This is a situation that happens often, especially around this time of year: I'm at, like, a wedding or something, meeting complete strangers. They find out I work for Lucky and say something lovely, complimentary and good natured such as, "You must be such a good shopper! I'd love to go shopping with you." And I immediately feel...terrible. Like I've been caught in some huge lie, like I'm the fraudiest fraudster in Fraudtown. 
There's something about the late '80s/early '90s Versace image that makes me absolutely INSANE and flooded with love. It's decadent, but not in a way that seems gaudy; wild and sexy, but not sleazy or cheap. Versace clothes and accessories from this period seem like the stuff the coolest girl at the party would 
be wearing while she drank champagne, flirted, told good jokes and stories, but never got too drunk. It is, in essence, my adolescent ideal of what a grownup woman should be. I'm even crazy about the bizarro vintage ads, which feature supermodels in perhaps too-bright attire jumping, standing on boulders, hanging upside down--all just really glamour-jubilant, triumphant in their own fabulousness. 
My friend Cheryl was talking to me yesterday about how impossible it is to buy a bathing suit right now, how stores have moved them far off the floor, and most websites are out of every size you'd want. I can totally relate. In the past, I've waited until a few days before Labor Day to find a suit only to wind up with something mismatched, ill-fitting, and chartreuse (and sad vacation pictures, I tell you). Honestly, it's easier to find swimwear in January than it is in late summer, but lo! Check out the gorgeous, fun, downright ladylike styles from Etsy store Harajuku. The designer, JoEllen Stooks, makes "clean, sophisticated shapes that FIT, and are cut to stay on in the water." She has a huge inventory, most of her one pieces and bikinis are under $100, she'll customize suits to fit your shape, and the ready-made items will be shipped in three days. All of which sounds awesome, right?
We're in what I think of as "second stage" summer, when it's so melty-sweltering that all you want to be wearing until Labor Day is lip balm, your hair up in a pony tail, and a linen nightgown. During these weeks, I always wind up buying my most practical warm weather pieces, the double-duty clothes that really and truly could take me from the beach to a bar to a casual work lunch if I need them to. These fun, vibrant tunics from the Etsy store Dear Beatrice fall into this category. I imagine them making me look saucy-awesome--as cover-ups, paired with flat gold sandals for cocktails, and then, when it's business time, I'll throw one over skinny white jeans and have all the summery professionalism I need.
As discussed last week, sad or not, I'm trying to get a jump on my fall wardrobe by purchasing a few key items now that I absolutely love and can wear through next spring. I've long been a Phillip Lim fan, but the stars have never really aligned for us, what with my budget restrictions and his stuff being gorgeously expensive. Today, however, I decided to check for PL items on eBay and... WHOA. THERE ARE SO MANY CLOTHES. Most all of them actually look authentic and many of them would be amazing for going to work on a crisp autumn day. If you search Phillip Lim right now and type in "under $100" you'll find more than 150 adorable, affordable, feminine pieces, including tops, skirts, and this pretty-sophisticated sailor dress, which is (for now at least), just 80 bucks (imagine it with boots and a cardigan!)
I've spent this past weekend with people who have it together, nice folks who happen to have well-furnished, interesting, organized apartments where they cook healthy, delicious meals and wake up early in freshly-washed sheets to go and do things like run. These people don't, for example, hide dirty pans in the stove, get clobbered on the head with Tupperware EVERY TIME they open their cabinets, wade through a bog of clothes in order to get into bed, or keep a messy, mysterious, moisturizer-strewn cabinet my husband calls the "product jail" as the only piece of furniture in the bathroom. These people, like so many people before them, are making me want to fix my home in a permanent, adult way.
There comes a point in the summer when I no longer desire anything leather or pleather or plastic or whatever touching my body, when the most I can handle in a bag is something playful, canvas, and washable. I've spent too many years with sand, dirt, straw papers, Popsicle sticks and various other summer delights populating my finest purses and it just feels like a moment to be light and free. This year I'm eyeing the fun canvas totes from Loyalty and Blood, an Etsy shop which churns out particularly cool designs. I love its Upside Down Ship style, this fierce-looking bobcat and who can resist a bag adorned with one's first initial? 
Though I'm normally not much of a label person, I have a huge soft spot for vintage designer accessories. I love old, even slightly beat up pieces by Gucci, YSL, sometimes Chanel, and especially Dior. They just feel very glamorous to me in a way that's from-the-past chic, but not show-offy. Searching around eBay just today, I found these fantastic-weird sunglasses, a pretty and feminine makeup bag, this ultra-fashiony heavy-hardware necklace, a sleek black purse, and one fold-over clutch, which I'd pair with a silky, bright-red sundress and feel like the most sophisticated lady in all the land.
