Because I am a materialistic whore, I just have to buy as much as possible; further putting me in debt — but all my purchases have ulterior motives: 1.) Makes me look good and we all know that material things boosts sense of self and 2.) Wearing major labels and/or purchasing the latest piece of technology (especially in the SF Bay Area) serves as a shameless status marker.

This brings me to the two purchases I have been juggling: an Ann Demeulemeester shirt from Gilt Groupe (which goes off the market on March 16 — if you want a highly sought after membership to Gilt Groupe, click here) or the “not really an upgrade” iPad 2.

I don’t need either. I am just a material girl living in a material world.

Nonetheless, I was going to purchase the iPad 2 on Friday but dumbly underestimated the long-ass line in front of the Apple store in downtown San Francisco. I attempted to purchase one on Saturday only to find that they were sold-out — but I did score some Girl Scout Cookies from some GS dealers that smartly set up camp in front of the store.

I shouldn’t have been surprised by any of this. Perhaps I should have taken that as a sign from a higher power that I shouldn’t buy the iPad 2 — but I don’t really think that should stop me.

As for the option of purchasing the Demeulemeester top, I need to add to my collection of pieces by the Antwerp Six. Actually, I only have pieces by Walter Van Beirendonck so more of the “Six” is desirable.

I really appreciate the art and novelty of these pieces, but let’s face it — it’s all about the label. And I am a label whore.

So what do you think? iPad 2 or Demeulemeester shirt? Or both?

I am open to your advice.

Remember last night on the Golden Globes when Jim Parsons won for Best Actor for his role in The Big Bang Theory? Remember when his co-star Kaley Cuoco presented him with the award and was genuinely proud and excited for him? (I am getting somewhere with this) And remember that too-perfect-of-a-man that presented with her? Well that dreamy dude is the under-the-radar swoon-worthy Matt Bomer from the USA Network’s (Characters Welcome) show, White Collar.

If you want to achieve a certain sense White Collar dapperness you might want to check out the free Brooks Brothers shirt (white collared of course) giveaway and other [amazon_link id="B003CN5B6K" target="_blank" ]White Collar[/amazon_link]-inspired accouterment (including men’s and women’s wear as well as chances to dine and drink at hip New York spots) starting on Wednesday, January 19 at 12 p.m. EST on Gilt Groupe — but you better sign on quick because the sale, true to Gilt form, last for only 36 hours. And side note: the free shirts are for a limited time only.

To hook yourself up with a no-wait Gilt Groupe membership click here and knock yourself out.

Tell them Dino-Ray sent you. They’ll treat ya real good.

And P.S. Kelly Kapowski — er, I mean — Tiffani Thiessen is on White Collar!

Lucky for me, I found a pair of April 77 waxed cotton pants on sale at the Barneys CO-OP while on a a visit to Houston’s monstrous Galleria mall. I thought I was victorious — until yesterday.

Whilst doing laundry and rearranging my closet, I discovered that my pair of April 77s has a hole in the inner thigh area of the pants. This is the result of one of the following:

1.) I wear them way too damn much.
2.) April 77′s fabric quality isn’t up to par.
3.) My thighs excessively rub together while walking.
4.) I have fat, ham hock-worthy thighs.
5.) I’ve been dropping it like it’s hot way too much.
6.) All of the above.

Whatever the answer, I am on the hunt for new treated denim and/or pants and I am open for suggestions. At the same time, I loathe shopping for pants because my dwarfy self needs to get them hemmed all the time.

To begin my quest, I shall go to Barneys in San Francisco to hunt for the perfect pair of waxy denim.

I don’t know what the appeal is about treated fabric. More than that, I don’t know why in the hell I want to wear wax on my legs. I guess I want to make the illusion that my legs are candlesticks — kind of like Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast.

I must confess that while wearing the waxed April 77s, there was a faint scent of burnt rubber while I walked. I guess my thighs were excessively rubbing together.

I’ve been there a couple of times on my trips to New York, but never bought anything — mainly because the timing wasn’t right. Payday never landed on the day I visited the store.

But that’s another story. Check out the cool flyer:

Here is the 4-1-1:

WHAT? A.OK + The Seventh Heart Pop-up Shop. The event will also include
music, a selection of limited edition T shirts exclusively produced for the event and an after party at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge (133 Turk St.)

WHEN? 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday, April 29

WHERE? 1592 Market St., San Francisco

So if things that end in “-ISCO” are “A.OK,” then Crisco is a suitable snack food, right?

OAK NYC [Official Website]

Today at work, I stepped out for a little ciggy break and saw this near New Montgomery and Howard. No, it’s not the car passing by — it’s the window further in the distance. Apparently there is a James Perse sample sale starting April 23 continuing through the 25.

I scoured the net to find more info on this sale – but I couldn’t find anything. Are they trying to keep this thing on the downlow?

Nonetheless, they were really smart to open this near the Academy of Art University building that has the most fashion classes. The students and instructors will be eating up all the discounted buttery cotton goodies James Perse has to offer. Be prepared to ward off aggressively competitive shoppers. I would bring a taser if were you. Maybe even mace. Or a sword. Maybe even a machete.

A guy raises his newly purchased iPad as if it were a 10 Commandments tablet. (Photo credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

On April 3, gaggles of people flocked to Apple stores all over the world for the new iPad. It was as if Apple was selling locks of Justin Bieber hair.

I, on the other hand, opted against the iPad and purchased a pair of Florsheim by Duckie Brown laceless wingtips at Gimme Shoes in Hayes Valley.

I admit that I was tempted to buy an iPad, but after careful debate, I thought a pair of shoes would be more sensible purchase because:

1.) I won’t have to buy a better version of these shoes in 6 months.

2.) My shoes actually have “flash” – figuratively speaking.

3.) I’ve been waiting longer for these special edition shoes by Duckie Brown to come to San Francisco.

4.) These shoes are more versatile. I can dress them up or dress them down. If I carry the iPad everywhere, I will look like I am on the Starship Enterprise. That’s not the look I am going for.

5.) My shoes are not named after a feminine hygiene product. Instead, they have a name of a John Hughes character.

6.) I just look really good in them.

This doesn’t mean that I won’t by an iPad in the future.

But this is not the first time the Pac-Man gazed over our city like brown-hued Zeus. He was also there a couple of months ago:

How brooding and menacing. It looks like he is ready to kick some ass.

As soon as I saw him in that special edition N98 Nike track jacket with the gold embroidered MP with the trademark Filipino sun (similar to the one he’s wearing in the first pic), I wanted it. I am a sucker for celebrity endorsement. Besides that, I thought I would look really good in it. It would make me look athletic.

It just so happened after work yesterday, my friend Steve texted me and asked if I wanted to meet him at Nike Town. So I thought it would be a good time to buy the jacket.

Finding a size small in any retail store in San Francisco is a difficult task – mainly because nearly every guy here wants a snug fit shirt or jacket to show off their pecs and the sensitivity of their nipples. I just want a small because it fits my puny build. As expected, they did not have my size so it was a colossal fail for me.

In fact, the Janeane Garofalo look-alike salesperson said that the jackets have been selling like crazy and they didn’t even get a shipment of smalls.

As for Steve, he was politely fighting for the last medium jacket with this too-friendly-of-a-guy who was on the phone with his friend asking him if he wanted the said medium jacket. He was a diehard fan. He was walking around in the special edition Nike Pacquiao shoes (which he hadn’t even purchased yet) and was going back-and-forth on whether or not the jacket would fit his friend on the phone.

Steve said, “If your friend doesn’t want it, I’ll take it.”

Diehard Pac-Fan said, “Yeah, I don’t think it will fit him – you want to try it on?”

Steve tried it on and it fit better than the large.

Diehard Pac-Fan said, “It fits you well.”

Steve said, “Yeah, it does.”

Diehard Pac-Fan took the jacket back and continued to talk to his friend. He even brought us over to show us the the Nike shoebox for the special edition kicks. He was getting really excited because the shoebox had an eagle on it.

Steve and I continued to shop and Diehard Pac-Fan came back to us and said “The jacket has a small stain. You want it?”

There was a tiny little black mark near the golden MP on the chest.

“I’ll take it!” Steve said. “I can get rid of the stain – it’s no problem.”

Still on the phone, Diehard Pac-Fan looked at us and then went back to his phone conversation telling his friend on the other end, “Oh- you can easily get rid of the stain.”

He walked off and made his purchases as Steve said, “What a tease!”

Being insistent on finding another medium, Steve asked another employee to see if they had anything in the back. Janeane Garofalo look alike said that there weren’t any more, but he wanted a second opinion.

Lo and behold, the Dave Chappelle look alike came back to us 10 minutes later and said, “This is the LAST medium!” and handed it over to Steve.

He got the unstained one, while Diehard Pac-Fan got the flawed one.

Busted him.

Steve got what he wanted and I had to settle for a $28 T shirt.

Moral of the story: Pacquiao is really watching over us.

Man Up is a pop up store started by the Durable Goods Concern to make all the folks in San Francisco aware that there are some menswear designers that can make it hot.

The three-day event will include designers such as Taylor Stitch, AB Fits, Pierrepont, Union Made GoodsPaul’s Hat Works, Xetum watches and a whole onslaught of others.

Plus they made a really cool video for the ordeal:

To sweeten the deal even more, they are having a contest where you can win a pair of Dope & Drakkar x AB Fits 1198 raw selvage jeans.

Hmmm. Drakkar? As in Drakkar Noir? Now that’s throwback.

Nonetheless, you can enter here if ya want to win.

The pop up store will set up shop at 1035 Market St. Drop in on Friday from 3 to 9 pm, Saturday 11 am-7 pm, Sunday 11 am-6 pm. For more deets visit www.sfmanup.com. You can follow them on Twitter too!

[via 7x7 Glamwatch and SFIndieFashion.com]

Now MAC isn’t your normal San Francisco store. It is the ultimate destination for label whores like myself. It’s kind of like a Barneys but a lot less corporate and a lot more counterculture. It where all the cool kids go to spend their rent money.

Anyways, they are an sartorially avant-gasmic goldmine when it comes to labels – particularly designers who rolled with the Antwerp Six: Dries Van Noten, Martin Margiela and, of course, Walter Van Beirendonck. In fact, they are one of two stores in the nation that carry Walter’s conceptual garb that gleefully violates runway.

His items are brilliant and delightfully offensive. Seeing his pieces gets me excited and actually makes me enjoy fashion rather than criticize it. It’s – and I don’t know if this is appropriate – euphoric and child-like. We’ve been working on a story for him in our magazine, so I have been intrigued about his work.

The store had a gaggle of items on sale from his Fall 2009 Glow collection. So while Cheryl ravaged the racks of Margiela, I violated the racks of Beirendonck and ended up getting this:

Yes, that’s a naked little man (or woman, depending on how you look at it) on the scarf. It epitomizes Walter’s playfully exhibitionist aesthetic – but that’s not his entire aesthetic. His style is provocatively sci-fi and very irreverent. In a nutshell, he has an anti-fashion appeal.

Anyways, people don’t really notice it until you point it out – which is what I did all day. I walked around my office (and to random people on the street) saying, “LOOK! MY SCARF HAS A PENIS!”.

Thus far, it is my best purchase from a winter sale.

I need a pair of leather gloves. And I need them now.

I have been on this search for a while and I still haven’t found a pair that fits me like – well – a glove. Either they are too loose, too tight or are just plain ugly. I want a pair of sleek gloves that are sleek, modern and give the slightest hint of O.J.

I don’t want a pair of fingerless driving gloves similar to those of Karl Lagerfeld. For one, I find fingerless gloves pointless unless you are a Pussycat Doll. Second, I don’t have a car with a wooden steering wheel that calls for a pair of gloves of the leather variety. Third, they wouldn’t keep my hands warm. Lastly, even though Lagerfeld makes them look “cool,” he just creeps me out.

To be more precise, I would like gloves like Watson’s (Jude Law) in Sherlock Holmes:

A while back I was at the Paul Smith when Scott Schuman came to our city for his book signing. After getting my book signed, I was browsing the leather glove buffet provided by the store and none of them fit me the way I wanted. I was chatting with some other event goers about my conundrum.

“I want some murderous, form fitting gloves that would make me look cool,” I said.

The gentleman I was conversing with looked out my hands and furrowed his brow and said – and I swear, he said it with a slight scoff, “You might want to look in the women’s section.”

Should I feel insulted by his comment about my abnormally dainty hands? Actually, I don’t think they are that small, but this dude made me feel hand-conscious.

And FYI – I did try on some women’s gloves and they were too small.

This leaves me with two choices: 1.) Find a person who makes custom gloves – would you call him/her a glove cobbler? or 2.) Find a protein supplement that immediately bulks up my hands.

Other suggestions are welcome.