On Saturday afternoon, Details is turning the Meatpacking District into a bigger clusterfuck of shopping and eating than it already is. Publisher Chris Mitchell has wrangled Peroni into sponsoring dozens of stores and eateries as they offer discounts and other meaningless offers to lure you into their shops as part of what they're calling a "Block Party." Gift with purchase at Catherine Malandrino. Ten percent off at Tracy Reese. Haircut and two products for $110 at Bumble & bumble. Oh, and on the rooftop of Hotel Gansevoort, experience the 2004 craze "pop-up shops" — and meet Kenneth Cole. Where you can take turns throwing people to the street.
Funny how in its report of Hearst snapping up online shopping comparison service Kaboodle.com, the I doesn't even bother to give us the dollar amount attached to the deal. In fact, they don't even speculate, and what fun is that?
So, we will: It's somewhere in the $30-$40 million range. [WSJ]
As they are wont to do, Conde Nast yesterday sent us this unsolicited invitation (above) to stop by Bloomingdale's for an "exclusive" Details shopping event that's going on this evening – with plenty of wine and cheese, we imagined – for something called "The Italian Suit," otherwise known as "an excuse to throw the word 'sale' around during Fashion Week." So eager were we to get to Bloomingdale's (if only to shop for our father's 60th birthday gift), we ran over there yesterday evening.
And, wouldn't you know it, there was an event already in progress. An event called "The Italian Suit." With plenty of wine and cheese. Except this one was sponsored not by Details, but by Hearst's Esquire magazine. Which means two things: 1)
Magazine event coordinators are neither savvy nor original; and 2) To do like Details must mean Esquire is gayer than we suspected.
(And should you consider going, keep this in mind: When the invite says "Invitation only. Space is limited," they actually mean "No need to RSVP — we've got enough cheese to serve even the couple in town from Little Rock who are killing time before Mamma Mia.
The best excuse we've heard – ever – for accepting free gifts:
"DEAL or No Deal" host Howie Mandel loves swag suites because the obsessive-compulsive disorder-afflicted comic doesn't have to handle cash.
Us? We only accept swag because we refuse to shop at non-unionized luxury goods shops.*
GOODIE-GRUBBER [Page Six]
* Aren't you impressed we managed to get through a 30-word Howie Mandle item without a Deal Or No Deal pun? Us too.
Among the myriad press releases, press releases disguised as personalized emails, and press releases disguised as Levitra spam are regular doses of B-list party invites. Today, we bring you a C-list party invite, if only because you'll be able to hob nob with Vanity Fair .. readers!
Learn how to support a good cause while giving your BlAmEx a David Barton workout, after the jump.
CONTINUED »
Wherein we bring you news of New York that makes you proud (and embarrassed) to live here.
• A dead rabbit in a block of ice in Union Square Park. As horrifying as that might sound, to New Yorkers it's the perfect photo opportunity. [NYP]
• Meanwhile, a cat stuck in the walls of a West Village building for 12 days continues wasting tax payer dollars as firefighters work to rescue it. [amNY]
• Always ahead of the shopping curve, NYC stores cator to the male shopper with sports, food, alcohol, and lounging. Can you say best advancement ever? [NYDN]
• Forget gasoline, we need more houses! No sane people drive in New York anyway. [New York Sun]
• Brooklyn students protest over school rules banning cell phones. And get arrested. [amNY]
• Average Manhattan apartment price is $1,326,879 and raising. Finally, a solution to the class divide. [Metro]
It's new Barbie designer (and Hollywood stylist) Phillip Bloch with the "spiritually grown up" Ken (on the left) and his "celebrity spokesperson" Ken. Or, as we like to call it, the homoerotic reason that no matter how hard Barbie tries, she'll never get Ken back.
(We should note, this is the publicity shot Mattel released. As in, the official version of the photograph they'd like to circulate among the press. This man, their marketing department said, will get us coverage. And they were right — for all the wrong reasons.)
BROKEBACK BARBIE? [PAYOR]
Ken's back and looking good. Same can't be said for Barbie's sales [New Jersey Record
Restaurant week is pretty slammin', but now, you can stuff yourself and then shop like crazy (just make sure to stock up on Ephedra so you can fit in those jeans.)
In attempt to stop New Yorkers from fleeing to Massachusetts for their shopping needs, our fab city brings us one week of tax-free shopping. (Like anyone has any money left over from the holidays and shopping for their Black Table outfit.)
Well, if you do have a couple bucks to spare, Tax Free Week is the time to do it, when purchases under $110 come sans sales taxes. Now is your chance to hit up LF, Zara, and Saks and carry as many bags down Broadway as Jessica Simpson does down Rodeo.
And to think, you didn't even have to throw any Jimmy Choos in the river.
State Kicks Off Tax-Free Shopping Week Tomorrow [NY1]
Earlier: It's the most wonderful week of the year
If you're anything like us (which your parents are likely glad you're not) your New York magazine doesn't show up in your mailbox until Wednesday — Tuesday if you're really lucky.
Because we care about you, the reader, we like to provide with a Monday round-up of what's going on inside the mag about what's going on inside the city. Then, you can decide weather you want to buy it on the newsstands, or if you have a subscription, which page to flip to first. Or at least you won't look like an ass at the water cooler.
This week, fashion is the passion for New York staffers — from city bargains to celebs stealing dresses, Vera Wang to JT LeRoy (and of course the Look Book), a shopping issue has now been checked off Moss's winter's list.
• They're such gossipy little guys over at NY. They heard that Melania Trump took the clothes right off another girl's back. Frock-Blocked is pretty funny, too. [Melania Trump Won’t Be Frock-Blocked]
• We don't know what was more shocking: putting a shopping feature on the cover, or Adam Moss using the word "bargain." Then, we realized the whole thing is about bargains for rich people. (Anyone who thinks $300 for a wool blazer is a steal obviously never read Budget Living.) [Deal Finder]
• In case you didn't read the New York Times Arts section yesterday, Cat Power became cool again, in like a day. [I'm a Survivor]
• Keeping in touch with the "cheap" theme, this week's issue of New York serves up a list of places you can actually afford to go. And even bring your own. Adam Platt is experiencing shortness of breath, we're sure. [B.Y.O.B. List]
• Finally, you can hear all about why Vera Wang hates you. We think it has something to do with her being an alcoholic. [Vera Wang's Second Honeymoon]
All this, plus a really really random Look Book choice — things can't be that bad over there. Did they really need to put the words "Read This Magazine" in big bold letters to get people to pick it up?
Oh, well, we're bringing our copy and a bottle of Shiraz to Tartine anyways … like, on Wednesday when the mag actually gets here.
Abercrombie & Fitch is more than the epicenter of teen homoeroticism, racial stereotypes and reversing decades of feminist progress with mere T-shirts.
It's also the place to be on Fifth Avenue if you're looking to sleep with a carbon copy of yourself, so long as "yourself" is a 17-year-old seashell necklace donning post-pubescent slogan T-shirt wearer with spiky blonde tips.
Alex Kuczynski takes readers on a tour inside this four-story "sprawling nightclub" of a flagship store – where jeans are served instead of Ketel One martinis at the bar – to discover even the youngins will fork over nearly $200 of their parents' money to procure an identity.
And god bless Alex, because we're going near this place. Until Black Friday of next year, when the greeter models don't wear shirts.
Browsing Out Loud [Alex Kuczynski, NYT]
We were worried, given the holiday season, this article was going to ask us to splurge on, say, the needy. Thankfully it's an article about gift giving to yourself, and we're able to smile at our AmEx again.
Go Ahead and Splurge on Someone Who Really Deserves the Best [NYT]
• The potential of a weekly lads mad from Keith Blanchard (now at Hearst) makes our nether regions tingle, though the actual possibility of such a glossy hitting newsstands puts the "icy" in IcyHot. [NYDN]
• After making the mistake of dating him, Peter Braunstein's ex has made the smartest decision of her career: to hide. [R&M]
• In new court papers filed in the bitter custody battle between Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, big brother Baldwin claims Kimmy is turning their daughter Ireland against him and convincing her to spy on her daddy during visits — a torture nobody deserves, let alone his own daughter. [TMZ]
• If you're actually willing to engage in the commercial madness that is Black Friday, you should at least know if that shitty DVD player is cheaper at Wal-Mart or Target. [NYT]
• Somewhere, somehow, there might be a Cary Grant that is not "the actor." [OINY]
Editorial Director
