The President Wears Prada

2 of a Kind

2008-11-19T20:51:00.000-08:00

The TPWP architecture contributor called me a few days ago exclaiming "I just visited the best furnished clothing store in the city." A very grave statement from a very discerning guy - so I rushed to visit this store, expecting, I dunno, something shockingly different. Instead I found a very simple and subtly creative store which he describes as a great example for aspiring retailers that are looking to stand out - without spending too much.

For The Greater Good is a 2-month old Menswear Outpost in the newly nascent shopping hub of the 1700 block of Florida Avenue. They have an eclectic mix of young designer labels and contemporary mens fashion brands such as Comme Des Garcons, Stone Island, Maiden Noir, Public School, Red Wing, Clarks, Common Projects, Fullcount Japan, APC, Shades of Greige.

This is what our contributor finds special about the design of the store - They started with a great blank space of concrete floors and white walls and created a sophisticated interior aesthetic by using simple walnut boxes to display clothes and to create a register

They used simple, inexpensive materials to build their clothing racks

They injected character with a clever addition of inexpensive vintage speakers

They elevated the design of the space with a Bertoia Diamond Chair in the dressing room and an Eames walnut stool in the store.

Successfully AND inexpensively they have created a space with a clear statement relevant to their store and their clothes - conversely to many big-box-retailers who over-design spaces, spend thousands of dollars, and end up with a space with an undefined point of view.

After Christmas Drinks

2008-11-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

My favorite thing about the Target designer capsule collections is their element of surprise. How we are kind of in the dark about what they're going to do next and suddenly you receive an email about them partnering with your favorite designer (I'm still waiting for that day) and it's kinna like a small Christmas, because now you know the date of release and you wait excitedly for the goodies to arrive to the Christmas-colored store.

I had that giddy feeling when I read that Target had partnered with designers Toni Hacker and Ben Harnett to launch a limited-edition handbag collection, Hayden-Harnett for Target®. I fell inlove with their designs at HH:Design Shop in Brooklyn, their charming little store in which you can find much more than just bags. This is definitely my favorite handbag collection so far, at least in pictures, they look beautiful and so well designed. The bags range from $19.99 to $49.99 and will be available in stores right after Christmas from December 28, 2008 through March 15, 2009.

These are my favorites:

Corner Clocks

2008-11-12T18:12:00.000-08:00

The TPWP architecture contributor showed me this brilliant idea of a wall covered in panels made from a vintage map of Washington DC (picture at left from Apt Therapy). Since I love everything vintage I became obsessed with the idea of recreating this for my non-existent blank wall - so I set out searching for antique maps, and then my search evolved to anything I could find that was vintage-DC-related and found some marvelous little treasures - a lot of 9 DC area high school yearbooks from the 1930s, a 1859 complete issue of "The Semi-Weekly Constitution Newspaper," a porcelain license plate from 1907, and most fascinatingly - a dozen images of streets and people in Washington DC from the 1920s.

The city is so charming in those pictures, so cosmopolitan it seems, so vibrant. Delightfully for me, most of the pictures were taken around my current neighborhood - and now I've spent hours analyzing the images, wondering what each of the little people in the photographs was doing there, where they lived, how they got there, what they thought of the city. I've also been trying to figure out what the un-labeled buildings were, and researching the labeled ones. Below are my favorites:

Oh yeah, and you can purchase the reproductions of these images for ~$15 by following the links under each.

11th and F St. NW Washington DC - Trolley Scence from 1918 - can you recognize this corner?

9th and G St. NW Washington DC - The famous Moore's Rialto Theatre - 1925

New Hampshire Ave and 8th St NW Washington DC - Traffic lights with old Model-T - 1925

F Street NW Washington DC - Treasury building in the backround - 1915

13th and F Street NW Washington DC - Rapid transit bus - 1925

905 F Street NW Washington DC - 1920s - A record store that also sold sporting goods (right window), this is actually one of windows of the current McCormick & Schmick's, back then each window was a different little store.

9th and F Street NW Washington DC - Movie theatre street scene - 1928

Topman USA

2008-11-10T10:06:00.000-08:00

This Fall edgy men have no more reason to complain about lack of fashion-forward items at a reasonable price in the US. Lucky for them Topman, the male counter-part of the cult-favorite Topshop, launched its US website in September.

If I was a guy, Topman would become one of my major one-stop-shops - not only are the items very fashionable, but they range from formal wool suits to socks and umbrellas, and are very reasonably priced. One of my favorite things about Topman is their capsule designer collection, because to my knowledge there aren't any other major stores in the US doing designer collaborations for men - and it's not fair that we (girls) have all the fun. The newest of these available this Fall is called Priceless, by Antony Price, the meticulous master craftsman who is known for dressing rock and roll royalty. You can also buy other edgy brands on their website - Self, H by Hudson, Swear & Nanny State - any of these is otherwise very hard to find on this side of the Atlantic.

It was hard for me to pick my favorite items from Topman, there were so many colorful and fun cardigan sweaters, I could've made an entire post about just them. Alas, here are my selections - all the items are under $200!

Items clockwise from top left (sorry outgoing links don't work): Self jersey blazer with vintage metal buttons, Premium grey bomber jacket, Knit vest, Denim western style button down shirt, Retro watch, Indigo slim jeans, Blue patent retro high top, Red reflective plimsolls, Black low profile dress shoes, Green canvas bag, Smart Umbrella, Bright cotton cardigans, Knit scarf.

Anglomania

2008-11-07T10:50:00.001-08:00

So sorry for the extremely long absence.... I've spent the last two weeks laboriously preparing for a presentation and tragically the effort monopolized ALL my time.... I'm so glad it's over.... I really missed you :(

I am sad I wasn't able to share these pictures with you earlier, but here they are. They are from the Vivienne Westwood Trunk Show at Muleh - the event was so much fun, specially playing dress-up with Rachel, she tried on our favorite dress from the collection, and she looked like a princess in it. I also photographed Carrie's wedding dress from Sex in the City, it looked surprisingly small, I think because it was missing the train, but it was nice to see it in person.

The Party:

Models parading clothes from the collection:

This is me trying on one of my favorite pieces - this gunmetal grey raincoat:

Rachel twirling around in the dress:

Carrie's wedding dress:

Vamos a Mexico

2008-10-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

You didn't forget about Fashion Week in Mexico City did you? In case you did, here are a few pieces from Carlos Temores, one of my favorite designers, who showed an edgy monochromatic line accented by plastic handbags and colorful helmets:

My lemons are bigger than yours

2008-10-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

I consider myself very lucky to have a terrace in the city that is big enough to house Richard Schultz 1966 lounge chairs and an upstairs bright enough to nurture an extraordinarily fecund and fragrant lemon tree.

Yes, that really is a lemon from my tree in the picture, it is gigantic, and the tiny little plant currently bears 7 more lemons!!! Its immature branches cannot tolerate the weight of the fruit, so I have to prop each of them up with silly contraptions.

As much as I appreciate and love my little plant and my terrace, they pale....tremendously....in comparison to this Nolita rooftop ....er.... forest. My lemon tree suddenly feels very inept.

Chris and Lisa Goode's penthouse apartment atop a building in New York City's Little Italy is a gardener's dream. They started their sustainable green roof project four years ago, acting as their own general contractors and managing the hoisting of 5-ton soil bags by crane onto the roof, among other equally daunting tasks. I'd like to impress upon you the grandiosity of this outdoor place by giving you a few facts from the NY Mag article- It houses a honey-producing bee hive, monarch butterflies migrate through It, AND the little girl that lives there rides her tricycle on Its roof lawn and picks berries for her morning cereal from Its in-house berry bushes. OK, now just look at the pictures and gasp.

The modern penthouse pavilion is surrounded by Hornbeam trees and acanthus along the edge, a large black locust tree in the corner and a lemon tree on the deck.

"A bird’s-eye view, facing west, of the green roof, planted with succulents, sedums, and delospermas, atop the pavilion, as well as the lawn and decking of the pavilion below."

Through the glass is a greenhouse which harbors warm-weather plants like lemon and banana trees. This year, they ate bananas from their own tree!!!!

"The north-facing kitchen looks over a garden that includes squash, cherries, peaches, persimmons, fava beans, “every herb known to man,” and an espaliered apple tree."

Wildflowers, which vary by season.

Five egg-laying chickens roam one level below the wildflowers (yes, there are TWO levels of terrace)

Come Over

2008-10-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

The expectation was palpable in the dense air of the Rock & Roll Hotel last night, palpable and excitedly progressing in intensity through 3 opening acts.

I was certainly not the only one who was there to see US Royalty.

If I had been a stranger to the looks of the headlining band I would've still been able to pick them out of a band line up - not so much because they looked like US royalty, but because they looked hmmm... polished - rock & roll, clean, stylish, sexy, confident type of polished. Not that this imparts any merit to their musical talent, but I personally get a little extra enjoyment from seeing a good-looking set of guys singing to me. That and their incredible presence on stage, specially John Thornley's, the lead singer, who honestly could be singing about cleaning products and it wouldn't matter because I wouldn't be able to look away, his warbling, 60s-music-idol voice won't let me. I have seen a fair amount of bands play live but only a few of them have had this type of magic onstage, and it's so exciting to see it materialize and permeate the crowd song after song. And for me, the blues impregnated sounds really really really seal the deal.

If you missed them, see their live sessions at Brightest Young Things

Blocks and Lines

2008-10-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

I wonder if we are going to experience a post-war artistic movement like Paris did in the 1920s. Ok, maybe not, at least we can be inspired by the fruits of the innovation that took place in those fertile days - Piet Mondrian and his un-confoundable grid paintings are one of the first ones to come to mind - probably because the "Mondrian Day Dress" that Yves Saint Laurent created several decades later is one of my favorite designs of his ever.

There's something so simply genius about this dress, maybe it's the asymmetrical symmetry of the shift shape and the lines, maybe it's the simplicity of its form, maybe the crispness of the primary colors, maybe it's the way he camouflaged the shaping in the grid of the seams. Whatever it is, it's perfect.

Probably due to that timeless perfection, color-block designs like YSL's seem to be part of everyone's collections - so many in fact that I had to sort them out in my head - these are my favorites:

Clockwise from top left with links: Vivre color block lighters, Chloe Ines clutch, Marc Jacobs Mary-Janes, Topshop color block silk playsuit, Kara Ross Mondrian clutch, Emilio Pucci skirt, Pierre hardy heels, Forever 21 geometric dress, Mint Jodi Arnold color block dress, Jonathan Saunders Somerby dress, Herve Leger color block bandage dress, Nike Mondrian sneakers.

Even my closet has recent color-blocked additions - my favorite is this dress here that needed a little modifying since it was 7 inches longer and had terrible purple sleeves - not quite a Mondrian day dress, but it conveys the sentiment....

Nails Pencils Zippers

2008-10-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Maestre is a South African born artist and sculptor who creates fascinating little creatures out of unpredictable materials that make me very nervous - they remind me of underwater creatures with thousands of teeth and their silhouette and texture give me the impression that they are going to come to life any second. Yes, I am also afraid of all types of insects.

My fear is actually sanctioned since her sculptures were inspired by the form and function of the sea urchin and she states that "Paradox and surprise are integral in her choice of materials" - which to me translates to "Beware, they may look like they're inanimate objects, but they will jump up at you unannounced."

Doesn't stop me from staring at them and wanting to acquire the scariest one as my new pet. Maybe for now I'll just buy one of her pencil pins.

My Box

Persephone

Dreaming

Materialize

Seethe

Springtime Tall Tale

Broken Spikes

2008-10-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Fashion Rocks Issue from a couple months ago was saturated with delicious darkness - and fittingly, the name of the spread I scanned below is titled Heart of Darkness. Shot, also very fittingly, by the king of depressingly wonderful images, Steven Klein.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about look two on page two - it's so perfect - the vampire pale skin, the black hair, the evil bangs, that perfect Luella dress, the goth Burberry Prorsum necklace, I want the whole thing. I think subconsciously for the last couple months since I saw it all my purchases have been geared to make me look like that....

My anomalous shopping trend mentioned above was propelled further when I saw the Fall 2008 Lookbook from Topshop. In typical Topshop fashion, none of the items I really loved were available in my size, or at all, so I have been forced to scour more internets in search of lace, destruction, leather, spikes, and any vampire-like object.

This is my compilation thus far, aren't those Topshop Unique boots absolute perfection GRRRR they're sold out!!! The item on the bottom right is a corset bag!! Genius!

Clockwise from top left: Lace corset dress, Silver spike necklace, skirt, spiked bracelet, lace-up corset , shoulder corset bag, vest, ripped jeans, tuxedo jacket.

What's that?

2008-10-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken right after the Listopad brunch party in Adams Morgan. The TPWP photographer took them unbeknown to us who were too busy chatting about the appearance and disappearance of stores in the neighborhood. I like how they capture the energy of my friends.

Vivienne Westwood in Washington DC

2008-10-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Oh my.... Muleh is bringing the Spring 2009 Anglomania collection for a trunk show preview and pre-order to the store, yes, the entire thing, for the first time ever in DC. We loved last season's Anglomania clothes (the red dotted dress and worthmore jacket) when we first saw them at Muleh so much that we spent an entire afternoon in the store sitting around in them.

In addition to the clothes, Vivienne's VP and NY representative will be at the preview, and that's not all, Vivienne is loaning Muleh the wedding dress Carrie wore in Sex & The City!!!!

I'm not going to miss it, or the champagne - Thursday October 23 from 5-8 pm.
Muleh
1831 14th Street
Washington DC
202.667.3440

In case you didn't see the Spring/Summer 2009 Anglomania Runway show in Berlin earlier this year, here are some of my favorites, I can't wait to see them in person!!!!!!

Details

Surface Alive

2008-10-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

I have a small obsession with three-dimensional forms created from one-dimensional materials - I posted about Tomas Rivas before and his full-figured rosettes and columns carved onto walls and created from the drywall's paper liner and gypsum plaster. I was delighted to find another example of this type of art displayed on furniture and other pieces by Helen Amy Murray. She uses a sculpting and cutting method called "Shoal" to create three-dimensional patterns and objects from leather and other fabrics. Through this process, she is able to create rich superficies and impart movement and fluidity to an otherwise stale surface.

The detail and intricacy of her work is stunning - Here are some of my favorite pieces

Victorian Tub Chair in Leather

Detail

Retro Swivel Chair with "Fish Scales" in Leather

Detail

Damask Floral Bespoke Wall Covering in Cashmere and Wool

Various detail shots of a birds and flowers art piece in silk and leather, other furniture pieces and of printed and woven fabrics

Outside City Lines

2008-09-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Nicaro

Silver Spring, MD 20910

8229 Georgia Ave
(301) 588-2867

www.nicarorestaurant.com

You might have learned by now about my non-seasonal non-pollen allergies to the MD & VA suburbs, there are only a few places in these areas that don't make me feel lost, bored and itchy - namely, Goodwill and other thrift stores, my family's house, forests, and I think that's pretty much it - until last week when I went to Nicaro in downtown Silver Spring.

The space is sparsely light and decorated, too sparsely on both counts for my taste, but it has an inviting atmosphere which is heightened by the attentive staff.

I knew Pedro Matamoros, executive chef from Tabard Inn in Washington DC, was running the show at Nicaro - so my expectations where set higher than would be with most, but they definitely were not set high enough to match the fantastic food I ate there.

These were the eats:

Oysters on the Half Shell. Pickled Shallots & Carrot Mignonette.

Buffalo Mozzarella Bocconcini. Vine Ripe Tomato. Basil. Olive Oil. Balsamic Vinegar.

Waiter says "-This is some of the best Mozzarella I've ever had" I said "-Yeah, ok, I'll be the judge of that." A bite later I am preaching the same claim. It was outstanding, and so were the perfectly ripe and sweet tomatoes.

Buttermilk Fried Calamari. Jalapeno-Cilantro Aioli. (sorry for the dark picture, I didn't want to use flash for this one and it turned out a little dark)

Waiter once again claims "-This is the best calamari I've ever had." I, once again, say "-Sure, it is buddy, you used that line with me already". A bite later I am writing notes for my review that say "Best calamari, I've ever had." Not kidding. All this time I've been thinking that fried calamari is inherently chewy, turns out I've been eating crap because Nicaro's squid is tender, the batter is light and flavorful not overwhelming or fatty or greasy, and the Jalapeno-Cilantro Aioli -WOW- I was tempted to take the left-over sauce home and eat it all by itself with my finger.

Soup of the Day - I don't remember all the ingredients but it was a mix of squash, zucchini and other roots topped with croutons and a dollop of pesto. This was the only dish that didn't impress me, specially after reading the glowing review by Tom Sietsema of the butternut squash soup. I was looking for a broth packed with flavor, which this one lacked, and the floating poorly seasoned vegetables didn't help my palate.

Pan-Seared Sea Scallops. Roasted Sunchoke. Hazelnut. Arugula. Citrus Buerre Blanc.

I've never had Sunchoke with scallops before, it was a surprisingly harmonious pairing, and the scallops were cooked to perfection.

Seafood Bouillabaisse. Shrimp. Scallops. Mussels. Fish. Fennel. Aioli.
I only tasted a bite of this bouillabaisse's broth, but the succulent flavors were all there deliciously condensed in it.

I'm so glad I experienced semi-suburban life for a night and tried this little Silver Spring gem. I forgot to mention that they also serve brunch, my favorite meal of the week - so I will MOST definitely be back for more.

Little Things

2008-09-28T15:52:00.001-07:00

If it seems like I spent the entire weekend shopping it's because I actually did, no, the intermittent rain didn't stop me. The Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair was very large, and although I felt like half of the shops were selling the same thing I still found some very very special little items and developed a new obsession for ceramic animals.

One of my favorite jewelry shops Imogene from Baltimore

Fluttering Heart Necklace - Sterling Silver with a Gold Filled Heart :)

Sterling Silver Seahorse

I looooooved this shop - kg + ab - it was hard for me to restrain myself from buying every single little thing on the table. I bought one of the little foxes, and a pair of dancing bears :)

Another great store - Tasha McKelvey's clay pieces, I bought the green flower ring below and some yellow leaf porcelain earrings.

My favorite photography shop at the fair - Splut Photo - I also think I saw every guy that walked by stop and childishly stare at the prints wishing they covered all their apartment walls. There's this perfect mixture of comedy, darkness, beauty and satire in Steve Strawn's photographs, they are like nothing I've ever seen before, the complexity of the scenes!! WOW!!

Human Spatter

Chest Shot

Exploded Wine

Doll Deads on Sticks (my personal favorite)

Listopad at Mercedes Bien

2008-09-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

What better way to begin a Saturday morning than drinking mimosas and shopping for vintage clothes with your girlfriends, and mingling with Morgan (she found the cutest ethnic printed dress) and the Listopad girls. It was my first time at Mercedes Bien and despite the tight quarters I found a great selection of vintage party dresses and jewelry.

Here are the pics of the party minus my purchases (I will show you those later):

I'd like to wear those necklaces all at once

Accessory Table

Mercedes Bien's coats and sweaters

The frenzied crowd

More shopping

Listopad's shoe selection

Don't you love her outfit?

And her mean gladiators?

Light and Space

2008-09-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

We've probably all seen pictures of Donna Karan's Manhattan apartment, but I personally have never seen such beautiful shots as the following ones from Yatzer. Perfectly composed by Richard Powers, the images eloquently convey the serenity and balance of the space. Not to mention the light, both natural and strategically placed ambient light, which give the entire place a "morning glow."

As with the previous interior space post, I didn't resize the images so you could get as close to being there without stepping out of your own home.

Cold Shoulders

2008-09-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

I found this gorgeous "morning cape" inside a coat closet at one of my favorite vintage furniture/decor stores in DC. It looked like it was 100 years old and I have no idea what it was doing in the coat closet, which also looked like it was 100 years old, maybe they both belonged to the same person - how sweet. I didn't buy it because it was very Edwardian, and long and heavy and a bit expensive, but it did give me the idea of getting a mini version of it and although I still haven't found something that looks like it I have found some other adorable little capelets.

Clockwise from top left: 60S vintage cape from Lullie Vintage, Custom hand-made lace shrug from Holly Stalder, White ruffle capelet, Vintage knit wrap pattern, Custom beaded fur capelet

Speakeasy

2008-09-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

What I wore to the Goodwill Event, I thought the 1920s-flapper-inspired dress would be fitting to the event's "Under Paris Skies" theme:

Dress: Juicy Couture
Vest: Vintage boys blazer (KT and I cut the sleeves off and silkscreened the skull during one of our "craft days")
Shoes: Michael Kors
Bag: Vintage

Under Paris Skies

2008-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Fashion of Goodwill Runway and Auction at the French Embassy took place last night and it was buckets of fun. There was an amazing array of items up for auction and a sale of all the clothes from the runway at Goodwill prices!!!! It was mayhem! My girlfriend and I managed to fight a few people off and took home a couple of adorable dresses.

More importantly than shopping, I learned about Goodwill's mission of providing education, training, and career services for people with disadvantages. It's so wonderful to hear how these services allow individuals to gain personal and financial independence as well as to build their confidence. Such a fun night for such a great cause!! Thanks Em!!

Here is the reprise of the evening via photographs I took (please excuse their quality, my photographer did not come with me so I had to fend for myself)

The Party:

Maria and Morgan

Such a lovely dress

The Auction Items:

Chanel Earrings

Vintage Brush Set

Christian LaCroix Book

Fur Coats

The Awards:

The Runway:

Dancers

Love the coat on the left, I stood in line behind the woman who purchased it. It looked like a million bucks on her.

The trench-coat on the left was adorable.

My favorite dress from the runway, I was one inch away from buying it.

Love the color and subtle shine.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

2008-09-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

Romeo and Juliet at the Shakespeare Theatre

9/17/8 - 10/12/8

Sidney Harman Hall
610 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20004

(202) 547-1122

I went to see an all-male cast performance of Romeo and Juliet yesterday during one of the press nights and was extremely impressed with the lovely and energetic execution by the amazing actors. Juilliard graduate, James David (pictured left) played Juliet and except for a couple of manly bouts of anger and excitement she was beautiful and lithesome and made me forget the role was being played by a man.

I sat in the front row only a couple feet from the actors and I wanted soooo badly to photograph them, I probably would have tried (w/o flash) if one of the ushers hadn't been right next to me. Expetedly, the costumes where extremely inspiring, and my favorite one was actually that of a man - Lord Capulet played by Dan Kremer, whose performance, much like his costume, was outstanding. I was mesmerized by the texture of his sleeves and his magnificently adorned jacket. It reminded me of this sumptuous black dress from Olivier Theyskens' 2005 Collection for Rochas and feeling very melancholic for the days when their fashion division was still alive and created sublime and lavish gowns, I decided to revisit it and fell in love with it once again.

These gowns are so modern and timeless, it's hard to believe this was Fall 2005. Don't they remind you of Shakespeare?

Magical Dreams

2008-09-13T06:16:00.000-07:00

Our Architecture Expert sent me an email the other day titled "Thinking of You" in which he included a link to Yatzer (one of his favorite design websites) about Sabrina Bignami's guesthouse. He really must know me so well because when image 1 came up on my screen I gasped for air and died on my chair. This space satisfies every single particle of my design aesthetic - the drama, the glamour, the mix of old and new, the light, the scale - it is one of the most beautiful homes I have ever ever seen.

I am hoping so fervently that her guesthouse invitation "to architects artist or people loving old houses..." will still stand when I go to Florence and that she will let me stay there. I would be brain sick from excitement.

I didn't resize any of the images so you could see the splendor as captured by Nathalie Krug

The Kitchen. With THAT chandelier, and the modern counter mixed with a farm table and oversized mirror, I would cook in this room forever.

The Dining Area. My favorite tulip chairs by Sarineen - I love the contrast of the white modern furniture and lamps with the majestic frescoes and intricate floors.

Main Living Room. WOW. THE SCALE. THE CONTRAST. THE WALLS.

The Bedroom.

The Bathroom. Love the modern and sleek look of this Corian bathtub.

Another Bedroom. Absolute perfection

Dressing Room. Fell off my chair for the second time when I saw this room.

DSS

2008-09-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Oh the bi-annual shopping frenzy of the District Sample Sale, I can't live without it. This year my girlfriend and I bought VIP tickets (you get in 1 hour early) so the frenzy was mildly lessened, only mildly because it seemed like each shop's allotted space was even smaller than before, but of course that didn't really stop us from shopping.

Here are some pics I took of the crowd followed by some of my purchases of the night:

This gorgeous girl had the cutest outfit, unfortunately here you can't really see it: high-waisted skinny jeans and a tucked in blouse AND she was super tall. My girlfriend and I bought those two dresses she's holding.

These boys are always at the DSS enjoying cocktails and food.

Two shoppers by the Proper Topper area, I love the Anna Corinna bag on the left.

She's a stylist in the city and I loved the brightness of her outfit and her beautiful smile.

Hilary Rhoda, the current face of the St John campaign, and one of the hosts of DSS.

The goods (I spent under $200 on all 3!!):

I love this dress, specially the 80s-Madonna-like cups - from WOYT

Jersey dress by Corey Lynn Calter from WOYT

Silk-cashmere Diane Von Furstenberg cardigan, it's so soft and gorgeous, I'm going to be wearing it all Winter/Fall.