Sunday, September 29, 2013

Fall Allure




When designer Allie Olson invited me to style one of Allie Ollie Fall 2013 Collection pieces, I was glad that she selected the Emerald Elegance line for me.  No room for less bright colors this season.  After all, emerald is Pantone’s color of the year!

Green does not complement my skin color.  However, when mixed with gold, grey, and a hint of orange amalgamated into a damask-like pattern, the combination is quite attractive such as shown in this Emerald Elegance Perfect Shrug.  The rich, lively and radiant pattern is a perfect autumn blues fix!


This shrug is so versatile and can easily be incorporated into anyone’s wardrobe.  Click here for ideas on accents and accessories, meanwhile here are a few simple looks: 

Business wear for office and conference events:  Worn as a jacket over a neutral classic one-piece dress, the Perfect Shrug definitely livens a day at work. Keeping it low key with matching beige clutch and Manolo-esque Briti pointed pump.


Evening look for a night out in town:  The Perfect Shrug is cinched on the sides, leaving the front open to show the pearly white H&M top, tucked in a Bri Seeley Jacklyn skirt.  The black beaded vintage purse and black satin Antonio Melani strap shoes give just the right bold contrast to the outfit.  A pair of chandelier earrings pick up the bling embellishment on the jacket and completes the look.


Dressed down for casual weekends:  One cannot go wrong pairing the Perfect Shrug with a cotton top, denim jeans and leather boots. Very comfortable and simple.




Notice the shoes? Trends come and go, but for me closed-toed pointy shoes are always a classic. 

Get your Fall FASH on and happy styling!

XOXO,
Sheila




Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Bri Seeley Exposed




I spent most of my summer close to my parents who moved back to California just about a year ago.  Dual purpose, while visiting my folks, I stayed with my girlfriend, Bri, to get a peek and write, with her consent of course, about her life as a designer.



Our flat is in the hilly part of Silver Lake with a killer 360-degree rooftop panorama of the downtown Los Angeles skyline, a lookout as far as Santa Monica marina, sight of the famous Hollywood sign, Dodger Stadium area, East L.A. and a bumper to bumper aerial view of cars along Highway 101. Except above Room 4C, forbidden area…that’s another story, the roof is actually a great spot for unwinding or partying.



Bri never missed a day of work. She’s always out the door by 9am, off to her studio in LA Fashion District.  I managed to tag along a couple of times and got a glimpse of her day.  After a double shot of espresso in the morning, she checks her voicemail, replies to her emails and social media queries, and rearranges her calendar for meetings with buyers. At this time of the year, designers are done with their spring/summer collection samples, line sheet and look book, therefore pattern making, cutting or sewing are already done. It’s all about marketing and manufacturing at this point.

After a quick lunch, I did a photo shoot with a few bloggers who came for fitting in preparation for Bri’s 10.10 event.

  





That took the whole afternoon and well into the evening, though, Bri and I managed to stop by a sample sale before braving the 20-minute drive home through the traffic.

While I gathered a lot of insights about the fashion industry, I also learned that her activities and schedule are not very much different from mine and probably yours as well - long days, meetings, networking and deadlines. So instead of writing about her life as a designer, I thought it'd be more fun to expose 10 things that you do not know about the real Bri:
  1. Her real name is Brianna, nicknamed NaNa
  2. Bri is not the only creative Seeley in town. I actually met the other 2!
  3. Her obsessions are Alliver and Peechez, her kitties.
  4. She prefers champagne over wine. Perfect, I didn’t have to share!
  5. Bri is writing a book like Taylor Swift writes her songs. Get it?
  6. I like it that she doesn’t have a television, therefore music (except Country) is on at home all the time.
  7. She prefers gummies over chocolate. For real?
  8. Bri hates doing the dishes. I know…I lived with her!
  9. Bri makes a mean tiramisu, so she says. I have yet to try and I’ll be the judge!
  10. Finally, her 15th birthday theme was Star Wars. You’re going to have to ask her yourself what character she dressed as.
Join designer Bri Seeley in her L.A. Runway Debut presenting S/S14 “The Silence Collection” at Eden Hollywood on 10/10, 8pm. Bonus - you can buy the clothes off the runway on this site that same night! This event benefits Step Up Women’s Network to help 250 girls from under-resourced communities and help them grow into confident, college-bound, career-ready women.

Click here to get your tickets for VIP experience including a private pre-reception with Bri Seeley, not to mention the swag bags!

Get your FASH on and make an appearance.  See you there!


XOXO,
Sheila

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Freedom with Fashion - Humanity & Education



Expressing artistry in fashion with humanity and education in mind is definitely haute! 

Featured here are designers Efua and Stephanie with very diverse backgrounds in creating beautiful clothes and the inspiration that drives their passion for what they do best.


Stephanie for Stephanie Gentry and Abba for Proverbs By Efua

Efua Mensah-Brown, Chief Creative Officer of Proverbs by Efua  


While her love for fashion started at a very young age, Efua's academic background in Finance and Economics immersed her into the business world.  In the midst of busy company travels that moved and settled her in 5 different countries, women's fashion remained close to her heart.  With a hectic corporate life, Efua grew to appreciate high quality and classic pieces versatile enough to keep up with her profession's daily grind.

It is not until after she first heard about “human trafficking” in 2009 that would inspire her to change course and follow her dreams.  Fast-forward to today, Dubai-based Proverbs by Efua, offers luxury women’s clothing for a cause, contributing 20% of profit to help solve the multi-billion dollar human trafficking problem. In 5 years, her goal is to put up a bigger fight to help eradicate this abuse aiming to raise and donate $75,000.  To most of us it sounds impossible to end this massive and complicated crisis, but to Efua saving one life at a time makes a world of difference. This is her fashion stance for freedom, her “Style of Freedom.”  Efua says, “If we do our part to help one girl, we have helped to make this a better place." 

Hear it from Efua herself...









Stephanie Gentry, Designer of Gentry


Atlanta-based, Stephanie, hit her first major milestone when she won ThunderLily’s Emerging Fashion Designer competition.  ThunderLily is a fashion incubator based in New York with a mission to “Set Fashion Free” by providing tools that enable young designers to fast-track their creations from imagination to reality and help them quickly penetrate the unforgiving almost exclusive fashion business.

Stephanie paved the way to freedom and accessibility for many aspiring designers to pursue their passion. As a forward thinker her vision is to transform the industry by creating technical capabilities that will allow emerging designers the edge, free range and options in producing their designs digitally in 3D.  Stephanie’s brilliant innovation triggered the interest of an Ivy League school, Columbia University who partnered with ThunderLily to develop the 3D software that she currently utilizes.  This technology would literary eliminate geographic barriers and open up a virtual world for remotely located designers to engage and get involved, especially the ones who are not based in couture capitals of the world.

A dream realized for Stephanie, she designed her entire Spring/Summer 2014 Urban Chic Collection in virtual space, true to her mantra, “follow your dreams, no matter how big or small, you never know where they might lead you." 

See how dressing a 3D fashion model looks...







Check out these two designers as they launch their SS14 line during Phoenix Fashion Week at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona on October 1-5, 2013. Click here to get your tickets.

See you there!


XOXO,

Sheila







Sunday, September 1, 2013

Game Changing Fashion





Ahh… it’s that time of the year when all sports are almost in play!  MLB on its 135-ish game…how many more to go?  NFL season opener in less than a week, I’m excited to be a couch potato again on Sundays and Monday nights…oh and Thursday nights too =) Rooting for the Da Bears of course! NHL starts in about a month, though it seems like I was just celebrating Blackhawks championship. NBA in a couple of months, but who cares, it’s rigged anyway, right? For now, I am enjoying US Open Tennis.   Past the 3rd Round, I look forward to seeing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal finally meeting in the center court of Flushing Meadows.  

But who are the real power players this year, fashionably speaking...

Japan brand Uniqlo dressed the world's number 1 player, Novak Djokovic in an edgy high-octane red and black combination for night matches. I like the edginess of this outfit parallel to Novak’s strong passion and personality on court.

Novak Djokovic photo by Ftape.com


The loudest ensemble is by no less than Venus Williams, between the bright floral printed dress by her own line Eleven, her pink and purple braided hair, bedazzled nails and a huge statement ring.  Individually, I like the pieces, but together the style is all too over powering.


Venus Williams photos by USA Today


Always charming and looking polished as his game is Roger Federer in his Nike daytime game outfit.  Simply classic in blue and white! I wonder if his friend and style adviser, Anna Wintour weighs in on what he wears on court. Anyway, I hope this grand slam event yields him a lower number than #7 going in.

Roger Federer photo by CNN


And then there’s Stella McCartney’s design for Adidas sporting unpopular geometric patterns and confusing cutout on former top seeded Caroline Wozniacki.

Caroline Wozniacki photo by Getty Images

What do you think? Leave a comment.

There’s color blocking on some women’s attires, some more pleasing than others. But I didn’t see anyone wear skimpy outfits as controversial as Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance. Overall, there’s no game changing pieces this year. Click the links to see what others count as fashion aces and faults

Speaking of change, this one is big…

For the first time in 70 years, a plus size high-end clothing brand in sizes 12-24, Cabiria, will debut its label on New York Fashion Week’s runway at the Lincoln Center on September 6th.   Kudos to Eden Miller, creative designer of Cabiria, for such feat.  This is a huge milestone not just for her and her line but also for the fashion industry as a whole.  The days of size double zero models feasting on cotton balls dipped in orange juice may soon come to end as there’s a new future ahead. 

Remember my blog "Does Size Matter?" I hope that the major fashion weeks will be a level playing field inclusive of all size designers someday.

Visit my new Facebook Page: “Chasing Sheila” for New York Fashion Week’s schedule and list of designers.  Remember most of them do live streaming!

Don’t miss out! Get your FASH on for the New York Fashion Week. Happy streaming!

XOXO,
Sheila