Georgia Rule? Well...Lindsay Lohans wardrobe certainly rocks!

P.S.

I watched Georgia Rule today. What else to do in the Montreal rain? (Have I mentioned its been raining ALL week?) Anyway: unlike some who have dissed LaLohan and the movie, I loved it. Besides Lindsay's wonderfully covetable wardrobe (amazing skinny jeans, flow-y white tops, great wedges, to die-for sunglasses, etc)...I was drooling half the movie...I think it was a good performance....and a good movie. I really enjoyed it. Judge for yourself. The perfect opportunity? Well, the 93 degree weather I left behind in NYC or the cold dreary rain of Montreal!

Escape to the movies. Covet Lindsay's clothes.

The NYC Launch of Kate Moss for Topshop at Barneys Coop

Whew! What a day.

Soooo, in spite of waking up super early to get into Barneys for their 10am opening time....I didn't end up making it there until 20 minutes after 10...I am not so good at mornings. Things were pretty calm when I entered the store, there were a few reporters out front asking questions of shoppers who had already been in and out...I heard some talk of hype and exorbitant pricing...cashing in, etc.

When the elevator opened on the 7th floor, there was definitely a pronounceable din...and an energy buzz. The Kate Moss collection was clustered around a small space in the middle of the room comprised (at this point at least) of 7 or so racks that were being attacked in a gently chaotic manner. Certainly things were quite civil and not at all madness. Having arrived just a tad too late...I missed out on nearly all the dresses, 'cept for that particular one I was hoping to get (alas I didn't like the way it hung after all) and a chiffon number (see below) that at 200$ was so way overpriced and just not my thing.

The Chiffon 'Tatoo" Dress


The Cowl Neck 'Dress' as terribly photographed by Moi in the dressing room. Hmm looking at it here, I kinda like it....at the time I thought, not worth 115$ and truthfully its not...tho it is cute. Anyway, too late.


The only vest option (and another majorly crummy pic by moi) they had...I snagged one when it was returned to the rack after someone deferred. A button popped off before I even got to try it on, at that price, I was like 'forget it'...plus it was made in China, not such a great indicator of quality workmanship...passed on this one too.


Other than those 2 dresses there was little else in the way of variety, a large number of the 'beater' tanks in white, khaki, pink and black, some short-shorts, a couple of patterned T's, a beaded shirt/dress that no one seemed to be going for (though I thought was cute but pricey and heavy), a few pairs of black skinny jeans and even fewer pairs of blue denim cropped jeans. It really was slim pickings. People seemed to keep hovering around the same 6 racks filled with redundant pieces, waiting for the rare occurrence when someone would return a piece after nixing it. By the time I left the 7 or so racks were down to 4 measly barren racks.

In essence, a rather disappointing affair that fell short in both variety and quantity. The pieces just weren't that interesting or 'new'. I left with a pair of the black skinny jeans but truthfully I already have another black pair from Topshop and I am not so sure these are too different, so they may end up going back. The highlight was probably just seeing all the great outfits that everyone at the turnout was wearing. Certainly they were far better dressed than any of these pieces could ever hope to aspire to.

A very New York event, no one ever looked like they cared too much, just enough to get the goods. Calm aloof mayhem. "Did you want this? Oh no, you take it...." Who me, care? Certainly not. Brilliant, perfectly New York.

For those of you wanting to cash in on a little of the action in farther off places, the following items are still available online at Barneys Coop.

P.S.
The front display windows had live models with Kate Moss masquerade-type masks over their face, making subtle references to being coy. Maybe that should have been my first indication that like their masks, this event was not quite the real thing.

Horrible Experience at Artbag, NYC

So, I'm not usually Ms. Negativity, and I prefer to keep this blog light and upbeat, but I have to share my tres terrible experience at Artbag yesterday/the last 3 months. I won't get into the gory details but needless to say my overall experience was stressful, harrowing and overwhelmingly negative. As you've heard me ramble on about over the last few months, I have this great vintage Morabito Alligator bag, which I dropped off at Artbag to have repaired, treated and generally made ready to conquer the world. I paid quite a bit to have this work done, but I was O.K. with that, assuming that I was going to get quality work and be happy with my experience (duh, right?). I mean if you have a quality item, you have to take care of it, otherwise what's the point; it has upkeep and you want to keep it at it's best and not let it deteriorate.

So, anyway, I put the deposit down and wait the max 4 weeks that I am assured it will take for the work to be completed. A month comes and goes, still no word....I'm like O.K., not a huge deal as long as its worth it in the end. A few weeks later though, I am a bit worried so I call, and I'm told, "actually its ready"...(they had assured me they would call, so I had been patiently waiting). Next day, I trek up there (a bit of an ordeal for me, they close at 5pm, so I have to move my schedule around and make time in the middle of the day), and...it's not ready. What? "come back in 2 days", so I do, and guess what? still not ready! By this point I am getting more than a little annoyed, after-all who has time to be foolishly running around like this for no purpose, still I think it will be worth it in the end. Third times a charm right? Wrong. They call me a week later to tell me its ready--AGAIN, I go back, and lo and behold this time they produce the bag from the depths of the back room supposedly ready to go. However, upon closer inspection, at least 2 parts that were supposed to be fixed are not, I have to remind them about other additions and the workmanship looks shoddy and unfinished in places. I am so upset. You have to understand the cost of these repairs would have bought me a new Balenciaga. I definitely had high expectations. They tell me, "sorry, we will work on it some more, we will call you when it's ready' AGAIN. At this point, I have become really wary, but still I think and explain to them "Okay--I would rather you take it back in and the work come out well", I am O.K. with waiting longer as long as the end product is beautiful workmanship and complete. The story is almost over (and hey, I left out most of the details!). Bare with me, Ugh.

So....a few more weeks pass by and this Monday I get a call, "it's ready". So, I trek up again and at first they can't even find the bag. One guy asks me "is it under a different name?", he reeks of vodka, at this point I am becoming frightened, "a different name?", nope same one it was under the last 3 times, OY! Finally the bag is produced, and the drama begins. In brief, rude behaviour, disagreements about what was included in the cost, and general unhappiness...ugh...It was soooo unpleasant.

A couple of things I learned from this experience: especially with higher value items, take pictures before you get work done, otherwise it's just your word, and make sure you have a detailed version of any repairs being made, very detailed. In my case, when we originally went over all the repairs to be made, he listed them all on one piece of paper by incremental cost then transferred that to a receipt with only the grand total and not a complete list of all that we had discussed..BIG MISTAKE. Make sure you keep that breakdown of costs....since I didn't have that (nor was it offered to me), I was really at a disadvantage. Usually I am bit smarter, and I definitely had some gut reservations initially, but honestly, I naively wanted to trust him; this is a well-established store and I guess more than anything, I wanted it to be a positive experience. I didn't want to start questioning his methodology for calculating cost and 'stir up trouble' so to speak. Lesson learned: don't be afraid to ask for all the detailed info you are entitled to, look out for yourself!!!

P.S. This Chris Moore guy (at least that's what the card he gave me said) that I dealt with throughout almost the whole process (I might add not the vodka-tainted one, no slander here!) was mostly very rude and unpleasant always. Why, oh why? You'd think for that kind of money he'd be just a touch sweeter. I am hoping this whole thing doesn't taint my love for the new bag, it is most definitely absolutely beautiful.

P.P.S. I would also say, if you can, go straight to the manufacturer to fix high-end items (e.g., Louis Vuitton--I have always had great luck and experiences with their 5th ave flagship store's repair department). Unfortunately in this case the manufacturer was in Paris, but let it be known, next time I will fly to Paris to get Morabito fixed before I return to ARTBAG.

The things people can get away with these days.

oh and P.P.P.S. I will post pictures of the bag on Monday.

Til then,
BG