Tomorrow, with the release of their Jimmy Choo collaboration, H&M can cut another notch into their masstige bedpost. Personally, I think this is the second-to-worst collab from H&M, with Madonna's tracksuits more than earning the bottom rung. For the first time in several seasons, you won't find me outside an H&M tomorrow as I think each and every piece is far too clubby/LA and far overpriced for being a hair above Zara.
Friday, November 13, 2009
A Masstige Not For Me: Reflections On Jimmy Choo for H&M
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Labels: fashion, luxury brands, new york, products, retail
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 [Was] Upon Us
...and it's travel-themed! I have to admit that my heart fluttered a bit at this fact; are they appealing directly to my sensibilities? Thank you IMG Fashion for this theme; my eyes will be drinking it in all week.
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Cynthia D
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Labels: blogging, events, fashion, fashion week, new york, retail
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Steak Dinners And 'Famous' Rooms: NYC Of The 1950s
Update: I did the series, and as promised had fun with it. I don't think the Jaunted half went near as well as the HotelChatter half, since I've continued on with HC posts on the topic even after the week of stories. You can check out the series here:
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Cynthia D
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Labels: art, design, good stuff, hotels, new york
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Canal Street Counterfeiters: The Bane of My NYC Life
Just over a year ago, I snapped the above picture of a policeman in the doorway of a Canal Street perfume shop being raided for selling counterfeit goods. My resulting story of watching the raid is here, and since even before then I have been resistant to walking through this area.
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Cynthia D
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Labels: bad stuff, fashion, luxury brands, new york, products
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Want v. Need: July Edition
Starting now, I am going to do a monthly round-up of five random items that I come across online, which deserve a small spotlight as life-improving things or events. Nonetheless, can't have everything, so I've got to make decisions...
- Want: To see the "Kodachrome Culture: The American Tourist In Europe" exhibit at the National Geographic Museum in DC.
- Want: Nice furniture inspired by graffiti, like this dripdrop sideboard that takes Krink's work and adapts it to somehow be both minimalist and contemporary--not to its expensive appearance.
- Need: The patience and attention to detail that made it possible to turn an Italian beach into a sand castle ode to Dante's Inferno.
- Need: A compact camera that is waterproof, drop-proof, temperature change-proof, and sand-proof, and yet takes HD video and 12.1 megapixel pics with face detection and shake reduction. Lord knows I take a load of pics everyday for the blogs, in all conditions (almost ruined my old cam with Saharan sand, even, but then it succumbed to the surf in St. Maarten) and I am the perfect person to put this Pentax to work.
- Want: If I had a backyard (or any yard), a eco-pod would be an ideal home blogging office, not to mention a hammock oasis during inclement weather. But at £17,630 plus VAT, people might as well just buy a small second house in a bad neighborhood.
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Cynthia D
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Labels: art, covet, good stuff, products, random, Want Versus Need
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Me: Now Available In Print
Well, I'm now available in print, but only if you rode London's Tube system on the 23. June and picked up a copy of one of the city's free rags: thelondonpaper.
P.S. - London seems to like me. Earlier this year I was chosen as the winner of a photography competition sponsored by Flickr and The Design Museum. The interview that resulted can be found here.
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Cynthia D
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Labels: blogging, freelance, good stuff, hot off the press, london, new york, news
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Happy Branding or: How I Would Drink This Milk Despite Lactose Intolerancy
Images and more at: Lovely Package
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Cynthia D
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Labels: design, good stuff, products, retail
How To Fly For Less Than The Cost Of A Flight
- Flexibility. Since my employment is somewhat fluid, I was able to utilize that magical travel booking engine feature of searching +/- 3 days. After posting my last, emotional entry on trouble with such sites, the heavens opened and I stumbled across my dream $381 roundtrip direct (including taxes and fees) on Delta from JFK to TXL.
I booked the shit out of that, even though they barely had a seat for me on the plane and it was, in the simplest way I can put it, a shit flight.
- Humility. Look, in the immortal words of Sheryl Crow: "This ain't no disco; this ain't no country club either." This is a last-minute trip on less than a shoestring budget. I booked this baby 4 days prior to departure, and whipped out a Priceline voucher code for $50 off a name-your-own-price hotel stay, a deal I magically got on Twitter.
Since I was due to meet up with my guy-friend for the last 3 nights of my stay, I opted to name my own price for a 5-star hotel in the Tiergarten district, which returned with the Marriott Berlin. That added another $150 onto my trip total. The humility enters the picture for the first two nights, when I bit the bullet and shacked up at Jetpak Hostel, which boasted of Free WiFi and rented me a bike for a whole day for 5 Euro.
It was on this bike and at Jetpak that I was able to quickly get a feel for the city, while befriending the amazing Miriam, one of the hostel staff who has now also taken up travel blogging on an Italian site. The hostel was about another $35, but factor in a few more dollars for all the 1 Euro cappuccinos I consumed while happily working the mornings away in their cafe.
- Localizing: Sure I wanted to shop, and have a nice meal at a fancy al fresco restaurant, and take a side trip, but that's because those are the urges one has when exploring a new destination. You wouldn't be doing those things if you actually lived in Berlin, and so I thought--what would I be doing tonight if I lived here?
Eating 3 Euro currywurst from a corner Imbiß and chasing it with 75 Eurocent beers in bed while watching Bernd, das Brot. Or taking a free stroll through the Tiergarten to the Siegessäule. Or recycling--an action made so much cooler when a barcode-reading, bottle-eating machine is involved.
At the end of the trip, I realized that I had only shopped for one thing: a 3 Euro magazine on modern European Architecture from Pro QM.

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Labels: berlin, straight trippin


