Kiehl's wants your vote

If you find yourself on a voting high after Tuesday, then consider casting another one — for hand cream.  From Nov. 10-15, Kiehl’s is taking a poll for the next product people want to see added to their Pear Tree Corner line.                

This is all part of a week-long celebration in honor of “Kiehl’s Day” which is officially Nov. 12.

And now that Kiehl’s stores are everywhere (4 here in the L.A. area), we can enjoy the celebration too.

In addition to voting, you can also reap some pear-scented beauty rewards including a Pear Tree Corner candle with purchase of $60 or more, Pear Tree Corner lip balm giveaway to first 25 customers on Nov. 12, and a free baby lip balm to children all week.

If the weather ever cools down, some moisturizer and lip balm will come in handy. But for now keep voting, and get some freebies starting Nov. 10 through Nov. 15 at Kiehl’s stores at Americana at Brand, Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, Robertson Boulevard and the Grove.

-- Melissa Magsaysay

Breast intentions: Hurley's art chest auction ends today

What's more stylish than a pink ribbon but shows you support the fight against breast cancer? How about a bustier that actress Sarah Chalke has hand-decorated with starfish and coral, or actor Ron Rifkin has scrawled his autograph on? To benefit Boarding for Breast Cancer, an organization dedicated to increasing awareness about breast cancer, surf apparel brand Hurley has been hosting an online auction of celebrity-adorned bustiers and T-shirts that ends today.
Some are simply signed pieces, while others are full-blown art installations that include gun holsters, wrapped leather belts, tattoo-art designs, and vintage lace.
Most of the pieces at the site are marked SOLD, but as of this posting, there are a couple cool-looking ones still in play -- including Chalke's starfish number (starting bid $125) and a red, white and blue T-shirt tricked out by U.S. Women's Soccer star Brandi Chastain (complete with signature and soccer-ball design) at a starting bid of $75, that would be the perfectly patriotic thing to wear into the voting booth Tuesday.
-- Adam Tschorn

Photo: This bustier was decorated by actress Sarah Chalke and is among the celebrity-decorated bustiers and T-shirts still up for bid in an online auction to benefit Boarding for Breast Cancer that ends today. Photo credit: Adam Tschorn.

Sarah Palin doesn't hunt...for bargains

Say what you will about how style has taken center stage for females involved in this election. It's sexist. Yes, indeed. No one gives a fig about Obama's wingtips or McCain's thick ties. Nor do they get appraised for their coifs, lip gloss or toe cleavage. Men: there is such a thing as toe cleavage, trust me.

But the women are a different matter. The recent revelation that Sarah Palin or the RNC or "Mr. Nobody" spent $150,000 of campaign money on clothes says it all. Not just that it was a silly mistake to let the Alaska governor splurge at Saks or Neiman Marcus. But more that it implied that the GOP didn't really like her folksy look. But if Palin had spent just $5,000 at J. Crew, she could have landed about 40 to 50 sweaters, skirts, and blouses -- all smart, tailored and respectable.

The other night, Michelle Obama wore an outfit that cost less than $350 from J. Crew on the Jay Leno show. The all-American, preppy retailer is already capitalizing on the press and directing customers to the $148 skirt she wore if you type "Obama" into its search engine. The cashmere sweater -- above -- happens to be on sale for $89.99. Her choice in J. Crew -- a U.S. designer that many people can afford and even more importantly, pronounce -- was beyond savvy in light of Palin's splurge-gate. (Of course, Obama has worn more expensive designers such as Thakoon too.) This isn't the first time that clothes have become an issue for female politicos. First ladies such as Nancy Reagan and Jackie Kennedy were criticized for wearing expensive designer gowns and get-ups from European designers. It didn't sit well with the public that they accepted them as gifts either.

In these times, thankfully, style has become as democratic as our country. Target and the Gap partner with designers to offer affordable capsule collections. J. Crew is perpetually discounting its clothes. Spending $150,000 on a wardrobe seems overboard. Especially for a woman who says she loves to hunt.  No self-respecting woman who loves to stalk sale items would ever pay retail. Palin needs to lay off the moose and learn how to hunt a bargain. She can even strap her bags to the roof of the car.

-- Monica Corcoran

Photo: J.Crew

From writing letters to Web-only

There was an article in the New York Times Magazine this weekend about a guy who created a Facebook event, inviting all 700 of his “friends.”  Only one person showed.

It’s sad because it’s true. Facebook has made us too apathetic to remember what being real friends is like.

We’ve gone from meeting in person to talking on cellphones to e-mailing to texting to BBM-ing to Friendster-ing to Facebook-ing. Next thing you know, we’ll just be touching our nose or swiping our chin to send each other signals like they do in baseball. And what about handwritten notes? Does anyone under 30 even remember what those are?

I am hoping for a resurgence of the handwritten note -- a return to the romance of beautiful stationery, personal flair and making an effort. 

It doesn’t have to be a Griffin and Sabine-style correspondence (though that would be lovely). But a nice tangible card or letter that says “Thanks” or “I’m sorry” or “I miss you” rather than a creepy “poke” via my Facebook page.

Also, there’s too much amazing stationery out there not to send a nice note once in a while.  Favorites are: Mrs. John L. Strong, Carrot and Stick Press, Found Image Press and the crème de la crème -- personalized note cards from Cartier.  Cost Plus has more affordable stationery, much of which is printed on recycled paper and feels as if you might have snapped it up while traveling abroad. How dreamy.

Ten years from now you probably won’t remember how many “friends” you racked up on a social networking site. But you can always hang on to a meaningful note or letter you received from a friend.

Someone should print that on a card.

-- Melissa Magsaysay

Images of my personal stationery: top, Mrs. John L. Strong; bottom, Cost Plus.

Versace cackles in the face of recession and launches $2,100 perfume

In Donatella Versace's mind, the word "crash" means diet.

The perpetually lithe and caramelized designer is set to debut a new fragrance priced at $2,100. WWD reports that Gianni Versace Couture will be sold in a white leather, stitched train case and that the bottle itself comes enrobed in tight white leather too.

Notes include bergamot, mandarin and heliotrope. (The most expensive perfume -- Imperial Majesty by Clive Christian -- sells for $215,000 and comes in a Baccarat decanter adorned with a five-carat diamond.)

Versace is making just 100 bottles to entice the "limited edition" set; the perfume will be available here in December.

How much do you pay for perfume?

-- Monica Corcoran

Photo: Getty Images

Sarah Palin shops resale in real life

Sarah Palin's $150,000 campaign wardrobe has been dominating the news the last two days, but off the campaign trail, it seems the folksy politico isn't a Neiman's shopper -- she regularly peruses the racks at designer resale store Out of the Closet in Anchorage (ironic, considering her stance on gay marriage).

Wearing discounted Valentino and Versace still doesn't put Palin in the financial realm of an "everyday American," but it's a step down from the spanking-new designer threads she's been sporting on the trail.

Retailer Christos Garkinos recently hosted the owners of the Alaskan store at Decadestwo, the designer resale store he co-owns with Cameron Silver in Los Angeles. "I was saying that Alaska's been in the news a lot, and they said that Palin shops at their store all the time," he said. The Out of the Closet owners ended up "buying a ton of stuff," but the L.A. retailer -- a staunch Sen. Barack Obama supporter who recently married his longtime partner -- said he was so skeeved out at the thought of Palin wearing clothes bought from his store, he donated 100% of the sales to the Obama campaign.

A salesperson at Out of the Closet in Anchorage (no connection to the charitable thrift store chain of the same name) confirmed that Palin is a regular customer, but declined to discuss her sartorial predilections. I'm guessing skirt suits.

-- Emili Vesilind

Photo: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Gap leaves the politics to you

In these final days of this presidential campaign, you may be be fighting the urge to shout your candidate's name from the rooftops. Or wear it on your chest.

Gap hears you. The mega-chain launched its “Vote for ____” T-shirts in stores nationwide today -- a plain white T-shirt that lets you scrawl your guy's name (or anything else you might want to vote for) on the blank line.

The shirt comes with red, white and blue felt stars you can use to further customize your soft sandwich board. And it's only $15. Wear it with all the vim and vigor of a caffeine-fueled Chris Matthews -- but remember to be nice. Because after Nov. 4, we're all in this together.

-- Emili Vesilind

Photo: Bethany Hines, an actor and West Hollywood resident, who was chosen out of 400 people to be featured in Gap's campaign for the tee. Courtesy of Gap.

Sarah Palin's $150,000 Wardrobe Malfunction?

Sarah Palin, small-town hockey mom and everywoman? More like Sarah Palin, pampered princess. Jeanne Cummings at Politico reports that the RNC’s monthly financial disclosure reports reveal that the Republican National Committee has spent tens of thousands of dollars on the vice presidential candidate's wardrobe and accessories since she was nominated, including $150,000 in September alone.

So it seems you can take the girl out of the beauty pageant, but you can’t take the beauty pageant out of the girl.

Palin's clothes came from retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York, and expenses included nearly $5,000 for hair and makeup. Maybe this is actually her one-woman economic stimulus plan. Lord knows the retail sector needs it.

Still, voters must find it unfathomable for Palin, who has been presented as a woman “like us,” to spend that kind of money on clothes in these difficult financial times, to see her speaking so passionately about Joe the Plumber while plumbing campaign coffers for Valentino jackets and pencil skirts. And yet, they’ve eaten it up, tittering on chat sites about Palin’s Kawasaki eyeglass frames and her Naughty Monkey red peep-toe pumps. (See our earlier take on Gov. Palin's style here.)

Palin’s spokewoman is saying this is much ado about nothing, that we should be talking about more important issues. But can you imagine the outcry if it were revealed that Hilary Clinton’s rainbow of pantsuits was paid for by campaign contributions? Or if college kids’ $50 checks to the Biden/Obama campaign were putting those men in $5,000 custom suits? (Obama’s suits are by Hart Schaffner Marx out of Chicago, and cost in the $1,500 range.)

In Palin’s defense, being a woman in the public eye has its own kind of pressures. And it’s unlikely she has been stepping off the campaign trail to join the ladies who lunch for shopping sprees at Neimans. Instead, she is probably working with a wardrobe stylist, who brings her things to try on and choose from. But the issue of clothing and hair expenses has always been a land mine for politicians (John Edwards' $400 haircuts), and someone should have been sensitive to that.

You also have to wonder how it feels, as a woman, to have everyone know that you really have been dressed up and trotted out like a beauty queen for the American public to wag their tongues at. Caribou Barbie indeed.

-- Booth Moore, Los Angeles Times Fashion Critic

Photo: Republican VP candidate, Gov. Sarah Palin at a campaign rally in Carson, California on October 4, 2008. Michael Robinson Chavez/Los Angeles Times.

EBay bans the sale of ivory...elephants everywhere do the cabbage-patch

Rack one up for the elephants. EBay, the biggest online flea market in the stratosphere, issued a statement today that it will ban the sale of ivory on its websites worldwide, beginning Jan. 1.

Prompted by animal welfare agencies including the Humane Society International, the company banned cross-border sales of ivory last year -- but as is often the case on EBay, rule-breakers abounded, pushing illegal ivory in underhanded ways.

Here's an excerpt from the EBay blog on why the company finally went for the full monty -- click here to read the entire post:

Global demand for ivory has long been a significant factor in the poaching of African and Asian elephants, driving these species towards extinction –- to such a degree that both types of elephants are now considered endangered or protected species. [We] concluded that we simply can’t ensure that ivory listed for sale on eBay is in compliance with the complex regulations that govern its sale.

Not that they had much choice. According to a newly published report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Ebay is responsible for 63% of the trade in endangered species -- with elephant ivory comprising 73% of all products tracked.

 

Under the ban, you can still buy and sell some antique pieces that contain a small amount of ivory, such as an antique piano with ivory keys. (The company defines "antique” for the sale of items that contain a small amount of ivory as pre-1900.) But merch with a significant amount of ivory, regardless of its age -- such as chess sets and ivory jewelry -- are strictly verboten under the new policy.

Ebay may have come late to the table on this issue, but at least it's finally taking a stand against poaching and illegal trading. Makes me wanna bid on pair of ill-fitting Levi's right now.

--Emili Vesilind

Photo: Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP/Getty Images

Sultan of sartorial sass passes: "Mr. Blackwell" is dead.

"Mr. Blackwell" -- the man who launched a thousand bitchy fashion critics -- died Sunday. I can't help but wonder what you wear to his funeral? After all, Blackwell, who also designed dresses during the '60s and '70s, was known for his serrated critiques and "worst dressed" lists. He started penning the roster in 1960, and everyone from Sophia Loren to Jackie Onassis to Glenn Close got named at some point.

He said Lindsay Lohan went "from adorable to deplorable." Madonna was deemed, "The Bare-Bottomed Bore of Babylon." For a fascinating look at his life and perhaps the failures that prompted him to deride the red carpet, check out this obit from the L.A. Times.  Did you know that Mr. Blackwell started off as a child actor? Or that he modeled for "True Detective" magazine and posed as a crazed rapist for one spread?

What strikes me most is the fact that he ruined the red carpet by dismissing originality. Everyone blames stylists for making actresses wear staid, safe bets to awards shows. And, of course, many of the stylists and stars are now contractually bound to certain designers and reap big bucks for their loyalty. But it's the countless, snarky and often unqualified fashion critics -- from Joan Rivers to Us Weekly's fashion police -- who make the red carpet a blood-soaked runway.

-- Monica Corcoran

Photo credit: Getty Images