The Metropilitan Museum to Get All Bloggy

The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is going hi-tech for its next exhibition to be titled, "blog.mode: addressing fashion" (lower-case letters intentional, like kd lang). To encourage interaction with its patrons, the museum will be installing a "blogbar" with 10 computer terminals so you can tell the curators just what you think of the show and the various individual pieces on display. That will apparently be the theme of the 40 piece show which will consist of items acquired since 2000. Curator Andrew Bolton told WWD,  "It's something we thought about for a while, observing visitors' behaviors in the different galleries of the museum...In the Costume Institute, it's always so lively and everyone has an opinion about fashion."
Well you know what they say about opinions being like a certain part of the human anatomy where the sun don't shine, but, hey, our comments are open so why shouldn't theirs be? We're not sure if the folks at the Met are aware of the potential can of worms they might open, or the possibility that if they get some of The Times' Cathy Horyn's faithful but long-winded followers, they might have a huge editing job before them, but it's their show, and we have to give them credit for trying something new. Of course, it's also way of disguising the fact that this show is a recent acquisitions survey rather than one of the museum's more cleverly themed outings. The blog will be accessible through the Met's website during the course of the show, and then select comments will be incorporated into the catalog to be published after the end of the show's run.
This blog thing might just catch on.
Blogging at the Met: Costume Institute Courts Instant Feedback (WWD)

The Shophound on RACKED: Balducci's

Photo by Krieger for RACKED
Don't miss our visit to the opulent Balducci's on RACKED.
Any excuse to grab some free samples of cheese.

The Shophound on RACKED: The Conran Shop

Photo by Krieger for RACKED
We are keeping ourselves busy here in the dog days of August. We strolled over to the far East side just for kicks, so don't miss our review of The Conran Shop on RACKED this week.

Behind The Scenes at Prada: Worse Than We Thought

We have known for a while that working for Prada in nearly any capacity can be a holy nightmare. In fact they offered to hire The Shophound for their store in Miami just over a decade ago, and we shocked ourselves by turning them down despite our devotion to the brand (Hey, it was the mid-nineties when Prada was golden - before it was everywhere). Apparently, they felt that the honor of working for Prada would compensate for the incredibly small salary they were offering. Like we were working retail for fun or something. Since then we have heard one horror story after another about goings on at all levels of the company, and now comes a scandalous first-hand report from Jezebel about life at the Prada Epicenter store in SoHo. Even after taking standard retail sales associate bitterness and disgruntlement into consideration, it's a shocking yet amusing tale.

All day long, you smile at the grayed sixtysomething rich guys as they escort their dewy faced young girlfriends into the high-tech dressing rooms for a little pre-splurge BJ action. You smile at fourteen year olds carrying handbags that could pay your rent for a semester. You smile at tourists who mistake Prada for a cultural attraction -- it did, after all, used to be the Guggenheim -- and the other tourists who mistook their fake Prada bags for real ones they could bring in for repair. And you smile as Kimora Lee Simmons DEMANDS that you furnish her with a skirt two sizes too small for her and throws a tantrum when it doesn't fit.

And that barely scratches the surface.
We still love the shoes, though.
I Work Retail: The Devil Wears Prada Because Prada Is Hell (Jezebel via RACKED)

Blog Spotlight: Face Hunter

The Shophound has been a fan of The Sartorialist for a while now, but we just recently discovered it's flip side. Face Hunter is the work of a photographer who identifes himelf as Yvan le Terrible. Yvan combs London, Paris and the other chic capitals of Europe for cutting edge dressers usually after dark at parties and clubs. While The Sartorialist is all about refined personal style, Face Hunter goes after the trendy, the experimental and the exuberant. If you want to know what they're wearing in the clubs of Geneva (and who doesn't?) this is the blog for you.

The Shophound on RACKED

Don't miss our reviews of Via Bus Stop and 202 on the new blog, RACKED, cause we know you've got plenty more time to kill until the boss comes around again.

More American Apparel Musings

If you are reading this page you won't want to miss Lucinda Rosenfeld's clever observations on American Apparel's global plans at Slate. She writes:

One recent afternoon, as I combed the racks at American Apparel, I realized that I owned a substantial portion of the collection—in 1981, at the age of 11.

An insightful essay on the controversial company's potential and potential limitations.
American Apparel Goes Global by Lucinda Rosenfeld (Slate via The Daily)

The Weekly Spree: Web Snobs From All Over

Well, it isn't always a weekly spree, but here's a round-up of what's going on on some of the other fashion blogs you should know about.

In the true spirit of the season, here's something you can do to help save a soul with a life saving transplant. [Bag Snob]

Whether you celebrate 8 days or 12, Fashiontribes finds the Top 10 best gifts that give back.

iPods, Nanos, Shuffles - it's innovation domination! Get the Top 5 iPods and iPod gift accessories at Stylehive.

Haute for the Holidays. Aesthetics + Economics offers up holiday style tips.

Wading through the fragrance counters. [Beauty Addict]

Adorable stocking stuffers. [Omiru]

Winter White is inspiring Coquette.

Looking red carpet ready for every holiday party at Stylebites.

Second City Style concludes their 12 Days of Christmas (Shopping) picks.

Christina list of beauty goodies from Santa. [eBeauty Daily]

It's a shoe bag. It's a wine caddy. It's a weekender. It's all of the above! [Styleaholics]

Boys aren't born knowing diamonds aren't a girl's only BFF, so gift yourself this clutch. [Kristopher Dukes]

The Weekly Spree: Lazy Long Weekend Edition

The Shophound's friend Trisha at Omiru: Style For All and BlogHer has tirelessly compiled links for the curious Holiday Shopper which we, still in our lazy turkey and stuffing stupor (really, turkey is just something we tolerate to get to the pie) are stealing for your surfing pleasure.

Fashiontribes spotlights ISSAC Issac Mizrahi's Newly relaunched handbag line.

Couture in the City presents Christmas Gifts fit for a Princess.

Clothes Pin rounds up the best Eco Friendly gifts under $200 including Mi-Spa Essentials Gift Set for $30.50.

Second City Style chooses the Best Beauty Products for the Holidays.

Fabsugar picks Mustela Stretch Mark cream ($34.50) as THE gift for the mommy-to-be. (perhaps for a mommy-to-be that you are very close with)

She Finds curates a Soon to be Sold Out guide to what's hot this holiday season so you can get a head start on figuring out alternatives..

Papierblog is lusting after Shelly Steffee’s Black Trench from her Fall 06 collection.

Kristopher Dukes recommends buying a brass Louis Vuitton key chain/business card holder ($210) for the man in your life.

The It Lists focuses on tortiseshell trends, and we always appreciate any excuse to buy a new pair of sunglasses.

The Weekly Spree

It looks like a stormy weekend coming up, so cocoon yourself in front of your computer and amuse yourself with some of these stories that our friend Trisha from BlogHer and Omiru: Style For All has collected:

Lesley from Fashiontribes has been to the Premiere Classe Accessories Show and reports back on the key trends.

Couture In The City gets ready for winter with the latest boots.

Kristofer Dukes is enchanted by an over-the-knee Versace boot . Shades of Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada.

Fabsugar gives you the latest version of that perennial favorite, the smoky eye.

Style Bytes goes flapper-crazy for the 20's shift.

Second City Style tells us where to shop and what to buy in Paris (that's the city, not the person).

Clothes Pin introduces us to Thea Grant, a husband and wife team creating gorgeous jewelry from all sorts of found objects.

Papierblog previews the upcoming Viktor & Rolf collection at H&M, debuting November 9, less tan 2 weeks away! Get in line early.

All those years we thought Paris Vogue was the last word, and then they go and put Paris Hilton on the cover! Naturally The Fug Girls have something to say about it.

And finally, Omiru: Style For All creates the perfect Marie Antoinette costume for your rocking Halloween Party this weekend.

Happy surfing!