Custom Design

You can throw virtual tomatoes at your screen right now. Why would I show you images and ramble on about a bag that is sold out? Well, it is gorgeous. And while it is unfair to anyone who wants to buy this bag, I would like you to cross your fingers and hope Net A Porter will re-stock this color of the PS1.

The Proenza Schouler PS1 continues to garner attention, being loved for its casual chic and everyday wearable vibe. The only difference we can start to see is in the material and colors being produced. That is the same thing we look forward to from other brands like Balenciaga, that continue to release the exact same design just in new colors each season. Proenza Schouler has been implementing the same idea as Balenciaga, producing a bag that is highly loved in new colors. We love this idea; creating a classic and only re-inventing the colors. The color of choice today is sea-blue.

Now comes the part where I tell you that it is sold out. And I am not sure if they will restock it. I would like to think that it will pop back onto NAP for everyone who wants this color. Why is this color perfect? It is not deep blue and it is not light blue, it ranges in that bright yet subdued yet eye-catching blue that will not look bland against jeans and truly offer a pop of color. I love a color that can pop without it having to be too edgy and bold. The Proenza Schouler PS1 in Sea-blue is one of those bags that has the right look with the right color.

The PS1 has not stopped being in the spotlight. The bag appeals to a crowd that wants a long strap, everyday bag. There of course is now the structured PS11, more suited for certain occasions that everyday-throw-everything-in-your-bag-and-go wear. But my heart still sits with the PS1. We will be bringing you more Spring PS1 colors soon! Check back for this version in sea-blue, which is $1595 via NAP.

Original post by Megs Mahoney Dusil

The duo behind Proenza Schouler, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, just finished their Fall/Winter 2010 show in New York City Fashion Week. They joined many other designers in live-streaming their show, which was crisp, brought us close-up views, with the only downside being that it started 26 minutes behind schedule.

What did Proenza Schouler have in store for us from their Fall/Winter 2010 collection? We saw graffiti high waist skinny jeans, which were created in collaboration with J Brand. The toggle coats are sensational, completely wearable and calling out to everyone who was at the show. The color palette was dark and lustrous with touches of blues. Dimension was added with fur.

Now we get to the Proenza Schouler bags. As I mentioned earlier, the PS1 does not go down the runway as it is not part of the runway collection. Tonight we were introduced to the Proenza Schouler PS11, the structured sophisticated sister of the PS1. There are many similar elements to the coveted PS1. The buckle detail which takes center stage in the PS1 is merely a slight addition to the PS11, sitting at the bottom of the bag. There is also a back zipper pocket, same as what you will find on the PS1.

The PS11 offers more of a structured look and a smaller size, which will transition brilliantly from day to night. Inverted stud detail catches your eye along with the combination of gold and platinum buckles and hardware. The PS11 is the edgier sister to the PS1 and we are loving it.

For the next 23 hours you can pre-order the PS11 in either black or saddle leather for $1850 via Proenza Schouler online. Keep in mind the bag will not ship until July 30th, 2010.

Original post by Megs Mahoney Dusil

One of the hottest tickets at New York Fashion Week is for Proenza Schouler, which will be showing tonight. Proenza Schouler Bags have not only hit the scene but they have become highly sought after. The PS1 is now a part of many PurseBloggers handbag vocabulary.

While it will not include PS1’s, as the PS1 is not part of the runway show as they are separate from the seasonal bag collection, the handbags from the Fall/Winter 2010 Proenza Schouler show will be available on ProenzaSchouler.com for 24 following the show. Also, you can watch the show live tonight at 8 PM EST also at their website.

Check out the show tonight and make sure to check back to see if any of the runway bags are calling your name!

Original post by Megs Mahoney Dusil

Last night was not the Gossip Girl that we’ve come to expect. No no, PurseBloggers, this was a Gossip Girl of a different color. Instead of the quippy one-liners and pop culture zingers, we had references to Hemingway and political scandal, undead zombie fathers, and old Range Rovers dodging packs of wolves (really, wolves? Are there wolves on Long Island? Have the writers never heard of deer?) Things were decidedly dour for the happy holidays.

But then again, some things don’t change: yet another bag played a vital part in a dastardly plot, Lily forgot the death anniversary of one of her gaggle of ex-husbands, and all Rufus could think to do was make a giant pot of spaghetti sauce.

Most of all, though, Nate grew a backbone, Trip got what was coming to him, Chuck had a moment on the floor of a hospital, and I got a little verklempt. This episode? It had a heart. A heart with big, messy feelings leaking out all over the place.

First: Holy crispity crap, CHUCK’S MOM IS ALIVE!!! I had heard people posit that perhaps Chuck’s dad had faked his death for one reason or another, but it looks like he is now spending his afterlife undermining Chuck, which sort of reminded me of Harry from Dexter. And let’s just say that that’s not my favorite part of Dexter…

Anyway, we’ll get to that. First, we have to visit the fallout of the secrets revealed in last week’s episode, namely Serena’s decision to abscond to the woods of Nassau County with a married congressman instead of staying in Manhattan to make sweet, manbang’d love to Nate. Note to all: Manhattan is the better island and Nate is the better Vanderbilt. Serena? She chose incorrectly. Of course she did. She’s Serena.

But she rides with him in his rickety old Range Rover (really? He’d have a Sport and it would be black) deep into the woods of Strong Island, and then he just leaves her there, in a house with no cable or internet or heat (but with a book full o’ Nate’s pot) and goes to rendezvous with his wife, whom he is not divorcing because she continues to make it completely clear that she is the PERFECT political wife. She’ll keep up appearances and go to all the boring events while he gets to bang an Amazonian blond 18-year-old with bionic boobs on the side? WHY WOULD HE EVER DIVORCE HER??? In fact, Tiger Woods is wishing he was married to her right now. And he’s also probably trying to find Blake Lively’s number.

Meanwhile, back in the city, still more people are unhappy with their decisions. By now, Lily has realized that she misplaced the letter from Papa Van Der Woodsen, and she continues to frantically search her closet, over and over again, in order to try an find it. The problem with that, though, is that Rufus doesn’t have a job or any hobbies except puttering around the house wearing plaid, so he keeps finding her rifling through all the coats and can’t figure out why. Too bad for Lily, though, that it’s actually Maureen that has the letter, and she knows an opportunity when she sees it.

While Trip is still out “talking with his grandpa,” Maureen drops by the ramshackle lean-to at which Trip ditched Serena and tries to blackmail her into playing Marilyn to her Jackie O. Apparently the letter explains that while Lily was supposed to be attending to CeCe’s cancer treatments over the summer, she had actually absconded to Europe to see Papa VDW and perhaps cheat on Rufus with him, and Maureen will show it to Rufus if Serena doesn’t agree to a lifelong role as the Other Woman. Serena, trusting as she is, thinks this is all something that Trip will get under control posthaste, but duh, he’s the one that sent Maureen to make the indecent proposal. She finally realizes that when she calls The Manbang’d One to vent her frustrations (didn’t she just ditch Nate to go with Trip last week? Shouldn’t he be mad? Or is he not capable of having that emotion?) and he tells her that Grandfather is actually in Bermuda, so he can’t be having a man-to-man chat with Trip in town, as he claims.

Side note about Nate: how great is it that he has turned into everyone’s dating adviser? I love this new Nate. He has a semblance of a personality and at least two distinct facial expressions. When Dan inquires about his awkward love for Vanessa, Nate tells him that he’s either gotta fess up or bed a theater major as a sexual palate cleanser and move on, and, uh, yes (if you’re a chick, you bed a personal trainer instead). EXACTLY. Nate is an idiot savant when it comes to this stuff. I bet this is how he got into Columbia. The Dean of Admissions was having problems with his wife, and Nate fixed them.

Now if only he could fix Chuck, who is languishing in sadness and insecurity on the anniversary of his father’s death. Not only that, but The Ghost of Bart Bass has made a reappearance to be an enormous douche, tell Chuck that he’s weak, and make fun of him for wearing purple. In an apparent attempt to prove something to his dead father, Chuck thinks about buying a homeless shelter to turn into lofts and kicks Blair out of his apartment in favor of the sort of loneliness that his father always preferred.

But all of that doesn’t go on for long. Serena confronts Trip about his wife and his lack of a potential divorce, and when she finds that he’s been lying to her all day, she demands that he take her back to the city. On the way, they encounter the aforementioned wolves and swerve into a fence to avoid them, thereby sending Serena’s head barreling in to the windshield. Trip retained consciousness and then channeled Ted Kennedy by calling his wife to deal with the problem of the passed-out mistress in his car before he called the police and fled the scene.

Serena was taken to the hospital and everyone had a Come to Jesus moment when they realized that perhaps they aren’t as immortal as they all had imagined. Chuck, Nate, Blair, Dan and Vanessa all ditched everything to get themselves to Long Island, and Things Got Real when they all arrived. Nate decked Trip in the parking lot for leaving Serena in a wrecked car by herself, Chuck was forced to deal with the death of his father on the floor of the hospital with Blair by his side (I got a little emotional over this part, even upon a second viewing), and Dan confessed his feelings to Vanessa, who didn’t believe him. Awkward. Or maybe she did believe him, and she simply prefers to pretend like it’s not happening. After one Thanksgiving on the Upper East Side, Vanessa has turned into a complete WASP.

Ultimately, though, nothing turned out perfectly, despite the fact that our Upper East Siders were feeling lots of feelings and letting them be known all over the place. Maureen still gave the letter to Rufus, who rebounded by going out for drinks with a woman from the co-op board. Jenny met up with the Belgian drug dealer from a few weeks back, and we found out that she had helped him sell drugs in order to earn the money that she spent buying YSL Roadys for her minions. Most of all, though, Chuck finally went to the grave of his father and when he got there, he saw a woman that is, in all likelihood, the mother that he though had died while giving birth to him. Dun dun DUN!

And then, in place of the preview for next week’s episode, we simply got a promise that new episodes were “coming soon.” Ugh. I hate a hiatus. Until next time – xoxo.

Original post by Amanda Mull

Happy belated Thanksgiving from the Upper East Side, everyone! Can you guess what our favorite Manhattanites had dialed up this year for their Turkey Day celebration? Secrets, of course! They’re the gifts that will keep on giving, all the way to Christmas.

Really, this show would be nothing without its secrets, machinations, and dastardly plots. Once a round of them has been exposed and resolved, it’s out with another round to keep the narrative wheels turning. If everyone on this show suddenly started being honest, there would be no Gossip Girl of which to speak. It would be the End Times.

So lie they did – they lied their little 19-year-old hearts out. Some of the grownups lied too, but I don’t think you can blame Trip since he’s a politician and that’s part of his job. Or Lily, because she’s a socialite and WASPs don’t discuss family problems. Even with other members of the family.

Speaking of Trip, how much further can the writers go with the “Serena is a skank, LOL” meme after she’s already transgressed with a married congressman? Are we at the end of our Serena skankitude? It seems like we’ve peaked early. Unless she’s going to start murdering women in order to sleep with their men. Actually, that wouldn’t be a bad plotline…

Anyway, Thanksgiving. Through plot machinations that I care not to rehash, everyone ended up having the turkey festivities at Van Der Woodsen Acres. And by everyone, I do mean everyone: Rufus, Jenny, Eric, Dan, Dan’s awkward new love for Vanessa, Vanessa, Vanessa’s self-righteous hippie mother with great hair, Serena, Trip, Trip’s Cold and Calculating Wife, Nate, Nate’s Manbangs, Nate’s Awkward Feelings for Serena, A Video of Serena and Trip Making Out In an Elevator, Chuck, Blair, Blair’s Maybe-Pregnant Mom, Blair’s Actually-Pregnant Dorota, Lily, Lily’s Letter From Serena’s Dad, CeCe, CeCe’s Gin, and Two Identical Coats Worn by Lily and Trip’s Wife.

That’s right: Serena, Trip and Trip’s wife were all expected to sit down with each other. What makes it more interesting is that Lily was the one that invited them – she ran into the wife on the street and mentioned that Trip and Serena had been “working such long hours” and that they should come over for some turkey in order to force Serena to spend the day with her family. Because Trip’s wife (what’s her name, anyway? Maureen, I think? We’ll call her Maureen) knows deception when she sees it, the affair becomes clear in that instant and she agrees to attend Thanksgiving in order to see her husband and his mistress together and know for sure. Not a bad choice by her, since she has nothing else to lose – Trip has already asked her for a divorce, supposedly on the grounds that she orchestrated that whole Hudson Hero thing that he conveniently forgets helped him win the election.

In the real world, Lily would have never bumped into Maureen on the street for several reasons: she didn’t recognize Maureen at first and wouldn’t talk to a stranger just because they were wearing the same coat, she would be taking car service everywhere anyway, and if she wanted to order a Thanksgiving meal, she would have just called the restaurant. Or better yet, had an assistant call them. In Manhattan, rich ladies don’t have to walk all over creation and do their own catering arrangements. I can suspend disbelief for this show, but not THAT far.

Because this is Gossip Girl, however, Serena/Trip/Maureen/Nate weren’t the only people that were trying to fess up to their feelings for each other (those feelings being either love or hatred, depending on which two people we’re talking about). Nope, Dan and Vanessa have some uneasy post-threesome, post-Hilary Duff issues to deal with. Except Vanessa doesn’t know that they have them; they weigh on Dan alone. Well, actually, not true: Vanessa’s mom knows, because that’s just the kind of dynamic that mothers can pick out when it comes to their children and friends. Mine definitely can, and whoa, that’s uncomfortable.

While we’re at it, add Lily and Rufus to the pile of people with uncomfortable secret feelings that are spilling out all over the place. Actually, in this case, it’s mostly Lily – Rufus is too flat of a character to have many skeletons in the closet (besides his illegitimate stalker son, with whom we’ve already dispensed). On the other hand, Lily has four ex-husbands, a skanky daughter that’s breaking of a congressman’s marriage, a previously suicidal gay son, a meddling mother, and a secret summer trip to go with her secret letter from her children’s father, the contents of which we have yet to find out.

In the face of all that, Lily is still trying to do everything she can to keep order on the surface (which is her natural predilection, as a WASP). She has a heart-to-heart with Serena about how much it hurts to be left by your husband and how unlikely it is that Trip’s affection for her will be anything but momentary (she is, after all, still a teenager and he’s a grown congressman. Blair already pointed this out as well), but since Serena is thick-skulled in her best moments, she tromps off with Trip anyway (and oddly enough, with Blair’s support) when he tells her that he has decided to continue with his divorce, despite the threatened release of a video that shows them making out in an elevator.

The video was supplied by Nate in a less-feeble-than-expected attempt to preserve Trip’s marriage and snag Serena for himself, but it didn’t work because since when does a heterosexual affair with a consenting adult EVER end a politician’s career, and neither did his last-ditch attempt to win her affections outside of Trip’s car. Although based on the look on Serena’s face as they drove away, she seems to be growing bored of this whole thing already. After next week’s car crash, I’m sure she’ll be ready to bail and bang someone else. Maybe Nate’s next in line!

But then there’s that pesky little problem of the letter. Serena read it before ditching everyone for Trip, Lily stuffed it hastily into the wrong jacket pocket when she was found with it and a giant glass of booze in the freaking coat closet, and now Maureen has it. And what will she do with it? I don’t know, but if she’s the person that planted a drowning man in a river to win a congressional election, I CANNOT WAIT TO FIND OUT. The woman has skills, and she just got dumped in front of a bunch of loud-mouthed teenagers – whatever happens will be glorious.

The next episode looks to be pretty fierce, although I’ve got to admit a little something. My favorite part from this episode wasn’t any of the stuff that I’ve discussed in the previous 1100 words – it was the wonderful storyline about Dorota and Vanya having a baby. It warmed the cockles of my little grinchy heart.

The next episode looks oh-so-intense, although the last time Josh Schwartz wrote a car crash into a series, it ruined the entire thing. Let’s hope he does a better job this time.

Original post by Amanda Mull

Excuse me for a moment.

ZOMG LADY GAGA was on Gossip Girl last night it was so much awesome in one hour that I thought my face was going to melt off or something humans are not meant to endure all that fabulousness at one time it ought to be illegal and the episode was called The Last Days of Disco Stick and it was sooooo greatttttt aksdno;SJDNF!!!!!

Ahem. Thank you. I’ve composed myself now that that’s out of my system.

I worship at the altar of Lady Gaga, so you could say that I was pleased that she showed up on Gossip Girl last night. She presided over an episode of love triangles and badly made, drunken sexual decisions, which I think she would thoroughly approve of, based on the lyrical content of her music.

I wish that they had used Gaga a little more (or let her act instead of just perform – she was funny on SNL a few weeks back), but the show was still intriguing in its incredible awkwardness. It was the sort of uncomfortable, queasy-making drama that only comes from sexual relations with inappropriate people, and I don’t know about you, but that’s exactly what I want when I tune in every week.

Vanessa and Olivia now hate each other because they shared the same dong last week, and Serena finds herself in the position to choose between the cousins Vanderbilt and Archibald (which is totally the threesome that I would have rather seen, thankyouverymuch, but I guess they can’t do it because it’s cousins? Somehow I think Nate would be down for it, though, and we all know that politicians have kinky private lives…)

Let’s start with Dan and his lusty ladies, though. They all somehow become embroiled in Blair’s plan to infiltrate NYU’s Tisch drama crowd, and in order to do so, they have to write and perform a Lady Gaga-themed adaptation of Snow White in under a day, which is precisely the kind of self-congratulatory thing that drama school students organize for themselves, so bravo, writers.

Dan is Prince Charming (or whatever the prince was called in this particular fairy tale) and Olivia was supposed to be the pop star version of Snow White. Blair was the evil queen (obviously) and was also supposed to direct, but in an effort to create some threesome parity in his life, Dan brought in Vanessa as the director. Olivia took this to mean that he was siding with Vanessa in the post-threesome fallout, and she was incensed! Because surely Vanessa is in awkward hippie love with Dan, right? Wrong. Vanessa, in a fit of awesomeness that is totally not inherent to her character, couldn’t care less about Dan and his dong.

You see, it’s Dan that actually cares about Vanessa, even though he didn’t know it. In order to illustrate this fact, Olivia ditches the Gaga/Snow White mashup midway through and forces V to go on in her stead and have the magic kiss with Dan at the end. And that’s a nice little metaphor, isn’t it? Instead of curing Snow White of the poison apple, it cures Dan of the delusion that he has a platonic friendship with Vanessa, which is something that I have never really believed. The downside is that means we probably see more Vanessa plot lines, which: eww. No thanks. And also, we lose Olivia, who was kind of entertaining, although I would totally go see a Heathers-with-witches movie, so I hope someone actually makes that.

All that this story line reminds me of is some of the best sexual advice that Sex and the City’s inimitable Samantha Jones ever gave us: the only way to do a three-way is to be the guest star. Maybe this is a sentiment that colleges should start incorporating into orientation, as a preemptive measure for all this stress that bad sexual planning has the potential to create for students. Obviously this is not something that drunken 18-year-olds can figure out on their own.

For a momentary break in the love triangle drama, let’s refer to Little Jenny Humphrey. It’s lonely at the top, and she jumps at the opportunity to entertain the hot (in a European way, not my thing) son of a foreign diplomat who also turns out to be a slightly grope-y international drug runner. At first she’s uncomfortable with all of this until Chuck comes to her rescue, after which she decides that she in fact had a great time, and would like to see this gentleman and his slicked-back hair once again.

And as Chuck pointed out, it’s not that surprising – Jenny has been looking for a rabbit hole to fall down since the beginning of the series, and she almost made it with that crazy model friend of hers, remember? Some people just have a nose for trouble, and Chuck Bass knows them when he sees them. I just hope that he takes the time at some point to explain the concept of diplomatic immunity to her, and why this dude will sell her down the river sooner or later.

Alright, back to the inappropriate sexual decisions! And of course, that means we have to talk about Serena, because her entire life is predicated on one ill-advised romp after another. That’s gotta be kind of fun, right? Well, except for now, since one of them is married. Or married for now, at least – just as he readies himself to leave for Washington, he finds out that it was his wife who set up the Hudson Hero debacle, and now he just doesn’t know if he can stay in the relationship. Sounds like more scruples than any real-life congressman would have, but whatever.

Meanwhile, Serena is seeking advice from Nate since Blair is back to not talking to her, and he attempts to create a drunken, manbang’d diversion in order to stop her from sleeping with his cousin. He forgot two important things about alcohol, though: First, it makes you confess things. Things like undying, secret love. Which Nate has for Serena. Oops. Second, it has never, in the the history of ever, stopped anyone from making a bad sexual decision. In fact, its effect is pretty much the exact opposite of that. Double oops.

Next week, someone is pregnant, and Blair is yelling, and it appears to be Thanksgiving. Make sure you give thanks for the ridiculous exploits of our favorite Upper East Siders – they’re not just doing this for their health, you know.

Original post by Amanda Mull

Is it bad that on last night’s Gossip Girl, I found the TI cover song that was playing during the much-hyped threesome more entertaining than the threesome itself? I mean, seriously, who know that “Whatever You Like” was so downright melodious?

If the Gossip Girl writers were going to promote a dirty, nasty, parent-horrifying threesome as the point of this entire episode, it needed to be a lot more than a fairly minor point at the end of the episode’s B plot. Who knew that Jenny was going to cotillion? And who knew that girls going to cotillion don’t wear white anymore? I mean…there used to be a white dress involved in that or something, right? Did I make that up? I might have made that up.

And I’d also ask who would have thought that Serena would come even closer to being involved with a married man, but, well, I think we all saw that one coming.

So it’s Jenny’s turn to make her high society debut, which seems to be a thing with the show’s head honcho, Josh Schwartz. He also helmed The OC, which also had a debutante episode, if I remember correctly. And I think I would remember correctly, since we used to watch the DVDs of that show’s first season for hours on end in my freshman dorm (in fact, I recall that my freshman roommate managed to watch my entire box set, which consisted of 27 45-minute episodes, in the span of a single weekend one time). In fact, some quick Wikipedia-ing confirms my suspicion: The OC also had an episode predicated almost entirely on cotillion date shenanigans. Running out of ideas there, Schwartzy?

It certainly seemed like it at times last night. Jenny’s entire focus is on who will escort her for her debut, because naturally, women aren’t anything without a man to give them context and social validation, right? Right. Or at least that’s how it is in high school, which is just basically one big cotillion, all the time, without the ballroom dancing. Instead, there’s dry humping in your parents’ basement while you drink wine coolers and watch Cinemax After Dark, which, truth be told, might still sound like more fun than actual cotillion. As long as the wine coolers are strawberry.

Anyway, Jenny’s date. She doesn’t have one. She wants to go with some kid named Graham from some other school, but she can’t figure out how to get in touch with him, to which I say SHENANIGANS. Not only did the gloriously awful NYC Prep teach us that all the prep school kids in New York City know each other, but I firmly believe that they’d be Facebook friends, and if not, she’d most likely still be able to send him a message on there. The ins and outs of Facebook: I know them. And so would she.

She momentarily lets Eric convince her to take Jonathan as her escort, but your life has got to be a bit pathetic if the only person you can find to be seen with you in public is your gay stepbrother’s boyfriend. And since now she has to be the queen of the Upper East Side, not just Constance Billard, that will never do. Somehow (I can’t remember how, nor does it matter), Jenny realized that Eric had sabotaged Graham’s attempts to get in contact with her via that homely girl (and by homely, I mean that she actually looks like a high schooler), and she promptly makes it right. Graham shall escort her to the ball in the magic pumpkin coach!

Except he won’t, because Jenny pissed off Blair by brutally rebuffing her at some pointless dinner party thingy at which Serena had also told her that only high schoolers still think she’s important, which is harsh, but also a fact. As we all know, hell hath no fury like Blair scorned, so she found that same homely girl from before, made gaytente with Eric to blackmail Graham with gay Camp Suisse secrets into ditching Jenny mid-cotillion for said homely girl, and decided that homely was the new black and that she would be queen! Lots of machinations for one party, right? I hope that chick stays around, though. I like her moxie.

But Blair’s plot only worked to a certain point – yes, there was the initial humiliation of not having an escort, but then Nate inexplicably showed up and they stopped the whole shindig for Jenny to walk down the stairs with him – better late than never. Everyone ooo’d and ahh’d that she debuted with a college guy, and Nate is a very pretty girl, so Jenny was queen again. Blair even congratulated her, right after Chuck locked her in an elevator with Serena so that they could kiss and make up. They also discussed Serena’s new job at Tripp’s congressional office, and his apparent “fondness” for her, and she agreed to quit, but then she didn’t actually do it. Serena? She’s easily lead.

So now that we’ve dispatched with that story line, what of this threesome foofaraw? Well, the participants were Dan, Olivia and Vanessa, to which I say: eww. And I also say: duh. Vanessa is a dirty hippie, so of course she would be DTF, Olivia is a young starlet and I think we’ve all learned a thing or two about them from one Miss Lindsay Lohan, and Dan is just a dopey college guy that got stupid lucky, and those are the only guys besides porn stars that ever manage to have threesomes anyway. It’s never the ones you’d expect.

All of this happens because Olivia might have to film Twilight 4: Back for More or whatever, so she has to leave NYU after midterms and wants to have the quintessential college experience before she goes. At my college, part of that was eventually getting clipped by a campus bus (which were driven by student workers, to add to their reign of terror at UGA) and getting your picture taken with Jazzy Jay the Rapping Homeless Man downtown, but they chose to go for the more stereotypical (read: not funny) things about college and take her to a keg party. Which begs the question: how did she get to midterms without going to a keg party? I don’t think I made it to orientation without going to a keg party…

They talked about some other, interesting-sounding college traditions, but it was only the obvious ones that we got to see, including a fairly tame girl-on-girl, pre-threesome kiss between Olivia and Vanessa. I guess Hilary thinks that something “edgy” like this will help her find a more mature audience, but mostly it just seems like the shock factor of girls kissing has worn off. Particularly in a show that’s only watched by girls and gays, amirite?

And that was really all we got to see, except for the three cuddled warm and safe in a bed afterward, and Olivia’s phone blazing the message that she wouldn’t be making the movie after all. So now, we get to see the awkward post-group-sex social dynamics start to take hold, and the fact that Vanessa is probs still in love with Dan becomes a plot point. Whoopee…a Vanessa plot point…

Original post by Amanda Mull

First, a PurseBlog PSA: apologies if posting is a bit light today across the blogs. Megs and Vlad are heading back home from their trip as we speak and I’ve got the dread scourge of tonsillitis. Mostly my cold meds make me a little too loopy to write, except for recaps, because being a bit loops actually helps.

Take, for example, the nonsense that went on during last night’s episode of Gossip Girl: we witnessed a staged drowning, Blair made friends with a random prostitute (ahem, high-class call girl) over a Valentino bag, Serena assaulted her with baked goods, Dan got called out on national television (but don’t worry, it was Fallon, no one watches him. And for what? I have no idea.) and someone actually up and told Serena that, honey, you look like a prostitute.

Last night, our Upper East Siders went to the polls. Check out their results, after the jump.

Remember Nate’s uber preppy cousin Trip? And he’s nicknamed Trip because he’s “the third?” And that’s the preppiest thing I’ve ever heard in my life? Well he ran for congress last night, at the ripe old age of 26. I’m about to turn 24 and he’s making me feel like an underachiever. Anyway, he’s just running because he’s got a Kennedy-esque lineage and name recognition that will ensure his victory, but just in case it’s not sure, Nate Manbangs concocted that whole stupid poker scheme like two episodes ago with Serena as the unwitting bait, and then Serena blew his cover and he’s still mad at her, right?

Well, someone in the Vanderbilt clan decided it was time for more chicanery, this time without the aid of Nate’s resplendent coiffure. With Tripp trailing on election day, Trip’s wife hired a dude to jump into the (absolutely disgusting) Hudson while Vanessa was filming her campaign “documentary” and then heroic Trip would heroically save him from drowning. And it all worked beautifully for a few hours!

The thing is, Vanessa was the one filming. And when she went to sell the footage to a news station, she realized that she had not only caught the “heroic” rescue, but that she had also filmed the dude jumping into the water, swimming out a few feet, and then pretending to drown. At this point in Vanessa’s life, the Humphreys hate her, her parents hate her, and pretty much everyone thinks she’s full of fail, and her principles are really all she has left to cling to.

But first, she goes to Nate with the footage to warn him about what’s in it, and Nate seems utterly horrified that someone in his family would try to use trickery to make sure that Trip won the election. Except that’s EXACTLY what he tried to do two episodes ago, right? So why is it horrifying now? Because no one clued him in on the stunt? Despite his dismay, Nate still manages to trick Vanessa out of selling the footage to the right person, and when you’re being outsmarted by Nate Archibald, you might as well just give up at life.

Everyone still makes it to the election party at Chuck’s hotel, despite the fact that everyone hates each other. Nate and his cousin are sure that his grandfather hired the fake drowning guy (he didn’t) and because Vanessa managed to find a way to get the footage to the media after all, Nate falls on his sword in front of the press at Trip’s party to ensure that Trip won’t be blamed, which is fine, because I doubt Nate has any political future anyway. Really, they’re just trying to wrestle power away from his grandpa, who Nate still insists on calling Grandfather, like we’re all Victorians or something.

But what would a Gossip Girl party be without at least half of the cast also in attendance? The soiree is at Chuck’s hotel so he does hosting duties, and because Serena and Blair are fighting (for reasons that I can’t even remember), S is able to make B feel insecure about having no actual friends to bring to the party.

So what does Blair do? She spots a chick with a Valentino 360 Hobo at The Coffee Shop That Everyone Goes To and, based only on sheer handbag envy (she’s still on the waitlist, how terrible!), decides to make friends with her and take her to the party. At which point I have to point out a mistake in handbag continuity – Jenny had a Valentino 360 Hobo at the Halloween party in the last episode. And it was a version that I liked better!

When Blair and Brandeis (seriously? That name?) get to the party, Brandeis knows absolutely all of the politicos in attendance, at which point I thought to myself, “HA! She’s a prosty!” And, lo and behold, she totally is. And not in the same way that Serena is – she doesn’t just look like a hooker, she actually is one, in the Elliot Spitzer/Ashley Dupre sense of the word.

But Serena has zero problem passing as a hooker for a few minutes in order to find Brandeis out and request to have her removed from the party, and when she informs Blair of the goings on of the evening, Blair just calls her a hooker for getting paid to date that client of hers, who is stumbling around drunk somewhere at the party, peeing in potted plants. But Serena never slept with the dude, despite his best attempts, and Serena is shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, that anyone would ever compare the two things. Suitable solution to this problem? Push Blair face-first into a cake.

And I still can’t really understand why everyone is mad at Serena when all she did was not cooperate perfectly in various and sundry ridiculous schemes, but after some heavy-handed eye contact outside the hotel, Blair and Serena are totally dunzo, at least for one more episode, maybe two. No one ever hates anyone else forever on this show and the writers can’t properly arc a narrative to save their lives, but it is kind of amusing to watch them glare at each other in the meantime. Blair says that Serena isn’t an appropriate friend anymore because she’s not doing anything with her life, Serena says that Blair is still acting like this is high school. Gotta say I’m on Team Serena on this one, particularly since the accusation results in her quitting her job and we won’t have to see her annoying boss anymore.

Although I’m going to go ahead and make a prediction – Serena and Trip are gonna screw. His wife seems like a cold, calculating shrew, Trip is way too cute and as Blair so viciously pointed out, Serena doesn’t often decline that sort of invitation.

Oh, and the thing with Dan and Olivia? It was ridic. Beyond stupid. I almost don’t even want to write about it. Olivia went on Jimmy Fallon’s show, she told a stupid story about Dan that seems to have been meant to imply that he excused himself to go masturbate in the dorm bathroom (but seriously, I don’t think guys take their shirts off to do that), and he got dubbed Bathroom Boy. Dan is supposed to be mad, but he isn’t, he just realizes that he had forgotten their one month anniversary. To which I ask: after the age of sixteen, do one month anniversaries even exist? Did we somehow miss the conversation where they agreed to go steady and she gets to wear his letterman’s jacket?

As for the next episode, I have but one word: threesome.

Original post by Amanda Mull

Botkier Handbags have become a household name. After meeting Monica, I began to await her fall handbags. The look for her Fall 2008 line is very, well, Fall-esque. With nylon that feels and looks like satin, in deep luscious hues, the bags are fitting for the fall and winter that is slowly coming upon us. […]

Original post by Vlad

Monica Botkier is the latest designer to hop on the Target express and create a low cost line for the company. By now, the novelty has definitely lost it’s luster, maybe these capsule lines don’t seem as special since a new one appears every other month it seems. I could just repeat what I say every time one of these lines comes out, but you’ve heard it before. Instead, I′ll just concentrate on why Botkier is a line Target would want to work with.
Materials aside, the designs are really very nice, and all have a signature Botkier look to them.

The attention to details is evident here, where you can see the gathering on the 2 outer pockets. This Hobo Bag in white python, at $39.99 is a steal. On the bright side, white bags are so hard to keep looking fresh. At least in PVC you can safely sponge it down as needed. Hopefully, the texture also adds to the material.

A more interesting bag, is also a hobo, here, in a fabulous fuchsia.

Am I crazy, or does it look like an early Bulga bag? Again, the attention to details is fantastic. From the seam work, to the tiny rivets, this is a funky but not too much so bag. Also, it’s a tough color, but one that is very hot…at $39.99, however, this style Hobo Bag makes it much easier to take the plunge.

One of my favorites, is this soft silver hobo.

It’s very simple in style, and I love the softer pouchy bags in the summer, they’re just so free and casual feeling. This bag, which comes in gold as well is sparer in details, which shows that less really is more, especially where metallic is concerned. The biggest detail is the handle, which has a lovely twist. At $49.99 the Silver Hobo hit’s the highest price point in the collection.

I really liked the silver hobo, but I saved the best bag for last.

This little clutch, here in grey python, is the best bag of the whole group. It has many Botkier hallmarks, from the brilliant use of small details to the stitch work. A small bag is also the most forgiving where cheaper materials are concerned. At $19.99 the Clutch is one the least expensive choices, and a perfect price for a bag that may wind up on the dance floor, on a wet spot on the bar, or lost on the floor of a movie theater amidst the popcorn and wrappers. It also comes in that fantastically hot fuchsia!
Like all special target lines, Botkier for Target will not be around forever. If spending $800+ isn’t your thing, it’s definitely worth taking a look at these bags which make up for what they lack in material quality with great design.

Original post by Bag chick