[kelkello]

I have no real problem with twin sets if something has been done to dress them originally...throw on a scarf or an interesting piece of jewelry, or decorate the sweater with something cool. I don't like them with the khaki pants, though.

Paisley: I love it's resurgence in accessories and printed papers (a weird obsession of mine), but I'm not fond of whole garments made of it. It can be pulled off quite well, but it takes a certain type of person and type of garment to do it.

Question: I remember being into fashion when I was in 8th grade (uh, 19 years ago), but does anyone notice how extremely fashion conscious the young kids are getting? College for me was baggy jeans and flannel. Grunge kept me comfortable. Now college girls (hell, even my eighth grade girls) are walking out of their houses dressed as if they are going to a major event and they are just going to Target or grocery shopping. Every little piece of the outfit, accessories, hair, and makeup has been meticulously planned. The sheer energy required to do that every day would simply exhaust me. I clean up nicely, but I don't pull out all the stops every day. Does anyone else see this?

[chachaheels]

I have always hated twin sets. They make women with slightly larger than average breasts look like barges.

On the other hand, I've always loved a certain type of paisley--just never when it was paisley printed on cotton.

[hellotampon]

I've been seeing a VB print that I like- it's like a brownish purple, and has these diamond shaped white things. I always like it, until I get up close and see the icky quilting. And the colors don't seem as sharp up close either. The fact that everyone has it doesn't help either.

[dusty]

I don't ever remember seeing a VB bag either, and I never heard of them until they popped up in this thread.

[ginger_kitty]

I don't know, they are all over Indiana, polly. But there is a VB factory here.

wombat I second your comments on twin sets and biege pants. May they RIP.

[pollystyrene]

These must be an east and west coast thing because other than humanist, I haven't noticed these throngs of women carrying them around here. They're ugly, but to me they don't stick out like a sore thumb, so maybe I'm just not noticing it. However, I ventured into a mall yesterday, a very trendy mall, and purposely looked for women carrying them- I didn't see any. And before humanist got hers, I'd never heard of them.

[wombat]

oof, maimy.

I saw two, like, twenty year old girls that just arrived for college in Boston acting really snotty about carrying matching brown and turquoise Vera Bradley bags -- because they are not knock-offs and they are from this year.

not *last* years hideous effin quilted paisley bag in those *other* colors.

***

I for one am glad to see the beige pants with sweater twinset look go away.

It's reasonably tasteful, actually, but it was so ubiquitous (<== sp?) all over the place that it was omnipresent!!

[mouse]

hehe! one of the regulars at a cafe i used to work at was an old woman who would bring in her scottish fold cat in a vera bradly bag.

[bustygirl]

Good god, those fugly bags have a name. I just always called them Bubby Bags, because every grey haired, oversized spectacled, 14 cat owning, croc-loving gramma lugged one into the fabric store where I worked.

I can't believe that relatively young and hip women would sport them as well, I just can't. It will make me fly into a Joan Crawford-style wire hanger rage.

And no one wants to be around for that.

[dusty]

Ha. That's funny. I was just thinking on the way to work, that when I went and looked at the Vera Bradley website, some of the bags were totally Kountry Kitsch, but I thought some of them were ok, and maybe I'm turning into an old lady. I mean, I know I'm turning into an old lady but anyway...

Only your dog and cat, eh Kelko? One of my cats has taken to hissing at me whenever she sees me wear a hat. I'm all, "But it has a skull and crossbones on the front and everyone *else* loves it and dammit its cold out there. Give me a break, will ya?"

[humanist77]

oh, kel, I know! As you said, there can't be proper intonation online-I wasn't trying to sound defensive. If we were all in a big room together in person, we'd all be talking and laughing
: )

[kelkello]

Humanist, I'm glad you found a bag that fits all of your needs. You do not need to justify it to anyone, especially me. You have a functional bag that works perfectly for you. Excellent. Lots of folks don't like what I wear, and I don't care, either. I can still hate VB and you can still have a VB bag and we can still be bustie friends. I swear, I am not trying to sound condescending. Posting does not leave enough room for proper intonation, but I am being sincere.

And speaking of COFs, I am entirely dressed in polar fleece tonight because my apartment is apparently closer to the North Pole than I had originally estimated. I am sporting Christmas gifts from relatives who are too thoughtless to think before they buy me something. Hence my weirdly blue fleece pants, my pale blue fleece pullover, and my cow printed fleece slippers. I am a walking crime of fashion, but luckily only my dog and cat will ever see this ensemble. I may as well through in a fleece elf hat with bells to make it more picturesque.

throw in...not through in

[lilacwine13]

Humanist, I've seen worse and if it works for you, go for it. I'm not a purse person either and basically got lucky at a thrift store for my current bag.

It's the really rustic ones, the ones that look like you could pick up at a craft fair or flea market for $20 that were sewn by some woman who loves crafts, that got to me on their site.

[chachaheels]

(((((humanist))))

Oh, honey, if you only knew what I go around in. And I just recently got my hair cut, too ("What for?", says M. ChaCha, "To scandalize the hairdresser because you haven't dyed your hair in 3 months? And you haven't asked her to dye it for you in over 5 years?" He thinks my hairdresser is just waiting for the opportune moment for revenge).

If the people I see every day knew about Bust's CoF thread, I'd see myself described here every day.

And I think its a cute knapsack--even better if you got a great deal, and it's exactly what you needed and wanted. You can't beat that!

[ginger_kitty]

humanist, cof forgiven! It's practical and it's exactly what you needed so don't feel bad. The ones I really loathe are the diaper bag looking ones and the pastels patterns.

New cof to report: guy wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt and a sleevless hooded sweatshirt at work! He looked like he stepped straight out of 1984. If only he had had been wearing a red white and blue sweatband around his forehead. I don't care if it's casual Friday, which is wasn't, sweatpants should never ever be worn.

[llamas]

Humanist, I normally can't stand VB, but that is a pretty darn cute backpack. Makes me feel a little bit better about going to their website to see what hideousness is being perpetrated this season and ending up kinda liking this: evil messenger bag
But the small and floral prints in paler colors are still really obnoxious.

[mornington]

Actually, some of those aren't *too* bad. I've got an ancient paisley-type-print quilted bag (not VB, my mother bought it in India when I was a kid) IMO, it's the larger trims and that that make them heinous - they're too fussy-looking. And yeah, the statusy thing vs it's a handy bag makes a lot of difference.

[nickclick]

humanist, thanks for your honesty about your VB love... just kidding...

the 'punk rock' one i got as a gift from my friend has this print:


please kill me if i would ever, or my baby would ever, look like this:

[humanist77]

kel, you have to understand that for me, this has absolutely nothing to do with making a fashion statement, or having a status symbol. It is entirely practical, and happens to be in my personal favorite color with an interesting print (IMO) I had never even seen this specific bag or print before, and I'd always thought VB stuff was ugly-but when I found this one, it was like AHA! I couldn't believe that I'd fought VB for so long, and ended up finding my perfect bag from them. If it had cost me $5 and was made by some unknown company, I would've been even more delighted.
I understand that you are surrounded by so many of them where you work, girls who are carrying them because they are trendy, who don't care if they are really ugly, they just want to fit in. That can get really annoying and obnoxious. But I bet if you'd never seen any VB bag before, and you saw mine specifically for the first time, it wouldn't be THAT hideous. And you do have to admit, that mine is not as bad as many others from the company.

[kelkello]

Humanist, egad. But I'm glad it works for you. That's the print that wandered the halls of my school on the arm of all my 8th grade girls this fall. However, cheers for knowing what you wanted and finding it.