Gymboree is one of the biggest names in quality clothing for children, so it should come as no surprise that they have a great catalog of school fashions (and Halloween costumes- yes, already).

Gymboree has fun and playful couture for kids that are fun and playful. Convenient, don't you think? Like many of the other popular retailers of kidwear they understand the value of the the classics, and as such build upon them. The result is a solid line of timeless clothing and clever accessories.

For example:

It seems to us that attempts at revenge usually fall flat, but one Australian woman has found the perfect venue for shaming her "soon to be ex-husband." Her Ebay handle is annastella007, and she's selling a photo of her husband's empty condom packet and his mistress' panties. Originally, she attempted to sell the actual artifacts, but Ebay informed her that they have a no second-hand underwear policy. In most cases, that's a good thing.

The wife apparently returned home after getting a confusing sexy text from her husband. When she arrived, she found the wrapper and the panties (which she says are 'size humongous') in her own bed. Ouch! Read the detailed account here. To top it all off, she says the panties are sooo huge, that she's not sure what to do with them, "they may make someone a nice shawl, or even better, something for Halloween perhaps."

That got us thinking, we should help this woman out. If you have any good ideas for how to use these oversized knickers, please post them in the comments section.

We always talk about women and how thin or "curvy" they are. As nice as it is to remind folks that women come in all shapes and sizes, we're tired of hearing all about what straight men like.

It's parity time. Here's the scoop (it's certainly not the skinny) on man shapes: sure, we like our men with "murves" but not so much that they can't fly on commercial airlines.

Really! Everyone likes Christian Bale better Batman Burly than all manorexic for The Machinist. And calling Colin Farrell: time to pound the Guinness and get manly again! It's important to have some meat on your bones. Looking like you can survive a little hibernation can be downright sexy. It gives off a sense of strength and stability. On the other end of the spectrum, if you can't find pants with zippers and pockets in your size, it's gone too far.

These are the most common categories of men with curves:

• Cubs - usually occurs in younger men, once they discover beer, especially if they're a bit, erm, hairy.
  
• Man weight - when they no longer have a smaller waist than their girlfriends. In the best scenarios it's "all muscle."
  
• Burly - somewhere between here and man weight is the perfect Christian Bale/Batman moment. Between here and Bear: Russell Crowe.
  
• Bear - Big. Hairy. Totally male. This is where most men wind up, especially if they are funny or a fan of Kathy Griffin.
  
• Brando - like that episode when Homer Simpson wore a muumuu.

If you have a curvy figure, it's entirely likely that there are some days you wake up wishing you had a skinny, straight body. We can guarantee you that there's another girl somewhere with the opposite body type wishing she had some more curves -- the grass is always greener in somebody else's closet. However, we think it's really important to appreciate what you have, and that means learning to make the most of it.

Sometimes making the most of it will mean pulling attention away from a certain body part, and sometimes it means bringing the eye to a particular body part. These tips will help you figure out how to do both, with style.

real guy
Are you, or do you know, a real guy? If so, you most likely understand the frustration involved in finding stylish pants that fit. Even tougher is finding stylish pants that fit at an affordable price. It ain't easy.

Brian Spaly felt this pain, too. In fact, it bothered him so much that he decided to do something about it. He started making his own pants. He started making his own AWESOME pants.

Brian started to create pants for real guys. He developed a curved waist band to better accommodate the body, "a slight bootcut to flatter the figure, and less fabric in the thighs so they weren't so baggy and boxy."

Other real guys noticed. He started selling the pants out of his trunk to fellow college students and soon had professors investing in his promise. Bonobos was born.

Check it out! As if American Apparel wasn't affordable enough, now they're offering their Operation Freedom supermega blow out sale - $10 off $80, $20 off $100, and $30 off $150.

The offer is still good through July 10, 2008 in the US online store only. Log onto the American Apparel website to get the discount codes needed for purchase.

We'll see you there!

We love a banded-bottom dress. The way they show off just-bronzed legs while camouflaging troublesome hips or adding curves to a lanky frame is simply divine. Luckily there are several options this season for your next dress fix -- Bloomingdale's presents a pullover version with a surplice neckline in enchanting lilac and chic black for $58. Over on Amazon you can pick up a XOXO number with bold flower print (pictured) on sale for $40.80. And fuller figures can rejoice in their curves with Lane Bryant's black double-v-neck fierceness for $59.50. Le sigh.

Pair your dress with flip-flops for afternoon window shopping, with a cute cardigan and ballet flats for work, or with anything from sexy booties to strappy sky-high stilettos for evening. With infinite wearability and flawless versatility, the banded-bottom dress can truly do no wrong.

We must admit, earlier this season Old Navy came out with a line of swimwear that left us a little puzzled, a little blase. Strangely unsupportive one-pieces, standard-issue boring teeny-bikinis. But they did hit on a great idea- metallics! And lo, their Spotlight Collection was born.

The best part of metallics is that they can be dressed up for evening or incorporated into an otherwise demure outfit for a touch of daytime sparkle. Old Navy does a good job of offering both matte and shiny metallic options-matte sequins can be used in place of a netural- pair this gold tank ($29.50) with a white blazer and capris or this silver and black dress($39.50) with a bright shoe in a red, white or neon.

The collection also includes options in the same tones, minus sequins. Try this colorblock tank dress in misses and womens' sizes for $34.50 and $39.50 respectively.

The Old Navy Spotlight Collection provides fun, flirty ways to integrate sparkle and sheen into your wardobe for summer! Check it out!

Do you start bringing out your tank tops at the first sign of summer? Or do you hold out and wear shirts with sleeves even in the scorching sun?

Summer can be tough for women who are self-conscious about big arms -- you want to stay cool and look season appropriate, but you don't want to bring attention to your least favorite body part. Don't worry -- we're here to help you find clothes you love that also flatter your figure! Check out the gallery for some basic rules for ladies with larger arms.

From time to time we at Styledash will cover items and topics that seem only tangentially related to fashion -- from a schlumpy anti-fashion celebrity to kitchen supplies, and it might be cause for confusion -- why spend the space on a fashion blog to talk about seemingly non-fashion things?

We understand how this is perplexing because not only is this blog called "Styledash", which implies a commitment to fashion coverage and therefore unsurprising dealings in fashion commentary, but the idea of a "fashion thing" vs. a non-"fashion thing" is peculiar. We're not sure that there's a dichotomy at all, really -- in fact we are pretty certain that every thing, to an extent, is a fashion thing.

Something we've noticed lately is the sudden prevalence of relatively inexpensive wedding dresses on the Internet. It started with Lane Bryant's now-dwindling Bridal collection of dresses and separates, all priced at around $150 initially and now on sale for about fifty bucks a pop. Then we noticed that David's Bridal has an online gown collection with dresses for all sizes priced under $250. Now Torrid has a few new wedding options for the curvy bride, all priced under $250.

Sounds great, right?

In light of the Talbot's overhaul, they might want to turn to fellow women's retailer Chadwick's for inspiration. Their clothes are tasteful without being matronly, youthful without being too young, and classic without being boring.

We first encountered Chadwick's on our hunt for a pair of heeled oxfords (we were going through our menswear phase then) and have been keeping up with their collections ever since. It's important for a girl to have a go-to source for a nice dress appropriate for Easter/meeting the parents/ sorority tea/your cousin's wedding, especially bigger girls because we know, WE KNOW how depressing it is to be offered long, shapeless dresses with ridiculously large flowers again and again like so many floral pup tents. Check out the gallery of our favorite selections from the most recent catalog.

Who do you picture wearing clothes from Talbots? Here at Styledash, we had many opinions -- some of our moms wear at it, some of us secretly love individual items from the store, but most of us thought of it as being for a "grandma-ish" demographic. Apparently, that sentiment is shared by "all the chain's customers." As a matter of fact, even customers who were 65 or older felt that Talbots' styles were made for older women, saying the clothes were "too traditional" and "dowdy."

In honor of March Madness, Styledash blogger Lauren Perdue is bringing you the scoop on what really matters in this year's tournament -- fashion. We know two of the teams we're featuring today technically lost last night, and are no longer in the tournament, but this isn't a sports blog, so we prefer not to bother ourselves with these sorts of trivial details.

Oh, Texas.

Texas, Texas, Texas.

When the Powers That Be were coming up with UT's school colors, they tossed around blue and orange, yellow and orange, etc. but finally settled on burnt orange, causing a headache for the style conscious ever since. Myself included.



However, there are cute items to be had in this signature color, such as the Nike Womens' Track Jacket ($59.99), this zip up jacket with really cute embroidery ($39.99), and these super cute Bevo earrings ($6.99). But there are also many logo items in different colors so you can support the 'Horns without looking jaundiced.

If you want to go the fashionable route (and you know you do) then there are actually quite a few sweet pieces in shades from pumpkin to deep red orange to mimic the heavily-trademarked color. Consider this strapless Lotta Stenson top for $69 and the DARLING Rachel Pally Tie Detail tank for $79.99, both from Bluefly.com. If you've got more to love then YOU will love this drop-waisted dress for $29.50 from Old Navy. Hook'em!

In honor of March Madness, Styledash blogger Lauren Perdue is bringing you the scoop on what really matters in this year's tournament -- fashion. We know two of the teams we're featuring today technically lost last night, and are no longer in the tournament, but this isn't a sports blog, so we prefer not to bother ourselves with these sorts of trivial details.

As I was perusing through the Sweet Sixteen teams to see who I'd cover this round I ran into a conundrum. A blue, blue, red, red, red, orange, blue blue conundrum. Thank you, Michigan State, for being green. I know it's not easy.

And what a lovely shade of green it is! Not too dark, kinda kicky! I like it. And I really like this short-sleeved raglan shirt by Nike for $21.95- the way the sleeves are cut in kinda like a halter is flattering on many shapes. My first instinct was to look for a jacket because obviously Michigan's cold, and this one is my favorite- the fleece hoody zip-up jacket ($55) would be warm without being bulky, always a plus!



And if green is not your color then by all means keep it to your bag with the fabulous Marc Jacobs supply tote ($98).

A more stylish option would be this va-va-voom mock wrap dress with removable belt for $128 at Dillard's. Curvy girls can mix it up in a green and white print dress ($58, Torrid) with flattering graduated pattern. All these looks will be a great way to show off that Spartan Spirit!