It’s been a hard year. Your brain is overloaded with numbers sporting nasty minus signs, your hair missed its 6 week appointment about 3 weeks back, and your skin desperately needs it to choose a season already. As if your current state isn’t dull enough, you look around to see that you are actually outshining all of your loved ones. You feel badly for them. But it’s Christmas and Hanukkah and stuff, so you decide it’s time for everyone on your list to get their glow on and start 2010 shining brightly.

For your visiting bff: Gilt.com is offering Equinox spa specials on massages, facials, training sessions and more. Each purchase includes a 3-day trial membership where out of town visitors or you (because oh, you forgot, you canceled your gym membership in April) can take advantage of the gym, classes, steam room and more starting at just 100 bones.

For your niece: Fourteen year-olds aren’t stressed! Save the massage for yourself and visit blissworld.com. There you can customize a gift box of goodies for your loved ones. Choose from staples like body scrubs and lotions or these way cool hair removal strips. Spend $25 and you get…free shipping! Your niece loves her smooth upper lip, you love the black numbers in your checking account.

For him: Your brother - Head downtown to Freeman’s Sporting Club where you can give him a $25 trim, $40 straight razor shave or a $25 hangover treatment. You don’t know what that is, but it sounds cool.  Your brother-in-law (why do you always pick him?) - Choose John Allan’s because he might be eaten by anorexic hipsters if you send him searching for Freeman Alley. A “Full Service” includes a scalp massage, shampoo, condition, hot towel, manicure and shoe shine. Your sister will thank you.

And if you have any scrilla left over, buy something for yourself something to get your shine on. Glow on sista. Glow on.
Emma Dinzebach

We worried all summer, pairing denim cut-off with Hanes t-shirts. But it’s almost fall (thank god), and while we still have one eye on our 401(k)s while other is ravishing the September Issue. Fall RTW runways offered a mix bag of Russian style blazers and trousers, 80’s inspired…um, everything, sexy mini dresses with over-the-knee-boots, pinstripes and camel hair. So what, you ask, is a girl to wear? TVC consulted two of fashions leading trend-reporters - Style.com and Elle - to bring you the very best this season has to offer.

Break out your leather bomber. The return of the biker brigade has us contemplating faux tattoos and squeezing ourselves into skinny liquid leggings, black jeans and leather pants again this fall. There was no discrepancy that the recurring coat is back and once again, paired with everything and anything in your closet. Our advice: save. Sure there are newer, shinier bombers with more zippers and varying sleeve lengths, but we needn’t spend where we can save. Recycle last year’s and treat it kindly as you’ll need it in autumns to come.

Fur. Both expert sources site fur as a RTW staple scene this fall. Great; if there is one thing we actually cannot afford, it’s fur. Faux fur is a good alternative, but unfortunately, much difficulty lies in finding a quality faux piece that matches the season’s trend.  Because fur is a committed investment, choose wisely. Wisely, does not however, mean it must be traditional. The pieces you will remember - your teenage daughters will someday drool over, you’ll leave in your will - have some spice to them. Whether you find a piece with detailed leather trim or a rich unusual color, choose something a bit different. And if it doesn’t drop in your lap the first time around, wait it out. The post-holiday sales will likely, though falsely, identify these furs as one time “trend” pieces and slap the sale sticker to them faster than you can say McQueen. Bottom line: worth the splurge.
Strong shoulders. We aren’t so convinced the super-strong shoulder will be the pillar of strength experts like Style.com suggest. Here we say: save. Elle offers some reasonably priced fall trend options in their Fall Fashion Steals piece, and yes, they even have some strong-shoulder options that won’t tip over your fall fashion budget.

Leopard leggings, lace bras and boyfriend blazers. For any given outfit, aim for about 40% visibly trendy and 60% investment or statement pieces. (Above.) When you are feeling unsure about purchasing a pricey trend, shop around and you can often get nearly the same thing for less. There is no need for DVF leopard leggings when Aqua makes a similar pair for $50. Invest in a cool, well made short biker bootie, but visit Top Shop shoes for the electric blue studded platform. Paired with quality investments, lower-priced trend items become posh. And that makes you smart.

Last week I asked the guy I’m dating where he had his money saved. He isn’t from the U.S., has lived in several different countries, and assuming his funds are heavily foreign-invested, I wondered if he had fared any better than me.

“I don’t have a savings,” he replied. A loud brake-like screeching sound signaled me to halt, but I quickly reassessed the way I phrased the question.

“No I don’t mean savings account, I mean your saved money. Is it invested here or how does that work when you live so many places?” I inquired. Without turning to look at me he repeated his original response, and I had a mini heart attack.

Upon relaying the story to my brother’s girlfriend, she spoke of her friend who moved to Australia with her boyfriend.  They both had above-average jobs with above-average incomes, and all was peaches and cream until tax time came around and she discovered that he spent every dollar he earned. She, for the record, had a retirement, money market and some sort of special education savings for her unborn children’s college or herself if she decided to go to graduate school. Well, this girl had already up and moved down under, and she was in love. She ended up explaining that he needed to start saving…today. But what if you aren’t in love with someone, and find out they are a non-saver. Is the relationship worth saving?

My gut reaction said no and here’s why. I earn a meager income as a freelance writer. It’s not enough to move even though I’m jonesing for a new apartment, and sometimes I have to eat ramen noodles. (If you add garlic, red pepper flakes and a touch of paprika, they’re actually quite good.) However, I regularly add to my 401K and money market account in hopes that someday my kind father will match it and I can put a down payment on an apt for me and my pooch. Or maybe I’ll save it for a country home or a vacation or a proper education for my children. Regardless, I will have some money saved for something I value and planned for.
Lack of savings signifies lack of planning for your future. Perhaps, said beau has yet to create an image of his future and consequently cannot visualize what he would be saving for. Maybe he didn’t have years of parental heeding or tutorials on the various ways to save. But he is a smart man, and I am 99% sure that his lack of savings has more to do with his lack of intrinsic motivation and ability to delay satisfaction.

A few skipped dinners and a Saturday night in here and there really add up, and are worth considering for people who have personal goals that require money. Part of these goals might be the creation of a life or lifestyle for your future spouse and family. It doesn’t mean you are going to be married tomorrow or father a child tonight, but if eventually you would like a kid, then saving for them and your life with them is important to do now. This fellow wants a rustic beach house, five kids and to live on a ranch in Montana someday. Unless he’s holding onto some Aladdinesque fantasy, he might want to get saving.

Failure to save some scrilla in and of itself is not a dealbreaker, but lack of any direction or planned-for goals, to me, is. In the end, I realized that he doesn’t have attachment to a single material possession - not even a framed picture of his family - because it allows him to get up and move at any point. Although he has lived in New York a couple years, he hasn’t fostered a close friendship, and he has a strong aversion to the word “boyfriend.” Apparently he doesn’t save anything - people, things, money - and that likely signifies something even greater. Attachment theorists?

For me, I’m realizing that my dealbreaker list is due for a revision. The small trivialities that I originally assessed as dealbreakers are actual signs of something deeper. It’s the somethings deeper that are actually the dealbreakers. But that’s another story. Stay tuned….

Emma Dilemma

Here at TVC, we love leggings. We love primary color spandex leggings, leggings with side zips and leggings that sit low on the hips. We love leggings under dresses and leggings paired with print. So when the arrival of spring prompted a seasonal wardrobe swap, we reluctantly folded up our leggings, sighed, and realized that life sans leggings meant we would be forced to bare our, um, legs. Gasp.

In retrospect, it may have been a good idea to periodically use our leggings for their original purpose, the gym, at least a few times last winter. While our leggings went out for dirty martinis, weekend brunch, movies and even made a cameo at Fashion Week, our legs were sadly neglected. This coupled with the dangerous fact that leggings’ stretchy material and surprising comfort sneakily disguised our seasonal stem shape changes. AKA weight gain.

While denim provides unforgiving reminders of that extra pint of beer or holiday cookie binge, leggings stretch to fit, allowing for both neglect and denial. That same neglect and denial ended up on the back of our thighs and may have even found a home on our calves. Gross. But exhale, for hope is not lost. Here are some tips to immediately glam up your gams.

1) Bare them often. Do not hide your leggings-induced looseness as much as it pains you to show. The more you are aware of your actual leg shape, the more motivated you will be to make a positive change.

2) Walk everywhere. This might mean waking up fifteen minutes early or getting to work fifteen minutes late, but increasing your daily mileage by a mile or two a day will make a huge difference come bikini time.

3) The gym. Amount of actual gym time will depend on the severity of your leggings legs. Running is the quickest way to both lose weight and tone up your leggies. If you can’t run (bad knees, weak stomach, fearful aversion), then try for 30-45 minutes of other cardio per workout.

4) Maintain a consistent diet. Logically, if you add 30 minutes of walking and a couple extra days at the gym, you should be able to get great legs in a few weeks without changing your eating habits. If you aren’t sure of your dietary requirements visit www.usda.gov to calculate your daily nutrition requirements and healthy BMI.
5) Then strut into spring smiling and proud of your shapely stems. And remember, for next winter: It’s easier to maintain than retrain!