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Available in sizes 6-12. Get them now at sears.com.

PHOTOS: 11 spring style essentials

Fashion trends come and go, but one thing that’s timeless is the red-soled Christian Louboutin Daffodil pump, as seen on celebs like Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Hudson. But at $995 a pair, one can only dream.

By Sasha Charnin Morrison for Us Weekly. To read more of the Recessionista blog, click here.

With that said, I was surfing the Sears.com website and did a double take: The fabulous stripper-inspired, Mary Jane pump replica is on the site for a mere $61.95! Plus, the Bordello Shoes by Pleaser USA style is called…wait for it..Teeze!

Okay, so the leather is synthetic and does not feature a signature red sole, but it looks darn close. There are racier models in colors like red, gold, and sequins — there’s even a flame appliqued pump available. So, if you want to reach impossible heights, here’s your chance to emulate Jennifer, Kim, and the whole Kardashian clan!

Now the pressing question is, which one came first?

PHOTOS: The best style finds from the issue

The Catholic church and its school are just down the street from the family’s home, and Mariano said in his sermon that he hoped whoever has Isabel has a change of heart.

“We’re not ruling anything out of the investigation at this point because we really need to keep our mind open about all the information that’s been brought to us,” Villasenor said. “The family has been cooperating with us.”

The Celises last saw their daughter in her bedroom at their Tucson home at 11 p.m. Friday and discovered her missing at about 8 a.m. Saturday, police spokeswoman Sgt. Maria Hawke said. The parents phoned 911 minutes later.

She said there’s no way anyone in the family is involved in the disappearance.

“She talks very highly about her kids, how smart they are, how playful they are. She just lights up and smiles when she’s talking about them,” Hebert said. “With all the hurt I’m feeling, I can’t imagine what they’re going through.”

“We didn’t ask for any information. We just let them know if they need help, come see us,” Mazza said.

Littlehorn said she heard from others in the family social circle that a window screen in the girl’s bedroom had been knocked down. Hawke confirmed “suspicious circumstances around a possible entry point” but declined to elaborate.

Teams combed a large swath of Tucson on Saturday into the evening using street patrols, dogs and a helicopter. At one point late Saturday, communications operator Patrick Olea said the area encompassed “pretty much the entire east side.”

Mary Littlehorn, who has worked with Becky Celis as a registered nurse at Tucson Medical Center for five years, said the couple has been together since they were teenagers and doted on their sons and daughter. She said Isabel, whose nickname is Isa, loved to play baseball and dance; the girl was supposed to play in a baseball game Saturday.

Littlehorn, who gathered Sunday with other family friends at a police command post, said authorities separated the two parents for hours Saturday as they questioned them. She said it was difficult for them knowing their little girl was out there somewhere.

Investigators were looking into various scenarios, including the possibility Isabel wandered out of the home she shares with her parents and two brothers. Hawke said Sunday the wandering off theory was becoming less likely as time passed.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The parents of a missing 6-year-old Arizona girl asked their parish priest for prayers Sunday as volunteers passed out fliers across Tucson and more than 150 law enforcement officers tried to figure out whether she had been abducted.

Police were keeping anyone but residents out of the neighborhood on Sunday. A home on the street of small, older single-family brick homes was surrounded by yellow police tape, while a group of people outside one home talked with a police officer.

At St. Joseph Parish on Sunday morning, the parents and their two sons attended an early Mass, and deacon Leon Mazza described the parents as “very upset.”

Tucson police chief Roberto Villasenor said at an afternoon news conference that officers working the case had served at least two search warrants but had no new clues in the disappearance of first-grader Isabel Mercedes Celis.

“She’s just the sweetest, she is feisty, she’s full of life and spirit,” Littlehorn said.

Officers kept the whole neighborhood block where Isabel lives cordoned off for a second day and fanned out over a wide area looking for clues to the possible kidnapping.

She said she’s spent a lot of time with the family, visited with them in their home and their families shared babysitting responsibilities. She said Becky Celis is a registered nurse in the pediatrics unit and Sergio Celis is a dental hygienist.

He said the girl’s parents, identified by friends as Becky and Sergio Celis, were helpful as police worked to find their youngest child. He said police were still classifying the case as a “suspicious disappearance/possible abduction.”

The girl’s home is situated in a working-class neighborhood, sandwiched between a shopping mall to the east and businesses and the Catholic school and church to the west.

“I feel, in the name of the community, we feel we are violated,” he said later.

After a fruitless day of searching Saturday, numerous patrol and search and rescue personnel continued the hunt Sunday morning, Hawke said. She said that at any given time, 75 to 100 officers were taking part, including police, FBI agents and deputy U.S. marshals.

“We all feel this is somebody who’s been watching Isa for some amount of time to know where her bedroom is,” Littlehorn said.

Parish priest Miguel Mariano said the family regularly attends Mass and said he asked the parents if they needed any help from the congregation. “And then they said, ‘No, Father, just prayers,’” Mariano said.

Authorities said they have also started the process of checking on the whereabouts of sex offenders in the area. They said talking with them was standard procedure.

The couple hurried off, saying they were going to meet with police.

Volunteers were manning an outpost set up near the family home as others, many family and friends, fanned out across the city for a second day. They were posting fliers of the girl — who is described as about 4-feet-tall with brown hair and hazel eyes — in gas stations, malls and fast food restaurants that included a photo of Isabel holding up a school achievement award.

“She hasn’t been allowed to help look for her daughter,” Littlehorn said of Becky Celis.

Karen Hebert, another registered nurse, said Sunday that she has worked with the girl’s mother for the past six months. Hebert, with help from her dog, planned to help with the search.

Sheer looks—like those we called out in our trend report—dominated the Spring ‘10 runways—and we wondered how Hollywood would take to the style. Up-and-coming actress Mia Wasikowska, for one, seems to be signing on: At two events for her film “The Kids Are All Right,” the pixie-ish actress dared to go (almost) bare. For a promotional lunch in New York on Tuesday, Wasikowska wore a polka-dot chiffon blouse and pleated skirt by Jason Wu, paired with black tights and boyish leather oxfords (left). And for the film’s premiere last night, she chose Rodarte’s crystal-embellished tulle lace Illusion dress, with bare legs and minimal accessories and makeup for what we think is the stronger look (right). What do you think? Do you like Wasikowska’s see-through chic, or would you prefer something a little more demure? And which look do you like better?

Photos: Courtesy Jason Wu (left); Bryan Bedder /Getty Images (right)

Groups denouncing gentrification and rising rents had protested the project.

They previously planned to set up the structure on an empty plot in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, a traditional counterculture enclave, but abandoned that venue in March — citing “threats against the project.”

The foundation announced Tuesday the BMW Guggenheim Lab will open in the capital’s Prenzlauer Berg district June 15 through July 27.

BERLIN (AP) — The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation says it has found a new Berlin location for a traveling design and discussion project after some local groups’ hostility prompted it to abandon its first-choice site.

Organizers describe the lab, which first appeared in New York last year, as a “temporary public space and online forum encouraging open dialogue about issues related to urban living.”

Reporting by Tom Geoghegan

Writers as diverse as DH Lawrence, Agatha Christie and Mr Men creator Roger Hargreaves further strengthened this association by references in their books.

"For 200 years it was a city living on the sand but completely disconnected from the rest of the world and that was why it has such a mythology.

It was not until 1830, long after the city had fallen into decline, that the first European went there and back again, Frenchman Rene Caillie.

In 1829, Alfred Tennyson described it as "mysterious" and "unfathomable" in his poem entitled Timbuctoo, and compared it to El Dorado and Atlantis.

I've been to Timbuktu many times. It is of course the ultimate journey, reached either by crossing the great Sahara desert or coming down the great River Niger. Actually, rather than being at the end of the world as its mythology has it, Timbuktu is really the crossroads of worlds. When you reach Timbuktu you have either crossed the great Sahara desert or you have the whole thing ahead of you. It is where Saharan Africa meets sub-Saharan Africa, the desert meets the river, north Mali meets south. It is in Timbuktu that these worlds have always traded – salt, gold and knowledge.

"It was this legendary wealthy city, and the British hoped they could get from Africa the kind of riches Spain had got from South America."

"Omg! Just found out Timbuktu is a real place!"

Guy Lankester, fromhere2timbuktu

"Imagine New York suddenly under water for 200 years, and people still talking about it.

While some people will be familiar with the Tuareg people, almost everyone will recognise the place name Timbuktu, even if they think it's mythical.

If his blood was British or Timbuctoot.

"It had been described in Arab manuscripts in the Middle Ages so they knew about the history but they never reached it because the population never allowed them."

Its first documented use in this sense is dated to 1863, when the English writer Lady Duff-Gordon drew a contrast with the familiarity of Cairo.

Once spelt as Timbuctoo, the city in northern Mali has come to represent a place far away, at the end of the world.

It was founded by Tuareg nomads in the 12th Century and within 200 years had become an immensely wealthy city, at the centre of important trading routes for salt and gold.

As the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, "the most distant place imaginable".

Through writers such as Leo Africanus, tales reached Europe of its immense riches, which stoked an acute curiosity on the part of European explorers.

This mystery was enhanced by its inaccessibility and many European expeditions perished, leaving it tantalisingly out of reach for centuries.

In one of his final works, Nettles, in 1930, Lawrence wrote:

But the Timbuktu of today is very different from the golden age. It is poor and parts of it are sinking under the encroaching desert sands. It has until recently attracted tourists but they have been put off by a spate of kidnappings by a group with links to al-Qaeda.

Located on the southern edge of the Sahara, and just north of the River Niger, Timbuktu is nearly 1,000 years old. Famous writers have contributed to its mythical status. The Moorish author, Leo Africanus, described how the king of Timbuktu was so rich that some of his golden objects weighed hundreds of kilos.

"The Europeans came very late to Timbuktu," says Marie Rodet, lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

"For centuries, they tried to reach the place because it was a mythological place of trade and Islamic scholars.

Trillo explains the endurance of the myth by the fact the city disappeared off the map when it fell into decline in the 17th and 18th Centuries, after the Moors deserted it and trade went elsewhere.

Continue reading the main story Twinned with: Chemnitz, Germany Hay-on-Wye, Wales Kairuan, Tunisia Marrakech, Morocco Saintes, France Tempe, Arizona, US Tifariti, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara)

The first time he went, he hitch-hiked from Hampshire in England in 1977, aged 21.

In one of her Letters from Egypt, while in the Egyptian capital, she wrote:

Continue reading the main story The answer It has been, and still is, relatively inaccessible Its immense wealth in the Middle Ages made it famous But for hundreds of years it remained out of reach to European explorers The word itself sounds very exotic to native English speakers

Continue reading the main story Timbuktu, then and now Mary Harper BBC News

Even today, when the world has become a much smaller place, it remains relatively remote.

Locals regarded it as the holy city of 333 saints, she says, and Christians were the enemy, so Caillie went disguised as a Muslim. A Scot, Alexander Gordon Laing, beat him to it by four years but is thought to have been murdered before he could leave.

It is growing dreadfully Cockney here. I must go to Timbuctoo.

"We wanted to go to a place no-one else had been. Like many others, we had thought it a mythical place and when we realised it wasn't, it seemed like a good place for two guys to go on a gap year."

"That's when this explorer race started and everyone wanted to be the first to get to Timbuktu."

Phrases that develop this idea include "from here to Timbuktu" when describing a very long journey, or "from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo" (a city in Michigan, US).

And the world it didn't give a hoot

The town made its fortune through trade, where salt brought in from the Sahara was worth its weight in gold. Slaves and ivory were also traded.

Mali neighbours impose sanctions

With its distinctive mud mosques rising from the sand, the town is a centre for Islamic scholarship. About 700,000 ancient manuscripts are held in the town's approximately 60 libraries.

"In 1820, people were talking about it taking 60 days from Tripoli and there were only six days without water.

Rebels in Mali have taken the historic city of Timbuktu, a place that has become shorthand in English for anywhere far away. How did this metaphor come about?

So why Timbuktu?

Before it was discovered by Europeans in 1830, all documented mentions of Timbuktu are about the efforts to get there, says OED revision editor Richard Shapiro.

"Sub-Saharan Africa was so very different from the Arabic-speaking north. It felt like we had crossed an ocean, like we had skirted the edge of this huge continent. Timbuktu felt extraordinarily remote."

"You can get anywhere but Timbuktu is still very difficult to get to," says Richard Trillo, author of Rough Guide to West Africa. There is still no tarmac road to take travellers there.

Continue reading the main story 'The crossroads of the world'

The journey was tough and took nearly six weeks, ending with a four-day boat trip on the River Niger and a truck ride supplied by a local police chief.

The news that the city of Timbuktu has been seized by ethnic Tuaregs has had some tweeters scratching their heads, unaware up to now that it even existed.

Photo: Courtesy of Martha Medeiros

There’s machine-made lace and then there’s Martha Medeiros’ couture kind of lace, which is handcrafted by 250 villagers living along the Sao Francisco river in northwest Brazil. These artisanal families have passed down the ancient Renaissance technique of lace-making from generation to generation, and Medeiros has been sourcing the rare stuff (a bolt of the fabric can take up to eight months to create) locally for years to make her unique designs, which made their American debut on the fourth floor of Bergdorf Goodman this week. The line started when loyal customers would come into Medeiros’ 25-year-old luxury boutique and request a made-to-order dress for special occasions like a wedding or a Baile de Debutante. “They would bring in their fine jewelry and ask me to dye the lace to match the stones,” Medeiros told Style.com at a private launch celebration at BG on Wednesday. Eventually the wait list got long enough that Medeiros decided to officially focus her efforts on designing. Since then, she has expanded to include a few younger styles like an on-trend peplum cocktail dress with a shredded tulle hem and a breathtaking maxi skirt with a puddling train that could pair with a simple T-shirt for a modern effect. These heritage looks cost a pretty penny—one of the shorter, less formal numbers rang in at $3,444—but Medeiros knows her customer is willing to shell out for craftsmanship and exclusivity.
—Brittany Adams

Ever since Sarah Jessica Parker hit the pavement for the Sex And the City film sequel, people have slowly been losing their minds over all of her Carrie Bradshaw couture costumes. We have no idea what’s going on with the plot, but we love the way she looks. Always. Every detail — from head to toe.

But the reality is that most of the costumes are real clothing with really high price tags, which are deliriously outrageous. Luckily, on a midnight online surf, i found this shirt on the Forever 21 site that resembles one of SJP’s many looks that I found so sweet, modern and fresh. And, bottom line: It’s only $14.80!

You can pair this shirt like Patricia Field styled Parker — with a light-wash cropped jean and lilac studded high heels for sexy country or a pencil skirt or leggings to be a bit more refined. I also love that if you like the look but not this exact color, there are choices in red, fuschia, green and yellow.

PRODUCT DETAILS
The Laura Plaid shirt is a cute and casual button-down featuring two chest pockets and short sleeves with smocked detail.

- Available in small, medium and large
- 24″ approximate length from shoulder to hem
- 100% cotton
- Imported

Buy it here.

Just two days after his CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year award nomination, Simon Spurr exited his label. However, WWD reports that even though Spurr is no longer associated with the brand he co-founded with Judd Nydes in 2006, his CFDA nomination won’t be directly affected. “It’s the individual, not the company, that is nominated,” says CFDA chief executive officer Steven Kolb. “I hope that voters will vote on the body of work.”

At this time, executives at the Simon Spurr label are not commenting on the designer’s departure. Spurr himself is also remaining tight-lipped.
Photo: Billy Farrell / BFAnyc.com

Check out the photo gallery here!

Want to spice up your wardrobe for as little cash as possible this season?

Us has collected our favorite stylish steals worn by celebs including Vanessa Hudgens, Fergie and Eva Longoria Parker.

—Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs

In the leadup to New York fashion week, designers go through hundreds of behind-the-scenes preparations to arrive at the completed show. This NYFW, we’ve sweet-talked a few of them into giving us an exclusive peek behind the curtain as they cast, score, style, and ready their presentations. First up: Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs of Cushnie et Ochs.

“Inspiration images, a lot of which were from Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In.”

“Posing for quick pre-fashion week photo op.”

“A preview of what will be on the runway—metallic stretch leather!”

“Models, models, models.”

“Runway shoes by Aldo for Cushnie et Ochs.”

“I want to wear this now!” —Michelle

Photos: Courtesy Cushnie et Ochs