted on the red, which was a good choice.

Red was a theme for the night: red wine, red shoes, and red sweater--I'd finally purchased an Anthro beauty I'd have my eye on for a while and got compliments everywhere I went (even from Cheapy). I love love love this sweater. It's gorgeous, it's got a great shape, it's warm, it fits perfectly. I wore it with my destroyed Gap jeans and a seafoam grean lacy camisole which peeked out from the bottom.


It had been a raining most of Saturday (don't get me started on my flooding basement nightmare), so I also wore my new Tretorn Plask mid-calf rain boots I just bought in seal brown. I have a tall version in red, but they don't work well with pants. This shorter version is perfect with jeans, and, like their taller cousins, are deliciously comfortable and the best looking rain boots I've seen.

Going Scarf Crazy

I've had this black Pashmina for years and it's big and soft and warm and cozy I and love it. I ordered a couple of different colored ones from the same website a while ago, and I didn't like them. They didn't feel like that were the same quality as my black one. I sent them back.

Still, I wanted to expand my Pashmina wardrobe--fall is here; it's cold outside and in my office, so they are a really useful accessory. I clicked around online for a while and found Nimli, a site that features clothes, accessories and other items for the "natural, organic & green lifestyle."

They offered a huge array of wraps of all kinds, in wool, Pashmina and silk, solid and ombre, embellished and plain.

I got this cashmere Pashmina shawl in the blue pictured here, and in shades of rosey pink. It feels luxurious, like I'd-love-to-use-it-as-a-blanket soft.


I got this silk ruffle scarf in black (I had a hard time choosing a color) and I adore it. I'll be wearing this all winter.


Finally, I got a silk chiffon wrap in plum. (I wore this to work yesterday with a black boatneck dress from the Gap.) This is my least favorite. It's flimsy--as is all chiffon--and already has a snag. The silk doesn't feel particularly soft. The color is great, however.


I'd shop through this site again because overall I'm pleased with the products. I also like a lot of the clothing and jewelry offered on the site. Plus the shipping is free. However the items took forever to arrive. Three weeks after my AmEx had been charged, still no scarves. I emailed Nimli customer service, and the items arrived two days later, so I'm hoping it was a flukey glitch.

Learning About the Fashion World from Daniel Vosovic

Designer and Project Runway Season 2 alum Daniel Vosovic is currently on a tour to promote his new book Fashion Inside Out: Daniel V's Guide to How Style Happens from Inspiration to Runway and Beyond and he recently made a stop at my local independent bookseller.

I loved him. He came across as darling, down-to-earth, and driven and told stories of being on Runway, living in Florence and London, his days in as a young gymnast, his time in design school, and more, and fielded questions from the young and well-styled audience. I had popped into Antrhopologie before the signing and saw four college age boys browsing, which is not something I see ever in Anthro. When I got to the bookstore the four were already planted in the seats for the book signing. They were obviously fashion design students. I wish I would have taken their picture.

I wore a black tee and skinny black pants topped with my I-just-laid-people -off-now-I'm-emotionally-shopping Anthropologie army green sweater, which, to use a Tim Gunn-ism, is the most soul-stirring item in my closet. And by the way, Daniel said Tim Gunn is truly as nice as he seems on TV--he wrote the foreword for Fashion Inside Out.

I've read through a bit an Daniel's book which is filled with gorgeous pictures and a lot of Q&As with fashion industry insiders--designers, photogs, stylists and the like. The book offers a beautiful package (the cover has a velvety texture and online cover images don't do it justice) and great content. I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

One great moment from the signing--Daniel noticed a couple in the crowd who were from his hometown. When it was their turn to have a book signed, they handed him a cell phone and he happily talked to their daughter who had had taught in gymnastics. The whole exchange was quite adorable, including his observation that the parents had moved away from the hometown, but their kids all stayed.

Here's Daniel Vosovic signing his book.
His inscription: "Design Your Own Destiny."

My First New Pair of Docs Since the '80s

It's been decades, literally, since I've purchased a pair of Dr. Marten's boots. But I saw these in an ad and I had to have them--the pointed toes, the winter white, the zippers! (The Timberland boots I got recently zip up the back which I'm really digging, although I get confused every morning that I put them on and reach for the non-existent side zipper).



I wasn't sure about these as first. I ran them past my stylish friend, and she was iffy but thought I could pull them off. I considered getting them in black, but I felt like that was too goth kid for a Material Girl my age. Then I saw that onlineshoes.com was having a $20-off-a-purchase-over-$100 sale. That's a good offer, but I hate to wait for the non-overnight shipping. Fortunately endless has a 100% price guarantee, so they matched the onlineshoes price and shipped them to me overnight. And I super dig them.

Retail Is in Bad Shape--I've Got to Do My Part

Below is the retail news from NPR. It isn't pretty fellow shoppers. I fear for the under-construction Nordstrom at The Mall that's this close to being finished.

October Retail Sales Plummet Amid Financial Crisis

U.S. retail chains posted the worst monthly sales data in more than 30 years, as the financial crisis forced consumers to cut spending sharply in October.

The International Council of Shopping Centers called the retail sales environment "simply awful" and said the October results were the worst it had seen in 35 years.

The ICSC said it pared its forecast for what were already expected to be dismal holiday season sales. It now expect sales in November and December to rise 1 percent, down from its prior view for a gain of 1.7 percent.

The picture was particularly bleak for high-end retail stores. Saks and Nordstrom both had double digit declines in same store sales last month. In stores open more than a year, Saks' sales dropped more than 16 percent, while sales at Nordstrom were down 15.7 percent.

Kohl's, J.C. Penney and Macy's fared a little better, but they still saw sales slump in October. Kohl's same-store sales fell 9 percent in October, below expectations of a 6.4 percent decline. Department store operator Macy's, parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's chains, reported a 6.3 percent drop.

J.C. Penney's October sales fell 13 percent, beating analyst expectations of a 13.2 percent slide.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. provided a bright spot in the report. Its sales increased 2.4 percent. The company now says it will introduce new price cuts every week until Christmas -- trying to win an even bigger market share.

Lest you think I've been a bad blogger lately, I've actually just been a bad shopper. I don't have much to report--not much, but a little. There's a boot, some accessories, and maybe an eBay find or two. Watch for some weekend posts.

(In addition to my uncharacteristic lack of retailing, I've also been awash in everything election. Material Girl is happy with the results--yesterday I dressed in blue to match Ohio.)

Now let's all do our duty and get out there and shop--I assure you there are sales and lot of 'em. The bad economy can be good for bargain hunters. (And if Sarah Palin can spend $150,000 on an election wardrobe, we all deserve an on-sale new outfit or two at the very least.)