For Realz??

In our modern day society it's hard to know what's real anymore.  These days, most fur is faux; boys can be girls; and so-called 'reality' TV shows are carefully scripted and produced.  Indeed, the days of J.Lo's 'I'm Real' pigtails are dead and gone and in their wake is a slew of empty promises and unfulfilled expectations.

When it comes to getting a good fashion deal the same is also true.  Now I've been around the block.  Yes, I've tried and tested them all - 50% off, 2 for the price of 1, buy 3 get the 4th free - and while some have offered my fake Fendi wallet the occasional glimmer of Recessionista hope most of them are just like the Wonderbra.  You think you're on to something big but once you get into it you realize there's nothing really there at all.

So forgive me for being somewhat sceptical when I was asked to consider The Real Real as the so-called 'Real Deal'.  Discount Chanel?  Try another fool.  Burberry trenches for less than $200?  I wasn't born last Christmas.  Carolina Herrera smiling within the parameters of my credit limit?  I don't think so.  I wasn't about to fall folly to the impressively glossy photographs this world wide website was trying to seduce me with.  But on thorough examination I would venture to say that The Real Real might actually be, well, for realz.  This online consignment world is the Paris Fashion Week version of my local Goodwill store - times a hundred.  It thoroughly shames all other resale models.  By cleverly grouping all designer labels together into mini collections that are on-sale for limited periods of time it puts the haute in haute consignment.

Yes, my Recessionista friends, The Real Real is the real deal.  Really.

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All Laced Up

Now I'm a girl whose loved and lost.  When it comes to making up and breaking up I've done it all - the live-in boyfriend; the psycho restraining order boyfriend; the boyfriend who didn't realize he was my boyfriend.....you name it and I will have loved 'n lost it.  But there is a certain true love that has remained ever faithful to me throughout the years.  When all else has failed (and oh my, have they failed) this lover has always adored me, flattered me and made me feel good no matter what.  Ladies and gentlemen, my true love is lace....

Now let's get this straight, this is no fair-weather romance we are talking about here.  I didn't need Kate Middleton's wedding dress to seduce me.  My relationship with lace was born back in the 80s when I was.  I was adorned in the fabric, Desperately Seeking Susan style, more times than I care to remember.

So it's really no surprise that the second item I am choosing to sell on the Love Bid Buy Ebay store is none other than lace!  I have been in love with this little shrug for many a year but sadly it's not getting the wear that it used to and it's time to bid adieu.  This was a piece from the fabulous collection Milla Jovovoich designed for Mango back in 2007.  Of course, it's perfect over evening wear but I also love it with a black tank top and jeans for a look that's modern and chic.  Happy shopping my fabulous Recessionistas!  And remember.....a portion of the proceeds from this purchase will be donated to charity.......

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The Love Bid Buy E-Bay Store

It was always bound to happen.  At some certain point in time the name of this blog was due to make sense.  And that day, my Recessionista friends, is today.

On this very Labor Day weekend I am officially launching the Love Bid Buy E-Bay Store.  The concept is pretty simple – you see something you love, you bid on it and you buy it.  Voila!  It has been my life-long dream to make Hollywood Glam accessible to the masses and through this Ebay Store I shall be doing just that.  But don’t expect to find pages and pages of items to trawl through – I fervently believe in quality over quantity and so I will be bringing you one exclusive designer find on a month to month basis.

And my magnanimous ways don’t just end there.  What will set Love BidBuy’s Ebay Store apart from all others is that I want to give back.  A portion of the proceeds from every single item sold on this store will be donated to charity.  And if you would like to sell clothes on Love Bid Buy to support your own charity you can email me here.

So without further ado, I present Love Bid Buy’s inaugural item for sale – this gorgeous Robert Rodriguez shift dress (see below).  Don't forget to come back next week for styling tips!

Happy shopping my friends!

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Dublin Does Dallas

When you grow up in a quaint country with simple values and honest beliefs, such as where I hail from, it's easy to be intrigued by the lands of far away.  Indeed, even places like Dallas are to an Irishwoman, as exotic and foreign as Hawaii is to a Himalayan.  So for an innocent cailin like myself to find return tickets to non-other than the aforementioned apparition of glitz and glamour in my sweaty paws it felt like I had stumbled across a genie within the lamp.  To me, Dallas was the very embodiment of the words razzle-dazzle.  Forget Hollywood, there's simply no glam like Dallas glam and I couldn’t wait to lap up every last sequin and coiffed curl.  In preparation for my trip, I began fervently trawling through my wardrobe trying to find anything with a hint of gold lame, I immediately started to coat my nails in only shades of deep, dark red and I quickly learned how to best mould my hair into a chic chignon.  Decked out in as much costume jewelry as my wrists and neck could take I was set.  Dallas - beware.

Upon my arrival I was perturbed not to see the newer generation of The Ewings ambling around the airport, I was surprised to find myself the most glammed up guest at dinner but by the time day two rolled around and I still hadn't set my sights on a single Dallas debutante I was starting to feel down right short changed.  Where was the dose of shoulder pad chic that I had so longed to see?  

Perplexed, I decided to take myself off for some much needed retail therapy, quietly confident that my thirst for gaudy glamour  would soon be quenched.  Now,  I'm a cup half-full kinda gal but my level of designer dud disappointment has never plummeted so low as on this shopping trip.  Simply trading their Uggs for cowboy boots, the looks were less Joan Collins and more Jersey Shores.  There were no shoulder pads, no carefully powdered noses and not a single teased hair in sight.  Indeed, the current trend could only be likened to how Daisy Duke would look if she started turning tricks.  And let me tell you.....it ain't pretty. Think of every bad photo you've ever seen of Britney coming out of a Rite Aid and then you will start to get the picture.  As it transpires, the heart of Texas is indeed the homeland for such treats as Anna Nicole Smith and Tila Tequila.  Forget Vegas, what happens in Dallas should most certainly stay just there....

So while Dallas didn't quite live up to the intoxicating level of exoticism I had so anxiously anticipated in the glam department it most certainly floated my boat when it came to getting a great deal.  Should you ever find yourself in this area, you must make it your business to visit F.I.G. - the Fashion Industry Gallery of Dallas.  Amongst my many great finds was the entire new Rachel Zoe collection, an abundance of Trina Turk delights not to mention Rich & Skinny (oh yes, one day I shall be!!), Belle & Cline and many more of my favorite frivolities.  Oh and did I mention that everything was 70% off?   

That's my kind of exotic........

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What A Woman

While I've always prided myself on being a woman of many talents I fervently fail at the prospect of fulfilling any of those so-called 'talents' that allegedly come with being a woman.  My Stuart Weitzman stilettos couldn't navigate their way to where the dishes are washed in my apartment (somebody mentioned a "sink" one time before).  I have proof that I used my oven to store sweaters long before SJP ever conceived of the concept - yes, my darling Dolce cashmere, I still think of you fondly.  And it's fair to say that any and all of my past beaus have had a notably superior ability to negotiate their way around a kitchen than I ever have or care to - well, I guess I have to give them something.  Indeed, I always remember one of my favorite male roommates of times gone by telling me that he hoped I had talents in the bedroom as I was deemed 'bloody useless in every other room of the house'.  Touche.

The times they are a-changing.  It would seem that these days us gals are more likely to utter those fateful words to a question such as 'do you drink wine on weeknights' than in any other social 'norm' of a situation.  I do.  Having  long since recognized that adding 2.5 children to your resume is not necessarily a life-long goal (except for you JK!), for the last couple of decades we've been replacing bread-making with bread-winning; going Dutch with 'I've got it'; and patch-work quilts with politics.  

Yet despite these aforementioned activities of the bra-burning variety, modern technology has somehow managed to seduce my inner domestic goddess. Having recently been tantalized by a Martha Stewart Craft iPad app that a colleague introduced me to (don't laugh, this is the new love of my life) it would seem that said Mrs. Stewart has suddenly become my newest Jiminy Cricket.  I dare say I've created a monster.  Within days of discovering this I found myself making my own organic ketchup (I speak no word of a lie), signing up for jewelry making classes and begging my friends to join me at the Renegade Craft Fair this weekend.  It seems I've gone from femme fatale to Suzy Homemaker in a matter of mere minutes.  The thoughts of whiling away my Saturday afternoon at an indie craft fair gives me the sense of satisfaction I once believed could only ever be achieved with the big O - overdraft protection plan.

As with most things in my life, when I commit to something I do it 110 percent.  So I am embracing this new found domesticity with the same passion and enthusiasm that has most bored housewives greedily thumbing through Fifty Shades of Grey - only a little more vanilla......;)  And, hey, if Anastasia Steele can learn some new tricks I guess so can I.......

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Summer Lovin

Aaaaaah summer is nigh and the air is feeling sweet.  With the Fourth of July under our belts, the most sought after season is most definitely upon us.  And of course those summer rays have the inevitably sumptuous feelings of summer lovin’ following closely in their wake.  You know the type that I’m talking about…..the type where everybody is out and about and just looking for a good time…..where you get to fall in love multiple times a day.  There is truly nothing that beats it….

Nonetheless, with every silver lining some rain must fall.  When the temperatures keep heating up, a little more skin is ultimately on show and so ensues the battle of the bulge versus the bikini.  If you’re like me and your weight fluctuates as often as Kim Kardashian’s marital status then the summer months are something you both look forward to and loathe in equal measures.  I love nothing more than the thoughts of frolicking on a beach in Santa Monica.  I yearn year-long to drink out of coconuts in Costa Rica.  Some might even say that my perfect pastime is reveling in the thoughts of beach-trotting along the Californian coast.  Yet with every sandy dream that saunters through my mind comes that inevitable knot of anxiety in my un-abbed stomach that betrays my true feelings of trepidation.  Ultimately, beaches = bikinis.

The bikini celebrated its 66-th birthday this week and with that came some revelations that were not completely unsurprising to me.  Low and behold, the bikini was indeed created by a man.  Shocker.  Furthermore, his designs were defined by the ability of their flimsy fabrics to be pulled, with ease, through a wedding ring.   Interesting choice.  Indeed, while the bikini is one of the more fun fashion choices it is undoubtedly one of the more feared.  Let’s face it, our LBD can hide a multitude, our itsy bitsy polka dot bikini…..not so much.  So what’s a girl to do when she’s got curves in all the right places but her credit cards are overbaked??

There are a multitude of online stores offering swimwear available at discount prices but, as in life, it’s not always easy to know who to trust.  One of my more favored is www.everythingbutwater.com .  It offers some of my favorite designer labels at rock bottom prices.  Every bikini-clad starlet you’ve ever seen wandering across the pages of People magazine and the like has endorsed these brands.  Another old reliable is www.bluefly.com – this was one of my more favored un-heard of treasures, until of course Heidi Klum had the audacity to promote it on her internationally acclaimed show, ProjectRunway.  Seriously, is there anything more irritating than that?  It’s like when you stumble across a secret song that you fall in love with and the next minute it’s been played on every radio station every minute of the day.  Yes, Gotye.  I’m talking about you.

Nonetheless, when all else fails and you need a cheap buy I’ve had many a seasonal success with the ever-favored Target.  But just like a good summer romance don’t expect it to last longer than just that…………..a summer.

www.target.com

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Fashion Soup For The Soul

Is there such a thing as a truly selfless act?  I have asked myself this question many times over and have found that I can argue both sides eloquently, efficiently and tooth ‘n nail.  Yes, I admit, if you could all tune into hear the voices in my head, even just for a few moments, you would be highly entertained.  As with most Sunday’s, I spent this past one laminated to my couch stroking my hangover and feeding my pickled brain with a hefty slice of reality TV.  The program of choice was a recap on the first year of married life of the Royal darlings – Will and Kate.  I lost an hour of my life watching their toothy grins shake hands and kiss babies from all sorts of walks of life.  I learned about all their different philanthropic endeavors and commitments to human rights, what’s more, I learned that LK Bennett pumps do indeed a Princess make.  Yet while various different media moguls were lauding this pair as the new Mother Theresa duplicated and incarnate I had to wonder – are they really partaking in these charitable enterprises for no other reason than the good of mankind or is it because their beady eyed publicist in the background has told them to do so?

The same could be said for so many celebrities.  Now don’t get me wrong, I think Angelina Jolie looks great in the myriad of different Muslim veils we’ve seen her in – not least because they cover her husband-stealing face – and I applaud her for saving the children of so many fallen countries.  But it’s hard to be convinced that these acts of kindness, which we are all encouraged to support, are completely genuine when there’s a camera capturing their every stunning angle.

But then again, for us lay people, the same could also be true.  I strive to be a good person.  I genuinely want to be a beacon of angelic-like virtuity with a high moral fiber that people enjoy being around - and if I can do so while looking like Heidi Klum above, so be it.  I’ve often benevolently given to numerous Goodwill Stores (yet, I’ve always managed to get a copy of the tax receipt).  I helped an old lady across the street recently (but, I told everybody about it).  I raised money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (in exchange for being trained for a marathon – go team!).  So at the end of the day, is an act ever truly selfless if you are getting something out of it?

Indeed, often my Catholic guilt gets the better of me when I over-analyze these situations and I contemplate ways in which I can better my soul.  I’m guessing Katie Holmes is on the same search for morality (in a Scientologist kind of a way) as she is now teaming up with Tommy Hilfiger to launch a new charity collection this Spring.  The Promise Collection will support the Millennium Development Goal which is dedicated to halving poverty by 2015.

Ever the Doubting Thomas, my suspicious little mind is of course calculating Katie Holmes’ gain from this but, when I saw the bold color palettes and animal prints this collection has to offer God dammnit – who cares!!!  My wallet is on a perpetual diet in order to afford whatever I deem as my most desireable duds so if there’s the opportunity for me to get a little fashion soup for the soul while I’m doing so why the hell not?! 

So perhaps such thing as a selfless act does not exist but I guess as long as nobody gets hurt in the way.....who am I to pass judgement?  And on that note, pass me my credit card bill - I need to figure out how much of Katie's collection I can afford.......all in the name of solving world poverty, of course......;)

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