A favorite site of mine when looking for new fashion ideas is Grechen’s Closet, and recently she’s posted about “eco-chic” with a lot of examples of green boutiques and sustainable lines from indie and mainstream designers. Organic living may have been made most visible recently by Anya Hidmarch and the infamous “I’m Not A Plastic Bag” bag, but true sustainable style requires more than a tote you should be using for groceries but more likely than not are flashing around as your day bag.

Sustainable clothes from Edun, one of the best known eco-chic brands due to Ali Hewson’s association with Bono.

A recent survey from American Express showed that a full third of us have become “conscience consumers”, and the social and environmental hazards in the fashion trade are numerous. From sweatshop labor to environmental pollution via washes and dyes, not to mention the fast-fashion disposable-apparel trend, it can be difficult to find clothes that look good but that you can ethically feel good about as well. So for now, leave the disposable clothes at Forever 21, and check out Grechen’s list of indie green boutiques and designers.

Here’s the commercial for the new Acura TSX, which definitely strikes a few nerves with the 20s and 30s yuppiesomethings: Start a business, sell it, then start another one. In between, dance to some trip-hop at the club (Citizen Cope’s “Let the Drummer Kick” is sampled here), swim in your rooftop pool, and drive out to the beach and check out a sunrise.

Some shots of the car here from Acura’s website. Equally at home in front of the art gallery, at the condo or - yes - on the road. From Alyx — Acura gets the YuppieJournal seal of approval for both this car and this marketing campaign.

A gem from Details, pointed out by my friend Isis:

1.
We’re not living in a very creative era. That’s not good or bad; it’s just the way it is. I think it’s in very bad taste to buy art right now. People should leave it to the hedge-fund owners who want to satisfy their wives. “Hey, I bought a Chinese avant-garde thing.” Good for you.

2.
I think it’s very important to look sexy at home. I hate it when people say, “I will take this to the countryside because it’s not fashionable anymore.” I love being well-dressed when nobody’s looking at me.

3.
At hotels, they always mess up the cleaning. They will do a crease when it’s not necessary. You give them a cotton shirt and they dry-clean it. It smells funny, so you have to rinse it again. So I travel light.

4.
If you can tell a man’s sexuality by the way he dresses—like a “gay” uniform or a “macho” uniform—that’s disgusting.

5.
Nowadays, people work out way too much, and they look like invaders from another planet. A guy who works out two hours a day—focusing on his chest because he thinks it’s sexy—you can’t dress him, even if you send him to the best designer or stylist in the world.

6.
Finance men have money but no taste. They’ll say, “My wife thinks this tie looks good on me.” They don’t focus on what’s beautiful and what’s not beautiful—they leave it to women.

7.
The rock star who uses a personal stylist to dress him should go to jail. If you’re doing rock and roll, you should know how to dress. You shouldn’t need to hire anybody.

8.
Anybody can be a good guest for dinner. When it gets delicate is after one day. The worst guests are the people who come to your place and in the morning they say, “Okay, what do we do today?”

9.
I once wore a pink, ruffled shirt for dinner, and I wish I had never done it. I thought it was funny, but I felt so bad in it I realized I don’t have the humor to deal with ugliness.

10.
After you’re 35, it’s difficult to drink unless you’re running 10 miles a day. I’m not talking one dry martini every Saturday or something. I’m talking three dry martinis a night. And I don’t think that’s possible—it’s too much poisoning. It’s not a very sexy way to talk about drinking, but that’s the truth.

A few of us at YupJay are ad-men (err, ad-women, to be more precise) at heart, and thought you might appreciate this:

source: USA Today

Economy compels some to move home with parents

After being laid off from her job as an events planner at an upscale resort, Jo Ann Bauer struggled financially. She worked at several lower-paying jobs, relocated to a new city and even declared bankruptcy. Then in December, she finally accepted her parents’ invitation to move into their home — at age 52. “I’m back living in the bedroom that I grew up in,” she said.

Taking shelter with parents isn’t uncommon for young people in their 20s, especially when the job market is poor. But now the slumping economy and the credit crunch are forcing some children to do so later in life — even in middle age. Financial planners report receiving many calls from parents seeking advice about taking in their grown children following divorces and layoffs.

Some of Erickson’s clients are giving as much as $50,000 at a time to their kids, many of whom have overextended themselves with big houses or lavish lifestyles. And the sliding economy might threaten their jobs.

Anna Maggiore, 27, lost her job as a publicist in Los Angeles about three years ago and moved into her parents’ house in Los Alamos, N.M. She tried to find jobs, but nothing stuck, so she enrolled full-time at the College of Santa Fe to finish her bachelor’s degree in business. She figures her parents spend about $1,000 a month on her, including a car payment, car and health insurance, school and other costs. Her father is a retired nuclear physicist and her mother, a guidance counselor, will retire this spring. Now Maggiore is looking for work so she can supplement their income.

“as you go out into the world my advice to you is… don’t go! It’s rough out there. Move back with your parents. Let them worry about it!” - Rodney Dangerfield, Back to School