

Do we Need Beautiful Soles on the Bottom of our Running Shoes?
We were browsing through the local Nike store in Scottsdale when we came across these sneakers. The soles are beautiful, like a work of art. But this is the part that hits the ground, right? Like, a million times or so for a serious runner. Do we need the soles of our shoes to be this pretty? Do we need running shoes to be pretty at all? Maybe we should just, like, run and sweat in them, and not worry so much about pretty?
Photo Credit:
AttitudeMedia

A Golden Age for Cheap Clothes
We live in a golden age of cheap clothing. This is a silk blend polo shirt from H&M, which has some remarkably cheap, and sometimes quite nice, clothing for men. This shirt is a very comfortable silk blend, and looks very nice. We own it in a couple colors.
But whether you shop at H&M, Zara, Uniglo - there is a lot of good cheap stuff out there. And as a general rule it doesn't fall apart. Yes, we have heard all the criticisms - the clothes are made with slave labor, they are not high quality, they are part of the disposable culture, blah, blah. Of these issues the only one we really care about is the labor issue. But we'd much rather provide some jobs in Bangladesh than pay for some Italian's two hour lunch break. This shirt is about $30, plus $5 for shipping and $5 for taxes, so $40 all in. Make your own value judgments.
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Too Good to be True but, in fact, True
As a general working rule, if something seems too good to be true, then it's not true. But there are exceptions. We found these belts on Amazon, advertised for $10 each. We ordered them, expecting to be disappointed. I mean, what can you get for $10 these days? But they came, looking just like they did in the photos. And they haven't fallen apart yet. How do they do it? Are they made by oppressed elves in the Republic of Low Wages? Don't know. Don't really care.
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Garment Hook with Dragon Interlace, China, 4th Century BC
The classy way for a gal to keep her dress up.
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Thomas de Keyster Painting, 1632
Can you pull off this look? Probably not. Is it timeless? No. Still, in 1632 it was the height of fashion, and black, white and gold never completely go out of style.
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Let's Spit on the Working Class!
We get it. You woke up this morning and thought "What can I do today to show the most contempt possible for those who actually have to work for a living?" And then you found the perfect solution: High top sneakers decorated with Mickey Mouse and dollar bills, and you could spend $675 for them! Perfect!
So put on your shoes, ask your phone if there's a real bar still left in Manhattan, have your driver drop you off there, and put a few hundred dollar bills on top of the bar. Then light them on fire. Or, just buy a second pair of these shoes. Same thing.
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Garland of Sacred Double Seeds, India, Early 20th Century
Truly a statement piece, but could be nice with a simple dress.
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Crazy is Okay in Small Doses
We like Opening Ceremony, which introduces new brands to the fashion world, and also has it's own branded line of clothing. They have a lot of crazy stuff, which sometimes works, and often does not. Let's take this outfit, a sweatshirt and shorts. If you happen to be in a punk rock band trying to go upscale, this look might work. But not for anyone else. However, if you wore just the top, with faded jeans, or just the shorts, with a white Hanes tee shirt, that could rock. The old rule is one fancy at a time. And that rule works with crazy as well.
As for the prices, at $415 for the sweatshirt and $245 for shorts, that's crazy too, but a different kind of crazy.
Pick your crazy carefully.
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AIRism, a Great Fabric Innovation from Uniqlo
AIRism is a quick drying polyester spandex blend that makes for a great workout tee shirt. It looks good- kinda shiny, and it drys very quickly when you're working out. Overall, our favorite work out tee, and we've tried a lot. And it's cheap, like everything from Uniqlo. Just make sure you're ordering the right one - you have to really go out of your way on their web site to figure out what you want among their vast array of products.
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Photo Credit:
http://www.uniqlo.com/