GILTY When Charged

I'm in love. Head-over-heels, can't-get-enough-of-you, in love. After months of searching, blind dates and lonely days, I have finally found The One.

Which explains why I've neglected the blog. You know when you start dating someone new and you get so into it that everything in your life takes back stage to your love? It happened to me.

People always say that when you find The One, you just know. This being my first true love, I understand that now. I knew right away that I had finally found what I had been looking for. My love has all the qualities that I look for and makes me feel utterly and completely happy.

Just to clear things up, my love doesn't come in the shape of a man, it comes in the form of my new amazingly perfect job, the Special Events Coordinator at Gilt Groupe. I started a month ago and I have a feeling that the honeymoon stage will continue through our Golden Anniversary.

I'm sorry dear readers for leaving without any notice, and for being gone for so long. You are still special to me and I have room in my heart for both my job and you. Thank you to all my friends who inquired about my hiatus and encouraged me to keep the blog going - which I am going to do. I can still call myself the Red Carpet Recessionista, because technically Gilt Groupe is recession-friendly. The blog will still go on, and continue to evolve as my life changes with the new adventures of my job. Stay tuned as I bring you stories from backstage, the red carpet, the VIP line, the model castings, the DJ booth, the closet and my always-full Gilt shopping cart.

I've compared the job searching to dating before, and I seriously stand by my word. It was a long, hard process of finding Mr. Right Job, but now I see it was worth the struggle and wait. For those of you still searching for The One, don't worry, you will find it. Never settle, because the perfect job is out there waiting for you.

And until you find the perfect man and/or the perfect job, how about the perfect pumps at the YSL Friends and Family Sale this week?

Code Orange

Photo courtesy of Racked.com

Hold your Hermès horses no more! For those of you in the market for beautiful printed scarves, handbags or even leather saddles, now is your chance to score on some luxe French goods.

The signature scarves are $225 each (originally $375) and bags are discounted 60 -70%. Don’t plan on pulling a huge ebay operation, because the sale limits 10 scarves per person.

Metropolitan Pavilian
125 West 18th Street
Sept 24- 10AM – 8PM
Sept 25 – 10AM – 6PM
Sept 26 – 10AM – 6PM
Sept 27 – 1PM – 6PM

There won’t be any Birkins at the sale, so don’t take your name off the waiting list. But we all know that’s bogus.

Minty Fresh

I’ve never really been a numbers person, which probably directly correlates to the fact that I am terrible at budgeting. I have no set plan for myself, and my go-with-the-flow-of-my-credit-card theory is just not going to fly anymore.

Excel sheets make me dizzy and I’m lazy when it comes to keeping track of my purchases and balance. I had come to the resolution that I’m out of luck, until my friend Kristine told me about Mint.com.

When I think of mint my mind runs to mint-chocolate chip ice cream, mojitos and my favorite flavor of Orbit gum. Alas, more good things come in the form of le mint. This genius Web site is your new personal accountant – and Mr. Mint is free!

Mint does all the work for you. After you create an account, register your bank, credit card, home loan and investment accounts. Mint tracks all of your purchases and lets you know how much you’ve spend and how much green you still have in your account. You can even see how much you spend on specific items, such as food, rent, transportation and YSL pumps.

For those of us who like pictures, Mint creates easy-to-read graphs so you can see all of your expenses laid out in pretty colors. You can also set a savings goal, and Mint will help you achieve it.

Dirty budget? Clean it up with Mint.

French ELLE Feature

Bonjour Madames, Mademoiselles and Monsieurs,

Red Carpet Recessionista has been featured in August edition of French ELLE! I am trés trés excited about this and I want to share with everyone. Since the only other language I speak is Spanish, I had my brilliant team of French translators decode the article. Merci bocoup to SGS, Sarah B, James, Mich, Brittany and Eduardo.

"No Job, But Full of Ideas" by Emmanuelle Dasque

Like a number of others, they have lost their employment. But these plugged-in/connected 30 somethings are taking advantage, changing their lives and starting up again. From San Fran to New York, portraits of those who refuse the unemployment blues.

'Funemployment? the expression, born on the west coast last winter, has spread in a few months on the internet. Since, it is everywhere: on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and, above all, on the blogs of young unemployed who have established their new status in the art of hedonist living...."

In New York, Annalise Ghiz, fashionista who worked in fashion doesn't hesitate to tell us that “funemployment is the new cool thing. After having thought that my life crumbling around me, I realized: at what other moment in my life could I take advantage of New York like this – single and with free time?” As a result, she has become an expert in low cost activities (restaurants, reduced priced spas, free museums) and in outdoor walks.

For this young tribe, previously employed in the industry of the Net, fashion, marketing, banking, the economic reality is of course milder than the unemployment numerous American families are going through who have lost their house, in debt, and without resources. These funemployed of 20-30 years old live (for the moment) on their savings, temporarily on aide from the state [welfare] (equivalent to about 280 euros/week) and benefit sometimes from financial support from their parents, when they've not moved back in to the family cocoon/nest. Generation Y (born after 1980) is experiencing the most violent economic crisis since the 30s and feel completely disorientated, from whence the invention of the term and the state of spirit of steel to acclimate oneself to this period and to confront it, analyzes David Logan, USC professor. Above all, Generation Y uses the internet for escape. This movement has given rise to a tribe of cyber-unemployed: they communicate amongst themselves, organize collective vacations and soirées, exchange career plans and advice, with the only common denominator the fact that their unemployed.

In American society, run by the values of work and success, where vacations are almost an extravagance (hardly 2 weeks/year), to be without a job is usually perceived as a stigma. "And yet, this time, a lot of people are in this situation," remarks Linda Stone, professor at NYU. "There is no longer a stigma, but the feeling of belonging to a stuck in the mud community in the same fix." For this career change expert, and for whom the number of students has almost doubled lately, the emergence of "funemployment" is very symptomatic: "they finally have the chance to reflect on the way they wish to lead their lives. We have always told them that they should succeed at any price and at times in fields they didn't have a passion for. In work, they gave their all, ultimately, for losing. They tell themselves that it is time to take their lives in their own hands.

How will this generation reintegrate itself into the working world after such an interlude? Ultra-resourceful, this generation also has put in place a system D [survival guide?/something to do with operating systems?] to live with little means.

In the cities like San Francisco and NY, numerous places convey this philosophy: courses in "funemployment", yoga, beauty sessions, and free spas for the unemployed. For David Logan, the real challenge lies with the big businesses: "once the crises passes, it will be on them to create a better work environment to seduce these youths who are more confident and currently enjoy independence and a liberty of unedited spirit."

(I'm working on getting the images to work with text)

Deals from Head to Toe

What do boots and shampoo have in common?

Well, nothing. But on Thursday night only, both Bloomingdales and Saks are offering great deals for those in the market for either one.

These Boots Were Made For Walking…Out the Door of Bloomindales
Bring in a gently-used pair of boots and donate to HELP USA to received 20% off your boot purchase on Thursday.

The Shampoo Bottle is Half-Full at Saks
It’s time to trade-up that old bottle of shampoo for a glorious Fekkai. Bring in a full-size shampoo bottle (any brand, full or empty) and swap for your choice of any new Fekkai Advanced shampoo.

Celebrate fall with shiny boots and shiny hair!

Fashion's Night Out

Last night was Fashion’s Night Out, which is like the Super Bowl for fashionistas. All of the major stores in NYC participated with cocktails, food, music, freebies, celebs, designers and more. It was a night not to miss so my fashionable girlfriends and I hopped around uptown for the festivities.

Although the event was to promote shopping, being a recessionista I had to keep my wallet closed, especially since the stores we visited were completely out of my budget. I knew as long as I didn’t drink too much champagne I wouldn’t be going home with a custom designed Chanel bag (bummer!).

So I rocked my long black one-shoulder jumpsuit (thanks to the Intermix warehouse sale) and my sequin Michael Jackson-inspired jacket and headed uptown for the fashion block party.

We had planned on starting at Gucci on Fifth for the free official FNO t-shirt, however the line wrapped around 56th Street, so Michele and I headed down to find a less crowded store. We stumbled in Versace because of the hot waiters holding dirty martinis - why not? I’ve never been in the store, but was completely taken back by the beautiful tile mosaics. This must be what Mr. Versace’s mansion looks like. After sipping down the strong martinis and oogling over a pair of sapphire blue suede platform pumps, we strolled to Saks.

Bad idea. It was a mad-house! The cosmetics floor looked like Times Square on New Year’s Eve, and although I would have loved a blow-out from Mr. Fekkai himself, we went upstairs to see if we could wait around for Justin Timberlake. The drink line was out of control, so we settled for guac-tinis (guacamole in martini glass) and decided we didn’t care to wait for JT. Bye! Bye! Bye!

Next we passed Dior where the mob was growing impatient for the arrival of Charlize Theron and stepped in Chanel. We were greeted with the cards to design your own bag and headed upstairs to browse the beautiful things and drink Proseco. Lauren and Molly met up with us after Molly spotted Anna Wintour on 57th. After a toast to Coco and all things Chanel, we made out way up Madison.

A detour in Furla then led us to Bally, which was bumpin! The music was so good and it was the best party of the night. Models were dancing near the DJ booth, and more hot waiters passed out Proseco, mini hotdogs, sliders, fries and s’mores. The highlight of Bally was when Rachel Zoe (and her husband Roger) and Nikki Hilton walked in. Rachel had on an amazing black (probably vintage) dress and huge wedges. We got a pic with her and Rodger – they were both so nice! I DIE! That party was BANANAS!

At Barney’s Mr. Manolo Blahnik was giving out shoes so we watched that for a while until I had a wardrobe malfunction - but Molly fixed it! We went to Bergdorf where the famous NY Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham snapped some shots of Michele’s knee-high gladiator sandals when we walked in. Why didn’t he take a pic of my sequin jacket!? We missed the Olson twins bartending to we headed to Henri Bendel soon after.

So weird that Bendel’s doesn’t have clothes anymore. Just accessories, bags and makeup – but their collection is to-die-for. We tied on outrageous hats and headbands (think going to a party at Buckingham Palace) until the sparkle of Lavande vintage jewelry caught my eye.

I headed directly to the emerald and diamond choker fit for a Princess. I saw the girls who worked at House of Lavande that I had met last year during Fashion Week when I worked at HOLLYWOULD. They were so nice and let me drip myself in diamonds. The choker probably weird 2lbs and it was stuuuuuning. I wanted to walk out of the store with it so badly.

The energy of the night kept Lauren and I out a little longer, despite my throbbing feet, and we shuffled to Tao.

What a party! We didn’t even make it downtown where the likes of Rihanna, Victoria Beckham, Josh Hartnett and more celebs partied. It was impossible to cover the entire FNO territory – although I seriously regret not making it to Oscar de la Renta where he sang with Bette Midler, SJP and Barbar Walters! I hope this becomes a bi-annual event!

Intermix Warehouse Sale!

It's that time of year again! The Intermix Warehouse Sale is upon us, and I've been waiting all summer. I'm thinking with a slow retail season the merchandise is going to be even better than past sales.

Here are the deets:

110 W. 18th Street, between 6th & 7th Avenues (enter at 125 W. 18th)

Thursday, Aug. 27: 8AM - 8PM

Friday, Aug. 28: 9AM - 8PM

Saturday, Aug. 29: 9AM - 6PM

I went last summer and it was packed, but not overbearing. If you're on a mission for a great deal, then you will fight the crowds. I found a $700 Missoni dress for just under $100 - well worth digging through racks and piles of designer duds.

My top ten rules for surviving such an event:

1. Wear modest underwear since you'll be changing in a public dressing room

2. Wear comfortable shoes that are easy to take on and off

3. Allow yourself at least an hour and a half - you don't want to be rushed

4. Don't come hungry

5. Go to the bathroom before you get there

6. Don't talk on the phone while you're there - you need to stay focused

7. Grab everything you like

8. Inspect everything for tears, holes, etc.

9. Be vicious only when you have to be

10. Yes, you need that Elizabeth and James corset dress

Thou Shalt Covet

Let's face it. We all have coveted something in our lives.

But one sale-shopping Web site is helping us to not break this commandment by making fashion more affordable.

Covet.com is different from other sale sites because it has a (digital) personal shopper that learns your fashion personality. You take a fun quiz where you decide which outfits (and cocktails) are more your style, fill out your sizes (don't lie) and wait for the sale emails to invade your inbox.

The best thing about this digital personal shopper? You don't have to feel bad if you don't like what it brings you or if you delete it all together.

Thou shalt Covet.

Louboutin Sale

The red-souled shoes are going on sale Tuesday. There's no place like Louboutin.

Jetset on JetBlue

Jetsetters, start your engines.

I wish that I had more funds and free time because I would totally take advantage of JetBlue's "All You Can Jet Pass."

Book by August 21st, and for $599 enjoy unlimited travel from September 8th through October 8th. Fly places where your friends live and stay for free.

I just took my first JetBlue flight last month and it was smooth sailing (or should I say flying?) all the way to Los Angeles. Unlimited, free and tasty drinks & snacks, complimentary TV, and no charge to check a bag - makes a five and a half hour flight way more enjoyable.