Room service

                               

Back from a quick stopover in New York with Sonya. As all the aesthetically inclined know, without shopping it isn't really New York City so or course Sonya and I had to hit all our local haunts. This dress was hidden away in the depths of an overfull clothes rack in Soho.  Initially it looked like a long black swath of nothingness but we quickly saw the small detailing that makes this dress absolutely stunning. You don't need a miniskirt to be sexy or a rainbow of colors to be charismatic. Thankyou to the fashion gods for a perfect find, and to this timeless city for giving us one more beautiful piece of itself.

xx

A

Street Style

Instead of looking at celebrities or magazines for inspiration, we decided to search the streets instead. Fashion is all about individuality of expression and finding your own unique voice. The pictures above demonstrate noteworthy examples of everday people putting their own distinctive spin on classic styles. Don't be afraid to break the mold and take a risk! Fashion by definition is about expression, not the ability to mold to current trends. As the great Coco Chanel said "Fashion changes, but style endures". Find your style everyone!

xx

A

Concrete & Clay

Apologies for the brief hiatus. We're now in the full throes of spring. People are throwing on the brightest colors and prints they can find, regardless of their wearable context. Make sure you tone down your animal prints and neon colors with soft undertones, like the above black shorts and gold detailed bag. You want to be fierce, not aggressive. Think purr versus a roar. And we all know the best spring compilations are balanced. Not overdone.

xx
S

Body Language

         

A flashback to spring mixed with the grey of winter, let your vibrancy fly and take your party dresses out for this holiday season. Many designers are looking backwards for their fall and winter collections, drawing on the 1930s, and 1970s. But 2010 also will soon be over. Just another past year for designers to draw inspiration from. Our past experiences, triumphs and downfalls from this year will soon be simply memories. And as we always do, the world will look towards a new direction. Let us just hope it will be one that encompasses sequined heels, green energy, new dresses, peace on earth, and lots and lots of lace.

xx

A

Castaway

You may think the tropics call for higher hemlines and lower necklines but the art of dressing for heat is all about moderation. Here in the small town of Punta Cana off the coast of the Dominican Republic Sonya and I tried to provide an example to all beachgoers on how to dress down by dressing up. Sonya's short dress has a billowing top which provides contrast to the height of her skirt. My outfit is simple but elegant (unfortunately the pictures don't show the dropped back and bedazzled crochet the back of my blouse has). The heat is never the time to try your new silk trousers, or drop neck long sleeve, but it also is not the time to go to dinner in your swimsuit or flip flops. A simple pair of flats will provide you the comfort and usability through sandy concrete and heated soil. Remember that a complicated print can quickly be thrown onto a solid for an easy put together look. Afterall, no one wants to walk into dinner with sand still sticking to their clothes.

xx

A

Fairytales and Frogs

As little girls, we all want to be princesses. We envision our pretty pink party dresses and glittered heels and imagine that as adults, we will finally have the opportunity to dress the same way. A colorful mix of betsey johnson, cinderella, and sparkles. But as we get older, our royal dreams dement themselves and twist into things we could never have imagined as children. Today we decided to take princess and although not dement it, mold it into something that mixes the old with the new. This new princess takes inspiration from Cinderella and the great princesses that once were, but adds her own modern twist. This modern princess would never wait around for prince charming, but would take charge of her fate. This princess would wear some killer pumps rather than glass slippers, and be able to fit into them too! And of course, our new modern princess would rather die than wear fur. This flowing blue dress represents all that we aspire to, and change in different periods of our life and the taking of the old and melding it into new.

xx
S