Marc Jacobs x Richard Prince = "Big City After Dark" Louie Vuitton Bags

A friend just recently pointed out the dynamic collaboration between renowned artist and photographer Richard Prince and Louie Vuitton on a collection of handbags. Marc Jacobs recruited Prince to revamp the notorious monogram LV print. So, the LV monogram now has a watercolor paintbrush effect that’s silk-screened on to leather with metallic snake skin accents.

The highly anticipated Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton Richard Prince Collaboration (that debuted on the Spring 2008 Runway) titled “Big City After Dark,” features vibrant colors, spray-painted text, cartoon-printed bags and much more.

Considering that a Richard Prince print goes for about $180,000 at Sotherby’s in London, a LV bag with the artist’s print seems like a steal at a mere $2,720. But…that is if you can even afford that!

Prince is best known for his Nurse paintings, which inspired the bags.

2008: New Year, New Closet

Thank God the holidays are over! Christmas shopping was Hell (especially since I couldn't really buy anything for myself, which killed me...but I was strong). Sorry I haven't entertained you with my rants and ravs about fashion...I've been unispired lately (read my last blog entry).

But, it's a new year, and I'm going to stop making excuses and enter a blog entry at least once a day! This is the year I finally become a fashion journalist (a REAL one). It's time I make my dreams a reality, and this blog is just the begining.

Uninspired...

Well, it's been a while since I updated my "fashionable" blog, but to tell you the truth, I've been uninspired lately in fashion . For starters, I can't stand the dresses for the season. Those shift dresses, bubble dresses and tube dresses are unflattering to a woman's figure.

In many recent attempts to shop for dresses for various holiday festivities, I've been unsuccessful. All the shops that I normally buy at had nothing to my liking. I thought this was supposed to be the "season of the dress?"

Another possible reason for my disinterest in current fashion trends could be because I don't dress up for work. Now I know this is my fault, but once you hear my argument, you might side with me.

I work with all guys (trust me, this isn't a place to impress anybody). Everybody comes in jeans, sneakers and other non-business attire. This means, I too, come to work really laid-back. Typical work attire is: jeans or velor yoga pants, a T-shirt, sweatshirt (it's really cold in here) and flip-flops. Not exactly what I call chic.

I've tried to persuade myself to dress u a bit, at least with some dress jeans and fancy blouses, but I can't do it...I just sit at a desk all day and would rather spend that extra 20 minutes sleeping than getting ready.

I try to compensate my lack of dress on the weekdays during the week on the weekend, but still feel I'm not up-to-date on the current fashion trends. I definitely need to step up my fashion game, but wished I had a job that required such a dress code.

Oh well...at least my shoe closet is improving with some of Steve Madden's hottest designs!

A "Eutrophic Rebellion"

Monarchy, known for its cutting edge, punk-inspired treads, debuted its Spring 2008 collection titled “Eutrophic Rebellion” at Mercedes-Benz’s L.A. Fashion Week on October 18 at Smashbox Studio’s Main Stage.

In accordance with the overall “green” theme of Fashion Week, designer and founder Eric Kim, depicted preppy-punk-inspired warriors trying to save the world parading down a grass-covered runway, compete with battle wounds on male models.

For Spring 2008, Kim clashed East Coast preppy with rock star glam and added a 80s twist. For men, the result was argyle cardigans paired with pinstripe trousers or skinny jeans topped with fedoras, plunging V-neck tees accented with ascots and scarves, jeans with suspenders and pinstripe vests with jeans and sandals. Deconstructed hoddies and members only-type jackets paired with indigo jeans were highlights for the men’s pieces.

The women’s pieces featured high-waist skinny jeans, cropped jeans and Bermudas with suspenders, cardigans, multi-colored plaid shirts and gun sling-type vests. Jumper sets varied in length from booty-cut to mid-thigh and were worn with button-front shirts, as did shorts.




The highlight piece from the women’s collection was a grey metallic heart shape tuxedo-like dress accented with purple flaps, with grey tights, Mary Jane heels and black top hat. There was also a grey metallic pencil skirt with a sleeveless blouse that matched the tuxedo-lik dress.




Although the guys featured scars on their faces, the women’s hair was either in teased beehives, tousled back ponytails or worn straight down. Accessories included skinny belts, driving gloves, accosts, scarves, top hats and fedoras. The color scheme for the collection centered around blue, white, red, black and grey, with some purple laced on certain pieces.

At the end of the show, Kim walked the runway with a hippie-inspired model wearing only environmentally conscious messages written all over her body (she was wearing only a nude bra and boy-short underwear), such as “Green is the New Black” and “Green Peace.”

But what fashion show would be complete without it’s star power sitting in the front row? “American Idol’s” Randy Jackson,“Entourage’s” Rex Lee and two Cheetah Girls were among the various celebrities who attended the show.

Money Can't Compensate For Style

With the recent trend of high-end designers creating cheaper collections for stores real people can afford to shop at, it’s no surprise that the celebrities that can afford these designers’ expensive collections are hopping on the bandwagon. Academy Award-winner Reese Witherspoon was recently seen wearing a Simply Vera Vera Wang coat from Kohl’s (of course, underneath was an expensive yet stunning Versace dress). Goes to show that you don’t need lots of money to look fabulous!

Seeing Double

Okay, let’s face it. We’ve all had nightmares of showing up to a place only to find that some other girl in the room as your same exact outfit (with the only difference being in the accessories). What’s worse is when you’re a celebrity at public event where you know you’re going to be photographed a zillion times, and the picture will be posted on every fashion website and magazine in the country.

That’s what happened to Jessica Simpson at the Accessories Council Excellence Awards in New York City on Nov. 5. She showed up wearing the same cheetah-print Michael Kors sheath dress as Debora Norville. And if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, both were presenters on stage, so you know everybody knew the two committed a fashion cardinal sin.

Personally, I’ve never been in that predicament, but if I was, I don’t know what I’ll do. Before selecting an outfit, I always run options in my head on ways to make it stand out. I always try to imagine how a non-fashion person would approach the dress, shirt, pants, etc. and try to do the opposite. But, if I were Jessica, I probably would have wanted to go straight home and change! I’m guessing she’ll now carry wardrobe options in her limo or towncar wherever she goes!

Although the Michael Kors dress can be purchased at Saks Fifth Avenue for a mere $957 (on sale from $1,595), you can get an animal print dress almost anywhere! This zebra-print wrap dress and leopard-print high-waist skirt from Express are great (and cheap) substitutes at under $100 each.

My Steve Madden shoe obsession

Hello, my name is Kris, and I’m a shoe-aholic. I have more than 100 pairs of shoes in my closet, and I love every single one of my babies. My mantra is: You can never have too many pairs of shoes since in my opinion, the shoes always makes the outfit.

Right now, I’m obsessing over Steve Madden shoes. There are seven pairs that I am dying to own, and am trying to figure out which ones I should purchase first, or better yet, which ones does my closet need more.

First, there is “Madly,” which I’m madly in love with. The riding boot sensation has been around for a couple of seasons already, and by the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere. I’ve been searching for the perfect riding boot for a while now, but haven’t seen anything I like. Most are just too plain and simple, while others feature a really weird heel. Then came “Madly.” With a round toe, perfect heel and a bow in the back, “Madly” is the best riding boot I’ve seen thus far.

So, obviously I’m going to buy them, but the tough question is: In what color? The shoe comes in more than eight colors, including black suede and leather, brown suede and leather, grey, navy and tan. The two colors I want are black and brown leather. However, I can’t decide on which to buy first. Everyone knows that black goes with everything, but I’m a brown kind of gal. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

However, went I went to go buy them, all the colors had only four sizes left: 4, 4.5, 10.5 and an 11.5. There had to be a glitch in the system for all the shoes to have those sizes. I was so pissed. I had a 15 percent off coupon and free shipping. Damn, guess I’ll just have to wait…





Or I can buy one of my other favorites. Like the 4-inch “Chap,” which embodies the true menswear-inspired trend. Similar to an oxford, this bootie is hot! In a variety of different colors, the “Chap” would look great with a sweater dress or jeans. I’d want the white leather with the black tip for $149. But, the ones I’d really want are the ones that I can customize, with their design-your-own workshop. I would take the already made black and white one, but add a patch of black to the backend of the shoe, just to give it that authentic oxford look. With a price of $169, I just might have to wait until I have extra cash.




With “Chap” pushed back on my list, I can possibly choose another bootie following with the menswear theme. The “Kate” is also a black and white, pointy-toe booty, but with a bow. Like the “Chaps,” these would go well with a dress or jeans. With a price of $129, these might be doable for my first “Steve Madden obsession” purchase.




If I really want a boot, I can go with my long time favorite, the “Feud,” which as been around since last fall. Waiting for them to drop in price (last year there were $169 and now they are $129), these boots are Victorian-inspired and ultra cute. With a 3-inch heel and intricate detail, “Feud” is a perfect boot for the fall. Too bad when I went to buy it in my size (I decided to go with grey on this one), they of course didn’t have my size.



However, I did find my size at Nordstrom, but for some strange reason they were $149 there. I don’t want to pay more, but if it’s my last resort, I just might have to cough up the extra $20.

My final resort is the “Lezlie,” but my dilemma here is that there are three different styles I want. First, there is the “Lezlie” in natural. This is a perfect brown peep-toe heel that would go perfect with all my brown clothes. Next, is “Lezlie” in navy. Now, I have blue heels, but not blue peep-toe heels. See the difference? Finally, I also desire the zebra print “Lezlie.” I have other animal print shoes, but no zebra. It would finish off my animal print collection (I think…).

Since all are priced at $100, I think these will be around for a while, so I want to find outfits for them first before I have to buy them.






So, which shoes should I ultimately get? All I know is that I will get all of them in due time…