Posts with tag fabric

If you're looking to lose 10 pounds instantly, the easiest (and safest) way to do so is with your clothes. Regardless of what your problem area is, the right clothes can help you to look thinner, curvier, or more proportional -- whatever it is you need.

We have several tips, courtesy of Ladies Home Journal, that will help you look thinner instantly, so if you've got a big day coming up (special date, big presentation, first day back at school), use these tips to get a quick boost of confidence. You'll look fabulous, we promise!

What is a wallet? Just some piece of fabric and Velcro overfilled with receipts and prophylactics? Sure, if it's 1987 and/or you're in high school.

The thing is, that wad of cash and debt in your pocket can be more, so much more. It can be useful and fashionable, no offense, Velcro.

Where, you may ask, would one acquire such a fine specimen of wallet? We thought you'd never ask. Take a gander at Makr.

Rubie Green believes that natural doesn't mean boring, and that your home's interior is what makes it yours. And so, they've created a line of upholstery fabrics that are made of 100% certified organic cotton, which they whiten without using bleach and print in the United States.

Princess Diana dresses are like the holy grail of Lady Di memorabilia.

It's no surprise that David and Elizabeth Emanuel, the design duo who created Princess Diana's wedding dress and her iconic black dress are trying to cash in on their Di connection. The Emanuels created a limited-edition gift package to commemorate the 10th anniversary of her death.

The £1000 gift package contains a copy of the Emanuels' 250-page book of Diana dress sketches as well as a certified piece of material taken from the original bolt of silk used in Princess Diana's dress patterns.

At the risk of incurring Diana-fan wrath, I have to admit that the whole idea of selling fabric scraps strikes me as quite odd. Take away the Diana mythology, and the Emanuel gift package starts to sound a lot like religious relics from the Middle Ages. Granted, a piece of Diana fabric isn't as macabre as the femur of John the Baptist, but it's arguably just as weird.

Timbuk2 is known for its well-crafted messenger bags and backpacks that can stand the test of time. The company, however, isn't exactly known for its fantastic aesthetic sensibility.

But Timbuk2's latest line of limited edition textile bags put a new twist on their somewhat bad taste. Dubbed "Good bag, bad couch", these bags take the tragic fabric of cast off furniture and turn it into the tragically hip carry-alls.

My favorite fabric is the Blumen upholstery, a spring floral that blends icky mustard with Barney the dinosaur purple. Sounds like a disaster, I know, but much like the way an acid neutralizes a base in chemistry, the mustard and purple end up looking fantastic together. If you're not a messenger bag person (I'm not), there's also a Blumen tote bag up for grabs.

I'm a bit of a disaster magnet. If there's a mess to be had I'm usually wearing it down my front, stepping in it or accidentally setting my purse down in it. Hence my interest in stain-resistant fabrics. Last year, I discovered the adorable Hound in the Round tote by William Wegman which is made of the super-tough Crypton fabric. This year, Crypton has partnered with designer Michael Graves (you might have seen his kitchenwares at Target). The designs include this weekender bag with a toile look. It's stain and spill resistant so if you accidentally up end your shampoo in it, the bag will survive. It sells for $200.

Every time I see a woman carrying a quilted Vera Bradley handbag, I start to wonder if she is wearing it as a joke. Hipsters wear those Bjorn Borg tennis shorts or those tacky trucker hat as jokes, as if an item of clothing could say, "Hey, I'm so cool that I can totally pull off dressing like a dork."

But I tend to doubt that's the motivation. By and large, the people I see carrying Vera Bradley bags aren't hipsters. So how and when did this trend get started?

Here's what I think happened:

Some Alpha Consumer – think: pretty blonde in a very exclusive sorority – decided to play a trick on all of her lemming friends. So she combed the internet looking to popularize something worn exclusively by grannies in retirement communities. In doing so, she came across a bag so ugly, so unspeakable heinous, that she knew that her sorority girls would assume she had lost her ever-loving-mind.

But the plan didn't work. Within a month, all of the Alpha Consumer's big sisters and little sisters were carrying adult diaper bags, in various shapes and sizes. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to laugh about it or worry about it, but by that point it was too late. The trend was set.

Hmmmm ... I guess my story ran a little wayward. But it couldn't possibly be more wayward than deciding to carry around a Vera Bradley bag.