Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to wish my readers and passerbys a Happy Holiday!

I am currently in Houston with my family for the next couple of weeks. Reporting on fashion here will be a little difficult considering that this city is the Disney World of chain stores.

Here’s one peculiar thing I noticed here: there is only ONE American Apparel store in Houston. In Montreal there is at least 4 American Apparel stores in the near downtown vicinity. But I can understand why this chain may not be very successful…Houston is considered one of the fattest cities in America. From my understanding, AA is a chain that caters to a certain demographic, and that seems to exclude the overweight.

My recent experience at Banana Republic had the store assistant literally dismantle a mannequin sporting this really nice slate gray cardigan because it was an XS - the only one left in the store.

BCBG is also carrying slightly tamer versions of their Hervé Léger bandage dresses oddly enough. Making real Hervé Léger dresses less special. Why would you want to pay $1000 on an Herve Leger dress when you can get something similar, owned by the SAME company, for a fraction of the price?  A look at the online website doesn’t reveal this, you would have to shop at Dillard’s to see the knock off collection. Max Azria is shooting himself in the foot with this move.

Bakers, a Montreal equivalent to Aldo shoe stores, carried a trendy line of shoes, but made of the worst quality. The leather looked cheap and tattered on the edges and the soles stiffer than cardboard.

Speaking of Aldo, they’re also turning more and more like Nine West and Steve Madden by copying a pair of Michael Kors’ Berkley T-strap sandals, with their Tavira shoes. What’s funny is that the MK version is only $129, and the Aldo shoes are $90.00. Knock offs are getting more and more expensive!

More updates to come soon hopefully.

Enjoy your holidays!

The Beat Goes On For Houston Shoppers

I just had the craziest day for 2hrs of my life as a Houston holiday shopper.

A weak economy? Peanuts. That’s not gonna stop them from finding the filler Christmas gift or some snappy sequin dress at a discount price.

I hit one of the many suburbian Houston malls, and we all know that everything is bigger in Texas, and shopping is everywhere you look.

Despite not making a blip on the fashion map, shopping in Houston is inevitable, whether it’s for shoes, or for Southern shutters for your windows, spending money here is like drinking water.

That’s why when I went to one particular Houston mall away from downtown, I was surprised at the turn out by first battling pick up trucks and 4×4’s for parking.  Then it was an ongoing battle to stay together as a group in the mall as the aisles and stores were covered in a sea of shoppers and baby strollers.

I entered the American equivalent of H&M, Forever XXI, the next best thing. I’ve bought many things from this store and didn’t come out empty handed. I picked up a cool faux fur ivory zip up vest for $27US. There was a fine collection of sequin dress, tops and wool coats, but I had to stick in resisting spending too much at one store. Once at the cash register, it was a 20 minute wait.

I didn’t attempt checking out other stores but did notice a couple of them I hadn’t seen before such as “Love Culture” and “Torrid.” The latter is a particular observation as it was one of many plus sized stores in the mall, which says something about its target consumers. I had been curious if Houston, one of the fattest cities in the country, catered to their heavier clientele. And they do. In general, walking into an American store in the South, you’ll rarely find a size XS. Unfortunately, the styles offered to plus size women were plain and pretty tacky.  But despite the size difference, Houston shoppers, big or small, have money. While I waited in line to pay for my furry vest, a woman in front of me was sporting a black Louis Vuitton leather purses (valued over $1000), not too far another was sporting the checkered LV. So these women aren’t poor. However, many of the younger shoppers opted for more Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister than Guess or Ann Taylor.

Department stores like Macy’s, Sears, and Dillard’s were invaded with shoppers all the way to the cosmetic counters.

From the looks of it, I might not get a chance to confront the masses at The Galleria, but if today was of any indication of what holiday shopping is like in Texas, I’d say they’re doing their part in keeping some of that economy alive.