Bay Area Fashionista

Shimmer for the Holiday season and into resort

The holiday season is fast approaching and stores are beginning to put out holiday shopping displays, gifts ideas and catalogs. As the holiday season approaches, party invitations begin to arrive in the mail, email or via social networking. One of the challenging parts of the holiday season is finding formal or party attire that is festive, easy to wear and not too cool as the temperatures drop. Thankfully, the upcoming resort season includes shimmer, sequins and everything that sparkles, allowing Fashionistas to find holiday attire that can also be worn during the resort and spring seasons; as well as the wraps that can keep us warm.

Adding shimmer to a holiday outfit is part of the fun in keeping the holiday season full of sparkle and a festive outlook. Formal dresses can always have shimmer or sparkle and are an easy way to shine at a formal event or cocktail party. Another bright and cheery way to add sparkle to a holiday outfit is by pairing a sequin top with dark jeans for a girl’s night out, velvet trousers for a semi-formal evening, grey wool trousers for daytime shimmer or even a leather skirt, black leather winter shorts, wool shorts; ahhh, the possibilities are endless. Sequin tops that are a solid color are the easiest to create outfits with and also have better lasting power year after year.

Another easy way to add shimmer to a holiday outfit is through accessories. Metallic shoes and handbags are a great way to add shimmer to an outfit for day or night. A metallic or sequin wrap is also a great way to spice up a little black dress, or other solid colored frock for formal events, cocktail parties and semi-formal occasions. Stella McCartney has a great shimmer top which can easily be worn during the day with white pants in spring or for evening occasions with black leather short or velvet trousers for the holidays. O

f course, leave it to Jimmy Choo to create amazing shimmer shoes that be worn all year long; click here to see! Donna Karen has a fabulous black, body conscious sweater for the holiday season which can still be worn alone on cool, early spring evenings. This sweater is great for daytime or evening, plus it is easy to layer for additional warmth. Fabulous! Jewelry is another way to add sparkle to an outfit whether or not the garments have shine, does not matter! This bracelet by Fragments for Neiman Marcus a-ma-zing! Cookie Lee has a ton of sparkle for the holiday season at fabulous prices. Click here for Cookie Lee shopping info. Sparkle and shimmer is part of the fun for the holiday season; and thankfully it is also part of the resort trends!

There was also sparkle and shimmer on the runways for spring 2011, so this is a great time to invest in at least one garment with some shimmer. Look for basic colors such as silver and black. When choosing colors, look for softer colors that can carry into spring such as muted plum, pastels and light tans. Sequins and shimmer always swings into fashion for the holiday season, so anything with a bit of flash is perfect for holiday investment dressing. Thankfully, shimmer is also part of the resort and spring trends, making sequins and everything that sparkles the perfect investment for now and into 2011. Happy shopping and stay fabulous.

Photos: Cathy/Bay Area Fashionista 2010©

Spring 2011 fashion trends: Candy Colored Shoes

The resort collections are always a snapshot of what designers will be showing for spring. The current resort collections are filled with candy colors of bubble gum pink, bright purple, sunshine yellow, apple green, burnt orange and cherry red. At the conclusion of the New York, Paris and Milan runways, the color scheme was much broader than that of resort with the addition of black rocker chic, dreamy pastels, ocean blues, crisp whites and shades of beige. In addition to the color palettes on the clothing, designers opted for candy colored shoes in suede, satin and leather.

Nina Ricci showed cherry pie red and sunshine yellow sandals with floral embellishments. Christian Dior showed single colored and two tone, bright high heeled sandals with wrap up straps paired with nautical color palettes, crisp white, pastels and candy colored frocks. Gucci showed jewel tone, thin strap sandals with metallic gold ankle straps. Versace included bright turquoise sandals amid neutrals in her spring runway collection.

As resort rolls onto store shelves, designers such as Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent are showing brightly colored sandals and wedges. Many designers are mixing two or three, unexpected candy colors together such as yellow with pink or pink with orange.

Candy colored shoes is a great trend to follow if you enjoy adding a bit of pop to an outfit. A candy colored shoe can instantly update an outfit from last year or add a bit of sass to a neutral outfit or crisp white dress. Just in case the candy colored trend is one that is fleeting, investing in one pair of shoes is more cost effective than purchasing multiple items of clothing in candy colors that may not be in fashion come 2012. Hopefully candy colors have staying power past this spring. After several years of neutrals and minimalism, bright, happy colors are a breath of fresh of air. Happy shopping and stay fabulous.

Acme Made for Tech-Savvy Fashionistas

One of the biggest challenges Fashionistas face is trying to find a fabulous carrying case for technical gear. Here in the Bay Area, home to tech heavy Silicon Valley, we face this challenge anytime a new technical gadget comes out. We try out all of the cases and totes in our closet until resigning ourselves to the fact that as technology advances, our devices shrink; therefore we need new cases! Although some designers have created fashionable cases for technical devices, many of the cases are pretty to look at, but do not properly protect sensitive technical gear such as iPad’s, laptops and cameras.

Another challenge Fashionistas face when choosing a technical device case, is finding one that is both fabulous and functional. Many times techie gear is fashionable, but does not properly protect our technical gear. Other times, the cases that protect our gear are. . .well. . .anything but fabulous. Thankfully a local company by the name of Acme Made, based in San Francisco, was founded in 2002 to create fashion-forward technical gear which is not only fabulous but actually protects laptops, cameras, video, iPad’s and other digital devices. They even create lunch boxes that look like trendy box handbags! Love it!

Acme Made laptop cases are made to look like totes and feature high-end touches normally only found on designer handbags and upscale brand bags such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Coach. Acme Made provides luxurious touches such as no-slip material under the shoulder straps and metal feet underneath the bag. The interior of Acme Made laptop cases includes pen holders, zipper pockets, roomy middle and a velcro flap closure for the laptop itself. Some of Acme Made’s laptop cases even come with a matching clutch such as “The Kate.” The matching clutch is perfect if the laptop tote is used for work since the clutch can be used during lunch hour and after work for going out on the town. Perfect for traveling too! Acme Made can be found at Fred Segal, Sony Style and acmemade.com.

To see a slideshow click here.

To see the entire line of Acme Made products, visit their website at acmemade.com.

Clockwise: c/o ACME Made: Interior of The Kate; Laptop pocket features velcro flap closure; metal feet underneath the laptop case provide protection from dirt and help the case stand up while on the ground or on a table; no-slip fabric underneath the shoulder straps helps keep laptop case stay put on shoulders.

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