Welcome to the Blog!

Hello, Hello!

So, we are *almost* all set up here at melissa-delacruz.com, we are hoping to go live with the site (which means all the links work and cool photos and stuff) by March 13th.

For now, I’ll be blogging here. Most of the blogs here will also be similar to the ones on MySpace. You can look me up there at myspace.com/melissadelacruz. I am also blogging on Amazon…I find it amusing that in the space of three months I went from no-blog to three-blogs but the content on this and Myspace will be the same, just the one on Amazon will be a little different…(not so much shopping news there.)

So, what have I bought lately??? Well, let me tell you!

MAJOR LUELLA FOR TARGET SPREE!

Have you seen the commercials? The cute cherry-print miniskirts? The hot polkadot strapless 80s dresses? I was soooo excited when I heard Brit designer Luella Bartley was doing a line for Target. Her stuff is so cool, and very very expensive – for instance, I bought one of her black button-down shirts last Christmas, and it was $800!! That is way too much, but I bought it because it fit SO well and every girl needs at least one perfect black shirt.

You can imagine my extreme joy at finding all the basic Luella items at the Target price… I was so high, shopping the aisles, it was like a sample sale holiday at Target. I haven’t felt that crazed since…well, since I fainted at the Marc Jacobs outlet in Woodbury Commons. (Sad fact: Marc Jacobs sells so briskly now that the company decided there was no need for an outlet. This is just wrong.) I felt my heart beating–pouding in my chest–and I had to remind myself to BREATHE.

Luella Bartley designs all those great “Giselle” totes (it’s pictured in my home page. I have it in pale green) and she cuts fabulous, skinny jeans…Anyway, on to the Target stuff…

I bought four shirts, each at $19.99, two button-down with the folded sleeves with the button that keeps the sleeve folded, in white and light blue, and two of the apple-printed cowboy shirts, in yellow and red. I also got the pencil skirts in cotton spandex, in khaki and green, I think they were $25 each. A motorcyle jacket made of real leather, for $159, two pairs of the “Star” jeans in the light and dark wash, $40 each, and two bags–the yellow mesh bag with the leather handle and the “graffiti” school bag. All told, everything cost under $500—an absolute steal when you consider the biker jacket is an exact replica of the one she sells at stores for about a thousand dollars or so.

But it’s been a few days now, and I have gone down from my fashion high, and I am looking at my Luella stuff again, and here’s what I think are good bargains and what I should have kept on the shelf…

The shirts are great- they are very well-cut and the fit is VERY flattering -you automatically look skinny in them, BUT BUT BUT – the fabric is SO cheap, and it is VERY itchy. There’s a reason this stuff is low priced, the fabric really does not hold up well. I probably should have only bought one of these shirts, but I can’t help it, I like to shop in volume…

The skirts are THE BOMB. The cut is very sexy, and I really like wearing the skirt with a t-shirt and ballet flats, so chic. Also, while the fabric is also cheap, at least it does not itch. Major points.

I’m still mixed on the biker jacket – at $150, it is cheap for Luella, but then again, I have to be honest, am I ever going to wear it? I fear my biker jacket days are over. For now, it hangs in the closet, but it might be going back. I do sometimes shop just for “the collection” – I have a snakeskin/chiffon Fendi ballgown skirt that I bought at the sample sale for $200 and have NEVER worn…. but it is so fantastic and I can’t part with it. I also have a Helmut Lang black ball gown with spaghetti straps that I have never worn either (bought at Century 21 for $100)… one day I will have a museum of my bargains… I fear the biker jacket is going to join these items, but for now, I can’t part with it.

The bags are really cute, and if I were 14, I would LOVE the graffiti bag to use for school… and actually the Luella collection IS for teens, but then, I am a teen at heart, so I think I count.. it was only $30 so it’s staying put. As well as the yellow bag, which I think will be great for summer…

The jeans are great–they fit really well, are cut very skinny… my only problem is that I am between sizes, so that the size 7s are too tight and the size 9s are too big… I can’t decide what to do… My advice on jeans is the tighter the better… as long as they are not obscene, jeans should be TIGHT… I think I will stick with the 7s and just suck it in… oh the days when I fit into a 3!! When will those days come back? It is really horrifying when you turn 30 and realize you cannot eat a hamburger, a shake, chili fries and onion rings and not gain weight anymore. I used to have a doughnut for breakfast everyday and never gained an ounce, but sadly, that is no longer the case… the metabolism slows down and everything goes out the window… But anyway, back to the Luella…

What did I see and not buy? The cherry-print miniskirts are so HOT, but at my age, I really should not wear it… over 30, there is no need to see me in a mini. I think I still have the legs for a mini, but to actually wear one with cherries on it? I think that time has passed me by.

I also LOVE the Luella black and white striped button-down with the matching tie… but again, fear I am too old to pull that off..but those of you who can, should buy them…

The Isaac Mizrahi stuff at Target is really not good anymore… where is that white and black dress with the cutout back that is in all the commercials??? Certainly not in the racks in West Hollywood… I look forward to more indie designers doing lines for Target. It still breaks my heart that I wasn’t in NY for the H&M Stella McCartney and Karl Lagerfeld collections…

Anyway, I should go back to my book-writing. I just saw “Angels on Sunset Boulevard” listed on Amazon and that is a big kick in the ass. I can’t believe I have a book that people can buy that I am still writing!

xoxo
Mel