Flashback on the Silver Screen

As the Girls and I wandered through H&M, we just had to laugh at some of the 80s-inspired pieces. And laugh. And laugh. And laugh.


Some of it, I'm glad is back - the colors and wild abandon are fun and freeing. The blousy, banded tops, welcome. But neon Ts? Not then, not now. Long, off-the-shoulder shirts/dresses? Not then, not now. Headbands like sweatbands.


No. Thank. You.

But bring me a bit of nostalgia, and I'm all over it. So I've determined that The Bean's first movie just very well might be an 80s flick. Someone told me that it's good to take babies to the movies when they're really young because they like the dark and the noise soothes them. We'll see about that, but I'm definitely sneaking in to AFI's festival of All Things 80s at the Silver Theater.


Now...would I be a bad mommy if I note The Bean's First Movie in his/her baby book as Blue Velvet or Say Anything?

AFI Silver Theater
Silver Spring, Maryland
July & August
Showtimes and movie listing available on the theater's site.

(Thanks to After Hours for the tip!)

Forget Page 3 - Try Page 68

...of July's Washingtonian, that is. (On newsstands today - I've been watching them religiously. If I saw one more "Cheap Eats" issue, I would've screamed...but July is finally here.)

7 regional bloggers share their "Best & Worst" of Washington. From "best place for a first date" (After Hours' Catherine Andrews) to "Best summer drink" (a woman after my own tart-loving heart, metrocurean.com's Amanda McClements names Mio's blood orange margarita).

You can also find DC Celine's opinions about the "best place to find the perfect sandal," "best store for purses," and the "best rooftop spot for a drink."

The content's not online yet (later this month - I promise a link), but you can find it all on page 68.

Back to work now, I promise.

Feet, be silent.

Why, oh why didn't I heed my own advice and wear comfortable flats last night?

By the time I got through the Cusp press preview, helping out a little (I can't sit there and not help, even if Babsie D tells me to sit still), shopping the DSS, and even sitting for the District Sugar Shack, my tootsies were hurtin'.

Duh.

Honest, they're comfortable shoes, normally. Just not when worn from 7 in the morning to 11:30 at night. I keep forgetting that part. And any other outfit options were just not flats friendly.

And then, the good lord blessed me with an incredibly boring meeting this morning. Take yourself to that 8 o'clock class you registered for on Friday mornings ('cause it was a great idea to finish all your classes before noon on Fridays). And then remember trying to get there after hitting the 'Fe (yes, belying my undergrad alliances there) for Thursday night. Works really well, right?

Well, it works even better when you're a Responsible Adult and you have to drive to a new location waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the suburbs (plus side: no terrible traffic going the "wrong" way) to get to a Big Meeting. Let's just say that I was really glad I was driving, not metroing, and that one of my DSS purchases last night was the hairwash-saving, no-blow-dry-needed headeband.

And flats. Glad to have flats.

I promise I'll write more later, and give you my take on the evening's events, but now I have to go earn some money so I can clothe myself. Paying job calling. The 2-second version?

Cusp: organic space tucked into Georgetown (versus the more industrial impression I got from the Tysons store). St. John's and Dana Buchmann-free way of buying That Which We Love.

DSS: worth it. If not for the Fashion and Deals, for the possible anthropological study some PhD-toting alien could do on our society.

DSS2 (read: afterparty): Blue Gin. Good space. DJ set just the right vibe for a mix of women All Shopped Out and Men Who Escaped. One review of the Cake Bar cupcakes, though: slab of butter - and not in a good way.*

And my feet are beginning to recover...and if you can't wait until I report out more, check out DC Culture and Fashion and After Hours for their reports, and Panda Head for her snapshots of styles caught at the sale.**

*Report from a friend who indulged - or attempted to - I'm sugar-free at the moment, meaning no cupcakes.

**Kudos to them - Ladies, I have no idea how you stayed up - or got up - to write these. You win.

DC Fashion Week

Yours truly is too behind-the-ball at the moment to have registered on time for DC Fashion Week* (yes, we have one), but I wanted to make sure to spread the word and get the buzz going outside of the immediate fashion circles.**

Founded 6 years ago, the events highlight all that's new and wonderful (and some long-time DC fashion envelope-pushers) about DC style. It has a decidedly DC mission "to increase economic deveilment in the area of fashion design, clothing merchandishing and modeling, and to enhance the visibility of the nation's captial as a center of international fashion." Where else in the world would a fashion-centered event find a way to throw in "economic development" (especially when tired old rock stars aren't involved)?

Tonight is the launch event Fair Trade Collections - held at the The World Bank, of course(who'da thunk we would have 3 fashion events in DC on one night - this, the press preview for Cusp Georgetown, and the District Sample Sale).

The week continues with The Betsey Johnson Collection showing at Club Avenue tomorrow, The African Student Association Presents Noire on Friday, and Saturday and Sunday are home to The Washingtonian Menswear Collections (shown at the Holiday Inn Capitol at the Smithsonian) and the International Couture Collections (talk your way into the Embassy of France and their beautiful space, if you can).

I do beseech the organizers to do a little more work on the website - for example, the tag at the top of the event calendar page notes that the next fashion week is February 25 - March 4 2007. That would be now. As the events listed on the page note. It's a little clumsy, but we'll assume that doesn't reflect the collections showing.

*Thanks to Catherine Andrews and her newly launched After Hours blog at washingtonian.com for reminding me. And thanks to The Liquid Muse for linking to Catherine.

**In the meantime, I'll see if someone at their offices will take pity on me and let me register for an event or two.