BEAUTY & OTHER THINGS

Sleeping Beauty
Sleep in DVF. No not the dress you wore out on the town last night, but actual bedding. The iconic designer is adding housewares to her printastic, ever fabulous empire. This is good. I love the gold flatware set as well as the turquoise dinner plates in paper cheetah.

Items Pictured Above: Urban Jungle Bedding $80.00-$335.00, Miro Flowers Bedding $95.00-$395.00, Cheetah SpotsDessert Plate $25.00-$75.00, Night 5 Piece Place Setting $175.00
Photos by Bloomingdales.com

 MAC ATTACK
Give your make-up drawer a “BANG” and a “POW” with MAC’S Wonder Woman Collection. The packaging alone makes me want to just buy one of everything in the collection. Of course you will need something to carry your favorites from the collection in so don’t forget to check out the make-up bags in red, blue and gold faux leather. The utility belt brush set ($49.50), in gold makes me wish I was a make-up artist just to have an excuse to wear it every day. So far my favorites from the collection are the Wonder Woman Pigment in fuschia ($21), the Spirit of Truth Nail Lacquer ($15),and the eye shadow quad in Defiance ($40). Thanks MAC for always giving me that kid on Christmas day feeling. For more information, and to purchase the collection visit maccosmetics.com.

Photos by Maccosmetics.com & Temptalia.com

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE: H&M Sustainable Collections

Just when you thought H&M was done. They would continue to wow us with their fashionably affordable pieces, and that would be all, they add another accomplishment to their resume. Besides making the world a fashionable affordable place, the retailer will also make us all environmentally conscious. This April the international retailer will debut two collections that are based on recycling, renewing and reusing. The first collection to roll out will be the Conscious Collection, which promises to offer “sustainable style”. Expect the collection to debut in a store near you on April 14th, 2011. The collection will consist of pieces for men, women and children, while the garments will be made of materials such as organic cotton, Tencel and recycled polyester. To further their eco-chic effort, H&M has partnered with the Swedish shoe label Hasbeens to present a limited collection of clogs to debut in over 150 stores on April 20th, 2011. The collection will consist of three styles of clogs made from “environmentally friendly” materials. The Swedish shoe company was founded by friends Cilla Wingard Neuman and Emy Blixt in 2007. For more information on both collections visit www.hm.com.

Photo: Cilla Wingard Neuman and Emy Blixt, Founders of Hasbeens. Photo by H&M.com.

February's Fabulous Four

Items As They Appear Above: Topshop Leopard Print Back Zip Top $70.00, Marc Jacobs Carnaby Patent Shoulder Bag $795.00, House Of Harlow "Sasha" Shades @ Shoptrend.com $149.00, Alexander Wang Leather Pocket Mini Shorts $550.00 @ Kirna Zabete.

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/fashioning-fiction-camilla-mortons-fairy-tale-memoirs/

Look forward to Camilla Morton’s series of fashion themed fairy tales. The first fairy tale to debut in the series will be Sleeping Beauty, by Christian Lacroix. Each story will be inspired by a designer and loosely based on real life events gone fairy tale. I love this idea and would like to own each book in the series. For me, fashion and fairy tales are very much related. When most women think of, or, are asked to describe their idea wedding day, they automatically go into princess mode. They want to look like a princess, feel like a princess, or be a princess, if only for that day. The guy standing next to them is so far from the guy that will not take out the trash, wash the dishes, pick up his socks or get up in the middle of the night with the baby. He is Prince Charming. Next up Morton will magically fictionalize Manolo Blahnik in the tale of The Elves and the Shoemaker. Read more about it by clicking on the link above.

Any story that begins with the words “once upon a time” is pretty much guaranteed to follow a well-trod narrative path populated by princesses, evil step-relations, maybe a frog. But in the hands of Camilla Morton, fairy tales are taking a very fashionable twist. “It all started when I was trying to explain my job to my godson,” Morton says. “And, I realized when you watch a couture show come together — the drama, the glamour — you literally see magic.” For “Christian Lacroix and the Tale of Sleeping Beauty,” the first of what will be a series of fantasy designer biographies (Manolo Blahnik and the tale of the elves is up next), Morton has spun the ............

All Photos and article information by T-Magazine

HOME UPDATE: ANTHROPOLOGIE'S IKAT COLLECTION

Almost every evening I arrive home I know there will be a glossy booklet/catalog of some kind awaiting my arrival. They just seem to keep coming, from companies and brands I never even heard of. I always wonder to myself which “trusting” source that has vowed to protect my personal information has sold me out now? I open the booklet, browse through the pages, if interested keep it, if not take my name and address from the front/back cover and inside order form page, and drop it in the recycling bin. As often as this may happen, there are some catalogs that I wait for. The Anthropologie (and Urban Outfitters), catalog happens to be one of those catalogs I not only look through, but mark in with my “getting this pen”, and then keep it around long after the latest and greatest of that season is gone. Of course this season is no different, but it was something other than the cute jackets and beautiful airy blouses that caught my attention. When I first saw the Hardwood Finn Rocking Chair I thought to myself, is this real or just a prop? My mind began to wander on how many different ways I could use this rocking chair. If I had that fabulous beach house that I have always wanted, I could use this chair in a living room and bedroom, and then there’s the idea of pairing it with existing furniture, as the star piece, with other colorful accessories throughout the room. I’ll stop my mind here and let you see for yourself what I am talking about. Here are just a few of my favorites from the collection, but if you visit Anthropologie.com, you can view the many other pieces offered in the collection.

Pieces as they are pictured above:Embroidered Ikat Lampshade $128.00, Mathilde Sofa $2,698.00, Hardwood Finn Rocker $1,698.00.


All photos by Anthropologie.com

Fashion Crush: Prabal Gurung

Great Lengths, Color, Grace, and the revival of ladylike, but yet, body conscious style. Thanks to Prabal Gurung, and the creation of his SS2011 collection those of us looking to be set free from band-Aid length hem-lines, and tunic shirts posing as dresses now have something to look forward to. The Singapore born designer has certainly changed the game by going against the grain and daring to do things differently in a business where it sometimes seems simpler to produce more of the known, the right now, and the expected. When viewing Gurung’s SS2011 collection, he certainly seems far more advanced, as far as having a point of view and creating sophisticated garments, than most designers debuting their sophomore collection. His resume and list of accomplishments reflect those of one you would expect nothing less than a strong sense of design and innovation from. Gurung, once a Parsons School of Design student, has had stints at Cynthia Rowley and Bill Blass, launched his first show during 2009 Fashion Week, and was one of the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund finalists in 2010. Sometimes it is best to go right when everyone else goes left.

All Images & biographical Information From Prabal Gurung.com