Cut it out..

Cut offs - the new "it" short to be seen in? Please please please promise me that you'll think twice before spending money on pre-fab cutoffs especially ones that cost $175 (like the brand Siwy featured on the girls above)! Even I draw the line at that. Cut-off jean shorts as the moniker implies is a shortened pair of jeans. To get your own pair, here's all you need to do.

Step 1: dig through closet and pull out pair of jeans you haven't worn in ages. Or better yet, if you have a brother-in-law who does construction and wears Levi's to work in everyday, that are banged up, ripped, and broken-in, start with a pair of those.
Step 2: try jeans on and while standing in front of a mirror, use piece of chalk to draw approximate line as to where you want to cut them off.
Step 3: use sharp pair of scissors to cut off the legs.
Step 4: run through wash once to get desired fringing on the edges
Step 5: throw on Havaianas and old boyfriend t-shirt and go

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your shoes

My post on the gladiator sandal gave me the urge to watch GLADIATOR the movie, which I'm doing right now. Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) has just been murdered his own son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix)... enter Maximus (Russell Crowe) to pay his last respects. Watching lead me to wonder how and where the gladiator sandal trend got its (ahem) foothold. With a little bit of digging, I found out that we have avant-garde designer Balenciaga and this photo of actress Jennifer Connelly sporting a high-concept pair of knee high gladiators to thank - a look that only Jennifer Connelly and Balenciaga could pull off.

Sword and Sandal

I'm channeling Hercules, Samson, and Goliath right now, which could be why some of my favorite trends this season involve leather, studs, and rivets. There was the short leather bomber mentioned (gasp) weeks and weeks ago, and now here I am to make a case for the Gladiator Sandal. Now, at 5'2", I'm classified as short, and admittedly I'm not sportin' a pair of gams like Nicole Richie (not even the post-pregnancy Richie, whose two legs equal about one of mine). Typically the thought of wearing a shoe or sandal that wraps around the ankle sends a chill of fear up my spine. Why would I willingly wear something that would make my legs look shorter than they already are? My Eastern European lineage has provided me with a set of solid calves - they're not cankles, but then again they're not those petite dainty calves the size of my forearms that I see on some girls walking about the city. But I covet the gladiator! So luckily, while waiting for Spring to arrive these past several weeks, I visited every e-commerce site out there and discovered a number of gladiator styles that will work for many leg lengths, calf shapes, and ankle widths. Here are a few of my fav's, several of which you'll see me in in just a matter of weeks...
Et tu Brute?