Etsy Bitch says:

Yeah, yeah, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty made it a Hollywood hit, but in reality, Bonnie Parker was nothing more than a common criminal who supported her insane boyfriend's murdering spree. She's not worthy of having a trend of fashion for her, and even further perpetuating the falsehood that Hollywood began is just plain ignorant.

Besides, Faye's look wasn't even remotely Bonnie's look. Just look at the pictures of the real Bonnie Parker. It would be more apropos to call the article "Get the vintage Faye Dunaway look" instead of glamorizing a criminal.

...and here are some reactions from Etsy.com's commenters:

What is romantic about dying at aged 25 in a hail of bullets? Seriously Storque, you should rethink this article.

Bonnie and Clyde were murderers...I'm rethinking what it is Etsy stands for by promoting such things. Maybe saying "get Faye Dunaway's vintage look" would be more appropriate.

nice. hey storque, why not do sexy school shooters next?

Awesome! Next, how about some lighthearted suggestions on achieving Osama bin Laden's casual terrorist look? Or the funny-little-mustache and swastika sporting style of Adolph Hitler? Or maybe Ted Bundy's murderous chic and the trenchcoated glamour of the Columbine killers? That would be really cool too!

Ouch. The tipster who sent this story in says: "I thought this was so mind-boggling and in questionable taste that I am beginning to wonder of The Onion bought out etsy."

What do you think? Offensive? Or harmless?

Etsy Finds Vintage: Getting Bonnie Parker's Look [Etsy] (Thanks, Adam and Jace!)
Hooray for romanticizing criminals! [Etsy Bitch]
(Photo: FBI)

According to the L.A. Times, the Sino-Italian job takes three forms:

• Straight up counterfeiters who slap brand names on cheap knockoffs.
• Importers who ship shoes and bags from Asia to Italy for an extra buckle and the "Made In Italy" label.
• Factory owners who use illegal Chinese workers to make nominally Italian goods.

For the big-name clothing labels, Chinese-staffed workshops provide an important way of keeping costs down by supplying cheaply and quickly made purses, shoes and other products. It helps the fashion houses compete and, many argue, it's better than the alternative: moving all production offshore.

But for legions of Italian craftsmen and -women who try to maintain painstaking but costly old-style practices, the cheaper Chinese labor is deadly.

"It's a crazy competition. In fact, you can't compete," said Andrea Calistri, whose third-generation family business has been making handbags for top designers from voluptuous leather and buttery suede for more than half a century.

" 'Made in Italy,' " he said, "means tradition, know-how and standards. . . . It means not only made in Italy, but made in the Italian way."

The 'Made in Italy' label: Read the fine print [L.A. Times]
(AP Photo/Greg Baker)

"B" is the sales lady, and "S" is Seattlest:

B: What color do you want? Grey? Black?

S: Brown, actually.

B: Brown. That's a different choice for a wedding.

S: That's the idea.

B: Light brown? Dark brown? Tan?

S: Dark brown.

Bitchy pulls out a black pinstriped suit and brandishes it at us.

B: This is dark brown. Is this what you're thinking?

It isn't. It's black.

S: Well, not really.

B: It's dark brown. But we won't have this in August.

She hangs the suit again and stares at us.

(Thanks to James!)

"Men's Wearhouse Presents: How to Lose Customers and (Negatively) Influence Sales" [Seattlest]
(Photo: Getty)

Virginia Beach police seize photos from Abercrombie store [Hampton Roads] (Thanks to Pat and Zakarth!)

The Tom Ford ad has always confused us: the product is a cologne that a man would wear to (theoretically) smell more attractive to a woman—yet the ad implies the cologne smells exactly like a woman's nethers, which means the man would attract other men—other straight men? Or he'd attract gay women? This ad is confusing, or else it's perfect and the product is aimed solely at bisexual masochists. Or maybe tranny hookers.

"The Most Controversial Ads in Fashion History" [Debonair] (Thanks to John!)

"In midtown, I saw this in the window and thought to myself, "That must be where the whores shop." It's not unheard of in that part of town.

No, it was American Apparel."

Take away all the fluffy faux anti-fluff, and American Apparel actually makes nice cotton basics. But their advertising, and the the indentured servitude of their deluded employees, gives us the creeps.

(Photo: Maulleigh)

Will it work? The last batch of celebs to try to rescue the brand included Kyra Sedgwick and Chris O'Donnell, whom, we can only assume, were located with the same time machine GAP uses to design its clothes.

OK! Sneak Peek: Amy Poehler's New Gap Ad [OK!]

"It will increase the number of Hilfiger shops in high-volume Macy's stores, renovate and upgrade existing shops and feature Hilfiger collections in its marketing campaigns," according to CNNMoney.

Tommy Hilfiger will still operate its own free-standing stores and sell merchandise on its website, but the rest belongs to Macy's. Is Tommy Hilfiger still cool? Macy's thinks so:

"This is a very big deal for us," the chief executive of Macy's, Terry J. Lundgren, told the New York Times. "Tommy is very significant brand."

Whatever you say, Terry. Ours is not to reason why.

Macy's and Hilfiger Strike Exclusive Deal [New York Times]
Macy's enters agreement with Tommy Hilfiger [CNNMoney]

If your Monday is slow and you want to test your own threshold for offensive imagery in advertising, check out NOW's full list. Or, for more thoughtful commentary (the NOW list quickly degrades in quality or offensiveness as you scroll down the page), visit this Metafilter post to see what other readers find (un)acceptable.

"Selling (out) our Women" [Metafilter]

RELATED
"Love Your Body: Offensive Ads" [NOW Foundation]
"Dolce & Gabbana angry at advertising campaign controversy in Spain" [EiTB24]

4. Buying IS rebelling. The more you buy, the more you're showing that you're against the system of mass consumption. Get as many overpriced sneakers, tees, jeans, jackets and shades as you can. Also make sure that you have at least one (two max) small luxury items like a Gucci belt or LV wallet, to show off your well rounded sense of style.

This coming from the "LUV" airline that used to force its flight attendants to wear hot pants and boots that Britney Spears would wear to a funeral.

What the hell, Southwest? From CNN:

Setara Qassim said a flight attendant confronted her during the trip from Tucson, Arizona, to Burbank, California, and asked whether she had a sweater to go over her green halter-style dress.

Qassim, 21, told KNBC-TV in Los Angeles she was forced to wrap a blanket around herself for the rest of the flight. She complained that if Southwest wants passengers to dress a certain way, it should publish a dress code.

Second woman says Southwest made her cover up [CNN] (Thanks, Anne!)
(Photo:NPR)

Southwest went so far as to ask the woman the leave the airplane. So what was she wearing?

A "white denim miniskirt, high-heel sandals, and a turquoise summer sweater over a tank top over a bra."

My god! Alert the TSA and the local police! We can see leg!

She had a doctor's appointment that afternoon in Tucson, where temperatures had topped 106 all week. She arrived at Lindbergh Field wearing a white denim miniskirt, high-heel sandals, and a turquoise summer sweater over a tank top over a bra.

After the plane filled, and the flight attendants began their safety spiel, Ebbert was asked to step off the plane by a customer service supervisor, identified by the airline only as "Keith."

They walked out onto the jet bridge, where Keith told Ebbert her clothing was inappropriate and asked her to change. She explained she was flying to Tucson for only a few hours and had brought no luggage.
"I asked him what part of my outfit was offensive," she said. "The shirt? The skirt? And he said, 'The whole thing.' "

Keith asked her to go home, change and take a later flight. She refused, citing her appointment. The plane was ready to leave, so Keith relented. He had her pull up her tank top a bit, pull down her skirt a bit, and return to her seat.

Ebbert says several flight attendants overheard the conversation and, after an embarrassing walk down the aisle, she took her seat and spread a blanket over her lap

Southwest declined to comment on the story, but did say that they didn't have a dress code and that one could wear a bikini top if one wanted, so we're assuming that "Keith" went rogue.

Southwest fashion police set no-fly zone [Union-Tribune] (Thanks, Aurora!)
(Photo:CRISSY PASCUAL / Union-Tribune)

We know this, but Walmart's Apparel Chief Claire A. Watts didn't. She's resigned from her position after Walmart's attempt to snag some of the trendy clothes market failed miserably.

From the Washington Post:

Watts's duties will be split between Mark Larsen, who oversaw merchandise for babies, children and men, and Dottie Mattison, who worked for Walmart.com.

Marshal Cohen, a senior analyst with consumer research firm NPD Group, said Watts's departure did not mean that fashion was dead at Wal-Mart. But he said the retailer needed to refocus on the desires of its core customers rather than chase after trendsetters.

Wal-Mart's Fashion Maven Departs As Trendy Merchandise Languishes [Washington Post]
(Photo:ashcroft54)

July 2, 2007

VIA CERTIFIED MAIL

Leslie H. Wexner
CEO, Limited Brands Inc
THREE LIMITED PKWY
P.O. Box 16000
Columbus, OH 43216

Sharon J. Turney
President and Chief Executive Officer, Victoria's Secret
CEO, Limited Brands Inc
THREE LIMITED PKWY
P.O. Box 16000
Columbus, OH 43216

Dear Mr. Wexner & Ms. Turney,

I write to inform you of an incident that occurred this Saturday at your Victoria's Secret store located in SoHo, Manhattan at 565 Broadway (Store #774). Despite producing an original sales receipt, the credit card used to make the purchase AND a United States Permanent Resident Card (commonly known as a "green card"), I was denied the right to return a $24.99 bra that I purchased just one week and one day earlier. Your manager, Jackie, cited a "new return policy" that deems my U.S. government issued identification worthless in the eyes of your undergarment retail giant.

It all began when I attempted to return a bra that I had purchased for my mother (she didn't like the color) at another one of your stores located in Westchester County on the 22nd of June. The bra was just one portion of a purchase totaling $93!! After waiting on line for nearly 10 minutes, only to be told that I had to go to a different register because, unbeknownst to me, returns were being processed at one specific terminal, After waiting on line again, I was greeted by a very rude and condescending cashier. I produced the bra and my receipt (copy annexed) along with the credit card used to make the purchase. After starting the return process, the clerk requested photo identification. My student ID wasn't sufficient, nor was a credit card bearing my photo.

Given no other options, I reached into the depths of my wallet to pull out a form of identification that I use a total of once or twice a year when I travel on vacation to Europe. I don't even like to carry it around with me. It is the most precious and most official form of identification that I posses. It is my Permanent Resident Card issued by the United States Department of Immigration and Naturalization!

If you are unfamiliar with the Permanent Resident Card, in addition to bearing my name, a photo and a fingerprint, it also contains a plethora of other personal data regarding my immigration status. I am always reluctant to share this information with anyone but those who have a legitimate need for it ( i.e. Airport Customs & Security).

Like a good million (or four!) other New York City residents, I do not have a drivers license because I DO NOT DRIVE! While I was a bit hesitant to hand the Victoria's

Secret cashier my Permanent Resident Card, I had already invested 20 minutes of my personal time to make the still incomplete return, and so I caved and handed it over.

To my utter dismay and disbelief, the cashier nastily responded, "I can't use this, this is no good." After requesting to speak to a supervisor, Jackie, the manager on duty, cited a "new return policy" that demanded the production of either a drivers license or passport. According to Jackie, the new computerized return system "will not accept the numbers" on my green card. I even offered to accept store credit in lieu of a cash refund (which in hindsight, I was weak for even suggesting. I have a RIGHT to return the merchandise. It says so on the receipt!). There were no exceptions, according to Jackie. I could not return the bra.

To have a retail store tell you that your Permanent Resident Card, an identification document issued by the United States federal government, a document that sufficiently establishes my right to live here, to exit and enter this country without a visa, a card that proves my status as a Permanent Resident of the United States - a status that affords me nearly the same rights that a naturalized citizen has (with the exception of the right to vote and Social Security benefits, if you want to point out two of the most important differences) — is "no good," is an attack on my identity.

Never in my life have I been so frustrated. Here was one of your store managers telling me, a long time paying customer of your brands, in front of my boyfriend and everyone else on line, that I can't return a $24.99 bra because my green card "isn't good enough" to prove that I am who I say I am. I was reduced to tears as I stormed out of the store though a chaotic crowd of weekend shoppers. Yes I had caused a scene, and yes, I was utterly embarrassed. My $93 was good enough for Victoria's Secret when I went on one of my nearly once a month shopping sprees at what used to be one of my favorite stores on earth. Yes I can get a non-driver's ID from New York State, but in all my years of living in New York City, in all my years of living in this COUNTRY, I have never had a need for one. NOT ONCE. To get a new form of identification simply so I can enjoy the "privilege" of returning merchandise to one of your stores, is absolutely absurd!

Maybe I'm not good enough to shop at Limited Brands stores. Maybe I should wait until my citizenship track is approved by the INS before I reapply for return privileges at Victoria's Secret. By then I'm sure you will have a fully implemented and operational biometric return clearance system that performs a DNA analysis against a database of career "retail-store ripper-offers." Maybe then, your computer will be smart enough to point out to your sales clerk that I spend hundreds of dollars a year at your stores so maybe they should treat me with a little dignity and respect. Until then, all I can do is fight back. I will protest this return policy by urging all those similar situated to refrain from giving a single hard-earned cent to your company!

Truly yours,

RR

We're willing to chalk most of it up to poor training, but that's just plain rude behavior on the manager's part. Why couldn't Victoria's Secret accept the green card? It's got a bajillion pieces of personal information. Perhaps it's because if you're working at the SoHo Victoria's Secret, you're probably a vapid dipshit.

Rather than exiting in tears, though, RR might have been better served by calling Victoria's Secret corporate right then and there. Maybe HQ would've been able to set this store straight. In any event, Victoria's Secret should write an apology letter, let RR return the bra for a full refund, and maybe throw in a $25 gift card for good measure.

(Photo: AP)

Unable to resist, we sent Gawker video wunderkid Alex Goldberg to tape the affair awesomeness. We hypothesize the fete was conceptually tied to Dell's new line of Insprions which come in different colors, meaning that Dell has finally caught up to Apple, circa 1998.

Stayed tuned for the end when Alex asks PR-man, "if Dell computers could transform into robots, would they be Autobots or Decepticons?"

Thing is, though, it's not the tech's fault the dispatch system is messed up. — BEN POPKEN

(Thanks to Dr. Tweeker!)

If you can't buy or earn authenticity, make it! — BEN POPKEN

DIY Vintage Jeans...Coffee style! [Curbly]

Ken Downing might look like any other reporter at the New York shows. But he's the fashion director at Neiman Marcus, the Dallas-based department-store chain that caters to well-to-do shoppers. Starting today, Mr. Downing will post his reviews of around 18 shows at New York's fashion week on the Neiman Web site....
Unlike other media covering the shows, these commentators are in the awkward position of reviewing their own suppliers — and their aim is more to boost sales rather than offer impartial critique.

Not like Dawn Fox, Marketing Manager:

"We all agree on our love of the sequin stripe sweater dress," said a commentary on Nanette Lepore's fall collection posted yesterday on the Web site of Olive & Bette's, a chain of four trendy Manhattan boutiques. The anonymous blog is written by the store's marketing manager Dawn Fox, who presents herself as one of "Olive & Bette's Shop Girls."

"EBay Style Director Constance White, who posted her first fashion-week blog on Friday, acknowledges being "pretty gentle because we still do want to have great relationships" with designers."

The New Fashion Bloggers:Retailers Review Own Wares [Wall Street Journal]

"....It probably cost more than the sum total of those snack products to actually get that done. Also, we are entertained that in the vast array of soda pop brands, she had to get both Diet and regular Dr. Pepper."

On November 9th of this year, the owner and painter of the nails, Janet Martin, contacted us:

We replied to Janet...

Janet replied:

Thanks for clearing up the mystery, Janet. Hope you didn't break an exquisitely hand brushed nail when you were pounding in that first rebuttal!

— BEN POPKEN

Like the toes of Tyra's boots but not the heel? Draw a box around the toes and see what like.com comes up with. For us, it found lots of similar (and cheaper) boots on stores like amazon.com.

Cool idea. The site is still in "alpha", but we think this has a lot of promise. The celebs available for imitation are pretty weak...who tries to look like Britney Spears?...but we're looking forward to the future. For more info, The Wall Street Journal has a detailed review of Like.com here.— MEGHANN MARCO

Where to Find a Famous Look [wsj.com]

• Where can I buy an imitation leather men's jacket that doesn't look stupid? [Link]

• Have you CANCELLED your 1and1 account successfully (by success I mean they stopped charging you and they released the domains registered through them)? If so, what steps did you follow?? I haven't started the process yet — just researching right now — but I've read a lot of 1and 1 cancellation horror stories here and elsewhere. [Link]

• How can I fix my clawfoot-forced-shower's complete lack of water pressure? [Link]

• Someone's signing up for internet accounts using my Yahoo email address. Help! [Link]

• I am expecting two UPS packages, and I have no way to sign for them. [Link]

• T-Mobile has eaten away at my soul. What can I do now, if anything? [Link]

Originally published in the article 'Dollar Store War' by Robert Morgan of the The Town Talk newspaper of Alexandria-Pineville, Louisiana.

You need not know that it's a tabloid inside joke about some Hamptonites cheat-fest. Instead, you can merely revel in the simple luxury of a well-crafted tee, handmade by the indigenous people of American Apparel, sub-sector G.

Whether in line at the club or the Jr. High cafeteria, boldly announce your come-hither, devil-may-care moxie to anyone within 30 yards. Curvaceous pink on a field of snappy bright blue.

Yours for $20 at Gawker Shop.

The Columbus Children's Hospital announced last month it's going to dub its new emergency department the Abercrombie & Fitch Trauma Center, in honor of a $10 million grant the clothier made.

Gawwwwwd, the jokes just write themselves. Will the hot, heaving spawn of the Aryan nation suture up gun wounds inflicted by the middle-school fashion mafia? Will shirtless boy wonders fish out melted crayons from tiny spleens, using only the power of their doleful gaze?

The crossover potential for A&F's characteristically risque catalog is enormous. Jason's doing it for the kids in a hand-knit denim hot pants, Supersoft, 100% cotton, soft peached elastic waistband, Vintage Abercrombie Wash, Classic Fit, Imported.

To be fair, the naming isn't entirely inappropriate. Lots of people are traumatized by A&F.

"$10 Million A&F Gift Benefits Columbus Children's Hospital" [Press Release]

Grup you later, motherfucker, another recent Threadless brand extension is their special kids section. Because there's nothing better than filling your wanna-be hipster girlfriend with seed while she wears "Rock Out With Your Cock Out" and you sport "Unicorns Eat Children" and then swaddling your newborn in "If you can read this make me a sandwich."

Except, maybe, the pill. The pill is way awesome.

It is made of latex and human hair. There's also motors inside that make it vibrate and bend. Disgusting. We're going to make our own sweatshop dedicated to sewing together monsters that will search and destroy these shoes. We will pay fifty-cents per day. Our monsters will double as mp3 players.

[Adam Brandler via Screenhead]

Here's the actual source email proclaiming the removal of sweatshop flipflops (perhaps, well, they're made in Thailand, which is definitely not vertically-integrated L.A.) from the stores' floors.

"Dear All,

We bought only a few hundred of the flip flops to try out and see if our customer is interested in them at all. I think the "test" was somewhat misread as a weird move into outsourcing, which is not the case. To end all confusion, please: REMOVE THE FLIP FLOPS FROM THE FLOOR AND GIVE THEM AWAY FREE TO ANYONE WHO WANTS THEM. We are currently developing our own Made in Downtown LA flip flop that will be much cooler and less stinky! However, we'll have to wait until next Spring for those.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. Please explain this to your staff and customers as well, if they are concerned.

And....thank you for your feedback! It's very important.

Iris"

Is this the same Iris who professed a joy of dildos and reading The Collapse of the Common Good: How America's Lawsuit Culture Undermines our Freedom?

Probably.

"Headquarters said shoppers thought they were moving into outsourced goods, so they removed them from the stores and are developing their own flip flops to be made in LA for next spring. They said they the flip flops were "just a test anyways..."

Fear not, you can go back to shopping for boring, unicolor clothes, and their accessories, with impunity.

Previously: American Apparel Flip Flops Over Human Rights?

Straw spun to gold (but does that make it any less real?) after the jump...

Weronika writes:

"I didn't post a comment because the letter is from before I started working at AA, I've never met Laurelle, and I don't comment on things when I don't know the facts. As for the rest... I too have moments when I feel overworked and I question whether staying here is the right choice. I empathize with L. It's true that opening stores is very hard work, and that American Apparel store managers have a lot of responsibility. It's not for everyone. It seems that for L, it boiled down to how much she was or wasn't making. I think I understand how she felt. Sometimes I think of how much money I was making before, how much I could make now somewhere else, and I question my sanity. But I've worked as Dov's assistant, and I know quite a bit about how money is distributed in the company. She mentions lay-offs of the garment workers... I don't know if it happened or not, but I know Dov wouldn't do it unless he absolutely had no money at all to keep paying them. And I am sure he would hire them back as soon as he got some. The letter is from March 2005, and in February 2005 the CFO (by all account an amazing person) suddenly died, and I imagine this resulted in some financial chaos. Dov himself doesn't take much cash out of the company. He has two pairs of pants, three pairs of shoes, doesn't do drugs, hardly ever drinks (and then it's beer), and it's impossible to get him to go out to a restaurant. He just works all the time. His expenses are basically rent (not much) and groceries (frozen dinners from Trader Joes) and lighting equipment (he's nuts about light). And though he doesn't pay us corporate and retail folk much, he does come through when we need him. I know because when I was his assistant I've mailed checks to people (once even an employee who had quit) to help them out in various emergencies. And seniority does count. Maybe not in dollars (not yet?) but in the amount of responsibility and trust you are given. So I am still here, in this far-from-cushy job. Yes, I hope that there will be an IPO and that I'll make money off of it. And if it doesn't happen, or if it does and suddenly Dov turns into a greedy monster and doesn't share... Well, it's still a valuable experience, I am learning tons about business, all aspects of it. I am sure that Laurelle did too, and I hope that she is putting it to good use wherever she ended up. "

Highlights:

• Employees given Blackberries instead of pay.
• Delightful mix of socialist-capitalism, whenever it suits the company best.
• AA advertising, "cashing in on what you assume a generic public will perceive as subversive and political."
• Senior management still lives at home with parents.

All in all, American Apparel seems like a great place to work if you're easily manipulated and fond of tortuous prose.

Jump here for the letter...

Letter redacted upon author's request.

comment on this post

The synthetic mesh and leather outerlayer bode well for durability and breathability and the carbon outersole will take many miles of pavement pounding without a dent. Pretty darn light, too. But what's that giant honeycomb wedge?

The defining feature of the Adidas A3 running line is the proprietary "A3 plate." The spring it grants doesn't come free, the enforced extension exploited our calf tendons as fulcrums, an effect that will hopefully be mitigated as we defatify.

A full run around Prospect Park in Brooklyn earned us some blisters but that's to be expected and welcomed. Footwear that puts up a fight gives better support and the actual cushioning in the long run. After settling into a warm stride, the shoe rode smooth with traction, responsiveness and alacrity.

Overall, we're quite pleased with both the quality and price of our purchase, even if it is probably the strangest looking thing we've ever willingly put on our foot.