Free Clothes!

Don't forget the $50 gift cert. giveaway from chickdowntown.com! Go here, leave a comment, and you're in. Enter tomorrow by 5pm.

Update: Winner announced! Congrats to The Preppy Princess!

And sorry, just one H&M photo today, more will be posted tomorrow with a little review. Basically if you weren't right in front of the line at 34th Street you weren't getting the peacock dress or top, but I was pleasantly surprised to see tons of accessories. The leather coat is amazing and currently sitting in my office waiting to woo my husband into giving it a home. Kind of hard to justify when I've been giving money/credit card lectures for the past two weeks. Damn me and my big mouth.

What do you think? Keep, sell, return? Promise special things to soulmate for? Hmmm.

H&M 34th Street, 34th & Broadway

More "Why I Love Gap 34th Street"

Because:

1. It wins "best maternity department" award this week. I was just in there and there are many, many CUTE maternity dresses and jeans. I'll shoot them next week.
2. The entire lower level is temporarily closed due to escalator face lifting, so all the women's is now with men's on the first floor. But still the store is very shoppable. I especially like that the usual men's sale section is the temporary women's sale section. Girls rule.
   
3. Gap 34th Street takes initiative. [updated flyer and info following] Bring in the flyer below, your Metrocard, hotel key, or Empire State Building ticket stub, and get 10% off your total purchase at Gap 34th Street. See below for details and restrictions.

ONLY at the 34th & Broadway store. How I love those words. And as much as I adore stripes (#2), I want that poplin dress (#1). It's such a pretty blank canvas, and such a good basic to brighten with shoes, accessories, cardigan...oh you know what to do.

This special promotion runs Friday through Sunday. Be sure to flash your Metrocard and get an extra 10% off, and look for the extra 25% off Adult, Baby, and Body markdowns.

Gap Herald Square, 34th & Broadway

Matthew Williamson & H&M Herald Square

The Matthew Williamson collection at H&M, Part 1, is debuting tomorrow morning, April 23rd, at select stores. In NYC that means the flagship at 51st & 5th, Herald Square, and Lexington and 59th. If you want to find the nearest store to your hood, go to the website, click on an item and then "find a store."

Herald Square? Maxi dress, no, leather coat, yes.

















But like the CdG collaboration, 51st & 5th has all the pricier, key items. If you're looking for that fabulous maxi dress, wait in line there. Although yes, I am mourning the loss of that gorgeous dress, I can't fork out the $349 for it now, anyway. So Broke Me is happy that all the accessories will be at Herald Square. Want: the peacock leather clutch ($59.90), the peacock necklace ($24.90), and the hot pink belt w/gold studs ($34.90). Yes, I'm one of the few girls in the blogosphere who prefers the pink to the huge black studded belt, which will also be at Herald Square ($49.90). Wide belts do nothing for my waist.

Herald Square? Silk dress, no, belt, yes, and peacock dress, yes.
















The brown leather coat paired with the maxi dress, for those of you who have the extra $249, will also be at Herald Square. That's a tempting deal for Matthew WIlliamson, all depending on the quality, of course. Photos tomorrows. The Herald Square store opens at 9am, and if you get there by 8am you should be near the front of the line. Expect the big crush at 51st Street, and beware the line cutters and scarf snatchers.

Photo credits, top left, Nitrolicious, all the rest pause.se.

H&M Herald Square, 34th & 6th Avenue

Forever 21 Dresses

Eeps made a comment yesterday about a friend surviving maternity months sans maternity clothing by buying Forever 21 dresses, and I've been meaning to check out their spring dresses, sooo...


I couldn't resist the orange ($29.80), which can easily double as maternity. It's lined so it's not too flimsy for hot summer commuting, and it has adjustable straps. Big flowy dresses are a great way to get through humid sticky summers, preggers or not.

The blue & purple strapless ($36) is another roomy and apt summer dress, good for weekends, and beaches, and weekend beach evenings....will summer never come?


Then there are the long slinky dresses, etc, not very maternity, but very pretty. All of the below are from the F21 Twelve by Twelve line and can be found on the first floor, right side.

Long, dramatic-shoulder purple dress is $36, and the black dress is $39. The back of the belt is a chain, and there's a nice crochet detail on the bottom.


















The jumpsuits ($39) are available in different color combos. Slinky, striped "dress" ($28) is more of a top on me (long inseam).


















There may not be as many empire waist dresses as last spring, but there's still plenty of options here for the expectant mother. And as usual, F21 is packed with inexpensive dress options for everyone. But be sure to go to the 3rd floor on 34th Street, as this is where they keep the discounted items. I didn't have much time to browse the sale racks, but quickly spotted many tempting items from last season. Which, at F21, could have been last week.

Forever 21, 50 W. 34th Street between 5th & 6th

The Kindness of Women: Maternity Shopping

We love to get our girlfriends gifts, so when they are expecting, we go shopping. Problem is, maternity is a little scary for those of us who aren't typically familiar with ENORMOUS elastic panels on the front of our pants. As this is a big, stretchy mystery side of retail most of us are unfamiliar with, I'll keep an eye on 34th Street maternity through the next couple months. Prioirities are: not hideous scary, and not hideous expensive.

Last week I dropped by Old Navy expecting cute, inexpensive dresses, but only found one enormous muumuu thing reminiscent of flowery, tent-like maternity dresses seen in old family photos. So I went straight for the maternity tanks. If your friend wears classic men's style tanks all summer long, will she stop because she's pregnant and instead prefer big flowered creations? No. These tanks (left) were 2 for $14 in store and come in lots of colors. Perfect. The rest of the selection was kind of blah. Online, however, Old Navy delivers a lot more.

At H&M, the maternity situation is similarly bleak. I was hoping for a little more, especially as they have the cutest label name ("H&M Mama") and no online store. There were basic black pants and a possibly very attractive denim skirt (maternity lacks hangar appeal), but few charming tops or dresses. In contrast, their kids and infant section is bursting with color and cuteness. I definitely recommend H&M for one-stop baby shopping on 34th Street, but that's for later. I'll continue to drop in on H&M Mama to see if anything cute comes in store for our chic pregger girlfriends.

Then there is Daffy's Herald Square, where there are racks of dresses on sale on the 6th floor with empire waists, full skirts, and pretty designs. Most are under $20, some under $15, and all can see a girl through several months of expanding waists with style (just go up a size or two). I'd also try Forever 21 for inexpensive, trendy dresses, but only if she was petite pre-pregnancy as I'd worry about their junior cut.

More maternity later. Let me know if you're looking for anything specific and I'll keep an eye out. I'm currently working on a desperate leggings request.

Who's got maternity on 34th Street:

Gap, 60 W. 34th Street
H&M Herald Square on 34th @ 6th Avenue
Macy's Herald Square, 151 W. 34th btwn Broadway & 7th
Old Navy, 150 W. 34th Street between Broadway & 7th

Attention Kmart Shoppers et al.: Chickdowntown Giveaway

It's Friday, so there's a lot going on. First, our friends at chickdowntown.com contacted me again with another irresistible offer: post this contest and I get a $50 gift card from chickdowntown.com. Which means one of you gets a $50 gift card from chickdowntown.com! It's like a play within a play, but the contest version:

1. Win a Tibi mini green dress by leaving a comment on the chickdowntown giveaway blog post.

2. Then leave a comment on this Fashion Herald post, and I'll put your name in a hat and Kati will draw the lucky winner next Friday, April 24th. Everyone qualifies (brilliant news, they ship international now), except our last gorgeous chickdowntown.com winner/rocker of the boyfriend jeans, Sister Wolf! Next time, Ms. Wolf. Here she is in her fab boyf jeans.

3. Hurry, go to the Tibi mini green dress giveaway blog soon and comment, as the chickdowntown.com giveaway ends over tomorrow! (My bad, lost giveaway email in massive inbox....)

Update: Winner announced! Congrats to The Preppy Princess!

Now back to 34th Street. Remember the Give and Get campaign? Gap raised 1.5 million, with proceeds going to such charities as the Leukemia & Lymphona Society, Feeding America, and the World Wildlife Fund. Well done, shoppers!

And last, some Attention jackets from Kmart on 34th Street, $34.99 (left) and $39.99. Very cute and practical spring items, because I doubt April showers are finished with us yet.






















Gap, 60 W. 34th Street between 5th & 6th
Kmart, 250 W. 34th between 7th & 8th

Piper & Blue Sale at Kmart

Piper & Blue caught my eye at Kmart on 34th Street yesterday. Most is 30% off in Juniors, where you can find a really cute blouse on sale for $13.99:

Blue! White! Long!
















^^ I don't condone wearing tights as pants. I'd like to make my position clear: ugh. But Kmart has a tough dressing room policy: only 4 items and you have to bring them all back to get 4 more. Yes, annoyingly inflexible (although I'm always highly entertained by my Kmart dressing room attendants, never a dull moment back there). Anyway, I was wearing a dress that day and was not going to change back into my clothes to grab a pair of pants. Thus those cute grey tights, $6.99 on sale in Juniors, also come in other colors including basic black.

Cute dresses, all Piper & Blue, & all 30% off $19.99. I'm thinking perfect poolside.
















I really wanted to buy this star dress (on sale, $17.49), but can't get over feeling/ looking like a constellation powder puff.














2nd favorite item, striped summer sweater on sale for $13.99, also comes in yellow & grey stripes. No buttons, hangs cute. And I really want a cheap little romper, aka jumpshorts, for summer days, this one's on sale for $11.89.
















Kmart, 250 W. 34th between 7th & 8th