Rebecca, from the blog The Clothes Horse, creates great outfits that play off the Virginia landscape where she lives. She's created this recent look with deep neutrals in a stark wintery & barren landscape. Our ruffle touch gloves look super cute and sort of add a hint of vintage together with the black back-seam nylons. (I feel better knowing she can use her phone out there in the wilderness!)

At Echo's holiday party last night, I noticed that holiday dressing is lot like holiday decorating.  We're inspired by the same categories that evoke the specialness of the season. Anything that sparkles and shines looks great in low light situations.  A lot of Echoans sported sequins - dresses, tops, shorts and wraps - in silver and black.  Some opted for rich fabrics like velvet in boots and scarves but all focused in on jewel tones: rich ruby red dresses, some cobalt and navy as well. The twinkling lights reflected in glittery earrings, watches and bracelets. Accessorizing your party is like accessorizing yourself.  So choose all that glimmers, shimmers and glows and enjoy the shine of this great holiday season with friends and family!    

661,509 fans viewed Alexander McQueen's retrospective (1992-2010) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 4 months the exhibit ran. The Savage Beauty exhibit was one of the biggest exhibits in the Met's history. Because of it's popularity, there is currently a push for the exhibit to tour and at the least reside temporarily in McQueen's hometown of London. So if you missed the experience in New York, watch for news on another viewing location.  As Echo's Senior design manager Sarah Frank points out in her assessment of the exhibit below, McQueen's work isn't just clothing design, it's art.  And art deserves to be shared and experienced. For that reason, we hope the quest for a global tour is successful. In the meantime, metmuseum.org has thoroughly comprehensive look at the exhibit as a whole, as well as with in-depth analysis of particular works, as seen in the video here http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/video/ narrated by Andrew Bolton, the curator of the Met's costume institute and of the exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.  Here is one designer's view of the exhibit:

"I have seen some of the greatest fashion retrospectives over the years: Yves St. Laurent, Christian LaCroix curating the Musee De La Mode in Paris, Poiret at the Met and Fortuny in Venice.  All were splendid but Savage Beauty by Alexander McQueen at The Met show wins the gold.

McQueen was a visionary who combined themes from history, literature and nature with the talent of a sculptor. Imagine a Victorian style jacket made from yoga mats covered in embroidered chinese flowers made from raffia. Another piece of chinoiserie is a dress made from 100 abalone shells that have been wired together like giant paillettes and partially covered with an embroidered sheath.

The title of the show is Savage Beauty which is very apt. There is a tortured opulence about the clothes and accessories. Many garments are created with vast amounts of shredded fabrics, fringes and feathers which creates an eerie volume. There are heavy sculptural accessories which look like they could pierce through your skin were you to wear them.  Even classic McQueen tartans are slashed and pieced with lace and tuille in a collection called 'highland rape' which is a nod to McQueen's native Scotland.

The curation is beautiful. The rooms are dark with lugubrious music playing. The mannequins are battered and patched in contrast to the opulant garments.  All the shredded dresses have fans behind them to illuminate the movement in these pieces.  All the accessories are housed in dark wood cubbies which run floor to ceiling in a room that resembles a Victorian cabinet of curiosities.

Fashion can be fun, fabulous and a chronicle of history. Rarely is it art. But, this show proves fashion can be art. Savage Beauty is a tribute to the tortured genius with a visionary approach to clothing."

We thought we’d share a little peak into the world of Echo.  We love a fresh, blank canvas and our offices provide this every day. Our offices are a mix of smooth glass, curving white walls and textured floors.  Neutral tones of stark white, steely silver, earthy taupe and silky charcoal are the backdrop and our products, our designs and employees each add pops of beautiful color.  A quiet neutral space allows us room for creativity and each of us finds our own ways to channel that inner current of inspiration.  Sometimes it’s Chopin or Vivaldi, other times it’s a magazine, the color of an evening sky or the arrangement on a fruit cart.  There are patterns and prints and colors all around us and we’re trying to capture that energy and infuse it into the colors of Echo.  What is your favorite place to work or create? What about it makes it so instrumental to your creativity?

Last week, Ralph Lauren celebrated 10 years of innovation with a stunning presentation outside the New York and London flagship stores.  Using 4D digital mapping, the presentation showed images of running horses, Polo players, models and some of their classic accessories likes ties, handbags, belts and fragrances, projected 5 stories tall onto the building's facade, moving, breathing as if they were real.  The building folded into itself and then was reconstructed; chandeliers appeared and faded up into the sky; enormous neckties draped over the building as if hanging from the roof.  All of this together with a perfect soundtrack so completely presented the look and feeling of this iconic brand.  Bravo!

The Official Ralph Lauren 4D Experience - New York from Ralph Lauren on Vimeo.

Last week we talked about how Fashion Night Out did more than just bring us all together to shop the stores, but it also started merging fashion with art, music and film - for the customer's shopping experience.  However, the idea of a clothing fashion designer having interests and talents with other media is not new.  Karl Lagerfeld, the iconic designer for Chanel, Fendi and his own line, is also an amazing photographer.  He picked up a camera in 1987 to shoot images for his own press kits and to this day still creates the press kits, as well as ad campaigns, for his labels. An exhibit of his work  "Karl Lagerfeld, parcours de travail" just opened today at the European House of Photography in Paris, France. The exhibition runs from September 15 to October 31.

 From Chanel News: "This ‘Parcours de travail‘ is thus a retrospective illustration, among many others, of the brimming activity of a man of taste and culture who has chosen, through fashion and photography, to highlight the beauty of lines, forms and colors. A man for whom it can be said that he has committed his life to images everyday, with his only concern being to invent, in the lightness of a moment, new ways of seeing.
His creed is to see, to see everything, relentlessly, with great curiosity and appetite, and in this seeing, choose what should be looked at. From then on, he can take portraits, landscapes, architecture, nudes and even still life."

We wanted to share this beautiful photo with you sent it to us by Rosemary:

"My daughter Mari (right) lives in Portland, OR and purchased all three Echo scarves from her favorite local boutique (Mink, on Hawthorne). One was a birthday gift for my other daughter Katie (left) who lives in NYC. We all got together for my 60th birthday in Arizona at the end of May and mine was also my birthday gift. We had a photo session to mark the occasion and this was just one of a number of great shots that my friend Heather Hill captured."

Thank you Rosemary, Mari and Katie for sharing this great moment in your lives! It's beautiful to see the bond between the two generations and we love how you share the same love of scarves!

Purple is an amazing color. One can't help but be in awe of nature when appreciating the deep, spectacular hue of a ripe plum, a fresh blueberry or the bold sheen of an eggplant.  Lighter tones include the beautiful lavender and lilac - both named after flowering plants.  People who like the color of a deep purple are visionaries, spiritual and passionate.  Fans of lavender are romantic and imaginative.  So choosing one of the many hues of this complex color for your home, for your wardrobe, for your table can add a special and unique twist.

From our book COLOR AT HOME: "From the palest lavender to the deepest black plum, purple is a revelation - creative, artistic. Purple is a bit more eccentric and complex than its closest relatives, fuchsia and indigo.  Throughout history, purple has been associated with royalty; today, purple in the home is still rare and refined.  Even if taking the plunge into purple demands a bit of bravery, the color creates a fabulous first - and lasting - impression.  Deep violets and plums work the same wonders for precious textiles, artwork, and the polished patina of antiques as they do for the stark drama of modern furnishings.  Not strictly for grown-ups, purple in a young girl's room feels special, unique.  Delicate lilac paired with white lace is quaint, nostalgic. Purple shutters, from grape to eggplant, are a delightful surprise, as is the jolt of a rich, Prince-purple formal living room.  Purple is always unexpected but undeniably welcome. Vivid and full of character, purple reigns."

Lavender is not only a remarkable, naturally occuring color in nature but the plant itself provides many numerous benefits.  The flowers can be dried and steeped in hot water for a calming, soothing tea.  The buds have been used for centuries to make perfumes and essential oils. Lavender also has medicinal qualities - it is naturally antiseptic and can be used to clean and soothe cuts, burns, abrasions and even dandruff.  Lavender can be used in cooking adding a wonderfully light flavor to many things from sugar cookies, to lamb to jams and jellies.

 Solid neckerchief with satin border; Painterly floral square; Color at Home- Purple

If you're a reader of the New York Times, take a moment to flip through to the magazine this Sunday and see our new spring ad, shown below. It features 3 different scarves and the overall image looks like a flower. Hope the color brightens your day and that flowers are blooming wherever you are!

Chances are you've been watching this year's winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Occasionally NBC's coverage will include some footage of the city and the culture that make Vancouver the beautiful city it is, but most of the time, a closeup of a skier or an ice skate could be anywhere in the world.   I wanted to share with you a beautiful video of Vancouver at night - from above the city and from the waterfront. In the winter months, Vancouver has only 8 hours of daylight so this time lapse video shows the city's skyline at night as clouds flow past buildings and bridges like liquid.   The cars and the people fly by in bright streams of color and you can even see the lights of the ski events on the mountains up above the city. Time is sped up so each scene spans 12+ hours and while watching it I can't help but wonder what actually occured during that time - someone completed a triple toe loop and someone else fell on the last turn of the relay. Dreams were born and dreams were broken. It's life condensed. They've trained their whole lives for that one moment, hoping their personal best becomes the best in the world.   If you sped up 12 hours of your life, what color would it be?  Would there be wild movement and bright lights? Or would it be a steady stillness of light and quiet?    Hopefully your days include a little bit of both.  You don't have to be an Olympic athlete to aspire to reach your personal best, sometimes just realizing what that is, can be your own gold metal.   Enjoy!