freddy&ma

size doesn't matter

shopping for vintage clothing can be exhausting and frustrating as old fabrics are uncomfortable, zippers are broken, and sizes are way off.......or rather our clothing sizes are way off! there's always that little tidbit floating around about how marilyn monroe was a size 12 or 14.......ladies, that means she was a size 4 or 6, quite possibly a size 2 at times.......there are no size standards for women's clothing so depending on the manufacturer and how they want you to feel in their clothing, companies will size down so that you feel smaller......so the next time you're buying that size 0 at Banana Republic, head down to zachary's smile and try and squeeze yourself into a size 6 from 1964......eye-opening ; )

'it' bags are out - long live the custom handbag

Freddy has been saying it for years....'it' bags are out.  In his 'humble' opinion, once everyone has the same bag it starts to lose its mystique.  This is why F&M offers custom handbags, we like to think everyone wants something a bit more unique than the next woman on the subway.  The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting article today discussing this decline of the 'it' bag.  It is definitely worth taking a look at.

A few choice quotes:

"The 'it' bag isn't important any more," says Stephanie Solomon, women's fashion director at Bloomingdale's. "It's all about looking different from your neighbor."

"I felt like, 'Gee, all these bags are so attainable by a lot of people that everyone's carrying around that bag,' " says Ms. Weisburd, a 59-year-old homemaker who lives in New York City. "I wanted something that was more exclusive."

when life gives you lemons......

buy some self help books! Read them and then actually remember what you read.....try to apply it to your life.........sadly while rereading one of my favorites this weekend I realized that I had scored a six out of six on the list of things to do that will make your partner essentially feel like crap and cause one to be alone on xmas and new years eve.  Bah humbug.  So, as an early holiday present to myself I ordered some other fun titles due to arrive by Wednesday.....He's Scared, She's Scared, highly recommended to me by a friend who has never opened his copy and also something else that seemed interesting called Make Up, not Break Up........seems like cheerful holiday reading to me!  I'll let y'all know if they help me out or not. 

target I love you but you keep letting me down

It pains me to admit this out loud because target and I have had a looong love affair......but this is the last time i get my hopes up about a new go:international designer.  This latest attempt was probably most disappointing because I adore Erin Fetherston and her frothy creations with a passion and if I wore these clothes I would feel like I had a second rate version of the real thing.....I am all about mixing high&low, but something is just not right with these collections.......I get super excited waiting to see the collections, blog about them,  drool over the exquisite ad campaigns and then once I see the real thing, I stand there trying to talk myself into buying something.  Why does this keep happening?  Does anyone else feel my pain?  Erin, I'm sure you got a sweet deal but I'm heartbroken.  On the other hand, Rafe bags for Target are very nicely made and designed, so there is hope. 

Freddy's old co-workers

As many of you know, Freddy spent a few years working at IDEO, the greatest design firm in all the land.  One of the best parts of working at IDEO was the amazing non-work related events.  Check out the video below to see why working there was so much fun :-)

now do you believe us?

came across a recent quote in WWD from Giorgio Armani, that pleased us immensely...."I see a future increasingly driven by personalization and customization, not just in the way clothes and accessories are designed and produced to individual customer specifications, but also in the way the customer is served. Handheld technology and the Internet will play a significant part in this development, through which customers will receive very personalized information from their own dedicated sales associate remotely, with visual proposals provided through the season in a nonintrusive way. Service at the place of work or home will become more a part of client expectations. And this overall evolution will be seen across the spectrum from fast fashion on up." maybe they'll be quoting us soon :  )

a Virgin no more....

When you fly as much as Freddy does, you become pretty immune to the terrible customer experience that is flying on airlines.  Yesterday, however, Freddy was pleasantly surprised by the awesomeness that is Virgin America airlines.  From a very slick check in process to ordering food from seatback screens and VERY comfortable leather seats, the flight and overall experience was amazing.  Think of the airline as JetBlue meets the Apple Store.  They designed every detail of the overall experience, from the safety cards to the soap in the bathroom and the sum total was an amazing experience.  We recommend flying Virgin America on any trip you take between the coasts in the next few months.  You will not be disappointed.

daily affirmation

it's no secret that we're slightly obsessed with Blueprint magazine, here at f&m.........but imagine my delight and surprise when I received my new Sept/Oct issue to see one of my own personal ideas executed on the cover!!! About 6 months ago I redecorated my apartment, and one of the projects that I was most proud of was taking a bunch of frames that I was no longer using, painting them all white and mounting them in a collage format on one of my walls......I liked it so much that I was considering doing the same thing in our showroom.....next time i have a creative DIY project, I'll post to the blog a.s.a.p. for all of our loyal readers.....really fun and really satisfying project I must tell you.

this will help you understand all those articles in Vogue

thanx NYmag :  )click here for content

what's up hbo?

I don't know what's going on over at HBO this summer but my 2 favorite shows are not living up to their former seasons.  Entourage hasn't even been funny the past 2 weeks, and they don't do anything with the character of Vince while Big Love has just been kind of boring? All I know is that I've been sitting there waiting for something to happen and then the show ends and the previews for the next episode aren't that compelling.......I hope this isn't the end, but if things keep going at this rate I wouldn't be surprised.