Archive for the ‘Holiday’ Category

What goes better with the glittery dresses, jewelry and handbags you’ve accumulated over the past few years? This season, I’m all about the perfect black suede platform pumps. There’s something almost cartoonish or doll-like about them and the bold shape helps flatter your legs while giving you a sturdy thick heel for walking. Whoah, just had a flash back to three years ago where I wore bad shoes to a holiday party, slipped and as I was being introduced, nearly flashed the CEO of my bf’s company at the time. Lesson learned…the hard way.  I’m not sure what inspired my sudden change in mindset from relying on accessories to do the talking to finsing the right pair of black pumps. Maybe it’s the thought of a pair of shoes that can work with all of your holiday looks…that and craving something other than black in holiday dresses.

Every shop from budget-conscious to Bergdorf’s has an option for black suede platform pumps. Some are even hard to tell from one another, as you might have noticed. Here are the ones I pulled, featured above, starting with the top left:

• Nine West, $89 ($62.30 after 30% discount @ checkout; via Nine West) – A classic look with an average height
• Forever 21, $24.80 – A good option if you’re unsure about getting another pair black pumps, but you want to try out the shape
• Yves Saint Laurent, $549.99 (via Bluefly) – Does this shoe even need a description? If they had my size, these would be in my closet
• Dolce Vita, $158.95 (via Zappos) – I’ve been leaning toward these for awhile, but am sort of waiting for Black Friday and Cyber Monday to pull the trigger (love these too; very similar)
• Me Too, $89 (via Zappos) – This brand is known for being comfortable, so if you’re looking for all-day wears, try these

Which are you favorite? Do you have a pair yet? Any other items on your holiday attire shopping list?

I stopped by an intimate preview with lead Hudson Jeans designer, Ben Taverniti, and checked out the latest pieces for the holiday season. Side note: I can’t believe we’re already in mid-October! As a somewhat new Hudson fan girl and an obsessed denim hunter, I was excited to talk specifics with Ben, such as pocket placement, texture and fabrics. Hudson is one of the best when it comes to universal pocket placement – they make it pretty hard to get the mom-butt look, so go elsewhere if that’s what you’re looking for.

Some of my favorites from the collection are highlighted in the collage above. As far as the jeans go, I loved the cropped skinny with the buttons and the BAB blackish blue color offered in a few of the classic styles. In addition to denim, they also came out with a number of jackets and tops. Fashion Pulse’s Julia DiNardo and I joked we are all aboard the tank train – in reference to an eggplant cotton tank with tails (Julia is modeling it above on the bottom right) . Love! Nitrolicious’ Wendy Lam had her eye on the black convertable neck zipper jacket (top right). More pics after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

I had the delight of stopping by the delicious Juicy Couture showroom last week to scope out the holiday 2010 collection. In short, they found a new way to keep sequins fresh by mixing with quilted leather, made playful polka dots look edgy and expensive and thanks to a few special clutches, I’m now fully on board the velvet wagon (before I was iffy, with one foot on the ground).

During the visit, I got to sit down with Juicy Couture handbag designer, Kirsten Schwinn (she tweets!). She walked me through her inspiration or “mood” board for the collection (pictured), which was probably my favorite part. It’s always exciting peeking inside creative minds to see how they translate inspiration to concept to final product!

While I loved a lot of the bags and jewelry, there is one piece I can’t stop thinking about - a mustard yellow, velour clutch with a gold chain shoulder strap and a giant bow built into the design (subtle, but lovely). It comes in navy too!

The holiday collection launched a few days ago and will be available at most Juicy retailers soon, if not already. Check out more photos after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »