Holiday Style - Work and Play

What are you wearing to the christmas party? Living and working in New York, deadlines have to be made before the city shuts down for the end of year Holiday season. So how do you make the impact you want at the Holiday party when there is no time to stop at your apartment and get changed?



Take this dress by Madison Marcus www.shopbop.com. By day this can double as a tunic that you can pair with a pair of skinny pants below by Theory www.saks.com and a cropped jacket www.barneys.com. (you can find the same look for less at H&M or Forever21) When the clock strikes 5, you can pull of the pant and the jacket, add a clutch, and you're ready to party. Just in time for the festivities.

MIXED BAG

Mixing and matching is an art. An artform that can be scary done wrong. Here are a few that were done right. Christian Lacroix who is one of the runway masters that is known for pushing the envelope. He mixed metallic and geometric shapes with a large watercolor floral. D&G did an amazing job of mixing animals with dots and florals. It was done in a way that looks like one cohesive print. Anna Sui mixed more of an menswear feel of patterns. There's checks and dots, it reminds of of a funky Alice in Wonderland.

Rolland, Reebok, & Barney's go Green

This week Barney’s is launching a Reebok shoe designed by Rolland Barney, artist and former Creative Director for Fred Segal. These kicks are environmentally friendly as they are made from recycled fabrics and leathers. The authenticity markers include the green stripe on the sole and green lining inside the shoe. (In case you see them on Canal).

Barney’s Co-op has become somewhat of a haven for trending funky sneakers that are reasonably priced. These babies retail for $165. There are 200 pairs available in store only. ( Can't get to the store, I am sure you can find them on ebay)

http://www.barneys.com/

Talley named Fashion Oracle

The fashion stars were out Thursday night at the Fashion Group International’s 24th annual Night of Stars Gala. The festivities took place at Manhattan’s Cipriani’s 42nd street, honoring the fashion industry’s “Rule Breakers”.

Andre Leon Talley (friend in my head) who broke the rules in his Red, dare I say, Caftan?? (still love him, besides it was Valentino) walked away with the title of Fashion Oracle. His award was presented by Jennifer Hudson, the Dreamgirls actress who has been somewhat of a fashion pet project for Andre over the past year.

The ceremony was hosted by Simon Doonan (another friend in my head) who donned a blue velvet suit and shell toe addidas. Tracy Morgan would agree, “That’s hip-hop”.

Kerry Washington, (see ruffle dress below) handed out the superstar award that went to Jean Paul Gaultier.

Fashion Group International was an organization founded in 1928 by Eldna Woolman Chase, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue magazine at the time, to foster a forum to expand the awareness of the American Fashion business and the role of women in it. http://www.fgi.org/ photos from getty images

NY FASHION WEEK - DAY 6

Let's dive right in...

Anna sui one of my favorate designers. she very youthful and unafraid of color. We saw some of the norm and some of the not so norm. In a nutshell I would say the show was Avril Levigne and Pink but pretty.She gave us some polished downtown girl looks. Light airy fabrics in beautiful brights. It was styled with stripes and patterns. The last few peices of the show was an amouage to the 1920's flapper style.



Malo blessed us with some 70's inspiration. Jersey pantsuits and shimmer dresses in electric blues and berry colors. The looks were very simplistic and not over styled. Still it was very interesting with a few pops of layering and textures.

NY FASHION WEEK - DAY 5

Ok, so do not ask what happened to days 1-4. I was uanble to give a full report last week. If you are interested you can refer to my highlights for the scoop on the earlier shows in the post later this week entitled Fashion Week in a nutshell.

So here we are on Day 5,

DVF went Africa on us with her Mud cloth inspired printed dresses in some updated shapes. Known for her prints she didn't let us down with some really detailed, flowy, printed summer party dresses. I am sure we will see a few of these on your favorate celebs this spring.

DKNY My first reaction was ok, looks less like spring and more like Fall, specifically October, to be honest, Halloween! She lead off with black, grey and orange as her color pallette. All I could think about was the great pumpkin and candy corn. She eventually lightened up with whites, a softer grey, and a splash of pink which I admit was very cohesive. After you get past the trick or treats you start to notice the beautiful lines of the well tailored high waist pants and the perfect 3 peice suit with a wide leg pant in white. She closed the show with three printed maxi dresses.

Peter Som was Ice cold, everything felt like the arctic. White, silver and grey had the run of most of the show. The little color he used looked frosted as well.

Michael Kors when the first few pieces came out I thought about buffy at the beach club preparing for her daily tennis match with Ken. Country club chic, pale pinks and key lime greens, citrus yellow and khaki. There were a few peices that I liked, this printed cover up that was accented with gold accesories, and the long green strapless dress that closed the show.

Catch up on your full frontal fashion on NYC TV and tell me what your favorate designers and looks are.

-Tara Poinsette

Get Some New Bootie!

A great way to transition your footwear from Summer to fall is with a bootie. Since the style is low, usually ankle height, you can wear them now with the must have summer mini dress. In a few weeks add tights and a boyfriend cardigan to the look and by the time the leaves start to fall, they go great with a wide leg pant and a cropped jacket. This season we have a lot to choose from. Here are a few trends within the trend.

1. Metallics can polish up any classic outfit, if you are more simplistic this can be the punch your outfit needs. If you have no fear when it comes to fashion, its an instant add to a glam rock look.

2. Designers are using different folding and ruching techniques with leather adding a new twist for extra detailing.

3. Fall is time for texture and suede is one of the most popular textured fabrics for fall. It can add depth to your look.

Most of these styles can be found on the internet and at your favorate department store. I hope you like the new bootie.

She's the man

Amanda Bynes unveils her new Dear Clothing line. You may remember Amanda from Nick's the Amanda Show or She's the man. She was most recently among the cast of the Hair remake. What a perfect time to launch the new line.

Not quite the double mint twins

Last night at In Style Magazine's Stuck in LA Summer Soiree. Tachina Arnold and Eva La Rue showed up in the same dress. Too bad we didn't get one of them together. I am sure they stayed on opposite sides of the event. Can you image these two meeting up in the bathroom. BTW Tachina Arnold has been looking really good lately. Other guests include Zoe Saldana and Kidada Jones.

The New Destiny's Child

Just kidding, Tina is not trading in her sewing needle for a microphone. It's just the new collection of Dereon, the more afordable junior's version of Knowle's House of Dereon clothing line. The festivities took place yesterday in Toronto. Although I applaud Bey for her daring sense of style, I am not impressed by what the line has bought to the table. I expect more from the grammy award winning artist and girlfriend of Jigga. I wish she would bring some of that fashion valor we saw on the many installments of the Beyonce movie this Spring, to the over styled collection.

MAMA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG

It's been a long and eventful birthday month. There are so many of my friends that have May birthday's, the month turns into a long party ending with a Memorial Day bang. For my birthday, among a few other things I treated myself to a new bag. Yeah me!



This bag is stylish and captures the latest trend in shine made from Italian Patent Leather. I was looking for a bag that I could wear everyday. It needed to be stylish but could also function well for my market appointments where I need to carry my binders of line sheets. This bag was it, and get this, it's convertable. The bag can be closed to a Hobo and then expand for when you need to pack a few extra things for a long evening. (wink, wink)

Closed view


I love this bag. It's been a long time since I've fallen in love and it felt like the first time. The bag is by Kooba. Since a lot people outside of the fashion world have never heard of the brand I will give you a short background.

Kooba is the answer to every woman's desire for a handbag with distinctive characteristics and features that reflect her mood. Known for their signature shapes, dominant hardware, and vast color range, Kooba is about creating individual style, and celebrities from the streets of New York City to the Hollywood Hills have heard the call of the modern, vintage-inspired leathers and deep colors. These bags work with every style and will definitely get you noticed.

Two "IT" girls carry the coveted bag.
Others who have been spotted with the bag include La La Lindsey, SJP, Eva Longoria and many more.

What's your newest or truest bag? Tell me all about it....

NEW LOOK FOR SPIDEY

5 days after its May 4th release, I went to see Spiderman 3 yesterday afternoon. Firstly, I want to say that I love movies that take me back to my childhood comic book days. I used to want to do anything my older male cousin did, so because he had a comic book collection I had to have a one too. Anyway, back to the review, I thought Kirsten Dunst looked, not so hot and that Spiderman cried too much. It seemed like every 10 minutes of the 2 hour saga there were man tears. Now, on to what we really care about, I loved Spidey’s new fashion statement.

The black in the movie represented the evil vengeful side of the usually fair and noble super hero. It made him uncharacteristically cocky, bull headed, aggressive, and unexpectedly a lot of fun. Black happens to the signature color of one of best friends (shout out to Nina) and so many other New Yorkers. For those of you who want to step into the dark side here are a few Spiderman inspired wardrobe items.
Mike & Chris 3/4 Length Leather Jacket
Alexander McQueen's Fall 2007 black studded satchel
Hermes Fall 2007 Embossed leather dress & cuff
YSL Fall 2007 Rain Bonnet?
Daryl K Parachute dress