What's Hot, What's Not

HOT:
This Marc Jacobs headband is hot, albeit pricey (over $100, on sale, on BergdorfGoodman.com). If I had straight, short hair, I'd snatch this thing up and rock it all over town for the next month before the Fall.

NOT:
1) Painting the ring finger nail a different color than the other nails

As my new favorite, Emma, puts it: "yawnsies." Couldn't have said it better myself!

Photo credit: Emma's Thing http://emmasthing.com/

2) Photo booths

Put your oversized glasses, wooden moustaches and pirate hats away.

Photo credit: photoboothkentucky.com

Gaga Ain't Got Nothin on Hepburn

There are so many articles being published these days about how what's old is new again due to (a) the lack of creativity of our modern age or (b) the 40-year rule. I'm not sure if it's my reading of these articles that has me keen on the lack of creativity in fashion (my opinion, I know!), or if I'm finally at an age at which I realize being original is relative (how anthropological of me). Either way, I present you with this shot of an amazing outfit Audrey Hepburn is rocking in the movie How to Steal a Million. Look at the sparkly makeup! The earrings! And...the mask. Ahem, Lady Gaga. Ahem.

Hot nails, cool moustache

These nails are rad to the max. Apparently the moustache ring was $3 on eBay or etsy or some online store that starts with a 'e.'

Irish Expressionism

I promised Vin that I'd write a post about Ireland so here goes. I've always had a fascination with the country. In 1998 or 1999 (the 90s - so long ago I can't even remember which year!), I was lucky enough to be sent by my job to live in Dublin for a month. Oh how I wanted to stay and live there long-term.

Ireland and America are good friends. The U.S. ambassador's residence in Dublin is in the same park as the Irish president's house. So traveling around Dublin and the immediate area (Editor's Note: I've not been to Belfast or Northern Ireland) means you're going to be greeted by friendly, welcoming people. This, of course, contributes to the charm of the area—it's nice to not feel like a barbaric American.

But there's another element that, for me, contributes significantly to the charm of the area and that's the expressions used in everyday conversation. Since my trip was about two weeks ago, I couldn't remember all of the fun slang I wanted to share with you here. Enter Google. A search for the term "irish slang" has thankfully pulled up a number of websites where people more dedicated than I have created dictionaries to help jog my memory. Here are my favorite terms:

• Grand - This one is really best of the best. It's just like saying "great" in response to anything someone says to you when you want to respond with a supportive, affirmative exclamation. But "grand" sounds just a little more regal, dontcha think?
• Lovely - Again, this term puts just a little more of a refined emphasis on things. It's not a matter of translating this one, just a matter of it being used more often than we use it here in the states.
• Crisps - Potato chips. They're sold in every pub*, which I think it brilliant*.
• Pub* - Not a bar, but a pub. There's a difference and I'm not sure what it is, but I think a bar is a bar in a restaurant or hotel, whereas anything that's only a bar is a pub.
• Brilliant* - When something is really great, meaning great with an exclamation point.
• Chalk and cheese -  Used to refer to two things or people who couldn't be any more different.

Of course this anthropological report wouldn't be complete with some real, live footage from the field. Isn't this a lovely tune? I don't totally understand what they're saying, and I've watched this vid a number of times, but it's lovely, grand and brilliant.

Hot Online Shopping Tip: Hampden Clothing

Attention my lovely fashionistas, a favorite store of mine in Charleston, SC, is having its winter sale with some seriously fabulous—and usually uber-expensive—items on sale. 75% off cannot be missed, so get yourselves over there now because it's about to end (tomorrow). Here's the URL>>
HampdenClothing.com.

Some hot selections, for your perusal:

I call this one Pilgrimmage

And this one is Fire Ball

Finally, this one I want

2012: A Plea to the Young People

Arriving back to NYC from FL this week, I was struck by just how few people I noticed on the street looking hip and stylish. Usually when I'm away from this fine place for an extended period of time, I'm immediately struck by how hot, and cutting edge so many people look. Ok, we still have a ton of hotties here, but the outfits are, well, mainstream. Every woman in the East Village is wearing leggings and boots (myself included). Every woman in Brooklyn knots her hair on the top of her head and wears a chunky knit scarf. For a while I was blaming globalization for this, and according to this article I just read in Vanity Fair—"You Say You Want a Devolution?"—that's part of the reason why style, culture, art, etc. hasn't really changed in the past decade (at least). But this is New York City, people, and that is why my first post of the new year is a plea to the young people.

My dear twenty-somethings:

I understand you're faced with a lot of tough elements these days. A college degree doesn't guarantee a job once you graduate, but it is likely to guarantee some serious debt. We're smack dab in the middle of a deep recession that's only getting deeper. Life, especially life in this city, can often feel like a treadmill you'd just like to take a break from. As someone who moved to South Carolina for three years believe me, I get it.

The thing is, we're counting on you. We in our middle-to-late thirties, and older, need you to shake things up. We need you to actually innovate and not fetishize the word innovate. We need you to occupy Wall Street, and if you can't afford to take off work to do so, get involved in some other way. It's great that you worked on Obama's campaign, but we need you to continue to volunteer, be passionate and contribute.

Let's move on from Steve Jobs. Yes, Apple products are amazeballs but the products of the future can and should make them obsolete. Let's move on right now&mash;we are counting on you to knock our socks off so that ten years from now we can say "that's so 2012" and have it actually mean something.

And on a fashion note, I am counting on you to wear the stuff I'm in awe of. I'm counting on you to rock the shoes I can't wear because I'll break my back if I do. I need you to get the new haircut I can't because I don't have straight hair. And most importantly, I need you to design the most killer pair of spectacles never before seen on any hipster for when my eyes go.

Your friend and mentor,

Caroline