1. Sale clearance season is on, so sharing one of my favorite picks – this great Rosie Assoulin dress, now 70% off!
70% off is where I feel like a clearance should begin. You know what I mean? If I’m feeling desperate, maybe 60%, and if it’s something I really want, maybe 55% off (this is usually only NM and Saks). But if I go clearance shopping, I really want 70% off or more. It’s just more satisfying that way. This Rosie Assoulin dress was soo expensive at regular price that at 70% off it is still a lot, but not too much in my opinion, and it’s a classic, super wearable piece.
Also for more linen, check out this Mansur Gavriel top for 50% off, this J.Crew jumpsuit for $60, and this pretty Zimmermann dress, 50% off.
2. A great article, from the always excellent Robin Givhan, about what fashion is trying to tell plus sized women.
3. I thought this piece, via Sloane Crosley for The New Yorker, Bye Bye Bendel’s was very interesting – I remember when they opened an outpost near me in California, I went to the store, and I found a lot of cute stuff I would have liked when I was younger, but I already felt too old.
4. Nick Bilton is one of my favorite Vanity Fair writers – for fans of Valley gossip, check out his piece, via Vanity Fair, on Mark Zuckerberg’s war with The NY Times (where Bilton used to work). Also for more Valley gossip from Bilton, check out his excellent book Hatching Twitter.
5. This week, I finished A Terrible Country, by Keith Gessen.
In short: this was a great book. A Terrible Country is about a young man who goes back to Russia to care for his grandmother – right off when I first saw this title last year I knew I would read this (but only got around to it now). I’m interested in Russia as a whole – my husband speaks the language fluently and worked there for a period, and I also fortunate enough to visit him in Moscow for a few weeks. I really feel like Russia is such a fascinating place, so much more complicated that the often flat, one dimensional and often vilified portrait that is painted in the West, though there is truth in everything and of course I can’t even begin to understand all the layers myself. I do think this book does a wonderful job of a “slice of life” of contemporary Russia, but would love to hear from my Russian readers what they thought!
Warning: there is quite a bit of political debate in the book, and it is written in the sort of slightly dispassionate, first person tone of The Idiot (another favorite of mine that I recommended last year). If you are looking for a fast paced thriller, this it is not. However I highly recommend A Terrible Country.
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