Beanie Man

So we've already admitted to watching "the Hills" and now there's no avoiding commenting on the phenomena that is Justin Bobby.


For those still feigning not to watch, Justin Bobby is Audrina's on again off again boyfriend who has mistreated her in the past and has, most likely, swooped back into her life to cash in on her fifteen minutes and then leave her in a flaming pile of reality show detritus. The ridiculous moniker Justin Bobby comes from the fact that his name is Justin but his friends call him Bobby. Aside from being really fantastic TV, and possibly an even better villain than Spencer, we couldn't help but notice his propensity for wearing ginormous floppy beanies somewhat on the order of Adam Brody below:

Clearly, this look is not new, we credit Colin Farrell for its genesis and note Wilmer Valderrama for his studied imitation. Justin Bobby aside, we're even starting to see it on the East Coast. What's next, Kansas?

We're not saying the beanie is inherently bad. We feel the look is highly informed by he who wears it such that the hats tend only to look good on people you already like. Therefore, the floppy beanie is in a trend "safety zone" so to speak. What we fear is a "trucker-hat-isation" of the concept which unfortunately, might be right around the corner. If that's the case, we have just one request.

Can we just skip saturation and go straight to backlash please?

Holy Eyeliner Batman

We admit that we're really not afraid of bad TV. We watch America's Next Top Model, we watch the OC, we even watch its reality-based spin off "Laguna Beach" (we think it's funny how evil those freaky kids are). Our Tivo's are also, not surprisingly, set to capture every vapid moment of the spin off to the spin off, "the Hills." However we admit, we're 28, and we don't quite get all of it, namely the appeal of Spencer. Thankfully, we get most of the fashion. The LC beach-girl-chic, the Whitney why-is-everyone-around-me-so-much-stupider-than-me nouveau preppy. What we don't get is the eyeliner.



We've never seen so much liquid liner on girls under 25. Its like they're channeling the late Tammy Faye Bakker here. And what bothers us is not that they've decided to go with that look here, on the red carpet, its that, and you'd certainly know this if you watched the show, they wear this stuff morning, noon and night. Let's call it what it is, excessive, and more importantly, these girls are emboldening this guy:

Unemployment Looks Great on Rachel Bilson

"California here we come, right back where we started from..." Are we the only folks rapidly approaching 30 and weaned on 90210 that grew a special place in their hearts (guiltily perhaps) for the OC? Ever since Seth Cohen welcomed us to the family like a hoodlum from Chino, we haven't been able to get that song out of our heads.

We like all the characters really, from Ryan with the brooding eyes that only make us laugh to Sandy Cohen and his crooning. We've noticed that since the show was canceled, we haven't seen much out of the cast. We don't really mind as they are immortalized in our season one box set dvd collection but in one instance, we think it's working out to her advantage.

Summer Roberts entered the show a vapid teenager with a stereotypical southern California teen wardrobe. She ended the season a little bit boho but what's really remarkable, is how great she looks post Adam Brody split and more importantly post OC cancellation. We don't always love the "jailbird chic" look but this example shows a great sense of color and proportion.



And even more recently we noticed this great use of pintucks.


A quick check on IMDB reveals that Ms. Bilson may have a project in post production for '08 but for now, Mischa Barton should take a page out of your playbook Rachel Bilson because unemployment looks great on you.

Skeched Out

We're tired of the casual sneaker for women. We think it's a cop out. We think that keds were lame the first time around (sorry Mischa Barton). We don't think your laces should match your shirt (sorry Carrie Underwood) We strongly believe that in life one should aim less for Marissa Cooper and more for Summer Roberts. Marissa has a funny accent. We think the casual sneaker is silly. It says dilletante. It says, I can't be bothered to run but check out my new tracksuit. Unless, of course, you're sixteen. Or you live in New Jersey. Then you get a pass for things like that.