A Look at Designer Richard Chai

•      Born in Westchester, New York  in the mid 1970’s

•      Asian  American Designer

•      Attended Parson School of Design in NY

•      Chai interned at Oscar de la Renta, Geoffrey Beene and Dior. Chai went to Paris, and studied fashion design at the Lissa School, working part-time at the house of Lanvin

•   First position was at Armani Exchange, then Donna Karen.

•      From 1998 to 2001 Chai worked as Design Director for Marc Jacobs, for the launch of the "Marc" line.

•      In 2001 he joined TSE cashmere house as Creative Design Director. He designed TSE collections for several seasons starting SS 03

•      In 2004 Richard Chai started his own women's label

•      Chai received an Ecco Domani Award  in 2005

•      In 2008 Chai’s launched a menswear line, & designed a collection for Target.

•      Richard Chai made the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Funds top ten finalists.

My Interest

I'm fascinated with Richard Chai’s modern designs with traditional detailing like hand stitching, bias tapes and French seams, and the use of fine knits. I like how Chai creates casual clothes and pairs them up with surprising fabrics, like silks mixed with wools and twill with Georgette. He uses refined French seams and origami folds. His work represents the chic minimalist. 

 

Minimalist Chic Spring 2005 

Chai uses crisp fabrics, sateen, organza, twill and Georgette. He has a muted palette of gray, white, light tan, pale yellow and mint green. Chai keeps shapes tailored. The neutral palette that he uses  in this spring season is now returning this spring 2011, as well as sheer transparent fabrics.

Sophisticated & Contemporary 2008 
Richard Chai for Target collection offers an assortment of tailored separates and chic dresses featuring graffiti

rose print which is trendy for the spring, Georgette skirts and jersey tanks in purples, greens, and blues.

XOXO

 

Spring's Best Beauty Looks

Bright Eyes

Start of the season by vamping up your eye makeup, and try a bright and refreshed look. Say goodbye to brown and black makeup and give those colors a break. Welcome the spring season with vibrant orange hues and bright or warm yellow hues. These colors will sure to highlight your lash lines. For these bright eye looks make sure to apply an eye shadow primer or a concealer of your choice to brighten up the liner or eye shadow. Using a primer or base will also prevent smudging and creasing on your lids throughout the day.

Google

Matte Lipstick

No more slick and shiny lips that you have to reapply or that smudges off.  Your may be in love with glossy lips, but for this spring stand out with matte lips, feel confident. Apply the same lip pencil color all over your lips and then try a  fuchsia or magenta shade of matte lipstick; this will give you a brilliant matte effect that will last. You can also apply your favorite lipstick and then apply a loose powder or an eye shadow powder over the lip color, try this with a classic red lip.

Google

Super-Sized Hair

This season big frizzy voluminous hair is in style. If your hair is natural curly and poofy stop straightening it and wear it natural for this spring 2011. If you don’t have naturally big hair you could boost your roots by spraying your damp hair with a volumizer, then blow-dry and scrunch your hair for a curly frizzy look. To get the kinky look take a crimp iron and crimp your hair in sections and softly brush out. You can also tease your hair to make it really super-sized. Try this look with your hair down or pull hair half-up and smooth the top with hairspray.

Google

Green eyes/ Neutral Lips

Go green even if it’s with makeup, green is this springs IT eye makeup color . You could try this green color in many different shades, just choose a green that compliments your skin tone.Choose from a light green to a darker forest green. Try a vibrant emerald green which I find compliments many skin tones and is one of my favorite eye makeup looks. You should incorporate a gold or silver highlight blended towards the brow bone, and finish off with a nude lipstick. 

Google

I Hope you ladies liked these Beauty advice and tips and try these Springs Beauty Looks.

Quick Hairstyles

Oh no my alarm didn’t go off, I’ve woken up late and I don’t have much time to get ready, does this sound like you some days? These are some quick and stylish hairstyles that you could try when you’re on the run and don’t have a lot of time being if your late for work, school, or any occasion.

What you will need:

1. Bobby pins
2. Rat-tail comb
3. Brush
4. Ponytail holders
5. Hairspray
6. Styling Product

#1. Half up/Half down- It doesn’t matter if you have straight, curly, or wavy hair for this style. Brush your hair quickly and then apply your favorite styling product all over. Next you want to take your rat tail comb and make a side part on your hair and take the front sections of hair on each side and braid them or twist them back; you want to pin them down in the back or the sides of your head with bobby pins. Spray a little bit of hair spray and your'e done. This  hairstyle pulls your hair away from your face giving you a clean look.

#2. Poof/ Pulled back- A simple poof or pulled back look is a quick hairstyle to achieve. Brush your hair, and apply your fav styling product. Take a section from the front of your head and brush it forward spray hairspray in the back of the section of hair take your Rat-tail comb and tease it to your desire, comb that section back and pin it the middle of the crown or further back if you’d like. You could also try this look just pulled and pin to the back.

#3. Chic Ponytail Bun-  The first thing that you want to do is to brush or comb your hair to get out any knots or tangles and apply fav styling product. You then want to brush your hair into a high ponytail for school or the weekend or low ponytail more preferable for work, I like wearing this look for school in a high ponytail. Once you’ve brushed your hair to your desired pony tail height, you then want to take a ponytail holder and pull and tie into a ponytail. Spray a little bit of hairspray at the top of your ponytail, and then take your teasing comb and tease the top of the pony tail. Wrap your hair around the ponytail holder and pin the ends of your hair in the ponytail holder. This could be a messy or slick bun.

Spring 2011 Fashion Trends

Hi Ladies don’t know what to buy or wear this upcoming Spring season? Well I am here to solve your dilemma and rave about some Fashion weeks Spring 2011 wearable fashion trends. You can incorporate these fashion looks for your  lifestyle, may that be for work, school, or a date night out.

High-waisted flare jeans

Out with the skinny jeans and in with the high waisted jeans with a flare leg. Incorporate this chic 70’s trend for school or a date night by wearing a flowy blouse tucked in your pants with some high wedge heels to make you look long, slim and fabulous this spring.

Left: Gap-$79.50, Middle: Derek Iam Runway, Right: Urban Outfitters-$49

Mixed Prints

This spring be a rebel and mix two prints together if you want to make a statement. This Fashion Week many designers showcased mixed prints. The tip for wearing mixed prints this spring is to stick to one or two colors in the same color hue; so you won’t look like who did it and why???. Lols

Left: Google images, Right: Forever 21 dress, Dorothy Perkins

Neutrals/Nudes

 Neutral tops or bottoms for spring are perfect for the natural spring look, in different shades of cream, sand, beige, light browns which ever color you prefer. Neutrals will give you a classic chic look this spring. You could wear a sand colored skirt with a beige top and a black blazer for work and still look trendy. For those ladies who think neutrals will wash you out, wear it with another color, like a pop of red. 

Left: Zara, Middle: Rebecca Taylor,  Right: Chloe top & bottom, Dorothy Perkins blazer, Nordstorm shoe

Big Bangles

Big bangles are a quick and easy way to update your fashion looks this spring. Bangles will instantly make any of your outfit stand out this spring. With a wide variety of inexpensive bangles available you could mix and match bangles to coordinate with your outfits. Buy a couple of plastic or wooden bangles and stack them on your arm for school or date night; as for work how about just trying one statement bangle.

Left: Marc Jacobs Spring 11, Top Right: Aldo bangle set- $15, Bottom Right Forever 21 bangles $4.80/$6.80

Stripes
Stripes are a very nautical chic fashion look. Put on a stripe skirt with a neutral top for the weekend beach trip. For school try mix and matching a solid bright colored cardigan or blazer over a striped top with blue jeans; choose solid bright colors you feel compliment your skin tone. For work try a striped skirt with a black top and blazer.  

Left: Macy's, Middle: Marc Jacobs, Right: Paul Chappells

XOXO

5 Must-Try Nail Trends

Hi ladies you all have got to try these manicures they are not hard to achieve. These manicure looks are bold and are sure to make a statement with many of your current fashion looks. These manicures represent some of New York Fashion Week's Spring 2011 nail trends.

1. Moon Manicures-The moon manicure is fun and brings a vintage chic feel with many color combinations: I wanted to do this look with vibrant shades of purple for the spring. I tried this look in Orly Purple Pleather for the moon and China Glaze Coconut Kiss for the rest of the nail.

Tip-Here is simple way I achieved this look; you want to apply your first coat of nail polish that you want your moon color to be, then place a circle sticker which you can buy at an office supply store or dollar store towards the bottom half of your finger nail where your cuticle is, then apply the other nail polish that will cover most of the nail over the sticker and the first coat; let it dry then you want to peel the sticker off to reveal the  moon color and finish off with a with a top coat of your choice. If you would like to achieve this look free hand I would suggest using a nail art pen. 

2. Glitter—A sparkle of glitter can spice up any nail color for this Spring 2011. You can try this glitter manicure all over your finger nail or do a glitter French manicure. Many nail polish brands have come out with glitter combined with the nail color; some have large confetti glitter in them as well. You can also purchase glitter for this look and sprinkle it on top or of your favorite nail polishes if you don’t want to buy the polishes with glitter in them . A Glitter manicure will sure to make you sparkle and shine.

Tip- For a simple glitter French manicure apply your base coat, your color nail coat then apply clear coat on the tip of your finger and dip finger in glitter and tap off access on a piece of paper. I purchased a small case of Sally Girl glitter.

3.Pop Art Designs-This spring you must try pattern play, art deco and pop art designs. Try pop art graphics in bright pastels like pink and blues. If you’re feeling wild and adventurous this spring I suggest you try a colorful cheetah, zebra, diagonal stripes or polka dot nail trends.

Tip: The way I achieved this look is by using L.A color art deco nail art lacquer in black, the thin brush gives very precise lines for sharp, and fluid designs for your nails.

4.Neutrals- Neutral manicures come in many shades just as humans do, so you want to try and get a neutral nail polish that compliments with your skin tone. This spring keep up with the natural spring season and try these neutral colors.

5. Decals- There are a variety of nail decals for these spring you must try flower decals and diamond decals to give your manicure an extra touch of spring glam.

Tip:  Apply strong nail glue to the decal to ensure it won’t come off. Then apply a fast-drying topcoat over nails to set everything in place, and for removal soak nails in acetone for 1 minute. You could also buy nail decal bonder/topcoat  polish, and apply one or two coats to seal the decals if you don’t want to use nail glue.

Hope you ladies enjoyed!

XOXO

Avant Garde Fashion Head-shots

For my fashion styling class we had to do a conceptual, visual interpretation of Avant Garde through a fashion photo. Avant Garde is a French word for advanced forward thinking by an individual or group of people; Avant Garde can be represented in several fields such as art, fashion, architecture and politics.  For this project I had three words to analyze and relate back to my main theme/concept that I came up with. The three words were Look Book, Headshot, and Concept. From those three words what they all had in common was the combination of innovation, and creativity with experimental techniques of an expression to a culture. I had to then create photos that had a concept with visual and artistic value. I decided that I wanted to incorporate two different elements which were makeup and fashion. My inspiration came from model Dita Von Teese and her appeal with 1940’s fashion. 

fashionsite.com

gettyimages.com

Dita's Cinematic and retro style inspired me to create an Avant Garde fashion head-shot portraying the veil fashion of that time with an innovative twist. Dita Von Teese loves wearing veils and hats and always manages to pull off the Old Hollywood vintage chic fashion. I like how the veil gives a since of mystery and glamor as well as coverage to the face by hiding something, while at the same time being noticeable. I love the 1940's fashion and took the element of the veil and paired it with a hat, to make it a current fashion look that shows edge and, femininity. I decided to interpret that look through makeup, and using make up as a fashion accessory again using the concept of mixing two elements. I drew the diagonal lines of the veil with a black eyeliner pencil to create the fishnet for the veil. For an extra touch of that old Hollywood glamor I then added some bling with the diamonds on the top of my head. I chose a gold neutral eye shadow for the lids because I wanted to show a closed eye look. I purposefully didn't draw the diagonal lines across the eyelids to show a veil with holes for the eyes. I topped the look off with a pop of color using cherry red lipstick. I did a little magic in Photo-shop and Vuuuala you have my interpretation of an Avant Garde fashion head-shot. I hope you ladies enjoyed this post and try vintage inspired fashions, or Avant Garde make up designs; maybe not as over the top as this look, but give it a go, maybe wear a veil for that elegant glamorous look.

XOXO