Aug 27, 2011 | Fashion
Remember those embellished Miu Miu flats from last Fall? This morning, I checked the sales at Ideeli.com and was surprised to see an eerily similar Penny Loves Kenny ballet flat in their “Flawless Flats” sale.
I shared a DIY of those gorgeous Miu Miu rhinestone-embellished A/W 2010 ballet flats back in March of this year. The rhinestones, the bow, the beading, the contrast metallic toe – it’s spectacular!! Apparently, Penny Loves Kenny thought so too…and these flats are a pretty good lookalike, and a great bargain at only 10% of the price of the originals.
Detail shot of the Penny Loves Kenny version.
If you don’t feel like DIY’ing, you can always just buy this version – and if you get it at Ideeli, they’re on sale for $39.
And if you’re not a member of Ideeli already, you can get on in the sale action with my invite here.
What do you guys think about this? I think it’s pretty obvious that the lower-priced version is…well, let’s just say it…a blatant knockoff of the Miu Miu design. Sure there are some dissimilarities, but it’s more similar than dissimilar, if that makes any sense.
Is this okay? Would you buy it? Should Miu Miu slap Penny Loves Kenny with a lawsuit? Discuss!
xoxox
Carly
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Jun 25, 2011 | Fashion
Miu Miu Spring 2011 RTW, photo: Monica Feudi / GoRunway.com vs. Kaena Point Indigo Blue Dress, $49, Lulu.com
I loved the scalloping detail in Miu MIu’s Spring RTW collection this year. Apparently someone else did too.;-) Thanks to Lulus.com, we can all now own the scalloped-edge dress in a deep indigo, similar to what we saw at Miu Miu. (the scallop detail is covered cord in the Lulus version, whereas the Miu Miu looks like vinyl)
As a side note, I find the name of the dress amusing as Kaena Point is just beyond Hub and my favorite place in the whole wide world: where our secret beach lies at the tip of Yokohama bay on Oahu.
xoxox
Carly
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May 1, 2011 | DIY
I noticed these beautiful embellished ballet flats in my favorite Japanese magazine, Vivi, back in Winter of 2010. They’re Miu Miu, available in lovely pastel colors, and boast a pretty hefty pricetag ($745!).
I figured I could make my own lookalikes from a pair of shoes I already had. And it cost less than $15! Here’s how…
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Feb 12, 2011 | DIY
So Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week Fall 2011/12 has commenced and the shows are now well underway…and I’m following the coverage as it breaks. I’m a little sorry I can’t make it out there this time around, but there’s so much going on here I just can’t tear myself away. For now, following from a distance will just have to do…and I’m beginning to formulate some ideas for DIY’s straight off the runways for the upcoming Fall season.
However, as Spring is just around the corner here are some luxury-label pieces that have caught my eye…and that you could totally D.I.Y. Here’s the five-second rundown:
Marc Jacobs Tape Sweater
Quick How-To: Attach pieces of white sweatshirt fabric onto the front and back of a loose-knit beige sweater. Use black Duck Tape
to disguise the edges of the sweatshirt pieces (and tape another piece on the inside so it won’t stick to your skin through the loose-knit). Never wash this sweater again!
Miu Miu Tiered Lace Dress
Quick How-To: Take any mini sleeveless LBD sheath and stitch tiers of lace trim around it. (I believe this type of lace is called “Venise/Venice Lace” or “Guipure Lace.”) Sure, it’s fiddly, but it will get you exactly the same look for a whole lot less!
Coach Tangle Ball-Chain Framed Small Bag
Quick How-To: Use a small clutch purse frame that has holes in it for sewing onto your bag, and attach different types of ball chain, colored chains, oxidized chains, and rhinestone chains to the holes as you sew the bag body onto it. Alternatively, just use a clutch purse that has the style of frame you like, and attach the chains near the frame using jump rings or threading jewelry wire into the purse body to hold them on.
Quick How-To: Pick a pair of neutral pumps and add a thick layer of hot glue [gluesticks for general purpose, or for fabric/vinyl crafts if you can find it], pressing tiny shells like these and these into it before it dries. Do a single small area at a time since the hot glue dries super-fast! (Yes, this is one of the few times I will actually advocate using hot-glue in a wearable DIY! Also allowed in hair accessories and brooches.;-)
Quick How-To: Attach stick-on pyramid nailhead trim around a pair of old-school visor-style sunglasses
. Poke holes with an awl into the sides and add cone spikes through the holes.
Alexander Wang Plastic Necklace
Quick How-To: Two pieces of Crystal Clear shrink plastic, colored with a thin coat of green acrylic paint, cut into a collar-shape and attached with jump rings and chains. Easy-peasy!
Christian Dior Haute Couture Flocked Dress
Quick How-To: Take a vintage, long-sleeved dress (that’s already stiff) and add colored Craft Flock Fibers to one side of it to get this lovely textural feel. Trial and error is the name of the game!
See any brand-name items that you’re wondering how to DIY? Hit me up at carlyjcais at chic-steals dot com and lmk! I’ll include them in the next round of High-Fashion DIY’s!
xoxox
Carly
photo credits: net-a-porter.com, Fashionising.com, KeikoLynn.com, StantonJames.com, thefashionspot, wireimage.
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May 20, 2010 | By Carly J. Cais
Just messing around on Zazzle. Who didn’t love that gorgeous Miu Miu swallow-printed rhinestone-encrusted platform pump from their Spring 2010 show?
So I designed a similar black-on-baby-pink swallow print for a pair of sneakers on Zazzle. (I’ve been wanting to make a pair of custom sneaks for awhile, just the multiple layouts for the numerous parts of the shoe were pretty daunting. I gave up on matching the pattern across the seamlines, since it will be different for each size. If you have any design inclinations I urge you to try out their Keds Custom Shoes design tool! It’s really fun and the possibilities are limitless – you can customize the entire patten, as I did, or just choose color presets and the color of all the trims etc.) The shoe I chose is the Keds Women’s Lace-Up – and I’ve loaded it into my virtual store there, so anyone can buy their own pair too! I’ve set the pattern and allowed customization of the trims.
For my pair, I chose white trim, pink stitching, white laces, silver eyelets, white sole, and pink insole. Oh so many choices!
I can’t WAIT until they arrive and I can rock them out…first off, I’m switching out the laces to sparkly silver, and maybe pairing with some cuffed light blue denim shorts and a breezy, blousey white top? Or a black paperbag-waisted skirt and a chambray denim shirt? (With painted DIY Miu Miu collar, of course!)
If you’d like your own pair, they are available in my Zazzle store:
(The only bummer is custom sneaks take about 4 weeks to make. Totally worth the wait though – and they’ll arrive just as summer is upon us!)
xoxox
Carly
photo from Style.com
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