February 2011
14 posts
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Style Girlfriend on Sports: Super Bowl Edition
(Image/Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/MCT)
Along with the rest of the nation, I’ll be watching this Sunday as the Green Bay Packers face off against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl. As a Wisconsin native, I consider myself a Packers fan by default. To the dismay of my football-loving family, however, I enjoy the sport from a pleasantly detached distance, watching...
January 2011
45 posts
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What's Your Style Strategy?
(image via photoluau) A friend recently let me in on a style secret he’d been keeping. After a couple of drinks for courage, he leaned in and whispered, “Megan, when I go shopping, I just walk into the store, check out the mannequins in the window, and buy whatever they’re wearing.” Sheepishly, he lowered his eyes and asked, “Is that cheating?” Well, yes and no. Yes, this course of action...
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Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit
(image via Evolution of Style)
All day, the song “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit” from a recent How I Met Your Mother has been playing on repeat in my head. Do you watch that show? You should if you don’t. It’s hilarious. Anyway, in the episode, resident lothario Barney Stinson is forced to pick between bedding a beautiful woman and his beloved bespoke suits. He chooses the suits. Until fairly...
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Style Girlfriend: The Case for Grandpa Sweaters
(Originally Published: 1/11/11)
Grandpa sweaters are making a comeback right now.
You know the kind I’m talking about - often pastel-colored cardigans that button up to a deep V in the front. I have my own grandpa sweater, bequeathed from my very own grandpa. A buttery yellow, made of ancient mohair worn soft from years of use. He would sport it with a bolo tie cinched around a polo shirt...
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Gift Guide: Holiday Shopping for Her
I’ve saved this column for the week before Christmas because, let’s be honest, some of you guys are just starting your shopping. Amirite? Don’t worry, me too. Below, what to buy for all the ladies on your list. The girl you just started seeing It’s early, so you agreed not to exchange presents. She is LYING. She got you something and expects you to do the same. If you’re even thinking about going...
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Gift Guide: Holiday Shopping for Him
I don’t know about you, but I’m not nearly done with my holiday shopping. The will is there, but not necessarily the time, nor the energy, nor the desire to brave the cold or the masses. Thank goodness for the internet because without online purchases, everyone on my list might just be getting hugs from me this year. To help all my shopping-weary sisters out there then, I’ve compiled a hit list of...
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What to Wear: Holiday Parties
December’s a great month to be a snappy dresser, isn’t it? Thanks to a jam-packed party schedule filling up the calendar (well, depending on how popular you are, I guess), you get to pull out all the sartorial stops, night after night. With the invites already stuffing your inbox and mailbox, let’s get you dressed to impress for all your holiday party hopping.
WORK PARTY
If your company holiday...
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The Style Girlfriend Guide to: Dressing for a...
First dates can be a tricky business, for those on both sides of the table. I’ve gleaned plenty of pre-date advice from my favorite chick magazines. Things like, Maintain eye contact, but don’t stare. Initiate physical contact (hand on an elbow, or if you’re feeling daring, a knee) to indicate interest. All guidance that’s served me well in my brief-yet-illustrious dating career. Now, I don’t know...
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Style Girlfriend "Men of Style" - Joe Paterno
This month, Joe Paterno won his 400th college football game - an impressive feat of both talent and stamina. While other coaches come and go, the patriarch of Penn State remains comfortingly consistent - on the field and in his look. That’s why JoePa’s my pick for another installment of “Men of Style.”
Some stats to make you feel young and unaccomplished — the 84-year-old grandfather of...
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In Defense of Boring
I have a hard and fast rule about trends: only buy into those that look good on the cheap. If you can’t find a reasonably-priced version - skip ‘em.
Let me give you an example. Last fall, I badly wanted a pair of over-the-knee boots, the season’s “it” accessory. I spent far too many at-work hours poring over styles online, debating heel vs. flat, black vs. brown, zipper vs. pull-on. But when I...
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Halloween Costumes for the Well-Dressed Man
I have a confession to make - I don’t like Halloween. When free candy fell out of the evening’s equation, the holiday lost its appeal. It doesn’t help that all my ladies out there are expected (and, too often in my opinion, oblige) to wear get-ups straight out of a Frederick’s of Hollywood catalogue. All I’m saying is, I prefer my sexy nurses where they belong – as conniving minor characters on...
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Your Must-Haves for Fall
Recently, I found myself in desperate need of new clothes, but no time to go shopping. Thanks to a ridiculously busy project that took up most hours of the day - and depressingly - night, the only clothes I wanted to try on after leaving the office were my pajamas. I knew the fall items I wanted for my wardrobe, I just didn’t have the energy to find it all myself. So I did what any time-strapped...
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The Style Girlfriend Guide to: Buying a Watch
A friend called from the watch counter at Macy’s recently, slightly panicked by the sea of options encased in front of him. Buying a watch is not like picking out toothpaste at the drugstore, I told him. You’ve got plenty of choices, but you can’t go in unprepared. After all, a good wristwatch could be the biggest purchase worn below the elbow that you’ll ever make until (or since) you spring for...
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Dear ol' Stylish Dad
Last week, I found myself scrambling for a present for my father’s fast-approaching birthday. Between work and…well, more work, I haven’t had much brain space for anything besides putting my pants on the right way in the morning and remembering to shower. That said, a good dad deserves a good gift and I wanted to make sure I found the perfect one for him. Men owe a particular thank you to their...
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Lesons from the Best-Dressed List
Vanity Fair released its annual international best-dressed list in this month’s issue. The magazine named this year’s style leaders from entertainment, business, fashion and even royalty. Hollywood stars like Jake Gyllenhaal and Javier Bardem made the list, alongside lesser-known fashionable fellows, including Loews Hotel CEO Jonathan Tisch, jewelry designer Waris Ahluwalia and H.S.H. Prince...
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Back to School, Back to School
September’s here, and that means shorter days, end-of-summer barbecues, and back-to-school ads infesting the airwaves. Seems like I can’t turn on the TV without JC Penneys telling me what my tween should be wearing this fall. But what about the grown-up kids heading back to school? A friend of mine is currently getting settled at my beloved alma mater Penn State - ostensibly to get his masters in...
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"Hey baby, what's your season?"
Important question time: Do you know what season you are? In case you think I just got all “If you were a tree, what tree would you be?” on you, let me back up and explain. Everyone falls under a certain “season,” as determined by their skin tone, hair color and eyes. When you wear colors from your season’s palate, you’ll enhance your features. Not that you...
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Dressing for the Job You Want
My brother recently came to visit here in New York. He just completed a masters’ program in the UK, and stormed back stateside in full-on job interviewing mode. After helping with the requisite resume clean-up - action verbs! proper punctuation! - we got down to the fun stuff. Shopping for an interview outfit. He needed something for a meeting with a political fundraiser the next week in...
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Crazy For Camo
Summer lovin’ / had me a blast. Summer lovin’ / happened so fast. Excuse my romantic reverie, but I’m in love. It started out as a minor flirtation - a brunch here, a coffee date there. But now, it’s serious, and I want to tell the world. I’m in love with camo shorts, and it feels so right. Camouflage shorts are the perfect summer weekend wear for guys (and girls, by the by). They’re easy,...
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Bed Bugs & Bird Logos
Last week, Hollister was forced to shut down its flaship store in New York City’s Soho shopping district for “maintenance,” so that crews could rid the four-story retail outlet of an epic bedbug manifestation. Yes, you read that right. A massive, 40,000 square-foot behemoth of a store in the middle of NYC’s busiest neighborhoods had bedbugs. If that’s not enough of a reason to totally ban the...
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What a Girl Wants
It’s my birthday! Almost. Well, next Wednesday, but that’s less than a week away! …Ok, yes, I’m jumping the gun a bit on the celebration, I know. I’m turning the big 2-7, and, while I don’t necessarily embrace getting older, I do embrace presents. Lots and lots of presents. And flowers. And skywriting. Oh, and fireworks. Actually, since my birthday is only a...
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Worth the Price??
I’ve gotten a few questions from people asking what wardrobe items are actually worth spending money on, and where they can cut style corners. I don’t have all the answers, but here’s a rundown of the stuff I think you should at least consider shelling out for, and what you can leave on the shelf.
Shoes: Worth the $$$
Shoes are something you should be able to wear for a long...
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Summer Style - Swim Trunks
I don’t know what the weather was like in youuur neck of the woods* this weekend, but in New York it was H-O-T. I headed to the pool and, after a short-lived attempt at reading, I would up people watching for most of the afternoon. After all, where better - and when better - to check out you fellas on display than poolside in 85-degree weather? I saw some swim trunks (and yes, I call them...
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Soccer - In Style
(Image via hypebeast) Who else is pumped for the World Cup? While I am on the record as having little-to-no interest in the sport, every four years I magically turn into a soccer fan just in time for the tourney. Of course, I don’t actually understand different positions or game rules, and I favor teams based on jersey design rather than athletic capabilities…but still! To me, the...
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The Style Girlfriend Guide to: Dress Codes
Last week a friend texted me looking for advice on what to wear to a wedding where the stated dress code was “Cocktail Attire.” After a lengthy back-and-forth (in 250 characters or less), I realized the topic probably deserved its own post. After all, wedding season is upon us, and those big fat cream-colored envelopes showing up in our mailboxes can bear some pretty confounding...
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TV's Men of Style
May is upon us, and that means two things: shopping for spring clothes in wildly unpredictable weather, and watching our favorite TV shows go into hiatus for the summer. As I bid adieu to the characters I’ve laughed and cried with this year, I thought I’d take some time out to give shout-outs to my fave fashionable TV men of the season. Each has his own style sense, which may or may...
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Ladies' Dealbreakers for Dudes
This weekend, I met my new niece, an 8-lb, 12 oz eight wonder of the world. The first addition to the next generation of my family, I was understandably excited to get acquainted. My parents, my sister and brother-in-law and I fawned over every nose crinkle, cry and arm stretch. This newborn baby girl could do no wrong in our eyes. She would burp, and we would sigh in adoration.
It got me to...
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The Style Girlfriend Guide to: Swagger
Full disclosure: I can’t stand name dropping. I think it’s snobby and obnoxious, and actually diminishes your coolness cred, rather than building it up. That said, I’m about to drop a couple names on you like bombs. I apologize in advance. I just joined Soho House (Obnoxious Name Drop #1), a members’ club here in New York and have been busy getting my money’s worth at...
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Hurray For Hoodies
Oh April, why so fickle? I thought you were ‘in like a lion, out like a lamb,’ but it’s almost May and you’re still roaring. It’s been rainy, cold and generally miserable here in NYC since the weekend, and, well, I’m pretty much over it. Because I already put my winter clothes into storage (what can I say? I’m an optimist!), I’ve had to resort to...
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"You Know Style Girlfriend?!?"
It’s official: fame has gone to my head. I’m actually surprised it took this long.
A month or so ago, I mentioned to a friend that - according to Facebook - her husband and I shared a mutual acquaintance in Jon, the owner of Evolution of Style, one of SG’s lovely sponsors. This week, she related a story to me that pretty much made my year. Apparently, she finally got around to...
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Thank You Sperry Much
I’ve fought it long enough - here’s my post on boat shoes.
If there’s one thing I love more than boat shoes on my own feet, it’s an artfully beat-up pair on the feet of my beau (or any boy really). Boat shoes say, “I come from old money, and I’m going to treat you badly. And you’re going to love it.” Wait, that’s the plot from Pretty in...
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The Style Girlfriend Guide to: Gym Wear
They say the clothes make the man – but that’s not really true, is it? I say the man makes the clothes. And to make sure those clothes fit, you gotta be in shape. So that’s what I want to talk about the day – gym wear!
And yes, I know what you’re thinking – I already have to think about what I’m wearing to watch sports, I have to watch what I wear to the gym now too?
Well, yes and no.
Yes,...
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Bi-Polar Dressing
Today I want to talk about a style blunder I see guys make all too often, but luckily is easy to fix: bi-polar dressing.
Now, I’m not talking about mixing stripes with paisley, or sporting a black belt with brown shoes. Those are small fries to this big potato of a problem. I’m talking about the all-too-familiar faux pas of an outfit having one “look” from the waist-up, and a whole...
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Sporting Style
Showing your team spirt doesn’t mean looking like a mascot who wandered into the stands. With the Saints’ Super Bowl victory fresh in my mind, and March Madness right around the corner, it’s no surprise I’m in a sporty mood this week. As such, I’d like to take this opportunity to address the clothing choices of male sports fans.
If you’re like most guys I know (apologies for my gross...
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Introducing: Megan K. Collins...your Style...
Hi there, I’m your style girlfriend.
I’m here to provide a female point of view on men’s style, and as I love to say what I think – even when I probably shouldn’t – well, here I am.
A little about me and my style:
Born and raised in the Midwest, I now live in New York City and work in advertising. Both my job and adopted hometown lend themselves to having fun with fashion. And...