As much as I totally loved all the bows on the S/S 10 runways, I’m starting to feel a little wary about how well I can really pull one off.

Our intern Steff came in today wearing the cutest big black bow headband and all I could think was that I might look totally ridiculous in something like that. She looks more than adorable (And yes, I’m a little jealous of how well she can pull it off!)

Enter this inexpensive headband/zipper bow I just found over on Fred Flare. It’s subtle, sweet (but not too sweet, thanks to the gold zipper detailing) and on trend enough for those of us not ready to make a big old bow statement.

Perfect.

As if you needed another reason to shop the cute items at fredflare.com, for today only Fred Flare is donating 5% of all sales to help send adorable Chris Hues designed hearts to kids all over the world.

Chris started out sending the hearts to kids suffering from cancer and now his hearts are distributed by the Heart to Heart International organization to children on every continent.

And as wrapped up in the tizzy of Fashion Week preparations as we already are, it’s always good to step back and think about the bigger picture, right? Consider it a good deed for the day.

So head over to fredflare.com and start shopping! (We’d recommend this “i heart you” dress to start)

Little girls have been wearing charm bracelets for years, but we’ve seen a burst in kitsch jewelry recently. Food, animals, kitchen appliances—just about anything and everything has been put onto a necklace or earring.

It’s a fine line though, between cute kitsch and tacky kitsch, and sometimes we aren’t even sure. For instance, Fred Flare’s PB and J earrings: my favorite food is smiling! And has cherubic cheeks! But how would those look perched next to my actual cheeks? Hmm…

What about Gilbert & George’s glasses necklace? We love the two Brits’ sharp humor, and those are some pretty sleek frames, but even those of us who don’t wear glasses on our faces (because we’re pretty sure that six eyes: funny in theory, idiotic in practice) are a little wary.

We’ve found a lot of cute clothing on Fred Flare this summer, but when we saw the “Twilight Jacket”, we practically snorted.

The website is really trying to convince us that the bland and frumpy hoodie is actually “extra-stylish”, but apparently they don’t even need to try that hard, because the page informs us that there are only five still available in small/medium sizes.

Okay, people like hoodies. But this is clearly Fred Flare jumping on Twilight’s bandwagon for a buck, and people are shelling out $64 to show their love. If you really just wanted a hoodie, American Apparel has some for $42. And you can definitely find them even cheaper other places.

We’ve been trying hard (and failing miserably) to not complain about the rain. We can’t help it. This sucks and it’s eating away at our summer.

But we’ve often found in the past, that as soon as we buy a new umbrella, it stops raining and vice versa. Case in point, the torrential downpour we got stuck in yesterday in Soho, sans any sort of protective gear. So we’re going to make some moves on that front and purchase ourselves some.

And even if it doesn’t work, at least we’ll have one of these super cute little ladies from Fred Flare when the skies open up again. They can’t help but brighten up the gloomiest of June days, right? Because we need some majoring brightening, along with a solid helping of Vitamin D.

In case you were wondering why a designer is bothered when a company rips off their designs, take the example of this ring from Dior Joaillerie.

On their website, they have a pretty cool video showing the four month process to craft one of their rings.

So when Fred Flare puts up their Crystal Flowerette Ring (which we imagine didn’t take quite so long to manufacture), they’re stealing Dior’s creativity without ever having worked through the creative process.

Yet again, this isn’t to say that we don’t wear and love mass-produced pieces. Of course we do. We just try to avoid the exact replicas.

—AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

Come summer, we’re obsessed with all things gingham.

And while we’re waiting for the rack of gingham we’ve been eying at Phillip Lim to go on sale, we’re going to run around Montauk in this red & white gingham top from Fred Flare.

It’s poufy and has a bow, but somehow, when paired with cherished old Levi’s, is not too girly.

And it only set us back about $40, we won’t have a heart attack when we spill beer and ketchup down the front like we would if we were wearing this.

Now if we could just find the perfect straw hat, we’d be set.

Fred Flare named this skirt “The Miuccia” because:

a) They wanted to honor the designer in some way and roller skates just wouldn’t be appropriate.

b) They know she’s into color blocking and think this could be a great winter alternative to her luxe Italian fabrics.

c) When one thinks of skirts, thinking of Miuccia’s inevitable.

d) They want customers to feel like they’re buying into something special and they’d probably get sued if they named it the Prada.

Memo: You might not have a lot of money right now.

But that doesn’t mean you still don’t have to buy gifts for people. Very soon.

So may we suggest this fashion origami set from Fred Flare? It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s $12, it’ll give people something to do when home with the family, and couldn’t this also be a good way to get your niece’s priorities straight right from the get go?

Thought so.

ps. Was anyone else aware that there might soon he an enormous origami plane launched from space?

We love when we can look at something and know exactly where the inspiration came from, especially when we know it has something to do with Blair.

The first major example happened when pictures of Luella’s new accessories range were first out. Then we saw these Blair bow earrings on Fred Flare. (These are just two examples among many, by the way.)

And now, Marc Jacobs is cashing in on the look with his range of Faux Bow accessories.

We know these designers (and so many more) are inspired by the GG character the way sixth-grade girls were inspired by Cher (raise your hand if you tried to convince your mom to buy you thigh-highs), but they sometimes miss the mark - plastic? She would never.

Marc’s come the closest so far - a $70 barrette seems right up her alley. But tortoiseshell? Please.

This is either a major mistake or a brilliant undercover ad ploy:

Fred Flare just released a t-shirt that screams “I Love New York.”

It’s fitted, it’s green, it’s pretty cute but not, you know, amazing.

The thing that makes it interesting is the type face. It’s the same type face that New York Magazine uses. In fact, it really looks like the t-shirt is saying, “I Love New York” - the glossy, not the city.

I mean, we love New York too, but somehow, we’re guessing the t-shirt isn’t talking about all that.

The shirt sells for $24, which is actually more expensive than a NY subscription.

We all know men’s accessories can be kind of dull, especially when it comes to watches. So when there’s something new rather than just a stainless steel or brown leather band, I take note.

The neon for men trend that began on the Spring 08 Burberry/Y-3/Moschino runways is now showing up in timepiece form.

Case in point: the bright blue Fred Flare, at left, and Burberry’s new Antarctic collection with three retina-searing color options. Even Hermès (sort of) jumped on the bandwagon by using their bright orange on their Clipper Chrono Diver, which will set you back $3,975.

The thing about a good watch is that it works with every outfit, from a tuxedo to a linen blazer to bermudas. Trouble is, they can get pretty pricey, so girls should be very happy that they can get in on the neon look with just $10 nail polish.

—KYLE HAYES

The GG obsession over at Fred Flare continues -

We’re kind of loving these “Team Blair” and “Team Serena” tees, even if they do sort of take what should be a private Monday night event into a little bit of too-embarrassing-for-public territory, and are much too reminiscent of other reality-TV tees of its time.

But we do sometimes purchase ahead of actual wearing time - like, wayyy ahead. Wouldn’t this be the funniest thing to rip out of the back of your closet in like ten years?

We suggest Team Blair, because, really, Serena’s too whiny for wear.

We’re getting a little Gossip Girl crazy around here.

The sun is out, we’re eating Sour Skittles, and there are only 5 days left until “The Greatest Show of Our Time” returns, (we’re obsessed with NY Mag’s running commentary and look forward to it almost as much as we look forward to the show itself).

Fred Flare’s thrilled too.

Their “What’s New” section boasts a Canvas Jenny Tote and a Blair baby doll dress. The tote’s kind of eh but the Blair dress comes complete with a bib, buttons and ruffle - she’d totally wear it with white tights and patent pumps.

We searched for a Chuck grandpa cardigan or a brightly colored Serena scarf but no luck yet. We’ll be checking back for more inspired titles.

(Editor’s Note: Please enjoy this shot of Chuck at SubMercer courtesy of photog extraordinare Faran. Britt’s to the RIGHT, but she didn’t think her beauty could hold up next to Mr. Bass. Check out that ripped jersey and exposed dog tags, ladies!)

From the moment we saw YSL’s star necklace, we knew we had to have it, one way or the other. But since it’ll probably retail for just under a bajillion dollars, we knew we’d have to be crafty about it.

So when we stumbled upon the Plexi Ice Cream necklace on fred flare, we knew we had it figured out.

The plan: Buy six or seven of the ice cream cones, cleverly string them onto some fat shiny ribbon (silver?) so they lay in a row like the YSL original, and tell people it’s custom made.

Total cost: around $80. Cuteness: Infinite.