Fashion First

Fashion First fashion show was held Thursday August 7Th. This years venue was the Lake Union Park Naval Reserve Building. The purpose of the evening was to raise money for the Starlight Starbright Foundation. We were greeted with a red carpet and "paparazzi." Inside there were fashionable people on two floors. The upper floor was for the VIP guests. A silent auction was in full swing as well as raffle tickets being sold. The show began with Ron and Don from Kiro710 radio show hosting a live auction. After the live auction, the main event began. Local boutiques were invited to submit fall clothes to grace the runway. 12 stores submitted their latest items for fall. The clothes, shoes and handbags were amazing. Sabrina Love (a UFN supporter) had several of her bags going down the runway with the clothes. A favorite of both mine and Tarah's was the Milano Bourdeaux in burgundy patent leather. Another UFN supporter, Clutch, also had some amazing bags in the show. There were a couple of highlights that had a different focus. The first was the celebrity male models showing off the clothes of Marqsmen. Another was 5 designers from Seamless in Seattle. Seamless in Seattle was an event put on by Seattle Magazine to spotlight some of the best up and coming designers. The 5 that were highlighted had some great fashions. One included Karly Orr who had won Project Red Dress earlier this year. The final highlight was an amazing wedding dress designed by students of the Seattle Art Institute. The dress was worn by Josie Bissett (think Melrose Place). This was one of the best show that I have attended. It was well organized, had a charity focus, spotlighted local boutiques and local designers, and went off without a hitch (at least to those of us who were in attendance). I look forward to see what they put together next year. To see pictures of the evening click here Fashion First pictures

Nordstrom Designer Preview 2008

Tonight was the Nordstrom Designer Preview organized with Seattle Art Museum Supporters. The event was held at Pier 30 this year. Doors opened at 6:30pm (Thanks to Kendall at Nordstrom for the Press Passes). We were greeted with cocktails and appetizers as well as some exciting boutique shopping. I only wish I could do more than window shop at the boutique. The boutique featured designers such as Prada Donna, YSL, Christian Dior, and many more. Around 7:30, the doors for the fashion show opened. It was very organized with assigned seating. We were shown to our media seats (even the back row was a great view). The lights dimmed at the show started once everyone was seated.

First up was Chanel. There was the classic Chanel suits as well as some other interesting pieces. Next up was Burberry Prorsum. There were three particular items that I loved. First was the sour green silk organza knotted dress. Second was the Putty double-breasted trenchcoat with pleated sleeves. The final item was the Prussian blue quilted silk chiffon cocoon coat. The third designer was Michael Kors. I loved him before he was famous on Project Runway. His clothes were very Michael Kors. Scene 4 was Dolce & Gabbana. Dolce & Gabbana is usually a little more fashion forward than I can pull off however I found a few things that I thought would work for even me. The main item was the Black/white herringbone riding jacket over charcoal wool pants. Next up was Marc Jacobs which really did nothing for me. Proenza Shouler was exciting as I usually find their designs to be. YSL was classic YSL. Versace was the real shocker for me. I am not always a big fan, but tonight I could not get enough. The colors were vibrant and the designs right on. Next came Donna Karan and Marni which were so-so. Oscar de la Renta had a lot of fur which is so odd in Seattle. I can totally see it in Chicago (and often i do). The show ended with Gucci. The dresses looked ready to wear right then. I probably would have bought 4 of them if I could justify the price and had somewhere to wear them to.

After the show we were treated to dessert and more cocktails as well as additional shopping. The evening raised $170,000 for the SAM impressionists exhibit. I would definitely recommend this event to anyone looking for some great fashion and a great night out. I look forward to the event in 2009.

Click here to see the pictures of the evening Nordstrom Designer Preview

Sample Sales

Every fashionista loves a sample sale however they are hard to come by in Seattle. In the May issue of In Style magazine there is a section that highlights a couple of websites that now offer Sample Sales. The 3 listed are Gilt.com, Hautelook.com, Ideeli.com. You will need to get the membership codes from instyle.com/samplesales. They carry designers such as Badgley Mischka, Dolce&Gabbana, Ernest Sewn, Ella Moss, Rock&Republic, Christian Lacroix, and Oscar de la Renta to name a few. I have not personally used these sites so I will be interested to hear from others. Also another good site is Regents Secret. They are based out of LA, carry one designer at a time and have that designers wares at approximately 70% off.

Corteo

I went to opening night of Corteo at Marymoor Park. I had incredible seats (about 10 rows from the stage) and access to the Tapis Rouge tent. I will admit it is definitely the way to go especially since it was free. The show was great however there is a fashion point to this. People in Seattle have a very interesting take on how to dress for an event. Before I tell you exactly what I mean I must comment that I have attended events in Chicago and NYC. People here in Seattle take casual to the extreme. For the most part people were dressed in what would be considered appropriate business casual some even dressier. I did see a couple of "prom" dresses but the really disappointing is the people that you wonder if they looked in the mirror before leaving the house or even realized they were leaving the house to go somewhere other than the grocery store. I really would like to see a return to people dressing for theatrical performances.

Fashion and Skiing

This past weekend I took my 3 year old for his first ski lesson. Since it was only a one hour lesson I sat in the bar overlooking his lesson as well as the main area that people walked through. I found myself checking out what people had on. I saw a young girl in a pink camo snow suit with matching boots. She was pink camo from head to toe. I saw a couple of men wearing the traditional black jacket that yelled 80's with its neon pink accents. The most interesting outfit was the women walking around in pajama bottoms and boots. I doubt she was skiing in that however it is still quite cold up there. If you are looking for entertainment, head up to the closest mountain on the weekend sit in the bar and enjoy the scenery. It is bound to amuse.

Project Red Dress

12 designers from 4 schools, 16 hours, 5 celebrity judges, 400 guests, Macy's and the American Heart Association can only mean the First Annual Project Red Dress. In case you are not aware of what this all means let me tell you. 12 student fashion designers were selected from 4 fashion programs at Seattle Area colleges. Each student was tasked with designing a red dress. They were given a $200 budget and 16 hours that were spread over 4 saturdays. The top prize was a $3,000 scholarship and their dress displayed in the downtown Seattle Macy's window. The judges included Nick Verreos from 2nd season Project Runway, local couture designer Luly Yang, Seattle Seahawks CFO Martha Fuller, Seattle Metropolitan Magazine Style Editor Laura Cassidy, and Seattle Macy's Fashion Director Heather Carney.

The evening was hosted by Poison Waters, who was very entertaining to say the least. The runway show included each designer discussing their dress while the model wearing the dress strutted down the runway. The dresses were as follows:

1. Katherine Andrews - long red off the shoulder dress with a pleated back. The judges found this dress to be a safe choice for a design.

2. Liise Wyatt - dark red short ruffle party dress made out of metallic organza with a large bow on the back. This dress had french seaming and was definately something you would see on a young hollywood starlet according to Nick.

3. Margaret Chin - strapless long red dress with weaving with a cream underlayer.

4. Heather Cozad - Audrey Hepburn style 1950's glamour accented with a black skinny belt.

5. Giuseppe Grazioli - dark red strapless with a deep V front and a tiered bottom.

6. Christen Morris - vneck long dress with a back bustle, very 1800's

7. Karly Orr - 20's era jersey knit with an open back and a brown underside

8. Molly Owen - old hollywood glamour, vneck with a crisscross back

9. Abigail Pleiss - one shoulder with a woven bottom on one side and the shoulder, buckle on the back bottom of the dress. The judges found this dress to be a modern new look.

10. Christianna Sterling - short cocktail dress

11. Caitlin Stone - long dress with a braided waist and neck, low back.

12. Quy Vu - deep red dupioni silk with chiffon straps and train and python lining.

After all the dresses were shown, the audience voted their favorite as well as the judges chose the top 3. The peoples choice award went to Quy Vu.

First Place was Karly Orr

2nd Place was Abigail Pleiss

3rd Place was Quy Vu

All in all it was a fun evening and raised money for the American Heart Association. I personally cannot wait for next years show. To see all the pictures click here

January Sales

January is such a great month if you have any money left after Christmas. I ordered 2 long sleeve t-shirts, 2 sweaters, 1 sweater dress and a couple pair of unmentionables from Victoria's Secret and spent around $100. What a deal. There are plenty of deals to be had just search the web or the stores. Items are not just clearance of items that people don't want but also winter items (we are just now seeing winter).