Give in Style: DC Shoppers, Start Your Engines for the Fall 2013 District Sample Sale

I have - since its inception - loved the District Sample Sale. It's a lovely, well-thought out event. The vendors have interesting pieces - clothing, shoes, and accessories - oh, and the bags, and the sips and tastes are always worth the nibble.

L-R, from top: @travelinjames and the danglers she found; the silver lambskin "space vest" I scored; the faux reptile skin sheath Chelsea found for me (and subsequently earned a "Love the leather!" from The Stacy London as she signed my book); Chelsea, her ruffles, her animal, and her bubbles; me, travelinjames, and Chelsea with our packages; the Queen Bee Designs stunner that always makes me feel like Cleopatra when I wear it; the Vivienne Westwood Anglomania tunic/dress I adore and don't wear enough. (More pics from last year's fun here)

Never mind the monies raised for charity. This year, it's N Street Village. As the DSS website shares,

"N Street Village is the largest provider of women-focused services for D.C.’s homeless and low-income women, offering 1,400 women each year comprehensive services including affordable housing, employment, integrated health care and addiction recovery. The DSS Fall 2013 donation will specifically fund the Bethany Women’s Shelter at N Street Village, the drop-in day shelter that offers up to 100 women each day safe respite from the streets including breakfasts and lunches, shower and bathroom access, a place to receive mail, laundry machines and clothing closets as well as activities, resources and opportunities to help them move from homelessness, including crisis care, 365 days a year."

So. If for some odd reason you live in "the DMV" and haven't yet gone, here's the scoop. Tickets went on sale this morning, so get yours now. If you can swing the $100 VIP version, that extra donation is well worth the hour of masses-free shopping.

Tickets on Sale: Here
When: September 24, 2013, 5:30 (VIP, General Admission 6:30) - 9pm
Where: The Sphinx Club, 1315 K Street NW
Why: Do I really need to explain this again? See you there!

Museum Style: Worth the trip to NYC

Something tells me I won't be able to make it north for this, but just in case you make your way to The Big Apple this month, the Museum at FIT (The Fashion Institute of Technology) has was promises to be an amazing exhibit to jumpstart your style inspiration...

Or maybe it's the perfect excuse to take The Bean to New York for the first time...

What: Vivienne Westwood, 1980-89

When: March 8, 2011 - April 2, 2011

Vivienne Westwood, 1980-89 will be the first exhibition to focus exclusively on Westwood’s fashions of the 1980s. The exhibition will highlight the significant shift in Westwood’s design style during this decade. Her work of the early 1980s was prominently featured in edgy magazines such as i-D, and her following was comprised mainly of street-style insiders. By 1985, her more structured, feminine, and historically-inspired styles began to attract the attention of the mainstream press and widened Westwood’s audience.

Vivienne Westwood, 1980-89 will feature over 50 objects—including clothing, photographs, and video. Highlights will include a unisex ensemble from the Pirate collection (1981), a woman’s ensemble from the influential Buffalo collection (1982), and a pair of Westwood’s iconic “Rocking Horse” boots from the Harris Tweed collection (1987). Editorial photographs from a number of prominent magazines, including The Face and British Vogue, will further illuminate Westwood’s impact on 1980s fashion. Runway footage and video interviews with the designer will also be on view.

This exhibition has been organized and curated by FIT graduate students of the Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice program.

The Teenager Me - Recycled

It took me years, literally, to find a pair of "riding boots" that I loved - and that fit my muscular calves (I have dainty ankles, but inherited my Pop's calves, which are great, but not good for tall boot wearing). Finally, Ginger came through at the DSS, and I scored a perfect Modern Vintage pair (thanks, in part, to a lovely lady who didn't play the mean evil shopper and let me go first). I wear them constantly in cooler weather.

Then, today, my facebook feed displayed these beauties.

Boden, a funny, sophisticated British venture that started out with 8 menswear items, had posted these. I think they did it just for me. While a small fortune at 179 pounds, they might just be worth it. There's something to be said for the English fashion aesthetic - at least the one that's not all tweed and jodphurs. In your face, snarky, and always a little twisted, the Brits have a way of saying it all - louder than you'd expect them to do in a quiet demure tearoom, of course.

I adore, and always have a soft spot in my heart for lace and bodices and refined, soft colors (yes, I devour historical novels). That's one Teenager Me, dreaming of her Gilbert (yes, yes, I know that's a Canadian story, but you get the picture). The other Teenager Me stomped around in what she thought was cool and not-like-anyone-else in her daddy's plaid blazer, her mother's "paint" jeans, and vests and blouses that should've stayed at the thrift store. That same Teenager Me hung with the theater crowd, which in our school was an odd mix of punk and hippie. (The same dear friends who post their kids' pics on fb one minute, and announce their attendance at a Depeche Mode concert the next, and incidentally, just gathered for a mini-reunion I missed at a local winery owned by the parents of one said friend. I raise a glass, my dears.)

Four years ago The Met had an amazing exhibit on British fashion - in which McQueen, Westwood, and the Royals all played a part. And I fell in love again. I should've done it then, and hopefully I'll do it now, but it's time to bring a little Brit punk to the world - if I can swing a 179 pound pair of boots into the budget.

Shop in Style: Muléh Summer Sale!

If only H weren't away and I could get out for a few one evening to hit the sale racks (must have Bean coverage), this Vivienne Westwood Anglomania dress (ok, so the whole line is amazing - love, love, love the structured necklines) could hang in my closet...or this 3.1 by phillip lim frock...or...

anyway...you'll have to hit muléh's summer sale for me, please...

What: Vivienne Westwood Anglomania, 3.1 by phillip lim, Rozae Nichols, Ports 1961, A Common Thread - all on sale.

When: Starting TODAY!

Why: Because 40% off means the designs creep into affordable. Still regret that top I bought there on sale but it was really too small so I eventually (I think - have to check) gave it away practically unworn - now that it would fit, of course.