Someone want to buy me this?

I love this dress.

I know they're "so over" but I love Herve Leger's bandage dresses. They're the perfect balance of sexy and chic.

Yesterday while at BCBG I tried on a plain bandage dress, but it just wasn't the same as this number at left. I should rock dresses like this while I still have a young, curvy body.

Someone want to buy it for me? It's only a grand and some change...

ANTM gets a credibility boost

I can't remember the last time I watched America's Next Top Model regularly (I think it was the Melrose/Jade cycle... classic television) but I know why I haven't: it blows.

If reruns of the first season on Oxygen have taught me anything, it's that the show now sucks because it's lost touch with its somewhat realistic, somewhat credible roots.

On the first season, they went to Paris, lived in a tiny model apartment there, did photo-shoot challenges reminiscent of the real fashion world, and had much more one-on-one time with Tyra. (Project Runway has gone through a similar progression of becoming less realistic and credible, but that's a story for another day). In recent cycles, Tyra relies on gimmick to garner audiences (like the short model cycle where every girl was under 5'4").

But America's Next Top Model will be getting a Vogue boost in coming seasons with the addition of Andre Leon Talley as a judge. Talley, Vogue's Editor-at-Large, will bring the perspective of a credible fashion expert to the show and also a dynamic shot of quirky personality.

Maybe I'll be watching this time around.

Fun Superbowl ads

I don't really care for football, but I love the advertisements from the Superbowl. It's a nice tradition to have companies compete for the best ad possible and it always brings about some fun results. I spent this morning online watching some and was a little disappointed to find there weren't many stellar ads this year. Nonetheless here are some of my favorites for your viewing pleasure:

Dove for Men

Career Builder - Casual Fridays

E-Trade - Baby's Girlfriend

Bud Light - "Lost" Parody

Bud Light - Lost Parody | Viral/Other | SPIKE.com

Snickers - Betty White (Who doesn't love Betty White?)

Doritos - "Keep your hands off my Mama"

I'm a hopeless romantic.

I love this Superbowl ad:

Using Greek leadership on a resume

While building my resume, I've hit one roadblock: how to express how valuable my experiences in Greek leadership have been without making them sound trivial. When I say I was the Social Chair of my sorority, I expect employers to write the role off as that of a silly sorority girl, when in reality I've gained valuable professional experience communicating with vendors, handling risk management, and overseeing a huge budget.

So how does one communicate the experience of Greek leadership to sound applicable for the job market? A post on the blog Sweet Careers offers some great resume phrases to help us Greeks out:

• Oversaw $___ budget; coordinated with President in allocating funds responsibly throughout the academic year
• Organized several philanthropic events, both on campus and in community, successfully raising over $___ for local charities
• Served as a member of the chapter's Discipline Committee
• Participated in diversity and cultural sensitivity training
• Oversaw and executed recruitment process; created public relations plan for the year and successfully increased recruitment quota from ___ to ___
• Collaborated with membership chairs of other sororities to coordinate recruitment process
• Used Java and MyZQL to develop a voting system to enable members to anonymously vote on fraternity business
• Redesigned fraternity's website using PHP and Flashing resulting in ___% increase in web traffic
• Ensured that all standing rules and bylaws, as well as national rules, were adhered to consistently

These are obviously just examples, and they should be changed and tailored to fit your own experiences and roles in the chapter. Start thinking about all that your leadership role entails and how that can translate to the business world; then put it on your resume!

UC: Best Online Textbook Rentals

Tired of that hefty bookstore bill each semester? Consider renting your textbooks from an online service. For University Chic, I determined which site gave you the best bang for your buck:

Between the costs of tuition, room and board, books, a computer, and the ever-essential daily Starbucks run, it’s expensive to be a college student these days. And we’re in a recession. Good timing, right? Now more than ever, it’s important for students to watch their wallet and look for ways to save (ideally without sacrificing that morning Venti).

Enter online book rental services. Everyone complains about trips to the crowded bookstore for overpriced textbooks, but now there’s an easy alternative: You can rent all the textbooks you need online for much less than the cost of buying them. Comparing Chegg.com, CollegeBookRenter.com, and CampusBookRentals.com, I set out to determine which online textbook rental service offered the best bang for your buck.

Initially, I thought CampusBookRentals.com was the clear winner: They offer rentals per semester (130 days), per quarter (85 days), or for the summer (55 days), each with a 15-day grace period in case you need a little extra time with your book; books are shipped to you for free and come with pre-paid envelopes so you can ship them back for free too; and each rental has a 30-day risk-free period, which is handy in case you drop a class and need to send that book back. Also, if you need to take the class again, you can easily re-rent and get 30% off the original rental price.

But then I discovered one big problem with CampusBookRentals.com…every textbook I searched for was out of stock! For the sake of fair comparison, I planned to compare the rental prices of three identical books from each service. But I couldn’t compare the prices because the first several I searched for on CampusBookRentals.com were MIA. After ten searches with no luck, I gave up on CampusBookRentals.com.

Perhaps there’s a reason Chegg.com is number one in online textbook rentals - every book I searched for was available (annd at reasonable rental prices to boot). Though Chegg.com lacks a few of CampusBookRentals.com’s benefits (like the grace period and re-rental discount), it makes up for it with its inventory. While the prices on CollegeBookRenters.com were a few dollars less for the books I needed this semester, they don’t offer the 30 day “any reason” guarantee, or the promise to plant a tree for each book you rent or sell like Chegg.com does.

By renting three books (Everything’s an Argument, Textiles, and The Science of Psychology) on Chegg.com instead of buying them, I would save $238.56 (renting the books for $87.72 instead of paying $326.28 to buy them). Imagine all the coffee you could buy with that extra cash (not to mention all the freetime you'll have, what with not having to wait in line for half a day just to find out that book you paid $150 for is now only worth $15 bucks).

Gross ingredients in fake perfume

According to an article from Good Morning America, you could be getting more than you bargain for when buying counterfeit perfumes.

Studies on fake fragrances found that some contain urine, bacteria, and antifreeze!

Obviously this is gross, but it's also dangerous since you spray this stuff on your body in sensitive spots like the neck, and it's absorbed into your skin.

Don't fall for buying hugely discounted perfumes and colognes online, at mall kiosks, shady places like New York's Canal Street, or generally any store that isn't a licensed and reputable dealer of beauty products (like department stores and beauty stores are).

You probably don't want a side of urine with that spritz of Chanel.

Celebrities paid to sit front row!

I would sell a kidney to sit front row at New York Fashion Week.

Celebrities, who make millions on top of getting innumerable amounts of free swag, are paid to sit front row at some shows. The injustice!

Fashionista.com released an insider's list of the going rates:

A-List
Rihanna ($100,000 or more)
Beyonce ($80,000-$100,000)
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen ($80,000 each)
Julianne Moore ($60,000)
Maggie Gyllanhal ($60,000)
Chloe Sevigny ($60,000 or more)
Jennifer Lopez (circa 2005: $80,000; circa 2010: $30,000)
Lindsay Lohan (circa 2006: $60,000; circa 2010; UNINVITED)
Colin Firth (pre-A Single Man: $5,000; post-A Single Man: $15,000)

B-List
Blake Lively ($50,000)
Leighton Meester ($40,000)
Hillary Duff ($40,000)
Other Gossip Girl cast members ($25,000 a piece)
Jared Leto ($25,000)
Cliven Owen ($10,000)
Kristen Bell (unpaid, but airfare, makeup and clothing are taken care of)

C-List
Kim Kardashian ($35,000-$50,000)
Amanda Bynes ($25,000-$30,000)
Eliza Dushku (unpaid, but airfare, makeup and clothing are taken care of)

D-List
Paris Hilton (free or UNINVITED)
Jersey Shore cast (UNINVITED)
America’s Next Top Model Winners (free)

So celebrities respond to tweets?

I usually tweet from my private account, so I when I mention or mock the famous, there's no response.

But I discovered today when I tweet from @accordingtoali and mention say Kelly Cutrone or Nick Jonas, they might say something back. This makes badmouthing significantly more awkward.

AccordingtoAli

Why Is Every Word Capitalized? RT @MrNJJonas Wii Music Is A Great Way For Anyone Who Cant Play An Instrument To Get Into Music

MrNJJonas

@AccordingtoAli Im Unique! HaHaHa

AccordingtoAli No wonder Kelly Cutrone's daughter is cute- this is her dad, Ilario Calvo: http://tinyurl.com/yk6vph5 How did Kelly score such a cutie?

peoplesrev

@AccordingtoAli it pays to work hard, be smart -then it is easy to snag hot guys!!!

Who is PR icon Kelly Cutrone?

I've been fascinated with Kelly Cutrone, fashion PR extraordinaire, since first meeting her berating Lauren Conrad on The Hills. Since then she's made frequent appearances on Whitney Port-vehicle The City as well, always playing a supporting but vital role.

Now she has her own show on Bravo, chronicling the inner-workings of her PR firm People's Revolution. Fashionista.com called Kell On Earth the most realistic depiction of the fashion industry to be seen on reality TV yet, which is perhaps why a few people I've talked to didn't like it. They were expecting glamour and instead were faced with Kelly, in her unwashed hair, disheveled clothing, no make-up glory.

The revelation on the show that Cutrone has a daughter made me realize that (a) she's not the Power Lesbian I always assumed she was and (b) there's a lot I don't know about her. And so the googling began...

• She came to New York at 21 from Syracuse, where she was raised.
• She immediately met writer Anthony Haden-Guest and moved into his apartment. Through Haden-Guest, she was hired as the assistant of famous publicist Susan Blond.
• At 22, she married Andy Warhol protege Ronnie Cutrone. He described her at that age as "wild, ambitious, volatile, sexual. Sex and the City looks like a ridiculous joke compared to what Kelly was!"
• By her 20s, she was one-half of the successful PR company Cutrone & Weinberg. Her partner Jason Weinberg was a former Blond intern and now is a prominent talent manager in LA.
• She was unhappy with the company, and used drugs to keep up with her lifestyle. She sold her half of the biz to Weinberg and moved west.
• For a year and a half, she was a tarot card reader on Venice Beach. No joke.
• She had a short-lived record deal with Atlantic based on a demo of her chanting over a friend's band's "groove"
• She was married a second time, to an actor.
• The father of her 7-year-old daughter Ava is Ilario Calvo, an Italian she met in Paris. They broke up three months into her pregnancy.
• For several years, she's been dating music producer Jimmy Boyle, who lives in LA.
• At the time of the article I found, an Argentinean male model she discovered in Mexico City was living with her and her daughter in Soho, along with a 7-year-old Native-American girl who is the granddaughter of former boyfriend and Native-American activisit John Trudell (who also happened to be dating Angelina Jolie's mother at the time of her death). What an odd household!
• She meditates daily and consults a yogi every Saturday at midnight.

Suffice to say, she's lived quite an interesting life.

Source: "Dark Angel of the Hills"