Finding Your Chic Factor for Your Special Day!

Finding Your Chic Factor for Your Special Day!

Once upon a time I was a bride-to-be. And the day my husband proposed I thought whipping up my bridal look would be simple.

If you’re having dilemmas about the gown, consider your venue and overall formality of the wedding or lack thereof. Wedding dates have a lot to do with decisions too. Are you marrying in New York city mid-winter or having a country picnic in late Spring?

Since there are no rules here, only guidelines, go ahead and combine styles if you like. Blending gives your look individuality. Maybe you’re a little punk and vintage all at once . . . Or cutting edge and classic. Whatever combo you fancy, your options are many. My motto has always been, “Read the rules then teach yourself the art of breaking them . . .”

CLASSIC
Grace Kelly in To Catch a Theif is your icon. Everything you touch is classic, refined, sophisticated. A Hermes scarf and cashmere turtleneck could be your everyday signature look.
Your Dress An A-line or sheath either strapless or with bateau or V-neck. You love any fabric that has understated elegance like traditional duchesse satin and peau de soie.
Favorite Designers: Kenneth Pool, Carolina Herrera, Reem Acra, Amsale, Anne Barge, Peter Langner
Your Venue: A mansion, country club or sprawling estate defines your dream wedding site.
Veiled: A long drop veil tacked to the back of a bun.
Unveiled: A diamond tiara of course!

ROMANTIC
You could be the ultimate storybook bride. If you love lace, bone china tea cups and bouquets of white roses in silver vases consider yourself a romantic.
Your Dress: A storybook ball gown with lace or tulle. Ruffles and frills and layers of crinoline petticoats.
Favorite designers: Amelia Casablanca, Elizabeth Emanuel for the Art of Being, Lazaro, Claire Pettibone, Elizabeth Fillmore, Max Chaoul.
Venue: How about Notre Dame or a castle in Scotland?
Veiled: Cathedral length tulle
Unveiled: Wreath of roses

CONTEMPORARY
For you the edge is the most comfortable seat in the house and forging ahead of the fashion curve excites you. New and untried fabrics for bridal wear intrigue rather than scare you away and you’re the first to try on that linen-hemp with asymmetrical drapes.
Your Dress: Any silhouette but you’re intrigued by the sheath in an outside the box fabric. Shorter dresses appeal to your sense of whimsy.
Favorite Designers: Giambattista Valli, Jane Wang, Junko Yoshioka
Venue: Mostly chi-chi urban settings like an art gallery or artist’s loft. A restaurant with a killer view is great too.
Veiled: Loops of horsehair crowned in netting.
Unveiled: A cutting edge hairstyle

VINTAGE
So you look into the best parts of the past to get your look, do you? Who wouldn’t with such great laces and gemmies still hanging around from yesteryear? Like those satin baby-doll shoes from the forties better than brand new Jimmy Choos? Does an allover antique lace tablecloth make you think of restyling it into a gown? Then call yourself a Vintageholic and read on.
Your Dress: Mostly evening gown and chemise styles in lace and satin. You may be a 1950s retro buff who likes Candy Anthony type dresses with miles of skirt and tiny cinched waists.
Favorite designers: Pat Kerr, Claire Pettibone, Martin McCrea, Candy Anthony.
Venue: Almost anywhere that the Jay Gatsby daytime social can be reenacted. Landmark homes with acres of sprawling lawn are ideal but certain boutique hotels and B & B’s work for the smaller bash.
Veiled: Grandma’s antique lace or a recreation.
Unveiled: An antique piece of fine jewelry

 

Iosposa

 

Your Chic Factor- Romantic

 

Your Chic Factor- Contemporary

 

Your Chic Factor- Vintage

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Graff Superstar Diamonds Lady’s Watch

Graff Superstar Diamonds Lady's Watch

There are diamond watches, and then there are diamond watches like this. Graff metaphorically knocks on the door of luxury with a resounding “bling bling!” arrival announcement. You simply don’t get too much more “diamond watch” than this timepiece figuratively held hostage by the precious stones. The case and bracelet (what little of it is actually metal!) is done in 18k white gold while a dizzying collection of 176 diamonds on the case and another 94 diamonds on the bracelet that crowd the design of the watch like a bunch of too many densely packed wealthy neighbors. The entire watch has 59 carats of pure glitzy glory.

Likewise the timepiece is known as the Superstar, or GraffSuperstar. Whatever the title, this watch is certainly a statement about the woman wearing it. However that statement might be “I enjoy rubies and emeralds in my breakfast cereal.” Sorry gentlemen, we will have to settle for a less diamond studded version. Stones on the Superstar watch are in trillion and trapeze cuts that gives a very modern and angular shape that is also quite cohesive. Round cut diamonds make for good decor, but these more angular cuts allow for a more tiled look that enhances the “total diamond watch” style that Graff is going for. My instincts tell me that the movement inside the watch is Swiss quartz. The dial of the watch is no testament to legibility, but should be readable – a nice trapeze cut emerald is the only non-diamond stone of the bunch and serves as the 12 o’clock marker. Not the type of watch you want to wear publicly in certain parts of the world, cost to likely be tantamount to purchase of said parts of the world.

 

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

MLB & Swarovski designs a swarovski helmet for baseball fans

Swarovski helmet for baseball fans

For the rich, New York baseball fans, who take their fan status a bit too seriously Austrian swarovski has teamed up with Major League Baseball to create a crystallized motorcycle helmet in honor of the New York Yankees. The luxury helmet in black features the legendary stamped team logo on front, and the Yankees inscription on the back, all adorned with black swarovski crystals. The helmet is available in a limited edition through Galeries Lafayette Homme, and adorn a price tag of $347. Can you imagine this helmets bling if they used black diamonds?

Damiani Offers Travel As Gift With Purchase

Damiani Offers Travel As Gift With Purchase

Italian jeweler Damiani is pulling out all the stops to get customers buying in this tough economy. National Jeweler reports on a couple of new promotions designed to get people excited to make a purchase. Buy one of Damiani’s “Gomitolo” rings shown above, and you can get a one-week vacation in Italy that includes the cost of the flight and hotel stay. The Gomitolo rings feature pave set diamonds and gemstones in ribbon-like patterns with prices ranging from $7,740 to $15,690 and each one represents a different Italian city. A minimum purchase of $6,000 of any combination of Damiani jewelry, nets the buyer a weekend stay at a suite in any Mandarin Oriental hotel in the Americas. For smaller purchases buyers receive treats of lesser value. Any buyer of a Damiani piece will get a gift certificate for a massage at the St. Regis Hotel Spa in New York, the Montage Spa in Beverly Hills, California or the Moana Lani Spa at the Westin in Honolulu. Sounds lovely, but will it be enough incentive to prompt a splurge?

Temple St. Clair Harvest Pendant Helps The Homeless

Temple St. Clair Harvest Pendant

One of my favorite jewelers, the always elegant Temple St. Clair has, for years, had a series of medallion-like pendants embellished with her three signature granulated beads. Now she’s turned her style into a charity effort. The Temple St. Clair’s Special Edition Harvest Pendant benefits Services and Food for the Homeless, a non profit organization providing food and assistance to the homeless in New York City. The 18K pendant is available in white or yellow gold and sells for $550. Temple St. Clair’s book, Alchemy – A Passion for Jewels, is included with every purchase of this pendant.

$18,000 Chocolate dessert with a diamond – A treat for the uber-rich

Diamond Dessert

 

Does diamonds and chocolates combined sound more like a wish list? Here is a chocolate dessert designed with a diamond stud, reportedly a real one. The dessert is made of chocolate, topped with a blackberry that holds a 2 carat ascher cut diamond and costs $18,000. We have earlier seen diamond-studded cakes, but like it or ignore it, they created buzz yet again, right folks?

Micheal Jackson: Remembering the King of Pop

Micheal Jackson: Remembering the King of Pop

 

With everyone paying tribute to the legend that is Michael Jackson, it only seemed appropriate to take a look back on his weddings – after all, his life was as fascinating as his career.

 

Who can forget Jackson’s nuptials with Lisa Marie Presley in the Dominican Republic in May 1994? When the King of Pop married the daughter of the King (of rock ‘n’ roll), the whole world was stunned.

People magazine reported that a short wedding ceremony was held at a resort in the town of La Romana, with the bride wearing a tight beige strapless dress instead of a wedding gown – and the groom sporting a ponytail and lipstick.

Amid much speculation, the high-profile nuptials were kept quiet until August, when Presley released a statement saying, “I am very much in love with Michael. I dedicate my life to being his wife.” Alas, the pair divorced less than two years later, in January 1996.

 

Later that year, Jackson tied the knot again with Debbie Rowe in Sydney, Australia, after presenting her with a 2.13-carat round-cut diamond engagement ring.

There are few details available about the ceremony, which took place at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel. But it seemed that married life was not the right fit for Jackson – he and Rowe divorced in 1999.

 

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Beckhams celebrate their wedding anniversary on a rented island

 

Football stars are known for their over-the-top spending habits. But David Beckham manages to stay at the forefront every time with his uber-rich tastes – remember we have told you about the $50,000 bed and, the £50,000 Porsche toy car his son drives or her giant diamond engagement ring? The British soccer star and wife Victoria are yet again in the news for their luxury indulgences. This time around it was to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on the North Island paradise of the Seychelles (Southeast Africa), which cost them upwards of $200,000.

And, yes, for that sum, the couple have had the whole island to just themselves. “David and Victoria appear so in love,” a source says. “They have gone on lots of romantic walks, holding hands like a couple of newlyweds.” This high profile couple sure deserves accolades for their commitment toward each other, right folks?

Check out more pics of the couple in the Seychelles at BauerGriffinOnline.

Fashion Statements: What is Luxury Now?

 

As designers march their winter haute couture collections down runways in Paris this week, one has the feeling we’re witnessing the end of an era. Only a handful of women in the world can afford this level of craftsmanship and, in the throws of the most diabolical recession we’ve ever seen, even they are pulling in their gilded belts. More’s the pity.

As a result, this may be the last of Christian Lacroix. A few days ago, the designer showed a jaw-dropping collection every bit worthy of his couturier status. But his house is in such a financial mess, it needs a buyer to survive.

Lacroix is not alone, of course. Earlier this year, I asked a CEO of a high-end Italian fabric company how he was planning to celebrate the company’s anniversary. “We’ll barely be able to afford a birthday cake!” he joked.

Meanwhile, New York’s famed specialty store Henri Bendel has stopped selling designer clothes altogether. Beginning this fall, the store will focus exclusively on selling smaller ticket items like diamond jewelry, handbags, fragrance and gifts. It’s a well-known fact that accessories sales are the bread-and-butter of retailers and fashion houses. Runway looks, especially haute couture, are more about creating publicity and brand image. But learning that H. Bendel will no longer be selling designer clothing is a little like discovering the coolest kid at school is into Dungeons & Dragons. It’s just sad.

The luxury segment-particularly fashion and jewelry-has skirted trouble for years. In Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster out a few years ago, reporter Dana Thomas chronicled how the then $157 billion luxury goods industry eschewed exclusivity-a key characteristic of luxury-in order to rack up mass sales.

Still, few predicted the floor would drop out quite like this. “You can’t justify premiums these days with the same old stuff,” says Milton Pedreza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, noting luxury companies will be forced to reinvent themselves to stay relevant. “Many people feel like luxury has duped them into buying ubiquitous products. The main principles-great design, superior quality, heritage and service-need to be upped quite a bit.”

 

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Overwhelming Success Out of The Ruins for WhiteFlash.com

The results are in!  In a contest based on the hit Fox Searchlight Pictures film “My Life In Ruins”, WhiteFlash.com, the internet’s premiere online jewelry retailer, found their site flooded with close to 12,000 hopeful winners of a diamond right hand ring.

 

Staggered to the Right Diamond Ring

In this touching and titillating tale of self discovery and love, Nia Vardalos, star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, plays a tour guide named Georgia who has lost her “kefi” (Greek for “mojo”) in the new film “My Life in Ruins”.  Georgia subsequently travels to her homeland of Greece leading a ragtag group of travelers and a quirky bus driver.  She eventually finds herself, and Mr. Right, in what was the ruins of her life.

 

The Diamond Right Hand Ring Sweepstakes, which celebrated the June 5^th release of the movie, ran through June 30^th and allowed visitors to the WhiteFlash.com site to enter with no purchase necessary.  The contest playfully urged entrants to let their brilliance shine so that they could find their inner self and hopefully Mr. Right.  In a surprise twist, the winner had already found HIS Mrs. Right!

 

Sean Dockett, hailing from Mount Royal, NJ, was selected as the Grand prize winner of the Staggered to the Right diamond ring. Featuring six brilliant Whiteflash ACA diamond melee diamonds, this stylish ring was going to be a surprise gift for his lucky wife. 

 

 

About Us

Whiteflash.com is the first company in the U.S. to offer an exclusive brand of Hearts & Arrows diamond and bring the sheer beauty of “super ideal cut” to the Internet. Debi Wexler, a computer entrepreneur founded Whiteflash.com in 2000  bringing an expansive selection of loose diamonds to the Internet, including an exclusive brand of Hearts & Arrows diamonds. ‘A Cut Above’ (ACA™) is unmatched in its brilliance, fire and sparkle and remains the only Hearts & Arrows diamond sold online with advertised standards and a “true patterning” guarantee. Whiteflash.com also offers original, handcrafted platinum and gold settings, diamond engagement rings and wedding bands, custom designs and specialty jewelry. For more information, log on to www.whiteflash.com or call 877.612.6770.