Well it looks like our favorite campy dresser Posh Beckham has found herself a new home. We can think of no one better to take the repeat fashion offender into his halfway house of haute couture than everyone's favorite designer Marc Jacobs. Last week various ads have been leaked, and it looks like Posh Beckham herself will be the new muse for Marc Jacobs' Spring 2008 line. We have to say, Mrs. Beckham has never looked better.
No matter how much time you spend sourcing out that perfect special something for everyone on your list, sometimes when it comes to receiving gifts, your cheery "Ho Ho Ho's" turn into woeful "Oh No No No's!" This installation of our holiday gift guide reveals those ill-chosen gifts that absolutely without-a-doubt must go back to where they came from. We hope we can relieve you of some guilt involved in returning these gifts, because when you bling them back, you'll find a much better use for the cold hard cash than letting those less-than-savvy styles slowly decompose in your closet.
1) "UGG"ly boots: Though whoever bought this gift probably imagined you wearing these boots in all sorts of unfriendly weather, for all practical intentions, Ugg-boots and their offshoots (that means you too, Mucklucks and Emus!) have long since been ruled out as acceptable footwear. They might keep your tootsies toasty, but unless you're living in an area that gets three feet of snow on a regular basis and you can spy elk passing by your window, we would advise returning these fuzzy monsters and using the cash to buy a much more practical pair of booties.
2) Flashy and Trashy: We know you love your friends, but sometime their fashion sense may be a bit ambitious for your taste. This winter, make your closet happy by blinging back anything that is a little too over the top. No one wants to pull a Posh Spice, or even worse--a Britney, by revealing too much skin. Also to be avoided is anything that takes the trends too much to heart. This includes anything from jackets and dresses with too much metallic, to shoes and handbags with too much patent leather, to anything with a too high waist. Taking "mom pants" to a whole new level are these jeans by Cheap Monday's, and more reflective than a solar panel is this trench coat by Gwen Stefani's line L.A.M.B., both of which you should bling back without a second thought.
3) Knock-Off No No's: More than anything else, anything that smacks of a knock off has got to go. Though a fake Louis Vuitton handbag is easy to spot, some other knock offs are a bit more subtle. House of Holland is a sassy label that has made its mark by creating bright t-shirts with equally colorful quotations on them in bright bold lettering. The clever catchphrases have inspired other companies like Urban Outfitters, Top Shop and Forever 21 to follow suit with somewhat less witty sayings. Try to avoid these soon-to-be forgotten fakies.
Also, as any good accessories guru knows, a piece of jewelry with cubic zirconia is one of the
biggest fashion crimes one could ever commit. If you find yourself
being gifted a piece with CZ as a present, you can politely (or
sneakily) return it for a more tasteful option, such as a piece with
rock crystal, Swarovski crystals, or other semiprecious stones such as freshwater
pearls. In the event of this fashion tragedy LupRocks already does most of the searching for you, providing for you a selection of Fashion Jewelry designers with much nicer options in our crystal and semiprecious stones categories.
We hope you liked our Bling it Back edition of our holiday gift guide! Check back for our third and final installment, with just the tips to help you go green, and save plenty of green by finding a brand new home for your less than perfect gifts.
Chanel's cruise 2008 $261,000 Diamond Forever Handbag (image via Forbes)
While every fashionista's wardrobe this winter has at least one sequin dress, or pair of shimmery tights, or shiny shoes to bring a bit of sparkle to the season, couture designers have gone above and beyond your every-day bedazzling with their new collections of opulent accessories for this holiday season. Just this month, Chanel debuted the world's most expensive handbag lined with 334 diamonds and totaling in at a hefty price of $261,000! In today's issue of WWD, Katya Foreman surveys a few stand out designers. According to WWD, Kara Ross and Monica Rich Kosann, both LupRocks designers, are hot on the heels of this trend with their eye catching accessories. Speaking of heels, WWD also cites another LupRocks designer, Lazare Kaplan, and their collaboration with shoe and handbag designer Taryn Rose to produce a one-of-a-kind pair of shoes featuring a rose lined with ideal-cut Lazare Kaplan diamonds. We knew that 'tis the season for tinsel and blinking lights, but we never thought that designers would take the trend of flashy eye catching add-ons so much to heart!
While The New York Times, our go-to source for world news, gave front page coverage to the Israeli – Palestinian peace seeking meeting held in Annapolis, MD (a conference aimed at establishing a peace treaty by 2008 and deciding the fate of Jerusalem), we at Lup HQ – being the jewelry and accessory gossip addicts that we are - had different Jerusalem buzz on the mind. Stiletto, a French magazine, is putting out a supplement of unique works of luxury produced exclusively for an auction benefiting cancer treatment for children in Jerusalem. The auction features designs from jewelers and couture houses Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Berluti and Cartier, and are photographed by Martin Parr. One extraordinary exception to the exclusive collection is a pair of black satin pumps with diamante heels custom made by Roger Vivier for Marlene Dietrich in the mid fifties. When exceptional fashion serves to not only beautify the world but also help sick children, our answer to that – in the spirit of holy Jerusalem- is Amen! 
