Carlisle Collection Fashion Show

Thank you to all who attended the Laurel Creek Country Club's Ladies' Night Out. It was a fabulous evening. What was your favorite piece? Was it the Butterscotch jacket worn with jeans, the Bianca suit worn by our model Staci, or Celestial dress? Hope you loved every minute!

Invitation Looks - The Carlisle Collection

This Fall's invitation pictures a group of four models wearing some amazing looks that represent all that is best about Carlisle and Per Se.

Here's a more detailed look into what's pictured:

Model 1, Sharp jacket is a crinkled leather cropped jacket worn with the Houndstooth pant. The Sharp jacket features topstitching details. It is extremely versatile, it works well with jean and can also work as a jacket worn with a skirt. Houndstooth is just one part of a suit. The Houndstooth jacket (not pictured) is trimmed with jersey for a very flattering feminine but all business look.

Model 2, Fancy crocodile patterned jacquard coat with Stiletto wool/viscose stretch pant. The Fancy coat and it's matching dress have to be seen to believe. The fabric's crocodile pattern begins small at the waist and gets bigger towards the hem. I've never seen anything like it!

Model 3, Spectator jacket is a nylon printed Price of Wales plaid cropped jacket and Spectator skirt is a wool pleated A-line skirt. These pieces are fabulous because the pattern works so well on both the nylon jacket and the wool skirt. Both will work with black, off white and "Carmen red".

Model 4, Status cropped wool herringbone jacket with Salsa sweater and Phantom wool pegged skirt. Status can work with jeans for a more casual look. The Phantom skirt is a go to skirt with a slender line and fabulous topstitching details.

Carlisle represents versatility. Any of these models could easily switch jackets and be ready to go almost anywhere.

Carlisle Websites Ready For Fall

Though the weather of late has often felt like Fall was already here, we are only into our second day of the summer. Carlisle and Per Se are thinking ahead like Mother Nature and have the Fall 2009 collections available for you to see. There is even a fashion show that you can watch on your computer screen. Enjoy and remember that everything is so much better in person!

http://www.carlislecollection.com/
http://www.persecollection.com/

Fall 2009 Preview

This past Wednesday was quite a day, I traveled to Chicago for the Fall 2009 Preview. The preview gives Carlisle consultants a first look at the Carlisle and Per Se collections. All I can say is amazing. This is probably our most versatile Fall collection ever. There are great dresses in lots of different shapes, colors and fabric. There are skirts with zippers, with pleats, with suede pailettes, and there's also a calves hair skirt. Hard to imagine but it's amazing too. This collection has looks for all the events you'll attend this Fall plus pieces to just live your life in.

Mark your calendars now. I will have the Fall collection from July 30th through August 10th. I'm scheduling appointments now!

Angelina Jolie in Cannes 2009

Angelina Jolie was out with her man for the Inglourious Basterds premiere in Cannes. Love this dress. The draping is amazing after all she is the mother of 3! Draping across the stomach is very flattering. The slit up to there allows her to show her great legs. The dress is Versace Atelier. I would love to see this dress in a dark blue or possibly dark purple. Could you pull off a slit like that? Oh, Brad's suit is Tom Ford.

Fall 2009 - A Look Ahead At Color

I am two and a half weeks away from flying to Chicago to attend the Fall 2009 Preview meeting for the Carlisle and Per Se Collection. I am excited to see a new collection that I am sure will be better than ever. I have been reading up on what we can expect to see this Fall. I thought I would share some of what I have learned. I'll start with the colors we can expect to see.


Leatrice Eiseman who is the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute has been quoted saying, “The fall 2009 palette is more unique and thoughtful than the typical autumnal hues of years past. Designers recognize the desire for fundamental basics that speak to current economic conditions, but also understand the need to incorporate vibrant color to grab the consumers’ eyes and entice them to buy.”

Pantone creates a fashion color report which includes a top ten list of colors for the season. It starts with a strong, natural, “bricky” red called American Beauty that goes with all skin tones. Purple Heart is more adventurous, but a faithful complement to American Beauty. Adding spark to the fall palette is a soft pink/fuchsia called Rapture Rose, designed to enliven the more traditional fall hues. Iron is the strong gray tone that adds complexity and depth, the “new black". The warmth of Honey Yellow is both subdued but colorful. Crème Brulee (Creme Brulee) is a cool, creamy beige tinged with gray. Earthy tones include a Burnt Siena orange and the rich yellowish green called, Warm Olive. Nomad is the ultimate neutral bridge between stronger colors, while anchoring the cool end of the spectrum is a deep Majolica Blue.

Helena Krodel, a spokeswoman for the Jewelry Information Center, says "what these trends mean for jewelry is a proliferation of large gemstones in earth tones or rich deep colors. The stones will be combined with chain-links or charms in precious metals, making for oversized statement necklaces."

The Pantone report is fun to look at because it includes designers' sketchs that were the inspirations for the colors of the season. Here's a link if you want to look at the report yourself.
http://cli.gs/AMWDyT

Fashion Websites

I have always been someone who likes to be in the know. Sometimes, my need for information is to the point of distraction. The internet is a dream come true for me because it lays everything before us. It can cause information overload. It has also been blamed for the demise of print media. I read a great article written by the founder of the Carlisle Collection that referenced some wonderful fashion websites that I already read on a regular basis. I thought I would share this great article. The article is written to address how fashion magazines are surviving unlike other print media even with the increasing presence of internet fashion websites.

"Fashion magazines survive because they have developed a symbiotic relationship with fashion web sites. At their best they complement each other’s strengths. Women still enjoy the ritual of paging through fashion magazines, finding both the features and the advertising informative and instructive. When they want even more content, or don’t want to be constrained by what's between the front and back covers of a magazine, they turn to the Internet. There they can view entire collections, gather information from a wide variety of sources, see work from emerging designers that the big magazines have yet to cover, see fashion in motion, and download what they like for themselves, and forward what they like to friends. Despite the presence of hundreds of fashion web sites on the Internet, like magazine habits, women eventually end up returning to a handful of trusted sites. Here are a handful that are worth visiting, and worth returning to:

www.Style.com: Like VOGUE, this is the industry standard. It is well organized, has tabs for designers as well as models and celebrities, and offers videos as well. It offers a comprehensive look at many facets of fashion today.

www.harpersbazaar.com: A visual disconnect from the more subdued and upscale tone of the magazine, this site for Bazaar is busy with content. It feels more consumer focused rather than designer-focused as well. The home page also features a Bazaar blog, which offers up to the minute reports from staff writers reporting from shows and other venues.

www.Handbag.com: While it skews young, this site features fashion as well as accessories, hair and make-up content, and the requisite volume of celebrity and lifestyle stories.

www.Wmagazine.com: On this site go to the Online Exclusives and Specials. Here the editors give their personal picks, inside information, offer blogs, and an archive of past pieces that are worth perusing.

www.Fashionserved.com: A showcase for unsung designers, this site is both inventive and involving, offering – for example – a feature on, The Fashion of Clowning, and other artistic, non fashion presentations."

Here are some others that I like to check out too:
http://www.shopstyle.com/
http://www.wantandafford.com/
http://www.jewelry-weblog.com/

You'll notice that I've added a twitter widget where you can find my twitter updates. There are lots of fashionable people on http://www.twitter.com/ too.