Why looking in NYC is better than buying in DC

A Burberry display on MadAve. First of all, why do they get all the giant silver orbs? I looked this morning on my way to work, and the ConnAve store only has a few small ones haphazardly thrown to one side of a crocheted blazer and chino capris ensemble. If any Burberry location needs distracting metallic props, it's the one in DC, not the one in Manhattan. This white bell-sleeved mini with ruffle-detailing isn't that memorable, but the shoes took my breath away. With the way my flats had been hurting my high arches all day, I was thisclose to challenging their "Sorry, we're closed" signage and making a beeline for the shoe salon. In retrospect, it was a good thing I wore the blouse I did that day, for it was the distasteful prospect of pairing such avant garde pumps with a preppy-cute button-up that saved me from blowing my savings in one fell swoop.
This Valentino skirt was easily my favorite find of the entire trip. I don't know what it was about this half-moon flutter skirt I loved so much - I'm not typically one for that ethereal, weightless style - but something about it wouldn't let me go. Literally. I stood, head tilted, staring at this skirt for at least 10 minutes. To get a closer look at the craftsmanship, I even squatted Chinaman-style, which is no easy feat in just-out-of-the-dryer cigarette-leg super-skinnies. Each of this skirt's "petals" was rimmed with silk-trim, and I imagined some zaftig Italian woman taking painstaking care to sew each one just so on that gauze-thin chiffon base. I'd have left the hem scalloped instead of straight-edged and paired it with a slim silk lantern-neck shell, but I'm willing to accept the possibility that Garavani knows something I don't.

The accompanying shoes. These d'Orsay triple-cut-out peeptoes look a bit bridesmaid-ish as is, but in my head, as soon as I saw them, I swapped champagne for black and silk for patent leather with animal-skin-embossing. Perfect with a pencil skirt and cropped box-cut jacket.S and I intentionally stayed away from Saks' high-end boutiques - your Fendis, Chanels, Balenciagas, etc. - so as not to even allow ourselves to consider how a four or five-figure purchase might impact our credit scores. You can understand our anger, then, when we came across this beautiful structured Zac Posen satchel ($1,895) hanging like a mid-priced Kooba in the "affordable" first-floor accessories room. Hmpf.

I expected more of an emotional reaction upon finally meeting YSL's 'Tribute' pump. In the end, they looked better on Gwen Stefani than they did shined to the hilt under the halogen glare and bright blinks of tourists' flashbulbs. In fact, they looked remarkably pedestrian in person -- as far as platform Mary Janes go, of course.

In this window, it was all about the shoes. Those slingback platform peeptoes were in one word, incredible. Textured grey suede at the "peep" and black patent leather up and around the "sling." Those $1,195 4.5-inch pumps outshone everything in the Oscar de la Renta showroom.

I never really paid much attention to Celine designs, but this window stopped me dead in my croc-embossed gladiator sandal tracks. The two dresses flanking either side of the T-back black and white silk column gown I could take or leave, but that dress in the middle...that dress had me calculating what a jail sentence for a first-offender charged with felony larceny might look like.

This pair of black-label Armani tulip dresses made me think of my girl L, because you'd need teensy shoulders like hers to successfully pull them off. And skinny ankles, a toned back and fat-free underarms, of course. I preferred the textured silk of the strapless number but the sliver-thin crescendo straps of the one behind it. And yes, I'd buh-bye those distractingly chunky necklaces. Some thick swipes of mascara, a Bottega Veneta box clutch and a set of seven gold bangles -- that's all this lady doth require.

After all that wishing, hoping, loitering and illegal plotting, I allowed myself the reasonably-priced high-waisted black skirt I'm presently wearing - this one unlike its four slim-fitting sisters has wide-panel pleats and an A-line flounce - and then headed over to the Strand for a book. Well, two. I figured since Angelina says "educating herself" is when she and Brad find her at her sexiest, perhaps I'd give this whole being-a-woman-of-substance thing a second chance.