mixed cotton tank dresses

I was double checking on the McQ line at Target to see if they had re-stocked their racks with new styles and sizes (sadly they had not) and I stumbled upon the Converse One Star collection. This cute cotton tank dress reminded me of a Theory dress...

Converse One-Star Huntsville Dress $29.99

This empire-waist dress has a double ribbed scoop neck tank on top and a slate gray cotton A-line skirt on the bottom. I love the mixture of different textures of cotton materials and the separates-as-dress appearance, which I saw last season in Theory dresses.



Theory Boasa tank dress for $295

This dress also has two textures of cotton, a scoopneck tank top and A-line skirt, but also a thick waistband and patterned A-line skirt.

hanky panky in size petite

Hanky Panky revolutionized the thong underwear market by designing a style that is invisible under clothes, but is also extremely comfortable. My only problem with Hanky Pankys was that all of the underwear came in "one size fits all," which doesn't actually work that well for all the smaller ladies out there. But not anymore! Hanky Panky is now offering a size Petite! Very exciting.

Hanky Panky now in Size Petite

last chance for fall/winter sale shoes

I have been spending lots of time surfing around on Piperlime
lately looking at all of the beautiful shoes and handbags. I decided that free shipping and free returns is actually easier for me than going shopping sometimes...

There are many great options in the Sale section, but I can't really suggest tons of picks because there is a very limited amount of sizes for each style. But I would like to share this amazing find:

Women's shoes: Delman Cece-S - Grey suede $139.99 (orig. $295)
Delman flats are a classic and always in style. As I've mentioned many times on this blog, I am obsessed with the color gray so I think these comfortable and adorable suede flats are amazing. They are also available in black...I want both.

I'll put together a list of spring picks once it warms up a bit outside...

pierre hardy womens shoes for gap

Footwear designer Pierre Hardy has designed a collection for Gap that is available now in 75 stores nationwide and with limited styles online. The most popular style that I've seen advertised is the three strap platform wedge, which is available for $98 online. I prefer the wedge with the wooden heel, but unfortunately they're only available in stores. Racked has more images of the limited-edition styles...

Gap has opened a Pop-Up store next door to their flagship at 54th Street and 5th Ave in Manhattan, which exclusively features the Pierre Hardy collection. I haven't made it out there to check out the shoes yet, but when I do I will report back.

Pierre Hardy designs a line of luxury shoes, which retail for $400-$800, and are most recognized for the towering strappy stilletto-heeled pumps worn by celebrities. His most recent collection had a severe and polished look with black patent leather ankle boots and accents of polished silver and gold metal on pumps and flats. Before debuting his own womens' shoe line in 1999, he built an extensive resume working in the design houses of Christian Dior, Hermes, and Balenciaga.

milk chocolate nails

I am loving my new nail color...I call it milk chocolate with a hint of cranberry!

I'm Fondue Of You by OPI

designer collaborations

I was about to post about the recent Pierre Hardy footwear line at Gap when I paused to reflect on how I was overrunning my blog with my overzealous excitement for designer-retailer collaborations (Felix Rey for Target, Alexander McQueen for Target, Steven Alan for Uniqlo). Observing this pattern brought to my attention the important evolution that has occurred over the past few years in the areas of affordable design and how I see the future of design evolving within this area.

I worked for Michael Graves, one of the most influential and well-known American architects, for 3.5 years in Princeton and in Manhattan. When I first started as an architectural intern in 2004, Michael Graves was already an established icon in the architectural world but he was also becoming a more recognizable name in American mainstream culture. Only a few years earlier the architecture firm had expanded to form a Products department and developed a Michael Graves Design product line, which was exclusively produced for and sold at Targets across the country. The line has expanded over the years and now includes kitchen, cleaning, storage, and home decor products.


When Michael Graves started this collaboration it was an innovative and risky idea. The prestige and respect that came with winning multiple architectural awards and being recognized internationally as a talented and successful designer brought extreme skepticism from elite architects about designing a line that would be sold at a low-priced retail chain. Architecture critics questioned the respectability of "selling out." How could the designer of the highest selling Alessi product of all time (a tea kettle that retails for $159), the "first post-modern building" (the Portland Building in Portland, Oregon), and countless other design accomplishments design a toaster that retails for $37.99 and is sold at a big box store?


"Good design should be accessible to all" is Michael Graves' motto and he was pursuing his dream to make that concept into a reality.

I truly believe in this idea and applaud designers in all areas of our culture who have challenged an idea that fashion is only for the priveleged and created collaborations with retailers that offer a wide slice of the population the opportunity to choose a product that is beautiful.

Some of my favorite designers like Vera Wang, Abaete, Proenza Schouler, Phillip Lim, and Stella McCartney have followed in these footsteps and created lines with retailers like PayLess Shoe Source and H&M. Designers have realized that this is how to have their designs truly reach people and I see it continuing to expand and evolve as we look into the future.

This idea has now become so prevalent that it's hard to keep up with all of the collaborations between high-profile designers and mass market retailers...but now I've come to realize that that is why I'm here. Oh and I'll do that Pierre Hardy for Gap post tomorrow.

fall 2009 colors and pantone love

Thank you to WWD and Pantone for sharing with us the colors for Fall 2009 (and thanks to FPD for sharing this news with the rest of the world). I am so excited to do two color posts in a row!

These colors are gorgeous and I can't wait to see them make an appearance next season. Burnt Sienna is one of my favorite watercolor paint tubes and Iron exactly matches the gray that I use for everything (and the nail color that I wore for the last six months!). I think Creme Brulee is going to be one of the most frequently seen colors for Spring and Fall because of the growing popularity of muted and nude tones.

For those of you who don't have experience with Pantone, I will offer more of a description. Pantone, Inc. is a company that was started 45 years ago to solve problems that the many areas of the design community constantly encountered involving difficulties in color matching. The Pantone Matching System is a book of standardized colors that was created to allow an ease of color communication across the design industries. The Pantone system allows areas like architecture, textiles, paint, plastics, and graphic images to easily create a color palette and share exact standardized colors to be used in different mediums. Pantone is constantly updating their mind-boggling immense color library that is available in a beautiful fan format. Thousands of colors samples are available to download on the Pantone website to be used with Adobe programs.



I sadly missed the Gap and Pantone collaboration at a Pop-Up shop in midtown in January. Gap produced a line of their classic tees in a selected Pantone color palette, with a special Mimosa tee, which is Pantone's color pick for 2009.