May 19th, 2012

Know a bride on a budget?

I was surfing the net the other night and stumbled on the Kleinfeld Bridal Blog where they announced that famed wedding dress designer, Monique Lhuiilier, was introducing a new line of bridal gowns called Bliss by Monique Lhullier. The collection includes 14 gowns in all, and the prices range from $2400 to $3500. That’s pretty amazing and quite wonderful.

So, while you peruse the store and check out the new range of Lanvin wedding dresses and the bridal Jimmy Choo shoe collection, you can come down to reality and check out Bliss.

For more information, visit the Kleinfeld Bridal Blog.

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May 18th, 2012

Photos: All Photos courtesy of their respective labels, except for Donna Karan: Robert Mitra

Like Resort before it, pre-fall is expanding, moving from what used to be a transitional offering into something that looks more like a full-fledged collection. As we’ve been going on pre-fall appointments and speaking with designers these past few weeks, everyone agrees that the collections are bigger, the demand greater, and the interest from the press stronger than in seasons past. (Labels like Oscar de la Renta and Donna Karan even opted to do runway shows.)

With bigger collections come more diverse offerings, and less singular trends to distill. (And pre-fall tends to be a more commercial season than either Fall or Spring.) But this much seems certain: The seventies influence will soldier on. Big, bold prints (and floor-sweeping, longer lines) were a mainstay of many of the collections we saw, like ADAM (top left), Thakoon (center), and Burberry Prorsum (right). On the other hand, so will the neutral moment that’s been going strong since Fall. Plenty of labels kept things minimal, like Helmut Lang (below left), Donna Karan (center), and Vera Wang (right).

For all of Style.com’s pre-fall coverage, click here.

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May 17th, 2012

For the first time ever, Miuccia Prada is letting the world get a glimpse inside the secret world of Prada the day before the Milan runway show. In a short film for D.repubblica.it and the Huffington Post Style Section, the Italian label reveals details about the making of the new collection. Click here to watch it.
Photo: D.repubblica.it

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May 16th, 2012

Can you believe that it’s time to find a party dress already?

Well, It is — and get cracking because dresses seem to be flying out of the stores. Recently, I found this hot little number that looks so cute and close to the look of all these celebrity frocks we keep seeing on the red carpet. For only $68, you can get your hands on this sweet, modern peplum skirted strapless dress that you can wear again and again.

Arden B. not only delivers the goods, but its website helps style an entire ensemble for those of you who just don’t have the time.

Sized extra-small to large, you can get this cute magenta dress for $68, a flapover sequined clutch for $28 and a pretty stone stretch bracelet for $24. Or, you can go straight to the dress and complete the look with some strappy gold high heels and a lovely gold statement necklace. But start thinking fast as sizes and styles are — believe it or not — being swept away.

PRODUCT DETAILS
The tube dress features set-in waist and pleated peplum skirt. Inner rubberized trim for a secure and perfect fit. Lined bust.

- Length: 26 inches from neckline
- Closure: Hook and Eye | Back Zipper
- Materials include polyester, cotton and spandex
- Imported

Buy it here.

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May 15th, 2012

New York-based designer Gabby Sabharwal sings the same tune as most women when it comes to shopping for swimwear: “I find it stressful—the fitting rooms have those weird lights, there’s always those annoying stickers in the suits, and I could never find anything that fit me correctly,” she tells Style.com. “The ones that did fit would be too skimpy. I thought, ‘I can’t be in front of my dad or my boyfriend’s family in this.’ “

Her solution was to found her own collection of printed swimsuit separates, Giejo, to address these concerns. All her tops and bottoms are sold individually, for mix-and-match effect. “Girls today mix high and low, and with my swimwear you can do the same,” the designer says. “The biggest thing is you don’t want to see yourself on the beach and have other girls in the exact same thing—this way that won’t happen.”

Giejo is Sabharwal’s first foray into the world of design, after years of working as a fashion publicist. Despite her lack of formal design training, she found her work experience was on her side. “Working in PR, I was always nervous that I wouldn’t be taken seriously because I didn’t have a full design background, but everyone and all of the designers were so encouraging and wanted to help make it happen,” she says. Tucker’s Gaby Basora was particularly encouraging. So were retailers. The debut Giejo collection hits stores, including New York’s Creatures of Comfort and L.A.’s Madison boutiques, in late February, and an exclusive collection for Barneys New York, made up of Aztec and floral prints, arrives on the retailer’s shelves in late spring—just in time for beach weather.
—Kristin Studeman

Photo: Courtesy of Giejo

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May 14th, 2012

our editor recommends

For fans of Hollywood memoirs, the summer reading season is already underway with a bumper crop of books hitting stores in early May.

A bumper crop of books tell about acting careers, father-son bonds and one man’s struggle with his personal demons.

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May 12th, 2012

Available throughout the Spring/Summer season in Catherine Malandrino boutiques worldwide, the lightweight, city-chic tote is a perfect beach, travel and shopping tote for the season. It is made from 95% recycled materials and the retail price will be only $25!

For store locations, visit Malandrino’s Web site.

Celebs’ favorite designer, Catherine Malandrino, has designed a super cute tote bag to be sold in stores starting April 17, just in time for Earth Day.

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

I love Malandrino’s clothes and have been a fan since she started. Wow, was I happy to see these super chic, Eco-friendly totes that are just so divine. The playful sketches on the J’ai Deux Amours (Love of Two Cities) bag showcase iconic symbols from New York and Paris, giving a basic tote shape some personal style. 

Looking for a chic way to support the 40th anniversary of Earth Day?

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May 11th, 2012

This was a sell-out at Urban Outfitters. It’s back — on backorder, at least — and I know why: It’s a little magic, a little Michael Jackson and completely dazzling!

Sized extra-small to large, this $68 sheer chiffon and sequined cardigan — available in charcoal gray and black — is perfect past Christmas and New Year’s Eve when paired with a plain T-shirt and a pair of shorts, jeans or even a pencil skirt.

Buy it here.

PRODUCT DETAILS
- By Silence & Noise exclusively at Urban Outfitters
- Sheer chiffon bed jacket cropped short with an open front
- Covered with tonal sequins
- Imported
- Hand wash
- 21″ length from shoulder to hem
- Polyester

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May 11th, 2012

It was JFK to LAX for the boys of Warby Parker who teamed up with a bespectacled Ashton Kutcher to celebrate their new shop-in-shop at L.A.’s Confederacy, the label’s first specs-on-the-ground presence on the left coast. “There is a misperception by the rest of the country of Southern California. And the Southern California that we know is one driven by art and one driven by startups and a fashion community,” co-founder Neil Blumenthal (above right) said of the brand’s new home. “We want to feel part of it even though we’re on the other side of the country.”

Attracting their usual crown of discerning Angelenos, Danny Masterson took turns behind the DJ booth while store owner Ilaria Urbinati chatted up Showtime starlets Emmy Rossum and Madeline Zima. Set to sell their specs through the holidays (including the release of their sunglass collaboration with Suno next week), the L.A. launch was a departure from the brand’s strong Northeast presence, but still logical for Warby Parker’s other co-founder, the San Diego-bred Dave Gilboa (above left). “We wanted to be careful about how we entered the L.A. market because we feel it is so important in terms of style and fashion.” And partnering with Confederacy was the perfect fit. “Ilaria and Danny have captured the same classic American point of view with references to the forties and fifties and aesthetic as we do.”
—Alexis Brunswick

Photo: Photo: Charley Gallay / WireImage

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May 10th, 2012

Kate Sekules is the founder of the haute-cycling swap site www.refashioner.com.

Photos: Jason Merritt / Getty Images (Giuggioli and Firth); Courtesy of CRED (jewelry details)

Livia Giuggioli, wife of the future Sir Colin Firth, one-upped herself last night. Her Green Carpet challenge, in which she goes fully sustainably gowned to every awards show—and no movie has provided more opps than The King’s Speech—became the Green-and-Gold Challenge. Her gown was righteous. It was by Southeast London designer Gary Harvey, formerly of Levi’s, who cut it from 11 vintage frocks dating from the start of George VI’s reign. But her jewelry! Her earrings and enormous cocktail ring were forged from not merely fair trade, but fair-trade fair-mined ecological gold, and with fully traceable gems. This was a world first.

Nothing so fancy has ever been so traceable. The Oro Verde gold came from Colombia, via CRED jewelry’s mine workers’ collective, whose members extract the precious metal by hand, thus avoiding poisons like cyanide and mercury. The diamonds were courtesy of the Liqhobong Women Miners Cooperative in Lesotho, and the 35 carats of aquamarines came from Lundazi, a community mine in Zambia, and were hand-exported to Sri Lanka for cutting before being personally couriered to London for Livia’s selection by conscientious gemologist Guy Clutterbuck. Livia was impressed. “He reminded me of my dad and the stories he shared with me as a kid when he used to travel all over Africa and Saudi Arabia,” she said. “You wonder why there aren’t more characters like him in the world today.”

Livia then selected the stones with Brighton-based jewelry designer Anna Loucah, who also made—out of recycled white gold, ethical rubies and purple spinel, carbon-neutral pearls, and conflict-free black diamonds—her Firth-triumphant Golden Globe suite of bracelet and earrings. This stuff must be lucky.
—Kate Sekules

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