Current Etoile obsessions

All available at La Garconne.

Isabel Marant on SALE

Not that I will be partaking in the sale this season but I wanted to highlight that there are still some good things out there....

The super soft, chunky knit Etoile Plume cardigan is on sale for $339 at Barneys in the brownish olive and in red at Heist (although not sure the discount at Heist, think they are at 30% off.)

MNZ in new york has the Odelia coat, a great wooly car coat with black piping. It is also 30% off and they have a size 38 left.

MNZ also has the Gladys knit and the Glasco cardigan left. Katie Holmes recently wore the Glasco during an appearance on Jimmy Fallon. Also both are 30% off.

Gladys knit

Glasco cardigan

MNZ and French Garment Cleaners both have the Nanette top left, which is only $395 full price.

Meanwhile, Creatures of Comfort has a whole host of nice things left (if their blog is updated):

The Lizy western shirt, which will definitely some day be a collector's item, in sizes 36-40 for $588.

And the Edilon pant - an amazing print and fabric - in sizes 38 and 40 for $458.50

Also the all-black Jenny boot in sizes 37-41 is on sale (a rare occurrence) for $441.
And the sister to the Odrys cardigan, the Ojima hoodie is available in sizes 38 and 40 for $374.50, a relative steal for an intarsia knit. Even Free People and others doing Intarsia knits charge at least $300 for a made-in-china piece, while the IM one is made in Italy of fantastic quality yarn. So, this one is a great price for what you are getting.

Etoile Isabel Marant Odrys Cardigan

This sweater has been stalking me. First it showed up at Odessa in Portland and promptly sold out in my size (although I was all tied up with Dicker boots and not able to purchase at that time). Then Totokaelo in Seattle received it in two colors and was sold out of both within one day.

I had gotten over it and was almost okay with it when while perusing PopSugar saw a picture of Michelle Williams wearing it at JFK, and then I fell in love all over again.

And have been obsessing about it since then (that was last week). I emailed several boutiques including Misch in Vancouver only to find out that they had sold out but was I interested in the new style in the same intarsia pattern, the Obira. Hmmm, a little too floppy for my taste.

Then two days ago, my friend Roberta over at Camp Comfort blogged about it. And then I knew I'd regret it if I didn't buy it.

Not only is it an amazing intarsia knit but here in Portland, this kind of heavy cardigan functions as a coat for me for more than half of the year.  Luckily, I found one size 34 at Barneys in Chicago yesterday. (yes, only one left nationwide!)

And by the way the pattern comes in two other silhouettes as well:
the Ouda, a crewneck, and the Ojima, a hoody. Both are available at Creatures of Comfort:

the Ouda

the Ojima

If I had endless funds or was a celebrity, I would definitely snap up the crew neck. It looked amazing styled for NYC boutique Maryam Nassir Zadeh as seen on the blog, the marant philes:

Isabel Marant obsessed

The spring/summer Isabel Marant collection is one of her best by far. I have been coveting nearly every single piece but have yet to buy anything. I am totally in love with the Rolf sweater in red from the Etoile line ($400) and was super annoyed to see Kate Bosworth arriving at LAX last week wearing it...AND with an enormous Isabel Marant shopping bag IN the airport.

THEN she shows up walking around LA the very next day in the exact same sweather in a different color!!

It's hard not to hate her.

(P.S. The sweater also comes in a cardigan version with zip, which might actually be more practical. I'm going to Odessa in Portland this week to check it out.)

white with black

As spring is right around the corner (for some) a nice segue into the season is with a bold white statement piece on top of a black outfit. Kate rocks an amazing white blazer here with a head-to-toe black look during a morning-after meal in Paris.

This ultra white Acne cardigan works really well as a statement making outfit focal point and its oversize feeling and contrast buttons add a little something extra. It's part of their new Spring line, which if you haven't seen it, you really need to check it out. So far I think they have the best collection for Spring, I want about 20 pieces for sure including jeans and leggings but also tops, dresses, coats and cardigans. I know I already posted about it so I'll wait till later on to post more pictures (also I think they are still getting more stuff) but meanwhile check it out on their site but also at Creatures of Comfort.

tried and true: part one

Looking through the L.L.Bean Christmas catalog today, I noticed this cute mock-neck cardigan sweater in a Nordic pattern with nice metal buttons..and (for some unknown reason) a random little skier navigating his way down the front of the sweater. This one quirky detail makes this otherwise kind of boring and very "LLBean"-esque cardigan a unique piece.

It reminds me a lot of the Paul&Joe cashmere sweaters (I don't think they are doing them anymore) that were a totally normal piece - like a solid, red cardigan - and then they would just have an owl on the side, staring at you. Or I used to have a pink Paul&Joe cardigan that for some reason had a frog holding an umbrella in the rain on the back of it. Also not unlike Lucien Pellat-Finet cashmere sweaters (see below) but less dark, less skulls and marijuana leaves and more happy, snowy adventures.

Like I said, quirky but still cute. The L.L.Bean sweater, by the way, is 100% merino wool and sells for $79.

And after discovering this one interesting piece, I felt inspired to look through the rest of the L.L.Bean catalog and even the website to see what other diamonds in the rough were to be found. I found a very cute cotton flannel tartan robe in the men's section, available in a variety of different plaids (I like the red tartan). It is also moderately priced at $49.50.

And since duck boots are all the rage right now and L.L.Bean basically invented them with their "Bean boots", I found these tall shearling lined versions that are actually a little more wearable than real duck boots. I mean, it's hard to go to work wearing duck boots and not look like you are going hunting. Am I wrong?

Because of their durability (and craftsmanship, I'm sure), they are a little more pricey at $184.

All items are available at llbean.com. And the Lucien Pellat-Finet picture was borrowed from the blog Tweed and Velvet.