happy new year’s everyone – hope you all have a fun and safe night out!

it’s been almost a year since i started the clothing menu.  i’m really looking forward to continuing this blog in 2010 and learning more about the latest indie fashion lines and what styles you all want to see more of.

before we enter into 2010, i just want to take a quick look back at 2009 on the clothing menu and share the most popular posts and links of the year:

top 3 posts:

1) cotton style with zooey deschanel

2) i heart rachel bilson’s style

3) dress like betty draper

top 3 stores i’ve linked to:

1) sohomode

2) Built by Wendy

3) ouma

enjoy!

hope everyone had a good holiday weekend!  now it’s time to gear up for new year’s eve.  what kind of party are you going to?  whether you’re heading out to a fancy bash at a club or bar or laying low with friends, here are some fun and easy style tips from celebs that hopefully you can use for your party outfit.

the key tips to take from emmy rossum and anne hathaway are to add a pop of color to your outfit if you’re going for the black and white look (either in your jewelry or an accessory, like a scarf) and layering up with a black blazer.

hope you have a fun and safe new year’s eve!

pics from people.com

ok, procrastinators – only 4 more shopping days left to buy your christmas presents.  by now, it’s too late to order items online, unless you want to pay a hefty overnight shipping fee.  luckily, all around the US are great boutiques that specialize in stocking clothes and accessories from independent designers that make for great gifts!  here is a listing of some of the boutiques i’ve found in select cities.  click on the image to visit the store websites to see where they are located so you could make your last minute gift purchases.  the good thing is all of these stores have an online shop in case you’re loving the items and don’t live in the city.

if you have a favorite local indie boutique in your city that’s not on the list – please share!

have you seen this beautiful, fun commercial for miss dior cherie perfume that’s been on-air recently?  i love it!!  the music, the dress, the parisienne scenery, the vintage look.  and i just found out sofia coppola directed it, which totally makes sense because it resembles the style of marie antoinette and the virgin suicides – 2 movies she directed.  sofia coppola is amazing!

check out this video of the making of the miss dior commercial. it makes me dream of france in the spring – too bad i’m across the ocean and we’re getting a blizzard tomorrow!

this nature-inspired collection from mika michida is soo beautiful!  not everyone would be able to pull these off because they are so unique, but that’s what’s so great about them.  and on top of that – mika is a sustainable fashion company and all the clothes are made out of organic and sustainable materials.

i usually don’t write about high-fashion here, but i have a crush on rodarte and have to share.  if you’re not familiar with rodarte and the pair of sisters behind the clothing line, you might recognize these rodarte dresses reese witherspoon has worn:

well i can’t afford those dresses, as beautiful as they are, but on december 20, i will be at target because rodarte designed a collection for the store!!  i’m so excited.  look at these awesome and affordable outfits (click on the image to see more from the collection):

finally, here is a video of talented teenage fashion blogger, tavi from the style rookie blog, interviewing rodarte about the target collection.

reese witherspoon pics from instyle.com

later this week i’m going to the hard rock cafe for a holiday party, which reminds me of some t-shirts i saw on sale at the hard rock last time i went there.   the i/denti/tee shirts are for music lovers (like myself) because each shirt features a lyric to a popular song like “iloverocknroll” and “iwillsurvive.”  these make great christmas gifts!

’tis the season for holiday parties!  which of course means it’s time to shop for a new party dress!  there are two main types of parties – a work party and a party with friends – and the kind of dress you wear to each can vary depending upon the crowd.

for work parties, a conservative, yet fun dress is what you need.  satin, embellishments, and a dress that doesn’t show too much skin are things to look for.  black is always the safest color – but you could make it stand out, like anne hathaway’s dress, with some embellishment around the collar.  or, for an evening event you can stand out in a silver dress with a conservative shape, like zooey deschanel’s dress.  to add some color to the usual LBD, you can go for purple, like eva mendes, and add an eye catching belt to bring the outfit together.

if you’re going to a party with friends, you might want to get a little more daring in a sexy party dress.  there’s always the classic red mini dress a la ashley olsen.  or you can mix the conservative with the sexy in a black lace number like marion cotillard.  finally, leave it to victoria beckham to bring the sexy out in a one shoulder, mini, gold dress.

what are you wearing to your holiday parties this season?

all pics from style.com

i can’t believe it’s holiday shopping season already!  for those of you searching around for some good cyber monday deals, here are some of my favorite etsy designers who are offering promotions for the shopping day.

- first is andwhatelseisthere, a bangkok based shop, with fashion forward handmade clothes ranging from pants to dresses to bags.  for cyber monday, andwhatelseisthere is offering 10% off every item after paying full price for the first.

- second, is an isreal based shop called Lirola.  Lirola strives to make feminine clothes that are comfortable and flattering.  for cyber monday, the shop is offering free first class shipping.

- and last but not least is Mary Savel, who designs and makes all the garments from an apartment in Brooklyn.  i bought a skirt from this designer earlier this year that i love and am continually excited to see the new designs added to the shop.  Mary Savel is offering free shipping to anywhere in the world on cyber monday.

there are a lot of things i’m thankful for this thanksgiving, like the health of my family and friends, surviving layoffs during (hopefully) the worst part of the recession.  but when it comes to fashion, there are some fall trends this year that i’m also thankful for, like:

- geometric shapes (from seneca rising)

- layered jewelry (from JANETLILY)

- boyfriend blazers (from toast)

- draped dresses (from JoDemontis)