BCBG slim skirt

Last month, I won a $100 gift card from Saks, which I used to get a free BCBG textured tube skirt in the azalea color.  For once, I was actually stumped about how to wear something.  Luckily some ideas arrived in my inbox from BCBG.

The quality, texture, and fit of the BCBG textured tube skirt is almost exactly the same as my Herve Leger bandage dress from the fall 2008 runway collection.  I'm not surprised, because BCBGMAXAZRIA Group acquired the Herve Leger fashion house.

Too sexy for the U.S. Senate?

When Massachusetts state senator Scott Brown was a gorgeous twenty-two year old law student at Boston College in 1982, he posed nude for Cosmo just days after his 1L exams.  In fact, he won Cosmo's "America's Sexiest Man" contest in June 1982.  Today he is a Republican running for Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat.  He definitely wins my vote for "America's Sexiest Male Politician" and "America's Sexiest Male Law Student Ever."  Who says posing nude would irreparably damage a law student's ambition to become a highly accomplished politician?  This is America, land of the free and home of the brave.

Update: My boyfriend, who shall remain nameless on this blog, states that he is a contender for "America's Sexiest Male Law Student Ever."  I will reconsider my vote.

trade dress infringement: Isabel Marant v. Aldo

Aldo, I see that you are infringing the trade dress of Isabel Marant's $1295 Otway boot from her Fall/Winter 2009 collection, because Aldo's $150 Zabrocki boot looks just like it.  The Isabel Marant boot is pictured on the right.
  

Essentials: For the Girl in College

1. skirt suit - for class presentations and job interviews.

2. plain t shirt - for everyday.

3. striped t shirt - for everyday.

4. black skinny pants - for everyday.

5. dark rinse skinny jeans - for everyday.

6. cropped jacket - for colder days.

7. sweater - for chilly days and frigid classrooms.

8. skirt - for class and parties.

9. tights - for cold days.

10. sweat pants - for lounging in the dorms.

11. bikini - for swimming and tanning.

12. flip flops - for use as shower shoes.

13. black pumps - for class presentations, job interviews, and parties.

14. flats - for everyday.

Essential Shoes for Women

A well-balanced shoe collection should have each of the above shoe types.

1. flip flops - for use in the shower, by the pool, and at the beach.
2. sneakers - for exercise.  (Above: Converse Chuck Taylor)
3. flats - for everyday.  (Above: Alexander McQueen)
4. galoshes - for dryness and mobility on rainy or snowy days.  (Above: Sperry Top-Sider)
5. black pumps with a closed toe and closed heel - for interviews, the office, and parties.  (Above: Nine West)
6. peep toe stilettos - for parties, a less conservative office, and church.  (Above: Christian Louboutin)
7. wedges - for events taking place on grass.  (Above: Giuseppe Zanotti)
8. strappy stiletto sandals - for ultimate sex appeal.  (Above: Jimmy Choo)

Note:  The shoes shown above epitomize their respective shoe types.  You can easily find less expensive versions at your local malls.

Ten Essentials: for the Girl in Law School

If I were allowed to keep only ten pieces from my wardrobe, I would choose the items shown above, based on my needs as a law student.

(Preexisting) Essentials in my Wardrobe.
1. J. Crew Super 120s pinstripe gray suit - for interviews and the office
2. blouse that can be worn with a suit or jeans
3. light blue oxford shirt
4. Rich & Skinny mid-rise dark skinny jeans - which I wear every day when I am not in a suit, dress, or sweats.
5. green Herve Leger dress  - for a hot date and Barrister's Ball.  Buy it on sale at Hautelook.com or Gilt.com
6. Black Halo little black dress - my dress is actually indigo
7. Black Halo jacket dress - for the office, dinner, and cocktail receptions for attorneys
8. black overcoat
9. closed toe, closed heel pumps
10. large glamorous purse (Devi Kroell)

my own Gossip Girl moment - Who took my coat?

For New Year's 2010, I went to a house party at a friend's swanky mansion in Nashville, hung my black J. Crew plaza coat in the coat closet along with all the other guests' coats, and left the party six and a half hours later with what appeared to be my coat.  Strangely it seemed to feel less soft than usual, but I thought I was just imagining things.  Three days later and several hundred miles away, I realized I had taken someone else's identical J. Crew plaza coat in the same size (2P) and color, because the coat currently in my possession had been altered to remove the flap pockets, which are still present on the J. Crew plaza coat that I own!

Hopefully no scandal will erupt as a result of the coat switch, like in Gossip Girl when Maureen Vanderbilt accidentally took Lily van der Woodsen's Valentino coat after the Thanksgiving party.  I hope I didn't have any incriminating evidence or money stashed in my coat pockets.

Why are there no elegant wedges at low prices?

 

I normally avoid buying wedges.  Most of the ones I have seen are ugly, unflattering, casual, and/or outdated.  Too bad I actually need to wear either wedges or flats to avoid sinking into the grass and destroying my stilettos at an upcoming outdoor wedding.  Hopefully this spring, more affordable shoe designers will release shoes resembling but NOT infringing the trade dress of Serena Van Der Woodsen's Christian Louboutin Lady Patent Wedges (USD $660) and Blair Waldorf's dainty Miu Miu satin wedge sandals (USD $665).

Trade Dress Infringement: Jimmy Choo v. Forever 21

Dear Jimmy Choo,

Forever 21 recently infringed your trade dress by copying the product configuration of your black studded fishnet Karina booties.  The statutory test for trade dress infringement under Lanham Act §43 is satisfied, because the trade dress of the two products are confusingly similar (I was actually confused); the features of the trade dress - the studs, fishnet, and pattern - are primarily nonfunctional (because exclusive use of the features would not put competitors at a significant non-reputation related disadvantage, considering that the studs and fishnet pattern is not essential to the use or purpose of the shoe, and that the studs and fishnet pattern does not affect the cost or quality of the shoe); and the product configuration of the Karina booties have acquired distinctiveness through secondary meaning (because fashionistas including myself have come to associate the shape of the Karina design with the Jimmy Choo brand as the source of the product).  The use of this particular product configuration by Forever 21 confuses and misleads consumers familiar with high-end designer shoes such as Jimmy Choo, and it creates a substantial likelihood of confusion.  Below I have posted images comparing the $1095 Jimmy Choo black studded fishnet Karina booties and the $32.80 Forever 21 Glitterati pump.

Best wishes, if you choose to file a lawsuit against "forever-sued" Forever 21.

Sincerely,

Laura Ng
Editor-in-chief, Sartorial Editorial
2L (seeking summer law associate position), Georgia State University College of Law

  

Meet my new crush.

Alexander Wang, globally acclaimed fashion designer, savvy entrepreneur, 25 years old, winner of the prestigious 2008 CFDA/Vogue fashion fund.  Genius, gorgeous, and cool.  If I were a man, I would want to be him.

My boyfriend comments, "His hair looks like an Asian version of mine."

Me: "Do you think I pick men based on their hair?"

My boyfriend: "Don't you think?"