coutorture --

Fashion in 50 Seconds 7/31

coutorture — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:26:56 -0700

Diane Von Furstenberg and Liz Claiborne were inducted into the Fashion Walk of Fame yesterday. DVF used the opportunity to raise concerns about zoning changes in the Garment District. “As president of the it is the hope that the city, the designers, the landlords, the unions and the factories can come together soon and help this district not to disappear — to secure a plan to keep some manufacturing in the Garment District as it is the foundation on which American fashion was built. Let’s always be together and try to find solutions together,” von Furstenberg said.

Speaking of Liz Claiborne, the apparel giant is said to be reviewing its foreign sourcing, a sure sign of tough economic times. Many global apparel brands are beginning to pull back their direct sourcing operations from India. What does that mean in shorthand? Good times for third party management firms Li & Fung and even tougher times for firms that wish to continue sourcing on their own. Or you can source online!

Red and blue state collide and thus fashion gives us purple

In collaboration land, DKNY is teaming up with Chandon to create a 20th Anniversary bubbly for the brand. Look for it at Fashion Week in September. Mmmm!

Coutorture ecommerce favorite eLuxury has a new CEO. David Asher, who also will serve as chief executive officer, starting Aug. 11. He replaces president Ann Hepler, who is leaving to pursue other interests. In other ecommerce news, Rugby is finally going online just in time for back to school.

I Enjoy Being A Girl

coutorture — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:38:50 -0700

We might be on a bit of an estrogen overdrive thanks the menswear being shown in Milan this week. This is making us exceptional prone to cooing over the silliest of girly accoutrements. Community member Fashionation has an entire post about bows that set us over the edge of feminine sanity. She has an entire collection of bows for her hair that just made us squeal like schoolgirls. But its not all giggles and tea time, serious fashion designers like Diane Von Furstenberg have been showing bows in their resort collections. Thus in the spirit of being a girl we have picked a few bow accessories for your enjoyment and a little video ditty to express just how pleased we are to be the fairer sex!

Not Max'd Out Yet

coutorture — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:51:28 -0700

The maxi dress is the older sister of the bubble dress. Both dresses were flavors of the month last summer in what felt like an endless season of cheap and easy to wear fashion that didn't ask much of the wearer or her pocket book. And yet the maxi-dress always felt like she had a little more staying power than her kid sister.

The allure of the maxi-dress isn't as simple as the bubble dress. The cute and obscuring bubble dress was the sartorial equivalent of the one hit wonder. But the maxi dress hints at so many possibilities and we don't just mean what is under the folds of fabric. It suggests a certain kind of life with leisure time, extraneous bank accounts, and a lack of concern for dirtying the fringes with concrete sidewalks (or the boardwalk). The maxi dress is casual and yet with its length it goes formal in a wink, something the bubble dress never did manage.

And we clearly aren't the only ones wondering if the maxi dress deserves another summer in our closet. Community member Margarite Elaine has tips for wearing the dress (for short girls like two of our editors she recommends having them stop just above your ankle) in any situation or on any body. But the real proof? Six of the bloggers at our DVF X Bloggers fashion shoot chose to highlight a DVF Maxi Dress including The Daily Obession, SheFinds, See Pretty Things, Shopalicious, The ShoeBlog and Clothes Pin.

DVF X Bloggers

coutorture — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:50:23 -0700

The streetwear symbol for collaboration involves combining two names with an "x" as a signifier that two brands joined forces for a creative project. Often it is the collaborations that bring out the best from each side, highlighting the strengths of the players while creating something that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is the "x" factor of unique teams coming together to do something great. It is this spirit of collaboration that inspired us to host a photo shoot with iconic womenswear line Diane Von Furstenberg and the Coutorture community.

Thus it seems fitting that we call the Coutorture community's collaborative photoshoot with Diane Von Furstenberg DVF x Bloggers. After an agonizing process of slimming the potential list of collaborating blogs to ten (though we shot eleven as our intern Maleeha The Shoptometrist got in on the fun) we brought Shopalicious, Fops and Dandies, The Shoptometrist, See Pretty Things, Clothes-Pin, Eyeshadow Government, The Daily Obsession, SheFinds, The Fashion Bomb, The ShoeBlog, and Fashion Indie.

Ten bloggers arrived at Diane Von Furstenberg's 14th Street Meatpacking District store to discover a full crew of professional photographers, models, makeup artists, hair stylists, sales women, publicists, creative directors, and a few interactive agency types from Morpheus Media (the collaboration may have been our idea but Morpheus helped bring it to fruition) ready to help the bloggers play.

And play we did as bloggers dressed, styled, and modeled (and ate and drank) to their hearts content. Every blogger looked fabulous in the diverse number of outfits their educated fashion minds gravitated towards. It was a true testament to the project's aim, to bring the personality of the bloggers to DVF and the integrity (and, we must say, wearability) of the brand to the bloggers.

We hope you will enjoy the results and take the time to peruse the many galleries, write ups, links and Shopstyle Spreads we will be posting through out the next few days to help celebrate this phenomenal creative collaboration.

The Daily Obsession X DVF

coutorture — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:12:36 -0700

The Daily Obsession had one word for our Bloggers X DVF shoot:aaamazing!

Franky we think the Daily Obsession is pretty amazing themselves. Carolyn, the group blog's author, has been an exceptional community member within Coutorture. She and her co-authors helped host a Blog Talk Radio session on teamblogging with us just a few weeks ago. And her community spirit showed right through at the event as she cheered other bloggers on, helped people pick clothing, and even teamed up with The Shoeblog for a two blogger photo! She is a blogger that makes us proud to do what do we do.

It was definitely one of the most unique events I've ever been to and made us bloggers feel really involved and appreciated in the fashion community. Everyone was so professional and friendly and it was really amazing how much effort went into the evening.

As for the clothing- can DVF do any wrong?? Every item that everyone put on looked fantastic! Sometimes when I think I can't wear bright colors or prints, I go to DVF and let her prove me wrong. She truly designs for every woman.

Eyeshadow Government X DVF

coutorture — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:32:25 -0700

We are suckers for a good pun and Eyeshadow Government is one of our favorites. The silver tongued blogger has golden taste as she put her model in two sunny options that are as far from secret shadow government as possible! In fact, we would say that this Diane von Furstenberg Zacharie crochet dress is downright attention grabbing! Which might explain why our demure blogger felt a little more comfortable having it modeled but we say next time we hope to see our girl come out from behind her cover. But she doesn't call herself Eye "shadow" for nothing! Even though she is secretive she did give us a quote about her experiences.

Diane von Furstenberg is such an inspirational, iconic New York designer.Her springy color palettes looked great on all the bloggers and models at the shoot. Her dresses are made to bring metropolitan glamour to every woman who wears her clothing.

See Pretty Things X DVF

coutorture — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:13:54 -0700

If you get something right the first why bother to try again? That is the attitude Kimmie of See Pretty Things took with her shoot at our DVF X Bloggers event. She found a the perfect dress and instead of trying on outfit after outfit, or even shoot another nearly perfect outfit, she stuck with her one perfect gown.

But it wasn't just about the clothing for Kimmie:"It was absolutely amazing from the time we walked in until the time we left and it felt a bit dream like. The two things that stick out in my mind was how much fun it was to hang out with the other bloggers and getting to know them. Second, it was really nice to see the entire staff getting involved by assisting with outfits and even doing some styling to make each shot tell a story. Both of these made it memorable and a nice way to spend an evening."

And while the stunning animal print maxi dress isn't available online we found a few full length options that can help you take it to the max just like Kimmie.

Shopaliscious X DVF

coutorture — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:59:11 -0700

Nothing is cuter than a bashful blogger, particularly when they have nothing to be bashful about. Shopalicious is a talented blogger with a beautifully designed site so naturally we find it endearing that she was nervous about our event.

Diane von Furstenberg just happens to be one of my absolute favorite designers -- but I was filled with trepidation nonetheless! What to wear? Would I trip and fall? What if I got there and couldn't decide what outfits to pick?

Clearly she had no trouble at all once she got started! She told the sales women that orange was one of her favorite colors and promptly pulled together a wardrobe of the sunny color. Our favorite was the extremely wearable Niue Wrap Dress. Another sign she didn't need to worry? Her second choice sold out on the DVF website within a day of her wearing it! Thankfully we were able to kind the Kiwana Maxi dress at another retailer.

The Shoptometrist X DVF

coutorture — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:52:21 -0700

Shoptometrist isn't simply blogger to us, Maleeha is also Coutorture's intern! Over the past 6 months she has pulled and returned about as much many dresses, shoes, and accessories as our crowd of 11 bloggers pulled off the racks at Diane Von Furstenberg for our shoot! OK she has probably pulled a lot more even though eleven women trying on a million outfits is a lot of fashion. That experience has paid off as Maleeha has a keen eye for styling. Some of our best styling ideas, like the Ace-Bandage top from our Brace Yourself shoot has come from input from Maleeha.

She was a little nervous at first about getting dressed and in front of the camera. But once she got into the Tuvallu Dress in Zig-Zag Jungle Lime we think she started to feel better! But you don't have to take our word for it as she has blogged about the entire shoot herself already.

The ShoeBlog X DVF

coutorture — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:35:09 -0700

A girl can never have too many shoes and trust us we tested that premise with The Shoe Blog at our DVF X Bloggers shoot. In fact you could say we went downright overboard. While Shoeblog's JitterbugBaby was content to pose Diane von Furstenberg Shoes Milano Suede Ballet Flats in Teal Coutorture and the DVF staff had other ideas. Pair after pair of sandal, pump, wedge, and flat were pulled off the shelves and placed at the feet of our dear blogger. The Provence shoes in gold and pink were our personal favorites but with a pile that large one would be hard pressed not to find a pair to take home.

She had this to say about the event:

What a fantastic evening! I imagine a lot of us who now blog oh-so-passionately about fashion started out as little girls who loved playing dress-up. I know I did. And even though my taste has improved, there's still a basic, visceral thrill in putting on pretty clothes and shoes and jewelry that's really no different from how I felt as a kid.

The DvF staff were lovely and helpful and so welcoming, and the Coutorture gals were prepped and ready and made the whole thing run as smooth as Italian leather. A great time was had by all, as you can tell from all the smiling faces and beautiful, happy bloggers. I'm glad to have had the chance to connect some faces with the blogs I read regularly, and to hang out with my fellow fashionistas in some seriously delicious duds.

For More of Our DVF X Bloggers Shoot Click Here

Fashion Indie X DVF

coutorture — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:56:41 -0700

Fashion Indie likes to break the rules. They are known for just being a little bit badly behaved and reveling in it when it comes to getting their voice heard. Sometimes we want to smack Daniel Saynt upside the head but we respect their taste when it comes to bringing together rule breaking styling. Combining the Bowenia Dress in Azalea and the Diane von Furstenberg Lunalilo Jacket is pretty daring at first blush. The combination of a pink cocktail frock with a blue hoodie-like jacket is just the sort of thing an independent minded Brooklyn girl would do. The outfit is of course quintessentially DVF even if you didn't quite expect it. And of course they just had to put their model in the most expensive dress of the evening the Alika Dress in Multi which just happens to be Look 39 from their Spring runway. The pricey frocks are what any self respecting girl playing dress up gravitate towards too. There is something to be said for rule breaking after all, at least when it comes to fashion.

For More Bloggers and DVF coverage

Clothes-Pin X DVF

coutorture — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:13:31 -0700

Clothes-Pin is known for her coverage of independent fashion labels that escape the notice of the mainstream press. Thus she was thrilled to experience a brand she called one of the founding indie labels in her post about the experience.

We personally loved her two choices of the Franz Dress in Rhombus All-Over Siren and the Cookie Dress. She clearly felt incredibly comfortable in both options as she strutted her stuff in front of the camera. She didn't even require any cheerleading from the sidelines. How is that for feeling good in what you wear?

Check out the rest of the collaborations here!

Knotty Girl

coutorture — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:27:43 -0700

There is only so much interest you can add to a shoe before the design feels overburdened. The knot is a classic and versatile accoutrement much beloved by shoe designers of all stripes. Community member the Budget Babe is working to find alternatives to Diane Von Furstenberg's Love Knot Sandal (we say at $240 just go for it) but once we saw the knotted designers we were off on a shopping spree. Fendi's Runway Metallic Cage heel has subtle knot detailing on an otherwise unsubtle heel and the Dior Samourai Japanese Knot Platform Sandal has enough detailed knots to make any sailor proud.

For More Blogger Shoutouts

Wonder Woman Fashion?

coutorture — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:28:15 -0700

Superheros are obviously on the the fashion mind. MISS Crew turned us on to Diane Von Furstenberg's holiday collaboration with Warner Brothers to release wonder woman inspired fashion. We were sort of hoping for a bright red wrap dress with blue trim but apparently a print maxi dress felt a little bit more modern to the design wonder. Is it wrong of us to admit that we sort of prefer dressing up in licensed Wonder Woman Clothing, and super hero style costumes if we are going to celebrate the one super hero with matching accessories? After all we can't imagine a designer releasing a lasso of truth anytime soon. Though with headbands being so popular maybe Marc Jacobs should release a golden special edition headbands.