Though I’m known to work up a mean sweat on the elliptical machine, my output pales in comparison to the struggles Puma’s 11-man Ocean Racing team will face in October, when they depart Spain for Volvo’s 10-month, 37,000-mile Ocean Race around the world.

On Monday night at the ICA, Puma threw quite the bash, including a special appearance by Salma Hayek, to unveil its new racing boat, as well as its new lifestyle and sailing clothing collections.

Upon arrival, I was faced with a crazed Hayek fan trying to enter as Bostonista’s +1. He was there, as we all were, to see his Academy Award-nominated crush crack a bottle of bubbly over the hull of il mostro (”the monster” in Italian), the gear brand’s sleek, spanking sailboat.

After ditching the Frida fanatic, it was time to survey the goods and, of course, my fellow guests. (more…)

It may only be May, but we’ve already staked our claim on a dress for the office holiday party in December. A girl likes to plan ahead! Bostonista attended Carmen Marc Valvo’s fall 2008 fashion show Friday at the Natick Collection, and after lusting after each and every sexy little number that sashayed down that runway, we’re absolutely putting our cash toward our latest frock find. (See a photo slide show from the event here.) (more…)

Typically, it’s we here at Bostonista who dole out the style advice. We’ve helped you with blue cues and collar capers and even cleared up a few personal hygiene issues. Rarely are we at a loss during fashion 911s. But our current situation has us flummoxed.

Last week, one of us had reconstructive knee surgery. (We’ll spare you the visuals and vivid painkiller-induced dreams.) Being house-bound for a week was alternately horrid and therapeutic, the latter thanks to lots of TLC from the littlest Bostonista. But now that we’re up and working again, we’ve hit the biggest roadblock of all: Accessorizing a monstrous leg brace and crutches is no easy task. We have entered into precarious fashion territory a fellow editor has termed “gimp chic.”

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Always eager to mix our two drugs of choice, Bostonista stopped by the Copley Neiman Marcus on Tuesday to sip champagne and take in the Pre-Fall St. John collection hosted by the label’s creative director, Kelly Gray.

The clothes, in Gray’s own words, were “full of rich saturated color and industrial shimmer.” One of her favorite pieces for the fall, a cerise shiny mini dress, met with approving gasps from the one-hundred-member-plus audience. “I could see Angelina Jolie in everything,” said one loyal Neiman’s customer. (So can everyone else.)

Perhaps it was the cocktails teamed with passed mini-cheeseburgers, duck tacos, and crabcakes that warmed the crowd up, but even the obliging tag-along husbands nodded in approval at the voluminous wide-leg pants and floral-print evening dresses. (more…)

Tomorrow morning I will jump on a plane and head to Palm Springs, where I’ll meet Fashion Week Mom (FWM), my little sister, and four of my closest friends for a weekend of sunning, snacking, socializing, and shimmying at Coachella, which, in my humble opinion is the best outdoor music festival ever.

Yes, I will sip Diet Coke by the pool in the mornings before heading to the blue- skied grounds. Yes, I will rock out to Prince on Saturday. Yes, he will electrify against a backdrop of beautiful palm trees and wondrous hipsters. Yes, I’m excited to the point of bragging. But I’m also a little nervous. (more…)

The lobby of the Somerville Theater was a blue/gray sea of denim, chambray, and fleece. “Yikes!” I said to my husband. “These are my peers?” We were there to see Joe Jackson, Brit rocker of olde, and as I wondered if that nasty AARP card issued automatically at my big 5-0 could have maybe gotten us a discount, I also registered more than a little remorse that this is how my generation was choosing to express itself sartorially. I should have worn my wig!

The mostly male and solidly middle-aged crowd was as entertaining as the band, fervently swinging to the beat while singing along full throttle. I felt like a fly in a car ride of teens on a beer run. Except this time, the elation I was witnessing related to temporary liberation from pressures due to recession, marriage, and parenting. (more…)

It wasn’t long after Sascha’s bum attempt at backside glory that I found my own pair of Booty Pop miracle grow panties waiting at my desk. Regardless of whether I need the extra padding (and after a winter full of candy binges, I’d venture no), Bostonista strives to be, if nothing else, objective when it comes to testing the latest trends. With that in mind, I set out to try BP for myself, hoping that the lack of shape and support Sascha experienced when wearing the underwear with a dress would disappear when paired with my favorite trouser jeans.

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Nordstrom, the Starbucks of fashion, opens its second area store today at the Burlington mall. On Wednesday night, the store gave Bostonista a sip of spring trends at its opening gala runway show, which raised $160,000 for Dana Farber Cancer Institute, The Junior League, and The Links.

In a 20-minute show, smooth, sweet, and temperate fashion from mainstays St. John, Missoni, Vince, and Milly were topped with creamy confections from Robert Rodriquez and Nanette Lepore. (more…)

Back when it was perfectly acceptable for a kid to spend hours in front of the television, I was an incredibly dedicated Smurfs devotee. Why it took the Hanna-Barbera people 17 years after the show went off the air to issue The Smurfs, Season One, on DVD, I can’t imagine. Anyway, I bought it, and the daily lives of Papa, Brainy, Vanity, Jokey, et. al. are as compelling as I remembered.

One Saturday morning and a few bowls of Froot Loops later, I am totally brainsmurfed. I’ve never been one to fall for a trend I see on TV or in the movies — in fact, as far as I’m concerned, once Rachel Bilson makes an appearance in anything, it’s pretty much jumped the shark. And yet, how else to explain this weekend’s extravagant, and eerily Smurf-like, purchase?

The platform slingback Jimmy Choo heels I took home from Gretta Luxe yesterday measure in at 4″ tall (about the height of a Smurf), and are a Smurfy shade of royal blue. These shoes are completely fantastical — not unlike Smurfs. Also like the Smurfs, they may remain a well-kept secret. (more…)

As dedicated patrons of the Coolidge Corner Trader Joe’s, Bostonista has spent months wondering what retailer would move into the vacant spot next door. Last week, Pure Blu Jeans finally opened at 1309 Beacon. For a minute, we were super-excited: We thought the store was going to be a U.S. outlet of Japanese label Pure Blue Jeans, a cult line currently domestically available (as far as we know) only in a couple of SoHo and San Francisco boutiques.

We weren’t entirely sure what kind of retail strategy involves NYC, San Francisco…and Brookline, but we thought perhaps the Pure corporate people shared our love for quirky, reasonably priced neighborhood grocery stores.

Alas, no. We quickly realized the new shop, with its missing “e”, is an entirely separate place. And while this Pure Blu Jeans isn’t quite as exciting as its Japanese counterpart, the store still stocks a solid selection of designer denim. (more…)