Looking for a Great Deal on Shoes

Good News to anyone looking for a great bargain on a pair of shoes. DSW has opened a new store in SouthCenter. It is on SouthCenter Pkwy in the same plaza as Kohl's and Nordstrom Rack. I walked in there recently during lunchtime and really wished I could justify at least 1 or 10 more pairs of shoes. The prices were great and the selection incredible. Run, don't walk for something fabulous at a great price. At their prices you may be able to justify multiple pairs of shoes.

Budget Fashionista - I usually am not

Last night I had dinner with my toddler at The Commons in Federal Way. It was raining when we were done so we walked through the mall to where our car was parked. It cost me $52.00 to walk through the mall. First we were walking past Payless Shoes. I go in there about once every 6 months to see what they have and never leave with a thing. Last night was different. They were having a sale as well as had cute shoes in the window. I left with a pair of gray patent flats ($13.99) and a pair of black patent Mary Jane's with a kitten heel ($14.99). The price was definitely right and since most of my shoes do not fit these days I figured why not. They also had some great ankle booties as well as other boots. I definitely could have bought more. The remainder of the expense came in buying my son a pair of shoes and letting him ride the rides they put in the middle of the mall. I will say it would have been cheaper to walk in the rain but then I would have missed out on such great buys.

Bellevue Collection Fashion Week - VIP Shopping

After the Posh Party, Bellevue Square was hosting a VIP Shopping Night. The evening started at center court with desserts and coffee provided by the Hyatt. The desserts were very yummy. From there we were armed with out guide of participating merchants and $20 gift certificates and coupons and headed out. 101.5 provided music, there were drawings and mini fashion shows. There were many discounts and freebies. The participating stores included Aerosoles, Aveda Experience Center, Barcelino, Barcelino per Donna, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Beauty Works, BenBridge Jeweler, Blue Willi's, Coach, Coldwater Creek, Crabtree & Evelyn, David Lawrence, Eddie Bauer, ExOfficio, Fabri Fine Jewelry, Guess?, Helly Hansen, L'Occitane, Louie Permelia, Lucky Brand Dungarees, lucy, lululemon atletica, LUSH, Macy's, MARQSMEN, Martin + Osa, Mia and Maxx Hair Studios, Nau, New Balance, Nordstrom, Oilily, Origins, Paiva, Puma, Road, Rockport, Sephora, Shoefly, Something Silver, Sway and Cake, Timberland, TUMI, Voletta Couture, and White House Black Market. The mall was open until 10:30pm to accommodate this extra shopping.

Bellevue Collection Fashion Week - Posh Party

The second main event of the Bellevue Collection Fashion Week was Posh Party on Saturday September 15th. It was also at Fashion Axis in Bellevue. The doors opened at 6pm with quite a long line of women. This is considered the girls night out party. A portion of the proceeds from the evening were given to Susan G. Komen. The main room had food provided by Z Tejas as well as a signature cocktail that was essentially a blue margarita. Around 7pm we made our way to seats near the runway for a lowdown on fall trends as well as a fashion show.

The fall trends for 2007 are military, bold colors, gray, sweaters (dresses, coats, and novelty), metallic, and the riding look. The must haves include 3/4 sleeve coat, leather (be it a skirt, jacket or pants), fur (as an accent), pencil skirt (preferably high waisted), tweed trousers, wide leg jeans, billow sleeves, menswear look.

The fashion show contained many items that I wish I was able to fit into. My favorites were:
1. green embroidered military coat over a fitted cream sheath dress - David Lawrence
quilted and cropped black leather jacket with body hugging black dress by Dolce & Gabbana - David Lawrence
2. tan sweater coat - Macy's
3. grey belted jacket with bell sleeves, grey wool sweater dress and red and white pinstripe shirt - Guess?
4. black cardigan over hounds tooth blouse and metallic skinny pants - Macy's
black and white zip up coat over metallic silver turtleneck dress - Macy's
5. grey knit jumper over black turtleneck - Lucky Brand Dungarees
6. boucle sweater coat over wool trousers - Barcelino per Donna
7. fur trimmed leather jacket over brown slim riding pants - Barcelino per Donna
8. Diane Von Furstenberg wrap top with high waisted pencil skirt - Sway and Cake
9. 60's print scoop neck shift dress - Macy's
10. black and white psychedelic print dress with bell sleeves - Macy's
11. navy and gold metallic polka dot shift dress - Macy's.

On the seats at the show were swag bags for each attendee. The bags included Smartwater provided by Lululemon, foot rescue home spa from inSpa, frisbee from Lucy, card for free boxers from Road, jewelry cleaner from Ben Bridge, jewelry care cloth from Something Silver, metal compact mirror, 425 magazine, wrap from Rockport, coupon for Barcelino, coupon for Martin + Osa, chance to win earring from fabri, free appetizer coupon from Z' Tejas, coupon for New Balance, coupon for Territory Ahead, coupon for Rockport, coupon for Louie Permelia, coupon for a free abalone bracelet from Coldwater Creek, and coupon for a complimentary denim fitting at Lucky Brand. In addition, the attendees were invited to VIP shopping night at Bellevue Square following and given a $20 gift certificate for Bellevue Square.

Bellevue Collection Fashion Week - Nordstrom Fall Runway Show

Bellevue Fashion Week kicked off Friday September 14th with the Nordstrom Fall Runway Show. I would first like to start Kendall from Nordstrom for getting us tickets at the last minute. The evening started with the doors opening at 7pm to Axis. The room was filled with well dressed people, cocktails, appetizers and a mini boutique (courtesy of Nordstrom departments t.b.d, Savvy, and Individualist.) There were racks of clothes broken up by department and fitting rooms to try things on. This was great as a way to solve any potential fashion emergency one might be having. There were also tables inserted among the racks to showcase shoes, handbags and accessories. The mannequins were all dressed in a new line that Nordstrom started carrying in the Seattle area earlier that day, Tevrow & Chase. My favorite item in the collection was a charcoal grey turtleneck sweater dress. For accessories, Kate Spade has a great brown suede weaved handbag. It is very stylish. Donald Pliner had a pair of two tone boots. The back shaft is animal print and the front shaft is brown leather.

At around 8pm, people started making their way into the runway area. Mark Wright and Mari Schrempf kicked off the show talking about the Detlef Schrempf Foundation. Proceeds from the evening were being donated to the foundation. The lights dimmed and the show began.

The show was broken down into 10 scenes. The first scene was Diane Von Furstenberg (DVF). She is one of my favorite designers. Her looks are very classic with a trendy spin based on the designs of the fabric. The second scene was Valette. The third scene was Juicy Couture. This is not the typical sweatsuits. The clothes were very trendy and great to be worn anytime day or night. The fourth scene was Trina Turk. The fifth scene was Emerging Labels. The emerging labels included designs from Sumner and Karta. The sixth scene was Laundry by Design. The seventh scene was Girls Night Out. Girls Night Out was about pairing great items with jeans for an evening on the town or even some dresses that would make any man know the women meant business. The eighth scene was BCBG Max Azria. The ninth scene as Marc by Marc Jacobs. The tenth scene was Nanette Lepore.

The pictures are posted via the links. Each line has approximately 10 pictures. Some have a few more. Click through once they pop up.

Check out our calendar for more Fashion Week events.

Nordstrom Rack Grand Opening

Nordstrom Rack has opened a new store in Southcenter. The big day was Friday September 14th. I decided to stop by during my lunch period and it appears I was not the only person with that thought. The parking lot was absolutely full. I do not shop well at the Rack or stores that are like it. Chaos just doen't work well for me. I walked in the door and headed straight for shoes as you can tell how good of a Rack it is based on the selection of shoes. In the deisgner collection they had Coach, Cole Haan, Betsey Johnson, Taryn Rose as well as others. It was a pretty decent selection. If you are looking for some top brands at less expensive prices, Nordstrom Rack is the place to go. Also, for those of you with little girls, they have 7 jeans for $60.00 in 4-7 sizes. Maybe once the store has been around for a month I will make another attempt at the store and actually check out all they have to offer.

Fear of Boutique Shopping Overcome

Have you ever had a fear of walking into a small boutique to do some shopping? A couple of things have always scared me, one that I wouldn't be able to afford anything, two that I was not dressed well enough to be in there, and three that I would be treated like I didn't belong there. On Friday night that fear was overcome. Tarah and I decided to have a whirlwind evening and see how many events we could cram into one evening. By, the way the count is 3. We started at La Rousse Happy Hour. La Rousse is a great boutique on Virginia St. The owner is extremely pleasant and helpful. She didn't tell you something looked good just for the sake of a sell. I appreciated that. The nice thing about happy hour is that it happens every friday from 4-6, she serves wine, has music playing and has a particular theme each week for what is on sale. I was able to get a navy blue dress by "Soda Blu" that fits my oversized body as well will fit me when I reach normal size again. Next we headed to the Alexis Hotel at 1st and Madison where Atsui Tokyo was holding there grand opening. I was nervous as the stores carries designs from Japan and the japanese fashion scene is much more progressive than Seattle. Well never fear, there are some of the cutest items that I ever did see. I look forward to post maternity and going back for some of the great items they carry. The grand opening party had a dj, champagne (Dry Soda for me) and apps provided by BOKA. If you find yourself down that way, drop in you may find something you just can't live with out. From there we headed to Fremont. They were have First Fashion Night. We checked out Essenza, Dream, Bliss, Les Amis, Burnt Sugar, Horseshoe, Bellefleur, LolaPop, and Industry. All of the stores were friendly and had great deals. By his time of the evening I was quite tired as I had been up since 5am due to a business breakfast.
My recommendation for that Friday night with nothing to do, check out our event calendar, gather up a couple of friends and make the rounds. You can get a taste of many things as well as accomplish some shopping.
Remember that Bellevue Fashion Week starts on Friday. Check out the calendar for some great events. Look for UFN, if you are there as we will be attending many of the events. Last year, Tarah and I had a lot of fun attending the shows and taking advantage of the sales.

Do You La Mode?

On August 24Th, Tarah and I attended International Academy of Design & Technology's (IADT) fashion show in Renton. You may ask yourself, why Renton? For one it is a close locale for the school as they are located in Tukwila as well as the Spirit of Washington Event Center is a beautiful venue. We decided to pay the $50 for VIP access and it was well worth the money. We were seated in the first row at the end of the right side of the stage. We could see details very clearly. For pictures go to Tarah's site. The celebrity guest who also acted as the emcee's were Nick Verreos and Andrae Gonzalo from Season 2 of Project Runway. The two of them were entertaining as well as informative as they know what they are talking about when it comes to fashion. The theme of the show was "An International Evening of Fashion." The show started in Africa with Mshgnga Drummers which was a great way to set the mood. The fashion was day wear. My personal favorite was a little white dress with a red underling and little flowers around the waistline. The winner of this category (as selected by the celebrity guests) was Elizabeth Dean with her yellow shirt dress that has blood drops on the front and the back shows 1/2 a heart and 1/2 a bloody saw. The show continued on to Great Britain with some Irish Dancers. The fashion was jacket and costume designers. The detail on these items was incredible. My favorite jacket was a turquoise overcoat with a black and white print lining. The winner of this category was Ginger Bellus with her Marie Antoinette style costume. The show next moved to the Middle East. The entertainment was belly dancers and oh how I wish I could move like that. The fashion was cocktail designers. The dresses were gorgeous. Many were items I would be very happy to wear for an evening out. I had many favorites from this line however the one that really stood out to me was a dress done in peacock colors and had a train made out of peacock feathers. The dress was unique and still elegant enough to pull off at an event. The winner in this category was Jessica Keen. She called the dress "Hollly Hobbie" with bows and ribbons. The final area for the evening was Asia. The entertainment featured Sunshine Hmong Dancers. The fashion was Evening, Ballroom & Bridal Designers. I was a little disappointed that I was already married as the bridal designs were beautiful one of a kind dresses. The winner of this category was Ava Fernandes with a princess cut strapless champagne dress with grass off the bottom.
After the show, the VIP guest were invited to a cocktail hour with food and drinks and an opportunity to meet with the designers as well as the celebrity guests. We got about 30 seconds with Andrae in which we gave out our business card and grabbed a quick picture. There was also a silent auction. I would have liked to see some of the student designs up for auction. There were wedding dresses however I am a little beyond those now that I have been married 8 years. The evening was great fun and an opportunity to see what tomorrows designers are doing.

Down Under Spa - Tacoma

This is may not seem fashion related but I guess that depends on how you look at it. My esthetician recently opened her own limited services spa in Downtown Tacoma. The name of the place is Down Under. The space is cute and trendy and has a hair salon upstairs. She specializes in professional skin care and waxing. If you are looking for a quick yet clean wax, Crystal is the one to see. She can have a Brazilian done in around 1/2 hour. Her facials are very relaxing. She has been open a little over a week and is already looking at adding some additional services. You can book services with her via downunderspa.beautybyus.com or call 253.503.6631. The spa is located in the alley of S 24th St and Pacific Ave.