Pink Rock Candy – Top fashion trends, news and shopping of 2010

Left to right: Gina Garrubbo, Mary Scherpe, Carl Hoyt, Jessica Schroeder, Imram Amed, and Diane Pernet

Ethics…

I had a philosophy class about ethics, once, and my professor was promptly fired for calling another professor a douchebag and telling him to do Oedipal things to his mother. Needless, to say that class was more interesting than helpful. The next couple of years, ethics in terms of Journalism and Public Relations had been beaten into my brain, however the “Navigating Ethics Pane” at the Independent Fashion Bloggers Evolving Influence conference I attended on February 15, left me struggling internally.

“To be a good PR professional, you have to, first, be a good journalist,” is the mantra of my many public relations professors.

“Never, NEVER accept gifts from people or brands you are writing about. A journalist is supposed to remain unbiased,” tout my journalism professors all having either worked at Newsday, The New York Times or both.

“Getting free stuff for writing a blog post is like the barter system,” exclaims a semi-scandalous blogger at the IFB conference. What can only be described as a rant by said blogger, went downhill fast after making slightly anti-Semitic generalizations about the Jewish people (read about it here).

None of this information is helpful in the blogging ethics situation.

Even the discussion had between the panelist of the “Navigating Ethics Panel” at the blogging conference— The New York Times‘ Carl Hoyt (also, a Pultizer Prize winning journalist), What I Wore‘s Jessica Schroeder, BlogHer‘s Gina Garrubbo, The Business of Fashion‘s Imram Amed, A Shaded View of Fashion‘s Diane Pernet, Still in Berlin‘s Mary Scherpe, and jewelery designer/blogger Wendy Brandes as moderator— left things quite unresolved. Continue Reading ‘What Are Blogging Ethics?’

The other day, I was making an impromptu Taco Bell run with a friend of mine, and he was commenting on how he has noticed a lot of guys wearing skinny jeans, of late. He then asked what I thought of guys in skinny jeans. After a slight pause, and a ponderous “Ummmm,” I gave the most uninspired of uninspiring answers, “I don’t mind it.”

That was the truth! I don’t mind guys wearing skinny jeans. Being a fan of emo bands, whose members have been following the go-skinny-or-go-home rule for as long as I’ve liked them, has most likely jaded my impression of the look. I could walk past a guy wearing pants so tight my parents and grandparents would undoubtedly question his sexuality, but I wouldn’t give it a second glance.

Apparently the people at Bluefly’s Flypaper blog have been noticing this trend too, because they’ve had not one but two posts about male skinnies in the past 5 months, the latest of which is a video of Fashion PR’s HBIC, Kelly Cutrone, running around NYC asking random hotties about their snug bottoms.

After watching the video, I may still be unfazed by the onslaught of men wearing tight jeans, but I now know where all the hot guys are hiding in NYC!

Before you cast your vote on the guys wearing skinny jeans trend, here’s some food for thought, thanks to the Flypaper blog:

“1. Skinny jeans are a great way [for guys] to show off spanking new sneakers — especially hightops.
2. Many guys can’t wear their skinnies without a fedora. It seems they just feel naked without one on. To a lesser extent, they must have on a vest or kerchief too.
3. They must be worn with a belt— unless you mean to let everyone know your thong matches your sneaker’s fat laces.
4. No matter how skinny they are on a dude, they will still look like boyfriend jeans on a girl.”

The first issue of The Zoe Report, super-stylist Rachel Zoe’s daily newsletter full of “glamour”, and I kind of think it’s great.

It was simply a blog post from her newly launched website about a pair of Brian Atwood shoes, but sent straight to my email— I know this can be done with most blogs, but then my inbox would be even more cluttered, so I’ll stick to my feed reader, thank you— but my anxiety for this was palpable.

You’re probably thinking, it’s just another celebrity taking over our internet with a blog/newsletter the most likely didn’t even write, but there is no GOOPiness— you know, long lists of randomness that no one really cares about, sorry G. Paltrow— and there is no excessive use of caps lock— I’m talking about you Kanye. All there is an expensive shoe lust in the form of gorgeous Brian Atwood shooties. She does, however, think of the little people who can’t afford $680 shoes, no matter the appeal, and gives us a similar style Steve Madden shoe in her “Parallel Universe” section at the end.

What I’m trying to say is, if you haven’t already signed up for The Zoe Report, go do it right now, or at least go read it on the website. Tomorrow is another day and another report destined to stoke the fire in my chic little heart.

p.s. I can’t wait until the new season of The Rachel Zoe Project starts— August 24th, baby!

Diva in a Carry On has been a must-read of mine for quite some time. If you haven’t read it before, go so quickly!

Thanks again, Dana!

Creating the dream prom experience has three aspects: what you wear, the friends you party with, and your date. The days of prom are long over for me, but I can still talk about the “shoulda, woulda, couldas” of my perfect prom. Luckily, Lord & Taylor gave me the opportunity to play pretend prom one last time.

The Garb:
Last week, I was able to wander around the Lord & Taylor on 5th Avenue in NYC and choose anything and everything I’d theoretically wear to prom. I had my pick of the litter and was slightly overwhelmed by the number of great dresses they stocked. Long or short? Sleeved, sleeveless, or strapless? Bold colors or basic? I initially thought I wanted a bright dress, but the black ‘Shadow Stripe’ Dress from Calvin Klein completely made me fall, perfectly pleated and slightly demure with a dash of “wow!” in the form of the varied-texture stripes. I used accessories to bring in a pop of color and excess without being too blingy— hello bangles, bracelets, and cuffs! Oh, and did you notice the sherbet colored DKNY pumps with an ankle strap? I know, right!

This is what I finally ended up wearing: Calvin Klein black ‘Shadow Stripe’ dress, $238 • DKNY sherbet ankle wrap pump, $275 • Kate Spade orange faceted bead necklace, $95 • Lord & Taylor gold bangle, $35 • Robert Lee coral bracelet, $28 • Catherine Stein coral wood bracelet, $32 • Carolee gold multi-strand bracelet, $40 • Carolee gold single strand bracelet, $40

p.s. If you plan on heading to Lord & Taylor to buy your prom dress, make sure to print out this 15% off Savings Pass valid until April 22nd on all regular-priced and sale dresses.

The Group:
Just a tip for those heading to prom this year or in the future, go with people you like and know, but since I’m a prom vet, my faux prom was spent having seated dance parties to 90s classics with Jackie Johnson of Some Notes on Napkins (Finally, we meet!) and Kristen Vang, one of Jackie’s partners-in-crime on The I’m Just Sayin’ Show. Later in the night, I got to watch in awe as Nitro;licious’ Wendy Lam power-shopped the jewelry and shoe departments like a pro. Those girls are pretty much fashion blog royalty, and it was like meeting celebrities except with less paparazzi and more witty remarks. (Make sure to ogle Jackie’s and Wendy’s prom styles too!)

The Guy:
Okay, so maybe there wasn’t really a guy, but my perfect prom date would be Johnny Depp or maybe Robert Downey Jr., or just some mix of them. You know, almost my parents age, unavailable, tragically gorgeous…

Follow the jump for more pictures (click any photo to enlarge)! (more…)