Forever 21

This past week, the women of the Office were on location at a mall. I know, right? It wasn't even my idea! Between scenes, the lovely Rashida Jones and I escaped to Forever 21. Rashida has the best taste of anyone I've met who doesn't make money off their taste. It's great to have someone like her with you in a knock-offy store or thrift store. So I totally took advantage and had her advise me on some cool threads.



This dope little jacket is almost an identical match to my hideously expensive Geren Ford jacket I bought this fall. I wear it over tight jeans, a tank and long layered chainy necklaces. It's the cutest.

In the centuries old fight of which is better, Forever 21 or H&M, most of my friends fall on the side of H&M. They argue the H&M stuff is hipper, and of all the cheapie knock-off stores, H&M comes the closest to the designers it's ripping. But I think they're just seduced by the Euro allure of H&M. I have had way more luck at Forever 21 than H&M. (I will say that the H&M on 5th Avenue in midtown NYC is pretty fucking fun. I always go there, drop serious cash on a completely awesome and dispensable wardrobe, then go up to 'dorfs and drop serious cash on an awesome perfume or cashmere scarf.)

Forever 21 is a total mess always, with kind of vacant, unhelpful teenage girls working there, but there are gems everywhere. It's also disgustingly cheap. Like cheaper than H&M. Like so cheap you kind of wish they charged more cuz you're like "Ew, why is this so cheap, what's wrong with it?". But then you realize it's probably South East Asian laborers making everything and it costs a tenth of a cent to produce and you see how you're cashing in on the best deal in town! (don't think about this stuff too much though, you'll start feeling guilty for the poor people, in like, Macau or wherever sewing together a knit jumper so you can own it for 17 bucks).


One caveat: often, the details on Forever 21 stuff sucks. What contributor Lola taught me do was to buy sweet new buttons and hooks at JoAnn fabrics, then have a tailor replace them. She recently did this with a gorgeous black jacket from Forever 21 and when I saw it, I thought it was from Marc Jacobs!! Isn't that an amazing story?


Good for: Girls, duh. Not moms though. My mom hates this store. There and Delias. Makes her want to puke. Best for when you don't have an agenda, or a specific item of clothing you need, but rather, a general sense of wanting to revamp your outfit and a lot of time on your hands. Also, bring a girlfriend with you. Unlike shopping at like, Intermix or Scoop, there are crazy hits and misses here, and you might just pick a miss unless your savvy gf tells you to knock it off. Brenda is particularly good at this.

Price: these tops above are $17 and $24 respectively and can be found on forever21.com