Saturday, December 4, 2010

I love you madly, madly Madam librarian

In the last few months I have been freakishly lucky while shopping thrift stores.  Look at these:



While visiting my parents, one thing that frequently happens is that my stepmother and I go thrift/vintage shopping. (My stepmom is the only person I know who has a shopping stamina to match my own and she is really good at finding cheap, gently-used cashmere.  She's magical.)  While out, we saw these shoes:


While convincing myself to buy them, I said something along the lines of, "If it looks like a librarian would wear it, I will probably buy it."  One of those anal-retentive but ultimately sassy and lovable librarians.

These are so dorky, and so comfortable:



I didn't have a pair of blue heels until these bad boys, which are begging to be worn with obnoxiously colored and/or printed tights:






Now I can live out my hidden wish to be a librarian all day, every day.

P.S. Yes, I have orange walls. They are spectacular.



*all photos by me

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Today in great things that will inevitably tempt my bank account:

1).  Yesterday Fair Trade USA launched it's certification program for apparel and linens.  This is a good step for ethical fashion, and it encourages those who produce apparel and linens to commit to (and be rewarded for) things like using organic materials and treating workers with dignity and respect.  Here are some FAQs about what this entails. I hope to see more and more designers and companies working towards creating ethical fashion as this initiative grows.

2. I've signed up for Pure Citizen.  There are a lot of member-only online shopping sites that sell deeply discounted and sometimes very well-known designer fashions (as well as other things), like Gilt, RueLaLa and ideeli.  These boutique sale sites have a company selling certain items for a specific period of time (usually a day or two) at much lower prices than one would find at a store.  So, why is Pure Citizen so cool?


"Pure Citizen is a place where you can save daily from a featured company that is making our world a better place. Each sale lasts only 24 hours.  What you will find every day are products that are organic, fair trade, sustainable, recycled, biodynamic, natural, handmade..."

Unfortunately, clothing that falls under the category of "ethical" or "conscious" can also be frustratingly expensive sometimes.  This is a great way to save some money if you want to attempt to add some sexy, sexy ethics to your wardrobe.