Ohh Balmain, why do you have to design such fabulous things?

Soo many shoe desires. I need to sell a lot of my headbands because there is always something new tempting me!!!!

The Adventure

For the past two weeks "gems from heaven" keep dropping out of the sky for me. 

My Monday began with several emails from Melky Jean (Wyclef's sister) personally thanking me for her birthday headbands and praising my designs, the NY Post came to the hair event at Henri Bendel and asked to photography my headbands, and then of course my most precious niece was born. It was killing me that I was in New York City doing my trunk shows while my sister was giving birth. 

But blessings were being sent to both my sister and I, and when things are great, they are often AMAZING! And my little niece sure is amazing! She is beautiful, and perfect, and the most priceless gift! 

However, listing all these great things is barely scraping the surface! I have been given the most incredible opportunities and it has all happened in less than a week! The chance to go global, and the chance to collaborate with two really big business ventures. 

It is interesting because this year has not been 100% smooth sailing, but when I learned to let go of "the bad" and just focus on what is important and re-direct my energy, well, I feel that God has then opened up some amazing doors for me. Negative energy is never good for anyone or anything. It is toxic and life is too brief to get caught up in it. 

The adventure is barely beginning, but I am excited to see what else is in store....Two of my all time favorite songs are 1) The Adventure by Angels and Airwaves & 2) About Midnight by Sarah Kelley -- both do a good job of explaining my life this past year...

Defining HOT

I don't even need to explain it! 

My roomates gave me gift cards to Manolo Blahnik a few years ago. It was a fabulous birthday present, but I am wondering if we could up the ante this year :-) 

Uptown Chic, Downtown Diva

I have so many stories I want to document from my trunk shows last week at Henri Bendel. It was quite the adventure and I met a slew of people, as well as some real "characters". For now, I 'll just post pictures...more of stories to come later....

signing off from Scottsdale for now...

Things Have Come Full Circle

I started to reflect on my own "fashion-history-time-line", thinking about where things began and how far a long they have come. 

Kelly and I used to go to French Connection at Keirland Commons in Scottsdale all the time in search of the perfect party dress or outfit for  Axis Radius. Nicole, the manager of French Connection, had graduated from PRATT and was a trained fashion designer. We would always chat about fashion and New York City. 

I was wanting to do something more creative with my career and I was toying with the idea of design school. Nicole suggested I take some of the fashion illustration classes she taught at Mesa Community College. That truly was the beginning of this current adventure. 

The first night of Nicole's class, I met Evonne Bowling, the director of the fashion program at MCC. Evonne was handing out flyers promoting the New York Fashion Trip she does every May. She takes a group of students on a tour of the fashion industry -- you meet with designers, photographers, stylists, journalists. You name it, Evonne covers it. But mostly Evonne just shows you "Fashion" is not a pie in the sky/Hollywood dream. It is very attainable if you work hard enough and apply yourself. 

And that is what I did. I applied to Parsons Fashion Marketing Program, all the while taking fashion classes at MCC. I took a history of fashion class, color theory, visual merchandising and 2D design. I met some incredible people a long on the way, one of whom is my current intern, Katie. Katie and I instantly hit it off, when we realized we would laugh at the same crazy things that seemed to be unfolding during class.  One of these days Katie and I are going to write a book about all the "Characters" we seem to bump into, especially those in fashion. 

One of our projects was to create a window display. My brand was "Juicy Couture". I bought a case of styrofoam cups from Costco and I had labels made with the Juicy logo. Then I got pink straws and tons of pink tulle. I stuck the cups to the wall, and lined the ceiling and the floor with the pink tulle and I made a poster that proclaimed "Juicy Couture quenches your thirst for fashion".  Evonne suggested I look into visual merchandising, and I actually got paid to "dress" a window on Mill Ave in Tempe. 

I did not go into visual merchandising, but in a way I guess I did. Creating and designing headbands is creating a visual for a live person versus a display. 

Tomorrow is the start of Henri Bendel's Hair Atrium. I still can't get over the fact that I am selling at Henri Bendel. When I set out to do all this, Bendel's was a goal, but it seemed like the golden dream to actually get in! And that I got in, and now my merchandise is going to be on display!!!! In the 5th Ave window no less! It is all pretty amazing to me. All those trips to Keirland Commons, all those shopping sprees, well they paid off! I just wish I could get in a few more trips to Keirland Commons with Kelly, I hate that we are on exact opposite coasts. Dreams really do take you to far away places...

Henri Bendel Trunk Show

Knock Offs Are Obnoxious

My friend Alexa posted this to my Facebook page. I absolutely love it! It sums up so much that has been bothering me. 

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, I say it's a lack of creativity and a form of laziness.

 In fashion it is inevitable that styles and designs will be emulated. The whole concept of product development centers around "shopping the market" for trends and ideas and then tweaking those ideas to fit your brand. I get that. And when an "idea" is in the air, it is often in the air for multiple people. 

 But what I have a HARD time with is out right copy cats! People who can't come up with their own concept and who have the audacity to ride the coattails of the true trail blazers. It takes a lot of work to not only be creative but to actually put that creativity into action.  

My mother loved designer handbags, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Coach, etc., as well as expensive perfume. And she always told me that if I couldn't afford the real thing, to just go for something plain and simple rather than sport an imitation. 

I am 110% against being a FAKE person, especially when people spout one point of view and then live out their life life according to a different set of rules. Be whoever you are and don't be ashamed of it!

Buying imitations is like living a life full of hypocrisy. You want people to think you have the real deal, but you were not willing to shell out and pay the price of the REAL deal. I guess it comes back to my over-riding theme that nothing in this life is for free and there are consequences to all actions. If you want something bad enough, WORK hard for it, but don't go and take someone else's ideas to get where you are. That's a knock-off and it's obnoxious.