I’m a firm believer that there is nothing better than designer clothing you can actually afford. For the past five years, Target’s Go! International collections have made many dreams come true, bridging the gap between affordability and designer fashion. They’ve collaborated with many designers over the last five years, and in celebration they’re releasing a 34-piece collection featuring dresses from 17 of their favorite designers!  Yes, they’re giving you another chance to snatch up something you missed the first time around (or the second if you didn’t want to pay inflated eBay prices).

SQUEAL!

To celebrate Target’s bridging of our favorite designers with a price tag that won’t have us eating ramen noodles for the rest of our college careers, we’re honoring our 5 favorite collections of all time. So thank you, Target, for filling my closet with designer threads when all I really went to the store for was a roll of toilet paper and some shampoo.

There are some things that you can’t get away with past college, but contrary to what some may believe, tie dye is not one of those things. It’s shown up on nearly every runway and celebrity this season, and unlike those tie dye tees you used to make at summer camp, it’s taken on a whole new level of fun sophistication.

Tie dye is perfect for spring: it’s fun, it’s colorful, it’s easy to create, it goes perfect with cut-off jean shorts and flip flops… And if you’ve become a recessionista, tie dye is easy to do yourself! Just gather some friends, each buy a different color and dip away! You an make everything from cute tanks to summer scarves! But if you’re lazy/not artfully inclined (I know my tie dye projects always come out looking like a hot brown mess….), there are plenty of already-made options to choose from.

[Click on each item to get all the deets.]

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Seeing as the Olympics are being held on my home soil, I should be paying closer attention. But last week I was distracted by my real love: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Though I’m craving spring clothes more than anything else right now, NYFW kept me on the edge of my seat as I excitedly began planning next fall’s outfits.

As always, there were a lot of amazing collections during Fashion Week, but there were five designer gold medalists that really blew the rest away. Their designs were sexy, sleek and wearable…. and assuming I somehow make $1 million between now and September, I will be grabbing every last one of their pieces. Read More »

Watch your back, MTV!

Why all the hate Jennifer Hudson hate, South Africa?

Want it.

Is that outfit worthy of The Queen, Gaga?

Pee-Wee Herman’s back!

Remember when these things were popular?

Fashion Week, a sort-of welcome week for the rich and stylish, has come to an end. Come tomorrow, a construction crew will be taking the tents at Bryant Park down, models will hop on planes to London and editors will finally get more than three hours of sleep per night. This week’s had it all: appearances by D-List Celebrities (hello, Kelly Bensimon,) crazy parties (Alexander Wang rented out a gas station) and clothes, clothes, clothes. Ready to stock your closet for spring?

Here are the top trends for Spring 2010: Read More »

September is one of my favorite months for many reasons: Back-to-school, Labor Day, Lil’ Wayne’s Birthday, Starbucks’s Pumpkin Spice Lattes and, of course, Fashion Week. Fashion Week is actually a misnomer; instead of a week, it is a month-long event full of runway shows, presentations and parties that starts in good ol’ NYC, and then travels to London, Milan and Paris.

Don’t know your Marc Jacobs from your Calvin Klein? If the only designers you know hail from Project Runway or Go! International lines at Target, listen up. Here are five hot designers whose work has them poised to become the next Oscars de la Renta and Diane von Furstenbergs.

Grab a bib and get ready to drool. Read More »

Oh Tar-jay!

You supply me with groceries at a price befitting my lowly college student income and budget. I even purchased some very attractive dorm décor from you. Yet your clothing has not reduced my money pile. Why, you ask?

Because, Tar-jay, you have not seduced me with quality fashion. I enjoy quality fabrics that last longer than three wears.

Don’t get me wrong – I am not a clothing snob, but I do read Vogue. I know style, trends, and fads. I adore shopping.

I want to be introduced, coaxed, and pleased by my clothing. When I buy something I want to feel the way I feel when I watch Fashion Week (on TV) and wish I could own the entire line. When Target had a turn-over and decided to introduce designers like Isaac Mizrahi, I smiled. Then I saw the clothing. My smile transformed to a grimace. I thought, “Yeah… wearing that does not enhance my style or age and it certainly does not resemble runway wear.”

Then, lo and behold, a new idea was born. The GO International line arrived. I was impressed. Go Target!! You actually got international designers to produce appealing clothing! Yay! There was Tara Jarmon, Proenza Schouler, and even Thakoon. Then I saw the clothing up close. It was fine. Just…fine. That’s all. Some designers included asymmetrical lines, and busy prints. The clothing was completely wearable, but where was my fashion-gasm?? Where was the moment my head started spinning? Where were thoughts of the right shoes and accessories? It did not happen. And, besides, they still needed better quality fabric. Read More »

Historically, women have always been shoved into a little feminine box. We have always had to be proper – pinky out when drinking tea, crossing our legs at the ankle when sitting on the couch, letting the man make all the first moves. That trend has made its exit in the past 10 or so years, but for some reason, it still stuck around in the fashion world. Frilly dresses, delicate fabrics and beautifully crafted footwear are the staple of many women’s wardrobes.

But that custom’s days are also fleeting.

There is a new look making its way on runways from Paris to New York that is pairing the daintiness of yesteryear with the attitude of the modern day woman. And it is easy to do: the trick is to pump up the hardware on your feet and temper the volume of your dress so you look fresh and strong – not like Avril Lavigne. Read More »

About a year ago, my homegirl Renata and I were sitting on the floor of my bedroom, looking at issues of Jane Magazine (Oh Jane! R.I.P.), when she said, “Look at how fabulous this bitch looks,” and pointed to a thin girl with frizzy hair wearing a purple dress, gray sweater, and giant glasses. I looked, and responded, “Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about the same girl,” and showed her my issue, in which the girl had her hair slicked back and was wearing a black sheath. Renata examined the two pictures for a minute, and then said, “I’m pretty sure all you have to do to look fashionable is be really skinny.”

Since that day I’ve noticed that, more often than not, Renata is right – it’s easier to look chic if you’re slender. There are examples of this all over Hollywood. Consider Exhibit A, Hilary Duff. Back in the day, H. Duffs was a cute kid who certainly wasn’t fat, but definitely didn’t have that sleek boney look that we associate with Hollywood starlets. She was filled-out, normal-looking. Then one day she dropped about fifteen pounds, and all of a sudden she looked…glamorous. Elegant. Less like a kid and more like a chic fashionista woman. And while gossip magazines and news reports condemned her for looking sickly and setting a bad example for girls, she was still appearing on the cover of high-fashion magazines and being featured in designer ads like never before.

Because skinny = style.

We can attribute this national mentality to the media: for years, models and stars have gotten thinner and thinner until they’ve reached the point where many of them are barely more than skeletons wearing skin-suits. The image of ultimate high fashion that we’re presented with is that of the mutant waif, forty pounds thinner than an average person of the same height, gliding around A-list events like an apparition wearing Proenza Schouler. But why? What made the Fashion Powers That Be decide that scrawny is synonymous with chic? Read More »

Target is like a playland of wonderfulness. There is row after row of things I don’t need, but must own right now. Take for example the adorable spice rack I bought for myself around Christmas time. Four months later, it has yet to see a single spice. But it looks great on my kitchen counter. And the Dollar Aisles? Don’t even get me started.

This past time I went to Target, I actually had a goal: Avert eyes from everything else, head straight for new Proenza Schouler line. I’ve been a fan of them since they debuted, and couldn’t believe Target had grabbed them for the awesome GO International Line. Read More »