More Last Minute Designer Clothing, Shoes, Handbags Holiday Gift Ideas

Have you finished your holiday gift shopping? Well with Christmas now fast approaching there's not much time left to buy that special gift for your loved ones so here are some great fashion shopping ideas to think about.

The 50% OFF everything, excluding fragrances and markdowns sale at Aeropostale continues but now, for 2 days only, it is offering an additional 10% OFF on its last minute holiday deals.

 

This offer ends at 11:59PM EST on December 16, 2007. Visit Aeropostale now and simply enter promo code GIFT10 at checkout.

Label360 has added new Holiday markdowns with savings of up to 75% on some great brands. Amongst the many great sale items, I found these gorgeous C Label, Roxie Cognac leather peep toes heel with leather throughout discounted down to $30. Now that's a bargain given that these shoes retail for $220!!!  

The C Label Tango peep toes platform wedges discounted from a retail price of $235 down to $30 are also worth a look.

With bargains like these check out the items on sale as there are some great gifts there.

While we're on shoes, here's some good news. Onlineshoes.com have extended their Buy One, Get One 25% off offer so it will now last through Monday December 17th. Again there's some great gift ideas here including slippers and the Timbuk2 bag. All orders placed by December 19th will arrive by Christmas with free shipping!

In stores and online only this weekend at Victoria's Secret you can purchase gorgeous signature cotton sleep shirts in the color and size of your choice and discounted down from a regular price of $22.50 down to $10 with any purchase. Simply enter offer code SLEEPTEE at checkout. This offer is valid through December 16, 2007, while supplies last. Clearance merchandise does not qualify toward the minimum purchase.

Now this is really cute! With any $35 Bourjois purchase at Ulta.com you will receive a FREE exclusive Glam d'Or Golden Bag and Mini Nail Polish as shown in the picture on the right. You must order by Noon CST December 17, 2007 to ensure holiday delivery.

Visit Bloomingdale's online now through December 19 and use code DEC25 at checkout to take 25% OFF the regular prices of a great selection of women's sweaters, shoes, handbags and jewelry, including Sale & Values.

Use code HOLIDAY20 through December 25, 2007 at Pink Mascara and get 20% OFF all regularly priced items. And there's a big line up of top designer labels to choose from here including 3.1 Phillip Lim, Mike & Chris and Alice + Olivia.

Everybody knows that bling is in so you'll definitely twinkle in the spotlight in the super chic Alice + Olivia Beaded Racer Dress shown in the picture on the left in Magenta. You'll definitely have heads turning in this hot pink designer dress. It's also available in black.

Use code 12for25 at LuvCharlie to take 25% off a big range of great teen clothing form a wide range of fashion designers. I love this super sexy, 100% silk blouse in magenta by Yumi Kim. Priced at $140 but grab this now at $105 with the holiday season 25% discount.

Fall/Winter 2007 is now at up to 50% OFF at Luisa Via Roma and there's a top line-up of designer clothing and designer jeans to choose from including Chloe, Dolce & Gabbana, Juicy Couture and Marc by March Jacobs.

Here's another great deal on designer clothing!

Now through 11:59pm MST on Monday, December 17 celebrate and take 25% OFF regular prices at StandardStyle.com. Just use code Holiday25 at checkout.

This offer excludes Rock & Republic, Seven for All Mankind and sale items. Again there's a top line up of designer clothing labels to choose from here.

And finally, I want to mention that there's still time to shop and save as much as 40% OFF on fashion's most coveted names in ready-to-wear, shoes, handbags and more at the Bergdorf Goodman's bgsale that I mentioned earlier in December.

Happy holiday shopping :)

Online Fashion Boutiques, Take Note!

If you're a frequent reader then you will know that I love to shop - designer clothes, designer shoes and designer handbags. However, there's something about fashion retailing, especially online fashion boutiques, that really sucks and often turns me off my passion. Simply stated, this relates to the way that many online fashion boutiques display their merchandise.

I don't know if you're like me but often I find designer clothes that are simply displayed and photographed against some backdrop or being modelled by Casper, just suspended in mid air. The halter top shown above is an example. I'm sure you've see lots of this yourself but if not then take a quick look at the teen clothing shown on online fashion boutiques like Aeropostale and Delia's, and the sassy and chic clothing shown at The Warehouse and Miss Selfridge. Now don't get me wrong as I happen to love all of these online boutiques. They are merely examples of the point that I'm trying to make here. I just find that displaying fashion like this does not do justice to the items and often I will simply move on.

Take for example the halterneck top by Bilingual shown above. I wrote about this piece in my post Up To 50% Off La Star Style Celebrity Fashion back on August 18, 2007. As I wrote then, when I first saw this halterneck even at the 50% discounted sale price of £39.99 I asked myself "yeah sure, who'd pay that much for this?" Intrigued, I had a closer look and if you click on the image you'll see how this halterneck top looks being worn by Hollywood A-lister, Halle Berry. How quickly I changed my mind when I saw it modelled in this way. It's nothing short of super sexy and I too wanted one of these exclusive and very limited tops.

Now what I've labelled as 'Casper displays' is not the only thing that sucks as I also often come across pictures of designer clothes on mannequins, life-size dummies sometimes with an egg head with no defined features or anatomical details but also often headless, or armless, or just a torso, and I say, "Yuck. No Thanks". Yet I can see the exact same designer clothes pictured being worn by live models and say "Wow. Yes Thanks" and either go ahead and purchase or at the very least dream about owning them!

Now this isn't always the case as there are some exceptions, however I have to say that this is mostly true for me. Here is a couple of current examples of this taken from another one of my favorite online boutiques, ADASA. The first, the designer dress shown in the picture on the above left, is the Mason by Michelle Mason Dress with Waist Ties in Grey currently priced at $297 at ADASA and the second, shown in the picture on the right below is the Mason by Michelle Mason 3/4 Sleeve Boatneck Dress in Purple, available at ADASA for $407.

Each of these two modelled designer dresses by Los Angeles fashion designer Michelle Mason I could easily order online. I think they're gorgeous, sophisticated and sexy, and look absolutely stunning, just too cute to mouse click past. So here's a simple experiment. As you look at each outfit click on the picture and see how these gorgeous designer clothes look in the alternative displayed on a mannequin. Much like the Bilingual halterneck top shown above, these two Mason by Michelle Mason designer dresses displayed in confident stylish poses on headless mannequins, I can assure I would not look twice at.

Even though mannequins can be very realistic, capable of a myriad of natural human poses and based on human measurements and proportions to die for, as well as being flesh-colored and with that perfect smile, looking so very youthful, I can't explain how as a frequent fashion shopper why I feel this way. I'm not at all sure if my reaction is because of the wooden or plastic doll look or if somehow my brain recognizes that these dummies are not the real thing, that they're just a non-personalized representation of the human form, youthful and with that perfect body but somewhat idealized and stylized, to model the designer clothes. Perhaps it's in the mannequins' body language or that I simply see that they are Barbie dolls, too perfect and not having the body shape of today's average woman makes me feel bad about myself! It might even be that I just get a different perception of beauty and the human body when designer clothes are displayed on mannequins. I really don't know but the result is that I don't buy!

And I have to say that the same applies to mannequins modelling designer jeans and to a lessor extent designer shoes and accessories like designer jewelry and designer sunglasses! And this isn't restricted to online merchandising either as I often have the very same reaction when it comes to mannequins in storefronts or magazine advertisements. Somehow they are a turn-off! Crazy I know but if there are many like me then I think that the display of designer clothes in this way is far less effective than retailers may realize!