accessories A small accessories can reflect your taste!
08-03-2012
Students make getting prom dresses easy, affordable
The glitz and glamour of prom is coming soon. For girls, it means the perfect hair and make-up, a beautiful manicure, and of course that stunning prom dress. But many parents cringe at the thought of spending hundreds of dollars for a dress that can only be worn once.Pearl City High School sophomores, Korissa Blasing and Morgan Curry, wanted to help. They call their project "The Girl in the Green Dress" because it is like recycling prom dresses."I really, really wanted to do it when a girl at our school said she couldnt go to prom because of money issues," Blasing said. "I figured that if we found dresses that we could give to people cheap.
It is pointless to buy an expensive dress for one night for only one person to wear it."Spanish teacher Kim Hanson said, "Korissa came to me with the idea and I like planning things. I thought it would be fun to involve all the girls. We decided to invite all of the smaller schools in our volleyball conference. I know Freeport and East Dubuque do like a prom dress drive. They have so many girls in one school, all they have to do is invite the people in that school and they have the selection. So, we had to invite a lot of schools to get those numbers up."
Curry added, "We invited Lena-Winslow, Stockton, Warren, Aquin, Dakota, Pecatonica, Milledgeville, Orangeville, West Carroll, Pearl City, and Eastland."Hanson said each school has a coordinator. They have seen more dresses come from the schools close to Pearl City. People have a choice of donating or selling their dress. Those who donate receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win a large basket filled with beauty products. Those who sell their dress at the silent auction place a desired price on it. Bidding starts at that price. The Green Dress project gets $20 and anything above the asking price. That money is "seed money" for future Green Dress events.
At Museum of Vancouver, a dalliance with art deco dresses
Imagine time-travelling back to depression-era Vancouver just as rum runner and millionaire George Reifel opens the Commodore Cabaret, now the Commodore Ballroom, for the first time. It is the biggest nightclub in Vancouver,Plus size mother of the bride dresses and its art deco design and sprung dance floor have been the talk of the town for weeks. The December 1930 grand opening features an 11-piece orchestra and sumptuous full-course dinner for a sold-out crowd of 1,500 people. You are one of them. What will you wear?
With the economy in a tailspin, you can't afford a new dress so you pull out one you bought two years before. It's a flapper dress embellished with thousands of shiny black sequins and glass beads machine-stitched onto silk mesh. It is classic art deco style very fancy surface on a simple shape. The beaded fringe hem draws attention to your legs as you dance and the beadwork presses against your frame, hinting at the beauty beneath. It's a bit short for the year, but it still feels stylish.Now this dress is part of a 60-item exhibit of art deco fashion spanning the 1920s and 30s. Curated by fashion historians Ivan Sayers and Claus Jahnke, it opens this Thursday at the Museum of Vancouver.
And were it in better shape, you could easily wear the dress to the Commodore or an art gallery opening today. Many of the other exquisite dresses with labels such as Chanel, Lanvin, Vionnet, Patou, and Schiaparelli would fit with red carpet styles of this season.It could be that everything in fashion comes around again. Or it could be pop culture's influence 1929-based period film The Artist just won best picture, and a remake of The Great Gatsby comes out later this year but art deco styles, be they bead work or geometric designs, are showing up everywhere. Even the backdrop for the Academy Awards was in the genre.
With today being 29th February, that special leap year day where traditionally ladies can propose to their lovers, we are sure there will be a flurry of women out there tomorrow looking for plus size mother of the bride dresses! However finding those plus size mother of the bride dresses isn't always easy it's a fine line between finding an outfit which won't upstage the bride herself, but also isn't frumpy. Luckily we're here to do all the hard work for you, and have found some absolutely stunning dresses to help give you some ideas for the special day!
Our first find in stunning plus size mother of the bride dresses is the lovely Simply Be Georgette Pleated Maxi Dress ($33).the floaty dream comes in a choice of black or toffee colours, and is available up to a UK size 32. It has a cleavage showing v-neck which is balanced out by it's demure length with an elasticated detail at the waist to really nip it in and show off those curves.The vertical raised seams ensure that the dress is both slimming and elegant and is perfect matched with a silvery-grey shrug or bolero.
Our final favourite in our search for plus size mother of the bride dresses is the pretty Simply Be Long Beaded Maxi Dress ($90). Available in black, cinammon and mink, the dress is a stunning maxi-design with a sequin bodice and georgette layered skirt. It's back tie detail defines your shape, whilst the stunning bead-trim makes this the ultimate in wedding chic.Yesterday, Mets relief pitcher Tim Byrdak crashed practice at spring training dressed as wrestling icon Hulk Hogan circa 1980s. The lefty was dressed in yellow boots and red underwear topped off with the trademark feather boa and Hogan's signature red bandanna.
Yes, winning leading lady, Meryl Streep, arrived at the red carpet in a dress resembling ghastly, golden drapery. Its true that Sandra Bullock proved that even Marchesa gowns can go wrong. And sure, George Clooneys girlfriend Stacy Kiebler walked the carpet in a dress that made her look as if she had a large golden tumor growing on her hip. But for the most part, Oscar 2012 dresses were notably glamorous. Strapless and sedate ruled the evening.Message in a Mini-Dress. Neutral hues and classic shapes dominated the ranks of the best dressed. The relatively simple cuts of the best gowns harkened back to an old Hollywood glamour that (at least I!) hadnt seen in a while.
Milla JovovichFor her first time at the Academy Awards, this actress absolutely killed the red carpet. Her one-shoulder, beaded Elie Saab gown was stunning. The red lipstick and classic updo completed the glamorous and polished look.Rooney MaraClad in a white Givenchy gown with a classic, but structurally interesting look, Mara shined on the red carpet.Jennifer LopezIm shocked to be including her on this list. Im never a fan of Lopezs normal ill-fitting, overly revealing, somewhat trashy dress choices. Tonight, however, hers was one of my absolute favorites! She wore a sparkling, neutral Zuhair Murad dress.
Gwyneth PaltrowAdmittedly, I was at first skeptical of the cape. However, the more I observed the actress in her white Tom Ford dress and matching cape, the more I realized how flattering and elegant the look was. The cuff added to its sleekness and sophistication.Angelina JolieJolie gets yelled at for wearing too much black, but I have to hand it to her. She looks awesome in it. The black Atelier Versace piece exhibited a shocking slit that showed off Jolies long leg.Michelle WilliamsThe star of My Week with Marilyn rocked in a red strapless Louis Vuitton dress. One of the riskier dresses seen tonight, the Vuitton gown featured complex crepe detail that took it from average to unique, from just another red dress to fabulous Oscar number.
My colleague Elissa Strauss, in this Sisterhood post, asks why I focused on the way author Deborah Feldman is dressed in recent press photos promoting her memoir Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of my Hasidic Roots.As Elissa notes, I wrote in my Sisterhood post that Feldman seems somehow immature, that in photos she looks like nothing so much as one of the 13-year-old girls I see on the bat mitzvah circuit who wear super-high heels and super-short dresses. These girls look like they are playing a sexy version of dress-up.Elissa observes, correctly, that Feldman is dressed no differently than countless other young women today, including herself, and writes: Never did it occur to me, and I assume, to many of them, that dressing like this in 2012 would cause anyone to think of us as childish and therefore take us less seriously.
Elissa continues: Your assessment of Feldman did tap into some of the same fears about a woman's body and how it should be hid, to some degree or another, in order for the world to take us seriously Why bring in the skinny jeans?I understand Elissa's point, but it is not quite the one I was attempting to make in my post about Feldman and Unorthodox.It's true that I described the way Feldman was dressed when trying to convey my sense that she is, in some way, immature. But I really got that impression, at least in part, from the way she poses in the photos, and the expressions on her face, and the way she is holding her cigarette in one of the pictures. There is something in them that conveys to me that this is not a woman who is centered and confident.
I wasn't making any general point about grown women who wear sparkly mini-dresses or skinny jeans (which I wear myself. The jeans, I mean). Or to suggest that women who dress that way ought to be taken less seriously. There is a discussion that could be continued about the messages sent by what we choose to wear, since of course everything about the way we present ourselves sends messages, whether they are intended or not.
Rachel McAdams dresses ten years younger than boyfriend Michael Sheen as the pair enjoy a low-key pizza date
They share a 10-year age gap and it somewhat showed in their wardrobe choices today.While Michael Sheen looked ever the 43-year-old dapper Welshman gentleman in a pair of tan trousers, a navy coat and flat cap, his leading lady Rachel McAdams went for a more youthful choice.The 33-year-old Vow star slipped into a pair of bright orange jeans paired with a black puffer jacket as the pair grabbed some take-away pizza in Toronto.The pair who strike a darling couple on the red carpet at premieres, often avoid Hollywood at all other times to play house in McAdams' home city of Toronto.
And they are obviously grateful to finally be spending some time with each other following McAdams promotional tour of her latest film The Vow.Last week they were pictured kissing one another as they walked down the street.'Michael and I never spend more than three weeks apart - we rack up a lot of air miles - but you have to be quite adaptable in this business whether you are in a relationship or not,' McAdams told Stella Magazine recently.'Trying to establish roots somewhere is a bit of a joke. You need to trust each other and be able to talk to each other and be best friends.'
Rachel added that she was thankful that she and Sheen developed a strong friendship before becoming romantically involved, and waited until after filming Midnight in Paris to become romantic.'Michael and I didn't get together while we were filming Midnight In Paris, Before the Dresses, the Ideas which I feel strongly about not doing when I'm working,' she revealed.'We became quite good friends, which I think is a great way to start. I felt very blessed to have made a Woody Allen film in Paris together.'
The high-fashion designer, known for his pricey gowns, is launching a digital inspiration board and opening it up to the masses. For the next three months, anyone can upload an image or a video to appear on a 27-inch screen in Mr. de la Renta's office to inspire his resort collection."The Board," as the brand is calling it, will be open after its runway show Tuesday evening through May, when the collection will be shown to retail buyers and editors."We like the idea of trying to collaborate with our fans," said Alex Bolen, chief executive of Oscar de la Renta LLC. "There are people who love our brand and have ideas about what would be beautiful."
That said, fans won't get paid for anything they submit, even if their ideas are found useful.The move piggybacks on the surging popularity of Pinterest, an online pin board where users swap photos. It also is the latest chapter in the increasingly intertwined worlds of fashion and technology. Once-secretive design houses are using social media to let the masses peek into their exclusive circles, cultivating fansand would-be shoppers.At New York fashion week, happening now, dozens of runway shows are streamed in real-time online. And brands are posting behind-the-scenes photos, with glimpses of makeup application, model rehearsals and even full ensembles shared before the show starts.
The new Oscar de la Renta initiativewhich will be found online at TheBoard.OscardelaRenta.commakes the designer-fan relationship one step further, giving outsiders a potential say in the creation of a collection.Most designers use an inspiration board for a collection, typically just a bulletin board pinned with photos, swatches or even phrases. In this case, the inspiration board will be digital and interactive. At the beginning, everyone will be invited to upload anything they choose. Submissions need only be visual in some waymaybe a painting, a vintage photo, a graphic design or advertisement, a beach sunset, a dog, a chair fabric.
Barbara Tfank shows lush feminine frocks fit for Betty Draper and 1st lady too at Fashion Week
Barbara Tfank wants to correct all those "Mad Men" references to her clothes after all, the designer says, "I was doing this five years before the show came on."Point taken. But it was still hard not to imagine Betty Draper truly rocking the delicate, feminine, and yes, seemingly 60s-inflected dresses on display at her fall/winter 2012 presentation Monday in a Manhattan art gallery.One creation in particular, a luscious pleated frock in blush embroidered jacquard with a tulip motif, seemed perfect for Betty, but also for anyone wanting to look seriously pretty and just a little retro.
For evening, there was a luxurious satin-lined fox jacket with a blush skirt, an outfit that Tfank seemed particularly fond of as she wandered among her models.Posh & Pink dress sale back this year.Asked her goals for the collection, Tfank, whose designs have been worn a number of times by Michelle Obama, replied simply: "To find enchantment and beauty."She was inspired, she explained, by what she called "the magic hour" "that moment that happens every day when the sun sets, and the lovely colors come out there's a lot of glow and sparkle, and a sense of joyfulness."
There was certainly joy in Tfank's own home when she turned on President Obama's recent State of the Union speech and saw Mrs. Obama enter in a shiny cobalt blue dress from her 2012 resort line. The dress won raves."It always comes as a great surprise," she said of the first lady's patronage. "It was a thrill to see."One dress in the new collection seemed ideal for the first lady AND Draper: an emerald green number with cap sleeves and a balloon skirt.But back to that "Mad Men" thing Tfank does not see her designs as connected to any particular time period. "They're not vintage," she said. If anything, "They're futuristic. They're an amalgam of all periods of time."
With Western Christian College and High School scheduled to close in the summer and unable to host the Posh & Pink dress sale for the second year in a row, the future of the event was up in the air.But thanks to Eye Inspire Events in Regina, and continued community support, young women will once again have the opportunity to purchase previously "loved" graduation dresses for no more than $80 on March 18 at the Conexus Arts Centre."We just felt that it was too good of an opportunity to pass up," said Mackenzie Kulcsar, event planner at Eye Inspire.
"There are young women in our city who need the kind of help that this dress sale offers them, which is a chance, an opportunity, to go to their graduation in a dress without being left out or feeling they're not wearing the right, expensive fancy dress."Kulcsar added the event has a "double impact on women in the city." Through a partnership with the Leader-Post, funds raised from the event will support the Leader-Post Cheer Fund, which helps four organizations in the city that shelter women and families from physical, sexual and emotional abuse.There is a new aspect to the Posh & Pink dress sale this year. Organizers have partnered with the What Women Want trade show, an extensive shopping experience scheduled for March 16-18 at the Conexus Arts Centre.
Organizers of the trade show are giving space to Posh & Pink to sell its dresses. On March 18, mothers and their daughters will get into the show for free and have the opportunity to shop for grad dresses at the same time."It's about doing the right thing," said Michelle Strawford, show organizer."We have the venue and, because What Women Want has always been extremely passionate about giving back to the community - women in particular - it was a nobrainer.
Elegant Attire Extravaganza focuses on affordable dresses
There were bargain priced dresses in all sizes, styles and colors to say yes to at the first Elegant Attire Extravaganza on Sunday at the ACCEL Hall.Vendors for wedding necessities, accessories, beauty, as well as hairstyling professionals, photographers, bakeries and more, were on hand to help complete any special occasion."We had a great turnout this year, and some great dresses got matched with the right girls. It can only get better," organizer Pam Applegate said.Participants brought dresses they wanted to sell, registered them with descriptions and had them modeled during the show with the option to accept offers from interested buyers.
"We had 158 gowns that came in the door, and everyone is very busy buying and selling gowns," Applegate said. "It turned out really well, especially for this being a year of trial and error."Sarah Magwood has designs on vintage clothing in Toronto.In one of the chairs lining the runway sat Corrin Ditch, who plans to go to the Caldwell prom and came to see prom styles."I want to see mermaid dresses," Ditch said. "That's the style I always think I'd like."She said her mom thought blue or red dresses would be good color options, but Ditch was interested in a dark green.
"I've seen a few that would be good," her mom, Cherish Ditch said, "Being budget conscious is what brought us out to this today. She's a freshman and she's going to go to a lot of dances. That can really add up, especially when the dresses can be $400 or $500 easily."Kristin Lefever, of The Curvy Closet, was at the event representing her consignment shop for sizes 14 and up."I was really excited to hear about the show because this is exactly what I do." Lefever said. "There is a real need for formal wear because it so expensive to buy new. I take formals on consignment and have formals available, so this is perfect."
Sarah Magwood has designs on vintage clothing in Toronto
She is impossibly chic, especially for a 20-something.But she has been collecting for a long time. It is in her designer genes."It's a real addiction," she confesses. "If I didn't turn this into a job, I'd be a crazy hoarder. I went to antique sales and bought things that weren't my size I had these two rolling racks of vintage clothes and no reasonable explanation why they were there. My mother (who is a painter) is an avid antiquer and it is in my blood to hunt."Her shop has a mix of vintage, designer and consignment. Labels range from minimalist Jil Sander to over-the-top Versace. She doesn't use pickers. She sources everything herself.
"Basically 90 per cent is by private appointment," Magwood explains. "I get it from women downsizing their collections or from family members after someone has passed on. I go to estate sales."She carries everything from biker jackets ($225) to a rare mint green 1920s flapper dress for $300 "that needs some love and needlework.""I would love a bride to wear this," she says. "Brides should go for pale tones like greys, mint and pale pink."There is an impressive assortment of accessories: Jewellery, scarves, belts and bags."I am one of the few stores downtown that carries a large collection of vintage jewellery," Magwood says. "I'm such a magpie. I gravitate to unique, statement pieces."Warm clothing giveaway runs out as winter weather nears.
Like a pair of Deco-esque chandelier earrings from the '60s priced at $45.Hermès lives here: A navy "Constance" bag with the iconic "H" is $1,295.Her main focus is evening shoes but has daytime footwear like Christian Dior spectator pumps for $125.Magwood graduated in 2008 from the University of Western Ontario, majoring in media and public interest and women's studies."Vintage is natural recycling but also a reappropriation of women's history. I love the stories behind it. I am constantly doing research about period textiles and design."After college, she interned at Worn Fashion Journal. In the spring of 2009, she worked at the Drake Hotel and instituted a series of events like a pop-up Make Sale.
Warm clothing giveaway runs out as winter weather nears
The good news is that all donated winter clothing left over from the holiday season at the Missoula City-County Health Department found its way to needy children.The bad news is it's all gone, and winter is just beginning.A story in Friday's Missoulian about the giveaway, made possible through Jim Adair of Adair's Jewelers and Bob Ward's Sporting Goods, generated a wave of interest at the health department.At least 50 new coats, 30 pairs of socks, 20 pairs of underwear and dozens of sets of long underwear, tops and bottoms flew off the shelves or out of four boxes.
"We had an incredible response. Everything was gone by about 2 o'clock on Friday," Julie Serstad, director of health services, said Tuesday when the health department reopened after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. "I had five messages when I came in today. There were several people that I had to say, I'm sorry, we're all out' to."It underscores the great need in the Missoula community, Serstad said. "There were some really sad stories: I lost my job, my husband lost his job, we're on WIC and we don't have any money for boots or coats. Fortunately it's been a mild winter, but boy, here it comes."
Indeed, forecasters on Tuesday were calling for wind chills below zero and up to 10 inches of snow on Wednesday in Missoula. That'll give way to warming and possibly rain before the snow and cold return again Friday night.For most of the last 15 years or more, Adair, Bob Ward's and the health department have worked together to supply new free winter wear to Missoula County children. Serstad estimated this time there was perhaps twice as many items available as in the last campaign two years ago. Not all of it was dispensed by the end of the holidays, and word of mouth wasn't putting much of a dent in the pile until Friday.
The UK's biggest clothing retailer, Marks & Spencer, has admitted that heavy discounting in the run-up to Christmas has eaten into profit margins - and that it is now eyeing extra cost savings to try to make up the shortfall.M&S's like-for-like clothing sales rose 1.1% in the three months to 31 December, with its overall performance lifted 2.4% thanks to a stronger than expected performance in its food business. But the retailer insisted it was not discounting in a "distressed" fashion, and that the move had been a tactical one.
Indeed, earlier and deeper promotions were endemic among UK retailers over the festive period according to new figures released last week - helping to lift like-for-like sales values by 2.2% over the previous year. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) also noted that shop prices grew at their slowest pace for 16 months during December.The victor in the supermarket price war was Sainsbury's, the UK's number three player, which hailed a "record breaking" Christmas period. Its general merchandise and clothing sales outpaced its food business, lifting sales by 2.1% on a like-for-like basis.
But shares in market leader Tesco plunged after it admitted to being outpaced by its rivals and warned that UK profits could fall in the coming year. Its UK like-for-like sales were down 1.3% in the six weeks to 7 January.In other news, purchases by the Chinese government are absorbing a large portion of the 2011/12 global cotton crop, with efforts to rebuild the national reserve likely to lead to a recovery in world stocks. The inter-governmental group the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) both believe global cotton stocks could rebound after two seasons of relatively tight reserves.
These straps are sturdy poly web which are designed with vinyl coated clips. Safety is a very distinguishing element when it comes to packaging essential requirements and go for kayaking. It generally enables essential survival equipments. If a person is going sea fishing than appropriate accessories are highly required to ensure a safer experience. Weather is certainly very hard to predict and it can induce possibilities for any kind of threats thereby, appropriate kayak accessories should be used to enable safety at its best.
Kayak accessories are all enabled with personal floating device and they are very comfortable and flexible because they have storage pockets. Safety is an important consideration whether it is near bottom of your boat or in your garage. These accessories generally consist of map and compass. You should always have both the essentials along with you because ether is no point carrying just one essential requirement. Map should certainly be watertight wallet. Watertight cases are also necessary essentials which you can rely upon to carry your cell phones if it is certainly required as per need and specifications.
Kayak pad generally offer cushion and pads which can be highly supportive and comfortable. They generally erase hours of discomfort by providing materialistic comfort and pad enabled mechanism. They come in various sizes because they are designed in such manner which can compliment band which provides cushioning effect. It is certainly a great alternative if you are using it for additional activities such as going for an outing or an excursion trip. To offer additional support; there are kayak seats. All these products offer classic cushioning which ensures medically proven pressure relieving technology products.
