Masculine ease meets feminine allure in elegant, ageless fashion. Tailoring is a timeless concept suitable for all women. The Edwardian dandy is alive and well – this time wearing a high-necked lavishly ruffled blouse paired with elonged pants and topped with a rakish fedora. The new twist in the girl-meets-boy look is the soft sculptural tailoring of jackets, skirts, hats, scarves, and bags. Shoulders are softly poofed, collars get rounded, waists are gathered, pinstripes get tucked, and houndstooths get heathered. Bow ties are showing on hats, waist bands, gloves and around the neck – both the classic bow tie and the true menswear neck tie shapes are making a comeback. This cross-generational androgyny befits a modern day Annie Hall. Suits abound in both slouchy and relaxed, or slim and sophisticated silhouettes. In salt and pepper wools, simple stripes or classic houndstooths, they’re just waiting to get feminine touches with scarves, bows, pearls, and pins! Accessories for this trend look particularly current when in the powdery hues of celadon, dusty blue, rose, and honey.  

Does the Bubbles collection have a matching wall border? Any suggestions to a coordinating wall border that could go with this design. We are thinking about picking up the lime or teal color for the walls.

From: Tami
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 3:19 PM
Subject: Weblog - Ask a Designer

To: Tami
From:  Meg Roberts, Design Director, Home
Thursday August 20, 2009

Dear Tami,
 
Thank you for the great questions about decorating around our Bubbles Bath Collection.  We do not have a wallpaper border that is a direct match for the Bubbles collection, however I think that the pattern is so lively that my first choice in a border design would be simple stripes.  I actually think that you could create a striped border yourself, with paint, that would be a lot of fun.  I would paint the wall the same cream as the background, and then pick up a few of the colors from the pattern in thin painted stripes, separated by cream.  You could have them professionally painted mechanically straight (or if you are handy you could tape them off and do it yourself).  But they don't have to be mechanical because the fine circles in the pattern have a handpainted feel, and you could recreate that look rather easily. 
But if that is daunting, I also love the idea of picking up a color for the walls.  You mentioned Lime and Teal.  Both colors match the pattern, however Teal is a deep green-turquoise and if you are painting an entire wall a color I would stick to a lighter shade such as aqua which is also a color in the Bubbles pattern. 
If you decide to go with the border idea and have questions, please contact us again.  Either way we would love to see a photo of the finished room.
Good luck!!
 
Meg Roberts, Design Director, Home
Echo Design Group

Though my favorite thing for Fall is called the Fine Gauge Solid Arm Warmer, it’s really more like all the great aspects of gloves without any of the cumbersome parts. Since I spend a lot of time in Maine, I know what it’s like to get cold, and in the dead of winter at 30° below zero, it gets really cold. But, just because it’s snowing, sleeting, hailing, and blizzarding doesn’t mean I don’t have things to do. I still have to run errands, make phone calls, and go places. These Warmers let me do all of that. Everyone knows that mittens are warmer then gloves because all of your fingers are together. So, with these, I can dial phone numbers, or rummage through a bag, and do all of the tasks at hand while keeping my hands warm. They make it easy to live in snowy climates uninhibited by the cold - no matter if it’s 20 degrees or -20 degrees out. Plus, when it’s really cold, they help bring back the memories of balling hands in mittens like I did as a kid after sledding, but with a sophisticated twist.   - Daniela

What a thrill to view Richard Avedon’s fashion photography spanning the better half of the 20th century at the ICP (International Center of Photography).  His images and craftsmanship work on so many levels.  Much of the work is in black and white.  The photographs are clean, bold, and full of action and life.  It is fascinating to see some of the most beautiful fashion models dressed in elegant gowns roller skating across European cities, or posing with elephants or circus clowns.   The contrasts between characters or characters with their fashionable clothing and their locations are so powerful.  Avedon found the richness in every little detail as if his role as photographer was more of a film director.  His sense of composition is strong and dynamic.  This is exhibited either through the model and their position or movement (in some photos you wonder how the person is even holding the pose) or the framing.  In all cases we are drawn, irresistibly, into the image and the world created.  And what a world.  Full of elegance, passion, beauty and romance.  There are no outward concerns in Avedon’s photographs.  As is also true of this wonderful exhibit that reminds us of what can be in art, photography and in fashion.  Enjoy.

Photo credit: Richard Avedon Foundation 2009

New York City has a wonderful new "attraction."  It is something that involves beauty, nature, urban design, history, culture, fashion and fun.  I'm talking about the "High Line" which I recently visited both by day and by evening.  The High Line is a six-block garden walk created on an old elevated railway track in the Meatpacking district.  It runs from 14th street to 20th street over 10th Avenue.  The original tracks at street level were elevated 30 feet in 1934 because so many accidents occurred between street level traffic and the trains.  Train traffic over the High Line stopped in the '80s and it was scheduled for demolition when a group was formed to preserve the High Line. A design competition was held and construction began in 2006 and it officially opened June 2009.

I can tell you first hand that everyone who lives in New York should go walk the High Line.  It is thrilling to find a beautiful, seemingly wild garden in such an urban and industrial area.  The design of both the structures and the landscaping is at once elegant and casual.  It almost looks as though grasses and wild flowers have just sprung up amongst the old neglected tracks.  But of course anyone who has any experience with gardening and urban architecture and design knows that there is some very high level designing going on!  It is not easy to create a space that has every detail perfect, but which feels effortless and natural, easy and right.  The materials, the little social gathering spaces, the plantings, the walkways and at night, the lighting, are just exquisite yet understated. (Make sure you notice the chaise lounges that are on wheels on the old tracks so they can be pushed together for a little romance!)  And it all takes place at a vantage point (elevated above the highway, streets, Hudson River and at near eye level with huge billboards and roof gardens and neon signs and apartment windows) that offers a unique perspective on downtown New York life.  And then there is the people watching!  I was there on a sunny, hot Sunday afternoon and a drizzly Thursday night, and both times there was such a joyful, relaxed spirit.  I'm sure that tourists will enjoy the High Line, but I think that for New Yorkers, it is an unexpected, magical little jewel to be treasured.  - Meg