November 3rd, 2011 in
Trends |
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It may be time to bundle up, but that doesn’t mean you have to look drab this winter. In fact, winter 2012 promises to be quite colorful with an abundance of textures. Whether you’re going out to dinner or just heading to the office, there are a number of new fashion trends to latch on to. Here are just a few winter 2012 fashion trends to watch out for.
Fur Trends Return
Boots, hats, capes, you name it and it’s got fur. While furry boots were hot last winter, the trend goes a step further by covering everything imaginable in fur – from coats to sweatshirts and even the lining of your pants or skirts. Of course, you’ll want to opt for faux fur and honestly, you should keep it to a minimum or risk looking like the abominable snowman or worse – Bigfoot. Keep Reading »
Ethical fashion does not necessarily mean goodbye to animal skin and fur. It does mean though that you have to be discriminating in choosing the clothes that you buy to ensure that none of the animal skin and fur used to trim the clothing come from poached animals.
One way you can fuse your love for fashion and exotic sealskin is by buying your clothes directly from Greenland. While there is a ban on the use of sealskin all over Europe, you can shop to your heart’s content for clothes that use sealskin in Greenland without any guilt since the ban does not include Greenlandic sealskin.
Using Greenlandic sealskin is ethically acceptable because none of the seals that provide the skin were killed for the purpose of harvesting the skins itself. The seals are captured and shot in the wild for food, with the harvest of their skin considered only as a secondary reason, after all why waste perfectly good skin?
Two of the rather popular designers in Greenland are the mother and daughter team of Rita and Nickie Isaksen of Isaksen Design. Proud of their heritage, they always manage to incorporate their culture into their designs, not just through their choice of colors, but also with the use of ethically harvested sealskins. Their use of the sealskins is also very smart, using them mostly as accents to make an otherwise plain piece pop. Their Autum/Winter 2011 collection focuses on comfort and functionality using muted grays, blacks, browns, with white and red accents.
Image Courtesy of Isaksen Design Autumn/Winter 2011 Collection
October 27th, 2011 in
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The crispness of fall is in the air and temperatures are cooling. Away go the shorts and tees. It’s time for something more substantial and the best trends for the season are layers and anything yellow.
When we say yellow, that’s literally any shade of yellow. Mustard included. To the hear the fasionistas talk – from the east coast to the west coast and every fly over state in between – Marigold is the hottest color going this fall. And it is literally everywhere. Other striking colors this season are reds and oranges. Again there is a range of shades to choose from, and all of them are correct. Keep Reading »
October 22nd, 2011 in
News |
No Comments »A decades old milk-based fiber is making a big ecological comeback in a fashion line being created by a German designer.
QMilch is a silk-like fiber produced from large concentrations of Casein – a milk protein. According to the Reuters news agency, QMilch has been used as a fabric since the 1930s, but was always comprised of a high level of chemicals which compromised its commercial value.
Now, designer Anke Domaske, 28, has devised a way to manufacture QMilch, ecologically – the first man-made fiber produced without chemicals, the Reuters report said. She told the agency QMilch also has anti-bacterial and anti-aging properties that can help with blood circulation and regulate body temperature. Keep Reading »
October 14th, 2011 in
Events |
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and what color would be more fitting to wear than the color of the year – honeysuckle?
Honeysuckle is just the right color to show support for breast cancer awareness, being just a few shades darker than the pink ribbon used as the breast cancer awareness symbol.
The fact that designers all over the world are also holding benefits for cancer awareness one after another, or at least featuring one or two creations in pink or honeysuckle as part of their Spring line in this year’s fashion week is heartening; not only because a significant amount of money will be raised to help in the fight against breast cancer, but also because we know that we’ll have even more fashion-forward choices as we don this lively color.
Just a few months ago, we gave some tips on how you can incorporate honeysuckle in your wardrobe, from honeysuckle dresses to accent pieces, and even ties for men. And if our suggestions then isn’t enough to inspire you to start wearing honeysuckle, maybe the latest from the runway will.
Here’s a short list of some of the fashion shows that celebrated / is set to celebrate the color pink in time for the Breast Cancer Awareness Month:
Phoenix Fashion Week – Fashionably Pink Charity Fashion Show (October 5)
LA Fashion Week – Project Ethos Goes Pink (October 14)
Pink Rocks the Runway (October 21)
October 11th, 2011 in
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Have you turned the TV on lately? If you are a regular TV viewer, then you are probably have seen the plethora of cooking shows and celebrity chef-focused shows. Whether you like it or not – and there is nothing wrong in liking it! – this trend is here, and it is also shaping the way we live to a certain degree. The good thing is that we pay more attention to what we do in the kitchen and somehow, cooking becomes even more enjoyable! And, of course, looking like your favorite celebrity chef while you cook is even better.
Playing in the kitchen, as I like to call it, does not require much effort most of the time. However, it does help to have certain tools at our disposal. That’s where recipe portals and web sites come into the picture. And speaking of recipe web sites, there is a new player in the game which holds a lot of promise: Recipe Finder.
Recipe Finder is a recipe search engine which combines practically everything that you can find online. In spite of the fact that there are many other recipe sites that you can visit (thanks to celebrity chefs, these sites have cropped up everywhere like mushrooms after rain), you will like Recipe Finder for the one big advantage it offers: the aggregation of recipes that can be found in many other portals. In short, Recipe Finder saves you the time and the hassle of having to check each individual site.
Searching for recipes on Recipe Finder is easy. Just like any other search engine, you simply need to enter words related to what you are searching for. For example, if you know the recipe name, you simply have to enter it in the search bar. If you only have the ingredients in mind, then you can use those as search terms as well. Even better, if you have allergic reactions to certain ingredients, you can choose to exclude them. Also, you can conduct more specialized searches by specifying details such as the number of calories, the number of servings, and so on.
Are you in need of some organization help? Recipe Finder is the perfect tool for this purpose! Take advantage of the menu and calendar features. With the menu creator, you can plan each dish for an entire meal. With the calendar, you can plan what you will be cooking in advance. Also, if you like the paper experience more, there is the option of printing out recipes with one click.
Now, viewing the recipes is even easier than searching and organizing! You can choose between the text mode or the image mode. Using text mode, you immediately get to see more information about the recipe – ingredients, etc. Using image mode, you get a clear picture of what the dish looks like once cooked.
Look good even as you work in the kitchen. Make technology work for you as you prepare delicious and nutritious meals for the family. Check out Recipe Finder now!
Fashionable Cook Logo via Eventbrite
September 26th, 2011 in
Bling,
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Gadgets used to be something to help us in our everyday lives – and they were anything but stylish back then, as anyone who’s had one of the first mobile phones can tell you. Nowadays though, with technology having evolved to the point where we can easily cram a huge deal of computing power in a small space, gadget developers have started to explore the aesthetic possibilities in their designs.
Apple are easily the most iconic brand in this regard, as all of their designs are considered nothing short of genius when it comes to pleasing the eye – and this is a trend that’s easily noticeable in their upcoming iPhone 5. Even though we don’t have any official shots of the device yet, there have been a few leaks already which are a pretty good indication of what it’s going to offer – and it’s shaping up to be a lovely complement to any stylish person’s accessory list.
Featuring a slimmed down design and improved glass on the screen with a shiny, glossy appearance, the iPhone 5 is what pretty much anyone would expect from a new release by Apple – something worth buying for its sheer appearance alone. And with the iPhone plans Vodafone are going to offer when it comes out, it’s also going to be a very convenient solution for those who don’t like having to spend a great deal of cash on their data plans. There are even rumors that the software has received some additions to minimize and optimize its data usage, which should make things even smoother – we don’t know about you, but we can’t wait to show off a shiny new iPhone 5 to our friends!
Planning a trip to Vienna can be very tricky – with so many things to see, you can’t count on getting through all of them, so sometimes you just need to make your arrangements in a way that you’ll get to see what interests you most. If you’re going on a jewelry shopping trip, Vienna definitely has a lot to offer you – the city is very well-known for the large number of different jewelry stores and large chains of shops it features, so whatever type of jewelry you’re into exactly, you’ll likely find something for yourself here.
The Jared Galleria of Jewelry is a very popular store, so when you’ve arrived, make sure this is at the top of your list of priorities for visiting. The store has quite a lot to offer and all of their products are unique and exquisite – and like we said above, any taste can be satisfied in Vienna, and this is really well represented in this particular store.
Also, there’s a Swarovski flagship store in Vienna – if you’re a fan of luxurious jewelry, you really can’t say no to paying a visit here. However, if you do, make sure you load up your wallet quite well, as you’ll likely find more than one opportunities to spend your money in this store – after all, we all know of the quality of Swarovski’s jewels and related products, but also the price tag commonly attached to them. Plan well and know what you’ll be buying!
You might have already heard that Pantone, an internationally-recognized company in the field of printing, fabric, and paint color measurements, has declared honeysuckle as the color for 2011. From 2010′s relaxing turquoise, we now shift to a bright, reddish-pink hue. It’s somewhat difficult to imagine what honeysuckle looks like if you’re not very familiar with the botanical equivalent, so try to think of it as being more intense than your usual cotton-candy pink but a little less piercing than hot pink or fuchsia.
Since it is after all the color of 2011, incorporating it into your wardrobe is a must if you want to keep yourself updated. It isn’t really supposed to make you luckier this year (if you don’t want to get all metaphysical about it), but it may be bright and stimulating enough to give you more energy. Color experts claim that since honeysuckle belongs to the red family, it is a good color for getting one’s adrenaline going. It also makes the wearer seem more alive, or as the expression goes, appear to be “in the pink of health.”
If you’re fashionably fearless, going for a wardrobe overhaul in favor of this bright hue isn’t really a problem. In fact, you may already have several articles of clothing in this shade. If, however, you don’t have a lot of pink in your closet, or if you’re not sure about how to add it to your collection, don’t worry. After all, many designers and brands have already come up with their designs and product offerings in this bright and cheerful color. You’re bound to find something that suits you perfectly.
Sweet like honey
Honeysuckle, according to Pantone, is a “brave new color for a brave new world.” Well, isn’t that just a great attitude to adopt for the new year? If you want to imbibe the vibe, this is the best time to do it! Spring is fast approaching, and this season is poised to usher in loads of new designs, whether it be for dresses, tops, skirts, shoes, and every manner of accessory.
Why not start off by getting yourself a flirty little honeysuckle dress? If you’ve been feeling a bit down all winter, you can break away from that dreary frame of mind by shocking your wardrobe to life. And have you noticed how well honeysuckle compliments green?
Speaking of green, if you’re the active type who enjoys the great outdoors, then add some spring to your step by donning a pair of brightly-colored trainers. On rainy days, you can still go out and brave the puddles in a pair of honeysuckle rain boots. It’s a great way to have some fun with your outfit. Besides, all the confidence you exude in your playful get-up might just attract other people to you like little hummingbirds.
Keeping the balance
Okay, so while you may be open to wearing honeysuckle, you may be afraid of having too much pink on. Well, wearing the color doesn’t mean that you have to start looking like Penelope Pitstop. There are still a million other colors out there! The best for the coming season (and I daresay for the entire year) are warm colors. Pantone’s spring and summer forecast makes mention of metallics such as bronze and gold. In addition, the recommended palette for spring includes nice greens, ethereal silver and light pink shades, as well as an earthier russet. Have fun with these colors!
In the professional setting, you might have to go for a more understated look. You can choose to go for a more muted color scheme and, following the example of Olivia Palermo, add a bit of life with a nice pair of honeysuckle heels. If you like wearing gray and black, either for work or for casual events, you can simply tie a bright pink scarf around your neck. Scarves are wonderful for subtly adding life to outfits because they are so versatile. If you’re wearing pants, the scarf can even double as a belt. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different looks until you find one that you are comfortable with.
Little bursts of color
Incorporating honeysuckle into your look doesn’t just mean buying a piece of clothing. You can add a bit of eye candy here and there in many different ways. For instance, why not spice up an otherwise plain outfit by getting a chunky piece of jewelry in this year’s color? One of the great things about this is that finding earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and other such accessories does not have to be expensive. Cherry quartz beads, for example, are quite reasonably-priced and come in shades which are as close to honeysuckle as you can get.
The next time you decide to get a manicure or pedicure, while you might not be able to find a polish called “honeysuckle” very easily, you will certainly be able to find a shade of reddish-pink which comes pretty close. For a clean and classy look, have your nails trimmed and filed before painting them. Really long nails in such a bright color may be too much, depending on your outfit and make up.
Lastly, pucker up and smooth on a juicy layer of color on your lips. For everyday use, you can simply put on a sheer pink gloss. It may not always be wise to pick an intense pink shade for your eyes, unless you are going to be in a fashion show or stage performance. Stick to a lighter, more neutral color for the eyes and go for a more natural, peachy shade of pink for your cheeks, such as Orgasm by Nars.
Real men wear pink
Just because women have more things to think about and more options than the men doesn’t mean that men can’t be a part of the trend for 2011. Men can incorporate honeysuckle into their wardrobe and still look very manly. It’s quite easy to find casual shirts in different shades of pink, so go out there and find one in a design that you like. Office wear should not be a problem either. You can get a plain pink tie as an accent, or if that’s a bit too much pink, choose a striped design which offsets the bright pink with more “masculine” colors such as navy, gray, or brown.
2011 is certainly bound to be an exciting and interesting year. You can definitely make it more fun for yourself by being bolder and braver — even in (and especially in!) fashion. So go out there and check out the new finds, or rummage into your closet and rediscover the bright pieces you have either forgotten or were too afraid to wear. At the end of the day (and of the year, for that matter), it doesn’t really matter how much honeysuckle you wore but really how much you’ve been able to reinvent yourself and create your personal style.
They say that even the simplest of dresses can look fabulous if you have the right accessories. I don’t know about you, but I believe that this is absolutely true! With the right accessories, you can change your look at will. Take a look at these essential accessories that every woman must have in her arsenal.
A proper bag. I am talking about a structured bag – like a leather one that does not get its shape all messed up. I am talking about a bag of medium size that will hold all that you need without being overlarge. Of course, it’s got to be stylish.
Shoes! A woman can’t have enough shoes. My suggestion is that you should have a good collection of pumps, heels, and flats. This way, you can always choose a pair that will suit your mood and your activities. There’s nothing worse than wearing incompatible footwear.
Diamonds and pearls. Jewelry is always a good thing. You need not have a treasure trove of the expensive stuff – fancy jewelry will always work. However, you still need to have several pieces in diamonds and pearls – these are timeless classics that will never fail to uplift your mood and your look. Never mind if you are wearing jeans and a simple top – these accessories will give you that extra shine!
A watch. Metal watches are best. Choose a good piece that will last forever and you will never really want for anything else. Of course, a few cheap pieces that look good won’t hurt either.
Are these in your arsenal?
