I have no idea if I am one of the originators of champagne croquet in Golden Gate Park, but I’d like to assume I am at least one of the forefathers (foremothers?) of combining the age-old sport with mandatory croquet-related costumery.

On a particularly rainy Sunday in late May, twenty of my most dedicated friends adorned themselves as Mad Hatters, Great Gatsby-ites, and of course, scrunchy-wearing debutantes (ala Winona Ryder from Heathers). Squishing through mud, grass and trees they hauled soggy cucumber sandwiches and canapés to Speedway Meadows - the stinky hippie epicenter of the universe. Set to the thunderous tempo of stinky hippie bongo drums, we hammered, pivoted and Irish peeled our way to a sauced and sneezy experience. And afterwards, our event co-host broke up with her date and he ran off with my best tricorner hat. What could he have done to win her heart back? Well, let me tell you…

HOW TO WIN OVER A GIRL/BOY BY SPENDING MONEY

Hands-Free Solutions: Firstly, with one hand on the mallet and the other on your bubbly there is no way you can possibly cradle your date when he/she turns into a sobbing drunken lout. Red Envelope’s Steady Stick Wine Table and Holders are nothing short of brilliant. The sleek holders fit to any flute and the bamboo surface is perfect for optimal cheese cutting. (Hippies, you can also roll your weed on it.)

The Bevvies: Additionally, if you’re like me and the only magnum you know anything about is Tom Selleck in Speedos, then consider joining Riot Wine Club. Ranging in price from $32-$64 per month, the club’s packages allow you to choose from a range of expert-selected bottles. The fabulousness of this service is that it includes selections from more than one winery. Additionally, Riot Wine co-founder and friend Joshua Duyan mans the blog and provides you with everything you need to know to avoid looking like a classless bumpkin.

Light Up Her Life: I am a woman easily impressed by grand gestures. LA-based Maker Pointcloud recently posted an article on Instructables showing readers how to create their own water-resistant LED picnic blanket. It’s a little complicated, but upon completion your date will be enamoured and you’ll be happy the little bugger is stain-proof. (OK fine, that’s a bit crude)

While our Sean gets his e-grub on at least three times a day, your K is busy virtually voguing and devouring fashion and beauty blogs—

Instead of eating.

Though my questionable (non-)eating habits are mostly due to my self-imposed diet of soy lattes and a mini fridge full of vintage fur, versus food, I’m considering passing the buck and maybe blaming steady consumption of Vogue and glammy glossies for my breaking up with myself if I grow past a size two. ‘Cause it can’t be your K’s fav fashion and beauty blogs, as they’re hardly shrines to twiggy, super duper models.

Chat with Shiny Shiny’s Catwalk Queen, and instead of worshipping at the altar of Kate Moss, or daily dishing Prada Pucci Gucci gear—ahem—the Oprah of fashion blogs is talking to you like your BFF. ‘Cause—

“If you’re like me, then exercising can be a real drag,” blogs Catwalk Queen’s Helen Lee.

...continued: Virtually Vogue

With the first week of November, SheFinds found it’s time to…

» Go royal without going into the red. “If royal purple is the “it” color for fall 2006, as seen at recent award shows on numerous celebrities, then what would be better than a multiple-thousand-dollar designer gown? Well, for those of us who can’t afford to blow several thousand bucks on a dress, how bout a more affordable item, like a purse.” Check this Satin Bow Tie Clutch by Chinese Laundry.

» Moisturize more than those pre-winter chapped lips. “You highlight. You blow dry. You straighten. You’ve even permed (admit it, already). Yet still you lather, rinse and repeat the vicious cycle. I tried Biotherm Nourishing Shampoo for Dry and Damaged Hair on my uber processed hair, and my damaged strands actually felt…soft.”

» Invest in a dress you can rock 9 to 5, 5 to 9. “If you don’t already have a wrap dress in your work outfit circulation, it’s time to get one. Get yourself this uniformly flattering, Boden Jersey Wrap Dress.”

» Travel pretty and protected, with Ultra-Lightweight 29in. Wheeled Packing Case. “Holiday season is almost here, and with holiday season comes holiday traveling. Once in a while when I’m at the airport waiting for my flight, I’ll peek outside at the baggage carts hoping to see my luggage make it on the plane safely. Usually, when I do spot my bag, it’s unfortunately situated at the bottom of the stack of luggage. Who wants crushed luggage, squished bath products, and wrinkled clothing?”

» Buy comfy heels, because Oprah says so. “Prepare to be Oprahsuaded that you NEED a new pair of shoes.   Gordon Thompson III, Executive Vice President/Creative Director of Cole Haan will be on air explaining the inspiration and design behind the state of the art high heel, the Nike Air Dress Collection,” which includes these Cole Haan Collection ‘Afina Air’ Pumps.

Fella fashion blogger Lesley Scott is the “New York City-based Editor-in-Chief & Publisher of Fashiontribes.com, five fashion & lifestyle magazines customized by fashion personality or ‘tribe’, a daily blog, podcast, and even the occasional videoblog.” Podcasting daily for the Podcaster News network about the fashion industry, penning a weekly column for the Fashion Designers section of Suite 101,and Blog Editor-at-Large for Glam.com, a popular online fashion & shopping media site with an extensive network of influential fashion, beauty, lifestyle & celebrity blogs —

She must drink as many soy lattes as I do.

Check Fashion Tribes’ shopcast here, and read on as I play Q&A with Lesley.

...continued: Q&A with Lesley Scott, Fashion Tribes Editor

If you gloss over fashion blogs, you know Shiny Media and its bevvy of bloggettes  - Shoewawa, The Bag Lady,  Catwalk Queen, Trashionista, Kiss and Makeup - are like the Oprah of beauty/fashion blogging: more than dictating ice cool vogue, they’re girlfriends who want to dish with you.

So I had to dish with Gemma Cartwright - shopcast here - “fashion editor for Shiny Media, Europe’s leading new media publishers.” Gemma Cartright “joined Shiny in 2004 to launch Shoewawa.com and now look after and write for most of our women’s titles. I also help present Shiny TV and the One Minute Reviews, and spend lots of time surfing the web for new ideas, new writers and interesting stuff!” 

...continued: Q&A with Gemma Cartwright, Fashion Editor of Shiny Media

I’ve rocked black eyeshadow so long I don’t think my mother would recognize me without my smoky eyes, and Chanel black satin nail polish is the color of the season.

Reasons enough to swim through a black sea of makeup. 

...continued: A Pinch Goth, A Touch Glam: Black Makeup

Blogger extraordanaire bookofjoe turns fashion critic:

“The third-seeded Russian blew out Michaella Krajicek (6-3, 6-0) in less than an hour while prancing around “in a beaded black sheath [with matching hair bow] she said was inspired by Audrey Hepburn in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ (below).”

I thought Sharapova’s outfit looked kind of cheesy and tacky, more reminiscent of a patron of the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine in “Star Wars” than Audrey Hepburn.

The two-inch high horizontal black strap across her open back just didn’t cut it.

But hey, that’s just my take.”

Perhaps he’d prefer ThisNext’s selection of women’s workout clothes.

Fashion blog Phoebe Says says:

“Frye boots (or ones like them), to me, are a seasonless staple in a girl’s closet. They can easily be paired with jeans, long skirts, short skirts, shorts, and honestly, most types of bottoms. The Austin Cut Out style from Shopbop are splendidly on sale.”

KRiSTOPHER says:

“Someone has splendid taste, and should totally be shopcasting.”

Famed Los Angeles vintage boutique Decades Inc. has just launched a blog, largely covering their collection -

Think Hermes Birkin bags, vintage Versace, Nelly Furtado’s Decades dress she wore to the Teen Choice Awards, and -

Reworked vintage mink.

Ooh la love.

Feeling a little overfed on all this post-coke Kate Moss mania?

We can dig it, especially since ThisNext is all about discovering the fresh.

Check COACD - Confessions of a Casting Director is a blog on up-and-coming models and break out faces and even new designers:

“The stylists are loving this one. I helped out on the S/S 07 lookbook! Keep an eye out on Valentine, this up and coming designer is a name to remember.”

Blog On the Cusp is just that - it’s the blog for Cusp boutiques and it’s a blog on the cusp of fashion, digging up news on “the front lines of fashion and shopping trends” instead swimming in stale style.

And if they have an post about old Posh and Becks’ latest celeb scent, at least it’s honest:

“We’re not sure how it smells

- But anything with David Beckham’s photo on it is certainly worth a try.”

We might think skinny jeans were created by the Devil to torment petite and curvy girls.

Rachel Bilson discovered looking chic, via I Adore Style.

Our Aunt Beep is a fabulous and famous Los Angeles blogger. Tell you something you don’t know? How about that About.com agrees, and named her one of L.A.’s top 8 Social Lifestyle and Celebrity Gossip sites. A flattered Beep had this to say, “How delighted are we to be included in the ranks of such super-bloggers as Defamer, Fishbowl LA, Totally Unauthorized and Curbed LA?”

Beep keeps such posh company! We’re lucky she’ll still gracing the ThisNext Show-and-Tell blog with her eagle eye for great shopcasting.

Shopcasters are shopcasters are shopcasters, by any other name.

Including “Urbanista.”

“Once upon a time there was a group of six girls all living in New York City who spent countless hours asking each other for recommendations, such as “Where should I go to get my Marc Jacobs shoes re-heeled?” or “Does anyone know the best place to get a really great haircut?” After all, it only makes sense: a hip gal is totally going to trust her besties’ advice over Google. That’s when two of these girls got the idea to start Urbanista Online—a rolodex of the top places in New York that will help an urban fashionista fulfill her most basic needs, from furnishing her apartment, to finding an eye doctor, to getting those perfect arches.

In March 2006, the two girls sent out a questionnaire to all of their chicest friends, and suddenly they had over 1,000 recommendations from New York City trendsetters and tastemakers. You need to get the sole of you shoe replaced? A shoe designer told them where to go. You want to be blond? They got hair-coloring advice from a beauty editor. You need to get your jeans hemmed or your Theory suit dry cleaned? A fashion assistant let them in on her secrets. The two girls then narrowed down their list and went on a scouting trip—they wanted to be exceptionally picky as to what places made the final cut. After visiting and researching more than 400 spots, the girls now give their thumbs up to over 200 people and places (and none of the recommendations made the list by paying to be there).”

I smell a match made in heaven, shopcastanistas.

Ooh la love… Like we needed another reason to stay glued to our laptops checking blogs all day.

Posts StyleFile Blog at InStyle.com:

Hal’s Blog is Coming Soon

Hal Rubenstein, In Style’s fashion director, has been setting the trends at the magazine since 1998.

Hal has covered the Academy Awards for IN STYLE on Good Morning America as well as the syndicated entertainment news shows Extra, Entertainment Tonight and E! He has also made numerous appearances on Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The View and The Today Show. Most recently, he has been a fashion correspondent for New York’s Metro TV.

Thanks for the tip, Fashionalities.

Rock these white sneaks with a suit and we’re afraid you’ll no longer be making a statement.

Or at least the statement you’ll make will be more “I’m super chic” (only phrased much more masculinely and carelessly) versus the opposite thereof.

Bloggers find the darnedest things.

Discovered via SlamXHype.

…Our mission statement would read something like:

EAR FARM hosts MP3s in hopes of helping others discover great music.

Go ahead and replace “hosts MP3s” with “shopcasts” and “music” with “products,” and you’ve pretty much got us pegged.

You might have done the splattered with cartoons, coated with plastic diaper bag.

But if we and ShopCrazy have our way, you’ll tote baby gear a lot more chic, inside and out.

Says ShopCrazy about Baby Couture Diaper Bags:

“Each Baby Couture diaper bag comes with a coordinating changing mat, amenities bag, internal waterproof pockets, key holder, and an exclusive Eiffel Tower Couture bag charm.”

Shopcasting network seeks shopcasters for private beta.

Writes Meg’s Make-up Reviews:

Dear make-up enthusiasts

I think it is so difficult to find actual, unbiased user reviews on beauty products. I have started this blog to help. What works? What doesn’t? What smells great? What reeks? I am in a group of friends (all self-confessed beauty junkies) who love makeup who discuss this constantly. Our opinions are based on years of buying anything and everything that is packaged cute and promises eternal youth. The opinions are taken from my pals that mostly reside in New York and Los Angeles (the capitals of “packaged cute” and “eternal youth”). We will buy beauty products before food. I started this site to share our opinions and give you a way to share yours!!

Sincerely,
Meg

You’re in.

Why we love bloggers, reason #23456786598798778/9789789782348:

Bloggers like Fashion-Incubator offer up criticism on why your product might be a target for getting knocked off, gossip on the next president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and tidbits on marketing to infovores:

“The reason some people may become info-junkies is related to brain chemistry. In a summary released yesterday, neuroscientist Irving Biederman proposes that the moment of epiphany causes a release of endorphins in the brain, meaning that one’s ‘thirst for knowledge’ may be closer to an opium craving.”

Ooh la love.

I think Fashion-Incubator just gave me a braingasm.