School spirit is always in style. What's one of the best ways to flaunt yours? Customize yourself some shoes in your school's colors.

The Adicolor kit you see at right was one of the first customizable shoe kits, by Adidas in 1983. Now of course, you can do your customization online.

Choose your favorite shoe designer below and get to work, you fabulous artists, you!

Keds
Nike
Reebok
Converse
Vans

Our pick for this season is Keds, and if you really want to take the Artistic License Bus to Customization Town, check them out on Zazzle.com!

There's no doubt that much of the advertising shown during the Olympic games targets women -- have you noticed all the commercials for osteoporosis meds, baby products, and women's razors? And there's reason -- research has shown that women tune in to the Olympics for many reasons. They enjoy the "occasion," and all the pomp and circumstance; they appreciate the dedication and commitment the athletes have to their sports; plus, it's great family programming.

However, we think many women have another reason for tuning it -- the male athletes.

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:

As was mentioned earlier, Gossip Girl kicks of with a new season on September 1st. While most of us will never be reared in super-exclusive private schools or live in lush New York apartments like our favorite television frenemies Serena and Blair, that doesn't mean we can't look as if we did.

Ralph Lauren's younger label, Rugby, has just opened its online store and it's full of preppy garb like polo tops, blazers, chinos, buttoned-down oxford shirts, berets, and luxe knit sweaters. One can even customize their very own rugby with bold stripes or a regal crest.

So you can make your own prep school uniform without having to take any exams, which is always a good thing. Now, just don't get into any trouble like Serena and Blair because, well, there won't be any juicy plot to bail you out.

The Children's Place is a one stop destination for the shopping parent of school-aged children. Hence the name.

They carry everything from shoes to underwear and everything in-between. Their clothing is cute and classic, sticking to seasonal influences more than those of pop culture. The result is a timeless quality that will look great on kids now and their younger siblings later.

See for yourself:

We're sure you recall our pant crush on Bonobos. How could you not, the way we went on and on about the waist and the chimps and the ninjas and the stuff. It makes us all giddy just thinking about it. In fact, if we weren't doing real guy stuff, like sitting around in our boxers, drinking beer and watching the Olympics, we'd be wearing a pair right now. That's how we roll.

The guys at Bonobos like to look good, but they're over the whole tie thing. They decided to do something else with the silk- make it into belts. They are offering "premium tie silk wrapped around a durable backing, in a colorful array of styles and colors" in limited editions. That means buy quick.

Ah, the Gap. We fell into you so long ago that we've forgotten what it was like to be free of your charms. We can scarcely recall life before you- there was a crowd and a food court and rows of glass doors that led to a warm place with a bright orange light in the sky. We don't miss it.

That's why when it was time to dress our family in corduroy and denim for the start of the school year we took our spawn to yours: GapKids.

We found you something. It's Maryink.

Maryink is an Etsy shop that sells t-shirts, jewelry, tote bags, candle holders, and more. They are run out of Nashville and have a terrific Scandinavian fairy tale meets punk rock vibe, resulting in designs that are retro-cool and playful. According to Mary, yes, the Mary, one of their items was even inspired by Sesame Street! (Blue Russian Nesting Dolls Tote, click here.)

Here's a link to a great video about the designers, Mary and Chris.

Equestrian styles haven't changed a whole lot in the past century, and apparently Nike thinks it's about time to stir things up. As part of their Olympic footwear preview -- in which Nike rolled out new shoe designs for 32 Olympic events from gymnastic to archery -- the famous sneaker brand gave us a glimpse of their take on the equestrian boot. Needless to say, the shiny, modern-looking design is getting some mixed reviews.

They're called the "Ippeas" -- that's Greek for rider -- and at least one rider objects to the Nike's redesign. She called them "the stripper boot of the horse world." Don't think too hard about that quote. In our opinion, the boots don't look too sexy. We see more of futuristic Star Wars resemblance. See what we're talking about? The black leather with the red piping looks like something Darth Maul would wear. Not only that, but the funky zipper across the front, and that weird spur thing -- we think maybe Nike got a little too techno on these babies.

[via Jezebel]

This weekend, we rediscovered the genius that is Target and its Go International collaborations. After picking up some much needed Vitamin Water, milk, and cereal, we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the women's department scouring the racks for new and pretty Richard Chai for Target pieces.

Fresh produce and affordable clothing, could you ask for a cooler way to shop? Well, we don't think so. Even more so now after checking out the quality of the Richard Chai garments in person. All of the dresses are adorable and felt as good on our bodies as they did in our minds when we were imagining walking to brunch with our friends in our fresh new duds.

The majority of the pieces from the Target look book were at the store near our house, but just in case you don't find everything you've been swooning over or there just isn't a Target near your house, check out Target's online store. Let those credit cards fly, ladies!

Buy

The first thing you might notice on the ShopBarbara site is the "$5 Shipping" banner at the top. Yay! If you live in the United States, it's $5. DON'T COMPLAIN, EUROPEANS, or we'll pelt you at an exchange rate of 1.6.

We ordered a couple items and they came fast! So, that's a good start.

Let's talk about what they're selling: Flattering casual wear, dresses, bras and panties, and accessories.

Congratulations to Styledash reader Jeanette. She is the winner of the beautiful blue daisy YogaMatic yoga mat.

From your comments, it sounds like Downward Dog is the overwhelming favorite yoga pose of our readers, with Pigeon and Child's Pose getting a few votes, too. And of course everyone loves the meditation or Corpse pose, at the end. It's like nap time for grown ups!

We know Jeanette will be strong and stylish when she strikes her favorite pose, Tree, on her new YogaMatic yoga mat.

Namaste, Jeanette, and thanks to everyone for sharing their favorites. Remember to check out the Giveaway this week: Dentaburst for you and a friend!

Who wears short shorts? Your boss?!?

The New York Times is all a-flutter over the trend of men wearing dress shorts to work. Really? That's a trend? Click here. Debatably hot, but for formal work? Would you trust your trust fund to those calves?

The trend regrettably reminds us of those weird boys in school who wore shorts all year round for no apparent reason. Obviously, the men in the photos look more stylish, but we think part of them still may be on their way to Chess Club.

Known for a sporty take on urban wear, designer Andy Salzer has updated Americana in mind for s/s 09. Oversized cardigans were a standout (see below), as were his sporty shorts pared with a lightweight jacket (see above). Top editors sat in convertible cars at Yoko Devereaux's catwalk show during this week's NY Men's Runway.

A decision to show off site, while lending character to the show, also meant there were only a handful of photographers capturing the action. Poncho style capes were the only weakness in otherwise reliable collection of basics with a twist.

Yoko D, as the collection is also known, might lack for flamboyance. And, like most men's wear, has more to offer for f/w, when layers and textures come into play. The strength is a style that's easy and wearable, not over worked or over thought, and exactly what regular dudes like to wear.

Eric Niccoli of Orthodox (above, at right) gets a little help from Kelly Cutrone (above, with mic) to get his models in order and check the sound cues before retreating backstage to dress for his s/s '09 presentation. Less than an hour later, the models are ready to go and rockin' some mirror shades (below). The style, as shown by the metallic jacket (at end) with moto detailing, is a dressed up rocker: cool enough to make the scene but clever enough to have a real job.