Red Market Fashion Week Kick-Off Party

On Friday, February 5th, I decided to stopped over at Red Market Salon to check out the designer, skincare and beauty deals.





I wasn't familiar with Velvet Angels, but found out they launched 2 years ago, and are available online at shopbop, revolveclothing, bluefly and at Velvet Angels. Velvet Angels is also available locally at Intermix and LF in Soho. Their pumps, booties and platforms sport some serious high heels (which I need to make me taller!). I found out they are just beginning to carry size 5, which is nice to hear, since size 5 is not easy to come by!



Ardistia and Miguelina

It was great to see Ardistia, who recently won the "Are You Runway Ready"fashion contest by social club Women's Mafia and was a finalist last month in Gen Art's Plastics Make it PossibleSM design competition. Congratulations Ardistia! I also met designer Miguelina, who makes fabulous, flattering dresses.




I picked up a few samples from Juara, which is inspired by Indonesian botanicals. I absolutely love the scent of the candlenut body creme, and it moisturizers really well. I have yet to try the rice facial cleanser and sweet black tea & rice facial moisturizer.




I also got a few samples of Davines LOVE shampoo (with Indian fig extract for dry & frizzy hair) and conditioner (with borage oil for harsh & frizzy hair) and their newest collection, MELU, with spinach extract for long or damaged hair.

Guests also enjoyed complimentary hair styling and drinks.

- Kim Weling

Ardistia New York: Spring's Latest Looks

I recently received this an e-newsletter from Ardistia New York on latest looks for the spring collection:

The spring collection offers an assortment of timeless black and white pairings with modern, fresh updates to help you step into the new season effortlessly.

• Add a breath of fresh air to your wardrobe with a statement-making, edgy strapless dress with couture detailing, perfect for welcoming warmer days to come.
• Fall in love with a soft, artfully undone white t-shirt with asymmetrical drapery, a great new must-have item for your closet. Pair it with simple black shorts for the ultimate relaxed chic look.
• Continuing its popularity as a staple item this season, an oversized boyfriend jacket is a versatile companion piece to instantly freshen your look. Slip it on over an updated white t-shirt and black shorts to create a modern, urban look that’s fit for day or night.

Here are some more looks from the spring collection. To view the full collection, go to www.ardistianewyork.com and select “Spring/Summer 2010”.

Gen Art Shop NYC

Shoppers at Yumi Kim


objets trouves designer Kate Linstrom (left) with colleague

Andrea Brueckner Handbags

BYSOG Handbags

Makeovers at Dex

I must say that the Gen Art Shop NYC event gets better every time I go. The latest shopping party took place on June 3rd at a very accessible location - 7 West 34th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues. Complimentary wine, beer, hair and makeup makeovers were available. As an avid attendee of the Gen Art runway shows, I was happy to see a lot of cutting edge designers selling their pieces at up to 70% off! There were over 60 designers present, but my main focus of the night was scooping out the designers that offered the best fit for petite people like me, and finding a new handbag to rock.

My first stop was at Yumi Kim, who always carries a great assortment of tops and dresses in fun, flirty prints. This time around the dresses were too long for me (last time I bought a blue silk lurex dress for $75) but I did manage to find an XS purple silk top with a back zip closure, for only $35. I saved over 75% off as the original retail price was $150!

I stumbled upon a designer that I wasn’t familiar with - objets trouves, and met the designer herself, Kate Linstrom. She does carry XS sizing, and I have already found some favorites in her spring/summer collection – a black skirt with side zips, red silk romper, metallic Stella skirt, fuchsia Bird’s Wing Top and a strapless Goldie dress. I definitely plan on buying some of this label in the near future!

Ardistia New York is definitely on my shop list, carrying dresses and separates that start in size XS and are suitable for work (at least my work, which has a casual yet stylish environment) including cropped skinny jeans, a wrap cardigan and double breasted trench coat. I took a sneak peak of Ardistia’s fall collection on their website and liked the front pleat top, cropped sleeve trench coat, hooded square coat, an angel sleeve dress with a boyfriend jacket and a bubble collar top, all in a neutral palette of black, grey and taupe.

I managed to pick up a Sally Tseng lookbook for fall and spotted a cute safari print top (which I could pull off as a dress), metallic beau blazer and a Dori jacket in graphite.

Now on to my focus with handbags, the steal of the day had to be the Andrea Brueckner metallic distressed leather city bag, that I got for $100, but retails for $650! That’s like 85% off – can’t get any better than that!

I also stumbled up BYSOG New York bags, currently carrying bags for men and women, but have collections for babies and pets coming for Fall 2009. You can definitely spice up your bag collection with these Italian Goat skin leather in agua blu, fuscia fantay, orange kush and bitta yellow colors. I absolutely love the Relapse Tote in blue moon or the Lena Lena bag in agua blu. I will have to get myself one of these bags next!

I definitely have to be prepared to spend more money at the next Gen Art Shop NYC event, with so many designers carrying XS and so many leather handbags to catch my eye, I can’t possibly leave empty-handed! Next time I will have to add jewelry to my shopping list….