Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Interesting...
Yesterday I came across this myspace profile called FashionHouse Kansas City, (www.myspace.com/fashionhousekansascity). I added them thinking, "something with fashion in Kansas!?" Cool! They emailed me and asked if I had seen their sister publication, FACE Newspaper, because they have a few job openings. I have not heard of this publication but am curious to find out more. I'm not going to get my hopes up but it'd be so perfect if it came about.
Friday, June 15, 2007
My Kate Moss Topshop Faves
Everything is actually more affordable than I thought. These are my picks:
Skinny Leg Jean £50.00 (in red)
Although I'm unsure about my ability to carry these off with my curvy body, I love them:
This little number is called Guatamalan playsuit - naughty! £40.00
I love the two-tone, but I don't think it's available to purchase:
And lastly this "little black dress", £50.00 (also in white)
Wow, that is a lot of black! I was just feelin' it today. Possibly because my birthday is coming up and I'm in mourning.
Love, Mandy
Skinny Leg Jean £50.00 (in red)
Although I'm unsure about my ability to carry these off with my curvy body, I love them:
This little number is called Guatamalan playsuit - naughty! £40.00
I love the two-tone, but I don't think it's available to purchase:
And lastly this "little black dress", £50.00 (also in white)
Wow, that is a lot of black! I was just feelin' it today. Possibly because my birthday is coming up and I'm in mourning.
Love, Mandy
Thursday, June 14, 2007
H&M Newsweek Article
Okay, why won't the H&M going into Legends open already! Damn, how long do I have to wait?
H&M's Material Girls
The retailer speeds ahead with fast fashions.
Web Exclusive
By Keith Naughton
Newsweek
June 10, 2007 - Even on a soggy spring morning, H&M is causing a commotion outside its newest store in suburban Chicago. Madonna and Beyoncé blast from giant speakers as workers hand out gift cards to dozens of shoppers lining up before the doors open to the Bolingbrook, Ill., store. These shivering shoppers are attracted by the two things H&M creates best: discount designer duds and get-it-now buzz. "It's, like, the only store I go into at the mall," says 23-year-old Sabrina Biziarek, while clutching her gift card and waiting for the doors to open.
Since its first U.S. store opened in 2000, H&M has transformed the calculus of cheap chic. With an in-house staff of 120 designers and a nimble network of Asian and European factories, the Swedish retailer can move the latest look from runway to rack in three weeks. And H&M sells high style at crazy-low prices ($3.90 necklaces, $29.90 minidresses). America has become H&M's fastest-growing market, ringing up $231 million in sales this year, up 30 percent over last year. Analysts believe H&M's 129 U.S. outlets could eventually grow to 1,000 stores. "It's in-and-out fashion," says retail analyst Candace Corlett. "They're raising shoppers' expectations for fast, furious, new."
Other European fast-fashion chains are hot on H&M's high heels. Spain's Zara has already set up shop in the United States, while Britain's Topshop arrives next year. Even discount retailer Steve & Barry's is trying to get in on the action with its new line of low-priced basics designed by "Sex and the City" 's Sarah Jessica Parker. But doing quick knockoffs of top designers can lead to trouble. Forever 21 is being sued by designer Diane von Furstenberg for copying her couture. Instead of fighting H&M, though, many of the fashion elite are joining it. Stella McCartney knocked off herself for H&M with a line that included $79.90 sweaters that looked like the $1,665 versions from her Gucci Group collection.
How does H&M get designers on its side? It is careful not to directly rip off their looks. "We don't copy the catwalks," says H&M chief designer Margareta van den Bosch. "We take inspiration from what's happening in the culture, with celebrities and on the catwalks." H&M is ramping up its celebrity hookups. This spring, its Madonna line—a $59.90 "naughty secretary" dress; a $34.90 black corset belt—was a sellout, and now it's rolling out a beachwear collection by Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue. Karl Lagerfeld and Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf have also created cut-rate couture for H&M. The hook: their collections are in stores for only a few weeks.
For decades, Hennes & Mauritz has clothed the "hip & modish" in Europe. Its fast-fashion formula puts a twist—like a different color or fabric—into a look first seen in Milan or Paris. It also mixes street with runway. If five kids come into an H&M store asking for a new hip-hop print, their request gets e-mailed to Sweden, where designers go to work on it. To see how all this translates, NEWSWEEK went shopping with Faran Krentcil, editor of Fashionista.com, at H&M's Fifth Avenue store in New York. "I'm freaking out; this is fabulous," Krentcil raves as she finds a $39.90 gray bohemian shift dress. Chloé offered a similar frock on its spring 2007 runways, but the designer version had a smocking front layered with gold and turquoise. "H&M has taken away all the embellishments, kept it a monochrome color and replaced its crazy gold embroidery with peasant lace. If you wear this, nobody will know where it came from."
As H&M moves into the heartland, though, there are fewer fashionistas up on the latest look from Miu Miu. "It has taken a bit longer to get adopted in the Midwest," admits H&M U.S. president Sanna Lindberg. So H&M took out ads in local papers to explain its frugal fashions. "It's great to know that if I see something in a magazine or on TV," says Cleveland sales rep Nancy Caspell, 27, "I can find it at H&M without having to cash in my 401(k)." Apparently bargain hunters are fast-fashion learners.
With Anna Kuchment, Joan Raymond and Elizabeth Coady
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.
H&M's Material Girls
The retailer speeds ahead with fast fashions.
Web Exclusive
By Keith Naughton
Newsweek
June 10, 2007 - Even on a soggy spring morning, H&M is causing a commotion outside its newest store in suburban Chicago. Madonna and Beyoncé blast from giant speakers as workers hand out gift cards to dozens of shoppers lining up before the doors open to the Bolingbrook, Ill., store. These shivering shoppers are attracted by the two things H&M creates best: discount designer duds and get-it-now buzz. "It's, like, the only store I go into at the mall," says 23-year-old Sabrina Biziarek, while clutching her gift card and waiting for the doors to open.
Since its first U.S. store opened in 2000, H&M has transformed the calculus of cheap chic. With an in-house staff of 120 designers and a nimble network of Asian and European factories, the Swedish retailer can move the latest look from runway to rack in three weeks. And H&M sells high style at crazy-low prices ($3.90 necklaces, $29.90 minidresses). America has become H&M's fastest-growing market, ringing up $231 million in sales this year, up 30 percent over last year. Analysts believe H&M's 129 U.S. outlets could eventually grow to 1,000 stores. "It's in-and-out fashion," says retail analyst Candace Corlett. "They're raising shoppers' expectations for fast, furious, new."
Other European fast-fashion chains are hot on H&M's high heels. Spain's Zara has already set up shop in the United States, while Britain's Topshop arrives next year. Even discount retailer Steve & Barry's is trying to get in on the action with its new line of low-priced basics designed by "Sex and the City" 's Sarah Jessica Parker. But doing quick knockoffs of top designers can lead to trouble. Forever 21 is being sued by designer Diane von Furstenberg for copying her couture. Instead of fighting H&M, though, many of the fashion elite are joining it. Stella McCartney knocked off herself for H&M with a line that included $79.90 sweaters that looked like the $1,665 versions from her Gucci Group collection.
How does H&M get designers on its side? It is careful not to directly rip off their looks. "We don't copy the catwalks," says H&M chief designer Margareta van den Bosch. "We take inspiration from what's happening in the culture, with celebrities and on the catwalks." H&M is ramping up its celebrity hookups. This spring, its Madonna line—a $59.90 "naughty secretary" dress; a $34.90 black corset belt—was a sellout, and now it's rolling out a beachwear collection by Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue. Karl Lagerfeld and Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf have also created cut-rate couture for H&M. The hook: their collections are in stores for only a few weeks.
For decades, Hennes & Mauritz has clothed the "hip & modish" in Europe. Its fast-fashion formula puts a twist—like a different color or fabric—into a look first seen in Milan or Paris. It also mixes street with runway. If five kids come into an H&M store asking for a new hip-hop print, their request gets e-mailed to Sweden, where designers go to work on it. To see how all this translates, NEWSWEEK went shopping with Faran Krentcil, editor of Fashionista.com, at H&M's Fifth Avenue store in New York. "I'm freaking out; this is fabulous," Krentcil raves as she finds a $39.90 gray bohemian shift dress. Chloé offered a similar frock on its spring 2007 runways, but the designer version had a smocking front layered with gold and turquoise. "H&M has taken away all the embellishments, kept it a monochrome color and replaced its crazy gold embroidery with peasant lace. If you wear this, nobody will know where it came from."
As H&M moves into the heartland, though, there are fewer fashionistas up on the latest look from Miu Miu. "It has taken a bit longer to get adopted in the Midwest," admits H&M U.S. president Sanna Lindberg. So H&M took out ads in local papers to explain its frugal fashions. "It's great to know that if I see something in a magazine or on TV," says Cleveland sales rep Nancy Caspell, 27, "I can find it at H&M without having to cash in my 401(k)." Apparently bargain hunters are fast-fashion learners.
With Anna Kuchment, Joan Raymond and Elizabeth Coady
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Party like a rockstar?
My birthday is just around the corner so I thought I’d make a fun list of items I want!
1. Gift certificate to Forever 21. Look at all the adorable cuteness I could buy:
Yellow babydoll dress
Hot Pink tunic
Satin Leopard print dress even though I don't know where I'd wear it!
Summertime brings out my inner hippie
Or maybe something for work?
2. New glasses. Now you might think this is strange but I haven’t had a new pair of glasses since 1999 and my eyes have changed quite a bit. Plus I stepped on my old glasses and they are very crooked. So I’m blind and have crooked glasses. It’s definitely not possible for me to really wear them at all. I would love some sexy BCBG ones.
I've wanted these BCBG Venus frames for like 2 years now:
But I also like these Dahlia ones:
3. But the most important: Money for a new car. This is probably what I need the most. My Lexus needs new tires, alignment, new power steering pump, possibly new brakes/brake pads, a display that works – in addition to blinking off and on, it no longer tells me how fast I’m going. I’m not willing to put any more money into this car. I need a new one FAST! I have my eye on a gorgeous, hot-n-sexy, Mazda 3 like this one that I can probably not afford.
Now get out there and shop people! Just kidding.
1. Gift certificate to Forever 21. Look at all the adorable cuteness I could buy:
Yellow babydoll dress
Hot Pink tunic
Satin Leopard print dress even though I don't know where I'd wear it!
Summertime brings out my inner hippie
Or maybe something for work?
2. New glasses. Now you might think this is strange but I haven’t had a new pair of glasses since 1999 and my eyes have changed quite a bit. Plus I stepped on my old glasses and they are very crooked. So I’m blind and have crooked glasses. It’s definitely not possible for me to really wear them at all. I would love some sexy BCBG ones.
I've wanted these BCBG Venus frames for like 2 years now:
But I also like these Dahlia ones:
3. But the most important: Money for a new car. This is probably what I need the most. My Lexus needs new tires, alignment, new power steering pump, possibly new brakes/brake pads, a display that works – in addition to blinking off and on, it no longer tells me how fast I’m going. I’m not willing to put any more money into this car. I need a new one FAST! I have my eye on a gorgeous, hot-n-sexy, Mazda 3 like this one that I can probably not afford.
Now get out there and shop people! Just kidding.
Actually, here's a gift you might be able to afford:
Oops! I meant this:
Love, Mandy
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