Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The Ladies of Bean Town

To state the seemingly apparent, I collect cities.  Depending on my work location, I'll settle down in the nearest metropolis, make friends, start a life, and move on when the next job post comes.  Last year, my adopted city was New York City, and it's becoming more apparent that this year, it's Boston.

I've been to Boston probably as many times as I've been to New York in the last year... and sadly enough collectively, I've probably been to both places more than I have been in my own home.  Aside from that point, it's been a delicious change of scenery, and yet a major cultural shift.  As my friend Kalie described it, it's like Boston has a collective heart and its people operate on a similar wavelength of city pride that you don't often see in many cities.  In Atlanta, you'll see baseball caps representing the Braves, Yankees or Dodgers, but in Boston, it's a consistent trend of Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, Celtics and the occasional Pawtucket PawSox.
A few of my good girl friends and I took Labor Day weekend to explore the city mostly by foot and subway.  There's a beat and beauty to this city that I love.  Walking around, Boston has all of the bustle of a major city from its skyscrapers to its hecklers, but it has a historic reverence to it, what with its ivy covered townhomes, gilded town halls, and brick-laden behemoth that is Fenway.  I had the supreme pleasure of getting a tour of the city from Dana, my best friend Anita's friend from college (yes, world, this is adulthood, where friend-of-friend-of-friends prevail), in which we walked post-White Sox game from Fenway over to North End and finally to Cambridge and were practically agog at every corner.  I think my propensity for photo-taking can speak for itself in this case. 

Put simply and in conversational Vivian terms, "GAHHH I WANT TO MOVE HERE."

(In case you were wondering, the Red Sox deftly beat the White Sox to day, 7 to 6).

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Fresh, Fit and Fab: 3.1 Phillip Lim x Target Review

If there's a lesson to be learned from designer collaborations, it's that whatever your expectations built from pictures and previews online, should be lowered in store.  It comes to no surprise that while stylish, the product can often be lacking in fit, material or quality in real life.  Let me be clear, however, this is not the case with Phillip Lim.  This is not to say that the collection is perfect, but in the land of Target/Kohl's/H&M/etc. collaborations, it's damn near close.
The fit was nearly perfect on most of the clothes I tried on.  While quality at best is off (it's Target, what do you expect?), I think it goes without saying that this is something special given the amount of press and "prep" articles it received across the internet.  Fortunately, living in Atlanta, we get much less of the mayhem experienced in other cities.  I got to the Target at Atlantic Station a little past 11 a.m., right before a throng of people followed.  Since it was still rather stocked, I was able to snag pieces that I were right up my style and a some that I probably wouldn't have normally touched with a three foot pole.
Phillip Lim x Target Floral Peplum Tank
Imagine my surprise when the floral peplum tank not only fit me in all the right ways, but actually looked good.  The fit was perfect, hugging all the right curves.  This would in turn be indicative to most of tops of the collection.
Left to right:  Gray Sparkle Tank, Navy/Green Pullover, Boom French Terry Sweatshirt
The dresses of the collection were more hit or miss.  While it looks great on a say a 6 ft, size 0 model, on a normal person's body, the practicality of it was severely questioned.  Hence the facial expression in the photo below.  The fit for some lacked like the gray sweater dress, but was amazing for illogical buys such as the animal print knit dress.