Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Spring Sample Sale Season!!

As the last stubborn flower petals are blown out to sea, you realize that it is time to reincarnate the sundresses, shorts and shifts of yesteryear. But don't be glum as you survey these tired ensembles...why, you ask? Because it's sample sale season!! Time to put on your hunting gear and grab some choice pieces! Here are our top picks of this month's sample sales with our visual wish list (in no particular order):

1. Rebecca Minkoff, 5/9-5-13 260 Fifth Ave
                                                       Ostrich Embossed Covet- Persimmon

2. Botkier, 5/1-5/6 225 Fifth Ave
                                     Misha_clutch_csn_product_page
3. Nanette Lepore, 5/8-5/10 225 W. 35th St.
                                                     Splash Ditsy Goddess
4. Tibi, 5/15-5/17 348 W. 36th St.
                                          Orange
5. Improvd, 5/1-5/9 261 W. 36th St.

                                              Safari

And (cue drumroll) a shout-out to Yumi Kim's friends and family sale online through May 6th! Enter code FAMILY25 at checkout.

Are you a SS neophyte? Check out tips on how to dominate the fray here.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Blooming on Earth Day

This spring, we’ve embraced the lovely floral looks blooming  throughout the city! In honor of Earth Day, we’re presenting a bouquet of our favorites:

BB Dakota
BB Dakota


BB Dakota offers flowered dresses and tops to brighten up a rainy April day. We particularly enjoy the inventive use of flower petals on some of their designs.

Maggy London
Maggy London


These breezy looks are perfect for day to night, although we would prefer to wear them at an English garden party.

Zamrie



We are slightly obsessed with Zamrie’s Spring 2012 collection, which bursts with color. Zamrie offers a creative variety of pastoral ensembles, ready to be plucked and worn to nearly any occasion.

You can find selections from BB Dakota and Maggy London at Purdy Girl, Jessie James, Darling, and, for Brooklynites, Teddy. 


For some Literary Inspiration: 

   I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
          That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
          When all at once I saw a crowd,
          A host, of golden daffodils;
          Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
          Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

          Continuous as the stars that shine
          And twinkle on the milky way,
          They stretched in never-ending line
          Along the margin of a bay:                                  
          Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
          Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

          The waves beside them danced; but they
          Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
          A poet could not but be gay,
          In such a jocund company:
          I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
          What wealth the show to me had brought:

          For oft, when on my couch I lie
          In vacant or in pensive mood,                               
          They flash upon that inward eye
          Which is the bliss of solitude;
          And then my heart with pleasure fills,
          And dances with the daffodils.

by William Wordsworth



Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Neon Animal Print? But of course.


Thanks to our fabulous eye for fashion and oozing charisma another case of the style gods smiling upon us, what started as just an admirer's portrait of Mercedes Hart (pictured above) turned into so much more!

But let's start at the beginning. Remember our Amanda Uprichard shopping spree around the new year? Well apparently we love her so much that we are drawn to her designs without even knowing that they are hers!  Mercedes first caught our eye with her vibrant yellow and blue Amanda Uprichard hoodie paired with an amazing cross, which was handmade in Mexico for Virgins, Saints & Angels. Sadly, you can't see the cross too well here but not to worry - we will be following up in a couple months with a post on Virgins, Saints  Angels and their designs!

Another fun fact - as it turns out, Mercedes is featured in the collage of photos as taken from Diplo's 128 Beats Per Minute and on display at Milk Gallery. We all know how it goes (or, in our case, pretend to) - she just happened to be hanging out with Diplo and Shane McCauley in Mexico City at a Major Lazer party, where Shane just happened to snap her photo, which just happened to be so effortlessly amazing...

Virgins, Saints & Angels: http://www.vsadesigns.com/public/

Monday, April 9, 2012

Milk Gallery presents Diplo's 128 Beats per Minute

Neon lights slicing through mist and disappearing. Turning a mirrored corner. Catching a glimpse of beautiful people. City streets twinkling beyond the glass. If there were no tomorrow, we’d be nowhere else but here…

That was Saturday’s afterparty at Le Bain, but it could have easily been captured as a moment in time and added to Diplo’s 128 Beats Per Minute. Until April 11th, Milk Gallery presents photos from the book, which features photography by Shane McCauley and a foreward by Alexander Wang.   

As you might imagine, Milk + Diplo + ShaneMcCauley + Alexander Wang > epic. Take epic and raise it some Mad Decent (Diplo’s record label) and you get just a glimmer of the launch party, which was studded with power players both in person and in the photos on display. We were spoiled by the cornucopia of stylesetters. Not surprisingly, there were sheer skirts galore and several partygoers with skateboard in hand. One trend that we loved was the varsity jacket on both men and women. Our favorite moment of the night occurred with the photos as the backdrop for a (very) slow motion dance-off between a tiny fascinator-wearing girl and a floor-length tunic, giant headphone-wearing guy.


Check out this exhibition at Milk Gallery while it lasts! And, for the full version, you can pick up 128 Beats Per Minute either at Milk or at Urban Outfitters.


Friday, March 30, 2012

The girls of summer...swimming in Volcom




Taking StyleShifter bi-coastal, we headed over to LA for some sand and surf rain and cold! No matter, we didn’t let the forces of nature stand in the way of some breathtaking Pacific vistas as we teetered along the Malibu hills.

Most importantly, what souvenir to buy for ourselves? Well…ocean, palm trees, boardwalk....all reminders that summer is on the way. In fact, nothing screams SoCal styling more than beachwear…enter Volcom!  Selections vary from solid neon two-pieces to cute floral ensembles to fun polka-dotted designs.


We scored a couple Volcom bikinis, choosing from the wide variety of styles. In particular, we loved many of the selections from the Volcom x Posso collaboration. After all, what goes better than youth against the establishment x the two young designers/DJs behind Posso. Our favorite look combined neon with stripes and polkadots (see below).  



On that note, get thee to a gym and then go get some swimwear!! It's gonna be, like, a totally rad summer!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Kevin Erskine Supercell at Milk Studios



A humble grin and a firm handshake are the mark of a farmer from Nebraska. This particular farmer (Kevin Erskine) is not the weather-worn cowboy one might expect. No, he is weather warrior.


Nebraska, you ask? We know, you are confused about this sudden connection with the midwest. Never fear, though, for the midwest has come to us! That is, on the walls of Milk Studios, where a selection of photos from Kevin Erskine's new book, Supercell, coat the walls until April 1st. 






Taken in the midst of huge storms across the flat midlands of North America, the photos evoke fearsome intensity that is somehow tempered by the muted colors that one observer dubbed "God's brushstrokes" across the sky (as you can see in the above selection from the collection).



In case you were wondering what to 

wear, we will of course synopsize the crowd. As always, a gathering at Milk inspired the fashion forward to curate their most interesting amalgamations of SS12. Happily, we eyed abundant neon (pastel GREEN neon to be specific), swooning over one neon + art deco broach combination. But you've already heard about that from us. Another spring trend popped out - the floral. Sadly, no one opted for the head-to-toe floral (and yes, we curse ourselves daily for not having been the one rogue human poppy field in the room), but check out one art-lover's muumuu-meets-floral take on the trend:



Anyway, if you get the chance, we recommend a visit! Perhaps on a nice spring day followed by a picnic on the Highline with some provisions from Chelsea Market.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Flashing Lights...Neon, Neon, and Electricity




It's official, we have a new obsession for spring - NEON! Pink, turquoise, yellow, and orange are just part of the palette that we've seen bursting into bloom throughout the City on both the accessory and clothing fronts. While we mostly saw Cambridge Satchels popping out in September during Fashion Week, the trend has happily become more widespread, meaning you have a menagerie of neon to peruse during the upcoming months. The dilemma will be which color to choose...just think of an electric blue clutch in the shadow of soft pink flower petals!