Because Sometimes An Adult Wants To Wear A Plush Bat Coat

Sometimes that bat coat is from Forever 21 (AKA Forever 35), and sometimes that adult is me.

Outfit/ GPOY Post: LNA Cardigan, Forever 21 Ripped Jeans & Other Comfie Pieces For Pizza

Saturday night was one of the last pizza binges of 2011, so I had to bring it in the comfort competition. But I also felt like wearing something cute, and God forbid someone see me going H.A.M. on some carbs in something UNCUTE!

+ Cardigan: LNA Zip Pckt. It's jersey, has two oversized zipper pockets, and if I lost this thing I'd call the cops. That's how attached I am to this layering staple. Get it for $50(!!!!!!)

+ Ripped skinny jeans: Forever 21.

+ Silk tank: Forever 21.
+ Pour La Victorie studded Oxfords: I have these in olive/ beige too. Wear them at least once a week. #known
+ Bracelet: Ippolita Hard Gloss mother of pearl bangle (gift)
+ Lipstick: Shout out to that Cover Girl LipPerfection Siren 415 lipstick.
+ Pizza: Sam's Chops -- BEST pizza in all of New York. No competition. Just ask what once passed for my midriff.

Forever 21 & World Wildlife Fund's Caused-Based Cuteness

As a grown-ass woman whose browsing history is about 72 percent kittens, I feel like the World Wildlife Fund's tee-shirt collaboration with Forever 21 somewhat justifies my somewhat unhealthy predisposition toward thinking about animals, Googling them, Googling baby horses, collecting cat jpegs, plastering my friends' Facebook walls with photos of baby animals and other behaviors unbecoming of an adult.

The Forever 21 World Wildlife Fund t-shirt collabo hits stores in July. The photo-print (LOVE a photo print!) collection consists of three tanks and fives tees, so collect 'em all. Each shirt is $14.80, and $1 from each shirt sold will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund. The tees look a little short, which I'm not that into, but the polar bear tank melts my heart in a way that I wish global warming were not melting the earth.

Eee! A baby gorrilla!

Eee! An elephant!

Yiii! Panda!

ZOMG! A baby polar bear face!

GAH! Baby leopard be my friend!

DOUBLE HEADS!

RAWORRL!

HAI!

Not part of the collection, but I wish.

Forever In Search Of Leopard Print

My affinity for leopard print pants has gone from casual to fully committed.

Not only did I purchase these leopard print harem pants recently:

($24, ShopNastyGal.com)

... And not a second too soon, because I don't know if you heard, but within two seconds it went from "pleasantly spring-esque" to "ancient Egypt-hot" here in New York, so these were the perfect alternative to shorts, which everyone knows suck.


... But I also just bought the leopard print chiffon pants I blogged about and threatened to buy.

Which brings me to the third (and, let's be honest, probably not the final) pair of leopard print pants I recently spotted (harrr -- get it? spotted?) and will probably buy:

I went to the Forever 21 fall editor's preview and got way into this chick's leopard print pants. (WAIT. I didn't mean like I PHYSICALLY got into them. I didn't sexually, nor did I PUT them on, because let's be real -- I couldn't actually fit into that model's pants. That's why they're on her.) They're kinda almost leggings and not quite harem pants. The fact that they're not too tight keep them from looking too "hubba hubba" hookery.

(I'll let you guess which photo was professionally shot and which was taken by me on my BlackBerry, by the way. The suspense is probably killing you right now, isn't it?)

When she was pregnant with me, my mother probably didn't ever pat her belly and think "I'll bet my little unborn daughter will some day be physically unable to restrain herself from buying leopard print pants!" But, things don't always turn out as planned!

WHY BUY: Forever 21 Stretch Cargo Pants

($22.80, Forever 21)

No, don't reach for your glasses. You actually read that correctly. I bought not one but TWO pairs of stretch cargo pants from Forever 21 and I'm LOVING them. Seriously. They're cotton with a slight stretch, they pull on but not in a mom-jeans way, and they fit perfectly. Well, they fit me perfectly anyway. They're definitely more skinny cargo/ skinny jeans than leggings, so they don't come with any of that leggings-are-not-pants drama. I've been wearing them with a t-shirt, blazer, and booties. They're tapered at the bottom, so they're almost stupid easy to tuck into boots.

Oh, and I actually factually give these an A for quality though that's relative quality considering they're from Forever 21. But for fast fashion, these are really sturdy -- I've worn them for months, washed them (obviously), and they show no signs of slowing down (kind of like, say, the Tea Party, unfortunately). I actually may buy two more pairs for backup.

I bought these in both grey and olive, though the olive is basically your standard-issue khaki/ army green. I bought these in large (because Forever 21 is a store for teenagers, and I am not a teenager, at least not according to my birth certificate), and I'm about a size 8, so if you're an 8-ish or under, go crazy. Get two pairs. I did!

Animal Print Booty Shorts? RawrrrrWRONG!

($12.80, Forever 21)

No, no, no, no, and, once more, with feeling.... NO, hos. Not even to the GYM. SO bad. Leave the tiger-striped booty shorts to the type of girls who'd pair them with an Ed Hardy tank. (Familiar with the name "Tara Reid"?) AND YOU are SO not that girl.

My Summer Housecoat

My friend Holly used to live all summer in what she called her "housecoat" -- a cheap, comfy cotton dress. For me it's the kind of thing you throw on any and maybe all weekends. Today, I decided to hit Forever 21 to find mine. I wanted something perfect for a rock show at McCarren Pool (which I think are happening somewhere on the Williamsburg waterfront this year): the kind of thing you can wear sneakers with, you don't mind spilling beer on, and you don't really care if it's all pilled up at the end of the summer, although you kind of do, because goddamn, that's pretty much your favorite thing to wear at this point.

Anyway, I found two. One isn't pictured on the site, but is sort of a white with navy/purple tie-dye-ish action on the bottom half. For $11.50! The other is:



Heritage 1981 bold summer stripes sundress, $22.90.

Now all I need are the free summer rock shows to start happening. LET'S GO, PEOPLE!

I Bought It Files: Cute, Cheap Forever 21 Stuff

Just got paid, so what better way to spend my hard-earned money than on disposable fast fashions at Forever 21, nu?

($19.80, Forever 21)

Cute tribal print dress that isn't TOO tribal-y or tent-y.

($14.80, Forever 21)

Cute sleeveless leopard print top. As I type this, I just looked down and realized I'm wearing ALMOST the exact same shirt. Um, whoops. Oh well. It's a good layering piece.

($54, Forever 21)

I actually DID have the presence of mind to remember that I own not one but TWO grey jackets, so I didn't buy this cropped grey jacket (must... resist!!!), but it's certainly adorbs! Check out the detail -- black safety pins!

My Trip To The Mall + Mary-Kate Olsen's Orange Wayfarers

A few weekends ago, I traveled down to my half-hometown of Virginia Beach. While down there, I stopped into Lynnhaven Mall with my sister, who wanted to check out the new Wii games. (My parents and I got her a Wii for Chanukkah and her birthday because we are collectively awesome.)

First of all, I must congratulate Lynnhaven Mall on doing an excellent job keeping up with the forward-march of time and integrating itself seamlessly into the 21st century. (For excellent stories and photos of abandoned malls, check out one of my favorite blogs, Labelscar, which tracks malls into their obsolescence, which is nostalgic and creepy and fascinating to me.)

Anyway, mid-mall, Easter Bunny photos were in full effect (some things never change -- as long as there are suburban shopping malls, there will be opportunities to sit on the laps of the Easter Bunny and/or Santa for an overpriced photo), and while we considered doing the stupid high-school-level ironic photo, we opted for an even more juvenile approach: standing in front of the Easter Bunny photo area and aiming for a photo. (Again, some things never change.)

The half-assed result, featuring my sister:

This all leads me to the fact that Lynnhaven Mall has a For Love 21, brought to you by the makers of Forever 21, except it's accessories-only, like a Claire's or Icing or whatever store you're probably a bit too old to shop at but you do anyway, like me.

So, I popped in and picked up these fun orange wayfarer-style sunglasses:

($5.80, Forever 21)

And then, lo and behold, who should I see traipsing and tramping about gay Paree but little ol' Mary-Kate Olsen herself, wearing a startling similar pair of orange sunnies!

(Credit: JustJared.com)

Ugh. If I had a Euro for every time MK tried to waste my flavor!

Apparently hers are Benjamin Eyewear (more on that at FabSugar), by Benjamin Montoya, whose new line was featured in FOMK (friend of Mary-Kate) Jenni Kayne's S/S '08 Fashion Week show in New York and can run you up to $500, so looks like I saved a cool $494.50! How you like me now?

Should you indulge in a pair of Benjamins, might I suggest these great pair of clear ones, named after Jenni Kayne. They'll set you back about three and a half Benjamins:

($325, Benjamin, LeeLeeLunettes.com)

More cute retro sunglasses:

($85, Sabre Vision, AntiApparel.com)

More of my wayfarer obsession:
+ Love Lily Allen's
+ Love Sienna Miller's
+ No love Paris Hilton's

French Connection Does Marni

(Credit: Style.com)

First Forever 21 knocked off mix-and-mismatch Marni's link necklaces combining elements of their 2006 and 2007 designs. And I can hardly blame them -- even if I needed a new kidney I'd probably put a Marni necklace higher up on my list of priorities.


Now French Connection is following up with their wood and resin version:

($43, French Connection, Asos.com)

My lust for Consuelo Castiglioni's amazing mixed-media statement pieces continues.

Jeweled Embellishments OR Animal Prints BUT Both? NAY, I Say!

($28.99, Forever 21)

I really like TheBudgetBabe.com, but EEeeeee, seriously no me gusta this Twelve By Twelve animal print minidress WITH jeweled embellishments AND Velour belt. One or the other, but PLEASE not both! While I love BudgetBabe's suggestion of classening the joint up a bit with a skinny black leather belt, I can't deal with the very "meat-on-meat" (my boyfriend's term for too much) trend orgy going on here. Less is always more with animal prints, peeps! I would, however, certainly go for this dress without the jeweled embellishments and a nice leather belt. Very Little Shop of Horrors!

Global-Warming-Induced Seasonal Ambiguity = Jacket Attack

Inches MATTER, people! And I'm not talking about the fleshy kind. I'm talking Weather Channel. Where's the snow, yo? Anyway, since I've woken up excited to find piles of the white stuff (not THAT kind of white stuff) outside my window and have pulled back the curtain to instead find dry sidewalk or general wetness (wow, the innuendos are totally unintentional, I swear), let's take a look at some lighter jackets -- trench coats and the like -- some of which are ridiculous, shall we?

($1,970, Chloe, Net-a-porter.com)

One of the fun things about brightly colored rain slickers is that they're bright and they're colored. One of the less fun things about them is that often, when they're vinyl or satin, they look like graduation gowns, church choir robes or those things you wear at the hair salon. A not-fun thing about this one is that it's $1,970. Oh well.

($2,740, Versace, Saks)

Here's another one where it's like, okay, great idea, IN THEORY. Or... I could buy a wedding dress. Or three.

($1,658, Yves Saint Laurent, Neiman Marcus)

Extra-large leopard print is another example of things that should be left to theory and not practice.

($595, Diane Von Furstenberg, Net-a-porter.com)

As compared to the jackets above, $595's a freaking steal. I'm normally not really into the idea of beige trenches -- yes, they're a total wardrobe staple as anyone with a modicum of fashion sense will remind you, but, a.) beige is so.... beige; b.) they get dirty really easily. That said, I might bend for this because while the color's sorta expected, the cut is nice and edgy -- yay for the asymmetrical buttons and big front pockets.

($58, Delias)

Again, beige = sorta boring sometimes, but this is a fun variation. I like it in their grass-green version, but then again, I had a green duster/ trench, and I got really sick of it, so I guess I'm a hypocrite.

($27, Forever21.com)

I saw this in grey at the store, and while I was attracted to it from afar, I was dubious up close, because it sorta felt like weird, gauzy post-consumer-recyclable material that they make shopping bags out of and that you're glad exists for the Earth's sake, but you'd never really want to wear. It felt like something you'd wear to go white-water rafting, not that I ever would. But it's got sort of a fun retro feel.

($370, Distilled)

Refinery29 did a little piece on the Distilled's flak jacket, and while it's green (though olive here) AND for dudes, I think it'd do quite nicely for ladies, if the fit's right.

($79, Avenue)

I'm not personally into florals much, but this gardenia trench is really darling, and florals ARE back this spring.

($78, Flying Tomato, Styleviolet.com)

So cute! So cheap! So yours!

($265, APC, Creaturesofcomfort.com)

APC's putting it down, I'm picking it up.

See By Chloe Pumpkin Cardi Knockoff!

($675, See By Chloe, Tobi.com)
After seeing this cardigan....

($25, Forever 21)

I really wish I'd have purchased this Forever 21 cardigan I posted the other day. Sure the See By Chloe one is cashmere and this one is probably made out of recycled Scotch tape and Splenda, but I actually like it better, especially due to its lack of '80s-ness. (I like a lot about the '80s BUT NOT its cardigans.) Buuuuut it looks like it's sold out online in my size. Bew. New York Bingers, anyone hit up a F21 here recently? Anyone see this in a large, by chance?

Forever Twelve By Twelve

Forever 21 just launched their new "luxury line" (in this case, luxury being anything over like $12), Twelve By Twelve. Nothing totally earthshattering -- it mainly looks like French Connection crossed with Club Monaco, which isn't necessarily a bad thing -- but here are few cute pieces.

($44, Forever 21)
Cute and versatile!


($26, Forever 21)
A good staple, but doesn't look much different than your average H&M fare.


($29, Forever 21)

You know. Not bad.


($69, Forever 21)

This wool swing coat would look horrendous on me, but surely some of you out there in Cute Land could pull it off.

($25, Forever 21)

Um, yeah. I'll be buying this. Perfect with skinny jeans and booties.


($29, Forever 21)

I could akshully see this being super cute -- and comfy! -- with some simple black flats or tall boots.

($20, Forever 21)

Um, knit leggings with cute snaps on the side? Yes, please!



($29, Forever 21)
Avec hood? SI!