the ebay

>>  What three things do I want in life (or now, rather)?  No silly, not peace, love, and happiness.  Try again.  You're stumped?  Okay fine.  I'll give it to you, but just this once. 

1. The Pants

I saw this style of pants running around all over Barcelona, and fell deeply, passionately in love.  The example picture is from McQueen's Spring 2003 collection, but only because I couldn't get a picture of the ones I saw.  They look exactly the same.  I know the people I saw wearing them can't all afford vintage McQueen, however, so I want to know... where can you get these pants?  Anyone, anyone?  I want, but I can't have, because I don't know where to get.  And that makes it all the worse.  They just look so comfy, and at the same time, I think of a Japanese influence.  Which makes it all the cooler.  Now if only I could find them, I would be able to die a happy woman. 

2.  The Shirt

I was looking through a great Japanese Street Style site that I came across, and I found a girl from Harajuku (don't worry, I'm no Gwen Stefani) wearing this lovely lovely Comme des Garcons Play shirt.  Again, can't find it anywhere -- it came out a couple of years ago.  I think I like it so much because it reminds me of a drawing I did as a kid -- it had little heart people with eyes on them that looked just like that.  And to think, if only my parents had had the common sense to put that drawing on a shirt, I might've been a famous at age 5.  I'm dreaming, I know, but the point is, the shirt is personal to me.  But I'm still so jealous of that girl.  She has my shirt.

3. The Waistcoat

Also known as "vest" in the U.S., but I figure since I'm in England, I can take up their terms.  Especially when I'm going to mention Miss Kate Moss, the lovely.  Who has been spotted at the Glastonbury Festival (and around town) recently wearing this waistcoat.  I'm not sure that I would wear mine like she does, but I definitely think this would be a good piece to support the quasi- adrogynous clothing phase I'm going through right now.  Plus, just look at her.  There's nothing manly about the piece when she wears it.  In fact, I would dare to say sensual.  (I know, Kate Moss is the embodiment of sensual, but what can I say.)  I found a pretty cute one at Urban Outfitters for $78, but I would prefer to find a cool vintage one in London.  So we'll see what I can turn up.

**sources: TIME, getty images

>>...it's time for some Spanish street style.  But first, I must debrief you on the general trends I noticed:

I have to admit, I did go to Sevilla as well as Barcelona and San Sebastian, but I haven't really talked about it because I didn't really see many young people.  And the ones I did see were tourists = no thank you.  So again, I'm going to focus on what I observed in Barcelona and San Sebastian -- by the time we get through, you'll be a master at Spanish fashion (I'm so modest about my advice, aren't I?).

The most interesting thing about the trends I noticed was that a lot of them were unisex.  For example, both guys and girls were very into the capri-length pants.  Of course the guy's were baggier, and the girls more fitted, but I didn't see any guy wearing shorts that end right below the knee like all guys wear in the States.  Also, everybody and their mom had espadrilles (or alpargatas, if you like), but that was to be expected, I mean, it's Spain, people.  There was one surprise, however.  The guys also had their own version of espadrilles -- alpargatas espigo -- that were quite ubiquitous as well.  In fact, my boyfriend fell in love with them and bought a pair (left, €10).  And the hairstyle, oh, the hairstyle.  We saw it so much, it became dubbed "the haircut" when we were pointing it out to each other.  On guys it resembled a mullet -- short on top and in the front and longer in the back, and on girls (women, all ages really) it was the same, except the long was usually longer.  And there was one more style that was all over both men and women's feet -- abarcas (right).  They don't look like anything special, but on feet, they're cute.  And especially attractive when you're walking around all day (instead of using a car) like many Spaniards do.

Other random notes I made: 

There's nothing too different about the way Spaniards dress, and yet I found myself getting a certain style vibe.  They do add sportier elements to their dress that you typically see in the States -- something I mentioned the other day.  And they don't wear nearly as much makeup as the average American woman does.  In fact, it flatters them to wear less.  Funnily enough, I think the most beautiful women I saw were both mothers without any makeup on at all.  They were both dressed well, however.

I did see some girls wearing jeans, but they're not on everyone's tush like back home -- they're more likely to be wearing skirts or dresses or capris.  But no short shorts -- not at all.  In fact, my friend from Paris was telling me that Europeans can always tell an American, especially if they're wearing short shorts.             

Barcelona was very bohemian, at least in the area I was in.  No, not the Paris Hilton-bright-pink-long-flowy-skirt-fashion-victimization that's going on all over everywhere, but the dreads, layered bikini tops under cotton halter dresses, piercings everywhere, unkempt looking kind of bohemian.  Speaking of piercing, this was another thing I noticed.  Many many girls had the area below their lip, but off-center, pierced.  I've never really seen this in the States, so I found it interesting.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for -- my paparazzi debut (Spanish street style).          

>> Everyone always told me that when in Spain, one shops at Mango and Zara.  I think it's kinda like when in England, you shop at H&M and TopShop.  In other words, none of these stores are the best you can find out there, but they're still something to check out, if only to know what everyone else is talking about. 

Of course both Mango and Zara have stores outside of Spain (Zara even has one in Houston), but I thought I would check both out in their fatherland (maybe they would be more special that way?).  So, I give you my impressions:

MANGO:

Honestly, I didn't stay in the store very long at all.  I am what you might call a "super power shopper" -- I go into store, glance around at stuff, and can tell pretty quickly after that if I want to look any further at their clothes.  I'm not one of those people that has to touch every single item in the store for 30 seconds apiece.  And seeing how I didn't stay in Mango for very long, you have probably guessed that I wasn't very impressed.  The clothes seemed just very basic, and while everyone needs some basics, it would have been nice to see a little personality as well.  It's a store that is totally forgettable, and so are the clothes.  If you wanted me to find an American equivalent, it would probably be an Abercrombie without so many jeans for sale, because the prices weren't super-cheap, and there was that general aura of blandness.  I think the Spaniards felt pretty much the same, because there wasn't exactly enough people in the store to call it "busy."

ZARA:

Zara, on the other hand, was absolutely crawling with people.  In fact, for the day and a half I was in San Sebastian, I must have seen at least 50 different people (all locals) running around with Zara shopping bags.  And the bag carriers spanned all ages, from 10-year-old to grandma.  When I went inside, it was pretty difficult to navigate because of the sheer amount of people packed into the tiny little trendy-store aisles.  I have to say, the clothes are better that Mango's -- there are more prints and little details to make the clothing more personalized.  The prices were about the same as Mango's, if not a slight bit more expensive.  It really reminded me of an Express, the same kind of trendy prints on fabric of so-so quality that they can sell off for more than they really should charge -- you know what I mean. 

I am glad that I went, however, because I found a girl in a great outfit to paparazzi-stalk.  I'm not even joking, I saw her in Zara and was like, wow, what a great outfit,  so I sat across the street from the Zara entrance and waited for her to exit.  I felt so weird, and definitely got some weird looks, but hopefully I could just pass it off as being a brainless American tourist.  I even sent my boyfriend on reconnaissance missions back into the store to see where this girl was and when she was nearing the entrance.  I'm really glad she was with a friend, so she didn't notice that she was being stalked by American tourists (we really are ridiculous, I know). In any case, I just loved the graphic print (surprise), the dropped-waist, and the little shrunken cardi that she wore over the dress.  And a great color combination, to boot.  Not much else to say about it, but you can look and see for yourself.  It's a very Spanish outfit, typical of what I saw over there, I think because of the sporty element she added to it with the slides and the backpack. So there you have it, some genuine Spanish streetstyle.      

>> From Barcelona, we moved on to San Sebastian, a gorgeous little resort town in the Spanish Basque country (right).  It was amazing how everywhere we went -- Sevilla, Barcelona, San Sebastian -- had such a different feel to it.  But I guess its the same for the States -- NYC, Atlanta, and LA are all strikingly different, so I'm not sure why it surprised me so much about Spain.  San Sebastian had a much cozier small-town feel to it than the other two, not to mention the promenade and its view of the Bay of La Concha were breathtaking. 

It was our last stop in Spain before entering into other countries, so I absolutely had to pick up a good pair of espadrilles.  I have been in love with them since I was a zygote, so really, I couldn't pass up the chance.  My boyfriend/translator (he speaks the Spanish and I speak the French) asked the hostess at our hostel where she recommended finding a quality pair of said type of shoes, and surprisingly, she didn't understand "espadrille."  Now that's funny.  Here I was always thinking that espadrille was a Spanish word (so maybe I'm ignorant), when in fact, it was French, all along.  Tricksy, that word "espadrille" is.  So after describing the shoe to her, we come to find out that espadrilles are actually called "alpargatas."  Off we went.

Our hostess recommended this little tiny store called Estrada, located right around the corner from where we were staying.  We stopped by, but of course it was closed.  One of the most endearing things about Spain is the fact that stores are totally unreliable.  The stores sporadically open and close whenever they feel like it -- mostly during siesta hours, which are between 1-4 (and sometimes 5 or 6) pm.  I'll admit, they are somewhat predictable in the sense that you are almost guaranteed they will be closed most of the afternoon, but you can never really be sure if/when they will open. 

Finally, around 5:15 pm, we circled back for the fourth time, and little Estrada was open!  The whole thing must have 25 square feet, the tiniest shop ever.  There was already a line out the door, filled with locals (this made me happy -- whenever you find a place filled with locals, you know you're spot on).  The entirety of the store's stock was all in that little store, piles and piles all the way up to the ceiling.  What amazed me most of all is that the owner knew exactly where to look for everything -- it wasn't exactly the most organized store I've ever been in.  When she asked what size I needed, and we told her "United States 9," she just laughed at us and replied, in Spanish, of course,  "That means nothing to me."  It took a few trials for me to finally figure out that I'm a size 39 in Spain, and I was able to walk out, proud owner of some authentic alpargatas (and for only €20).  I just love the way the jute roping that forms the wedge gets kind of hairy when you've worn them in a bit...I think thats my favorite.  Oh, and the fact that I can walk in them all over the place and they're still comfortable. 

If you can't quite make it over to Spain, but are still interested in some quality espadrilles, check out espadrillesetc.com -- they have a wide selection going for about what I paid for mine.

>>  Barcelona was gorgeous.  We stayed right on the Ramblas (left), which is the huge super-touristy main boulevard.  When we arrived, it was absolutely teeming with people and the types of little shops that typically try to sell to tourists' undiscerning eyes.  I mean, they were selling birds, for crying out loud... what kind of souvenir is that?  And who in their right mind buys a bird to remember Barcelona?  I can just see it, as Mr. Classic Tourist steps off the plane: "Ahh, I see you have a bird, you must have been to Barcelona!"  Right-o.

In any case, me being me, and my boyfriend being my boyfriend, we were naturally repelled by the gross gaudiness that was witnessed on this street.  So, we set ourselves to exploration mode, and off we went.  We came across the Gothic Quarter (left), which is right off the Ramblas.  Of course, me being a huge sucker for gothic architecture, I was smitten.  I'll admit, the area was still quite touristy, but like I said, gothic arches are band-aid enough for any sore thumbs. 

Happily enough (and I know you're happy too, as I am finally getting to what you probably come here for), I found a spectacular store, newly-opened, called Desigual.  Right up my alley, with its super graphic-design and grafitti-type looks.  Barcelona is intensely steamy and humid, so I had been on the lookout for a good cotton halter dress like I had seen everyone running around in.  Luckily enough, I found the perfect candidate -- a green and pink number with a big face on the side (I heart graphic faces).  It was a little on the expensive side at €56, but I figure what the hell, this place is only located in Europe and Asia, so why shouldn't the dress be my Barcelonan souvenir?  It's must better than taking home a bird, I'll say. 

Plus, I like the way they do things at Desigual.  For openings of new stores, they invite artists, grafitters, painters, etc.  to decorate the spaces.  So it has that whole artsy feel I like.  And on that note, I leave you with a picture of my favorite graffiti (unfortunately, not in Desigual) that I came across while in Barcelona (left).   

**sources: stevefazzio.com, dominicmartell.com

>> I'm baaaaaack (for right now, anyway)!  After a week of plane-, train-, and city-hopping, and nearly missing my [insert connecting flight or train here] multiple times, I've finally settled into good old London, England, home of my boy Union Jack.  Don't worry, just because I was in foreign surroundings doesn't mean that fashion became a foreign thing to me.  If anything, I have TONS of good stuff to relay.  So sit back, put your seat upright, and prepare for takeoff!

**sources: proudflag.com

>> ...I hate to say adieu, but I simply must whisk myself off to Spain and England (and France?) until mid-August.  I'm torn, believe me.  I will try to update as often as possible, but it will likely be very sporadic.  My apologies ahead of time.

And so I leave you with something I like:

TIME Magazine recently did an article on Phoebe Philo that made me respect her even more (if you can believe that).  They stressed the fact that Ms. Philo emerged as one of the leaders in fashion design without the boost of any hype.  When first offered the top job at Chloe, Ms. Philo was "a rebellious, unknown assistant with a penchant for gold teeth, diamente-studded nails and hip-hop.  Although many fashion insiders credited her street smart for Chloe's success during [Stella] McCartney's tenure, she was not not an obvious choice to reinvent a 50-year-old-brand." 

I absolutely love that Phoebe didn't get where she has by "playing the game" and kissing booty.  I love that she's always been herself, and done what she likes to do, and yet has been able to gain the respect of her colleagues.  I mean, she was at Chloe's helm at 27.  And most of all, I love her for showing people that sometimes someone who seems least likely to be right for the job is actually perfect.  The underdog who scores.  I hope she keeps it up, because I hold her way up there in my books. 

And something I don't like so much:

Versace's new face is....drumroll please...Demi Moore.  Yeah, just like that.  Blegh.  I mean, yeah, she looks great for her age, but, come on, Donatella... Demi?  I'm just not seeing it.  Nor will it attract me more to your clothes.

**sources: uk vogue dailies

>> No I mean, really, please stop me. It must be fate that I keep getting lead to these great $20 shoe deals, but I could really use a cease and desist order right about now.  Here I am, about to embark on a great voyage to Europe, and am I saving my money?  Noooo, of course not, why would I ever do something intelligent and responsible like that?  Especially when there's these great pairs of shoes on sale stateside?  I told you I was downright addicted  -- I was not kidding. 

And now, the fruits of my labors (and trust me, it was soooo labor-intensive to walk into the store and try on a couple pairs of shoes):

The first pair kind of reminded me of the Chloe Bow Moccasins -- they're nice Italian leather, comfortable, and perfect for traipsing around Spain (until I find some suitable espadrilles, that is).  And the second pair is just pure whimsy... but its good to have a little of that in your life every once and a while.  Besides, I've been on a bright-colored-shoe kick lately -- I like the punch they add to an outfit.  Let's just say, today, I am a satisfied customer. 

>> Now that I've got your attention with the shocking headline, I've got an interesting little tidbit for you.  Susan Glen, designer extraordinaire of Tit Totes, is fashioning handbags out of bras.  No, I'm not even joking -- she sews the cups together, uses the hooks as a clasp, and the straps as...straps.  Then, she decorates each tote by hand, adding sequins, fringe, and whatever else may strike her fancy.  Her designs are inspired by Old Hollywood -- her "Marilyn" (Monroe) design is above ($230), and her "Audrey" (Hepburn) to the right ($195).

My first reaction is TACKY!, to be honest.  I mean, I like sequins, I'm eh about the fringe, but the whole using-a-bra-as-a-purse thing, not so sure about.  I could see how some people would see it as "empowering" or whatever, but I mean, really do we need to go back to the '70s, when women were doing crazy things like burning their bras?  If you want to show off your bra, I think it's much sexier peeking out of a suit than so...just...out there.  And besides, on more general terms, I just plain don't find them cute.  BUT, if you wanted me to pick my favorite, I would have to say the "Eleanor" (Roosevelt), because it's actually somewhat classy looking (left, $150). 

All that said, I have to hand it to Ms. Glen -- at least she has a sense of humor. When asked about her inspiration:

"...Maybe I should make a Cheeto and beef jerky-themed Tit Tote, and name it Britney."

**sources: venus zine

>> Ever since Alexander McQueen's skull scarf debuted in his pirate-inspired Spring/Summer 2003 collection, the Jolly Roger has been somewhat of a go-to guy.  Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, and Mary Kate Olsen all still wear their scarves, whether tied onto their bags or tossed around their pretty little necks.  I personally have always been a Jolly Roger aficionado myself, but for a slightly different reason -- anyone who grows up in Louisiana can't not be fascinated by pirates.  They're proud of their Jean LaFittes down there.  Even the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles has crossed pistols all along the rails in tribute. 

But I digress.  The reason we're here today, kids, is to discuss the frequency with which I've spotted Mr. Roger lately.  And I must say, he's lookin' good, too.  He must have gotten tired of just hangin' with the unbathed men with gold teeth, only one real leg, and parrots attached to their shoulders, because it really looks as though he's working on expanding his fan base.  I'm impressed -- he's really picking up some credible collaborations here -- we've got the Chanel earrings for the high-end customers (right, $796).  I definitely bit on this product -- these are too cute to just look past.  Perfect for adding a little punk rock to an otherwise sophisticated outfit.

For a more laid-back look, Mr. Roger's got a real one-two punch going.  LA-based underground label Great China Wall has a beautiful tank with Mr. Roger's face just plastered everywhere (left, $415).  The hand-painting is gorgeous, and the crystals are fun.  He must be a creature of comfort, because Mr. Rogers has also shown up on those oh-so-comfy Vans slip-ons (right, $40.95).

And last, Mr. Roger shows us Texas girls that he can be versatile -- on cowboy boots (left, by Liberty Boot Co.).  He sure is comfortable in his manliness to be showing up in all this pink.  And a bow, no less.  But whatever it takes to please the ladies, right, Mr. Roger?      

**sources: style.com, nylon