In days of yore, clothing lines were created by people like Jeanne Lanvin, CoCo Chanel, Hubert de Givenchy; people with skill, talent, vision, taste. You know, fashion designers.

But nowadays, it seems like any celeb with some cash and spare time on their hands can slap a few pieces together and call it a collection. And while some lines knock it out of the park (why hello there, L.A.M.B.!), a vast majority fall more in the category of utter hot mess. Below is a sampling of the messiest of the hot messes.

5) The Kardashians: DASH – Oh, Kardashians. Kim becomes famous (?) by hanging out with Paris, nailing Ray J on tape, and having a mega huge ass, and the rest of the family rides on the coattails of her, um, success. Taking this into consideration, I suppose the Kardashian sisters’ line DASH makes sense; tacky, trashy, cookie-cutter and distinctly substandard, DASH looks very much like the $4.99 rack at Forever 21, only the items cost anywhere from 11 to 250 times as much. But I heard that every item is sprinkled with magical butt-expanding powder, so maybe that’s where the mark-up comes in.

4) Travis Barker: Famous Stars and Straps – I don’t like ghetto style. Baby Phat, Ed Hardy, gold tribal embellishments on jeans, air-brush aesthetics, ew. No thank you. But while a line may not suit my tastes personally, I’ll still give it props for being good for what it is (insert a nod to Apple Bottoms). Unfortunately, Travis Barker’s Famous Stars and Straps has the double issue of going for an aesthetic that is inherently fug and is badly done. From an uninspired/outdated logo that’s plastered on EVERYTHING to graphics that scream seventh grade, Famous is the clothing equivalent of the suburbs: generic, boring, and painfully white trying to front like it’s fly. Read More »

Anyone else still hung over from New Years? (Try a little yoga!) If you’re lucky, you’re probably still cuddled up on the couch with leftover pizza. But if you are in the unfortunate bunch that has to pull yourself out of bed and function in the land of the living, here are the beauty steps you need to look a little less “morning after all-you-can-drink,” and a little more “I’m lookin’ damn good in 2009.”

Ole Henriksen Blue Blackberry Enzyme Mask – sephora.com $32

So your whole body is dehydrated (hence that pounding headache) but while you are rehydrating with vitamin water don’t forget to replenish your skin too! This mask has loads of antioxidants from blueberries and blackberries. Bonus feature – this mask is gentle enough to use under the eyes, where you need it most!

Clinique All About Eyes – clinique.com $28.50

New year’s was a blast but now your eyes look like you are a reject from the Thriller video. Clinque helps you out with this fantastic eye gel. Not only does it depuff but also gets circulation going which means it brings a little light to those dark circles. Read More »

Jett Travolta, son of John Travolta and Kelly Preston died while on vacation with his family.

You ready for the Cotton Bowl?

Norma Kamali hits Wal-Mart.

Is that Alanis Morrisette?

DUI’s are the new black in Hollywood.

The tool for making the perfect cocktail.

Kelly Clarkson’s back and better (or more photo shopped?) than ever.

Green workout tips.

College interviews turn to the web.

Who is Erin Williams? 

Happy New Year, everyone! Whether you love New Year’s Eve or you totally hate it, the coming of a new year is exciting! New beginnings, clean slate, yada yada yada…

The last week of 2008 was quite busy for us. We ended the year with a bang (literally), before we rang in 2009 in style.

Just like the last week of any year, we spent the past 7 days reflecting on 2008. The best fashion, the biggest things that happened, and all the things that we learned. We also started looking forward to 2009: we made resolutions (that we will most likely break in 2 weeks), and considered other options that we just know aren’t going to happen.

Maybe we should have just set some more…er… realistic goals for the year.

Like cozying up on the couch with some warm cocktails and episodes of Bromance and The City on the DVR. Or, of course, a little CC TV.

(We’re back with another weekly installment of G.W.W.E. [Guys We Wanna Eff]. With all the news retrospectives airing to close out 2008, we thought it was about time to pay homage to our favorite journalist, the infinitely effable Anderson Cooper. )

Let me make no mistake: Anderson Cooper is a stone cold F-O-X. They should change the call letters of his station from CNN to E-F-F, because when I tune in, all I see are Anderson’s steely blue eyes telling me he wants to jump my bones.

But Anderson isn’t just a journalistic automaton–the guy’s got substance. After graduating from Yale, he didn’t have a job and simply decided to fly himself to far-flung locales like Burma and Somalia to cover wars as a freelance journalist, which he wrote about in his book. He gained recognition for his hard-hitting news coverage, landing him a spot as a CNN reporter and anchor of the program Anderson Cooper 360. Known for his grit and endurance for reporting across the globe, Anderson also starred in the documentary Planet in Peril, about the most critical environmental issues facing the earth today.

But all work and no play would make Anderson a very dull boy. He is well-known for being down-to-earth and plugged in to today’s popular culture. He’s a BIG fan of Real Housewives of Atlanta, (as he’s professed on many talk shows), and has a Facebook and a Twitter. He made a big splash a few weeks ago (literally!) when he challenged Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps to a mini-swimming race. Anderson may have lost the race, but ladies won the chance to see our favorite journo jock shirtless on national television. Most recently, he co-hosted CNN’s New Year’s Eve special with Kathy Griffin (whose wild remarks have been the talk of bloggerati since yesterday), where he professed his resolution to blog more in 2009. Will I be hanging on his every effable word? Yes, yes I will.

Don’t worry, I’ve read all the gossip. I could care less if he loves men, women, or panda bears–I’d like to dispatch Mr. Cooper to my bed to experience some of his hard-hitting coverage. “Anderson Cooper’s Effability” is the only breaking story on my news feed.

For me, the morning after a night of heavy drinking looks a little something like this:

Wake up

Chug water

Moan

Lay around…moaning

Snuggle with roommates…moaning

Seek out greasy breakfast food

Chug water

Lay around

Nap

Does any of that make the hangover any less horrendous? No, but what other choice do I have?

Apparently, yoga. Below is a yoga video geared specifically for the hungover lady! The poses and positions are perfect for the headache and nausea caused by too much booze. I am not sure how willing or able I am to do yoga while completely hungover, but it’s worth a shot. Maybe it’s the miracle hangover cure we’ve been waiting for.

Now, if only this was also a cure for all those bad decisions I made. Read More »

[Every week our style guru takes a celebrity look and breaks it down for you, our poor college fashionista. What does that mean? It means that while the celebrities are spending $5,000 on an ensemble, you don’t have to.

All you have to do is click on the goods and - boom - you can buy the entire ensemble. Yes, we know; there is a spot for her in heaven.]

So it’s like negative 500 outside, which is making me so jealous of:

A. all the spring clothes that are starting to make their way into the stores – even in places like the North Pole, and

B. all the celebs who are in L.A. wearing cute, warm, summery tops.

Like this one by our gal pal Amy Adams. Even though it is not the most original, or trendy, or hard to put together, it’s cute, it’s breezy…and it’s NOT made of wool.

So instead of brushing it off, I am featuring it to make our winter days feel a littttle warmer. Either save it for spring, wear it under an oversized sweater, or move to California.

Here is this week’s Celebrity Chic on the Cheap: All About Amy Adams’ Floral Frock. Read More »

Yes, you are seeing a man cup a woman’s va-jay on a shopping bag. WTF?

Is this a brilliant scheme to get men to the malls, or the idea of a drunken frat boy that somehow caught on?

Don’t deny it; you know you have a closet full of free t-shirts you got when you signed up for a credit card on the way to a football game. Those damn banks and credit card companies have tents and tables all over campus luring you in with free sh*t if you sign up for one of their student-specific credit cards.

Free stuff and a new credit card? Hell yes! What’s the harm, right?

How about serious credit card debt (an average of $2,623 for college seniors nationwide)? Or serious credit issues – the kind that got us into this whole recession mess in the first place – after graduation?

We all know that credit card companies target college students because we don’t know how to handle our money, but it seems they aren’t the only ones profiting. According to the New York Times, our very own universities are selling our information to those guys! Instead of protecting us and our futures, our schools are handing us over to the sharks and promoting our potential to incur serious debt.

Shouldn’t universities – places of learning – teach us how to manage money instead of profiting from our lack of experience? Doesn’t working with credit card companies go against the role of a university in the first place?

What do you think?

[Photo courtesy of NYTimes.com]

Hello, 2009!

We didn’t start the year off in the best way (laying on the couch, chugging water and eating breakfast sandwiches while watching USC dominate on the field), but now we’re ready! And not hungover! And we couldn’t be more excited to get 2009 going. We have huge plans and goals and lists of things to do.

In the spirit of the new year, we decided to sit down and list our resolutions for 2009. We probably won’t keep ‘em, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

John – UConn: I think the only New Year’s resolution I know I can keep is to diligently turn 21. Pounds can leave, come back and leave again, and friends are the same way, but drinking age is forever.

Leah – Ryerson University: Stop dating, getting involved with, and/or having sex with douchebags. 2009 will be a douchebag free year!

Elise – UCLA: No Diet Coke!!!!

Elizabeth – UC Berkeley: To keep running for fitness health, and wellbeing – not weight loss.

Carly – Grinnell: To get at least one step closer (whatever that might be) to becoming a pastry chef.

Elizabeth – UA Hunstville: To find the easiest, most slacker way possible to make tons of money.

Lauren – University of Michigan: Get out and flirt with boys more. What? I like to make resolutions I can keep. Read More »