Fashion Realist at Mano Designs

Royal Wedding Fashions: The Wedding Dress, The Bridal Party and The Guests

2011-05-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

It has been exactly a week today since the royal wedding of the decade. I am talking of course about the wedding of Prince William (now Duke of Cambridge) and Catherine Middleton (now Duchess of Cambridge. I posted earlier about my impressions of the wedding in general, along with some helpful hints about successfull event planning on a budget. I always like to gain perspective on major fashion events, so I am going to devote a post now to the royal wedding fashions. Interestingly enough, I thought that the royal wedding didn't get as much press coverage as I expected. Yes, it was covered by every conceivable news outlet and internet sources, but it wasn't done to death. By day two, everyone seemed to have forgotten about the royal wedding. Of course, I think that is partly due to another sensational piece of news that captured worldwide attention on Sunday May 1st, and that was the death of most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Ladin. Many outlets that were planning on airing extensive coverage of the royal wedding on the following Monday, covered the Osama Bin Ladin story instead.
Also, as I said before in my earlier post, the event of the royal wedding could not have possible lived up to the hype that was generated around it. The fashions were nearly perfect for the royal wedding, there were hardly any significant fashion missteps. But the fashion choices overall were so incredibly boring and austere, starting with Catherine Middleton's Alexander McQueen dress that set the tone for rest of the fashions. I was watching the broadcast from the BBC, where they brought in some fashion experts to comment on the fashions. When Catherine Middleton emerged to sit in her car, the fashion commentators aptly summed up her dress in two sentences, "A white wedding dresss with a long train and a lace top covering the shoulders." The same goes for the rest of the bridal party. The biggest problem with the royal fashions was that there was nothing new, unique or exciting. I have seen this type of wedding dress hundreds of times before when lace wedding dresses were standard fare in the 1990's. The same thing with the rest of the bridal party, was anyone's outfit a fashion surprise? Did we think anyone might be wearing anything remotely unique or glamourous? Of course we kind of expected everyone to be wearing their standard British church outfits, but even their eveningwear was far from exceptional or fashionable. The only person who surprised me even a little was Pippa Middleton and her slinky, white maid of honor dress, which wasn't necessarily a good surprise. Then for the evening reception, she donned a dress that was such boring prom fare, that she lost all her fashion points. I hate to make any comparisons with the later Princess Diana, but one thing we can say about her fashions is that she never looked boring. She was willing to take fashion risks as well as wearing traditional gowns.

The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine (Kate) Middleton Review

2011-04-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Who Are These People?

Prince William Duke of Cambridge and
Catherine Duchess of Cambridge
on their wedding day on April 29, 2011

Today, April 29, 2011, was the wedding of HRH Prince William (now officially titled the Duke of Cambridge) and Catherine (Kate) Middleton (now known as HRH Catherine Duchess of Cambridge). Of course we are talking about the royal family of England, which is perhaps the most famous royal family in the world, partly because they have influence in so many countries from India, Canada, Australia etc. This was perhaps one of the most anticipated events of this decade, estimated to be viewed on television by approximately two billion people worldwide. Millions more have tuned in on the Internet to see videos, read articles, blogs and to look at photos. The excitement is due to the fact that this is perhaps the first happy event of the 21st century that has worldwide interest. Prince William will someday be crowned King of England, although it's not expected to happen anytime soon, since Prince Charles, his father is the current heir to the throne. Prince William of course is also the son of the late Princess Diana, who was popular as a worldwide celebrity royal.

In General...

I think overall the event went very smoothly from beginning to end. There were no major disasters or problems. All of the fashions were fantastic. It was a great snapshot of what formal British fashion is all about, because everyone seems to think of British fashion in terms of those edgy runway shows or the fashions of the London clubs. The bride, groom, wedding party and guests looked fantastic overall. There were no major missteps (a few faux pas perhaps) as expected considering all of the planning and resources that went into this event. Every fashion expert was busy rattling off a bevy of potential British designers who could design looks for the bride, the wedding party and the guests. In the end, it was pretty much the usual suspects with no real surprises. Just as I did for the Chelsea Clinton wedding, I will be reviewing this event from the perspective of what ordinary people can learn from it for their fashion choices, their party planning and weddings. I will insert here and there small anecdotes from my own fashion and event experiences.

The wedding procession of Prince William and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011

Lastly, I want to say that I think where the entire event failed was that it was set up to fail based on all the unbelievable hype that was generated around it. This is of course just my opinion, I know that there are a lot of people who think the wedding was every bit as spectacular as it was expected to be. If it did not meet expectations, it was certainly not the royal family's fault, but the work of the media and ordinary people who had unbelievably high expectations for something that at its core was a church wedding and a street processional. Also, the huge spaces like the cavernous Westminster Abbey and the outside of Buckingham Palace made the human actors in this event seem very small by comparison. We only saw half of the event, because the TV cameras were not invited to the reception and dinner at Buckingham Palace. This is important, because this is the part where the royals would have license to be as ostentatious as they want to be with the parties. I don't know how lavish the decorations, table settings and food inside the receptions will be. I think that it won't be as lavish as people might imagine, in keeping with austerity of the wedding itself. From what little details we know it doesn't seem any more lavish than a typical Beverly Hills wedding and even less so. After all the typical wedding can't get away with just serving canapes at the reception. We know that a lot of money was spent, but that is partly because they are serving a larger number of people than most weddings. Also because of the exchange rate between the British pound and the dollar, the dollar amounts might seem shocking to the rest of the world, but quite normal for British prices.

The Floral Decorations

Westminster Abbey is decorated with oak trees for the wedding of
Prince William and Catherine Middleton on April 29, 2011

One of the most forward thinking and brilliant ideas of the wedding was using living plants and splendid 25 feet oak trees to decorate the immensely high cavernous space of Westminster Abbey. The royal press says it was largely Kate and Will's idea to bring something natural and living inside the Abbey. I think it was a fantastic idea, because bringing those living trees breath life into the whole ceremony. It was really the best of both worlds, it was a modern tree lined garden wedding inside a church. It also echoed beautifully the lush trees that are the dominant aspect of the mall outside the Abbey.

It was also something that people are commenting on as a truly unique aspect of the wedding. More importantly, I think it was in keeping with the idea of a wedding in austerity where money is not blatantly wasted. To me this was evident also in the bride's bouquet, which was less than one third the size of Princess Diana's huge bouquet (three of which were made). As anyone can attest to, flowers are one of the biggest money pits in any wedding or party and they are also a perfect example of wasted money. There is no redeeming value in cut flowers that are arranged and will die in three days or less. When you combine that with a large venue that seems to absorb more and more flowers and the budget can balloon out of control.

In this case live trees were used with the intention of planting them after the wedding. Not only is it a positive thing for the community, but it's also a great memory for the people who want to remember that those oak trees came from the wedding of William and Catherine.

I think this was the kind of brilliant move that only an experienced event planner could imagine. Logistically Westminster Abbey is a huge space. It would take thousands of cut flowers and leaves to achieve the English country green foliage look that is so popular in England right now. In my own party planning experiences, I know that the first thing they tell you when you book a space is that you are not allowed to damage the property in any way, even nail holes will get you in serious trouble. So, how could any florist hang flowers 25 feet high from the columns of the Abbey? Yes, it's possible theoretically, but the effect would be to close in the space and to obscure the architecture and possibly the sight lines to the altar. The trees were the perfect solution.

I actually went to a wedding where the couple were getting married in a huge church, but they wanted an intimate wedding and they wanted to make sure that people were not spread out all over the church. So, they used potted trees to create an area for the wedding, like a natural velvet rope. People filled the area and there was a real effect of creating more intimacy in the space.

I went to a different wedding where the couple were fairly rich and pretentious. Their biggest problem was that they were desperate to do something unique and different for every aspect of their wedding. So they hired a florist who specialized in doing outrageous arrangements that weren't exactly beautiful. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked into the church. There were these surreal "trees" as if from a Time Burton movie. The frames were wire and plastic and they were covered with hundreds of cut flowers, branches, leaves etc. I thought what a waste of flowers to achieve something that was ugly and unnatural, when natural plants or trees would have been so much better.

Prince William and Catherine Middleton at the altar of Westminster Abbey

Of course, the trees were augmented with arrangements of cut flowers and foliage dotting the Abbey at strategic intervals. The largest concentration of flowers and foliage was heaped on top of the altar at the Abbey. It reminded me again of a garden ceremony where the bride and groom might get married under a canopy of foliage and flowers. I think the details of the arrangements didn't come through well on television, because for me the altar flowers didn't seem to have a lot of design to them. Maybe that was the point to kind of echo the naturalism of the trees. I was disappointed, because I thought the trees were fantastic, but they could have taken the naturalism all the way by having all of the arrangements start with potted plants and then get augmented with cut flowers and foliage to achieve the look they wanted. With the months spent planting this wedding, the florist could have even asked a nursery to custom grow the arrangements of flowers and foliage they wanted. As with any wedding, already the people are asking what is going to happen to the wedding flowers which I am sure cost thousands of pounds. Of course this is no ordinary wedding and someone made the smart decision to leave the flowers at the Abbey for a few days so that the public can come and experience a part of the wedding.

I had a friend who was doing a wedding on a budget. To make matters worse, her wedding color was purple, so ironically the cheapest purple flowers were orchids, which are very expensive. She didn't want too many flowers, but she wanted at minimum to have a centerpiece for each table and two altar arrangements, which could be used at the reception as well. After hearing outrageous prices for the most basic centerpieces, she decided to change her game plan. She made a deal with a florist that she would supply pots of orchids, one per centerpiece, and two per altarpiece. In return the florist would supply the square fabric covered boxes as the base of the centerpieces and additional flowers, foliage and branches to complete the centerpieces. She got her arrangements for less than half the original cost. More importantly, I thought it was brilliant, because after the arrangement withered you could take out the living orchid and keep it as a plant.

Bring Out The Heirlooms and Use What You Have

Prince William and Henry on their way to Westminster Abbey for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton

For the royal family a large part of this wedding was about tradition and the symbols of tradition. It was significant that the Queen decided to wear a brooch that belonged to her mother. Some people speculated that Catherine Middleton would have a tiara made for her for the wedding. Instead she wore a tiara borrowed from the Queen's royal collection that was originally purchased by the Queen Mother. It was about expressing conscientiousness about spending and extravagence, the tiara even though borrowed was quite small compared to other tiaras in the royal collection. At the same time it was about expressing that there is a history of royal heirlooms and traditions that the younger generation should take advantage of. In addition to jewelry the royal family also used a fleet of cars and coaches that they already had. They also didn't pay anything for reception venues having a palace at their disposal.

The same money saving measures can be applied to any event, including weddings. Of course I know some of you are thinking who has a fleet of cars and a palace, besides the Queen? There is strength in numbers, you may have only one nice car, but recruit a few friends with one nice car each and you've got a fleet. The same idea can work for jewelry, evening bags, any object that is a luxury that potentially costs a lot of money.

I have a nice collection of designer costume jewelry, evening bags and other accessories. I am happy to loan these out to friends and relatives for special occassions. Also, you can get the benefit of another woman's opinion about something when you make it a communal experience. The same idea can apply to virtually anything, perhaps a friend or relative with a nice house. Of course I am not saying make it a regular habit of sponging off your friends and constantly borrowing their best things. You have to be responsible for whatever you borrow. It's not a good idea to say borrow a big from someone to go to a wild party where there is a good chance people will be spilling food and drinks.

Before you even think of your friends, consider your own family heirlooms that you may have overlooked.

2011 Oscars Red Carpet Fashion Review

2011-03-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

Every year I review the Golden Globes, the Grammys, the Oscars and the Emmys red carpets. This year I decided to change it up a bit. But if there is one review I do every year it's the Oscars, because it is still the biggest red carpet of the year. It seems to be a distillation of the year's fashions, trends, stars and everything else. It's a big culture mash and explosion at the same time. However, this year I decided to do the review a little bit differently. Instead of posting my review soon after the Oscars, I decided to wait two weeks to see if I would feel the same way about the fashions I saw on the red carpet.
The worst thing that could happen at the Oscars is when most people look like they are models in the same fashion show. But this year's red carpet dresses were as varied as there are designers. Most of the fashions were terrific and most importantly interesting. I think some of the dresses this year represented the best fashion types of the 80's and 90's fashion revivals that are going on now. There were only two major trends, the first one was the lace trend and of course the bead trend is still with us. The third trend was something that just infuriated me, there was a train or a tail on almost every dress, as if it's a sure mark of elegance or glamour to have that extra fabric dragging behind you on a long red carpet. Even some of the ballgowns with no tails were dragging on the floor. The men of the red carpet also invariably looked fantastic this year. It could be because some of the maverick dressers stayed home.

Best Dressed At Any Age

Hailee Steinfeld wearing Marchesa
at the 2011 Oscars

Hailee Steinfeld is a young lady who knows how to dress her age. This is more important than dressing well, because you could look gorgeous and still look ten years older than you are. I have been to countless weddings where all the young ladies are dressed and made up to perfection, except they look like decades older versions of themselves. This is why, young women should not shop in women's departments at the clothing stores. In this case, the designers at Marchesa custom made this beautiful and perfectly age appropriate dress. I love everything from the pale pink color, to the understated beading. The tailoring is perfect, because the bust line is perfect for a young woman, because it's really hard for a young woman to wear a strapless dress. I love the full skirt and the layers of tulle, which is perfect for a young lady. I know that Marchesa is experimenting with different shapes and skirt lengths. I am glad the dress doesn't go to the floor like a traditional ballgown should. But it's just a strange look, because it looks like a pair of feet under a large skirt. I think it would have been much better to have a shorter knee length skirt. It is the Oscars, but young women should be wearing the shorter dresses, as opposed to the middle aged women.

Natalie Portman wearing Rodarte
at the 2011 Oscars

When I found out that Natalie Portman was pregnant, I was glad, because I thought it would be an opportunity to see her wearing other types of dresses besides the sculptural and body conscious Rodarte dresses she usually wears. She did wear other designers this year and I am sorry to say the results were not superb. But this custom made Rodarte gown was the best look of the Oscars, which is amazing considering the tough competition this year. This look is a study in how to maximize your best assets, in addition to being a gorgeous and unique dress. The first strategy was to emphasize the arms, the upper body and to lengthen the torso. The gorgeous wide neckline is detailed and elegant with just a touch of beading that is really part of the design. The neckline and the diagonal lines emphasize the bust and draw the eye upward to the neck and face. This works so well that you hardly notice the baby bump, which is covered by a wide swath of fabric. I am normally not a fan of the loincloth or handkerchief look. But in this case the dress needed something on the bottom, to avoid looking like a big baggy skirt. This is a very simple dress, but the rich purple color is gorgeous on its own and holds my attention. The only problems are that it's a little too short in the front, and the train is just an extra mess of fabric that does nothing but take away from the dress. The Tiffany tassel earrings were not great. I think given the simplicity of the dress itself, she could have used a bracelet and a necklace to accent the wide neckline. Her hairstyle was too simple and inelegant, it looks like it was originally pinned back. I am not saying it was not intentional, it just looks like it fell from its original place and that is not what you want people thinking at an important event.

Anne Hathaway's 2011 Oscar Fashion Show

2011-03-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

For the 2011 Oscars Anne Hathaway had the special honor of being the youngest female Oscar hostess. Anne Hathaway has become a bona fide fashionista in the last few years, after a few initial missteps. The Oscars is always a fashion show and I suspect that part of the reason Hathaway was chosen to host was that her fashions would draw interest from the viewing audience. It was even reported that the Academy paid the fees of Hathaway's celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe (of the reality show The Rachel Zoe Project).
When I heard that Hathaway was hosting with co-host James Franco, I thought there would a lot of skit numbers and of course some dress changes along the way. I never thought that Hathaway would be changing dresses seven times during the three hour broadcast, when she wasn't even on stage most of the time. I also never imagined that Hathaway's hosting duties would mostly consist of staging a disjointed one woman fashion show. Since the show only included one singing number, there was really no rhyme or reason for Hathaway's costume changes, other than to show us a new look almost every time she walked on stage. Actually, her stylist Rachel Zoe commented that they wanted to have ten costume changes, but logistically it was too hard. Thank God they didn't, because that would have been even more ridiculous. There is no doubt that Rachel Zoe and Hathaway did a lot of work to pull off this fashion show. You would think the result would cement their reputations as fashion icons, well it didn't. In fact, none of the dresses they chose received much attention from the critics, because none of the dresses were better than good.

Anne Hathaway wearing vintage Valentino
on the 2011 Oscar Red Carpet

Hathaway's red carpet look was a vintage Valentino dress from 1981 and Mr. Valentino himself came along with the dress. I love Valentino and Hathaway has looked stunning in red gowns in the past. But this look was too costumey, which is always a risk with vintage gowns. The red roses and the messy bag like bustle made me think of a Spanish dancer's costume.
A lot of people commented that the dress didn't fit right, and it didn't, because it was too skin tight for even a thin woman like Hathaway. The top was too simple and it accentuated her worst feature, which is her hips. Then it went from skintight to a bag like bottom, the result was an inelegant mess. This is why one of my golden rules is, I don't care how much you love a dress, if it doesn't look right on you, it just doesn't work. I think that there were plenty of other red dresses in Valentino's vintage collection that would have looked much better than this. This look was a stylist's costume drama instead of a great fitting elegant dress. Unfortunately, it wasn't that dramatic either.
The accessories were not great either, from her grandma hairstyle to the joker red lips, which should be illegal, to the necklace that didn't do enough to balance the dress.

Anne Hathaway wearing Givenchy
at the 2011 Oscars

At the beginning of the ceremony, Hathaway walked on stage in this Givenchy dress with a big flowing skirt entrance that was pure movie star glamour. This was in my opinion, the best dress from the whole night and it was probably the most memorable, because of her grand entrance.
When I learned this was a Givenchy dress, I had to check the info three times, because I just couldn't believe it. I love the play on a corset where all the glamour of the dress is not in the front, that is definitely unique. The beading itself has a Givenchy twist to it, because when you look closely at the design, these are not little beads, the beads are huge shiny shapes that add a modern touch to the beading. I love the tight pleating that makes up the bust. The only thing I don't like about this dress is the straps that run across the middle. Givenchy couldn't resist putting in their trademark post apocalyptic warrior straps that are made from huge shiny washer like baubles. This is the only problem in an otherwise perfect dress that flatters Hathaway's figure perfectly. It pulls in her waist which creates the illusion of a bigger bust and the big skirt creates the illusion of rounder hips.
I love her flowing movie star hair that is a nice counterbalance for the very structured top of the dress.

Anne Hathaway wearing Versace
at the 2011 Oscars

Hathaway wore this Versace dress very briefly, because it was squeezed into the fashion show lineup, because she loved it so much. This is another structured gown with a flowing skirt, but it's worlds away from the elegance of the Givenchy gown.
The first thing I noticed was the neckline of this gown, which I really loved, because it's so unique and glamorous. But the dress itself unnerved me, because it looks like those red muscle structures from the anatomy books. I don't know if it was the intention, because I also see some Egyptian influence here with the loincloth look in the front, which I hate. If this dress wasn't influenced by an anatomy book, then it would have been much better in a lighter less gory color, perhaps a creme. I think the bottom line is that this dress looks like a futuristic costume from a sci-fi movie. I think that this is the general trend with Versace gowns, they are becoming too costumey in an effort to do something new and fresh every year.

Anne Hathaway wearing Armani Prive
at the 2011 Oscars

This Armani Prive dress was apparently custom made for Hathaway. I mention that, because the first thing I noticed about this dress is that it flatters her figure so perfectly. Again we have a dress that accentuates the bust, pulls in the waist and creates the illusion of rounder hips. Of course, it really helps that the people at Armani are masters of shape and tailoring. It's amazing that such a seemingly simple dress can have such a presence, because it fits so well.
I love the electric blue color and the liquid shimmer of the fabric. The modern shape is so refreshing when I think of red carpet dresses that look the same everytime. The only thing I don't like is the wraparound skirt look in the front.
This dress is not costumey, but it could be another great dress for a sci-fi movie that takes place in the not so distant future. I also love the sleek modern hair and the art deco Tiffany jewelry.

Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) 2011 Fashion Review

2011-02-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

I try not to do too many red carpet reviews, because I don't want to make it seem like this is a celebrity fashion blog. It is a real fashion blog for real women. I use celebrity fashion mishaps and triumphs to give fashion advice to real women. Usually, I start the awards season with the Golden Globe Awards (see the 2010 Golden Globes fashion review). This year I decided to skip the Golden Globes, because the Golden Globes fashions were a crazy 80's fashion nightmare combined with the sparkling dress trend from last year. Sometimes when you really don't have good things to say, it's best not to say it.
So, instead I decided to review the SAG awards, which had red carpet fashions with much more variety and significantly better looks than the Golden Globes. There were some interesting things happening at SAG fashion wise. The biggest surprise for me was that most people didn't seem like they came from the same fashion show, which is what happens when celebrities decide to wear the same reigning fashion trends.

SAG Awards 2011 Best Dressed

Mila Kunis wearing Alexander McQueen
at the 2011 SAG Awards

Mila Kunis' Alexander McQueen dress was universally liked by critics. I had some reservations, because the design of the dress is very simple. I am not too crazy about the bustier neckline, but it is a modern touch. I also don't like the tail that is dragging on the floor, when the dress is already voluminous enough.

What makes this dress special is the fabric dye pattern, which is very eye catching and beautiful. It looks like a piece of art and the use of the red color is fantastic and balanced with the other colors. This is a terrific dress for a young woman and it can be forgiving if you could stand to loose a few pounds. It is also a flexible look that can be worn during many different occassions, unlike a beaded heavy gown.

Hillary Swank wearing Versace
at the 2011 SAG Awards

When it comes to draped feminine figure hugging gowns, no one does it better than Versace. If you have the body to wear these generally very unforgiving statuesque gowns, like Hillary Swank does, you are guaranteed to be a showstopper. This gown is not exactly unique in style or design, but there is no doubt that it makes a goddess out of a woman. I love the Grecian neckline and the right amount of thoughtful draping that accentuates the curves and is not overdone.

As the red carpet looks are trending toward simpler designs, this gown is a smart move that really shows the meaning of red carpet glamour. This gown is certainly not for every occassion outside the red carpet. But when you want all eyes to be on you, sometimes you have to go big. This is so much better than a strapless ballgown.

Tina Fey wearing Oscar De La Renta
at the 2011 SAG Awards

I loved Tina Fey's style on the red carpet, because she was always the classy lady. She was never the fashionista or the showstopper, you could always count on her to look classy and elegant. Then she decided to experiment with riskier fashions and that's when she started ending up on worst dressed lists. I think with this gown she is back to her classy and elegant fashion sense, because Oscar De La Renta is one of the most elegant and traditional designers out there. He doesn't take too many risks and those women who don't consider themselves edgy fashionistas love his designs. Oscar De La Renta is known for slim figure hugging gowns and floral laces. This gown is not a showstopper, but it is perfect. It has the perfect classic shape with just the hint of a tail. The lace fabric is not too matronly, because of the bright color, which adds life and vibrancy to what could have been a boring lace dress. The flowers at the bust are whimsical. It's much better to wear a perfect gown like this, than a risky fashion experiment that you are likely to laugh at a year later.

White Dresses and Bridal Looks (Yes Bridal)

Angie Harmon in Monique Lhuillier
at the 2011 SAG Awards

The white dress trend was huge last year and we saw some beautiful white dresses. But I honestly didn't think the trend would continue this year. The problem with the white trend is that it's hard to design a white dress that doesn't look bridal, because bridal looks have expanded so much in the last decade.

First of all, as readers of this blog know, I am opposed to pretty much all fluffy feathers on dresses. It looks cheap, tacky and overpowers the wearer, as is so obvious in this case. I think that when Angie Harmon picked this dress, she thought she was being edgy with the almost sheer white corset, which looks like a perfect fit, because Monique Lhuillier is a master of fit and proportion and that is why I love her designs so much. In fact, the corset has been done to death in bridal designs for "edgy" modern brides. Monique Lhuillier also has a bridal gown collection. I have seen almost this exact dress in bridal collections so many times that it looks 100% like a modern wedding dress and should not be worn on the red carpet.

Winona Ryder in Alberta Ferretti
at the 2011 SAG Awards

Winona Ryder's gown from Alberta Ferretti is another example of a modern wedding dress look from the strapless top to the layers of tulle in the voluminous skirt. Also, this is not really a great dress, it seems to be various lengths of fabric just hanging like handkerchiefs in the front. Also, the top of the dress seems to be fitted tight for maximum cleavage, which is always a tacky move.
A lot of people commented on how old fashioned the handbag is. It definitely looks vintage, but it's not an ugly bag. The biggest problem is the pairing of a black accessory with a white dress in such a stark way. Also, Winona's hairstyle just doesn't fit in with the white tulle dress. Overall, this look is a mess. It's really a shame because, Alberta Ferretti has beautiful wearable dresses that would have been great looks for Ryder.

Amy Adams wearing Herve L. Leroux

at the 2011 SAG Awards

Amy Adams is always a fashion maverick. I like this Herve L. Leroux dress, because it's an example of a white dress that doesn't look bridal. I like the resort chic neckline, because you don't often see this type of casual modern neckline on a red carpet dress. I also like the draping of the skirt, because it strikes the perfect balance between too much and too little.
However, I do think that this is not really a red carpet worthy dress, it looks too casual to be called a gown. It really is a resort/garden party type dress. I am glad that Amy paired it with a simple sleek pony tail and very simple accessories. She didn't make the mistake of trying to make the dress into a gown with a big hairdo and elaborate accessories.

Natalie Portman wearing an Azzaro gown
and Tiffany jewels
at the 2011 SAG Awards

Natalie Portman got a lot of press coverage because she is this year's "it" actress and because she was wearing $2 million in Tiffany jewels to complement her white Azzaro gown. The problem with her look is that it really does not look like a million dollars as the saying goes. These jewels seem to consist of earrings and two bracelets worn one on each hand, which is always a questionable move. When I think of $2 million in jewels, I expect to be vowed by a statement piece like a large gem that catches attention or an elaborate statement necklace.
Of course she decided not to wear a necklace, because of the embellishment at the top of the gown, but it's just not enough to make the gown memorable. It's essentially a long column of white and the neckline looks to be too high.

Eva Longoria wearing Georges Hobeika
at the 2011 SAG Awards

I always admire Eva Longoria, because she likes to take risks, sometimes they pay off and sometimes it's a disaster. This Georges Hobeika dress is a fashion risk that was the worst white dress on the red carpet. The asymmetrical neckline is just atrocious, because there is no real design to it. The bottom of the dress is overdraped.

It seems that this year we are having a minimalist design trend, where fabrics are just draped every which way but there is no thought out design to it. In all fairness to Georges Hobeika who has produced some amazing gowns, I have to say that this dress looked very different and much better on the runway, because the neckline was draped over the shoulders and down the arms, and you can clearly see the Grecian look that the designer was going for. This dress has been altered to be more revealing especially on the sides, which is just tacky. It has also lost the original design which was quite unique and beautiful.

Valentine's Day Gift Guide For Women and Men 2011

2011-02-02T01:16:00.000-08:00

Every year, I post a Valentine's Day Gift Guide For Guys, (see 2010's guide). Every year I caution men and women, especially men, because they are the ones buying the flowers and chocolates, against spending money on things that don't have a lasting impact. I say it every year, spend more money on the gift than anything else, because that is the item that really matters. My advice for where to buy romantic gifts and how to get the best deals is pretty much the same in 2011 as it was in 2010, so again please see 2010's guide.
However, before you go off to buy expensive chocolates and flowers, I do have an even stronger word of advice against excessive spending this year. Economic conditions in the USA and around the world are quite bad and it seems there is no end in sight. Most hard working couples have been depriving themselves of luxuries for a long time now. Let's face it, Valentine's Day is a holiday that is filled with gimmicks, from the heart shaped chocolate boxes, to the iconic dozen roses that die within five days.

Godiva's 29 piece Valentine's Day chocolate box is a whopping $75.
It's so expensive because it is in a Valentine's Day novelty box.

One dozen roses with vase from 1800flowers.com.
Are a dozen roses worth $90?

This is why, you should really spend your hard earned money this Valentine's Day, buying sensible gifts that are really useful for the person you are giving it to. Again, I can't emphasize this enough, think about what your Valentine's Day budget is and spend most of it on the gift, not on flowers, teddy bears, chocolates and other novelty items.

Before you purchase any gift, however romantic it might seem, ask yourself these tough questions.

When will he/she be able to use this?

How often will he/she be able to use this?

How long can this product be used before it wears out, goes out of fashion etc?

Is this a "normal" everyday product, or a gimmicky novelty type product?

Is this a good value for my money, considering the above?

Stay away from all novelty type gifts. You might be asking yourself, what exactly do you mean by novelty? In short, a sweatshirt that says "Always be my baby" is a novelty item. Yes, it will be fun when she opens it and she may even wear it in the house for a week, but once the excitement wears off, that $40 novelty item will go to the back of the closet and never see the light of day again. I noticed a trend of internet companies offering to personalize ordinary products at outrageous prices. Products, like coffee mugs for $18 plus shipping. Novelty items don't just come from novelty companies, they also come from sensible companies like Macys. These companies want to cash in on the market of useless novelty stuff too.

Personalized boxers for $27

Is this candy or jewelry?

Valentine's novelty ring sold at Macys for $15

These novelty gifts may not seem like they cost a lot, but imagine that you could buy a better real gift, if you don't spend that $10-$20 extra on a novelty gift that is useless in the long term.

Emmy Awards 2010 Red Carpet Fashions For Women and Men

2010-08-31T23:56:00.000-07:00

In General

This was one of the worst fashion red carpets in the last decade. This is the only time in recent memory where I have looked at the red carpet on television and in over 200 photographs and I have found only a handful of exceptional dresses that are worthy of the red carpet. In my mind only Mariska Hargitay and Kim Kardashian, both of whom are not normally known for their exceptional fashion choices, stood out in normal looking dresses. There were a few okay dressers, like Julia Louis Dreyfuss, who is conservative ever year, but mostly it was one disaster after another. For some reason, all the celebrities decided to choose dresses that tacked on as much as humanly possible. I believe this is the origin for the word tacky. There were long dress tails, fringe, balls of fabric and flounces everywhere. There was also the dipped in glitter showgirl dress trend that refuses to go away this year. Finally, there was the crazy fabric patterns. It seems really strange to me that there is all this excess, because designers tend to be in a less is more elegant mood during troubled economic times. Looking at this red carpet, you get the feeling that fashion has lost its mind. I looked at the fashions coming off the runways this year and there were plenty of gorgeous exceptional fashions. So, again I have to ask where these dresses came from, and why did the celebrities decide to go all out crazy. This is especially shocking considering that the Emmy Awards tend to be safer and more conservative fashionwise than the Oscars or the Grammys.

Tin Fey in a crazy print dress.

Kristin Wigg wearing a dress with
extra balls of fabric on the shoulders.

Christina Henricks wearing a washed out eggplant
dress with bits of fringe everywhere.

Mariska Hargitay wearing one of the
few red carpet worthy dresses.

Chelsea Clinton and the Wedding Trends of Today

2010-08-01T01:23:00.000-07:00

Chelsea Clinton was married on July 31, to fiance Marc Mezvinsky at the former estate of John Jacob Astor IV in Rhinebeck, New York, which is now known as Astor Court. This wedding was dubbed the "Wedding of the Century" by multiple media sources who estimated that it would be a grand very formal wedding that reportedly cost anywhere between $1 to up to $5 million. This was not in the same vein as Jenna Bush's very private semi-formal wedding at President George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch. This wedding was grand and formal indeed with an estimated 400 guests dressed in tuxedo and gown formality and even all the staff including the electricians were asked to wear tuxedos and formal wear according to news reports.

Astor Court, Rhinebeck, New York

I won't go into too many specific details, because this post is really about the wedding fashions and the wedding trends of today.

The Dress

There was so much speculation about the wedding dress beforehand as there always is in situations like this. I personally like to take a wait and see approach. Oscar De La Renta is a close personal friend of the Clintons and has designed almost all of the most important gowns of Hillary Clinton's life, including her gown for her daughter's wedding as it happens. Not only that, Oscar De La Renta's history in designing stately, classic and elegant gowns for political royalty is undeniable. His gowns are not the flashy celebrity lures that might attract some of the notable celebrities out there. But they are just the ticket for those ladies who need to be elegant, sophisticated and timeless, including Nancy Reagan, Mrs. Bush and her daughters just to name a few clients in recent presidential history.

Jenna Bush's Wedding Dress By Oscar De La Renta

In short, Oscar De La Renta's presence in the wedding was all but assured and he was believed to be the designer of the wedding dress. But the plot thickened when Chelsea Clinton was photographed in front of Vera Wang's New York showroom. I have to say that Vera Wang has produced some amazing gown collections this year and her evolution in these collections is also part of the evolution of the wedding dress trends that we have been experiencing in the past decade. Without further ado, this is Chelsea Clinton in a custom made Vera Wang gown that consists of layers of tulle overlayed by a hand sewn organza outerlayer and a jeweled waistline. Vera Wang also provided the dresses for the bridesmaids.

Chelsea Clinton being escorted down the aisle by her father and former President Bill Clinton. At this time, this is the only photo that shows the dress in full length view.

When Vera Wang first gained worldwide attention as a wedding gown designer for celebrities and ordinary women alike, it was a time when women were looking to break free of the traditional glittery, puffy ballgown dresses that are commonly associated with young princess brides. Vera Wang was happy to provide just the opposite, instead of layers of heavy silks and gowns that made the bride stumble, she provided minimalist gossamer gowns with little embellishment and no fuss for the bride who loves Giorgio Armani pantsuits more than beaded dresses.

Vera Wang wedding gown from the Spring 2000 Ready to Wear collection.

It's hard to believe that the Vera Wang of 2000 is the same designer who also designed Chelsea Clinton's multi-layered, full ballgown with the complicated flounces and the wide glittery jeweled waistline. The fact is she is and she is not.   As always Vera Wang is a master of responding to the trends and giving the modern bride what she wants.   In the early 2000's it was cool and sophisticated to rebel against big cathedral weddings and binding tradition to opt for beach weddings and slinky sexy dresses.   Of course not every woman adopted this revolution. I am as much a feminist as the next gal, but I still love glittery ballgowns and formal weddings. This is why I wasn't truly a Vera Wang fan until now.
In recent years, brides young and old have gone back to tradition somewhat.   Today's bride understands the beauty and appeal of traditional elements like lace, beading, full skirts, and multi-layered gowns.   Designers and brides understand that a mixture of these elements can be adopted and modernized to create gowns that are unique in timeless elegance combined with modern sophistication and yes easy of wear as well.

I believe that Chelsea Clinton's gown and the Vera Wang collections this year are fabulous examples of how a modernist can adopt traditional elements to express her style with a little more flair and glamour than the minimalist modern gowns that have been Vera Wang's signature.    I loved Chelsea Clinton's gown, because it's the kind of gown that feels special like a wedding gown should feel and yet is not the same as a poufy glittery ballgown.    I always say if you can imagine a gown in a color other than shades of creme or white and it works just as well, it's probably not a "special" enough gown to be a wedding gown.   This gown was modern and sophisticated, yet recalled so many classic elements from the flounces to the jeweled waist. Even the veil was modern and spare in style yet went all the way to the floor like a traditional cathedral veil.

Chelsea Clinton and groom wearing a traditional Burberry suit.

In another wedding tradition that has firmly taken hold in the last ten years, Vera Wang actually created two gowns for Chelsea Clinton. There is the elaborate ceremony gown shown in the photos, and a second gown for the reception. No photo was released of the second gown, but there is a description. According to the media it was a Grecian style gown with a narrow black grosgrain belt. This idea of changing into a second gown for the reception comes from brides who want an elaborate ballgown, but feel that it is too much for the reception when they want to dance and mingle with guests. Looking at Chelsea Clinton's gown, I can understand why she would want to change into something that is easier to move in for the reception.

However, I am not a fan of this idea in general. The reason is that brides spend thousands of dollars on a wedding gown that they will only wear for one day. When they change into the reception gown, the one day really becomes two hours because the majority of the wedding day is spent at the reception. So that beautiful special wedding dress becomes less special when you suddenly change into something completely different for the reception. Of course some wedding gowns are completely unwieldy even without the train dragging behind the bride at the reception.

The couture Dior wedding dress worn by Melania Trump was so unwieldy she could only sit on a stool instead of a chair.

This is why I think all wedding gowns except in very special couture situations, such as the Dior gown that Melania Trump wore to her wedding, should be designed for the whole day as far as ease of movement is concerned. Chelsea Clinton can certainly afford it, but the average bride should not be expected to spend even more money to purchase a second reception dress just so she could wear her dream dress for the ceremony.

The Men

I confess I have never been a fan of the traditional bow-tie tuxedo with the black buttons. I am especially not a fan of the prom like patterned satin vests worn with the traditional tuxedo with the satin stripe on the sides of the pants. So, I fully support any notion of modernizing men's formal wear. On that note, the father of the bride, Bill Clinton and the groom Marc Mezvinsky wore suits that were as modern as could be. The groom's suit was designed by Burberry who also designed the ties for the wedding party. The designer of Bill Clinton's suit is unknown.

Bill and Hillary Clinton with bride Chelsea Clinton and groom

I like grooms who wear ties instead of bow ties to a wedding. But I think this is a clear case where the suit is too modern and too business like for a formal affair.   The media described it as a tuxedo because it was meant to be a tuxedo, but there are no tuxedo elements here except for the slim lapels which can exist on a business suit as well. It looks like the groom and Bill Clinton are just coming in from a business meeting.   The slim young businessman ties are not helping the case at all. This is especially not working when you are standing next to the bride and mother of the bride who are wearing full ballgowns. I think they tried to be comfortable and modern and as far away from the tuxedo look as possible. You can see in the photo that the suits are fairly loose fitting unlike a crisp tuxedo. This modern young businessman look is a clear mistake considering that the rest of the wedding is ballgown and black tie formal including the bride's gown. I would bet that many of the guests are wearing much more formal looks than the groom and father of the bride.

Mother of the Bride

The traditional look for a mother of the bride has been some kind of two piece suit or a straight dress with an embellished jacket.   This is usually in some kind of less than flattering pastel color like pink.   I always thought that was such a shame, because to me it's kind of like having a big formal party where everyone is wearing gowns and glittery dresses and you come in a pink skirt suit or a dress with a heavy jacket.   Even to this day when I am asked to give fashion advice to bridal parties, the hardest thing to do is to select a sophisticated mother of the bride dress that is also glamorous without being a cliche.

Hillary Clinton of course is the woman who is known for her largely business dress code of pantsuits. She was the first First Lady to be photographed in Vogue magazine in a crisp white blouse and black pants instead of the usual dresses and gowns of other First Ladies.   Yet, she is also a woman who knows when the occasion calls for glamour and a gown instead of a suit or a toned down look.    Unfortunately, there is no photo that shows Hillary Clinton's Oscar De La Renta mother of the bride gown in full, so it is hard to give an opinion on it.   It certainly looks very traditional with what appears to be a full skirt and a traditional sweetheart neckline with tulle accents.   I can't say whether or not I like it, without seeing the full dress.   I think it looks very age appropriate while maintaining a certain understated sexiness that would have been lost in a bulky suit jacket.

Project Runway 2010 Bryant Park Fashion Show Review

2010-04-23T23:52:00.000-07:00

The impact of the fashion reality show Project Runway (currently on the Lifetime Network) on the fashion world has been discussed at length in many different contexts. I do watch Project Runway because I always like to see the innovations and techniques that other designers are using. But I don't discuss the various fashions from each episode on this blog because this blog is not a fashion afficionado blog, it is a Real Fashion blog for the everyday woman. Project Runway just like any other reality show is largely a contrived environment that is hardly a mirror of what is going on at a real working fashion company. I can't deny the reality of the hard work and designer angst that goes into each creation, however. I do love the finale episodes because that is the time when the top three designers have an opportunity to work on a real collection on their own terms without the artificial time pressures and limitations of the challenge episodes. The result is three mini-fashion shows in a huge Bryant Park tent where each of the top three designers showcase ten looks as part of a collection. The current season of Project Runway, season 7 ended on April 22, 2010 when the final juding of the three fashion shows was conducted and a winner was declared.
I have never posted about Project Runway before, but I felt compelled to do it this year because I saw very interesting things happening in the collections and I thought the clothes were more relatable and wearable than they have ever been on the show. Keep in mind that wearable and relatable does not mean you should wear them.
This year's finalists were Mila Hermanovski, age 40, Emilio Sosa age 43, and ultimately the winner Seth Aaron Henderson age 38.

Mila Hermanovski

In truth I was really surprised when Mila made it to the finals. I think this was a clear case of having competitors that were worse than she was and made some crucial mistakes, as opposed to a case of her standing out from her competitors. She is the ultimate example of a designer who did the same thing throughout the competition and in her final collection. She used black and white mainly to make color and pattern blocked creations throughout the competition. Her taste level throughout the competition was questionable, often resulting in the kind of outfits that you might see in not so great department stores and discount stores.

Mila Hermanovski Project Runway Episode 1

This boring and downright ugly outfit is a perfect example of something someone might have purchased from a discount store in the 1990's. The large bulky jacket with the busy pattern is hardly a match for the short basic skirt. Consumers often run away from large capelike jackets with no buttons and wide collars, because it makes the wearer look wide and bulky. No buttons means no anchors to prevent the jacket from flapping and falling down.

Mila Hermanovski Project Runway Episode 4

Mila's attempt to apply her color blocking technique to every outfit she made often resulted in bizarre outfits like this one. Frankly, this looks like a shiny patriotic costume rather than a dress and no woman should be wearing it.

Oscar 2010 Red Carpet Fashion Review For Women and Men

2010-03-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

I didn’t have high hopes for the Oscars this year because I thought it would be more of the beading bonanza we saw at the Golden Globes and Grammy’s. I really love beaded dresses, but most of what I’ve been seeing this year at the Globes and Grammy’s was such a tacky excess that I really wasn’t looking forward to seeing more of it at the Oscars. However, I am happy to say I was completely wrong in my Oscar fashion predictions. There were in fact hardly any allover beaded dresses, which is the kind of dipped in glitter look that we have been seeing a lot of this year. Instead there were so many unique gowns that this year ended up being one of the most interesting Oscar red carpets in recent memory. The most boring Oscar red carpets are the ones where everybody seems to follow the same trend or theme, almost as if the dresses are all part of the same elaborate fashion show. But this year it was anything goes with dresses that were widely varied in shape, style and color. You might think that there were more less well known designers with all this unique fashion. In fact, the designers represented were the usual suspects like Armani and Marchesa, who worked hard to innovate and push themselves in new directions. I admire the women like Vera Farmiga who took fashion risks and made it work. This was also a really a great year in men’s fashion with men’s looks that really tried to put a spin on the traditional tuxedo. Of course when the red carpet tends to go for the unique, bold and beautiful there are bound to be some serious fashion flops, and there were definitely some bad ones this year. The bright side is that some of the women who were fashion don’ts at the Golden Globes redeemed themselves in a big way at the Oscars. I always prefer to see women who take the fashion risks rather than play it safe with that black dress or the very simple strapless dress. So, if I criticize people, most of the time I am also doing it with admiration for their risk taking.

What Will You Do With All Your 2010 Winter Olympics, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, “Official” Merchandise?

2010-03-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

It's been two weeks since the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The country and the world seemed to be enthralled with Olympic fever just two weeks ago. The broadcast of the Olympic games on NBC was the highest rated program on television. Upon their return to the USA, our successful atheletes were doing the rounds from the Today show to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Now, two weeks after the Olympics is officially over, it seems almost like a distant memory. The only person still in the spotlight is figure skating champion Evan Lysacek who will be appearing on ABC's Dancing With The Stars. While the world is already looking to London for the next Olympics, the Vancouver Olympics may not be over for thousands of people who have a ton of Vancouver stuff they just don't know what to do with.

Even before the opening ceremony was set to begin, I was already writing this blog post in my head, because I knew that people would be getting caught up in Olympic merchandise fever. I still have stuff that was given to me (by my dad) from the Olympics in Atlanta and then in Salt Lake City, stuff that is now more than a decade old. The Winter Olympics at Vancouver or any Olympics is a spectacular unique gathering of athletes that is unmatched by any other international sports competition. But we all know by now that it is a very expensive gathering with soaring costs in the hundreds of millions that must be paid by the city that is hosting this affair. So, why are cities scrambling to bid for the next Olympics in the middle of a worldwide recession? Well, part of it is pride that is irrespective of economics. But a huge part of it is that the host city hopes to recoup most of its costs through tourism which includes the sale of official and unofficial Olympic merchandise. Merchandise is sold to the tune of millions of units of various types of Olympic items from $8 pins to $150 jackets. Official Olympic merchandise in sold at every Olympics and will continue to be sold because it is a money maker and people do clamor for it. There was a brief period during the Atlanta Olympics when the supply couldn’t keep up with the demand for the US teams’ official merchandise. I looked at the official online store for 2010 Olympic merchandise two days after the start of the games and I could see that several of the most reasonably priced items were already sold out.

The Olympics is obviously not the only sporting event that sells merchandise. In fact we all know that organizations count on merchandise revenue to outpace ticket revenue. This is true in non sports related venues as well. You could pay less than $72 for a Disneyland ticket, and walk out with $145 worth of T-shirts, Mickey Mouse hats and the like. TV shows are no strangers to merchandise revenue either. Even the Deadliest Catch ships have official merchandise.

Events like the Super Bowl have merchandise every year, and it isn’t cheap either. Super Bowl jackets were $225 during the 2009 Super Bowl. All major sports teams have merchandise associated with them produced by various companies that are making millions on selling this stuff. Frankly, it’s gotten ridiculous. Here in Los Angeles, one of our biggest sports draws is Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. In recent years it seems that every time Kobe does anything new merchandise is produced. If the Lakers make the playoffs, we get merchandise, if they make the championship game, yet another deluge of new merchandise, if they win the championship, merchandise yet again. If Kobe is in the All Star Game, which he is in every year, yet more Kobe All Star merchandise is promptly produced.

It’s easy to get into the fever of an event while it’s happening. If you look at shots of the audience at any Olympic event, you will see virtually everyone wearing or waving some manner of novelty merchandise to cheer their country, their favorite athlete or the Olympics in general. The same is true at any Yankees, Lakers, Red Sox or other major sporting event.

Those of us who have been to a Disney park with kids usually make a solemn vow not to go home with anymore junk we haven’t figured out what to do with since the last time we were there. Yet as always we end up with a small collection of Mickey Mouse hats, yellow booties and souvenir cups that we don’t know what to do with. We could throw it away, but it seems like such a waste since we pay so much money for those ultimately useless things. Some things that we buy at these events are such novelty items that they are completely useless. What can you do with a novelty foam finger outside a sporting event?

Besides the obviously novelty items, there are many other things we buy at events that are not so useless. Most articles of clothing are in this category. The problem is that most event related merchandise comes with an invisible expiration date. It's not a coincidence that I am writing this blog now. If you are still wearing your Olympic merchandise, it's time to stop now, at least in public settings where you want to be taken seriously. The problem is that we live in a society where new is king and being or appearing to be behind the times is a bad thing. Anything that relates to a specific event that happened at a specific time has an expiration date. Anything that has the year printed on it has a short expiration date. Would you want to go to work wearing your Atlanta Olympics jacket?

If you must buy something with an expiration date, at least you can avoid buying the expensive merchandise like jackets. Instead you can show your spirit with this $8 pin that you can keep for the sake for nostalgia for as long as you want to. A friend of mine who actually went to Vancouver for the Olympics told me that most buyers were smart enough to pass up the expensive items. Reasonably priced t-shirts ranging from $20 to $30 were the most popular sales. People chose to wear them over their own warmer clothing, instead of opting for the expensive sweatshirts and other warmer and much more expensive merchandise.

There are certainly some people who want to preserve their event related merchandise to share with future generations. I admire that spirit. The truth is I am not sure if our grandchildren will be interested in our Olympic stuff but who knows? Tickets stubs from Woodstock are the stuff of legend. If you plan to preserve clothing items, the best way to do is to put them in acid free boxes with acid free tissue paper. This is how fashion and costume collectors do it. Do not store other non clothing items with clothing, because the metals in items like pins can stain clothing over time.

Some people buy event related merchandise believing that the expense is justified because this stuff may be worth some money someday. I am sorry to say this is for the most part a complete falsehood, unless you plan to wait around for 200 years or so in the hopes that whatever merchandise you have will become much more rare than it is today. Remember, in order for something to be valuable it has to be relatively rare and people have to be interested in buying it. Most event merchandise is produced in massive quantities, meaning it would take more than 100 years for enough of it to be lost or discarded for any of this merchandise to be considered rare. Roman coins from 2000 years ago are worth less than $100 today, precisely because thousands of them have been found and because of that they are not considered rare coins.

Some items are advertised as limited edition or collectible. These are just words that don't mean anything unless the item is a numbered limited edition with a small quantity production. If you buy something that is one of only 5,000 units that could mean something. But if the item is claiming to be a limited edition with an unknown number of units that are produced, then you don't really know if your item is one of 10,000 or one of 100,000. Really limited edition merchandise is always expensive, so you have to decide if you have an item that is really collectible over time. There is no point in having a limited edition item if no one really wants to collect it.

We live in a culture where we want to express our support for whatever it is that we have an emotional connection to. Most people are some kind of sports fans. Besides sports we all have our favorite TV shows, bands, actors etc. So, the bottom line is that most people are going to buy some kind of merchandise. I hope that after reading this post, you can be smart about what you buy knowing that it's going to become a problem later on. The best thing you can do is try to stick to merchandise that doesn't come with an invisible expiration date. For example, instead of buying a Kobe Bryant 2010 All Star Game T-shirt, you can buy a regular Kobe Byrant jersey which you can wear as long as Kobe Bryant is playing basketball. You can also support the team as opposed to a specific player, because while players may change teams or retire, the team as a franchise is not going to go away anytime soon.

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony Fashions

2010-02-19T20:22:00.000-08:00

Exactly a week ago today the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics officially began in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 12, 2010 even before the official opening ceremony held in BC Place, which is the main Olympic Stadium. It’s been a week of Olympic competition and some tremendous things have happened as they do at every Olympics. There is a lot I would love to say about the Olympics, but since this is a fashion blog I am going to keep it strictly about the fashion.

Parade of Nations-The Uniforms

The biggest part of Olympics fashion is the uniforms and designing those uniforms is no easy task. It’s a daunting challenge for any team designer to come up with a color combination and a style that is different from everyone else’s style. Usually teams opt to represent something about their nation.

United States

The US uniforms are usually some combination of red white and blue with blue being the main color. This year wasn’t very different, but there was a twist. The uniforms are apparently designed by Ralph Lauren with a prominent Ralph Lauren Polo logo emblazoned on classic navy blue Ralph Lauren bubble jackets. The jackets had USA emblazoned across the width of the back. Underneath the jackets were classic cable knit Ralph Lauren turtleneck sweaters which is as much a symbol of Ralph Lauren as the polo logo. I love cable knit sweaters and apparently the athletes love them too, because many of them were wearing the sweaters during interviews before the games. The sweaters have an Olympic patch sewn on the arm, which I thought was a great touch. The team outfits were completed with classic Ralph Lauren Christmas beanie hats complete with Christmas trees and reindeer. I thought this was a little strange because even with the winter theme in place, it is clearly not Christmas. The team would have been better off with a snow themed design or just plain white beanies. The fact is the US athletes look awesome. If you wanted to represent a combination of athleticism and elegance at the same time you couldn’t pick a better American designer than Ralph Lauren. I am not a big fan of polo shirts, but even I have to admit that the Polo section of the Ralph Lauren brand produces the kind of menswear that is now iconic of America. In fact Ralph Lauren is selling these Olympic items on it's website in a special Olympic collection.

Austria

Austria’s delegation chose blue men’s blazers (purple blazers for the ladies) with gold buttons. It was a distinctive choice in a sea of winter jackets.

Bermuda and the Cayman Islands

The folks from the Cayman Islands wore straw hats. The team from Bermuda also chose very conservative navy blue blazers with ties. The twist was that they were wearing red Bermuda shorts which have become iconic of Bermuda and the island lifestyle.

Czech Republic

I thought I was the only one talking about Olympic fashion, but apparently I am not. Most bloggers could not ignore these geometric modern art pants worn with normal looking jackets. I am not sure what they were thinking, maybe free publicity was their main goal. These pants look like kids' pajamas to me, and pajamas with a winter jacket just looks funny however you look at it.

Finland

Finland probably had the most interesting uniform consisting of white jackets with crazy freeform rope patterns printed on them. I thought it was a real standout in a sea of very similar types of uniforms. It’s interesting because jackets with a very similar rope pattern look were sold in the US this year.

Other nations made interesting uniform choices as well. The colors red white and blue were chosen for most of the uniforms, mostly because most flags are some combination of these colors. Winter was also a theme for some uniforms such as the ones from Estonia which had snowflake patterns on the jackets.

The Fashion and Themes of the Opening Ceremony

The theme of the Opening Ceremony was the focus on the individual. This was a sharp departure from China’s Beijing opening ceremony which was the opposite of focusing on the individual. There were literally a thousand people dressed in identical clothes beating identical drums in unison among other very choreographed events. In contrast this opening ceremony had almost no coordinated costumes. There were a lot of dancing numbers and each dancer wore a different costume from the next, almost as if they were dressing from their own closet. This gave the whole show a real down to earth character and really focused on each individual performer. You also had a feeling that you were watching the real individuals who were a part of this culture, not a crazy theater show.

The Four Nations

The ceremonies opened with the original four native nations of the Vancouver region. These nations were then joined in native dancers by other native tribes and nations. Every single person wore different traditional clothing. There were dresses, jackets, shawls and everything else trimmed with elaborate bead and fringework patterns. There were colors, fabric patterns, furs, feathers and a whole bunch of other indescribable beautiful things. Native designs are a continued source of inspiration for many of today’s most prominent contemporary designers. Even foreign designers like Jean Paul Gaultier and John Galliano have drawn a lot of inspiration from native designs.

The Winter White Look

The overall theme of the ceremonies was white, which I thought was perfect for a Winter Olympics. White ponchos were distributed to the stadium audience which helped to create some of the beautiful elements of the show.

The same white theme carried over to the men and women who carried the signs for the nations. They wore white contemporary sweaters with modern white winter coats. Even here there was some variation in the clothes depending on the individual. This was a real change from the bubbly Moschino costumes that were worn by the nation sign bearers during the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics.

The cultural representatives who carried the Olympic flag also carried the white theme again with very classic long white coats for the men and women. Each person wore a slightly different white knit top, which was great because they could choose what was flattering for them while still maintaining a cohesive look.

Individual Fashions

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife were in the dignitaries’ box high above the stadium floor. The First Lady wore a very simple knit red dress with an A-skirt, which was not exactly fashion forward. It reminded me of a very traditional Christmas party dress.

In sharp contrast Michaelle Jean the Governor General of Canada wore a very fashion forward metallic gray military style suit. It was refreshing to see a woman politician wearing something other than the traditional business suit, yet still looking very elegant and businesslike.

The first performer was the amazing Nikki Yanofsky who is a 16 year old jazz prodigy. She performed O Canada which is the Canadian national anthem. She was wearing a knee length red dress with geometric folds. She accessorized with a slim black belt and red not black shoes. She looked fantastic and set just the right tone for the occasion which is glamorous yet not red carpet glamorous. When you know you are going to be on TV or in a stadium where people are very far away from you, you don’t want to wear anything that is really detailed because the details become a messy blur to the audience.

Next up was a duet with Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado singing a song called “Bang the Drum.” Nelly Furtado wore a metallic blue skin tight knee length one shoulder dress. This dress was such a cliché, with the bow on the shoulder and the 80’s metallic shine. I think she thought she was being fashion forward, but it was fashion backward. She made a classic mistake that many performers have made in the past, her dress was so tight she couldn’t move.
Bryan Adams looked like an even bigger mess with a Depression era suit, shirt unbuttoned, tie loose and askew. It couldn’t be worse really.

Later on it was Sarah McLachlan performing her song “Ordinary Miracle” in front of a white piano. She wore a simple black dress with a huge three flower crystal necklace. The necklace was definitely a gaudy too big piece, and pairing it with a minimal black dress didn’t really minimize it. However, I think she decided to go big knowing that the audience was so far away from her.

The final performance I want to talk about is opera diva Measha Brueggergosman who sang the Olympic anthem. She did so in a strapless gold lame dress with a huge ball skirt and a train. Her singing and her style from the neck up was simply stunning. But I couldn’t focus on any of it because I was distracted by her really uneven neckline and the costumey gold lame fabric, which should never be made into a dress under any circumstances. It wasn’t a well made dress and it was a really shame for such an amazing singer to walk out into an international stage wearing that. She could have worn the same type of dress in a beaded or sequined fabric that was real fabric, not a gold lame costume.

Fiddlers, Tap Dancers and More

My favorite segment of the Canadian culture show was a segment of dancing and fiddling inspired by Canada’s bar scene. Show creator David Atkins was literally inspired by visiting traditional bars in the Vancouver area and soaking in the spirit of the people. There were many performers each wearing different layers of street clothes with a lot of plaids, jeans, and pocket chains.

The Lighting of the Olympic Cauldron

Perhaps the most handsome people in the whole ceremony were the four athletes who lit the Olympic cauldron again in white outfits. They were two time Olympic gold medalist Catriona Le May Doan, basketball player Steve Nash, Olympic skier Nancy Greene, who was dubbed Canada’s female athlete of the 20th century, and finally international hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

The Grammy Awards 2010 Red Carpet Review

2010-02-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

I don't write a fashion review for every award show during the year. For example, there were some outstanding fashions at the SAG Awards 2010, and there were fashion lessons to be learned from the SAG red carpet, but I chose not to write about them because I don't want to make it seem like this blog is entirely about reviewing red carpet fashions. But I always make sure that I write about Grammy fashions because to me the Grammy Awards is a radically different event from the Oscars, Golden Globes or Emmy Awards. I always think of the Grammy's as the everyday equivalent of a really cool party at a very exclusive club. The fashions have to reflect this idea of a hip edgy party as opposed to a very formal Oscar type award show. This is why it's always interesting to see how we can keep it glamourous and edgy at the same time without resorting to too casual or too cliche looks. I also like the Grammy's because this is one event where the men can't get away with a formal tux and have to really interpret hip fashion in an elegant and sophisticated way. During most awards shows men's fashions are a sea of black, but during the Grammy's men need to dress just as creatively as women. This is an important fashion lesson for men and women because these days we are as likely to be invited to an important affair at a nightclub as a formal affair at a traditional banquet hall type venue. You may even be asked to go to this type of party during the course of your job if you happen to work for a hip industry like the music industry or the fashion industry. This is why it's important to know how to play that fine line between hip, edgy and trashy and inappropriate.

The Futuristic Trend

Lady Gaga wearing Armani Prive
at the 2010 Grammy Awards

Lady Gaga is the talk of the Grammys after wearing this Armani Prive dress and a green tinkerbell like outfit on stage complete with her trademark wings that is reportedly also designed by Armani. The green outfit was so bad, it even got a mention on the mostly political The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

Unlike her stage outfit this red carpet look was actually a success, a success as far as Lady Gaga's style goes. There is a fashion lesson we can all learn from Lady Gaga. Even though her outfits are made of unusual materials, most of them are based on classic shapes which is why there is a strange appeal to her fashion madness. This dress employs a classic peekabo ball skirt and strapless neckline which Armani has used many times before to great effect. You might wonder how Armani could go from the classic Armani suit to this. The truth is that while Armani suiting and sportswear is very classic, his gowns tend to be on the flamboyant side and that absolutely works because he balances flamboyance with elegance. Here, he actually pulls it off because the outrageousness of the textures is balanced by the classic shape of the gown. You can employ the same idea of balancing elegance with glamour and innovation in your fashion choices.

The things that don't work are the fairy godmother star in Gaga's hand. Also, how in the world is she walking with those heelless (It's so crazy I had to invent a new word) shoes.

Beyonce wearing Stephane Rolland
at the 2010 Grammy Awards

Beyonce is always inspired by the great Tina Turner. She went through the shiny glamour dress Tina phase, and has transitioned to a futuristic even full on robotic fashion phase that may be inspired by Tina's Beyond the Thunderdome era. Her short black on stage performance dress designed by Versace was certainly inspired by Tina's Thunderdome era and was a much more interesting and glamorous look than this washed out red carpet dress by Stephane Rolland. If this dress was a gold color, it would be yet another C3PO costume worn by Beyonce and other celebrities as well. The patterns remind me of circuit boards and starship walls. Some critics said this was Aztec inspired, but I think it looks more futuristic. The garish and clunky Lorraine Schwartz are definitely communicating with the mothership. The dress does look unique and interesting but not interesting enough. This is certainly not the kind of dress that anyone should be wearing to the hippest coolest party of the year.

I do like Beyonce's hair and I am glad that she is wearing minimal hair for once.

Jennifer Nettles wearing Victoria Beckham
at the 2010 Grammy Awards

When I saw Jennifer Nettles wearing this dress by Victoria Beckham, it felt instantly familiar even though I had not seen this dress before. Then I realized that this dress instantly reminds me of the alien women on the original Star Trek show in the 1960s. In other words it's a kind of futuristic geometric design using 60's bright colors and the idea of visually dividing a dress into sections using trim. I don't think this was the best dress on the red carpet, but it is a bold choice. It's a simple dress and yet it's very memorable and most importantly it really flatters the figure perfectly, even those cutouts are okay.

Nettles' hairstyle is also a perfect mix of 1960's and alien.

Ciara wearing Givenchy
at the 2010 Grammy Awards

Ciara and her Givenchy outfit look very post apocalyptic. This is just a bodysuit with layers of feminine lacy fabric combined with a harsh leather half jacket complete with studs.   This looks like a costume from a post apocalyptic movie to me because Ciara looks like a heroine who had to put together scraps to make her outfit yet somehow she manages to look fierce and sexy at the same time.
Needless to say this is the kind of outfit only a celebrity could wear without having their sanity questioned.   I think the lingerie like body suit just doesn't work with the leather jacket. For a while it was cool to have an eclectic fashion sense, but eclectic doesn't mean that you can create an outfit from the shredded remnants of three other bizarre outfits.
A good rule of thumb for the real woman is, if you can't define a look easily using accepted fashion terms, then you've probably gone too far into bizarre costume territory.

Rihanna wearing Elie Saab
at the 2010 Grammy Awards

Rihanna is saying "Take me to your leader" while wearing an alien hairstyle and a bizarre Elie Saab dress that is yet another couture experiment gone wrong. I love the bottom half of this dress with the flowly fabrics and the peg skirt that is a real innovative look. The top half however looks positively alien with those stiff sci-fi shoulders and what appears to be Santa's beard wrapped around the neck and cascading all the way down past the waist. More than anything, this is the thing that kills this dress.
A good rule of thumb is to avoid dresses that have puffy shapeless messes covering the bustline and in this case the entire upper half of the dress. This is an extreme case, but there are many dresses that have too many frills that start to take away from the look instead of adding to it. You also definitely want to think twice about dresses that combine fur like materials with fabric. This is an outdated idea that usually ends up looking like a costume. In this case Rihanna could easily be an alien princess.

The Sparkly Beaded Dress Trend Continues

Colbie Caillat in Nicholas Gibran
at the 2010 Grammy Awards

Colbie Caillat is almost completely overpowered by her allover beaded Nicholas Gibran showgirl dress. I think that she was drawn to this dress because she was thinking showgirl related to music and therefore perfect look for Grammy's. This dress crosses the line from glamorous to tawdry with the unfathomable thigh high slit and the tulle skirt both perfect for doing showgirl moves. As if the allover gold beading is not enough, there is an additional mermaid like accent at the bustline. This is a perfect example of a cliche costume that is being passed off as an original dress. Remember, if you see a dress and instantly it reminds you of something else, you are most likely looking at a fashion cliche that's been done so many times it's literally imprinted in your subconscious and everyone else's.
As bad as the dress is Caillat's equally unfathomable 1990's busy mom hairdo. I like the color, but the hairdo does nothing for her face or the dress.

Ashanti
at the 2010 Grammy Awards

Ashanti's dress is a good example of how to combine the beading and flowy fabrics in an elegant way that doesn't scream showgirl. Unlike the gold garish mess of Caillat's dress, the color of the beaded top is much more subtle. The beading is a lot but it follows a discernable pattern as opposed to looking like the dress was encrusted with gold glitter. The neckline is much more elegant than the customy sweatheart neckline of the gold dress. This dress does have it's problems. The proportion is not properly balanced, the beaded top is too long, and as a result the satin skirt in the front is too short. The train on this dress is too long, because the extra long train takes away from the dress instead of adding to it. The train of a modern gown should not be more than about 14 inches (except wedding gowns). This is certainly not my favorite dress, but it's a vast improvement over Caillat's gold showgirl costume.

Mano Designs Valentine’s Day Gift Guide for Guys and Women

2010-02-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

Every year I write a Valentine's Day gift guide for guys (with tips for women too) but especially guys. The main reason I do this is because Valentine's Day is a holiday like no other. It is the only holiday where you are obligated to make some kind of romantic gesture for that very special someone that you love. This makes it different from other gift giving holidays like Christmas or Mother's Day, because as I said, this is the only day where you are REQUIRED to be romantic. Add to that all the hype and advertising around Valentine's Day that is created by companies and stores to sell product, and it's enough to make a person dizzy. Believe it or not stores love this confusion because it's an opportunity for savvy sales associates to push their products on unsuspecting men and make them part with a lot of money. As one lingerie saleswoman told me: "It's great because you can get a guy to buy almost anything if you say it makes a great gift." There is no romantic gift catchall for every woman. This is why this guide offers multiple suggestions, not a magic gift that will take care of everything. In addition to gifts, I also offer suggestions on how not to blow your budget on flowers and candy before you even get to the gift.

Lingerie

A Valentine’s Day gift is nothing like a Christmas gift. Valentine’s Day is a holiday of romantic evenings with the one you love which hopefully will include a gift that shows undying love and affection not just appreciation. For example a nice red cashmere sweater shows appreciation, caring and love. Sexy lingerie shows appreciation and undying love in a different way. This is why you save the sweater for Christmas and buy the lingerie on Valentine’s Day. According to surveys women love lingerie and 70% of them responded that they would love to receive a gift of lingerie from the man they love. The fact that a man will go into the confusing world of lingerie for them shows caring. There are all types of lingerie in places like Victoria's Secret and other retail stores. The reason is that not every type of lingerie is good for every woman. Lingerie selections run from the modest floor length nightgowns seen in film noir to the really sexy barely there thongs and bras and everything in between.

Buying lingerie can be a tricky proposition for a gift, because it's really something that the woman needs to try on at the store. But if you really want to go there, then here are some tips that may be helpful.

Stay on the safe side, buy something that is very similar to lingerie she already owns. If you buy something that is radically different she may not like it, feel comfortable in it, or worse it might not look good on her. If the woman in your life doesn't seem to own any lingerie, then perhaps you should not buy her lingerie.

If you choose to buy lingerie you must know her bra size and underwear size, buying the incorrect size lingerie may land you in hot water, especially when you cannot exchange it for the right size.

Never buy from any store that does not have a good return policy. Know which items you can and can't return, because certain lingerie items cannot be returned to the store for hygiene reasons.

If all this sounds like too much work, then perhaps it's best to opt for another type of gift.

Even La Perla which is known for really sexy barely there lingerie has some very modest selections that most women would love. Lingerie especially designer lingerie tends to be really expensive, so it's best to predetermine how much you want to spend and stick to it. It's best to shop at a reasonably priced brand like Victoria's Secret.

Perfume

Marilyn Monroe said that the only thing she wore in bed was perfume. Perfumes are meant to mimic pheromones, the invisible molecules that sexually attract men and women to each other. There is something sexy and alluring about the scent of perfume which makes it a perfect gift for Valentine’s Day. The same is true for women who choose to buy fragrance for their men. I think the fragrances that have a romantic name like Romance by Ralph Lauren, I Love Love by Moschino, J’adore by Dior, or First Love by Van Cleef & Arpels.

One large sized bottle of perfume is the perfect gift. Another gift idea is to buy several smaller bottles of her favorite perfumes which shows that you care to know what she likes. Gift sets are also great because they are already packaged and ready for giving with several items that complement each other in the same scent.

If you want perfume but are not sure what to get, you can’t go wrong with the anything by Hermes, Lalique, or Bvlgari. A spectacular perfume that would be perfect for Valentine’s Day is 24K by Jivago, a spectacular sweet scented perfume that has real flakes of 24K gold in it.

If you don't want to get sticker shock, don't shop at any retail store for fragrance. Shop at Mano Designs, where most fragrances are at least 50% off the regular price. This is a great opportunity to purchase an expensive gift without blowing your budget.

Bath and Body Products

Bath and body products are more popular than ever and these products are used by women and men. A basket of bath and body products like body lotion, body wash, milk bath and bath salts will be the perfect gift for any woman. There are also skincare lines that are especially designed for men in packaging that is not quite so girly. Most bath and body products are unisex. The good thing about these products is that you don’t have to worry about gift boxes or bags because most of the time they are already packaged in attractive gift sets or at the very least gift bags. You do have to be careful because some companies charge a premium for gift sets instead of giving you a discount. For example a gift basket of six items may cost $46. Those same items bought individually may cost $36. I keep mentioning Victoria's Secret (I promise I am not being paid to advertise any brand other than Mano Designs) but it's true that bath and body products from Victoria's Secret are the best deal relative to their quality because they have sales often. You should not pay for than $5 for any product that is not a designer product like L'Occitane.

Surveys show that vanilla is still the most popular scent in bath and body. Scientists have determined that lavender in particular is a scent that stimulates romantic feelings and inspires a refreshing calm feeling like a day at the spa. You can also try to find products in a rose or gardenia scents which inspire feelings of excitement.

Many bath and body lines have products called body spray, body splash, body mist etc . These are not the same as perfume or even close to it. A large bottle of body spray for $10 may seem like a bargain compared to an $80 bottle of perfume, but these products are not even close to being the same thing in terms of the quality and longevity of the scent.

Fine Jewelry

Jewelry is the ultimate Valentine’s Day gift. Nothing says “I love you” like a huge ruby ring that will make her remember how much you love her every time she puts it on. Jewelry is the gift that lasts forever and diamonds are still a girl’s best friend. The problem with jewelry is that it is terribly expensive, a tiny ring can cost hundreds of dollars at a jewelry store.
This is why you should shop at Mano Designs or another reputable online jewelry vendor. Our selection of fine jewelry is 80% off retail prices. The best news is that our jewelry is huge, most of our gems are over a carat, this will insure that you have a gift she will never forget. How can we or other vendors afford to sell at such low prices? The answer is simple. Online vendors don't have the overhead of expensive retail stores, sales people who earn commission, advertising and other expenses.
Some people say that jewelry from online vendors is lower in quality and therefore less expensive. That is true to a certain extent, price is always proportional to quality. Not to get too technical, but when you make comparisons between two jewels you need to make sure the two gems you are comparing are rated the same in color and clarity. There is huge difference between an H or I color gem and a K color gem. This difference can mean hundreds if not thousands of dollars. You need to know the basics of color and clarity from an independent source like the GIA (not the salesperson at the store) before you even think about purchasing any jewelry. When you know how to make accurate comparisons between two pieces of jewelry you will find that the prices from online vendors are really much lower.
There is one jewelry store that I can recommend because it truly has unique merchandise that are not sold anywhere else, except at company owned boutiques. I always remember this store around Valentine's Day because this is a company that has been associated with romance and fine living for over a century. The company is Tiffany & Co, and they have some of the most elegant heart jewelry collections I have ever seen.

Flowers

The first thing you might be thinking of when it comes to Valentine’s Day is the flowers. The truth is that no matter where you live flowers on Valentine’s Day are terribly expensive. My advice is that if you have a budget on Valentine’s Day, don’t blow most of it on flowers, roses last a week tops and pretty much start to wilt the next day. Gifts last much longer so it makes sense to spend most of your money on a gift. Three roses hidden behind your back to surprise her can do just as well as a dozen. Since red roses are intentionally expensive, you might want to try a mix bouquet of three red roses along with other flowers like white lilies, or roses of a different color. With most things you buy, you don't have a lot of bargaining power, but with flower shops you do because they have a lot of competition and a huge profit margin. You will always get the best prices at smaller independently owned flower shops that are low on glitz and glamour.
When you visit a flower shop ask what the price of a particular flower is, and then ask if there is a discount for buying a dozen. If you have no idea what you want you can look online or at samples in the flower shop for inspiration. Be clear about how much you are willing to spend, but make sure that you maximize that budget. If you plan to spend $50 and roses are $5 each and lilies are $2 each, you may want to get a bouquet that's mostly lilies with three roses. In my opinion mixed bouquets are always nicer than red roses which are at a premium on Valentine's Day.

No matter where you buy flowers from make sure you order at least three days in advance. Smaller flower shops do run out of flowers on Valentine's Day and usually toward the end of the day they start making arrangements with the kind of flowers that should be thrown away. It's always better to pick up the flowers rather than ask for delivery for two reasons. Florists have so many deliveries on Valentine's Day that it may be a long time before the delivery van gets to your home or office. Your arrangement may even be damaged or wilted from riding in a hot van all day, and there is nothing you can go about it at that point. Also, it's often true that flowers that are delivered instead of picked up are always arranged with less care, are usually smaller arrangements with lesser quality flowers. The person receiving the flowers is not the person who paid for it and of course will not reject the delivery no matter how bad it is, so the florist can get away with it. The florist may promise you a spectacular arrangement and deliver a below average one. Even if you stipulate the number of flowers in the arrangement, the florist can still cheat you by not adding enough of the accessory leaves and branches, and the work, that really makes the arrangement an arrangement as opposed to a bunch of flowers. The odds of you getting a refund for a poor arrangement are not so good after your sweetheart accepts delivery of the flowers. But if you pick up the flowers you have every right to ask for changes or to reject the arrangement if it’s not to your liking.

Chocolates

Wooing a woman with flowers and a heart shaped box of chocolates used to be as American as apple pie. But it seems that with the weight loss craze huge boxes of chocolates have gone out of style. If you are going to buy a box of chocolates one day of the year, it should really be Valentine's Day. Chocolate companies try to come up with all kinds of gimmicks to get you to buy more and spend more money than you otherwise would. I always recommend See's Candies because it is my favorite chocolate and better tasting than much more expensive Belgian chocolates like Godiva and others.
One of the ways chocolate companies get you to spend outrageous amounts of money is coming up with novelty Valentine's Day baskets and heart shaped chocolate boxes that are much more expensive than the candy in the regular boxes. Chocolate boxes wrapped in 25 cents worth of ribbon are $4 more expensive than boxes without the ribbon. This is the kind of thing that really makes me angry, so I urge everyone not to fall for this ploy. There is no reason to buy the $90 novelty heart box at Godiva when that money could be used to buy a better gift. It looks pretty, but it's just a cardboard box that has no use after the chocolate is gone. Instead you could spend $20 or less at See's Candies and be just as happy.

Don’t wait to buy chocolates on Valentine’s Day, chances are there will be nothing left. You can buy chocolate a day or two days in advance hide them somewhere cool. Don't leave chocolate in hot places like the trunk of a car and don't put them in the refrigerator because they do discolor really badly.

Golden Globes 2010 The Dresses, Suits, Trends and Overall Looks on The Red Carpet

2010-01-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

Golden Globes 2010 was certainly memorable for me fashionably speaking. I have seen some boring red carpets in my time, but this year's fashions were lively in women's and men's fashions. There were some really great looks and some disasters, and everything in between. There were some surprises in terms of what the various designers are doing. For example there was a Badgley Mischka dress that I couldn't believe was actually a Badgley Mischka creation, and there were several other surprises as well. The old guard of couture designers always makes an appearance Armani Prive, Valentino and Ellie Saab were front and center. This is important even for those of us who can't afford these designers because most of the dresses in the various boutiques and department stores will be inspired by these designers one way or another. As usual, I do these red carpet reviews not to bash or praise celebrities or famous designers, but because I feel that the ordinary woman and man can learn from their fashion triumphs and mistakes. You don't have to be bedecked in a $20,000 outfit and $700,000 jewels to look great. On the other hand wearing expensive things does not a fashionable outfit make. For me celebrities going to the Golden Globes is a special occassion just like the many special occassions that we all have to go to in our lives from weddings, to cocktails, to dinners, to office parties. I believe that these fashion tips that I give here will be helpful to all women (along with some men's advice) in all aspects of their relationship to fashion. These are of course generalized because ultimately every woman is unique and what works for you is a combination of what looks good on you, what you really want to wear and what you can afford to wear. The celebrities and outfits in the photos are there to help illustrate the points.

Remember, don't envy the celebrities too much, because 95% of what you see on the red carpet is not owned by the celebrity wearing it. I always think this is common knowledge but I always meet people who don't know this truth. Actors and actresses don't make enough money to afford the dresses, shoes, bags, and most importantly jewelry that is loaned to them for the red carpet. If you think about the number of events that celebrities go to in a year, it would cost a lot more than a million dollars for them to actually purchase everything that is loaned to them for the various awards shows, movie premieres etc.

Comedian Ricky Gervais hosting
the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

It's only fitting to start with the host of Golden Globe Awards 2010, comedian Ricky Gervais. He began the night in a Sopranos inspired black suit with black shirt and black tie. The black shirt is an outdated cliche that should not be worn with a black suit. Wearing a tie the same color as the shirt or a white tie on a black shirt is even more of a cliche. It all screams mob henchman or worse. Unfortunately, Gervais wasn't the only man on this red carpet to make this mistake. Gervais was also wearing the men's number one accessory of the night facial hair. In my opinion a man always looks better without facial hair because it's much more youthful and polished. Having a moustache or a beard ages you, and it simply doesn't look good on some men. On Ricky Gervais it looked like mud was smeared on his face.

It started bad enough but then it got worse as the night wore on. At some point Gervais got rid of his tie and started unbuttoning his shirt. The suit with the unbuttoned shirt is usually not a good look during very formal occassions. It's especially bad when you show up in suit and tie and then start undressing as the night goes on. Even without the beer glass he started to look like someone who is drinking too much and losing control of himself. As a comedian Ricky Gervais gets some leeway, but for us ordinary folks, this is not the kind of image you want to project at an office function or any formal affair that is attended by people you would like to impress.

A tie or the collar of a dress shirt should not be so tight that you feel like it's choking you. If all your shirt collars feel very tight, you may need a bigger collar size of the same size shirt.

The Halter and Deep Cleavage Trend

One of the trends of the night was the modified halter or what I call the valley of the bust cleavage look. I hate this look because if you are going to show some skin, this is definitely not the most attractive place to show. One of the biggest problems with this look is that it keeps you from being able to wear a bra, which makes your bust sag. Revealing the valley between your breasts shows everyone just how far your breasts are sagging without a bra.

Mariah Carey wearing Herve Leger
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

The halter look is Mariah Carey's favorite fashion statement. Here she has the special honor of being the worst example of the two half moons and a valley trend. She is wearing an Herve Leger dress which looks fine from the waist down and would look fine from the waist up if it didn't reveal so much of her breasts in such a bad place. She actually decided to put bronzer on those moons, which makes them look like alien orbs.

We all know Mariah Carey loves to show off that cleavage. But on anyone else this dress would scream almost middle aged woman who is simply desperate for the wrong kind of attention.

Anna Paquin wearing Stella McCartney
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

Anna Paquin is having the same problems with this unattractive showing of cleavage. But that is only the beginning of the problems for this Stella McCartney dress, which looks like a collage of many shiny appliques and decorative pillow fabrics. You can actually see all sorts of threads and other stuff sticking out of the dress in close-up photos. The sleeves are probably the worst thing about it. I was honestly surprised that this is a Stella McCartney dress. This is complemented by hair that looks like she did herself it in five minutes with messy clumps of hair framing her face. The blond hair completely washes out her pale skin and features. She also showed off the strange platform shoes that didn't match the dress in any way.

The shiniest dress in the room feels like a showstopper, but it often isn't. I love shiny dresses as much as the next gal, but it took me many years to learn that glamour has to be balanced by elegance. We know this is a designer dress, but if we didn't we would think this was a cheap dress from a bargain glam boutique. You wouldn't even see this dress at a mid-level department store. Also, dresses with a lot of shiny details don't photograph well. You might think this is not a problem since you won't be walking the red carpet anytime soon, but remember that most formal affairs usually involve someone talking pictures.

The only good news is that fiance Stephen Moyer looks perfectly handsome in a no frills classic tux, and no facial hair.

Olivia Wilde wearing Gucci
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

Olivia Wilde is wearing a classic Gucci dress that is a good example of a revealing halter dress that can work. This dress is as revealing as Mariah Carey's dress, but because her cleavage is not so dramatic in size the effect is not so tawdry. This is certainly not my favorite look and I do think that she would have looked more sexy and elegant if the halter wasn't so deep and wide. Because the halter effect is so dramatic, she is smart enough to keep her hair and jewelry at a minimum. I do like the shiny metallic sheen of this dress, which gives it an edgy look for a young actress.
If you are not a celebrity this is the kind of look that would be hard to get away with because make no mistake you will be the center of attention. This is the kind of dress that is absolutely not allowed at any kind of business function. This is a shiny glam dress but in a very minimal way.

Lisa Edelstein
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

Lisa Edelstein has also decided to embrace the halter trend and the results are simply atrocious. This was undoubtedly one of the worst looks of Golden Globes 2010. The halter itself is not very revealing, but it does reveal bust sag, which gives me the impression that she is just too old for this type of shiny satin dress, which she is. I don't know who the designer is, but this is exactly the type of dress one might wear if you were looking for an obvious Marilyn Monroe costume. Marilyn definitely had much better dresses than this. The shiny silver halter dress with the jewel at the waist is the very definition of a cliche. The ruching at the waist just adds to the cliche even more. This dress is so outdated, it makes me think of a dark smoky lounge and a singer ready to hop on the grand piano. Her hairstyle is pretty much from the same era as the dress.
It's important to avoid cliches at all costs. The reason we call it a cliche is because it's a look that's been done so many times by so many people that it becomes like a Halloween costume. When people see you wearing a cliche look, they may not realize where it's from but they know that they have seen it so many times before. Sometimes, when I am designing or shopping an idea of a look or a dress clicks into my mind instantly. But then I realize that the reason it came to me so easily is because it's just another version of an old cliche.

Halle Berry wearing Kaufman Franco
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

Halle Berry's Kaufman Franco gown was by far the best example of how to do the modern halter the right way. This dress is almost as revealing as Mariah Carey's and yet the effect is not tawdry but sexy. This is due in large part to Halle Berry's perfect figure. This is why the woman and dress have to be compatible. Halle Berry easily reminds me of Elizabeth Taylor wearing similar dresses in the movie Cleopatra. This dress also has the right length of sleeve for this type of dress as opposed to the clumsy sleeves on Carey's and Anna Paquin's dress. The best thing about this dress is that the main interest is not the wearer's bust, but the beautiful yet minimal design around the waist. The design does make the wearer look wider, even with the vertical lines.

The reality is that this dress is not for every figure. Not only is it revealing around the bust, but it's also very tight around the waist, hips and thighs. This dress would be a nightmare for a woman who was heavy around the middle or in the hips. This is one dress that requires an absolutely perfect figure. If you have that figure this is a great dress to show off those assets. This dress is best on a slim woman because if your assets are on the small side, the figure hugging shape will help to accentuate what you do have.

The Dresses With Allover Beading and Pattern Fabrics

Carrie Ann Inaba
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

Carrie Ann Inaba's dress is a perfect example of so many things that can go wrong with an outfit. The pattern and print on the dress is so busy that it takes away from the woman wearing it. Her hips and midsection look wider because of the busy pattern. The halter is not garishly revealing, which is a good thing. The dress itself looks like a bargain bin fish tail skirt paired with a cheap top from a fast fashion bargain chain like H&M. The bottom and the top of the dress make no sense together.
Her hair simply runs into the mess that is the dress and the heavy black makeup is just too much. I don't know if she thought she was looking edgy and young with this dress but she failed on both counts.

Huge allover patterns on dresses make any woman look heavier and wider. If you are not sure about a pattern dress, just remember that fabrics with no pattern are always more elegant and safer choices. If you are looking at a pattern dress, always consider what the pattern reminds you of. If you are reminded of things that should not be associated with good fashion like a couch, curtains, tablecloths, decorative pillows, wallpaper, or in this case ink stains and modern art, it's best to stay away.

Anna Kendrick wearing Marchesa
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

Anna Kendrick's Marchesa gown is one of the worst examples of pattern. The bust detailing on the gown reminds of tissue paper and the pattern just reinforces that tissue paper pattern look. This dress also reminds me of faded wallpaper and the decorative wax paper that bakeries use on pastries. The whole look is washed out, and old fashioned at best. Her messy ponytail hairstyle is not sending a polished red carpet message either.
Marchesa is one of my favorite designers. Pattern is always attractive to a designer, because we all get bored of the same old thing and a great pattern can make or break a dress. Don't fall victim to a designer's experiments as so many celebrities have on the red carpet. Avoid dresses in very pale fabrics and pale patterns because it always looks busy and washed out. If someone told me this was a vintage dress I wouldn't be a bit surprised, because the whole look is completely outdated as in the dress from your grandmother's closet.

Jennifer Garner wearing Versace
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

Jennifer Garner is wearing an allover beaded Versace gown in a pale grey. In my opinion Jennifer Garner rarely looks good on the red carpet because she always chooses these very washed out neutral color dresses that are not stand outs in color or style. It's amazing that so much work went into creating this dress and yet it makes such little impact. This is a really uninspired dress and the beading pattern cuts the wearers body into strange shapes. Just because a dress is Versace, it doesn't mean that it's a great dress. No matter how great the designer, every collection has one or two dresses in it that are not very inspired. Celebrities and ordinary women can let their loyalty to a brand convince them to buy something that is not very well made or is not for their age/figure etc. Sometimes there is something about a dress that impresses you like the allover beading, but when you step back and look at it this is not a great looking dress and it really does nothing to enhance a woman's figure.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson look strange together. He looks like he is going to a red carpet event in a vintage looking tux, and she looks like she made a dress out of old curtains or bedding. The pattern on this dress is simply hideous. I don't know who the designer is, but I bet that someone thought they were being smart by taking an old boring dress design and jazzing it up with a busy pattern. The problem is I don't know which is more ridiculous and outdated the pattern fabric or the shape of dress. It's not even a well made dress, with puckering all over, an uneven looking skirt and very prominent seams. We tend to think that a pattern can add extra excitement to a dress, but in fact it can ruin a dress so easily. Also, a pattern or beading can help to hide construction flaws on a bargain dress, until you wear it and everything becomes apparent.

Jayma Mays in Badgley Mischka
at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards

I am amazed that this ridiculous Twilight Zone dress worn by Jayma Mays is designed by the gods of the beaded dress Badgley Mischka. Maybe this department store worthy prom dress is an indication that Badgley Mischka should do what they do best which is gorgeous beaded gowns. This dress is yet another tragic example of a designer trying to add interest to a boring old design with a crazy pattern fabric. This seems to be another modern art inspiration that has gone horribly wrong. The white trim on the bodice is so completely cliche that it's worthy of a first year design student. This dress is so bad that it would look so much better if they removed the white trim and the crazy tulle overlay, which would have left us with just a plain black strapless dress. The bottom line is that it's better to be boring black than the center of attention in a crazy outfit like this.

Golden Globe Awards 2010 The Hairstyles

2010-01-20T02:04:00.000-08:00

When you're on the red carpet everything has to be flawless, from the hair, to the makeup, to the dress, the jewels, accessories and shoes. This seems like a lot of pressure, but celebrities have resources and people to help them achieve each of these aspects of their look. Celebrities can also get away with things that ordinary women can't as in the case of Calista Flockhart which I will discuss shortly. Of course the dress is the centerpiece, everything else has to complement it. But the hair is extremely important in any occassion because it is one of the first things people notice, and a hairstyle can either complement a dress and make the look or it can fight the dress. Just like dresses and accessories hairstyles also need to be age appopriate, occassion appopriate and range from classy to edgy. Just yesterday I had a discussion with a hairstylist who insisted that a bride should never have her hair down like Jennifer Aniston at her wedding to Brad Pitt, because it simply is not appropriate. Of course I insisted that it could work on some occassions like a beach wedding or in the case of Ivanka Trump who wore a Grace Kelly inspired Vera Wang dress and finished the look with Grace Kelly's signature hairstyle and period appropriate jewelry. This was a strong example of a complete look.

Calista Flockhart 2010
Golden Globe Awards

As mentioned above this is a strong example of a look that an ordinary woman could never get away with during any occassion including a day at the office. Calista Flockhart doesn't get away with it either. She looks like she rolled out of bed with her hair every which way, and then tried to capture as much hair as she could into a messy rubberband. But that wasn't successful either as there are odd bunches of hair hanging out everywhere.
I certainly appreciate the relaxed hair trend, but by relaxed I think of the loose bird's nest that Sandra Bullock was doing not the I can do anything and make it work look.
It doesn't even complement her flapper style dress in any way.

The Lesson: Seriously, if you were to try this look for any occassion or even a day at the office, people would think you couldn't find a hairstylist (or a brush) and tried to become your own hairstylist for the day. You are much better off just leaving your hair straight down or a quick blowdry if you can manage it.

Julianna Marguiles 2010
Golden Globe Awards

Julianna Marguiles used to have naturally gorgeous hair. Now, like Calista Flockhart she is sporting a hairstyle that's not really a hairstyle. It's just a limp section of hair hanging down from what appears to be a men's hairpiece on top of her head. It doesn't even go with her hideous dress which was part showgirl, part stripper.
You could never get away with this mess unless you are a celebrity. Her hair was better left hanging down.

The Lesson: This is a painful lesson that I learned early on. A hairstylist can make you look much worse than you did when you walked in the salon either with hair, makeup or both. Better yet, they will actually charge you full price for making you look worse than you did before.

Christina Henricks 2010
Golden Globe Awards

Christina Henricks didn't have the most beautiful hairstyle or the most beautiful dress, but she looks absolutely gorgeous. In fact, this was one case where her hairstyle caught my eye before the dress did and that doesn't happen often.

The Lesson: Sometimes a blow dry and a simple haircut is all you need to make a big statement. This is budget friendly as well. A trip to a hair salon for a special occassion can be expensive, so know how to get the most bang for your buck before you get talked into getting $600 hair extensions and the like.

Lesson 2: Make sure your hair complements your dress perfectly. In this case the gorgous reddish hair color is a perfect complement to a cream colored dress. Also, this is a big dress on a small woman, so she needed a big hairstyle to keep from getting lost in the dress.

Diane Kruger 2010
Golden Globe Awards

Diane Kruger doesn't need much to look gorgeous. Helen of Troy gorgeous in fact. In this case she just needed a hairstyle to complement that beautiful face. Instead she is sporting a hairstyle that she probably had when she was seven and all the way up through high school until she finally grew up. Seriously, and it comes complete with accessories. To be fair her whole look was prom night, the centerpiece of which was that horrible prom dress. So, in that sense it at least complements the rest of her look.

The Lesson: I personally had to go through this lesson so it's a painful one for me. Grownups need grownup hairstyles. If your hairstyle reminds you of something you were doing as a teenager change it now. Hairstyles need updating, you can't have the same hairstyle for ten years or more even if it does look good and youthful. Sticking with what works is not a good idea if you are sticking with something that worked for you when you were a teenager.

Ginnifer Goodwin 2010
Golden Globe Awards

Ginnifer Goodwin looks scary because she looks like she is trying to look like her young daughter or a younger version of herself. Looking young is never a bad thing, especially in Hollwood but this is so over the top it's creepy. I have to admit that between her teenage dress and that extremely short pixie cut, I thought she was a 20 something before I realized who she was. At least her age inappropriate short dress complements her age inappropriate hairstyle.

The Lesson: If you want people to take you seriously in the real world, don't copy a hairstyle from teenage magazines or teenage shows. Your look may change from day to day, but your hairstyle is more permanent and less forgiving. If you want to look younger than you are it can be done in a dramatic but mature way. I have seen people look 10 years younger than their age through haircuts, but still have a mature style.

Julia Roberts 2010
Golden Globe Awards

Vogue.com suggested that Julia Roberts lose her formal bun hairdo's and loosen up a little. Ironically, she seems to have taken their advice to ill-effect because they were suggesting a hairstyle just like this one. This isn't a terrible hairstyle, except that it was constantly getting in her face and her hair seems too chopped up to really do it justice.

The fact is Julia Roberts looks best as a brunette, and that section of black roots always looks sloppy. She looks like she just didn't put enough effort into her hair. My guess is her whole look was a bid to look youthful and carefree. Instead she looked dowdy.

The Lesson: Not everybody looks great as a blond. Going blond is an expensive proposition because it needs to be maintained constantly to avoid those ugly roots. Also, constantly putting all those chemicals in your hair will eventually create straw hair. Experimenting with color is not always a good thing, stick with the color that really works for you.

Penelope Cruz 2010
Golden Globe Awards

Speaking of maintaining color, Penelope Cruz is sporting two very different shades of hair on her head and it's distracting from her gorgeous dress and lush hair, which looks best when it's down. I don't know if this color variation is intentional, or if her hair is so overprocessed that it can't be colored anymore without risk of straw hair.
I am so happy to see Penelope forgo her usual severe buns that do not look good at all compared to how gorgeous her hair looks when it's down and curly.

The Lesson: If you color your hair in a shade that is so far away from your natural hair color, at some point you will end up like this.

Jennifer Morrison 2010
Golden Globe Awards

So far I have discussed quite a few people who are desperate to look young through their hair. That is the way of the world and Hollywood especially. So, it was completely refreshing to see Jennifer Morrison sporting a mature hairstyle. The style completely complements her dress which is all classic over the top Hollywood. With a dress that has a ruffled neckline, the worst thing she could have done was leave her hair down to fight with the ruffles.

The Lesson: Technically, this old workhorse of a hairstyle is a tad outdated and can make you look old. But it can work to give you class and gravitas if you are actually young and still trying to impress your boss. This type of hairstyle is very versatile and can work for many different types of hair, faces and occassions.

Marion Cotillard 2010
Golden Globe Awards

Marion Cotillard has gorgeous hair and she frequently wears it down. So, it was completely refreshing to see this simple hairdo work such wonders for her. The trick here is that her hair is not pulled back severely, so it still has life and volume in the front. She looks gorgeous because with her hair out of the way, you get a chance to see her beautiful face which is accented with perfect shades of eye makeup and lipstick.

The Lesson: With the hair pulled back the face becomes front and center, that may be a good or bad thing depending on the face.

Lesson 2: Taking a risk can be a great thing or it can be a look that just doesn't work. If you have a big event try out the look you are planning beforehand. Take pictures of yourself, because mirrors do lie.

Zoe Saldana 2010
Golden Globe Awards

I want to end my Golden Globes 2010 fashion review with Zoe Saldana who had one of the best hairstyles of the evening. Like Christina Henricks' hair, Zoe Saldana's hair was a simple blowdry with curls, but it was so fresh and young along with her Egyptian style makeup. The hairstyle goes perfectly with her young and relaxed dress.
She could have done an updo or some other really contrived hairstyle that would have made her look older. But instead this is a perfect example of what a so called relaxed and modern hairdo can be without being too casual and it makes her look really young and fresh.

The Lesson: This is a great example of not fussing too much with hair and makeup and knowing when enough is enough as far as color and styling.

Lesson 2: It is possible to look young, occassion appropriate and mature at the same time. I go to a lot of weddings and more often than not, I see young bridesmaids sporting the kind of matronly curly updos that Jennifer Lopez is famous for. As always the question you should ask yourself is, is this great looking hairstyle, in the magazine or somewhere else, right for me?

Mano Designs is Helping Haiti Earthquake Victims

2010-01-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

Mano Designs is supporting the disaster relief effort in Haiti. There are over 3 million people in Haiti who need help, and less than 20% have gotten help as of today. As soon as we received news of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, we decided to raise funds to help through Mano Designs. Mano Designs is a relatively small company with limited resources, unlike the many Fortune 500 companies that have been silent about helping Haiti during this crisis.

We have organized once again a charity drive that we have organized many times in the past for various causes. Our initiative is simple, certain listings in our Ebay store have become charity listings. If you buy these products 10% of the purchase price will go toward either the American Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders. Both organizations are in Haiti right now helping survivors with food, water, temporary tent shelters and medical care.

We will be putting up listings everyday with 10% of the sale price being donated through Ebay’s Mission Fish which delivers the funds to our charities for us. Buying from a charity listing is an easy way to help others in terrible need.

The best thing about our charity listings is that prices are not higher than they normally would be. We are donating strictly from our profit. The other thing is that we are not selling special novelty items for charity, these are the same designer products that we sell everyday.

We don’t expect to raise many thousands of dollars with our effort, but when it comes to charitable contributions every dollar helps. There are roughly 230 million people in the United States. If everyone donated $1, we would raise an amount of money that is almost two and half times the money pledged to Haiti by the US government.

We urge everyone to give from the bottom of your heart. All of us at Mano Designs have decided to donate our one hour’s wages to Haiti. There is no doubt that the US economy is still in a precarious condition which has left many families with little money to spare even for a good cause. But it seems like a small thing when you think about it, it’s like donating an hour of your time for a very worthy cause. Most of us can’t go to Haiti directly, but by donating funds we can make sure that the right people and the resources are there on the ground to help people in need.

There is also the text message initiative that First Lady Michelle Obama has done an ad for. She urges people to donate to the Red Cross and other government officials are saying the same thing.

Welcome to the Mano Designs Official Blog

2010-01-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the official Mano Designs fashion blog.

http://www.manodesigns.com/

There has been much debate at Mano Designs about what I would be writing about on this blog that would be most interesting to Mano Designs fans in particular and not just fashion devotees and general culture observers like myself. Now I finally have a clear roadmap of what I will be discussing on this blog and I am ready to begin. Because this is not a personal blog, there will not be an entry everyday or sometimes even every week. I will make my best effort to write an entry as often as possible, since writing this blog is only a small part of my responsibilities at Mano Designs. There are endless topics that can be discussed in the world of fashion, but it would be impossible to cover everything in a single blog. My goal is not to exhaust the reader with too many entries. Instead I will try to talk about interesting things and cover the highlights. As always my goal will be to relate it all back to the life and fashion needs of the everyday person.

The goal of this blog is much like the goal of the Mano Designs newsletter which you can sign up to receive at Mano Designs.

I will be discussing interesting and important happenings at Mano Designs.

There will be much discussion of fashion designers and trends on the red carpet, on the runways, in the stores and more.

Being fashionable on a budget will be always be a huge topic on this blog.

Making the right fashion choices for your body type and for the right occasion will also be important topics of discussion.

Occasionally I will be discussing interesting happenings in the world of art and culture as it relates to the world of fashion.

I hope you will follow me as a carve a roadmap through the interesting, exciting and confusing, world of fashion.

Lastly, I want to say that it is my habit to speak as honestly as possible and as part of that I will be naming names and naming specific companies and products on this blog either in praise or criticism or both. Frankly, I hope I don't get sued. I just want to state here for the record that I am not being paid to endorse any company or product other than Mano Designs which is the company that I work for. If in the future this blog becomes so popular that I am asked to talk about certain products or companies that may have a business relationship with me or Mano Designs I will be making the nature of any kind of business relationship with those companies explicit in my posts. Best Regards,

Manyak Saakyan