We are loving little cardigans right now. Partly because First Lady Michelle Obama is such a fan; seeing her wear them so often makes us remember how cute they are. (She’s wearing her favorite cropped Azzedine Alaia black cardigan here during her visit to Europe. Photo from New York Magazine.)And partly because this time of year is notorious for buildings not getting the a/c quite right. You go to work and it’s cold at your desk, but by the afternoon you’re hot and bothered (and not in the good way).

So we’ve dropped by a bunch of our favorite stores to check on their cardigan supplies. Our only sweater rule, besides the fact that they must be irresistible, is that they be appropriate for work. We chose (more…)

Be still our hearts. The Outnet is open.

The Outnet is the just-launched online outlet store of Net-a-Porter, arguably the Web’s dreamiest shopping site. Its combination of designer wear, shoes and handbags is unparalleled (and hey, if you know a site that beats it, please please let us know), but the prices tend to be designer as well.

Which means The Style Insider’s brain threw a little neuron party when we saw some of the numbers on Outnet — 50 percent off, 60 percent off, 70 percent off. We have died and gone to heaven.

The designers are there — McQueen, Sui, Chloe, Choo. There’s Marc (more…)

If you watched the Academy of Country Music Awards show recently, you may have been slightly stunned by the enormous — and we mean enormous — burgundy gown that Carrie Underwood swished up to the microphone in. The dress literally filled the stage.

It was made by designer Rafael Cennamo, and, to be honest, we’d never heard of him. After some investigating, we’re betting a lot of you haven’t either. He’s not on the big-name radar. Working out of Miami, he creates couture gowns that are detailed, complex, striking and, a bit over the top.

A couple of celebs who have worn his designs are Audrina Patridge and Rosario Dawson, but neither of those dresses were as wild as what Underwood wore, or what we found on his Web site. 

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Go to your closet. Take inventory. Did you find any stripes?

If not, you’re going to want to shop, because stripes were huge in the spring 2009 runway collections. OK, let’s revise that a little: Sometimes they were huge and other times they were tiny, but they were definitely everywhere. (Full disclosure: We actually favor polka dots. But even we must admit that stripes are fresh and fun.)

Such as this crisp strapless cotton striped dress at White House (more…)

It is a major news day in Washington, D.C. We can hardly get our minds around it all.

Of course, the city is all atweet about the new First Dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog that’s about six months old. We can hardly wait to hear all the details — the dog walking, the dog feeding  and, especially, the White Housetraining (we nearly had an “accident” ourselves, when we saw the puppy, because he is so cute). Apparently the official unveiling is to come tomorrow, if you believe the leaks.

No pun intended.

OK, maybe it was.

But we’re to be forgiven, because as if the puppy wasn’t enough, yesterday was Easter Sunday, which meant the President and First Lady attended church. The President wore a pinstripe suit and a silver tie, but enough about him.

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The Style Insider is thinking about prom night. Wondrous, magical prom night. We love thinking about prom because we don’t have to actually go to one. We have no angst about who might or might not ask us. We have no curfew. And we don’t have to worry about rain, or bad hair, or a pimple on The Day.

No. All we have to do is shop for adorable dresses that you might want to wear. It is the best of all possible worlds.

And today, we’re just looking for short dresses. We adore short (more…)

Did you hear the opening salvos?

Last week a WWD.com story (subscription only, sorry, you’ll only get a peek) with no small amount of slant held forth on the fact that Michelle Obama is championing the cause of little-known American designers and ignoring the big players: Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang, Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, to name a bunch.

With the fashion industry in an economic crisis of its own, it’s not a surprise that the bastions of American style are wondering why the First Lady won’t deign to don some of their beautiful clothes. We can feel — and appreciate — their frustration. Still, most of the designers quoted — Wang, Hilfiger, Karan, Herrera – tempered their comments with support for a fashionable First Lady breaking boundaries.

Another story, in the New York Times, took issue with the fact that Mrs. Obama is relying apparently exclusively on the design choices of retailer Ikram Goldman, the owner of Michelle O’s favorite Chicago boutique for years (a picture from the store below).

Arnold Scassi (hmm, we remember that name from somewhere) chided her, (more…)