Manolo for the Big Girl

Francesca here, popping in on the weekend to tell you (or remind you) about some sales that end today or soon. Here, in alphabetical order:

One of many spectacular hats of fabulosity from WomenSuits.

Alight is having a big holiday sale, and will take $8 off your order of $40 if you enter code alight878 at checkout.

Ashley Stewart will take 30% off your entire online purchase (excluding sale, clearance and Diva Deal items) “for a limited time.” Also, get a free upgrade to 2-day shipping on purchases of $50 or more.

Avenue will take 35% off your online purchase with code AV91167. This ends today.

JC Penney will give you free shipping through Tuesday with code SHINE25, or click here to print a coupon for use in-store. If instead of the free shipping code you wish to receive 15% off beauty products, use code JCPFF2009, also through Tuesday. Plus-size clothing is here.

Jessica London is having a tremendous, site-wide sale. Ending today, take 30% off your highest-priced item (if you order three or more) with  code JLE4484.

J. Jill will take 25% off any online outlet purchase, or 40% off full-priced jewelry (online or  in stores) through Tuesday.

Junonia has taken 30% off fleece and flannel items, and will give you free mittens and a hat with orders of $75 or more. Both offers end today.

Swimsuits for All will take 25% off your order with code 25NEW. This ends today.

WomenSuits.com will take 20% off your purchase of $100 or more (online or by phone) with code BLESSEDCHRISTMAS. This offer “expires soon.” Can be used more than once. FYI, Francesca has never seen a better offer than this from this vendor, so prices/deals are unlikely to get better. Francesca loves their collection of “church hats,” which remind her of the Ascot scene in My Fair Lady. The Americans are such interesting peoples.

Come back tomorrow for even more sales. xoxo

For information on current clothing sales, go to yesterday’s FFI here.

Designer Shoes adds a new brand, Nota Bene, of whose style and quality Francesca approves. Francesca’s pick: their classic Mary Jane (pictured).

YOOX is having a big sale, including high-end shoes, handbags, and accessories.

Zappos, one of our favorite shoe sources, is offering free shipping both ways as always. Now, additionally, they offer free overnight shipping on clothing. Sizes go up to 40 or 4XL (warning: largest sizes are mostly swimwear). They also sell kitchenware and all sorts of nice gift items like cologne and toys, starting here. Free shipping and return shipping on everything. Francesca says: wow.

Cosmetics Mall is having a big sale on Women’s Fragrances.

Books Online has a menu of book clubs for yourself or someone on your gift list. Francesca loves the gift of the book club!

Smart Bargains has added new items to clearance. This includes home goods, jewelry, women’s apparel (including some plus sizes) and menswear.

Beauty.com will take $20 off your purchase of $100 or more, through December 20. No code necessary. Exceptions: This won’t work for international orders (APO and Territories addresses OK), and won’t apply to gift cards, gift certificates, prescriptions, contact lenses, magazine subscriptions, or the following brands: Aramis, Bare Escentuals, Darphin, Donna Karan/DKNY, Jane Iredale, Lab Series Skincare for Men, Origins, Missoni, Prescriptives, Sean John, Smashbox and Tommy Hilfiger.)

Magazine City provides excellent prices, with no strings attached, on magazine subscriptions. Francesca found some of her favorite fashion magazines for $1 per issue (to US) and under $5 per issue internationally (a very good price, Francesca fears. Living outside the US has its advantages, but certainly not in the realm of access to English-language print media!)

Amazon has set up a page from which you can see their “top holiday deals” FYI, the Gund bear pictured is a free gift if you order $75 or more of toys (also add the bear to your cart).

Sun Jewelry, a vendor of high-end bracelets, earrings, etc, has set up a gift clearance page, with sale items to buy for the special someone (including yourself). Francesca’s pick: Marguise Amethyst and Diamond earrings (pictured).

Happy shopping! xoxo

Silhouettes recently sent Francesca three “Fall Essentials” of their choosing to review on the blog. They were gifts to Francesca, but as always Francesca is 100% honest with her readers about the items’ quality and style — with thanks, of course, to the Silhouettes for thinking of us.

It is difficult for Francesca to have to start with the shoes, because as our readers know, here at Chez Manolo we deal in the highest-quality-materials-and-craftsmanship feetswear, which one cannot possibly get for the retail price of $49, which is what these shoes cost. So Francesca asks herself, If I were one of the many superfantastic girls who, doing the best she could, wanted to spend no more than $50 on the pair of shoes, what would I think about these? And the answer is that, for what they are, these are very attractive shoes. Francesca loves the medium heel and the suede- and Oxford-inspired style, which is “in” right now, and in the brown color they are perfect for the Fall wardrobe. As long as one understands that everything but the sole is constructed of man-made materials, that they will not last for many seasons, and that they are less comfortable than their higher-end counterparts, then, as they say in Yiddish, gezuntahait.  Enjoy them and go forth in style!

They also sent me this faux snakeskin silver “hinge” bangle in purple. It is on sale right now for $19. Francesca does not understand how this is a “Fall Essential.” It is, in her opinion, a “Spring or Summer Option.” If you like the design and the color(s), again, it is perfectly nice for the price-point. Francesca was not “blown away,” but that is a matter of personal taste. If this bracelet tickles your  fancy, then Francesca will not look at you askance.

Francesca has just 3 words for this unfortunate glass-and-acrylic   bauble:

Barbie Dress-up Playset.

Though, if she squints, she can imagine the young girl with the pageboy haircut, jaunty attitude, and vintage clothing pinning this to her cloche to cute effect.

And now, in deference to Silhouettes, who were willing to send a box to Francesca internationally for her to try their wares without any hope of getting them back, she proposes another item from their site which suggests more promise: a classic Mock Wrap Dress in eggplant. She also points out that they have easy-priced, wide-calf boots, which Francesca knows is of utmost importance to  many the Big Girl.

PS From Francesca’s Inbox: Use code S96E2 for free shipping in the continental US on orders of $100 or more. Code is good through November 16.

The American Independence Day, it approaches, and Francesca knows how much the patriotic Americans love to dress on this day in outfits which evoke their flag! Hooray for the Red, White and Blue, Francesca says. But there is a Right way, and a Wrong way. Rule of thumb: if you are an adult and you would ONLY wear the outfit on the Fourth of July, it is probably a Wrong (little children are exceptions, and it is OK to wear ONE kitschy novelty item IF a Very Cheerful Relative offers you one). If you would wear it on August 10th, it is fine. For example:

Do:

Don’t:

Do (for a very informal family gathering):

Don’t:

Do:

Don’t:

Do:

Don’t:

“Christian Lacroix Starts Insolvency Proceedings”

Y’all. I cannot handle this today. I’ve totally been a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown for the past few weeks anyway and NOW YOU’RE TAKING MY LACROIX?!?!

I can’t say I’m especially surprised, but I don’t think this is anywhere near the end for Edina Monsoon’s favorite designer.

Christian Lacroix, one of the few haute couture houses left, has been flying under the radar in this post-couture age. Lacroix is, and always has been, unapologetically continental in his approach to fashion as if to say if you don’t like his bright, exuberant Gallo-Iberian sensibilities, you can just take that mess over to Marc by Marc. The Lacroix woman doesn’t need you. The Lacroix woman doesn’t need anyone.

Speaking of being a woman on the verge, I am still in the throes of a major Almodovar moment, fashion-wise-speaking. If you’re not familiar with Pedro Almodovar’s earlier work, specifically the hilarious Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down (both featuring a vintage Antonio Banderas in all his early-20’s glory)  do yourself a solid and netflix these today.

Love this. So casual and 80’s-Euro-in-a-Good-Way. I’m loving the jacket (I’m having an epic jacket moment) and with editing, a big girl could wear this look effortlessly. The rope ankle straps on those shoes, make the look for me, but I don’t think they’ve gone into production. This is what Lagerfeld was trying to do with his Villas Americas collection based on Sara and Gerald Murphy, the jazz-age expats who made the South of France glamorous to Anglo-American sensibilities and inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Tender is the Night” plus Ernest Hemingway’s unfinished “Garden of Eden“.

and while I love all things jazz age, what I’m all about right now is color, and I mean COLOR.

This still from Women on the Verge  has been on my inspiration board since October.  I love everything about it. It’s quirky, vibrant and flawless, although the women are not traditionally beautiful.

Also on my look board:

LOVE the color,  love the Perry Ellis-goes-to-Arles feel. Yes, this is a LOT of look, but there are a ton of individual pieces and references you could take and make your own. Am DYING for that acid green.

And then there are the polka dots.

Popular fashion wisdom has it that pink, plaid and polka dots always come back.  Big girls can wear polka dots like nobody’s business, especially great big ones which, as luck would have it, is what looks fresh now.

I know we did the Swiss thing a few years ago in a very retro 50’s rockabilly/pin-up way, and that was precious and all but it got tiresome.

These look fresh and I love how they play with the scale. And it’s so slouchy and easy. Very South of France.  If I ever do end up marrying Andre, this is totally what I’m going to wear when we’re visiting the ancestral manse.

Seriously.

One of the other fantastic things about this collection that reminded me so much of Almodovar is the jewelry. Pulling off a lot of statement jewelry in one look takes a judicious eye but I love both the irony of sending up the “more is more” mentality that got us into this delightful economic slophouse and the fun of just being unapologetically, gloriously over-adorned. Love it!

I love costume jewelry. Love love love it. I love fine jewelry too, but since Richard Burton selfishly died before he had the chance to meet me, I have to content myself with more attainable baubles.

That being said, there’s costume jewelry and there’s costume jewelry. The good stuff can often set you back a mint, but all of these little lovelies are between $74 – $180 which, considering the sparkle they’ll bring to your life (and your face) is a pretty good deal, and they make great extra-special stocking stuffers.

For the Sweet Young Thing

(click on the images for links)

Lovely little handmade rose earrings on delicate sterling silver (nickel-free) wires. Available in many colors although mysteriously not yellow, so we Texas girls will have to satisfy ourselves with an approximation of burn orange.

For the Downtown Girl

Do these feel a little Fendi to you? Because I’m totally getting a Karl-meets-Edward Gorey vibe off of these. Made out of silk fishnet and murano glass, these are for the very cool, fashion-forward woman in your life.

For the Lady who Lunches

So so perfect and understated. This is like the noon martini in a St John Suit at The Plaza of perfect. Gold plated with smoky Swarovski crystals and a clip back –I love a clip back– they’re perfect and classic without being matronly, and because the crystals are toned down and not giant vulgar faux diamonds they’re statement-y without being LOUD. If you bought these I swear you’d wear them three times a week, and they’d look perfect on you every time.

For the Girl Who Can Get Away With It

Do I even need to tell you that I’m ordering these? No, of course not. These earrings, very reminiscent of 1960’s Bvlgari, are all about high drama, high glamor and channeling your inner Liz Taylor. A bit pricey, but good gravy, so fabulous.

For the Chic Continental

These are actually my favorite and the second least-expensive pair, and there’s something so European about these. I can just imagine some lovely woman with a chic gamine crop and a handsome escort, shivering along the streets of Salzburg in her evening dress, rushing to some fantastic party full of disreputable lecherous viscounts and irresponsibly beautiful rent boys.