THE daily chronicle SHOW

“chocolate is the new beauty classic. warm, rich tones make you look polished without being overdone.” - bobbi brown.

i so agree. even if they say that a dark brown lip shade add years to your actual age, leave it to bobbi to create a lip palette duo featuring a brown-toned hue matched with a layering gloss. eye shadow colors are a pretty champagne truffle shimmer as well as chocolate and bone eye shades. finish off the look with a crimson, cranberry blush and your set for fall. the face is dramatic, clean and classic!

ever since i found my favorite malt shade of lip shimmer from bobbi, i have been a loyal fan.

source : neiman marcus

replica. fake. designer-inspired.

whatever you call it - it is deception, cheating, misrepresentation and just plain illegal.

in the attempts of playing at human emotions - there are websites and shops dedicated in manipulating, swindling and victimizing innocent consumers sucked into misleading promise of the genuine real designer major purchase.

it has been a worldwide issue hurting the fashion industry and most recently, even the pharmaceutical market. currently, i have read a battle against a website who to a naive and gullible browsing client , this website has the ingredients of a reliable merchant. oh, but there’s more to this virtually luxurant online store.

but this cause is so much deeper than just nailing the people behind these active sites selling fake merchandise. this is a huge counterfeit market stemming into a worldwide problem. just a friendly warning, please do not fall in a trap of a steal-of-a-deal purchase and be blinded by the bargain. do not forget that your local retailers are just next door offering you the service and extra mile pampering in achieving your goal of owning a handbag (or whatever it is for that matter).

even socialites are not spared from global warning. be not a true fashion victim here.

anorexic or just plain skinny, keira knightly simply walks off unaffected with a skirt transformed into a tube dress. or is it a creative approach to a strapless tent dress? whatever it is, it looks cute on her and it does give an illusion of a little additional weight to her rather stick frame. but that belt is barely hanging on and her chest is cinched to death!

do you wear short shorts underneath? or you can even match it with a pair of leggings. i bet she was witnessing the hellish hot weather we’ve had lately, hence the breezy airy dress. she woke up sweating, jumped in the shower and decided - i’ll wear a skirt today, as a tube dress!

leave it to the leading scrawny, underweight nymphets in hollywood to make outrageous fashion statements, including keira here. i’m sure somewhere sometime, this little number will resurface in yet another lean scraggy body hoping to set the trend!

for all we know, it’s some designer piece freebie keira unloaded from last night’s party loot! does anyone recognize the dress? cute on her, huh?

photo credit : celebworld.org

yet another handbag designer emerge. aleya ny is all about functionality at affordable prices. all priced under $ 500, this line uses italian leather - lambskin suede, pearl-finished lambskin, metallic kid skin and even nylon canvas. the line also includes fun flirty clutches and cuffs in a myriad of rich colors. all hardware accenting the bags are handplated 22 karat gold for additional edge. the bag designs sort of remind me of botkier, kooba or bulga. will NM ever carry them in the near future?

nevertheless, welcome to the saturated world of handbag designs. but the more the merrier, i guess. with tons to choose from, the consumer is still in the advantage. thank god.

i love kate hudson. i even forgave her for showing up on the cover of vogue. but this little number has brought some confusion to me. i like the shift pattern but i’m not too crazy about the see-through material. and the length seems odd. what do you think? a fashion do or don’t?

i still love her though.

photo credit : eonline

i almost passed out when i saw this goyard ad in our local fashion magazine. i swear, i thought they were opening another store here in houston. a newly converted fan, i seriously had palpitations knowing if they will open soon, i will be one of their frequent flyer visitors.

as i closely scrutinized the ad, sadly i realized it was promoting their flagship store in union square, san francisco - where the store remains to stay for it’s exclusivity. even if goyard is available at barneys and bergdorf goodman stores, the flagship boutique is the only store offering custom designs like skulls, lions etc. other than the costumized stripes and letters. for an extra fee, racing stripes can be added and initials to both barneys and bergdorf’s store purchases.

for us houstonians, we’d still have to content ourselves in clicking and scrolling around the barneys’ website to satisfy our needs (local barneys here is only the fun coop store). alas, it will remain that way. for now.

known as the original birkin, this less popular size has a slightly shorter handle but a taller body. for the untrained eye, this just basically look like the other birkins except for some minute details. obviously i’m a fan, i love this tricolor being that it’s fun, loud and different.

i can easily see myself carrying it with an all-white dress or even blue jeans and a white shirt. the handbag needs a solid palette in the background, so, a black whimsical dress will also do. this purse deserves it’s dramatic unveiling, therefore, the owner needs to be able to handle the attention and is able to hold on her own.

life is tough. a handbag such as this brings prompt pampering service making shopping more like a sweet vacation!

these brothers are not exactly your tall-dark-and-handsome dreamboys, but they both possess this funny quirky charm about them that you just get easily drawn to. even owen’s crooked nose definitely adds a cute-ness factor and luke’s boy-next-door appeal is so hard to resist!

even their girlfriends’ track record list seems to be in a minimum compared to other hollywood’s fine-looking men! calling all bachelorettes, hello?

photo credit : houston chronicle

what i like about red is, it’s a color you can wear all-year round. it’s a season-proof color that for spring, it’s great paired with white and navy to channel the nautical look. for the party holiday rounds in fall/winter, a ruby-colored shift is a popular alternative to the more common little black dress. it’s a very strong color, that a minimal accessory load is acceptable. even a mere swipe of red-engine lipstick and scarlet-painted toenails can complete the whole look.

molly and nicky’s pictures are from style.com

i just got my copy the other day. i should say i’m not so thrilled about it, to say the least. last month, it was lindsay. next month, which “role model” would it be? we have enough of their escapades every week via us weekly, star magazine, in touch and a whole other grocery rack of trash literature that we love to hate but still read religiously. seeing their faces in our fashion bibles just don’t seem to jive with this whole glam couture thing going on.

such a disappointment. i may just have to cut my subscription next year.

with an impending fall debut of her evening bags for judith leiber, stylist rachel zoe is busier than ever. what with hollywood starlets depend on her for their next fashion move - she even found time to collaborate with creative director frank zambrelli on tailoring red-carpet-in-demand exotic skinned clutches adorned with her favorite gold snake accent design. priced up to $ 10,000 - these will be available at neimans and judith leiber stores soon!

photo credit : snippets from elle magazine

if you can’t beat them, join them. i thought i will never join the bandwagon of the 80s leggings trend return. but i found myself curious why this trend even elevated to a major fall/winter must-have. i did a little research myself and test-drove a cheap pair of leggings a few weeks ago. a pair i found at loehmann’s for under $ 10. as fashion magazines dictated, i was skeptical but determined to find the perfect oversized top to wear it with. then, i found the right moment to wear them - my flight to l.a. knowing how fashion forward people in l.a. are, i was brave enough to sport them. surprisingly, i really love wearing them. they’re comfortable and very forgiving to the figure. i just got the basic black leggings and wore them with a white shirt and ballet flats. when we almost missed our flight, that outfit made me run like a sprinter dashing to the boarding gate on time!

the key to this trend are the perfect shoes and tops to wear them with. for spring, we found that short dresses and miniskirts evoked a trendy look. but for fall, heavy sweaters and structured rich-hued jackets are the absolute tops for them this coming season. for shoes, ideally it would work with flats, platform wedges and boots.

well? if it doesn’t work out for you, there’s always the gym to wear it to.

photo credit : neimans

for it’s 85th year milestone, luxury-brand leader gucci has created a limited edition collection for fall like this hobo bag shown above. it still has the horsebit detail and a special enamel plate bearing the 85th anniversary plaque. this limited fall line is priced up to $ 20,000 + for crocodile material variety. geez.

am not too crazy about the busy design but since it’s limited, i’m sure people will be rushing in to get a hold of one. happy anniversary, gucci!

inspired by project runway tim gunn’s popular phrase “carry on….”, this limited edition canvas bag was created by season 2 winner, chloe dao, is now available on bravotv.com for $ 95. also, some of hollywood’s young actresses have been spotted carrying the other “chloe bag” in leather version, like jamie-lynn sigler, available for $ 595. project runway season 3 starts tonight!

update : here’s more about the bag from houston’s shopgirl, heather.

hurry!

it’s all about fringes, grommets, metal studs, braids, caramels and chocolates - ingredients for a fall favorite bag. non of the major fashion houses brought out any unforgettable fall handbag pieces, most of them are twists on the popular spring “it” bags. i like these bags - maybe a little overdecorated for my taste but the trend leading to the fall/winter season still extends to highly adorned but muted-colored bags.

too many choices and fall is almost here!

other than owning a pair of long endless legs - my other dream is to wake up in the morning, pull clothes out of my closet and manage to gather an outfit that will look effortlessly chic yet so put-together. i hate to struggle at night thinking what to wear for the next day aiming to avoid a serious crime of trying too hard. i found these two shots of party hearty girls of ny who both oozed with chic elegance. photos courtesy of style.com.

i guess, that’s why there are stylists for people who do not want to complicate their lives with adding yet another stressful decision making task, of asking themselves - “what do i wear today?”, on top of life’s pressing issues and the world’s hardest problems.