It's not too late to get on the guest list for some great parties tonight. Check out SF Station's New Year's Eve Guide 2007-2008. As someone who formerly hosted annual New Year's Eve parties, I'm always looking for good ones.
A few that have caught my eye for ringing in '08 are the Black & Gold Ball at 24 (the new club, formerly Dolce), A List's "Passport to the World" New Year's Eve Ball at the Westin St. Francis (currently working from a waitlist), and the San Francisco Symphony's New Year's Eve Gala, featuring Michael Feinstein on piano performing classics by George & Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. (I've never understood why they don't publicize this more. It's a fabulous event.)
All of these events will have great music, fun people, sparkling champagne and a midnight countdown. Cheers and Happy New Year from all of us at SFBayStyle.
Romi is one of my favorite boutiques. The clothes are fashion forward and I always seem to find that "something special and unique" while shopping there. It was Romi that first introduced me to Nanette Lepore, which is now one of my favorite designers. Last spring I had just seen the Nanette Lepore Knit Coat with three quarter bell sleeves in the New York Times fashion section when I also happened to see it at Romi. I snatched it up, and luckily so because the jackets quickly sold out afterwards. They carry many fashionable brands along with accessories.
Romi has boutiques in San Francisco and Palo Alto. The San Francisco Annual sales run to the end of December.
The week between Christmas and New Years hosts the best shopping sales of the season. As the start of the after-Christmas sales nears, it is a good idea to begin planning shopping strategies. The first step is to decide which shopping district you want to shop at (or maybe which one is first). Then choose which stores in the area you want to shop at, prioritizing your favorites as the first stop. Last is to decide what stores will be the best fit for what you are looking for. Do you want to shop the big department stores to cover multiple areas or have a chance to go to the local shopping areas to visit the fabulous boutiques? Or it you want to cover as many stores as possible, the Union Square Shopping District in San Francisco may do the trick.
Last night's Gorgeous & Green event at the Bently Reserve left no green stone unturned. Carbon-negative, the event showcased some of the best of eco fashion, organic food, recycled design and incredible philanthropy in celebration of the positive side of the environmental crisis. Rather than dwelling on the problems that Global Green directly works to solve every day, this party, in the words of Global Green CEO Matt Peterson, "helps celebrate another element - changing how people live."
Peterson said "people need to take action in their own lives as well as in their communities," and he spoke about how the Gorgeous & Green event works "in an ecofabulous way to show off what's going on" in the green movement. Zem Joaquin, co-chair of the event and founder of ecofabulous emphasized in her remarks to the crowd: "you do not have to sacrifice style for sustainability." SFBayStyle has the photos to prove it.
I may have just signed up for a new addiction. Ideeli is an online shopping community, that as described in the New York Times, "Brings the bluelight special to the cell phone.." It may be worth figuring out how text messages work. Ideeli will send messages to members when luxury goods are on sale. Then the competition begins.
Only one item is offered to the thousands of members. The members that have upgraded to the paid membership, ($7.99 a month billed to your cellphone. ) get first crack at the items. I plan to upgrade, but do not know how to text message back! Not only do you get a better shot of scoring luxury goods at bargain basement prices, there are giveaways. I have my eyes on a red leather Prada bag. Hopefully I will be able to upgrade my membership before that is gone! Not sure what my chances are at "winning" any of the items, but it sure sounds like a shopaholic's dream.
For a limited time, you can join by entering code nyt1.
Every year at holiday time, I join my best friend, her daughters, and mother to see the Nutcracker in San Francisco. My friend's daughter is now in the SF Ballet school, so it is even more exciting for us to watch. (We looked for her friends and teachers during the show. ) This production has received much deserved praise. Every year I say to myself, "I must subscribe to the ballet". I thought that again this year.
One of my favorite distractions at the ballet is checking out what people wear. There are a few types of ballet - or shall I say "Nut Cracker go-ers". The first type that always catches my eye are the "decked out in Christmas finery" folks. These are the little girls in Jacadi style smocked dresses. I love to see the simple, classic, traditional dresses pulled out of the closet for this event. On the other side of the spectrum are the "we have gone over the top christmas folks". Not a good thing. Christmas sweaters and reindeer ears are not something that I would wear to the ballet, or anywhere. There is of course the "I could not be bothered to change " crowd - the Northern California laid back attitude taken too far. Tevas and polar fleece to the ballet? Give me a break.
Anyone out there still Christmas shopping? Every year I tell myself that I'm going to get it done in during the less-crazed summer months. But it never happens. And every year I put on my midnight-shopper hat to try to beat the Christmas Eve deadline.
If you use Amazon.com and tend to need things in a hurry, Amazon Prime just might be your cup of eggnog. For $79/year - roughly what a Costco membership costs - Prime gets you free two-day shipping on most items sold by Amazon. (This means you can order as late as Thursday, December 20, though it would certainly be cutting it close...)
I went shopping with my buddies, Pamela and Sarah in Union Square last month. They suggested we stop off at Zara. We went to the store on Post Street. If you are looking for jackets, The Fall/Winter 2007/2008 collection has a great selection at reasonable prices. The first jacket I tried on was a black wool jacket with a fitted waist and a patent style belt (adorable). Because I was already wearing my favorite black trench, I decided to look for another jacket in a different color. I found a great one in brown. Zara gets my recommendation for affordable style.
Many women in the SF Bay Area need items that are flexible to go between work and play. Being a work-at-home mom means that I needed a small bag that I could fit into my briefcase or wear around my wrist while chasing after kids that could hold my smart phone, wallet, some personal items and a business card holder. I was not surprised to find the answer with one of my favorite designers, Coach. Their "pouch" bag style is small enough to fit in larger bags but light enough to carry over your wrist.
The matching business card holder is a great way to carry your business cards
in style. Best yet, the pouch holds all my personal items along with my BlackBerry Curve. This is a great holiday gift for that moblie woman in your life.
I was on Amazon the other night looking for last minute gifts. I am trying to be less of a consumer this year, and give gifts that give back. I try to make an effort to bring my own totes places. I was thrilled to find this fun bag, that supports the World Food Program's efforts, by feeding a child for one whole year. There are so many ways to be a thoughtful gift giver this year. Please share some of your great finds that give back !
It may be sunny California, but the San Francisco Bay Area weather gets cold in the winter. When it rains hard, it is time for rain boots. For the rest of the winter, my favorite boot style is trouser length with a zipper side and rubber bottom for traction. The zipper makes them easy to put on and the rubber soles comfortable to wear.
My trouser boots from last year were stylish, but not leather - so they did not make it through the winter. I decided it was time to go on a hunt some new boots. While at Nordstrom, I found a brand called Aquatalia that is waterproof, rubber anti-slip soles and a stylish pointy toe. Great to find boots that can be worn out, without brining an extra pair of rain boots just in case. Any other suggestions?
Many of us find ourselves scratching our heads this time of year about what to wear to holiday parties. We get these evites for evenings with friends, house parties, nights on the town, company soirees, galas or fundraisers, many of which don't designate requested attire. And if we're lucky enough that the invitation lists something, it's often "cocktail chic" or "come as you are" which doesn't necessarily illuminate the solution any further.
So what does that mean for the Bay Area, where everything from Birkenstocks to Blahniks goes? Here are some easy tips for dressing for these events for the holiday season:
Last night, I attended the Appel and Frank 2007 holiday shopping event, "Stockings and Stilettos." The event was a great opportunity for one stop shopping at a location that brought together 70 emerging designers, most of whom are from the Bay Area.
Everything from jewelry, fashionable women's wear, lifestyle products, chocolates, accessories, handbags and wearable art was shown. Along with the trendy and eclectic products, there were complimentary beauty treatments, cocktails, and entertainment creating an upbeat experience. I decided I was going to make their next event an official gals' night out by bringing friends with me.
I can never have enough cashmere. My kids think that I should have my own herd of cashmere goats in the back yard. Besides being soft and luxurious, cashmere is a fabric for all seasons here in the SF Bay Area. I just got a call from my friend, (a designer, also having a sale. ) that J. Crew has marked down all of their Italian cashmere sweaters. J. Crew has some fun designs this season. I may have to venture out in the rain, yes rain, in the Bay Area, and get that little argyle sweater I had my eyes on...
If you've heard one thing about the San Francisco jazz scene, you've heard about the San Francisco Jazz Festival. If you've heard a second thing, you've heard about Yoshi's. Now Yoshi's has a new home at the Fillmore Heritage Center (1330 Fillmore street, in addition to the Oakland club in Jack London Square); the grand opening in SF was last week.
This is the time of year that our in boxes are full of too many holiday party evites and invites. Holiday cheer turns to holiday exhaustion. However, there was one invite that I received from my friend Gina Pell that I could not ignore. This was for tonight's benefit for Darfur refugees, a crisis that in my opinion has been ignored for far too long.
Harper's Bazaar turned 140 years old a few weeks ago and maintains that the magazine is the longest continuously published fashion magazine. The history of the magazine and who was involved is really fascinating - it's not just fashion - some of the art was done by the finest: Dali, Warhol, Magritte. Famous writers like Charles Dickens and Tom Wolfe have also contributed, like in The New Yorker. It's a great magazine, not just for fashion. (And kudos for making it 140 years - we've made it past 140 posts, but I can't imagine several hundreds of issues. Impressive.)
See also: Bazaar's Fakes Are Never In Fashion promotion, educating people on why fake designer goods are bad for the environment, the economy, and laborers around the world.
Like so many preschoolers, my daughter loves to make herself the star of any story: Clara in the Nutcracker, Ariel in the Little Mermaid, June from Little Einstiens - well, you get the picture... So I was pretty excited when my hip friend Sharon told me about a suite of custom storybooks developed by Margo Redfern, a Bay Area mom of four.
Personalized books from FlattenMe.com make a lovely keepsake and
unique holiday gift for the special little ones on your list. The company
offers several titles for kids age 2 to 7. Once I uploaded my daughter's photo to the website, a hardbound copy
of "Skylar and Tuesday the Mushroom King" followed in the mail soon after.
Through Thursday, eBay (based in San Jose) is running a wonderful charity promotion in partnership with the CFDA and Vogue to raise money and awareness for HIV/AIDS epidemic across the globe. Participating designers include Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole, Marc Jacobs, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Oscar de la Renta, Philip Lim, Thakoon Panichgul, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, TopShop and more.
Shop here to participate in the auction and help make a difference for this important cause.
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Is your furniture a little outdated? You can get home decor when you do a little online shopping. You can get just about anything for your home needs. You should have no problem furnishing your home.
It's not too late to get on the guest list for some great parties tonight. Check out SF Station's New Year's Eve Guide 2007-2008. As someone who formerly hosted annual New Year's Eve parties, I'm always looking for good ones.
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