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).

Christmas Presents

My Christmas present came 5 days early this year. My husband, son and I welcomed a new addition to our family on December 20th. Ramse joined our family and has been pretty much all anyone in my family cares about for Christmas. He was born at 12:34pm weighing 7lbs 1 oz and 19 inches long. I look forward to the new year watching all the changes that he will go through in his first year of life.

Worst Dressed of 2007

I was reviewing pictures of the worst dressed for 2007 and a few thoughts came to mind so here they are.
1. Good to know that I am not the only one who has a day where you walk out of the house and then wonder "What was I thinking?"
2. Did you upset your stylist recently so that is how she gets even?
3. Someone designed that specifically for you, did they have your measurements, do they know what you look like, and that is really the best representation of their work?
4. Did you look in the mirror before you walked out the door or do you not care what anyone thinks?
5. If the second part is true, then good for you for living your life on your own terms.

Let me know what your thoughts are when you see some of the worst dressed.