Imitation is the SINcerest of Flattery?. . .

. . Or I hope Hunter thinks so.
Hunter, is the maker of the most popular welly out there. Although they've been around for years, lately, wellies are all the rage. My first pair of wellies I got for $50 at Marshall's five years ago. They were COACH and I thought they were A-mazing. Not so much. They had zero insullation and would easily pull off when in the mud. I still have them somewhere in a box in my garage, I'm sure.
I needed something that I knew would stand up to the test, and not just look cute. I found HUNTER.
They're tough and taper a little at the top to form a kind of suction.

While at Target a while back, I noticed the over abundance of wellies. Stripes, prints, plaids, and solids. They had 'em all. Strangely enough, I knew I had seen these before. Imitation or coincidence? You decide:


Hunter Lady N- $140

Target Flannel Boot- $32.99


Hunter- $79.99

Target- $24.99


Hunter lace-ups- $125

Target lace-ups- $29.99















Although they failed to make me a copy of these:

JIMMY CHOO meets Hunter!
Love them. Who can justify spending almost $400 on rubber boots?
Perhaps if JIMMY is in the mix.
Just like anything else in fashion and design, great products have 'lots of fans. Yet, these things are beyond reach becasue of their prices.
I'm guilty. I currently have this mirror hanging on my wall from Pottery Barn (on sale $149) that looks wildly like this $1600 Captain's Mirror from BDDW.

              PB                   BDDW

Guilty.
Is it imation, copying, coincidence, or getting a good deal??
Inquiring minds want to know.

Magpie Lovely

Anybody heard of Magpie Lovely?  Stephmodo, one of my favorite blogs, is doing a $75 giveaway by Tues., Dec. 2nd.  I entered.  If I won, I would get these by Bijoudally:

Relic Thick Hoops

one of these bracelets:

Dizzy Bracelet

I like the girls dresses (talk about inventory) Magpie has.  The Lila Dress by Mette reminds me a lot of this Katie Did's girls dress, one I've been wanting to make:

Lila Dress by Mette

Winter florals

I know... I know... the usual fashion for Spring/Summer is bright colors, florals and highlights (for the hairstyle) and Winter is dark colors, leather boots and more dark colors... blah.

I use to keep myself updated on fashion by looking at Vogue.com and Instyle.com but it's too much work and too many designers to keep up with... now a days those things can't consume all my time. Instead I look to my favorite fashion celebrities for inspiration. The key is to stay true to your own personal style and it's always nice to allow your style to be inspired by the continually evolving fashion industry.

Nicole Richie is my FAVORITE fashion celebrity. I love how she's kind of hippie, unique and still chic. Hippie and chic? Great combination. I've been getting into florals lately and that's all I want to add to my wardrobe (if you'd even call it that). Instead of the usual fall dress, I've opted for long flowy floral dresses with a tailored leather (in my case, faux leather) jacket, like so:
Since I'm a cheapo, I pretty much only shop or "wishfully shop," online at stores that are within the budget, like www.forever21.com. I found these florals that I thought would be appropriate for winter and not so much an eyesore with it's brightness.

With the short dresses you'd have to wear black opaque tights... please! Opaque tights are a must because 1. it's winter and 2. it looks better. I know I shouldn't but I get kind of irked when I see bare legs, in public, during winter. Irked.

The real key is finding the perfect black leather (and tailored) jacket to wear with these dresses. I got mine at Target three years ago and couldn't find any cute ones online to post.

Instead of boots (which I'm still a fan of) I wear simple black heels. One day when I get the courage to invest in some timeless ultra cool boots, it would probably be a tan brown and definitely flats (so I could wear with jeans).

Just something to share.

The Zooey Deschanel Coat

If you've ever seen Yes Man with Jim Carrey-and you're a girl-maybe you noticed the sweet coat worn by Allison (played by Zooey Deschanel) when they were at the airport and flew off to Nebraska.  Please tell me you didn't think to yourself, "I like her coat."  Well, if you want one, you're out of luck. That coat was a vintage find and then customized with a couple of buttons.  But, don't give up...there's a Facebook Group called The Society of the Awesome Coat of Zooey Deschanel, who's motto is:  'We are a small but dedicated group of rabid fanatics who have pledged to taste neither food nor drink until we have found the incredibly beautiful coat worn by the incredibly beautiful Zooey in the incredibly beautiful movie, "Yes Man."'

There are a couple of similar coats for purchase: Urban Outfitters & Revolve Clothing.

I had to laugh when I read the first comment to the creator of the group:
"umm......chris, is this seriously how you waste your life?" 

New Amy Butler Rugs

Chandra Boutique's making rugs using Amy Butler designs from her Lotus and August Fields fabric collections, as well as some new designs. Small ones are $800 and the large ones $1700. Go to AB's shop for more.

August Anthro

The newest Anthropologie catalog arrived last week. Somewhat disappointed to see them drop their usual layout and poses and scenery and adopt a "this is you" snapshot theme. Too marketing campaign, too blog-revolution (Martha, too). In the shadow of The Sartorialist's blogumentary: