Workwear Wednesday

I've decided that I'm going to start doing a weekly feature every Wednesday on the stylish working girls wardrobe.  This is brought on by the fact that, since I work for myself AND work from home my professional wardrobe has become almost non-existent.  It's not that I meet clients in sweat pants or anything like that, but I've realized that over the past two years my biz-casual garb has dwindled down to two button-down shirts, a tunic, & my skinny jeans.  I don't even own a single pair of slacks anymore!   And it's SOOO easy to just throw on something cozy on the days I don't have any meetings.  But here's the problem: those uber cozy clothes make me way less productive.  As an experiment to evaluate my own productivity and time management I decided that I'd dress as though I was going into an office for one week (this also meant I wasn't allowed to go around in stocking feet all day).  The results?  I was much more productive and my head stayed focused on work all day!  It's also much harder to curl up on the sofa in heels.  But I had a really hard time even finding office-worthy outfits in my closet so now I'm on the hunt for stylish workwear pieces to add to my wardrobe!  They must be casual and comfortable for working from home but professional enough for a business lunch out. Oh, & I want to be able to wear jeans any time I want!  It's going to be a balancing act I think.

Stylish, but too formal for me.

Ah!  Perfect!

I actually own a skirt very similar to this but haven't know whow to wear it!

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Tuesday Shoesday!

Seeing as it is raining cats and dogs out today I thought it was only fitting that I feature some cute rain boots!  I'm actually not a huge fan of the rubber rain boots trend, as I think it's gotten kinda out of control and is at the point where it's just kinda... lame.  BUT I love these super adorable Maryjane rain boots for little girls!  I would have loved splashing around in these as a kid! 

Buy 'em here.

Crossing a THIN Line: when models are too thin, even for models!

Eee Gads!  Someone get this "bride" some wedding cake, stat!

We all know that fashion models are thin.  Like really thin.  They are basically walking wire hangers.  But I've always been pleased with the bridal fashion community for generally keeping their models at least somewhat realistic.  Bridal models pretty much always at least look healthy; I mean who wants to see a bride who looks like she needs to be fed the cake through an i.v. right?   And real brides are REAL women with REAL flesh on them!  Speaking for myself, most of my design samples are a size 4 to 6, which is still plenty thin!  It just makes sense.  That's why when I saw photographs of Carol Hannah's NY Bridal Market fashion show I was, er, a bit disturbed.  I couldn't even focus on a few of her (beautiful) gowns because I was too distracted by her choice of unhealthily thin models!

For those of you who've never heard of her, Carol Hannah was a fan favorite on a season of project runway and her designs really are beautiful!  But it really makes me not like her that she would choose to use such unhealthy, low weight models.  I'm not unrealistic; I'm not saying she should necessarily use plus-sized models (although her designs are sold up to size 24 so...?), but keeping minimum of size 2 would be nice!   What's sad is that Carol was really doing herself a dis-service because the gowns in question were not shown in their best light and would have looked much better on a fleshier woman... ya know, a woman who doesn't have the measurements of a pre-pubescence girl.   I guess I shouldn't be too hard on Carol though.  Many of her models were much more healthy looking.  And you know what, they looked beautiful!  But judge for yourself....

Too thin!  The dresses are actually falling off them!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!   I have a lot of work to get done but I might just get down to visit the family this weekend...maybe.  Hope you all have a lovely spring weekend!

HALF WAY to the Kickstarter Project Deadline!

Wow you guys!  I am so thrilled at how amazing the donations have been!  I'm really touched to see how much you all believe in me!   We are half-way through the Kickstarter project and with just 15 days to go, boy, the pressure is on!   I'd like to once again thank everyone who has pledged so far and remind everyone else that if you were thinking about donating, DO IT!  Even if all you pledge is $5, every bit helps.  Each dollar past the goal amount is going to allow me to promote the line much better through advertising and promotions, not to mention the purchase of fabric and supplies!  You guys are fantastic! I couldn't do it without your support!  You can pledge by clicking here.

Things are going great on my end too.  I'm continuing work on new designs and drafting new patterns.  There are a TON of little details to get to as well!  Yesterday I made a bunch of hang tags to go on finished garments; they look très chic!   Below is a glimps into the work room of the past few weeks!  Still SOOO much to do!  I better get back to work!

Vera Wang Spring 2012 Collection Released!

Yeah, I know it's hardly even spring 2011 yet but big designers work almost a year ahead and Vera Wang has just released the first photos of her 2012 bridal collection!

In classic Vera fashion it's over the top romantic with lots of floofy-ness and she continues to introduce hints of color to the bridal scene.  The collection is full of texture with lots of elaborate draping, over-sized bows (used vertically much of the time!), and layer upon layer of sheer ruffles and tulle.  The ball gown silhouette is used much more than her last couple collections but she still has a couple trumpet gowns as well as an A-line or two.  One of the stand-out gowns is a pistachio green number with some sumptuous draping on the back!   Another creative technique was layering tulle over lace, softening the appearance as though you're seeing the gown through a foggy glass window.  The effect is absolutely dreamy!   Below is a sampling of the collection!

I'm loving the mauve sash and the fan-like detail at the bust!

MN Designer Joins BHLDN!

If you haven't sauntered over to the BHLDN site for a few weeks you'll notice some new items now, including some uber cute sashed from Minneapolis accessories designer Laura Nelle!  Laura is the designer/owner of Nelle Handbags and she's kinda got my dream career.  Okay, so I've never met her but I've been following her work for a while now!   And it should be no surprise to any designer that it was one of her dreams was to design something for the BHLDN collection!   (add that to my list of "some day" goals!)  You can order Laura Nelle's super sweet "Seeing Double Sash" here.  Also below are some other newer goodies from BHLDN!   *Sigh*  I wish I could buy them all! 

Seeing Double Sash

lace coverlet

lace cape

For Esme Dress