REVIEW: 3 Fashionistas + 1 Miami Store = Happy New Year

Time to turn in your Ugg boots and head down south to Florida for a warm, sunny vacation over the holiday break. While basking on the sandy beaches of Miami, take some time to visit the latest shopping must. The Webster Miami, a 20,000-square-feet high-luxury, multi-brand fashion store, opens in January. Located in the heart of Miami Beach, in a historical art deco building designed in 1939, this three-level store will carry only the best men’s and women’s ready-to-wear and accessories: Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, and Miu Miu to name a few.

A trio of fashion veterans founded The Webster: Milan Vukmirovic, who worked with Lacroix, Lanvin and Tom Ford at Gucci; Laure Heriard Dubreuil was at Balenciaga and YSL; and Frederic Dechnik helped Hermès, the Gucci group, and YSL. Capitalizing on their fashion connections, the store offers items that other stores can’t. For example, “the recently resurrected and smoking hot label Balmain and Mason Margiela’s new, much-coveted jewelry line,” reports W magazine.

Currently located at a temporary store in Miami Beach while awaiting the renovation of its new digs in the Hotel Webster, the store focuses on fabuluous clothing paired with photography and art (including a mural by French artist Christophe Brunnquell). So if you happen to be in Florida after the New Year, don’t miss seeing this retail haven. In the meantime, visit thewebstermiami.com.

REVIEW: Sneak Peak

Bright lights. Oversized clocks. Nuts roasting on every street corner. A Starbucks to the left. Dean & Deluca on the right. Billboards galore. An overabundance of stores each waiting to suck you into their fantasyland. It’s Manhattan. Anything can happen. Rebecca Bloomwood is a sweet and charming New York City girl who’s hopelessly addicted to shopping. She’s drowning in debt, desperately seeking her dream job at a top fashion magazine, struggling to keep her life in control. Confessions of a Shopaholic, based on the bestselling novel by Sophie Kinsella and starring Isla Fisher, is scheduled to debut in February 2009. When the credit card is maxxed, we could all use a little entertainment.

Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkgiMbu_WzQ

REVIEW: The Armory’s Asian Secret

Finding a store in Syracuse that offers unique jewelry pieces that hail from around the globe is about as easy as answering an essay question when you forgot to read the 400-page book. Consider this your accessory Cliff Notes. Tucked in a quaint ally off Walton Street, Way Off the Beaten Path is truly a gem in Syracuse.

Store owner and designer, Angelique Mango, draws upon her bohemian sense of style by showcasing printed silks, batiks, and jewelry with hand selected semi-precious stones like brownish yellow garnets and purple amethysts straight from Jaipur, India. Silk scarves adorn the store’s walls adding a colorful flair to the small room accented with multi-colored furniture. Printed fabrics range from bedding to clothing and the store also features hand selected scarves and pashminas in every color of the rainbow.


Mango says her travels around the world to places like India and Morocco serve as inspiration for what she offers in her store. Each jewelry piece is hand crafted and accented with silver so that no two items are alike. She carries jewelry items as cheap as $15, perfect for anyone’s budget.


Besides the exceptional selection of pieces, Mango also offers SU students a 10 percent discount off all purchases. Visit Way Off The Beaten Path at 136 Walton Street; 315.701.5950

REVIEW: Digital Discounts

I admit it. I’m a sucker for any kind of discount. I refuse to pay full price for almost anything. Honestly, it’s like a game for me. One day I stumbled across this website privatefootwear.com. It offers more than a thousand brands, and most of them are discounted by at least 50 percent. They don’t charge sales tax, and there’s more than just shoes, including everything from Tiffany and Co. jewelry to Abercrombie and Fitch jackets. And thanks to the holiday season, they offer free shipping worldwide and other promotions. Check out my steals:

I bought my sister the Tiffany Mini Heart Tags Bracelet that retails for $198 for only $84.



Their outerwear selection excels: sweatshirts from D Squared and coats from Burberry. I bought the Dolce & Gabbana leather jacket for $229 in black for my rock ‘n’ roll uncle who’s the lead singer in a small Los Angeles band.

REVIEW: Get On The Bus

What does the underground world of drag balls -- an LGBT subculture in which primarily queer youth get up in either makeshift or stolen couture and walk the runway, garnering trophies for their houses -- have to do with Syracuse? Ask the three "homo-thugs" on the Centro bus. They declared themselves as such, snapping fingers over their heads, snapping the illusion that they were gang-bangers. Ride that bus to Manhattan, walk a "realness" category at a ball, or just take in the new play Wig Out!

Terrell Alvin McCraney's new drama plays at New York’s Vineyard Theater. This piece owes an extreme debt to Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning and also takes as its master shot the drag ball competition, dressing it in a fairy tale so labored one spends the evening waiting for a queen to throw down her weave from the catwalks now lining the Vineyard space.

There are grace notes of brilliance, mostly courtesy director Tina Landau, who utilizes the radically reconfigured theater beautifully. Everything builds toward a second act drag ball in which jungle beats pump and the characters prance to the end of scenic designer James Schuette’s extreme thrust stage that literally intersects the audience.

The problem is that intersection never really merges. Where actual pier queen lingo still zings — witness Livingston’s drag ball judge tell two battling contestants: “If you touch, I’m chopping you” — McCraney’s language is so florid it sounds straight out of Lord of the Rings.

Add to that a heavy-handed “homage” to Livingston’s film that seats the aging mother of the House of Light before her lit makeup mirror ala Paris is Burning’s legend Dorian Corey, a Greek chorus of three Dreamgirls and a stagey “face” demo in which “unpainted” queens wipe their visage with a white handkerchief and this house of blusher sinks.

The cast is uniformly excellent. Daniel T. Booth’s Playbill bio is slim, but his outsized alter ego Sweetie makes an entrance. And nearly mops — pier lingo for stealing: remarkably absent from the universe of Wig Out! — the show as Serena, mother of the House of Di’Abolique. His chinoiserie lip-synch to Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” alone makes this play worth the trip.

REVIEW: Gothic Girl

“Death, destruction, and decay.” Not exactly words associated with fashion, unless one happens to be standing in line for a Marc Jacobs show. But this morbid platter is exactly what curator Valerie Steele promises in the exhibition catalog for “Gothic: Dark Glamour.”

“This is the first museum exhibition devoted to the gothic style in fashion,” Steele writes. It presents more than 75 sinister looks from designers as diverse as Anne Demeulemeester and Yohji Yamamoto.

She displays them astutely over tableaux ranging from ruined castle to mad scientist’s lab in the unassuming, but state-of-the-art basement museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

But who, precisely, is wearing this stuff? The local mall turns up plenty of Goths (check out the teens loitering in the black nail polish section of any Hot Topic store), but Urban Dictionary defines this subculture as: “Morbid, wearing black clothes almost all of the time, and wearing makeup regardless of sex.” This teen demo is not exactly a group known to don Alexander McQueen originals, but that’s the beauty of Steele’s show: it gives these kids a chance to dream. And maybe even pull themselves up by their Doc Maarten bootstraps and off their gloomy road to fashion hell.

Entering the exhibit is like stepping onto the set of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. A ghostly pirate ship hovers in the distance and a wrought iron fence pointed with fleur de lis displays fashion behind bars. This show’s real triumph is its unexpectedness. On closer inspection, Thierry Mugler’s fur neckline is revealed as ‘faux monkey fur.” Hot fashion house Rodarte – the sister act of Kate and Laura Mulleavy – play with the gothic trope of skulls, burying theirs in delicate, red Spanish lace turning out their fiery Senorita perfectly for the Day of the Dead.

Karl Lagerfeld spins a spider web from feathers and beads while fashion’s enfant terrible Hussein Chalayan fashions a cape from carpet fibers. Goth is where you find it. Alexander McQueen (who claims ancestry dating back to a woman burned at Salem) here concocts her coming out dress: a black shell practically supported by its enormous, off-kilter cross that’s well on its way to inversion.

There are more big names like Chanel and Dior, and a vitrine that rheostats from clear glass to mirrored, showcasing more emerging designers. This reflective cabinet of curiosities is a brilliant touch. And a nice place to touch up your black eyeliner.

"Gothic: Dark Glamour" is free and runs through Feb. 21. An exhibit called "Seduction" joins it on Dec. 9. And if you're still smarting from that Marc Jacobs read in the lede, start primping now. Jacobs is sponsoring "Model as Muse" at the Met. This Costume Institute retrospective starts with Dovima and ends with Giselle. It also kicks off with the Met's annual gala on May 4 and Jacobs is hosting, along with Anna, Kate and Justin. Yes, that Justin.

REVIEW: Industrial Style Secret

With the semester winding down and the holiday season fast approaching, it’s time to step up the style. No one wants to go home to friends and family with the same hair that’s as frizzy and as we are frazzled during the last week of school.

Fortunately, the stylists at Armory Square’s Industry (121 Walton St.; 315-476-0015) know about Hill hair horrors and how to save them. They also tend to the tresses of many of the local, on-air broadcast talent for the NBC Channel 3 news team. In addition to beauty school, each of the eight stylists at Industry participates in an intensive apprenticeship program for at least a year, and each receives training at the prestigious Bumble and Bumble University in New York City, which means a great ‘do, no matter which stylist you choose.

Manhattanites will feel right at home at Industry, the only salon in Syracuse to sell the cultish Bumble and Bumble line of hair products, which sit prominently in the simple, modern lobby, where clients listen to groovy alternative rock tunes, thumb through design magazines, and sip on water, coffee or tea while they wait.

Industry’s black-and-chrome fixtures and backlit mirrors make the inside of the salon almost as sleek as the hairstyles they create.


Michelle Rath, a veteran stylist for 18 years, says the seasons in Syracuse serve as change catalysts for clients. “People like to go dark for the winter,” Rath says. “A lot of people did that ‘Posh Spice’ haircut, and everyone is growing it out now.”

Rath says more and more people are asking for edgier urban looks. “I’m seeing a lot of rock and roll looks,” she says. “A lot of layers, and a lot of bangs, too.” After all, it’s only rock ‘n’ and roll (and hair), and we like it.

REVIEW: Dior or Die

Every makeup junkie knows the first rule of mascara: thou shalt not clump. I may have memorized the Ten Commandments of Makeup years ago, but unfortunately the beauty gods forgot to grace me with long luscious lashes. For years I tried everything from heated eye lash curlers and falsies, to tiny wands and “lengthening” mascara. Nothing worked. Frustrated and desperately seeking a way to play up my natural assets, I scoured the shelves of drugstores, beauty counters, and makeup mega shops. I researched, read reviews, and tried countless samples. I did my homework. My reward: I found the perfect mascara that meets my every need (and lifts my every lash) — Diorshow.

To say that this mascara attracts a cult-like following is an understatement. More than 1,800 fanatics posted their reviews of the product on Sephora.com. Christian Dior’s Diorshow serves as the company’s original mascara ($24 and available in black, chestnut, plum, and azure blue). The formula lengthens even the shortest lashes by adding volume at the root. While some people complain that the mascara is too dry and flaky, I think that Diorshow’s twin mascara, Blackout (also $24), gives an extra ounce of drama. Use Diorshow the original during the day to keep things airy and light, and swipe on an extra coat of Blackout before heading out to knock ‘em dead.

REVIEW: Double Teamed

Watch out world: The Miller sisters are here and there’s no way to stop them. After conquering the realm of film, Sienna Miller teams up with her sister Savannah, who earned her fashion cred working with Alexander McQueen, to create the clothing line Twenty8Twelve, named in honor of Sienna’s birthday. Reflecting London Chic with a punk-meets-boho edge, the sisters offer everything from jeans to outerwear, dresses, and bags. The duo based their accessories collection, including gloves, totes, belts, etc., on the 1980s movie "This Is England." Rocking lustrous black, blue, and red leathers with gold facets, the line adds flare to even the blandest ensemble. Go for a sleek, tailored look with edge in the Clyde Jacket in Mink ($590; REVOLVEclothing.com). Channel your inner rock star in the Brittany Tunic in Raven ($125; REVOLVEclothing.com). Wear the Cordella Tank in Oxblood clubbing and never second-guess your fabulosity ($100; REVOLVEclothing.com). Or look sophisticated, stunning, and stylish in the Prudent Blouse in Enamel ($210; REVOLVEclothing.com). If you crave instant chic, you found it (Twenty8twelve.com).

REVIEW: Fabulous Gloom

For anyone who pines for Halloween 365 days of the year, hope lies in the fabulous gloom of the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology's current special exhibition, Gothic: Dark Glamour. A look into contemporary couture's interpretation of the ancient theme of darkness, curator and fashion historian Valerie Steele, Ph.D., presents an avant-garde collection with an edge.

Located in the basement of the museum (Fashion Avenue at 27^th Street), the exhibit's foyer introduces the themes of luxury and excess showcased in the main gallery. Human skulls and bats fill a cabinet of curiosities. Victorian mourning jewelry, among other vulcanite and silver forms of birds and talons from the 1860s, juxtapose a tattooed top hat from 2007. Behind a glass barrier, a coffin suffocates a mannequin dressed in a velvet gown from the end of the 20^th century. No shoes adorn her feet. She wears minimal make-up.

Deeper inside the show, Gothic takes on a new twist with every fallen brick and shattered glass of its destructive demeanor. Gothic defines itself through the supernatural, death, sex, time, and transcendence. Black dominates the space, but every touch of red tastes like blood. With its panniers protruding, a Christian Dior dress by John Galliano, constructed from red-coated silk and black ink, commands the space. Haunting faces emerge from a screened wall paneling. A prosthetic corset by Alexander McQueen suggests the costumed armor worn by Edward Scissorhands.

An overarching sense of claustrophobia prompts one to shift stances. Scary. The floor shakes, as the subway surges below the surface. Cemetery gates encircle an elevated platform that features fashions by Rodarte and Hussain Chalayan. Black-velvet skulls and cross bones embellish a red mesh top by Jean Paul Gaultier. Other may wish to see no evil, but what fun (and fashion) is there in that.

Free of charge to anyone with a student ID, the exhibition continues until February 21, 2009. For more information, go to www.fitnyc.edu/museum

REVIEW: Virtual Sample Sales

I’m sitting in my finance class playing brickbreaker on my Blackberry when I get an e-mail from my sister that refers me to a new website called Hautelook. This online club organizes exclusive 12- to 48-hour private sales of designer clothes. Each day members receive emails announcing the brands on sale and the duration of the virtual sample sale. Membership is free (but I say priceless), and each time you refer some to the website, you earn $10 credit toward your next purchase. Consider these designer names from a recent sale: Elizabeth and James, Fig, Organic Kids Fashion, Danielle Stevens Jewelry, Decades Two Men, and Ella Moss. Arriving soon: Energie, Splendid, David Aubrey, Acrobat, Minnie Rose, LaRok, Vincent Longo, and Luna Luna. Quantities are limited, but the discounts reach up to 75 percent off labels. Each sale page features a clock that counts every second until the sale ends. My recent acquisitions: A pair of Scoop NYC leopard flats that retail for $165, but I nabbed for $58; My Belle de Jour dress from Elizabeth and James is still in the mail ($445 mere mortals, but I landed it for $195).

REVIEW: All About Influence

If someone uttered the words "coffee" and "Olsen" in a sentence, one image would appear in most minds: a raggedy-looking (yet oh so chic) Mary-Kate or Ashley donning oversized sunglasses and carrying a coffee cup wider in circumference than one of the sisters' own limbs. The twins' signature paparazzi shot became Starbucks' best advertisement, but MK&A recently introduced a new kind of coffee to the world--a coffee table book, Influence, about the creative geniuses who most inspired the twin moguls' own lives. 

Celebrity branding has reached overkill--the famous have given the world books, perfume, shoes, toys, even dishware. Most consumers struggle to find anything genuine in branded products and often see these products as pure monetary incentive for the names behind it all. However, Influence offers quite a different story. The collection of intimate and thought-provoking interviews with 21 of the sisters' most admired creative thinkers feels authentic and fresh. It reads intimate and appears constructed with savvy and smarts (clearly a project sparked by passion, not money). 

Within the pages of Influence, MK&A personally conducted the interviews in addition to writing full-page introductions for each inspirational subject. The book includes superstars in the worlds of fashion, art, and design including Peter Lindbergh, Karl Lagerfeld, Diane von Furstenberg, Terry Richardson, and Lauren Hutton. Each influencer's section contains a collage-like compilation of personal and commercial photographs and examples of the creator's works. The book's inside covers feature a plastering of Polaroids of the twins posing with their interview subjects.

Considered two of the world's most influential young figures themselves, the twins are magicians of style, constantly breaking conventional rules and staying true to their ideas despite harsh criticism. But fans looking to get their Olsen fix will be disappointed. Yes, two sections of the book are dedicated to the sisters (each names the other as a major life influence--big surprise there), but the book is not about them. Instead, it takes the reader on a journey with some of the most forward-thinking creators of our culture, people whose thought processes seem both wacky and genius at the same time and force readers to view life from an upside-down point of view. If you've ever dreamed of being a fly on the wall in Lagerfeld's Parisian couture house or in a club listening in on the conversations of fashion heiress, Margherita Missoni, Influence provides the next best thing. You'll laugh, you'll scratch your head, you might even cry-but most of all, you will be inspired. 

REVIEW: Swatch Dogs and Diet Coke Heads

The cult classic Heathers pushed the teen movies to a new limit by parodying teen suicide and caricaturing bulimia. This scathing satire of a film poked fun at the John Hugh’s teen movies (we’re talking to you Breakfast Club) and offered the audience an outrageous look at high-school dramatics. Laced with catty dialogue and fashion so bad, it’s good, Heathers works as a stylistic gem. Along with killer instincts, Winona Ryder’s character Veronica Sawyer also wore a fabulous ‘80s wardrobe. Unlike the ‘Swatch dogs and Diet Coke heads’ who comprised the popular Heathers, Veronica’s style was so very. With a classy fedora and sexy black jumper, which no doubt inspired American Apparel, Veronica wore some trend-setting duds. She also created effortless beauty: her scarlet lips looked royal against her porcelain completion and raven hair. The Heathers ruled the school in a ridiculous display shoulder pads and polyester. Their pastel double-breasted blazers (in plaid and paisley) embodied the eighties excess. Teased bouffants with day-glo scrunchies came to exemplify bad taste. But whether you laughed at the politically incorrect humor or recoiled at the gauche display, you have to admit Heathers pushes (and redefines) fashion boundaries. Bad-boy beaux J.D (a.k.a. Christian Slater) said it best: “The extreme always seems to make an impression.”

REVIEW: My Beauty Runneth Over

For true cosmetics lovers, the concept of the mega-palette bewitches. These ginormous boxes of beauty come packed with an almost maddening array of cosmetics in almost every imaginable color, creating the opportunity for never-ending makeup playtime.

Unfortunately, what the mega-palettes offer in quantity, they often lack in quality. Makeup mavens know the disappointment of buying one of these giant palettes from Macy’s or Sephora, only to find that shadow pigments are sheer and short-lived on the eye. Lipglosses, meanwhile, smell funny and chap the softest chops.

Given the low-rent record of these products, it’s hard to believe that high-end makeup brand Smashbox would create a holiday gift set that bears an odd resemblance to the low-brow mega-palette. Called the Ultimate Makeup Palette, it costs $59 at Ulta.com.

Behold:

According to the folks at Smashbox’s customer service line, the 70 (!) eyeshadows, 8 cream eyeliners, brow wax, six brow colors, eight lip glosses, four lip colors, two blush shades, bronzer, highlighter, and four brushes included in the set all offer Smashbox-quality. This is quite the deal, especially in light of the fact that the company’s crème eyeliner palette (featuring the same shades and the same size as those in the Ultimate Palette) runs a sweet $32 for the eyeliner alone.

A two-day trial of the Ultimate Beauty Palette proves encouraging: the daunting selection of 70 eye shadows seems a little too heavy on the blue colors (who really needs five shades of cerulean?), but the pigments deliver dense and long-lasting. The two blushes – a shimmery plum and a brighter peach – are universally flattering. The matte bronzer provides a subtle tan; the “Soft Lights” highlighter creates an ethereal glow.

Unlike its low-end counterpart, the Smashbox Ultimate Beauty Palette lip glosses smell just fine – the moisturizing formula feels great on dry lips. Unfortunately, the pot style of these highly pigmented glosses makes an even product application somewhat difficult.

Regardless of this minor shortcoming, the Smashbox Ultimate Beauty Palette looks like a winner. Even the brow wax proves itself as one of those cosmetics you don’t know you need until you have it: it’s extremely effective at keeping pesky wayward eyebrow hairs in line throughout the day.

Salty Tip: Through November 8, enter coupon code SHIPFREE25 to receive free shipping on the palette (or any other purchase over $25).

REVIEW: Charlotte for Penney

Yes, you read right. Charlotte Ronson, the young trendsetting designer, is teaming up with JC Penney to launch a line of affordable, and may we say, incredibly great fashion finds. If Charlotte’s devout clientele doesn’t make you turn your head - think Nicole Richie, Gisele Bundchen, Gwen Stefani and Kate Moss - the prices will. Ranging from $35-$65 , these steals make any fashionista weak in the knees. I Heart Ronson enters stores beginning February 2009.



NYLON has supplied your sneak peek at what’s to come. Get excited!

REVIEW: Global Chanel

A life-sized bear stands chained to the white quilted wall that surrounds an S&M-inspired scene. A gathered pool of water on a sidewalk reflects an image of the Rue Cambon in France. A giant handbag lies on its side to reveal a makeup compact that plays video footage of a woman destructing a smaller version of her shoulder accessory. Drawing a connection between these three moments might seem lofty, but all are features of installations in the Chanel Mobile Art Pavillion, and all are inspired by the world’s most emblematic handbag: the quilted Chanel 2.55.

The exhibition, which resides at its third destination in Central Park, NYC is a collaboration between the design worlds of fashion, art, and architecture. Commissioned by Chanel creative director, Karl Lagerfeld, and designed by contemporary architect, Zaha Hadid, the white, pod-like mobile museum features 18 art installations from contemporary artists across the globe. Artists such as Loris Cecchini, Yoko Ono and David Levinthal were given creative freedom except in one area: the iconic chain-strap handbag once designed by Coco Chanel in 1955 must serve as inspiration for their work.

High profile guests such as Kate Bosworth and Agyness Deyn donned space-age styles at the opening in homage to the gallery’s futuristic design aesthetic. Bosworth, in a structural silver number, wore her hair in an appropriate slicked-back pony-tail for the occasion. Lagerfeld wore, well, what he always wears—black and white, and of course, his infamous shades. While fashionistas and art snobs adore the gallery, free admission encourages everyday New Yorkers to experience the exhibit.

The Chanel Mobile Art Pavillion remains at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park until November 9. After that, it jets off to its final three destinations: London, Moscow, and Paris. Although tickets are free for the public, they are sold out online. For those willing to take a road trip, tickets must be obtained on-site. For a sneak peek of the gallery, visit New York Magazine’s video tour on their fashion blog, The Cut.

REVIEW: MakeupAlley.com

With the click of a computer key, a beauty editor in New York identifies a must-have lipstick and thousands of readers follow her lip lead. But if you want advice that reflects a wider range of beauty-savvy humanity, consider www.makeupalley.com, a veritable wikipedia of all things glamorous.
Thousands of women from around the world weigh in on products they consider indispensable and those that should remain on the shelf. A recent Monday-night headcount of Makeupalley (MUA for short) revealed 2,410 active users. On MUA, you’ll find product reviews at every price point — from $2 Wet-n-Wild drugstore lip pencils (they’re great) to $130 Crème de la Mer moisturizer (mixed reviews).
The MUA message boards provide another great resource. Here, conversation runs the gamut from the longest-lasting lip gloss to the state of the nation’s finances and the latest episode of Dancing with the Stars. The chatting sometimes gets snarky, especially when the conversation turns to politics. But, for the most part, the dialogue stays focused on beauty and fashion. Two topics these women never tire of gabbing about.