Dion Roy's CD Release Party

Indie singer/songwriter Dion Roy celebrated the release of his CD “Gallery”, with an acoustic performance at Arctica Bar on June 9th.

Dion’s ten-track album includes songs with themes such as addictive love (“Come Back Around”), failed relationships (“Wants It”), betrayal from a loved one’s substance abuse (“Orchid) and useless carnage of war (“Blind World”). Dion shares the sounds of Peter Yorn, Ryan Adams, Keane and Snow Patrol, with his blend of pop, rock and folk. You can feel the thought and emotion behind Dion’s music, as the lyrics are easy to relate to. As an encore, Dion performed a cover of “Bittersweet Symphony”.

Dion was born in Namibia, raised in South Africa and New Jersey and is now a New Yorker at heart.

Dion will be playing at Arctica Bar on Wednesday June 24th, and then will be touring in West Hollywood, San Francisco and Seattle. Check out dionroy.com for exact tour dates and locations and to view live performances.

Here's Dion Roy performing "Come Back Around"

Robert Verdi and Friends Sale at Housing Works

Housing Works Thrift Shops, Chelsea


Robert Verdi holding a BYSOG bag



After the Gen Art Shop NYC event, I headed over to the Housing Works Thrift Shops sale in Chelsea, hosted by celebrity stylist Robert Verdi. The event was being taped as part of the docu-series The Robert Verdi Show Starring Robert Verdi. Over 1,000 items were donated by Robert Verdi & friends, including Jonathan Adler, Steven Alan, John Bartlett, Bobby Berk, Brian Boye, Collin Cowe, Patrick Doddy, Simon Doonan, Jamie Drake, Rodney Keenan, Carson Kressley, Richie Rich and Nathan Thomas.

This was the first Housing Works Thrift Shops sale I’ve been to and although I wasn’t able to find anything in my size or fit (size XS or 0 is hard to come by at one of these events), I saw a ton of people enjoying themselves and picking up some great finds. One of my friends was able to find three blazers all for $70. These are definitely one of those events where you want to get there early!

Donations to Housing Works Thrift Shops help raise more than $10 million annually in support of homeless men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS in NYC.

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….

Orlane Cocktail Party to Benefit Afghan Hands

Orlane held a benefit on June 2nd to benefit Afghan Hands at the Spring Street Longchamp store. Unique hand-embroidered shawls, scarves and throws made of cashmere, wool, pure cotton and pure silk were available for purchase, designed by master embroiderers and artisans. Shawls ranged from $125 to $400, scarves from $100 to $175 and throws from $250 to $800. 100% of the profits from each purchase support education and expansion of Afghan Hands workshops. The program allows widows in Afghanistan to learn how to read and write, work toward obtaining a high school degree and livable wage job. “Our goal is to teach Afghan women their legal, human and religious rights so NO ONE can ever imprison them again in the name of law, honor or religion.”

Hors d’oeuvres were provided by Convivium Catering. Orlane gift bags included deluxe samples of repairing night cream, abdomen firm and reshape body care and anti-fatigue recovery serum, masque and cleansing serum for the eyes.

You can still make purchases online or learn more about Afghan Hands at www.afghanhands.org.

La Venue Anniversary Party

La Venue held an anniversary party on June 2nd, located at Terminal Stores, between 27th and 28th streets. With the space just being open on year, La Venue has held many beauty, fashion and fine dining events, including The Train tradeshow, Shecky’s Beauty and Girls Night Out and the NYC Wine and Food Festival.

Creative Edge Parties had a very inventive setup of desserts and dessert drinks in one of the back rooms. The desserts were very simple, including oatmeal and Mexican wedding cookies but had a fun, inviting display. The dessert drink menu was displayed on old school milk bottles, and choices of strawberry vodka + chocolate Godiva liquer, banana Myers rum + brown sugar and toasted almond with Disaronno were written in chalk. If you aren’t familiar with Creative Edge Parties, you should definitely check out their website at www.creativeedgeparties.com and click on ‘A TASTE’ to view some of their exquisite hors d’oeuvres.

I only caught the tail end of the party but Allure Catering was also on deck with hors d’oeuvres. Domaine de Canton prepared the drinks, with a special Domaine de Canton drink that included fresh lemon juice, angostura bitters and club soda. Domaine de Canton is a French Ginger Liqueur, a sweet and flavorful blend of French cognac and fresh baby ginger.

H&M Store Opening Party with Estelle at 86th and Lexington

Estelle




Fashion Against AIDS T-shirts

parmesan pudding on herbed foccaccia

truffles dusted with bittersweet cocoa

On May 27th, H&M celebrated the grand opening of a new store at 86th and Lexington, carrying apparel and accessories for ladies, mens, teens and kids. It was also the launch of exclusive Fashion Against AIDS t-shirts in which 25% of the sale price of this collection goes directly toward HIV/AIDS education and prevention efforts.

The entire store was 25% off for the night, so attendees happily shopped for spring/summer. I was lucky enough to find a mustard-colored jersey tunic dress and white v-neck dress in XS (the perks of being one of the first to shop in a new store!). H&M is great for finding inexpensive basics or trendy pieces and they do carry XS so you should check it out!

The music was pumping and Estelle mingled with the crowd and posed for pics. Drinks were sponsored by Belvedere Vodka, with refreshing Citrus Lemonade (Belvedere Citrus, lemon juice, sprig of thyme), Black Raspberry Caipirovska (Belvedere Black Raspberry, strawberry, muddled lime and mint) and Orange Basil Gimlet (Belvedere Orange, fresh lime juice, basil) drinks to choose from. Creative Edge Parties, my absolute favorite catering company, provided the hors d’oeuvres, which are always unique and artistically presented. Sashimi, chicken summer rolls with curried vermicelli and Vietnamese basil, parmesan pudding on herbed foccaccia, truffles dusted with bittersweet cocoa and carrot cake were just some of the hors d’oeuvres being passed around.

Farrah Delaunay Launches Bambou Handbag Collection

Bambou Handbag Collection


Brazaville Beach Bag in Pink


Casablanca Weekender in Green

Farrah Delaunay unveiled her first handbag collection, Bambou, at the Edward Tyler Nahem Art Gallery on May 20th, 2009. Delaunay highlights her heritage by incorporating West African indigo-resist dyed fabrics, resulting in colorful lambskin leather handbags. The line includes clutch, hobo, bourse weekender, carry all and beach styles. The bags feature braided handles, bold colors and prints in bright green, brown navy, pink, white and beige. The collection including the Dakar, the Kampala, the Lagos, the Casablanca and the Brazaville will be available at department stores and boutiques nationwide, retailing from $360 to $950.