shoppereview: ModCloth

Yay, it worked! Well, at least the ad placement part.

Some of you may have already heard of ModCloth. It's an online boutique of cute, trendy clothes with vintage vibes spanning the decades back to the early 20th Century--including the neon sadness of '80s, when we all looked tacky. So whether you're looking for a Mad Men-inspired kicky frock, or Flapper-style shoes, if you're into classic looks, ModCloth has it all. So far, I've made 3 orders, consisting of a total of 14 items, including 2 gifts, for just over $550.

The Good: Their clothes are actually sized well (& they note if an item's sizing runs small or large) for a woman with normal proportions. As a petite, curvy lady living in an Amazonian stick figure-obssessed world, this is often a challenge. Everything is well priced & well made. At first, I'd thought, given the relatively low prices, that maybe they'd be cheap, or feature some tacky 3rd-world stitching, but everything ordered so far has pleased my critical eye.

The Bad: ModCloth doesn't seem to keep a lot of inventory in stock, so things sell out quickly & often. However, if you like an item, you can request an email when it's back in stock in your size. And if start an account, you can create wishlists, which you could potentially share with any gift-selecting-impaired people in your life.

The Ugly: One purchase, the Cable Car Tour Dress, was absolutely adorable while still upholding an occasional overwhelming need for comfort. But when I got home from a long day at the office--& dinner--my skin had a bluish-black tint to it, particularly in high-traffic areas, like the shoulders & arms. Apparently, it had bled color onto my skin all day. Hopefully after a washing or two, this will never happen again.

I have to make my first return this weekend, as I purchased the wrong size of a sweater. If it's a painful experience, look forward to hearing about it next week.

yay modcloth!

As I was getting ready to post a super-happypants review of ModCloth, I noticed that an ad for them had already appeared next to my last post (even if the dress in the ad is a hideous rag you'd find on a sweaty horse's back in Santa Fe, nowhere near my damn closet). How exciting, given the fact that I was minding my own business, plotting the post & thinking how could it would be if a ModCloth ad would magically appear along with the post...okay, I was also daydreaming that upon seeing that they'd been so mightily reviewed by yours truly, they'd wanna give me loads of clothes, shoes & accessories. Let's see what happens.

you're fuggly

If there's one thing I hate about winter, it's lazy-ass ladies in those horrendous leather & wool footbags we know as Uggs. Sure, they may not be Pajama Jeans, but they're damn close. [And since I refuse to dignify those nasty things with an image, here's a happy, happy unicorn to look at while you nod along!]

If you can't--or refuse to--walk in heels, then must you really walk around in ugly dog carcasses that roll under unflatteringly? They look like grandma slippers on a bad day (with my dead grandmother left in them). They're dirty clothes hampers--ON YOUR FEET!

And I don't care who you are, or how rockin' your figure is, these monstrosities make you look fat & short. And lazy & stupid. Can you really afford a fashion statement that says all that about you?

On the upside, at least they're not mandals....

year-end purge

Yesterday being the last possible day to make donations to get the tax deduction for 2010, I completed a purge on my closet. I usually do it every other year, though really, I could do it even more often. This past year, being my rookie derby year, my body changed a lot. Not only am I stronger, faster & fitter than I have been in years, but all that power came with some additional inches most everywhere. Basically, the only size that hasn't drastically changed is my shoe size. So when it came time to clean out my closet, I realized that I had to tackle my shoe collection as well.

Now, when I say shoe collection, I mean it. It's extremely well-though out, curated & maintained. Mr. Fleshwound, during our wedding last year, vowed "to support our aggressive and diverse shoe investment portfolio." Did I mention I was holding shoes as my bouquet? Yeah. I'm aware of my addiction. I don't care. I really do see them as investments. If my feet aren't happy, the rest of me follows & nobody wants to see that.

I don't buy cheap shoes. I stopped looking in the windows of Payless about 5 years ago. I don't know what took me so long. Cheap shoes have always hurt my feet. So now my base level is a Steve Madden, Aerosoles or Aldo. I won't buy anything less well-made than those. But the more I explore high-end designers, the more I likey.

Needless to say, when Mr. Fleshwound & I rolled up at Goodwill last night with 5 heavy bags of clothes & shoes to donate, there were several pairs of shoes that no longer lived up to my standards. In all, I parted with 12 pairs. The high & lowlights:

• Dr. Martens black & white oxfords that were always about a size too big, but the smaller size don't fit me either
• Aerosoles wine & black peep-toe pumps (the loved to death stretched ones)
• Steve Madden cow print horse hair mid-calf boots (a gift from a former teacher)
• Mossimo black pleather croc-print knee-high boots (a bad idea byproduct of online shopping)
• Clarks dark brown sandals (ditto--blech, that product photographer worked magic, 'cause they were hideous in real life)
• Dolcis bone pointy-toe heels with ankle straps (I loved that store, but my husband said these were "way too 80s")
• Steve Madden 2-tone blue denim platform slides (what the what was I thinking that day?)
• some Italian tan high-heeled slides with a separate toe ring (the 1st time I tried to wear them, I permanently scarred my big toe pits)

Now that all those slackers are gone--along with every piece of clothing that no longer fit my body or style--there are several vacancies in my closet.

What designer will be my 1st choice of 2011? Suggestions are welcome.

happy new blog!

Well now. New year, new blog. Mr. Fleshwound talked me into it at dinner last night. Indeed he was onto something when he suggested I write about 2 of my passions: shoes & nutrition. Not that they're my only passions, but those 2 feed the others: roller derby, fashion & health...& TV, I won't lie.

So what kinda fun will you find here? Well, I guess we'll all have to find out.