Valentine’s Day

Investors demonstrated just how pleased they were with J.C. Penney’s new vision when the store’s shares skyrocketed 18.8 percent on the New York Stock Exchange to $40.72 on Thursday. According to WWD, the increase in stock price was “the highest for Penney’s in at least 30 years.”

Want to know why investors are so excited — and why you should be equally thrilled? Check out the dramatic changes in store for Penney’s below.

New Promo Plans

Instead of the 590 annual promotions J.C. Penney currently does, they’ll narrow their focus down to 12, or one per month. For example, February will focus on Valentine’s Day, August will highlight back-to-school goods and beachwear will be May’s focus.

“Every month, every store will go through a radical transformation,” said Michael Francis, Penney’s president. He explained that people tend to organize their lives by month and that Penney’s wants to get in sync with their shoppers’ lives.

No More Antiquated Merchandise Jargon

Terms like “missy,” and “pant” are no more with Penney’s new vision. Instead, they’ll focus on shoppers’ lifestyles and how they shop today.

New Accessories/Cosmetics “Town Square”

Instead of the random accessories and cosmetics islands currently scattered throughout the center of Penney’s, shoppers will enjoy a new “town square” shopping design. The new look will be revealed in 2013.

100 Concept Stores

Instead of the open racks shoved against the exterior walls of J.C. Penney stores, they’ll implement “100 individual shop concepts for private and national brands, including Izod, Arizona and Liz Claiborne.” To visualize it yourself, consider IKEA’s individual compartments that customers walk to along the shopping floors. J.C. Penney’s new look will be akin to that.

For example, the Martha Stewart “stores” within the J.C. Penney Walls will have their own look and feel. Johnson said they’ll have an Apple-meets-Martha Stewart vibe. The Arizona store will have a completely different look. It’ll basically be like a door-free mall.

The 100 new concept shops will be phased in at a rate of two or three per month over the course of four years. At the moment, 30 shops are under development. The 100-shop concept also means that Penney’s will phase out roughly 300 of its current brands.

Read more at WWD.

By Wendy Rose Gould 

Dennis Basso Sample Sale

If you subscribe to the populist mentality and prefer to spend your weekends chillin’ with the OWS crowd, you’ll probably want to skip Dennis Basso’s sample sale. Why? It was “the 1%” written all over it. His show-stopping, luxurious fur coats have made him an acclaimed furrier to high society ladies. From cashmere coats to chic handbags to gorgeous gowns, this sale features mega discounts worth swooning over.

Kara Ackerman Sample Sale

Marilyn Monroe once sang that diamonds were a girl’s best friend. If you’re of the same mind when it comes to sparkly jewels and gemstones, you won’t want to miss Kara Ackerman’s sample sale. Her jewelry — all high quality without screaming “I have more money than you!” — has graced the pages of myriad glossies, including Style and Lucky magazines. Even celebs like Cameron Diaz, Olivia Wilde, Lea Michele and Claire Danes have donned pieces from her amazing line.

Morgane Le Fay Sample Sale

Our third Valentine’s Day-approved sample sale is for the ethereal and always feminine clothing of Morgane Le Fay. The socially conscious brand, rooted in New York’s Soho, is synonymous with exquisite craftsmanship and innovative design. In the past, The Vogue City has thoroughly enjoyed this sale. We’ve even scored some write-home-to-mom-about deals!

We’ve given you the dress, the diamonds and the fur. Who needs a date when you have all that?

By Wendy Rose Gould

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and with it comes endless romantic pressure, whether you’re single or taken. The deeply unpleasant nature of being single on February 14 has been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere, but Valentine’s Day is also awful for couples.

Sure, the idea of a day celebrating love seems like it should be a cakewalk for couples, but Valentine’s brings with it a holy host of complications. For the newly dating, it’s a legit nightmare: do you celebrate it? How fancy do you get? Is it weird to order flowers for someone who isn’t even officially your boy/girlfriend? Should you just politely ignore the entire thing? We personally know several people who have planned strategic trips out of town just to avoid this conundrum.

Matters don’t get much better for those in long-term relationships. Giving a present seems forced and commercial – after all, Valentine’s Day is rarely significant to the couple itself. It’s just something the romantic industrial complex deems should be celebrated. Even if you can look past that, the fact remains that Valentine’s Day is just a pain in the ass: restaurants offer expensive prix fixe menus exclusively and you have to get a reservation months in advance.

Of course, Valentine’s Day isn’t all bad. The decorations are cute and it’s hard to hate any holiday that involves that much candy. Our suggestion for enjoying February 14: revert to childhood, when V-Day was still fun. Stuff yourself silly with candy and give your friends cheesy store bought cards. For once, romance is the less fun option.

Leila Cohan-Miccio

Red lips, supposedly seductive and glamorous, can make a 20-something cringe and run for the safety of the nearest clear gloss.  A smeary, scarlet pucker reminds us of stern high school principals past who chided us for cutting class, of kissy grandmothers who want to know when we’re finally going to settle down and get married already, and, of course, of Sarah “I can see Russia from Alaska” Palin.  Truth be told – and Katy Perry aside – we avoid red lipstick for fear of looking, well, too grown up.  Military coats:  cool.  Military mouths:  not so hip.

Fear no longer, oh, glossy girls of New York City.  Through my own trials and tribulations, I’ve created a list of a handful of shades that are both flattering and wearable – and, of course, affordable.

First, I must pay proper homage to Chanel’s Glossimer in Spark, the venerable brick house of lip glosses.

If you’ve got $28 to fork over, go for the good stuff.  Chanel’s Glossimers, much like their namesake, are luxurious and decadent, right down to the tissue paper packaging that comes with each tube.  Spark, a sheer red with flecks of gold (karat unspecified, though I wouldn’t put it past Karl Lagerfeld to use the real thing), stands well alone or layered on top of a nude lipstick (my personal pick for the office), and flatters olive toned skin without washing you out. 

If, however, you’d prefer to buy groceries this week (anorexia is so 1997) MAC’s Lipglasses pack a mean punch at $14 a pop.  Red Devil (reddish-orange) and Russian Red (bluish-red) look scarier in their tubes than they do on, but are equally flattering.  

 

Stay away from unnecessary primers and lip liners that MAC salespeople infamous for pushing; the goal here is a hint of color, not like you’re trying out for a carnival. 

Drugstore divas will adore L’Oreal’s Colour Juice in Cherry On Top, a fruity-hued sheen that flatters cool and warm tones alike.  At under $9 a tube, you can buy your groceries and pay your electric bill.  Living on the edge has never looked so good.

Of course, the prettiest thing you can do with your mouth is smile, knowing that while testing trends is fun, slaving to them is never fashionable. 

–Karyn Polewaczyk