Blouse Hunters

What fashole hasn't, at some point in her life, dreamed of being trapped in a mall? Such fantasy usually occurs in the young adult years, when you first realize that clothes are so much more than material on a hanger.

Neiman Marcus hosts an event called "Girls Night Out," and it might be the closest you can come to making this dream a reality. There's music, free food, and champagne, and they give you $50 to spend on almost anything you want (cosmetics, fragrances, and children's excluded). For someone who frequents Neiman's, and shops with a sales associate all the time, $50 isn't a lot. But for a fashole like me, who is only invited because she knows someone who's dating someone who's related to someone...well, it's freaking amazing.

Last night, I attended my second Girls Night Out event(at the first, I purchased this amazing Diane Von Furstenberg coat for...count them...$130). This time, the choice was harder: a gorgeous, effortlessly stylish champagne-colored DVF blouse with intricate sleeve detail, or a more practical, wearable gray Splendid wrap that I can dress up or dress down.



VS.




So which one did I choose?




I know! It's fabulous, but I kind of regret it. I really, really still want that DVF blouse. It was more ME. But, this fashole is dangerously close to being penniless, so she went with something more practical, and something that happened to be about $30 cheaper when all was said and done. This is the kind of purchase that reminded me of Jess's recently-blogged about shoes; you will look for something like it, and you'll think it will be an easy find, but it never quite lays right and the metallic will look cheap rather than luxe. I am SO keeping an eye on the blouse though. Sorry I didn't take a picture that shows off the garment more, but I ate a giant sandwich for dinner and I don't feel much like modeling. Also, sorry I didn't get a chance to clean up my apartment before you popped by.

Ok, onto the regular business. Even a store as beautiful and sophisticated as Neiman Marcus has some major WTF moments. I scoured the website looking for this hideous, multi-colored, hangy-weird-circles-dress that I balked at in the store last night. As my friend said, "Even if money were no object, I'd still shop smart." In other words, all the money in the world can't buy you a sense of style. There are certain items that make me think the buyers just want to see what they can get away with. It's comforting to think that someone who has such a cool job also has this slightly nasty sense of humor.

I could not find the dress, but I did find some other questionable items while on the hunt. (Because L-Sass ate a giant sandwich for dinner, she is feeling especially lethargic and has therefore decided to target just one of the offenders this evening.)

The winner:



Mortals, take cover! Dracula's little sister (let's call her Darla) has both a cocktail party and a boxing match scheduled come nightfall. Seriously? Who would pay $425 for this Halloween costume? This looks like Boxing Babe and Devil Girl had a baby (Dracula's sperm, of course).





It even has a drawstring! I think if you could pull out your gloves and your fangs to wear for the same outfit, you need to just put it down. I can't even see this working editorially, unless we're talking about Party City's flyer.

Black is a staple of course, and red happens to be my favorite color, but black and red together is very dangerous, as demonstrated here. When it works, it's bold and sharp and fabulous, but when it doesn't, well, it looks like Darla.