Floating heads!

The Emmys were last Sunday, and there is only so much I can say about the fashion. I think that I could probably go on and on about the fashion because there was an abundant amount, but for the sanity of my readers, and for my own sanity, I will keep it limited. I want to talk to you about the color red. Now, I know I said that red is going to be a huge color this fall, and I still stand by that, because it will; however, if you are going to an event that is a “RED carpet” event, why oh why would you wear red?!I felt like I was looking at a bunch of floating heads making their way down the carpet. Nina Dobreve in her red Donna Karan, Lea Michele in her red Marchesa, Kate Winslet in her red Elie Saab, and  Sofia Vergara in her red Vera Wang are just a few stars that sported red on the carpet last week. Most of the women looked great in their dresses, but by the end of the red carpet show, if I saw another red dress, I would have plucked my eyes out! There is nothing wrong with wanting to stay on trend, but there is a fine line that one must straddle to keep from being too risky and too safe. I think that I saw more red dresses than black ones. Now, I don’t have any advice for you, as my readers, personally, but if any of you become famous and have to walk down a red carpet, don’t wear red! You will be a floating head!

Hoop skirts and red lips

I have been on Mad Men gorge, and it’s beginning to be a problem. I wake up in the morning and feel the need to appease my urge and watch an episode, and recently, I have been waking up in the middle of the night, sneaking out of our room so that my husband will not judge me, and watch another episode. I have been able to do this all thanks to Netflix, and I don’t know what I am going to do when I finish the 4^th season (which will happen very soon at the rate I am going.) This binge has raised the question, “Why don’t we dress up anymore, and when did it stop?” The show is set in the 60’s, and while 50 years was a long time ago, it wasn’t that long ago. Most of our parents were born in this era and remember their parents dressing the same way. The hoop skirts, the vibrant prints, the red lips, and the glamorous women were prevalent in the 60’s, and I miss it! My educated guess would be that people, especially women, stopped dressing up in the 70’s with the whole “hippy movement.” The women felt it was oppressive to be “expected” to wear skirts that sucked in their waist, and bras that made their boobs look pointed. Some women went so far as to refuse to wear bras, but that is a bit extreme, and I must say, unsettling. I do also think that the lack of fashion has something to do with the government becoming more lax over the years, and our style usually seams to follow; one example would be, when the economy is bad, the hemlines seem to get longer, so the recent maxi-dress trend that unfortunately took place a few years ago was an indirect correlation to the bad economy, but I digress. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am glad that we are not “expected” to dress up every time we need to pick something up at the grocery store, and God knows that I have gone out looking worse than you could imagine to pick up some milk, but I do wish that sometimes I could wear a really poufy dress and go out to dinner and not be looked at like I just climbed out of time machine. The vibrant colors and extraordinary patterns of the ensembles are breathtaking, and that is one trend I will embrace. The bright patterns are creeping back into vogue, but they could come faster. I am, however, excited to tell you that red will be a pretty big color this winter, so I suggest you buy a really vibrant red coat or jacket and wear it proudly with some matching 60’s-inspired red lips. Run on fashion friends, run on! 

Fashion Night Out

In addition to the oh-so-anticipated kickoff NFL game, today was a special day for the shopping-enthusiast as well. The kickoff to fashion week has begun. September 8^th has become synonymous with fashion and is well known as “Fashion Night Out.” While FNO is a pretty big deal in the major fashion cities like Milan, Paris, and New York, the little city that can is desperately trying to keep up. Since the kickoff game tonight includes the beloved New Orleans Saints, the stores have compensated for this inconvenience and have actually used it in their advantage as an excuse to party all day long! Stores, including Mimi’s on Magazine Street, are serving Champagne, cocktails, and hors d'oeuvre throughout the day while patrons browse through brands including Valentino, Vince, Theory, Michael Kors and more. To further amaze, Shops at Canal Place’s Sacks Fifth Avenue is making a big impression from 4-7 with different activities on each floor, a DJ in cosmetics, and a sneak peak at the new line of Rachel Zoe’s fall collection. New Orleans and New York are the only two stores privy to this preview, and as a city gripping on for dear life to the fashion world, this is a big deal! This city is trying very hard to push forward and continues its daily regimented “workout” to try and keep in shape so that we can keep up with the big boys. I think that this city is doing fairly well considering that the deck is slightly stacked against us. With the hint of fall and break from the sauna-like conditions, the looming Saints game approaching, and the smell of fashion in the air, tonight, or should I say the whole day, can be a spectacular “Fashion Night Out’’ for us New Orleaneans, at least if you can’t manage to get over to the big city to hit the hundreds of shops!

What's in a number?

OK, I am about to tell you something, and I need you not to judge me. The other day I was watching Hoda and Kathy Lee. I know, this fact may make you want to cringe, and I don’t usually make a habit out of this behavior, but the story they were touching on intrigued me. They were wearing numbers on their collars, and this number represented their age. Then they brought in a woman from each decade and questioned her. This made me think; us women are so guarded about our age, but why? It really is just a number, and it can actually empower you. The general public has a perception of how they think you should look, what you should be able to do, and how you are supposed to act at a certain age, and when you tell them that you are 45, 50, 55, and so on, and their response is, “Really? Wow!” then this should make you feel great. You know who you are, where you’ve been, what looks good on you and what doesn’t, and you know that you look damn good in your own 45 year old skin. Just because you’re “over the hill” does NOT meant that you’re old. It means you’ve reached the half way point, and now you don’t have to worry about people being skeptical of your opinions because your “too young.” There are a lot of times that other people seem to blow me off because they think that I am too young to know anything about anything. The truth is, young women can know a lot about a lot, and older women may not know much about anything! So let’s start believing what we tell our best friends when her birthday is around the corner and she gets depressed; age is just a number, and what you do with every second of everyday is what makes you who you are, not your age. Stop hating your laugh lines, and realize that this just means you’ve lived a happy life. Making it to “over the hill” sure beats the alternative!!

Run on fashion friends!

I would rather go blind!

What are these things? Why are seemingly beautiful women covering up their faces and making themselves look… well, ugly! This is one trend that I cannot wrap my head around. There are trends that I don’t like or even despise, but I do see how they somehow came to be. This whole glasses thing… I just don’t get it! If you will notice, these types of glasses are what characters would wear in movies when they are in their “ugly stage,” and then, after their oh-so-obvious makeover, the glasses would be gone along with their curly hair, braces, and unibrow. My case in point is The Princess Diaries. These things just scream ugly, and the strange thing is; only the attractive girls are wearing them. I don’t especially care for the glasses on men either, but I can tolerate it; however, when I see this monstrosity on a woman’s face, I want to go up to her, rip them off of her face, brake them in half, take her by the shoulders and shake her, and scream “What are you doing?! You’re better than this!” I am posting this blog for the betterment of mankind; please, if you wear these repugnant glasses, take them off, burn them, and sue the salesman who told you they look good, because they just don’t. Please, please, sprint far away from these things fashion friends!

Dirty Linen Glamor

Oh boy! What a fashionable and New Orleansesque weekend this was. It saddens me and relieves me that it is Sunday. Friday night was the Old Hollywood Glamor party with an awesome runway show to cap off the last 100 years of fashion in our history. Are you wondering what I wore? Don’t tell anyone, but I was a bit of an outfit repeater! I worked for about 7 hours trying to make a vintage dress from a pattern that my great grandmother had kept. This pattern had to be 40 years old, and I think this because, as many sewers will know, Vogue patterns will cost you anywhere from $12-$25 these days. What was the price on this pattern? It was $1.50!! Oh to go back to those days, but I digress. I finally completed this classic dress, and when I held it up, I realized that the fabric I decided to use looked like it cost $0.50 a yard. It was hideous. I could never wear this to promote myself and my line! So I wore the beautiful Sue Wong beaded, champagne-colored dress that I wore for my engagement party paired with my only pair of blue Manolo Blahniks and my birdcage I made for my wedding. The outfit was so old Hollywood. It was perfection, and I completed it with ruby red lips. The benefit was great because, if you have never been there, the Metropolitan is gigantic. The guests were never in each others way, the food was delicious and abundant, and the drinks were flowing. A fashionable and classic New Orleans night! After the fashion show wrapped up, we headed out to get some rest for the next night of fun, which just so happened to be Dirty Linen night. Now, White Linen night was great, and the fashion was much better than that of Dirty Linen night, but the art venues opened for this event were more up my alley. Craft shops, jewelry stores, and art galleries were open for business with items to sell! My favorite store of the night was Razzle Dazzle. This is a gift shop with any and every souvenir you could want, and the host was serving a drink called a “Razzletini.” How could one go wrong with that!? Supposedly the theme for Dirty Linen night was to wear one’s dirty linens… gross. I was not going to do that, so I decided to go for a patriotic theme. A navy and white striped BCBG skin tight skirt, paired with a black Etcetera tank top that had flowerets around the neck, and some bright red shoes mad a perfect Non Dirty Lenin night outfit. I was comfortable and chic. All and all, this weekend had it all; classic fashion and dirty fashion! It was great, it was New Orleans, and it was perfection!

Take it Big Easy

Now, I know that my last post consisted of my yearning desire to move to wine country, but now that I am back in one of the hottest cities in the states, I am beginning to see the light again. Yes, the weather can sometimes suck, (mostly in the month of August) and no, we can’t grow the grapes for the wine here… but we sure know how to drink it! The population of New Orleans may even give the Napa residents a run for their money. We know how to party, we know how to have a good time, and we know how to relax. There is always something eclectic and original to do here. Last weekend, my hubby and I took a little trip out to White Linen night on Julia Street. It was as hot as Hates out there, but it really didn’t seem to bother us or anyone else. The men wore their white linen suits, the women wore their cute little white dresses, and some women even wore hats… yes, I was one of those women. That’s what I love about events like that, it gives you an excuse to wear something you absolutely love, but can’t really wear on an everyday basis. I experienced some fabulous art, some delicious New Orleans cuisine, and made some new friends. As the night moved on, I began to not even notice that the temperature was not dropping all that much despite the setting of the sun. The week progressed, and on Tuesday, I moseyed on over to the Farmer’s Market at Tulane University Square. Wow! What a market! Farmers travel from out of state just to sell their produce in the amazing city. I bought the best tomatoes you will ever eat, Taziki sauce, and ground goat meat. Yeah, that’s right, goat meat. Greek goat burgers anyone?  You can even use a credit card or food stamps at this extensive market. There is a market every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and each day, they cater to a different clientele. I will be attending on Thursday night because they are doing a wine tasting. Go to crescentcityfarmersmarket.org for more information on it, and join me for a little vino on Thursday! Finally, the weekend steadily approaches, and I will be attending the Old Hollywood Glam Benefit, and 100% of the proceeds go to leukemia and lymphoma research. I can’t wait to, again, wear another outfit that I wouldn’t normally wear. The theme is old Hollywood, so I can’t decide if I want to be Audrey Hepburn-esque, or a sultry Marilyn Monroe, but my mood will strike the cord when the day comes. The event will have music, delicious food, free flowing cocktails, and even a fashion show of the last 100 years of fashion. Stay tuned to see what outfit I wear, unless of course I see you there! Run on fashion friends.