It was great while it lasted, but from now on you can find me:







We all soul search every now and then (usually inside our wardrobes), and we always end up where we're supposed to be (and with the right sparkly flats).

Ms. Upper East Side

According to WWD, Christian Dior's pre-fall collection "took inspiration from two distinct aesthetics: Alfred Hitchcock’s icy heroines and Helmut Newton’s tough-chic glamazons."

While I agree, I would also insist that John Galliano had Gossip Girl looping through the studios as he designed the collection. This look, in particular, is so Lily van der Woodsen - right down to the sassy strut, the blase sunglasses worn indoors, and the wrought-iron stairway.

On second thought, or so Daisy Buchanan, depending on your school of thought (i.e. old school vs. new school).

P.S.

While I am personally fond of the new moniker, feedback hasn't been positive (I think I just really like the idea of a cow wearing a bow). In the end, it is the content that's important to me and I would hate it if readers feel turned away because of a particularly abrasive title. So please let me know your feelings. Vote away, and chime in if you have another idea.

Kooples and Bobos

I may be on winter break, but I still think it's important to learn something new every day. Yesterday I learned there is nothing good on TV on Wednesday nights. Today I learned about a new Parisian label called The Kooples (that's "couples" said in a French accent) from Women's Wear Daily.

The label is fabulous, the article is fantastic, and the author made a reference to "bobos" that was the cleverest thing I read all day. "Nicolas Ratieville, 30, and Honorine Crosnier, 29, both TV producers," WWD's fashion scribe wrote, "embody The Kooples’ 25- to 35-year-old bobo (BOurgeois-BOhemian) target audience."

David Brooks's Bobos In Paradise has been on my bookshelf for half a year and on my nightstand for a month. I'm only midway through, because I've been using it as a breath of nonfiction between imaginative novels like The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Even though I don't completely understand the world of bourgeois bohemians - hopefully the last ten chapters will enlighten me - I'm already looking forward to dropping the word "bobo" into everyday conversations.

A Bouquet of Daisies and Lilies

New York Times pop culture columnist Frank Rich recently wrote an article that likened George W. Bush, of Yale-bred political infamy, to Tom Buchanan, of Yale-bred Great Gatsby infamy. While not completely appropriate (or even all that analogous), it was an amusing comparison that led me to spend hours wondering who would be the modern day equivalent to Daisy Buchanan, the legendary literary character and love of Jay Gatsby's life.

Daisy is a fabulous floozy. She comes across as superficial, but her demeanor hints at a complexity that is never fully revealed. Pampered and pretty, Daisy's charmed life has a void that cannot be filled by her wealthy husband, her adorable child, or her social-climbing inner circle. Daisy takes her mind off of her lost love by trying to prove to herself that money can by happiness. And by drinking lots of gin.

Daisy Buchanan is Lily van der Woodsen. They both harbor a long-lost love for a social outcast. They both have children who are banished to the background, graced with attention only when it's convenient for them. They both have passive relationships with wealthy, pompous husbands. They both have enviable wardrobes, jewels, and apartments in the city. They both have a taste for fine champagne and strong liquor. Last but certainly not least, they both share names with fresh flowers.

Finally it makes sense why I love Gossip Girl so much; the show mirrors one of my favorite novels of all time. If F. Scott Fitzgerald only knew...

Vogue's Vying for Young Readers

Every January, Vogue selects ten women to represent the best dressed women of the year. Most years these women are socialites, actresses, and bonafide starlets. This year, however, the list skewed younger — and more scholarly. Of the ten, three are college students and five are in their early 20s. According to Condé Nast, Vogue's median reader is 35.5. So, in the past, the magazine has stuck to older, more sophisticated style icons to appeal to their target reader. It has been a rare occasion for young women to grace the pages of Vogue; most of the time, they leave the tweens, teens, and young twenty-somethings to little sister magazine Teen Vogue.

Now that Teen Vogue's competitors are dropping like flies (rest in peace, ELLEgirl and CosmoGirl, which now lives on only digitally) and young women's magazine options are dwindling, Vogue is in a position to swoop in and charm the socks off readers of all ages. Women like to read about women like themselves. Putting Blake Lively front and center on the best dressed list will appeal to everyone who has ever caught an episode of "Gossip Girl," because she's so darn likable (and Gossip Girl fans span as young as 12 and as old as, well, my mom). Never mind that Blake's street style is a depressing departure from Serena's. Commercially, it was a smart move for Vogue.

Read the rest of "Vogue Makes A Smart Play For College Students" at Ypulse.com.

A Dickensian Fashion

"The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens by Claire Tomalin. How the great Victorian writer managed effectively to disappear his mistress from all the records and memoirs and how after his death she re invented her romantic history makes for one of the best literary biographies I have ever read. Ternan was an actress from a theatrical family akin to the ones Dickens so brilliantly evoked in Nicholas Nickelby. The book is as much a portrait of the world of Victorian traveling theater as it is of the woman who obsessed Britain's most celebrated literary lion." - Tina Brown, on the best books she read in '08.

I like my history with a heavy dose of drama, and this book seems right up my alley. Authors are often as interesting as the literature they create (i.e. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker), and Dickens is no exception. He was an obsessive-compulsive egomaniac, but who wouldn't be, with such wide-spread and overwhelming popularity? Readers were so fanatical about his stories that they once waited on a dock for the delivery of the latest serialized chapter of The Old Curiosity Shop. When they found that their beloved Little Nell character was killed, 6,000 heartbroken people fled the scene. While it left many readers furious, it certainly didn't harm Dickens's fame. Even today, there are more articles published on Dickens than anyone else (with the exception of Shakespeare, but that's a given).

Dickens channeled his confused personal life into his literature. He had ten children with his wife, an affair with his sister-in-law, and a long-time mistress who was more influential to his work than his marriage ever was. Were he still alive today, Dickens would undoubtedly be a favorite on Perez Hilton.

Other notable Dickensian fashion facts:

- Wren, the cute clothing label that has been making waves on the racks of Barney's and Neiman's and on the pages of Lucky and Nylon, is inspired by Jenny Wren, a character in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend.
- Ralph Lauren called his 2003 collection "the rocker on Savile Row with a hint of Dickens."
- Donna Karan once sent fashion show invitations on the covers of vintage books, including titles from Dickens.
- Women's Wear Daily described Patrick Robinson's first collection for Gap as "grunge to Oliver Twist to Carnaby Street."

Pretty Printcess

Argyle, plaid, and buffalo check? I really don't know that it's possible to get more goodness in one photo.

Except maybe strategically placing the streets of Soho the background. This is a keeper.

Something Shiny

Much to my excitement, Teen Vogue chose Miss Ginny Branch as this week's "blogger of the moment!" Ginny is my favorite. She is charming and adorable and her gem of a blog encapsulates everything lovely about New York City.

Reading "My Favorite Color is Shiny" is like peeking into the scrapbook of a girl about town who would rather read literature and collect bows and search for vintage gems than hit up nightclubs or pose for the paparazzi. She's like a real-life Tinkerbell who spreads fairy dust wherever she goes. Every time I popped into Marc by Marc Jacobs this past summer, I feared running into her because I just know I would get all flustery and starstruck.

But then again, I get starstruck around everyone who has ever appeared in a magazine, on the television, or even on the internet. I am easily (and frequently) impressed.

Dear Gossip Girl

"Blair in a negligee
Serena in a nightie
Got a Tom Ford tux
Lagerfeld whitey tighties"

Brilliant. Let this entertain you until next week's episode.

Fabulous Frye

After a week of anticipation, the beloved Paige boots from Frye finally descended on my doorstep. The box was enormous and Piperlime's packaging is endlessly enticing. The boots were lovely; rounded toes, side buckles, and sumptuous brown leather were even better looking in person. However, they were a little large in size, so much so that when I tried to strut around the house I looked more like a little girl playing dress up in her mom's shoes.

They were so pretty that I wore them for a few hours while lying on the couch, just so I could look at them, but they have to go back. Even the thickest socks won't solve their problem and even the biggest paycheck won't assuage my guilt for spending $400 on a pair of shoes.

Maybe if I catch them on sale or spy them on eBay (not likely, since I get easily exhausted clicking around that site), I'll reintroduce them into my closet. While they're worth every penny, right now I'm more comfortable having those pennies in my piggy bank.

I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of the Frye's.

Disney Daydream

I have entirely too many little black dresses, but I can't stop buying them. They can be worn a million times, a million different ways, to a million different places and I still feel like Holly Golightly the millionth day I put one on.

These little capped toe Prada babies would be just the thing to bring a breath of fresh air to the LBD. Between the bow, the buckle, and the girlish round toe, it looks as though Muiccia may have been inspired by Minnie Mouse when she designed these whimsical mary janes - but that's a good thing, because Minnie was always my favorite (those polka dots! that omnipresent hairbow! the enviable eyelashes!).

Cute Shoes

(post secret really gets it. and those shoes really are cute.)

A Collection of Art

Years ago, when I got my first iPod and learned my way around iTunes, I made it my goal to collect 4,000 songs. After all, if my shiny little gadget could hold that many, I might as well get my money's worth. My song count quickly hit the quadruple digits and kept growing until I had enough music to last me a week without repeating tracks. No matter that I only listen to the same songs for an hour or two a day. In case I was ever stranded on an island and only had music to entertain me, thousands of songs would surely come in handy.

These days, I find myself consistently listening to the same bands and downloading infrequently - only when I find a true gem. This new less-is-more habit has me thinking. Should I delete the music I never listened to and, let's face it, will never listen? Or is there something to be said for collecting music?

On one hand, deleting songs I never listen to would be like throwing away clothes with the tags still on them. And yet at the same time, these neglected tracks are just giving me a false sense of having diverse taste in music, just like I keep those never-worn sweaters around to give me a false sense of having a larger wardrobe than I actually do.

Abercrombie's Cabin

I haven't set foot in Abercrombie & Fitch for years, but I used to be an avid fan. I memorized the pages of the magalogue, I visited the website several times a week, and I collected moose-embroidered things with great fervor. And then I came to my senses (and proceeded to seam-rip the logos off all of my possessions).

The Selby was recently welcomed into the home of Abercrombie's ultra-cool "concept team" design director and while I can't picture her wearing the Abercrombie-emblazoned tops she designs, I can certainly see where the store's buffalo plaid cabin-inspired aesthetic might be inspired by.

P.S. I still keep my eye on Abercrombie's goods, and the spring preview showed some lovely tanks and peasant tops refreshingly without logos. The moose might be gone, but the inflated prices are not.