Do you read your horoscope? I do from time to time… mostly in uncertain times. But it’s fun to talk about how you are so much like your sign. I quite like the dreamy, watery Pisces descriptions. One foot in reality, another foot in fantasy, wishy washy and prone to indulgence. Yep, that pretty much sounds like me.

The whole reason why I started blogging was to escape reality, or more correctly, expand reality. Reading the musings of a shopaholic on the other side of the world was fascinating and exciting.. still is. How we all go through similar issues beyond culture and geographic location. I started blogging to create a world to escape to, one where it’s ok to talk about shoes and pretty things while, daily life was not so glamourous.

So perhaps, astrology, there is something in it? Some kind of insight to how we are… though, I’d like to see if there is anyone born at the same time in the same place if they have the same escapist, indulgent tendencies as I… we’ll never know!

Do you believe in horoscopes? What sign are you… do you think it fits with your day to day life?

PS… In case you are wondering about the shoes, Pisces rules the feet, and shoe are my favorite!
PPS Photo by Nando Alvarez

This post was inspired by the IFB Project

This morning news broke out that Tracy McMillan’s HuffPo article, Why You’re Not Married has been picked up to be a sitcom on ABC. While I’m barely married two years and have a divorce under my belt, hence, NOT an expert on marriage. I can say that I spent a lot of time being single and wanting to be in a relationship. I can say that the thought of being “alone” for the rest of my life would bring tears to my eyes like nothing else.

McMillan broke it down for us why we weren’t married.

1. You’re a Bitch
2. You’re Shallow
3. You’re a Slut
4. You’re a Liar
5. You’re Selfish
6. You’re Not Good Enough

Now how many of you can think of a married woman who fits these profiles? I can say, I have been at one point or another any of these points and lo and behold, I’m married. When I was single, I spent a lot of money on therapy, and burned out a lot of friends ears trying to figure out the reason why I couldn’t make a relationship work. Reasons like, I wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t pretty enough, wasn’t interesting enough, didn’t have a good enough career,  wasn’t smart enough, had crazy expectations, just plain crazy, damaged, or maybe I was too slutty. Though, what the hell does that even mean? There were loads of women who I thought were crazier than me, meaner, I didn’t think were a cute as I was, had a crappy job, not that smart, humorless, and I thought if they could do it what was so wrong with me, I couldn’t?

The truth is, if you REALLY want to get married, you’ll find a way to make it happen.

The truth is, most people who say they want a relationship and don’t have one, don’t really want a relationship.

Why do I say this? From experience, when I was single, I thought I wanted to be in a relationship, but looking back on it, it’s impossible to say a person who really wants to be married would do the things I did. Things like, fixating on men who could never return their feelings, trying to make a relationship work with a person I wasn’t really all that crazy about (in retrospect), placing unrealistic expectations and getting mad when they don’t meet them. I did this over and over again.

The truth was, I really loved being single.

Why did I like being single? I liked the freedom, the friendships, the indulgences, the getting to know what I really wanted out of life, the getting to really understand that as crazy as I was, there was nothing wrong with that.

The truth was, I was afraid of getting in a relationship.

Everyone has different reasons for not wanting a relationship. They’re not always so blatant, and they’re often easy to deny exist. Throughout my life, I would lose myself in relationships because I didn’t value myself. When you’re 20, and you don’t have a clue as to what you want out of life, that’s expected, but when you’re 30? It’s scary. Not knowing how to navigate yourself in relationships can be terrifying if you don’t know what you want.

So, what happened? How did I end up married?

Your guess is as good as mine. What happened, was one day I realized what was going on. That trying to think of a reason why I did have the relationship I wanted and that was with myself. That there was nothing wrong with taking time to live live on my own.

Just at that time, mysteriously, I just wanted more love in my life. Not necessarily getting a relationship, in fact, I was dating a guy and broke it off with him. Then it happened, I met my future husband.

There is nothing wrong with you…

If anyone tells you that you’re not married because of some reason, like being a bitch, having to high expectations, being too slutty, whatever. They are wrong. All kinds of people get married. I mean, how many murderers are married? How many married people cheat?

No person is free from ugly flaws, there are only people who’s flaws don’t drive you all that crazy. Finding that person who doesn’t drive you all that crazy? That’s how you get married.

This has nothing to do with anything, unless you love donuts, in which case this had everything to do with everything. I’ve been saying that donuts are the new cupcakes for some time, and have been rooting for the return of  embellished donut eating because, well, do I really need an explanation?

At LFW, Krispy Kreme has been passing out the Glamour Glaze donuts, in collaboration with Glamour magazine and inspired by lip gloss. I’ve never at a glittery donut that I would actually want to wear as a lip gloss, but this works. I inhaled it in three bites practically. Now hopefully next season NYFW gets donuts, because this is the kind of food one can obses on for a while.

The internet has yielded many trends that at one time seemed questionable and hurled them into the mainstream. Latex tights? Hello shiny leggings. Leather, bondage, the stripper shoes, platforms to high heaven. They’ve also enabled the masses to see runway shoes and take something very niche and bring it to an affordable price where you and I can afford.  Take the Lita for example, practically every fashion blogger on Earth has a version (myself included) but it was a direct rip off of Charles Anastase’s Dungeon Boots. I can see where it comes from, online, bolder pieces communicate stronger messages than the more subtle, minimal things. What may be an amazing t-shirt in real life doesn’t always translate in the digital space.

While meandering through the internets, I came across the Saffo Night Walker Boots, and thought, “Oh to high heaven what the fizzle sticks?” First, I wondered who would order these? Then I wondered, where would they wear them if they did order them? And finally, I wondered… How the heck can anyone walk in those things? So, I ordered them. To see for myself.

You know when you order stuff off the internet, sometimes you are surprised either because it’s better , or because it’s worse… but these were pretty much what I expected them to be. They are true to image. That said I was equally horrified by them. However when I tried them on, they weren’t uncomfortable. If you’re a gothic drag queen, I can imagine you can dance all night in these night walkers, and would recommend it! Walking was ok, though my ankle did wobble a bit, so if you get these you better have health insurance.

But I’m an old lady… maybe they wouldn’t fit so much in my office life, but as a fashion blogger? I can imagine a few who can make them work. What do you think? Do you give these boots the yay or nay?

Photo and video by Nando Alvarez

If you read a lot of blogs, you’ll probably see a lot of giveaways, here at The Coveted, we do get a lot of requests for giveaways…but as you see, they rarely happen here. This week we did a giveaway, which for a product I sincerely love. Which is why it made the cut. But as a publisher, I wonder who benefits most from giveaways. This morning on IFB’s Twitter, I put out the question to the community  to discuss with other bloggers and brands about who benefits the most from giveaways…

Readers are the most important part of the blog, so if you wouldn’t mind doing a quick poll, so we can understand better if you feel giveaways reward you, the reader. It makes ALL the difference!

Of course any comments below are certainly welcome!

When I was in London, I met up with my friend from college… he’s a designer who uses 200-year-old printing presses and old fashioned real lead type to create his work. We worked on a lot of projects together in college and considered going into business together after graduation…but our lives took dramatically different turns. During my visit, we talked about the ‘death of print’ and how his business has grown over the last seven years. We both noted how special printed matter had become. That when you get something on paper, like a letter… it has become an almost sacred object touched by human hand. That you took care not to just shoot an email or post a thank you on a Facebook wall.. that you took the time to write something by hand and carry it off to the post.

With the future of print in question… print isn’t going to die. But it’s going to change into more of an experience than merely a vehicle of information. Reading something on paper is somehow more quiet… like I can’t see my unread email count in the corner of my eye, or the tweets and the noise from the internet. My friend Susie had run into someone handing out the YSL Manifesto Spring Summer 2011 on the street, and picked up a few copies. No, we didn’t get the totes…but I have enough totes! What really caught my attention was the magazine attached. It brought me back to the days when of being a magazine junkie.. capturing the smell of the ink and running my hands over the pages. The conversation printed in the ‘ad’ between  YSL creative director Stefano Plati and Hans Ulrich Obrist the Serpentine Gallery co-Creative Director discussed manifestos, art and fashion. The conversation heady and somewhat disjointed… Hans having his mind clearly set on art and philosophy and Stefano meandering through fashion visions, business, and relating his art to a manifesto in a very intelligent way.

It was really a treat. I wish there was more things like this out there.

It’s not often that I talk about world events on this blog. And even so, I feel uncomfortable even when it’s truly something I believe in…hey, we come here to talk about shoes… however with global catastrophes occurring like what has happened in Japan it is just hard not to say anything. My heart goes out to the people of Japan, rebuilding from major earthquakes takes years and years… and that will never replace the lives that have been lost.

There are countless great ways to be supportive to those in need. One way could be donating to directly to the Red Cross.  Other ways can be purchasing something which proceeds go to charity, or selling something to raise money. There is a Flickr Pool of Charity Print Auctions which was brought to my attention by my ex-husband and photographer David Axelbank. You can either bid on one of the prints, I bid on his photo Night Flower 025. He’s pretty nice, plus, I love his work. But if you’re photo savvy, you can submit your own for auction, they list there the various legitimate charities acceptable for donation.

If you’re looking for other ways to help, please read Wendy Brandes’s post A Badge for Your Blog: Fashion Bloggers Helping Japan as she’s a pro working with philanthropic organizations and has done a lot of work for many communities! So she’s very smart about how she helps.

Photo by David Axelbank

“Blogs posting things about us, going viral, spreading throughout the internet… it has an extraordinary impact on the business.”
~Jack McCollough, Proenza Schouler

If you’re wondering what the fashion industry is starting to see in social media take a look at this video as Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler talk about why they have embraced social media.

Happy New Year Bunnies!

Well, Chinese New Year... it’s the year of the Rabbit. Taking a completely selfish interest in this as I’m a Rabbit, so it’s my year once every 12 years! And it’s really feeling like this could be it…

“The rabbit is one of the most delicate animals among all 12 animals. Rabbits are usually kind and sweet and of course, popular people. Nobody ignores them, for they are good company and know how to make the best of themselves.” ~Chinese Zodiac

Ooh, that sounds nice… it also goes on to say we have beautiful homes… which I don’t know the first thing about interior decorating. Bah.

So my dears…what Chinese Zodiac Sign are you?

Image by Capture Queen ™

I have been advised by the operators of “thecoveted.com” that they are prepared to amicably resolve this matter and that at no time did they have any intention of capitalizing on any goodwill or reputation of “The Coveted” at the-coveted.com. They have indicated that they are in the process of re-branding their project. I and Coveted Media wish Erin and Stephanie the best in their endeavors, look forward to seeing how their venture develops and am happy that we will be able to co-exist with them going forward. I thank all of my supporters for their posts and am hopeful that we can all now put this behind us.

~Jennine