Want to update your office look this spring and summer? Get a couple of basic skirts (skirt left by Anglo Gena, bottom by American Apparel) and trousers (pants by DVF), but make sure that they are high-waisted. Play up your femme fatale side by adding a belt, a crisp white button down shirt and stiletto heels and you’ll be turning heads. Your look will be preppy with a good dose of mischievous.
Happy Spring!
I love all earth colors and nothing is more earthy, wintery and screams holidays than dark ivy. Recently I was asked what color goes with a dark ivy dress. The nice thing about dark ivy, is that it is a very easy color, almost like navy blue or black.
Here are 3 ideas:
- Preppy: pair your dark ivy dress with cream and beige leggings, same beige tone shoes & bag, pearls and a dark red coat. You’ll be preppy and festive.
- Funky: pair it with a jewel magenda cardigan, nude fishnet tights, brass or tan lace up boots and bag, gold thin hoops & bangles. A nice cocktail ring with magenda and green stones will wrap the whole outfit together.
- Evening: Treat it like you would treat your little black dress, but with a twist. Black opaque tights, patent black shoes, and a black feathered boa, will bring out the dark ivy color, make you look all dressed up, but in fun way. Choose silver and sparkly accessories and evening bag. You’ll rock!
Every fashionista will tell you that jewel colors are perfect for evening. My favorite one is emerald green. This jewel color is perfect for every complexion, as one can find a wide spectrum of the emerald green palette. It is fun and happy. The best thing is that it is quite versatile and you can wear it in the summer too - provided that the fabric is light, like silk, such as the ones featured here.
The Liz Clairborne dress suits everyone. It is fun but not risqué, pretty and flirty. Wear it with black opaque tights and silver peep toes to all your holiday parties and with pretty high heeled sandals in the summer.
If you’re after a more sexy party look, choose a frock like this Jay Godfrey number: the deep emerald/turquoise shade, one shoulder design and floaty texture will feel like the summer breeze in the middle of winter. Same like the Clairborne dress, it can double for winter as well as for summer fiestas and parties.
For those who would like to try before committing, you can choose something like this Anthropology dress, which is black, but has this lovely emerald sash. It will certainly wet your appetite for more!
Design History 
Ellie Tahari 
Inhabit
That was my mother’s usual advise for winter, every winter for as long as I can remember.
‘Wear a sweater honey‘! Ugh! I did not want to wear one, because when I was growing up (that is the 70s and 80s), everything was itchy, oversize, or bulky and I did not do either of these things very well.
But now, things are and look so different sweater-wise. I get so excited when the weather lady forecasts temperatures in the 40s and 30s, because I have a good excuse to put on all those new sweaters. Sweaters now can be layered over a dress, paired with skirts or pants, and they are comfy, toasty, stylish and never itchy!
Here are three possibilities with suggestions to create 3 different outfits:
1. Design History sweater: pair it with a rich brown colored skirt and knee high brown boots for the office. Adding gold accessories will pull the look together.
2. Ellie Tahari sweater: The defined waist will allow you to pair it with a bubbly skirt, preferably in inky black in a nice rich fabric, black opaque tights. Maroon flats, a scarf, silver hoops and a chunky silver bracelet makes the whole outfit erfect for a date night!
3. Inhabit sweater:I love this for the weekend, with bright colored jeans either in an electric blue or dark red hue, a solid white tee, black boots worn over the jeans and presto: you’re ready for brunch and for shopping in Soho afterwards.
Stay warm!
Shorts rule every summer and this year they are hotter than ever. Not only did shorts rule the 2007 spring-summer catwalks, but also I am seeing more & more people than usual wearing them on the streets of NY as the temperatures keep rising.
Wearing shorts in a smart way can be tricky, especially if you’re adapting the look into your everyday urban wear. To look chic and trendy in shorts circa 2007:
- Pair them with a cardigan and flats for a casual/preppy look
- Wear them with a froathy top and sandals for evening
- Wear them with sneakers and a military style jacket for a funkier look
- Long and sleek shorts can be worn to the office if paired with nice pumps and a fancier jacket.
Length is important to make the look chic. Leave the shorter lengths for the younger crowd with killer legs and adopt a longer style if you are not 25 and your legs don’t resemble Naomi’s (or close). Also: the shorter the shorts the looser the fit. You can get a more figure hugging number if the length is at or below the knee.
Shorts that you should NEVER wear:
1. SPANDEX! Don’t laugh please. I am still seeing those and I can’t understand why people, who are clearly not part of a cycling team, wear them out in public. Spandex people: Do us a favor and know that these shorts are unflattering, unsophisticated and a bad choice.
2. Short khakis – polo shirt – socks and sneakers combo. Enough already! It is just not done anymore and we’re done too.
These are my shorts tips folks, with all my love,
Your Style Advisor
Jacket Marc by Marc Jacobs at Neiman Marcus
The new summer jacket is light, but it should never be taken lightly. It can get you a long way: pair it with shorts for an instant glam up of your favorite pair of shorts or jeans, or wear it with a cute summer dress when it is a bit chilly or when you want to wear your dress to the office and you want some cover up.
No matter how you choose to wear it, a summer jacket is one of the essential items in a wardrobe. Choose a nice cropped one to make your wardrobe current and pick a nice neutral color so you can pair it with many different things and create numerous outfits. I particularly like this beige Marc by Marc Jacobs one featured above, but there are choices out there for every girl and every budget.
If you can’t decide which neutral to get, I would advise to go either black or white; always smart, always glamorous and perfect for summer.
50s fashion is in and will always be, so collecting some cool, silver vintage jewelry is the best way to look cool, edgy and unique.
Check out some mid twentieth century Scandinavian silver offered at That’s different Decorative Arts.
When you pick the piece you like, just email them for the price and information on the designer, company, period or even the exact year. And I left the best part for last: they change wholesale prices. Can’t get better than that!
I am loving the brooch featured above.
Gucci wellies $200 at Bluefly.com 
wellies $19.99 at Target
There is no use complaining about the weather, but lately I have been doing it a bit, just because I am eager for the spring, long walks in the park and flirty floral dresses. Also, it has been raining. Lots. And until last week I did not own any wellies. Shocking but true. I’ll tell you why:
Being Mediterranean, I never owned any wellies, and I never found a strong enough reason to get any. In the east Mediterranean it doesn’t rain that often, and wellies are associated with doing work in the garden. Yeah! I know…there are all silly ideas.
When I moved to NYC however, I soon discovered that it rains a lot ☺but still… For many years I was resisting to get a pair. Until I realized that ruining my dressy boots every time it rains, it is not really an option any more. So, wellies entered my life and closet. Now, even I get excited every time it rains. I put on my boots and get out there in the crazy rain. I just wish that I had the ‘epiphany’ of getting a cute pair of wellies earlier.
Needless to say that there is a pair out there for every budget like the ones featured here. They all promise to show off your style and keep your feet dry. That’s a reason to sing in the rain!
Last week I was out shopping with a client, when in one of the stores I ran into my ‘competition’; 2 stylists/personal shoppers who were dressing a 16-year old young woman.
It is always interesting to meet your competition face to face and I am all for it. We all exchanged a polite glance and of course a quick once-over: this is something that always happens at this profession: one takes a quick look of what the other person is wearing and comes to a conclusion of what that person’s fashion sense might be like: sporty, feminine, modern, easy-going, likes flashy brands, subtle, elegant, clueless about dressing fashionably, trashy etc.
I have to say that I was astonished with my competition’s inexplicable dress sense of the day. What I will describe was worn by one of the stylists. Yes, all of it:
A white top-hat with a black and silver brim, a ruffled black shirt, jeans with lacey trimmings, gold jewelry, a western-type belt with a huge silver buckle, grandma type sensible black shoes and a beige/brown snakeskin satchel bag with gold details. She also wore a fur/leather coat: the kind that resembles the dead animal itself. Ew!
The only thing that I could think of is: WHY?!? Why are my eyes hurting? Why are these people calling themselves stylists? A stylist should dress the part. The same rules that apply to one’s client apply to the stylist too. Less is more and the goal is to look pulled together.
Some learnings from this traumatic experience:
- One flashy accessory per outfit. In the case above the lady should have worn either the white hat, or the belt or the bag. Not everything together.
- When you want to go western, don’t mix it up so much: a bag and a belt, or a belt and earrings and a western inspired bracelet is plenty.
- If you want to wear lace, keep the rest really simple. Even if it is detailing on your jeans.
- Coats that look like dead animals belong to the Stone Age, unless it is Halloween and you want to dress up as one of the Flintstones.
The young woman these ‘stylists’ were dressing, was as cute and fresh as a breeze: she was dressed in a simple top and leggings, paired nicely with a 60s type coat and a cute bag. She did not need any of that ‘weird’ styling. She should have kept her money and spent it on something else.
For all the stylists out there and for you also: if something is right don’t try to fix it. You should only update it so it looks current. And… take a good look in the mirror before going out and take off one thing. Maybe two. Maybe three!!!
Recollection Dress
I have been looking all around for the perfect pair of ballerina shoes that I can wear with my jeans, but also with my new ‘recollection dress’ that I bought recently. I had been looking for a nice dressier pair, very ballerina-like but also with a modern vibe to it. There are so many options out there, but nothing that truly reminds you of ‘Gizelle’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ or ‘Oddette/Odile’.
Until…I stumbled upon the Valentino Ballerinas. Oh my! I put them on and I instantly felt like the Sugar Plum Fairy in her fig colored dress. A little pricier that I would pay for ballerinas, but it has been a while since I stepped out in a fairy-tale pair. Check them out.
