Real Style: The girl in London!

Those shoes!

Those wide-legs!

Those boots!

And those boots...and Mulberry bag

That jacket!

That style!

I stumbled across Gala Gonzalez while browsing, chictopia.com. This girl has effortless style. She is a Student, Designer and Stylist in London!
Check out her blog: amlul.com

Interior Design Flair: Designer David Jimenez

David Jimenez is an inspiring interior designer. I first discovered him on another blog, turquoisela.blogspot.com. His work is very refreshing and yet stylized. He combines class and modernity in his work. He designs to tailor to one's taste, be it, Palm Beach chic or lofty metropolitan. David is currently the Vice-President of Visual Merchandising for Hallmark Cards, Inc. and currently does not do individual resendential projects, design fans can only hope that one day he will grant resedential clients with his magic in the near future!

Tuesday Model Spotlight

That Hair!

Monday Industry Musings!

H&M Offers 24-Hour Shopping on Black Friday

Retailers have already begun trying to gain an advantage over competitors by announcing plans to keep their stores open overnight on Black Friday, the traditional Friday after-Thanksgiving kickoff to the holiday season.

Shoppers at an H&M in San Francisco, Calif. (Credit: Getty Images.)

One month before Black Friday, on October 29, Swedish fast-fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz said its Penn Station store in New York and its Powell Street store in San Francisco will each open at 6 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, and remain open through 11 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 29. Two other H&M stores — one on the Third Street Promenade in Los Angeles and the other on Chicago’s State Street — will stay open until midnight on Friday.

H&M offered 24-hour shopping at the New York store last year and added extended hours to other stores this year. “Based on last year’s success and response from our consumers, we realize that some of our shoppers are unable to make it out to our stores early,” H&M spokesperson Shaneika Haskins said. “This is a way for us to accommodate everyone by extending our normal operating hours so everyone has a chance to find that perfect gift at an affordable price.”

“Getting to be top of mind and making the store accessible to consumers during the big shopping days has become very important,” said NPD chief industry analyst, Marshal Cohen. “That means more hours.” — Elva Ramirez

article courtesy of racked.com

Boutique Spotlight

What: Otte Boutique (ottenyc.com)
Where: Duh, NYC and Brooklyn
Who: The Proprieters are Chic
Why: Brands like Mike and Chris and Rachel Nesvik can be found there

Real Style: Girls in tights!

Tights have been a staple in a woman's wardrobe for generations. However, tights have progressed to being more of an accessory to a woman's overall look for the day rather than a necessity. As of late we have been rockin' footless tights, dark opaques, light opaques, neons, lace, textured, you name it we are doin' it! Tights make me excited about fall and fall wardrobing!

Interior Design Flair

I love chic dining areas. They are the centerpiece of a great soiree or an intimate dinner. The above dining areas were designed and styled by the interior design duo, Woodson and Rummerfield.
Ron Woodson and Jamie Rummerfield are two born and raised Los Angeles interior designers. They define their style as "modage". A fierce mix of mod and vintage. They draw their inspiration from the Old Hollywood world of the 1950's and 1960's.
wandrdesign.com

Tuesday Model Spotlight

Tyra Banks has been one of the most successful and imaginative models of our days. She may not model full-time anymore but she is constantly keeping her swagger and drive at an optimal level. These are a few of her recent pics for V Magazine shot by Sebastian Faena and with the stunning up-and comer, Sessilee Lopez!

Industry Musings Monday

Recently the iconic and affable Andre Leon Talley, Vogue Editor-at-Large spoke with a group of students and patrons at the Art Institute of Philadelphia and offered what I feel to be invaluable advice for those desiring a career in the fashion industry, or any professional industry really....

Lesson One: “Remember where you came from and how important that is, and that will sustain you,” he said. He was raised in North Carolina by his grandmother, who worked as a maid at nearby Duke University, but always dressed to the nines for church. “She didn’t have a lot, but she had remarkable style,” he added. “When I was 13, an uncle asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said, ‘A fashion editor.’ I had been reading Vogue for some time by then. My uncle said, ‘What is a fashion editor?’ My grandmother defended my decision. She always encouraged me.”

Lesson Two: “Always be curious and do your research.” While he was working for Vreeland at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1975, she handed him a dress Claudette Colbert wore in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1934 screen version of “Cleopatra” and asked him to style the mannequin appropriately. He went to the library and decided that Cleopatra should be sunkissed and got special permission to have his model painted gold. “It matched the dress,” he added. “Mrs. Vreeland loved it.”

Lesson Three: Travel and find beauty and style where you go.

Lesson Four: Practice good manners. “I once had to follow a woman from Philadelphia named Mrs. T. Charlton Henry to Paris for her couture appointments at Givenchy,” Talley said. “It was an assignment for WWD. She wrote me a note after and said, ‘The best thing about you is your wonderful manners.’ I saved the note.”

Lesson Five: Fetch coffee if you have to. “When you are lucky enough to land an internship or get your first job, do not be offended when someone asks you to make a Starbucks run,” he noted. “At my first job working for Andy Warhol, I answered phones, ran the stamp machine to the post office, made $50 a week and had to live at the YMCA. But I was literally introduced to the world through that job. Mr. Warhol encouraged me with enthusiasm. He thought everything you did was great.”

Lesson Six: Find a mentor. Vreeland, he said, was his most important. “She taught me everything. Anna Wintour is now my mentor. She is not that person in ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’ She is like Catherine the Great of Russia. She has kept that magazine on top, raised money for the Met and for the Democratic party.”

Talley went into mentor mode himself, presenting Emil DeJohn scholarships to students Carl Hildenbrand and Kevin Coleman, giving fashion citations to five students and meeting with some of them after the talk to see their portfolios. He even called one fledgling designer to the stage to model the hot pink satin pumps she had created. “Give me your card,” he said. “Those shoes are fabulous.”

Boutique Spotlight

WHAT: Presse Boutique
WHERE: Los Angeles
WHO: Zoe Schaeffer and Renee R. Klein
These purveyors of fashion are the owners
WHY: Proenza Schouler, Derek Lam and Bruno Frisoni
pieces are to be found there

WHAT: V.O.D. Boutique
WHERE: Dallas, Texas
WHO: Jackie Bolin, Liz Thompson, Elizabeth O'Mahoney
These purveyors of fashion are the owners
WHY: Jane Mayle, Jenni Kayne and Zero Maria Cornejo
are to be found there along with vintage pieces