Cheryl Shops

Confession: I'm one of those girls who loved, loved, loved the magazine Sassy. I have nearly every issue saved (they're at my parents' house), and I devoured the excellent How Sassy Changed my Life. What was so great to me was that the magazine let its editors' and writers' personalities into the magazine, so much that I felt like they were actually my friends, or at least cool girls I could look up to. One of those editors was Kim France, who went on to edit Lucky, taking a similar tactic in bringing its editors onto its pages. Kim is no longer the editor at Lucky, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss her, so I was beyond overjoyed to see she started a blog called Girls of a Certain Age. It is very clearly her voice—cool, a little neurotic, honest—and while many of the posts are about shopping (everything from store reports to cool products), she also interviewed fellow Sassy alum Christina Kelly, and hopefully will continue that practice (where are Mary and Karen?!). The blog is geared toward women in their 30s and 40s, so obviously I'm the target audience, but I can't help but feel like I've reconnected with a long-lost friend.

Elsewhere on the blogosphere, Sea of Shoes and The Cut are engaged in a war of words over this profile of SOS's Jane Aldridge in Texas Monthly. Jane apparently had no problem with the article until this post on The Cut, snarkily analyzing the profile. Jane issued a rebuttal; The Cut responded. My take? The TM story is a pretty damn good profile—it's an award-winning publication, after all—and while Jane comes across as a bit...snobby...you can't help but admire her for knowing what she wants and going after it—successfully—at such a young age (she's 20), so who cares if she's not going to college? (Nor do I care that she drinks a glass of champagne in the story; I did far worse things at that age.) Jane is now claiming a bunch of quotes were taken out of context by The Cut, and that she was misquoted by TM; Texas Monthly stands by their reporting. Jane may be savvy beyond her years when it comes to her blog, but she's certainly showing her age when it comes to her lack of media training.

Recommended Reading: Sea of Shoes
Staying on top of all the fashion blogs out there is practically a full-time job. I like to think I'm pretty well-informed, but all of a sudden I'll start hearing about one everywhere, and then I'm shocked (and maybe a little perturbed) that I haven't heard about it before. Kind of like when you're wearing wide-leg jeans and everyone else in the room is wearing skinny jeans--how did I miss the memo? Anyway, after reading about the blog Sea of Shoes twice in two days--it's one of the blogs featured in Holt Renfrew's blogger windows [subscription required], and now its creator, Jane Aldridge, is designing a line of shoes for Urban Outfitters--I decided to check it out. Sea of Shoes is beautifully photographed, à la Garance Doré or the Sartorialist and primarily features its writer-creator, the aforementioned Ms. Aldridge, in creative, thoughtful outfits, à la Fashion Toast, paying particular attention to her shoes. But what's really remarkable about Sea of Shoes is that Jane, its writer, is 17 years old. That's right, she's in high school. While you wrap your head around that one, I can tell you that, from reading this article, Jane comes from good pedigree--her mother, Judy, is a model-turned-designer and the only "fashion person" she knows in real life, as she lives in suburban Dallas. Jane's incredibly precocious tastes tend toward the more avant garde Belgian and Japanese designers, but I find it interesting how she integrates these edgy shoes into her wardrobe, which leans more ladylike. The writing is more mature than you'd expect, but the focus is definitely the photos, and the spectacular styling featured therein. Did I mention she's 17?

As for her shoe collection, it's mini--just three styles--and hits Urban Outfitters July 15th. The most promising pair, in my opinion, is the brown lace-up boot. I can't wait to see how Jane wears them.