I'd say "I hate to say I told you so..." But I don't hate to say "I told you so..."

I DID tell you so. And I was RIGHT!!!!

Leggings were never a good idea. If you aren't 20 years old with a stick figure, a French accent and an art degre, forget it!!!

I'm so sorry for all my friends (JENNIFER!!!!) who already succumbed to this trend. But it was WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! And now, I've got back up.

Read it and weep!

This is from the Washington Post...so way more authority than I have...

A Trend Without a Leg to Stand On

By Robin Givhan

(c) 2006,
The Washington Post

Leggings have been touted on must-have lists as one of the surest ways for a woman to announce that she is acutely aware of this season’s fashion trends.

They identify her as someone who keeps track of hemlines and silhouettes, probably has at least one subscription to a fashion magazine and may have, upon occasion, even put her name on a waiting list for a particularly desirable handbag.

The fashion industry desperately needs this trend-conscious shopper — even as it mocks her.
Leggings — or their lighter-weight cousin, footless tights — were revived about six months ago when designers debuted their fall collections.

Right away, eager early adopters headed to the hosiery department and stocked up on footless tights to wear with their sundresses and flouncy skirts throughout the summer.
A fall runway fad had been embraced.

And for a brief time — perhaps it was on June 21, the summer solstice — leggings were cool.
By August, stores were well stocked with leggings for fall. They were prominently featured on Saks Fifth Avenue’s “Want It!” list of items that the fashionable woman should have in her fall wardrobe. Hue brand leggings were $18.

Wolford offered “velvet de luxe” opaque leggings for $38. At Barneys New York, one could buy cashmere leggings priced at $195. Prada had leggings for an unspeakable sum.

And yet, one would have been hard-pressed to find a single high-ranking fashion editor or retailer at the runway shows earlier this month wearing a pair.

A fashion director in leggings? Are you mad?By the time the fall collections had actually arrived in stores and customers began to earnestly consider grandpa cardigans, romantic blouses, wide-leg trousers and the delicate task of layering one on top of the other, industry insiders had not only ceased being charmed by leggings, they had started to gently malign them in conversation.

Why? Beyond the fact that they can be profoundly unflattering on the wrong figure, in the wrong proportions and with the wrong skirt, dress or tunic, they are also too obvious. From 50 paces they shout: TRENDY.

The problem wasn’t that the streets were clogged with women wearing footless tights, miniskirts and ballet flats. The problem was that insiders expected leggings to be omnipresent. They had been hyped as the dominant accessory of the season.

They weren’t that expensive. There were no waiting lists for just the right pair. Anyone and everyone could wear them.

Leggings aren’t a status item, not like a designer handbag, which can be prohibitively expensive, difficult to come by and especially adept in telegraphing wealth and prestige. Instead, the lure of a pair of leggings is that they allow the wearer to project an iconoclastic, bohemian style.

They are a little artsy. Quirky. But if everyone is wearing them, they’re just part of a uniform.

After a brief summer dalliance, most fashion insiders, whose livelihood depends on their ability to express personal style, elan or inventiveness, steered clear of leggings. Instead, for fall, they focused on mini-dresses, skinny jeans and platform shoes. All of which only whisper trendy.

The few who have worn leggings have done so judiciously. It looked more like duty rather than desire. One editor at the runway shows apologized for them: “I packed the wrong pair of tights!” A retailer excused herself from wearing them by saying, “Oh, I wore them the first time they were in style.”

It is always instructive to inspect the audience at runway shows. They are filled with some of the most stylish men and women anywhere (although there are also no small number of fashion victims, as well). It is intriguing to see how quickly they embrace a trend, but more telling is how fast they leave it behind. (Which designers do they tout in the pages of magazines? Balenciaga. But which do they always seem to have on? Marni.)

Trendiness can be measured by what one chooses to wear. Style is determined by what one chooses to ignore.

Went to Sandi's last night and gabbed, drank some good wine and made these little baubles.

Sandi's much more creative than I am and has much better color sense. But I have all the beads! (Plus I bring her champagne) So she puts up with my noviceness.

Anyway, we make cool stuff. But we just don't do it often enough.

Here's what we made last night. (Sandi did the elegant pearl bracelet) I regret I didn't get a snap of Sandi's "Halloween" bracelet, which was really pretty and could be worn any night of the year!

Boots, boots, boots!

Macy's was having a boot sale. Well...so...uh, we got some boots!

Serious fashion police!

This gentleman has obviously made the mistake of wearing black socks with open toes.
Let this be a lesson...

A couple of weekends ago (Oct. 14) about 1,000 friends and I got together for one of the more fashionable events in town, the mud run, otherwise known as the Volkslauf (the people's run). It's a 10k (6.2 miles) with lots of muddy Marine Corps-style obstacles thrown in - water-filled trenches, 10-foot walls, hand-over-hand ropes strung across water, and lots more.

It's the Marine Corps League's kick off for its Toys for Tots charity. So it includes a very challenging test of one's fitness and charity, two always-fashionable elements.

My running partner, Nancy, and I decided to tackle the mud run together.

Here we are at the start, lovely and mud free, and wearing basic black - always in fashion.



This is right at the start. The Cal had a couple photogs there so I basically couldn't pick my nose without someone ending up with a shot of it!




This Marine had to "instruct" me and Nancy (she's just ahead of me in this shot) as to the proper technique on this obstacle. I think he said something along the lines of, "Get on your bellies NOW! NOW! NOW!" But the screaming may have garbled some of the words.

When my pal Julio came through this one, apparently the Marine didn't like his technique either and tried to yank Julio back by his ankles. So Julio (a former Marine, who was a sniper in the first gulf war) grabbed him and wrestled with him in the mud until the Marine popped him in the mouth! My husband was standing on the sidelines watching the whole thing. DAMN! I forgot to leave Larry the camera!!

I made it across the rope ...the technique here was NOT TO FALL.

Here we are! We may not look as fresh as when we started, but we finished! 1 hour and 20 minutes. Not bad for a couple of dames who didn't train and for one (me!) who was HUNGOVER!

The END!

So Olivia and I have started simulcasting our shoe wear.
One day, we met to go shopping and had the exact same shoes on (which we'd bought at the same time at Macy's!)

I'd thought of wearing these shoes that day but figured there was NO WAY Olivia would be wearing the same shoes again...figured wrong.

But they are cute shoes.

Stop the madness! Really, the leggins must go!