Beautiful Shot of Snowy NYC

Photo: thesartorialist.com

My Favorite Twin Cities Store

I think it's time I stop keeping my favorite Twin Cities store all to myself. The wonderful GH2, in NE Minneapolis, is a high-end cosignment store. It has the most amazing selection of used designer pieces that I have ever come across in the area and is the discount store for Gretchen House on 50th and France. So not all the merchandise is used!

Their prices are still a bit steep if you don't hit the store during a sale, so make sure you mark your calendar when the 90% off sales comes around. An easy way to keep track: befriend them on facebook at Gretchen House 2. They host the big sale usually in January and August. I will forever covet my Stella McCartney knit vest that I got during that very sale.

My personal favs about GH2:

• The new Alexander Wang pieces marked down to sale from Gretchen House.
• The beautiful consigned Stella McCartney peices scattered throughout the stores middle racks.
• Amazing consigned handbag collection

My current in-store obsession is the beautiful 3-in-1 Yigal Azrouel carmel leather jacket. See photos below. Just a bit out of my price range right now but you better believe I will be out the first day there is a good sale.

The location is great too, nestled between Parc Boutique, Bone Adventure (awesome pet supply store) and Bibolot. Also, the restaurant a block down are delicious. My personal favs are Ginger Hop and Kramarczuk's Deli.

Let me know what you think if you have a chance to check the store out.

Here's their website for more details.

Photos: Gretchen House 2 on Facebook

Who doesn't love Zooey Deschanel?!

In true Minnesota style: I love my Minnetonka Moccasins. I would wear them everywhere if I could but sadly, they aren't deemed work appropriate for the corporate job. Booo!

Now that everyone is paying closer attention to what countries their clothes/shoes/whatever are made in, what better way to show your stylish support for the lovely MN.

Here are my lovelies:

My Wish List:

Photos: sterlingleather.com

One of my many Obsessions...

Photos: sartorialist.com

ELBOW PATCHES

(hard to see but look closely)

Happy Birthday Jay & Merry Christmas Everyone!

A special shout-out to my wonderful husband: "Happy Birthday Love!"

The New "It" Girl?

I recently came across photos of model Arizone Muse in Haper Bazaar's January Issue and just found her to be stunning. She walked in a over 22 shows for Spring 2011, some of my favorite being Stella McCartney, YSL, Proenza Schouler, Chloe, The Row, Balenciaga and Chanel. Whew! Busy girl!

I am forseeing a bright future for this one.

Isn't her name perfect for a model?! I think it's the best one since Chanel Iman.

Photos: fashionmodeldirectory

Random but Wonderful

Congress Bans Shark Finning in U.S.

About the Shark Conservation Act:

Each year, commercial fishing kills more than 100 million sharks worldwide – including tens of millions for just their fins. The requirement to land sharks whole, as well as a new prohibition on the transfer of fins at sea, will help end shark finning by U.S. fishing vessels.The Shark Conservation Act improves the existing law originally intended to prevent shark finning. It also allows the U.S. to take action against countries whose shark finning restrictions are not as strenuous, labelling the U.S. as a continued leader in shark conservation.

Photo and Information: Oceana.org

I ♥ Amanda Brook's Style!

Photo: Vogue.com

The Anti-Anna

Carine Roitfeld resigned from French Vogue on Friday. You and your beautiful layouts will be missed!

Details here!

William Rast for Target

Lucky me! The downtown Minneapolis Target set the William Rast collection early and I got first dibs on a chunk of the merchandise today. Not being much of a fan of the original line, this was probably the least excited I have been for a Go Collection. To my suprise, I was really impressed when I saw it in person. The colors are beautiful-inspired by the deserts out west. It has that cool western look without being gimicky. This line is a true diffusion of the orignial. The best part about this Go Collection is it's the first to include a men's line. Smart!

This pink blouse below is my favorite piece of the collection. The detailing (unfortunately hard to see here) is stunning.


The collection official hits stores and target.com December 19th.

Cult followers get your credit cards out...

The new Spring 2011 Chanel nailpolish colors have been released: Les Vernis in Pearl Drop, Black Pearl and Peche Nacree.

"Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel believed the light-reflecting property of pearls enhanced a woman’s natural beauty by bringing a delicate luminosity to her skin. Peter Philips, Global Creative Director of CHANEL Makeup, captures this quality in a radiant Spring 2011 Collection, LES PERLES DE CHANEL. Pearlized shades of black and white are accented with pinks and corals, brightening the complexion and creating a natural glow."

The polish will be available in January on Chanel.com and Chanel beauty counters for $23.

Beautiful

The Rodarte costumes are stunning!

Online Shopping made Easy

In my case, this website could be a disaster waiting to happen but StyleFind.com does all the online searching for you. Say you are looking for a sequin dress for that New Year's party coming up, just head over to the website and find the trend section for sequins. Before you can say sparkle overload, you have plenty of fabulous options ranging anywhere from clothing to shoes, handbags or accessories. You can list them by most popular, lowest priced options, etc. Shopping online just got a whole lot easier and less stressful!

A Tribute to Lee

A haunting but beautiful tribute to the late Alexander McQueen by videographer, Nick Knight. Read all the details about the video here.

Great Reality TV

I am ecstatic right now! I just learned of the show Alexa Chung has in the works with PBS called "Thrift America." The series, created by style.com editor Maya Singer, will focus on seeking out vintage clothing and other wonderful finds at thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets across the country. My dream job! Some of the American cities they'll be hitting up are Orlando, Detroit, Nashville, Alabama and Brooklyn as well as international cities like Paris and London. The show is slated to air next summer.

I can hardly contain my excitement! Love, love, love, love, love her!

MN Fashion Blog

Photo: Geisha Pearl Vintage

I just discovered Kitty Cotton's MN fashion blog, Geisha Pearl Vintage! She has impeccable taste and a refreshing sense of style for a Minnesota girl. Not only is she a blogger but she also scouts out great vintage finds for her ebay store. Check her out!

Glamour Magazine + MPLS

It turns out that not all magazines consider Minnesota a style deprived state! Glamour magazine was in the Twins Cities a few weeks ago to photograph some fantastically stylish Minnesotans. The shoot is set to be released in the March 2011 issue.

Read more about it here.

Beautiful Style

Photo: Vogue.com

See my vest!

I have always been a fan of vests in any style, shape and color. My beautiful faux fur vest hasn't seen my closet since the first cold day of Fall.

My closet is full of all types of vests but now that it's a huge trend for Fall, I can't stop obsessing over all the wonderful options out there. Here are few I am in love with right now.

Photo: J.crew

Photo: Net-A-Porter

Photo: Net-A-Porter

Photo: Madewell

Midwest Style

I am continually blow away by the great style of several people in the twin cities area. Working downtown provide me with some great people watching opportunities! There is a street style blog for Minneapolis called The Minneapoline that I check out from time to time and here are a few of the great shots I have spotted lately.

Photos: theMinneapoline.com

(Potential) Breaking News!

As tweeted by the NY Times Style today, the "potential" next collaborator with H&M could be the one and only Tom Ford-or as he would like to be called now, Mr. Ford.

And the stylish woman of the decade goes to...

Photo: Vogue

If you know me at all, you know of my obsession with Kate Moss. Anything and everything that woman wears or touches turns to gold. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so either. In Vogue's Best Dressed Special Issue out this in November, Moss was voted the best dressed woman of the decade.

Vogue's style director, Alexandra Kotur, justified Moss's status saying:
"At every moment, Kate Moss has looked chic and cool ... No one has had more
influence for the past decade on the way women have dressed."

They also selected 10 other woman and provided them with their own title:

The Bombshell: Blake Lively

Screen Siren: Marion Cotillard

The Independent: Michelle Obama

American Beauty: Jessica Biel

Street Cool: Alexa Chung

Haute Bohemian: Sarah Jessica Parker

Conscious Chic: Liya Kebede

Free Spirit: Carey Mulligan

New Classicist: Shala Monroque

The Visionary: Lady Gaga

I completely agree on all of the above except Jessica Biel. I am not a fan of most anything that woman wears. Also, I think Sienna Miller deserves a title of her own too!

I leave you with some beautiful shots of Moss:

I just love Lila's (Kate's daughter) t-shirt. I need one in my size!

Diddy + Vogue

Photo: Vogue

Vogue is supporting Diddy's new album, Last Train to Paris. I find this collaboration so strange! It was inspired by his Vogue fashion spread Last Train to Paris in February 2010. I understand that Diddy has won several awards for his fashion but his music hasn't proven to be anything worth getting worked up about in the past 10 or so years-and the same is true for this album. He should have left it with a beautiful shoot and that's it.

Fashion industry icons like Andre Leon Talley, Marc Jacobs, and Isaac Mizrahi lended their voices to spoken-word pieces that run between songs. Even Anna Wintour chimes in at the beginning of Track 2, "1st Place Loser", saying only: "This is Anna Wintour from Vogue magazine. You are now listening to the Last Train to Paris."

Listen to the CD here.

In terms of mixing fashion and music, Kanye West does it best. My latest favorite is his call out to Pheobe Philo, creative director of Celine, in his song Dark Fantasy off his newly released album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy."

FNO 2011

Can't wait to head to head back to NYC for the third year in a row!

Read all the details here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Say it ain't so Karl!

Karl Lagerfeld to Design for Macy’s

The Gap...European Style

Valentino's collaboration with the Gap will be released this Friday in Europe. Can you say jealous?! I really want the jacket to the far left.
Read about it here.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The holiday windows were revealed this past weekend at Bergdorf Goodman's on 5th avenue in New York. Every year I am continually blown away by the design and creativity that shines through these amazing sets. This year's theme is appropriately titled "Wish you were here" and created completely in-house by David Hoey, Bergdorf’s director of visual presentation and his talented visual team. My personal favorite is the train window. Check out the windows in more detail at Bergdorf's blog.

This reveal has me dying for a copy of the yet to be released "Windows at Bergdorf Goodman" book published by Assouline.

Photo: Assouline

What is this...Velvet?!

I don't know about the rest of you but I am definitely going through a velvet obsession. I want anything and everything in this gorgeous fabric and one of the best options out there is the velvet leggings at the Gap.



I purchased these on Monday and haven't taken them off since. They are a refreshing new take on an otherwise boring, overplayed trend. Better run to your nearest Gap store quick if you want these. They sold out almost completely in less than a week online. Madewell (the baby sister store to J.Crew) offers a great option with zippers too.

I posted some of my other velvet favorites below.

Velvet Tea Party Dress
$148

Velvet Panel Top
$90

Club Monaco Noel Trapeze Velvet Blazer
$249

Welcome to the Doll House

Grace Coddington & Anna Wintour from Vogue

I have never been much of a fan of dolls but when I had the pleasure of viewing Andrew Yang's beautiful "Kouklitas" (which is Greek for Doll) at Fashion's Night Out in NYC this past September, he has forever changed my mind. These gorgeous one-of-a-kind dolls have been modeled after celebrities (Lady Gaga), fashion editors, and runway looks. They make me wish I had $1,350 just lying around to start a doll collection.

Yang is an amazing talent and I look forward to seeing more from him in the coming years. Check out his website if you would like to see more.

Proenza Schouler Spring 2010 show