Fashionista

2009-07-02T17:39:22Z

Hot Hot Heat

2009-07-02T16:54:51Z

If you're at the office, you're probably counting down the hours 'til the holiday weekend kicks off. We think those hours pass more quickly with eye candy.

And today that comes to us from the Daily Mail in the form of Posh and Becks' latest Emporio Armani ad campaign. As the paper notes, the large rope that was featured in David's last solo venture makes repeat appearance.

But we're more into Victoria's hair (aside from their glistening bodies, that is.) We're long-time fans of the high pony. And while we won't be sporting one that sticks straight up in the air, we do rather like the idea of adding a braid.

Even you Beckham-haters have to admit they look pretty smokin' right? We hope they keep doing these underwear ads for many seasons to come.

Mid-Day Snack

2009-07-02T16:20:42Z

About Bloody Time: The NY Times finally caught on to the whole vampire obsession. Phew, now we can believe it's real. However I do thank them for giving me an excuse to run a picture of Edward Cullen, er, Robert Pattinson. {NY Times}

Say It Ain't So: Isn't it bad enough that Christian Audigier has basically taken over entire blocks of Los Angeles? Now he's threatening to show in Paris. {FWD via Vogue UK}

DC Style: Of the non-Obama variety, that is. Check out what the kids are wearing on Dupont Circle. {Washington Post}

Heaven On Earth: Coco Rocha discovers the utter beauty that is the "beauty closet", especially the one at Vogue. {VogueDaily}

]]> WTF: Excuse me, someone was going to let Kate Gosselin have a clothing line? Sweet lord. {US Weekly}

Stink Pocket: The Meatpacking now smells like DvF which some people are not happy about. Though we much prefer perfume to raw meat. Don't you? {Page Six}

2009-07-02T15:37:49Z

"It’s very casual with the whole family and a few friends like Jason Wu, BJ Blum, and the gallery owner John McWinnie. Typically we sit down post swim, so the dress code is bathing suits under a light summer dress like Tracy Feith or Philip Lim. We decorate the table with a mix of roses, hydrangeas, and irises picked from the garden. The table is dressed with a large hand-embroidered tablecloth inherited from my grandmother, a mix of white French linen napkins, and vintage plates found at a local antiques fair. We pull up a wood bench with big cushions to squeeze in more people and protect ourselves from the sun with large parasols and straw hats from Anne Moore. The meal is a colorful, flavorful mix from local farms and purveyors such as Round Swamp Farm for delicious salads and homemade raspberry pie, Lucy’s Whey for cheese, Iacono farm for organic, free-range chicken, and pick-yourself strawberries from the farm down the road.” —Olivia Chantecaille to Vogue on her "casual" holiday weekend lunch. We're sticking to burgers and dogs on the grill, thank you very much.

2009-07-02T14:54:41Z

Makeover We Love: Kelly Osbourne

2009-07-02T14:07:57Z

Kelly Osbourne used to be the punk princess.

We all remember the pink hair, heavy make-up and lots and lots of black (this princess was, after all, the daughter of the Prince of Darkness).

I was in middle school (ed note from Abby: I just fell off my chair while reading that phrase from my lovely intern. Holy crap am I old!) when she covered Madonna's Papa Don't Preach and am not ashamed to say that I danced to it in friends' rooms and at school dances.

We liked that she wasn't some twiglet and embraced her and all her many quirks, both style and otherwise.

]]> Things sort of spiraled out of control for the singer and you could tell just by looking at her that life had gotten a bit, um, messy. But all seems to be well in Kelly's world now and she has stepped out with a matured sense of style.

The singer has started to favor a classy retro look, and we love her new cropped blonde locks.

It's been a gradual and quiet transformation, and what really reminded us of how far she's come—and how good she looks now—are these photos from Tarina Tarantino's look-book that Nylon posted. The photos are total eye-candy and feature Kelly as Glinda the Good Witch—all girly and pearly, but still with her signature extra kick.

Long live the Good Witch!

--AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

WWWWD: The Man Issue

2009-07-02T13:13:37Z

Just in time for the long weekend, the latest issue of WWWWD has arrived to amuse us all. As always we have more than a few favorite moments including but certainly not limited to:

—A timeline of manhood that includes Three Men and a Baby, Tom Brady, Paula Poundstone, Dante, and Lil Bow Wow. Enough said.

—LVMH entering the beer market with a gold-canned brand called Laissez-Faire. Possible face of the brand Jade Jagger loves the idea: "Laissez-Faire combines my two main interests - gold French stuff and beer - into one fabulous thing that will get me wasted."

—Kris Van Assche feeling homesick for himself. But luckily he welcomes himself back with open arms.

—Fashion lovelies reveal what they love in a guy. Grace Coddington's made me spit out my morning Diet Coke.

—Mert & Marcus want nothing to do with Shia LeBeouf's package. Quite frankly, neither do we.

Happy Reading!

Donatella's Art Project

2009-07-02T12:42:25Z

The Versace family have long been patrons of the arts.

And for the second year in a row, the design house will sponsor the Whitney Museum's Gala and Studio Party in October (co-hosted by Donatella, Penelope Cruz, and Liz Swig.) It's sure to be as fabulous an affair as last year, but that wasn't the point of the designer's trip to the museum Wednesday afternoon.

Yesterday's festivities were actually way cooler than any celeb-filled event.

Versace is also partnering with the Whitney's Education Department to create this awesome initiative called Art Unites which is focused on bringing all the good things that come along with creativity and inspiration to kids who need it the most.

]]> So here's the deal: Versace is providing art supplies to kids involved with the Starlight Children's Foundation in the US and the One Foundation in China. These are amazing young people either dealing with a serious illness or the after effects of the earthquakes in the Sichuan province. Basically, a lot of kids working through issues tougher than most of us have ever known.

Everyone involved with Versace's program gets to design a canvas in whatever way they like...and that canvas will then be turned into a tote to be sold in Versace stores and on Gilt Groupe come October.

One lucky winner from Starlight and another from One will have their bags shown on the runway at Donatella's next show in Milan. How amazingly cool is that? Donatella told me that the choice is going to incredibly difficult to make, but that she and her small panel of judges will make the decision based on "emotion, not necessarily raw talent or creativity" and her hope is that "they [the young designers] are able to express what is inside that they are unable to with words."

We're putting some money on 13 year-old Savannah (pictured here) who seems to be the perfect combo because she has a passion for clothes and some fairly wicked fashion sketching skills, basing her design on prom dresses.

We love this project more than we can say and are so glad that we got to spend the afternoon with such a cool bunch. Thanks Versace. This truly is a perfect mix of art and fashion.

2009-07-01T23:19:15Z

Return of the Face Paint

2009-07-01T22:44:48Z

We had a little thing in my family when I was younger that when someone was wrong, he/she had to repeat this sentence three times in rapid succession, "You were right and I was wrong."

Now, I'm not willing to completely concede on the face paint front by any means, but I do have to admit that Drew Barrymore may have been on to a trend (albeit one I'm not necessarily into) with her painted cheeks and forehead at Bonnaroo.

This spread from a story in the newest issue of V Magazine (shot by Willy Vanderperre) shows Iris sporting the darker, edgier version, in comparision to Drew's hippie fairy.

Regardless of my feelings on the matter, it seems that I may have to accept this as a trend for a bit longer than expected. But then again, it might just grow on me, in which case I'll totally do the "You were right..." speech, even if you all can't hear me.

The Gray Lady

2009-07-01T22:14:40Z

Mr. Schuman is across the pond, shooting around France and Italy, and we've in l-o-v-e with this all-gray Parisian he posted yesterday.

We've been noticing a lot gray around the streets of New York ourselves, and think it's a great color. For us, light gray, light brown and white are very summery - exuding calm and relaxing vibes. But we've never seen it put together head-to-toe quite as well as this woman did it.

A monotone ensemble requires careful planning. Not all shades of the same color look good together. And unless you buy all the different pieces at the same time, it could get difficult to mentally match your shades.

]]> We imagine it wouldn't be too hard if gray is your color, but what about green? Wearing four different hues of that could venture dangerously into crazy elementary school art teacher territory.

Which colors would you wear head to toe in an outfit (and black doesn't count)? And if you were to streamline your closet to only one color, which would it be?

--AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

Fresh Whites

2009-07-01T20:21:00Z

Built by Wendy is having a huge sale right now, and this dress really caught our eye.

It's called the Grid Tennis Dress, and you already know how into the sport we are.

We love this one way more than anything we've seen Serena wear on court (sorry, Serena, we still think you're an awesome athlete!), because it's a classic look. And when we wear it to frolic in Central Park we can pretend that we're Maureen Connelly effortlessly working the courts.

There really is something about summer that begs for a perfect white dress, and this smock-like dress is girly, but a different shape than anything we have in our closets.

See you on Centre Court - at least that's where we'll be pretending to be.

--AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

Time for a Temperley London Sale

2009-07-01T19:52:00Z

We try to be kind to our bank accounts, but sometimes a sale so good comes up that it's very, very difficult to resist. Like this Friday, for instance, Temperley London's New York boutique is having an up to 60% off sale. So this frilly dress at left, which was originally $1185 is now...$474. Score!

It starts this weekend and goes until Monday, July 20th. We imagine all the best, most gorgeously floaty pieces will go soon, though. If you're heading to the Hamptons for the weekend and are worried the dress or jacket with your name on it will get snatched up, don't worry, because their Hampton's pop-up is also holding the same sale.

For those of us still in the city, the address is 453 Broome Street, on the second floor. The hours are 11 am to 7 pm Monday through Saturday and then 12 to 6 pm on Sunday. Call 212-219-2929 with questions. For those at the beach, the boutique is at 53 The Circle in East Hampton, open 10 am to 6 pm Monday through Saturday and 11 am to 5 pm on Sundays. Their telephone number is 631-329-6505.

Let us know if you get anything good!

--AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

War and Peace

2009-07-01T19:20:22Z

If you're looking for something to do in the city over the long weekend, perhaps you should consider a trip to the Michali Fine Art Gallery on the Lower East Side to check out Hedi Ferjani's exhibit "The Art of War"

Now, of course, Hedi's not new to the scene having created the masks (recently shot by Steven Meisel) for Erin Fetherston's show last season and directing the short film for her Target collection. (His mom even worked at couture houses like YSL and Lanvin.) And we hear there's a W profile in the works.

What's cool about this exhibit (and what has the fash crowd newly obsessed) is the ironic play between something glamorous and something destructive, as in pretty guns and grenades. But we'll let you make your own interpretations.

Once you've seen the show, head on back here and let's have our own little web discussion group, because we really miss that about college.

Project Bluefly

2009-07-01T18:44:15Z

Last season on Project Runway, the nice girl finished first, and Leanne Marshall is still producing, now in a collection with Bluefly.com that becomes available July 8th.

The line is Leanne Marshall for Bluefly (she used to design under the name Leanimal, but has now made the permanent switch to her full name) and contains seven pieces total. The look is definitely similar to what she showed at the Bryant Park finale--whimsical and pretty with layering and scalloped details.

One of the first differences I noticed though: more color! Two pink day dresses (both under $300) and a tunic that comes in either blue or pink, for $98. She attributed the color infusion to her floral inspiration, opposed to her water-inspired Project Runway collection.

]]> Leanne said that for this collection she was focusing on accessibility, keeping the details more subdued. But she is still going to be designing for the runway, and is already working on a Spring 2010 collection.

The clothing was definitely wearable, affordable, and felt amazing to touch (she used eco-friendly material for over half her collection). While winning a nationally watched reality show has changed the designer's life and given her incredible exposure, she wants to always be in charge of her designs and keep the clothing personal and meaningful. "Expectations are high, and that's nerve-racking, but if at the end of the day everybody hates it...as long as I love it, that's all that matters."

The Portland native plans to stay in New York for the time being. She mentioned that her mind is always moving, ideas changing every day, so it should be interesting to see what comes next from a designer so inspired by nature, now that she's grounded in a place with a little more concrete than grass.

"I got here and it's like, 'Nature? What?'" She joked. Her Fall 09 collection was inspired by the city skyline, though, featuring darker colors and harder edges. We'll be watching to see which road she continues down, urban or natural? Either way, we think we'll enjoy it.

--AMANDA JEAN BOYLE