The Spring Clothesline- NYC Fashion Week part I

This week Nicole Miller showed her label collection for NY Fashion week and next week she jetsets to Auckland for NZ Fashion week. Nicole Miller is know for her simplistic but sleek styles. She does bridal and red carpet very well. Her 2011 spring collection began with soft shades of grey and white, flowing into sheer gowns. She ended with more design work and tailoring although still keeping some of the light textiles with bolder colors and prints.

Karen Walker. NZ is most proud. She crossed oceans to be NYC to show her 2011 Spring Collection. It seems ironic as we are now in Spring here in NZ. Her collection was fresh, light, beautiful and matched some lovely prints like the ones shown here. The Karen Walker heels are on my wishlist. Her models also pulled off the coral lip color perfectly.

Anna Sui 2011 Spring collection had a wonderful, wild, prairie meets native feel to it. Lots of detail in ruffles, layers, and a range of colors from soft neutrals to rich orange & purple.

A Detacher showed a sophisticated mix of articulateness and detail. A narrower palette of colors but still stunning in gun metal grey and pale nudes. My favorites are the one sleeve dress that came out first and the striking nude and metallic silver dress at the end.

Still more to come!

What are you favorites from NYC Fashion week?

Orange alert at NYC Fashion Week 2010

Pradal Gurung, United Bamboo, Rag & Bones, ADAM

Bright, fluorescent orange is springing back at NYC fashion week.

Cynthia Rowley, Peter Som, Steven Alan, Lacoste

Lacking something orange in your wardrobe? Make a statement with some coral lips.

Love devotion by NARS. Available @ Mecca Cosmetics, Ponsonby.

Sheer Delight for Spring 2011

ADAM, Doo Ri, BCBG Max Azria, Ports 1961

There is a common thread at NYC fashion week.

Sheer esthetic in nude, neutral beige tones. Light, delicate and oh so feminine.

Neutral Palette for Spring 2010

pants by Storm, dress by Bassike, heels by Mi Piaci, shades by SUPER, belt & cardigan by Storm

Keeping it neutral isn't about playing it safe. Sometimes it's best to tone it down and play with the tailoring and material rather than pop with color. I first saw the Berlin pants in Storm today, and then I touched them... They must be 100% silk. Storm has some great bits and pieces to look at in Newmarket or any other location.

Check out the spring collection online @ www.stormnz.com

This week in COLOUR

Dress by Ruby boutique, BYS nail polish from Glassons, Grazia magazine issue 104

My birthday is coming up so I was thinking a pretty frock would be lovely. I was browsing through Ruby's boutique online (rubyboutique.co.nz) and loved the Summer 2011 collection! I'm going to take a closer look tomorrow @ their Newmarket store. I also found there is a cupcake bakery that just opened in Newmarket, Petal cupcakes. Just in time for some birthday love.

Kingan Jones, Turet Knueferman

Kingan Jones, Country Road

Hot hair at Blaze Salon & Pony Xpress

BLAZE hair salon was awarded Metro 2009 Auckland's Best Hair Award 2009. It is a one off concept salon located in Newmarket fashion district. It's creative marketing tactics such as the eye-catching window display below has drawn much attention. For those interested, the window displays are changed about every six weeks. One of the stars of the salon is 2008 New Zealand Hairdresser of the Year, Mana Dave. He is the Creative Director of BLAZE Salon and International Platform Artist for Redken. Cost of female haircut & blowdry @ $95 with male haircut & blowdry @ $70. Not bad, compared to the $125 I paid at Toni & Guy on High Street! Other stylists at BLAZE are between $60-$80 for the same service.

Mana Daves also had something beside BLAZE salon in his imagination. It was the idea of Pony Xpress blow dry bar, which is open now in Glassons flagship Newmarket store. Some of the blow out styles are shown below on their little card menu.

I arrived at the bright, bubbly Glasson store to snap this quick preview of the salon. I'm thinking about doing a birthday blow out in a couple weeks and see what magic they can work!

On the side of the salon is a flash video screen showing each style. Very modern. Reminds me of the runway screens in designer stores.

I'll post more when I have an appointment at BLAZE & Pony Xpress salons. Have you tried either salon? Let me know what you think.. Ta!

Grazia ~ a fashion feed!

Grazia, a fabulous australian read available in NZ for only $6.

It's the perfect fortnightly fix for the newest fashion & celebrity gossip.

I get mine a week early, stashed for me at the dairy across

the street. Unfortunately, all competitions are closed to NZ!

Snowberry; NZ's finest skincare

Great skin is always in fashion, so I met with Snowberry last week to trial their range of skincare products. I had loved what I read on their website about their inspiration, ingredients and process of making Snowberry. Firstly, it's green! They are the only company in NZ to be certified CarboNZero which means in simple terms 'carbon neutral.' Founder Soraya, created a beautiful range of natural but active products from her philosophy of natural beauty and authenticity. She wanted to create something that didn't have any restrictions to quantities of the best bioactive ingredients from around the world. Snowberry uses 130+ exotic ingredients in their range and absolutely no parabens or fillers. They created their own self preservative system through extensive research with some of NZ's own rainforest plants. Shelf life isn't a question and products are good for up to 3 months upon opening them.

The anti-ageing range is the first range of Snowberry. Recommended for 30+

Instant Deep Cleanser- 100% oil, is bright orange from the amount of carotene in it.

Gentle Remineralising Toner- a light foaming cleanser/toner combo

Nourishing Exfoliator- shea butter base exfoliant with jojoba beads, absorbs quickly into skin

Intensive Renewal Face Serum- absorbed quickly with no residue, no sticky feeling

Smoothing Eye Serum- feels cool and tightening

Nourishing Lite Day Cream- smelled nice, was light and tightening/firming as well.

Nourishing Rich Day Cream- an alternative to the light day cream

Cellular Regeneration Night Cream- helps to heal and repair skin at night

**Snowberry is introducing a new anti-oxidant range BRIGHT DEFENSE in November 2010!**

This range is for 18+ and is designed to create a radiant complexion through reducing skin discoloration and brightening the skin safely without bleaching or peeling. The new range will include 3 BRIGHT DEFENSE creams for Oily, Combination and Dry skin as well as a Night Cream and Face Serum. Snowberry will also be releasing a natural broad spectrum sun protection cream SPF 15 that absorbs quickly and does not leave a white residue on the skin. It's ingredients include Zinc Oxide, Galanga Root, Coffee bean oil, Shea butter, Inga and Raspberry seed oils. It is much better for the environment than most sunscreens and sunblocks that contribute to the 4,000 tonnes of product washed onto coral reefs around the world leading to coral bleaching.

Visit Snowberrybeauty.com, available only at Smith & Caughey's in NZ.

All artwork created for the award winning Snowberry packaging and design by London artist, Rob Ryan.