Eye candy of the week

What the heck, y'all seemed eager to eat all the candy last week, so I figured it'd be a good idea to pass some more out.

Enjoy.

If I were more into handbags, I'd jump for joy at finding this Kelly-style vintage bag. At only $70, even the price smacks of decades gone by...

I was recently asked who my favorite current designer was for a blogger profile, and my answer -part of it, anyway- was that, for clothing I can afford (when it's on-sale), I'm definitely all about Beth Blake and Melissa Akey for Thread Social right now. This is a look from their Spring/Summer RTW collection, and I'm already stalking TS's online vendors in anticipation of its debut.

This is the prettiest Vicky B. has looked in years. I could be wrong, but I think it may be her new wrist tatt that's responsible for her dare I say, almost friendly-looking glow...

We may have broken up after the disturbingly vacant appearances you gave during promo week for that awful movie I know you're regretting right about now, but Katie, doll, we'll always have your outfits. This one, I'm proud to say, looks awfully similar to what I put together every chilly Saturday afternoon. It has "walking 10 blocks to Penn Quarter" written all over it.

Like a soothing, drop-drop-fizz-fizz after the SAG Awards heartburn - Joy Bryant adds a touch of class to the head-shakingly bad fare on the Welcome Home Roscoe Jones red carpet.

The side view is just as good, no?

KimKar in quite possibly the ugliest swimsuit the Calypso outlet ever did sell. But for serious, who's even looking at the suit? Even Kim can't help but glance at her goodies and think, "Gotta admit, I'm a lucky, lucky lady..."

I wasn't in love with the cut of the colorblocked Calvin Klein gown Jamie-Lynn Sigler wore to the SAG Awards last Sunday, however...

...I do believe I have a new pair of shoulders to adore.

Speaking of disappointing SAG dresses, thank goodness Kate rebounded from her Harley-inspired Balmain number with this kicky cobalt Lanvin mini. *Love*.

And while we're on the topic of Lanvin, let me please lust over this pre-Fall peek at Alber's upcoming collection (photo courtesy of Ms. Spinach)

Not crazy about the embellished Herrera dress, not crazy about all the Godiva (I'm a Sunkist Fruit Gems girl) but Ali Larter, as always, is so well put-together I had no choice but to dub her a definite piece of "eye candy".

If I had a sugar daddy...

'Woman of Affairs' vintage gown by Estevez
$985 at poshvintage.com

Since I don't (yet)

Vintage-style party dress by Grayson Sofia
$98 at unique-vintage.com

Since I don't (yet)

Vintage pearl cocktail ring (my own)
$40 at anniecreamcheese.com

As if we needed *another* reason to love her...

Back in her signature red carpet color after a bizarre and in my view unflattering turn in canary yellow three weekends ago in Cannes, Angelina Jolie looked all sorts of beautiful last night in New York City at the premiere of her new film, A Mighty Heart, in this crushed velvet deep-V-neck, V-back, tea-length vintage wrap dress.

But this is no ordinary vintage piece. This isn't an on-loan Valentino or Balmain or Bill Blass. This isn't a frock some stylist saw in a look-book and had private-jetted straight to the Jolie-Pitt's Hollywood Hills home. No, this is quite the opposite, this is a little something Angie picked up herself last week at famed L.A. vintage haunt The Wasteland on Melrose Avenue for less money than I spend in a work-week at Cosi on make-your-own salads.

That's right, a woman who could've worn anyone's anything to the premiere of what she calls "the most important film" she's ever been a part of, chose to wear crystal-heeled Louboutin peep toes, a price-upon-request (on-loan) Frances Klein diamond brooch and a $26 dress.

I know I go on and on about how great vintage is, but it's not just the dress or the skirt or the shoes or even the great price but the quest for the dress and the fact you're wearing something some other woman wore on the best night of her life back on December 9, 1959 that makes the vintage experience so inherently special.

For more pics of Angelina breaking all kinds of convention - velvet in June? aging Upper East Side socialite updo? even more gorgeous at a two-inch distance? genuinely happy Hollywood relationship? - see below:

*yes, I'm aware FOX News was banned from last night's event per Angelina's request, and yes, I'm still working through my feelings on that. For now, let's just focus on the pretty dress and the fact she might have finally eaten something (see first picture)

The perfect LWD

When I first saw Kate Winslet on the set of her new film Revolutionary Road in this '50s-era white tea-length silk shift with extended cap-sleeves, dainty-thin cinch and decorative shoulder buttons, I stopped short, tilted my head to the left and after about 20 seconds of breath-held awe, let out an audible sigh.

This is the dress. This is what I look for every time I enter Annie Creamcheese in Georgetown or Psyche's Tears in the East Village. The accentuation of the waist-to-hip contour, the conservative neckline and the dramatic sleeves all contribute to a silhouette that to me epitomizes prim, ladylike beauty. Instead of relying on a short hem or racy décolletage, the sexiness from this dress comes from its cut and slim fit. The skin that is showing is minimal but strategic in that what we see - the arms, the calves, the ankles and that which the neckline scoops out - is innocent flesh, flesh even the most modest woman would bare in public. Beyond the sheer sophistication of the way it looks, I think the main reason why I'm so drawn to this dress is that the woman wearing it is able to channel both the sultry siren and the church pastor's wife.

And really, isn't that every woman's objective when she stands before her closet each morning deciding what to wear?

This dress isn't something I would ever expect to see on that other British Kate or Giselle or Cameron, in part because I don't think they have the good taste to pick it out, but more so because they don't have the zaftig figures - more specifically, Hollywood's modern interpretation thereof - to make it look as the designer intented it to look.

In short, the way it looks on Ms. Winslet.

Mom, liberate your JoAnn Fabric card and sewing machine from storage -- Boefie wants a new dress and she wants it in white, black, red and gold lamé.

go, go GO (just don't tell me about it)

Metropolitan Pavilion

125 W. 18th St., between 6th/7th St.

Friday 4/20, 1-8pm

Saturday 4/21, 11am-6pm

$20 admission fee (click here for a $5 coupon)

If you've been waiting for that perfect weekend to take the Chinatown bus to visit those college friends having more fun and eating better sushi than you in Manhattan, put it off no longer -- this weekend is the weekend.

Pack your makeup bags, your cute and super-cute shoes, a bottle of wine (as payment for your couch-crash) and plan to spend your entire Saturday afternoon perusing the more than 85 vintage vendors, including my personal favorites, Tahir Boutique and '40s Forward, in booths 49 and 63, respectively.

Oh, and if you happen to pass by the people at Frock and they insist on giving you the mint green wool Pierre Cardin rolled-neck mini dress with 3/4 length sleeves, please take it and you and I will work out a convenient dead-drop at a later time.

Happy vintage-ing!

Since I don't (yet)

Vintage metallic brocade dress

$65 at gloriousvintage.com

The magical mini dress

The mini dress has been touted as the item to have since last winter. For a trend that can only be worn by a select few, let my rephrase, *should* be worn only by a select few, the minidress has stayed remarkably in vogue for months. Those singing its praises in the early days were primarily the style watchers who work for elite fashion magazines; you know the kind, those who put items from Barney's CO-OP in their token don't-break-the-bank features. I'm usually wary to listen to any advice those people give, not because I think they're wrong - not at all - but because I know I'm not part of their target audience. That being said, in the beginning of this whole mini dress phenomenon, I tried not be wooed by it. Let me be clear, the operational definition of "mini dress" is the high-fashion mini, not the tops-turned-dresses Britney's lady bits have been peeking out of lately. Up until July, I had convinced myself the mini was an impractical, undignified, just-not-me article of clothing. I liked not having my bare ass exposed to taxi cab vinyl, and with the strong winds that come out of nowhere in DC...from an analytic standpoint, donning a dress cut 8 inches above my knee didn't make sense. Down boys, down.

But then the East Village happened. That part of New York is fashion Narnia for me. When I first found myself at the corner of 9th and some letter street, it wasn't the fashion that drew me to the neighborhood, it was the Cuban restaurant with the spicy corn on the cob, the old record store that had an entire section of hard-to-find Teddy Wilson music, and the conveniently situated Rite-Aid that carried the ever elusive Diet Minute Maid orange soda. After a few blocks and a mouthful of corn, I discovered its true draw -- the vintage stores. Oh, the vintage stores!

It was in one of these lovely, tucked away little shops that my scorn for the minidress made an abrupt transition to adoration. In the space of one sunny July afternoon, I fell in love. Like most relationships, falling in love with my ivory knit mini dress with exaggerated puff sleeves and girly collar wasn't an easy or immediate process. As many vintage stores are, the racks at this particular store were so jam-packed in a melange of varying colors, fabrics, and styles that I got both a headache and a tricep workout moving each hanger. Fortunately, the drama in my dress was so severe I caught it right away. When I liberated it from the others, I truly had a moment. One of those I-will-never-forget-this-moment moments. I had just found my favorite dress. If in that store, that day, at that moment, I had been given the chance to swap that dress with any other dress - even this Marchesa dress - I wouldn't have. That's how much I loved it. And it wasn't even a mini when I found it, but thanks to Ahmet at Marrakesh, an alteration store a few doors down, it was 3 hours later. The store where I found my prize dress is unfortunately no longer in business, but that makes the story that much more charming. It's as if it appeared for the sole purpose of bringing my dress and me together, and once we'd found each other, poof, it was gone -- off to matchmake somewhere else.

The story of my magical mini dress is one I'm sure I'll tuck my daughter into bed with one day. It's about as face-to-face with fantasy as I've ever come. Or ever will. The life lesson, or fashion lesson, is to never close your mind to something before you try it. You may just get lucky like I did and fall head-over-stilettos in love.

The picture of Cameron Diaz really serves no purpose other than to reinforce the point that a minidress is indeed magical. She actually doesn't look heinous in this photo, does she? Not from the neck down, anyway.