A month-long sale on elaineperlov.com will be starting November 1! Take 20% off all SKIRTS and T-SHIRTS with promo code SKIRT20T. But I'll give you a hint: it really starts October 31 (because I wanted to test the code). So be the first to order before some styles sell out! Pre-shop your faves here ~ http://www.elaineperlov.com/

Everything is all fixed!!!!!!! Shop elaineperlov.com to your heart's content. Or should I say, to your shopping cart's content. I can never resist the pun. You should know that by now. Or should I say, buy now. Okay, I'll stop now. CLICK TO SHOP.

Sorry folks, just to let you know, the shopping cart is sort of down at the moment. I will fix it soon, and let you know. Stay tuned shoppers...

No I don't think so. I don't think I have to duct tape my rubber boots back together, do I? Well I did. After I discovered a rip in the back seam of my right boot on the way to work yesterday morning. Oh what a mess it was out there! I wondered why we didn't all just stay home under the covers. Especially the bus driver. That couldn't have been a fun job for her. Or for the guy who delivered my lunch. I felt bad for him too.

Before I got to work, I stopped at the hardware store in the Garment District and bought some black duct tape. I did both boots, so you won't necessarily think that I duct-taped my boots. I know it's not going to hold for long, but at least it would give me confidence until my new boots arrive. I ordered these Tretorns on Endless. My co-worker was wearing them in black yesterday. I was desperate. And hopeful. I hope they fit.

Tretorn Women's Skerry Vintery Shiny Rubber Boot, $49.99 on Endless
They're fleece-lined! Oh happy day. [images via Endless.com]

Sweater by Maria Luisa Paris, $74 (reg. $145) on thecorner.com

As I mentioned recently, thecorner.com is another great shopping site to find European fashion. Also all mysteriously on sale. This site is part of the YOOX Group, so once you come to love one site, you'll come to love the other. I found this great sweater by Maria Luisa whom I haven't thought about in years. Let's just say, in Paris, she's a very important person in fashion, yet virtually unknown in the U.S. She's selling her many lines online exclusively on thecorner.com. So if you can't get to Paris...

Costume National kimono-style dress, $236 (reg. $590) on yoox.com

The details on YOOX are great! Ultra-close-ups give you the true detail on the fabrics.

I just love the designer selection on YOOX.com. Love love love it! Where else can you really find Costume National and Martin Margiela? And a lot of it. And on sale. This kimono-style dress is so amazing. Both the cut and the fabric are so striking.

Boots by Maison Martin Margiela 22, $375 (reg. $580) on YOOX.com

While I am on the topic of shoe-lust, I must show you these by Martin Margiela. These boots are incredible. Don't they look like balsa wood? And yes, of course, they are available on YOOX, my new favorite fashion Website. These are the designers that speak to me.

Costume National platform pumps, $160 on sale on yoox.com

I wish these Costume National shoes would sell out in my size already, so I wouldn't have to be tempted daily. Have you ever checked out YOOX? It is a pretty fab site that carries all of the more artful European designers such as Costume National, Martin Margiela, Hussein Chalayan, and the like. Check it out! While you're at it, check out thecorner.com, also owned by YOOX. Did I mention all these great European fashions are discounted?

TSUBO Women's Cavell Wedge
Comfortable like a sneaker. Hugs your foot. Good heel height.
Excellent texture on the heel.


Bandolino Women's Outloud Wedge Sandal
It was the "metallic" black that sold me.
And of course the silver inside, that matches my toenail polish.
The heel turns out to be a rich suede. Very dressy.
Love the cross-strap.

I don't want this to read like a cheesy testimonial, but I can't say enough good things about Endless.com, a shoe Website owned by Amazon. Endless beats Zappos. Simple as that. Endless does better on price, on variety, on in-stock sizes, and on shipping. Zappos, whose claim to fame is great service and free shipping, will likely have to step up their game. Endless offers free 1-day and 2-day shipping! I ordered two pairs of shoes and they were each delivered 1 day early. How can you beat that? I love both pairs so much. They are comfortable! They are stylish! And they were both a great price. I am hooked.

The above is my opinion as a customer. As a merchant, I have different thoughts. Like how will other Websites compete with the Endless business model? Time will tell.

Follow me on Twitter

In honor of my 500th TWEET (how auspicious), I am offering 30% off all Tees on elaineperlov.com for 2 weeks. Please enter TW500T at checkout! Offer valid 10/30/09 through 11/13/09. Happy shopping everyone! If you Twitter, please reTWEET my code and spread the shopping love.

1. Save $13.80 on LABYRINTH T with code
2. Save $9 on I LOVE FASHION TANK with code
3. Save $10.80 on BAMBOO T with code

click to shop!

Time for another Twitter Shopping Deal. Enter TWITTER25 at checkout to receive 25% off all Skirts, Jewelry and Tees on elaineperlov.com. Now through Monday August 17. Happy Summer everyone!

I must say, the Chelsea Buckle Tote on Delight.com is pretty great. And a nice price too. Under $80. Apparently, the bag blew out after hot blogger, Dooce, wrote about how happy she was with her purchase. Luckily for the rest of us, Delight brought the bag back. The Chelsea Buckle Tote is vegan-friendly, and available in black, grey, and burgundy. Alas, the "Hermes Orange" is sold out.

[pageprint from coach.com]

I like this new page layout on coach.com. But I liked it on barneys.com too. I'm pretty sure barneys.com had this layout first, and for the last number of years, but who's counting... The large highlighted item and four smaller items all floating on a white page works well. It is a pleasing way to take in information.

[pageprint from barneys.com]

I can imagine these earrings with a number of great sweaters in my closet.

If you are in the mood to shop a great online sale, delight.com has some visually pleasing jewelry that you (and I) may want to acquire. Let's think about it, shall we? I have my eye on the above Crimson Enamel Earrings by Kiln Studio. $33.95 is not a bad price, now is it.

[pageprints from jcrew.com]

Something new is afoot at J.Crew. Perhaps it is the jewel-encrusted $295 shoes. Or the jewel-encrusted $495 jewels. Visitors to the J.Crew Website in March noticed a strong focus on accessories, with plenty of colorful clickables. "Covet & Collect" was the message to go along with the new checkerboard index page pictured above, steering shoppers to the company's "New Shoes & Accessories Collection" with expanded offerings in shoes, bags, belts, costume jewelry, and latest category, fine jewelry. The new product offerings were launched in concert with J.Crew's first printed catalogue devoted entirely to accessories.

You might not expect to see a 10K gold boule ring with pearl for $495, or a 27" strand of pearls for $200 on jcrew.com. And the price points may give you pause. But according to a WWD interview with J.Crew creative director, Jenna Lyons Mazeau, J.Crew has experienced "no resistance to its prices." In fact, the success of their costume jewelry business "encouraged the company to launch fine jewelry." As of this posting, the $495 ring was already sold out.

J.Crew will open its first Collection store at 1035 Madison Avenue in June, where the fine jewelry collection will have its first in-store feature.

[pageprint from wonderbloc.com]

Wonderbloc, your online personal tour guide to boutique shopping in New York City, is getting a lot of well-deserved buzz of late. Brainchild of investment banker and shopping enthusiast, Scott Lee, Wonderbloc is an attractive, easy-to-navigate Website that showcases 16 neighborhoods and 325 stores. Shoppers can use the site for free to study the many boutiques, survey the neighborhoods, and plan their shopping sprees. Boutiques benefit from the "strength in numbers" concept of Web marketing: an online community equals more links in, more original page views, and more potential conversions. There are also opportunities for boutiques to collaborate on neighborhood trunk shows and fashion shows to drive customers to their actual stores.

According to WWD, Lee recently added an e-commerce option for boutiques, which will bring in some revenue for the site. The rest of Wonderbloc's list of shared-resource services are amazingly free. There is an editorial section that highlights boutiques, products and "Fashionistas" analyzing "native looks" by brand, as well as individual customizable store listings that include three photos and a link to their site. So far, about 90 stores have claimed their listings. Lee also offers customer relations management and e-mail marketing services. He certainly is doing wonders for the small business community.

[pageprint from popgloss.com]

[pageprint from cribcandy.com]

Since I discovered my link on their main page, I have been a big fan of Popgloss, not only for their great taste in blogs ;-), but for the visual appeal of the page. And more importantly for their consistent support of indie fashion designers. Yay Popgloss. Little did I know, when I stumbled upon their home decor counterpart, Cribcandy, that Cribcandy preceded Popgloss, (followed by Yokiddo which features cool baby and kid's merch), and that all three sites are backed by the Gawker online empire.

After further investigation, I learned that the 'Wists Social Shopping' blogs were created by David Galbraith who has quite an impressive background in both design and technology, as an architect and industrial designer, founding successful online startups, and co-authoring the RSS standard. In addition to promoting great design, Galbraith founded Wists to "make publishing or sharing lists of recommendations and wishlists easier and more appealing than maintaining a weblog and not tied to one particular store."

I think they have done a great job.

Here are 7 ways to use Wists which you may find helpful:

1. Search the Web visually and bookmark search results.
2. Create wishlists, birthday lists or wedding lists with pictures of products from any store on the web.
3. Create thumbnail image galleries of your favorite things: books, movies cd’s, songs or photos.
4. Website owners, use wists to embed an updateable gallery of products or items that you recommend, within your website, matching its look and feel.
5. Create a personalized inbox where you can track items by user or keyword tags and add to your wists
6. Bloggers. Make adding images and tags to your weblog posts as easy as bookmarking a webpage.
7. Create communities around tags - have your friends on Wists use a particular tag, so that you can all track cool products and Websites.
   

Have you heard of polyvore.com? With this online tool, you can create visual shareable wishlists and fabulous fashion spreads a la Lucky magazine. Apparently, you have to create an account to participate, and any items you import and 'sets' you create are made available to the public. I am not quite sure who profits from this, but it is certainly a brilliant tool to capture people's information and monitor their purchasing desires. It's market research meets Web 2.0. I must investigate this further.

Polyvore has a legal page a mile long. I am almost afraid to post a post from Polyvore here. But it says, "You may display images of sets from the Website on other websites for non-commercial use, provided that you do so with the embed code provided by Polyvore." I think I have complied with the regulations.

One disturbingly popular object: the Starbucks Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino. What? Look at how many outfit 'sets' the Frappucino accessorizes. This outfit is accessorized with a Frappuccino and a phone.

Oy. But interesting, nonetheless.

Twelve by Twelve Index Page

Twelve by Twelve Outerwear Page

Twelve by Twelve Gift Card Page

I found something interesting clicking around the Forever 21 Website. A link to one of the teen-centric retailer's latest endeavors, Twelve by Twelve. (The other endeavor is called Heritage 1981, girls and guys casual wear.) Yes, Forever 21 has launched a "New Women's Couture Line" which includes tops, sweaters, outerwear, bottoms and dresses that are arranged in 'collections' a la couture, with names such as Mystical Forest, Modern Art, The Royals (I like her bird cage hat), and more.*

By couture, I imagine they don't mean $10,000-$50,000 made-to-measure creations which one must fly to an exclusive fashion house the Left Bank for multiple fittings. But the Twelve by Twelve Website certainly creates a pleasing fantasy of fashionable exclusivity with many nice looking pages, especially when compared to the all business look of Forever21.com.

And the offerings are certainly pricier at Twelve by Twelve, where 'couture' tops range from $18-44, dresses $24-79, and outerwear $26-89. The same categories at Forever 21 are typically $7.80-24.80, $10.50-44.80, and $16.50-44.80, respectively.

A Twelve by Twelve dress at $79 can sure seem like couture when compared to a Forever 21 dress at $10.50; but I would guess that they use the same factories to sew both garments. Alas.



*Twelve by Twelve officially launched in June 2007. See this WWD article for more.