Oscar’s Worst

Oscar’s Worst

by | Feb 23, 2015 | Fashion

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You may want to sit down and take a deep breath before proceeding… Because I’m doing it. I’m actually citing Halle Berry’s beloved and iconic Oscar dress as one of my all-time worst. Like my choice for Best Dressed, context plays a huge part in how and why these dresses hit or miss.

 

  • First things first. I absolutely promise you this: if anyone other than Halle Berry wore this dress, it would have made most Worst Dressed lists. Halle Berry had the best year of her professional career, gracing many a red carpet in spectacular style, and as America’s sweetheart, could have worn a sack made from dead puppies without criticism. At this point, she was untouchable and an absolute lock for the Best Actress Academy Award, the first African American woman to ever win this distinction. I repeat: no matter what she wore to the 2002 Academy Awards, she was safe.
  • As to the dress itself, it is the very definition of too much: yards upon yards of skirt fabric, embroidered bust covering flowers (itself a total fashion crime), exposed midriff, and color palette reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner. If the designer’s (Elie Saab) inspiration was the Garden of Eden meets Autumn In New York, then mission accomplished. Otherwise, this dress was a huge pile of no. Thankfully, her styling was otherwise impeccable with low-key hair and makeup and minimal jewelry.
  • My final point about the worst best dress? Halle Berry is stun.ning. Her flawless beauty, grace and confidence on that red carpet made the dress, not the other way around. Only the smallest handful of actresses have that kind of magnitude, and the only ones who immediately come to mind are Nicole Kidman, the late Grace Kelly, and of course, Halle Berry.

Image via www.stuff.co.nz/

 

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Nail It!

Nail It!

by | Feb 8, 2015 | Fashion

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If you’ve lived in Boulder for a while, you’ll remember when East Pearl housed one less shop dedicated to Burning Man and instead, we had the super sassy, independently owned kick-ass lingerie store, The T*Bar. And while it wasn’t able to sustain the recession, after hibernating for a few years under which time owner Deb Caplin worked and worked and worked, The T*Bar is back!

Rather than the standard brick & mortar, it’s become an e-commerce portal for men, designed to make shopping for lingerie highly engaging and fun. It’s one-of-a-kind system, which helps men shop for their women by using visual and personality cues, eliminates all the typical obstacles many men face while lingerie shopping, namely difficulty with sizing, discomfort, and an overwhelming amount of choices. There’s even an apt and totally hysterical PANIC ‘button’ (in the easily accessible upper left of the screen) allowing you to shop while at work: you hit the button, and your screen changes to a passable Excel spreadsheet, with the easy option to go back once your boss is gone.

So this Valentine’s Day, go ahead and nail it!

 

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Images via thetbar.com.

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Why Art Matters

Why Art Matters

by | Feb 1, 2015 | Interior Design

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As the closing post of this month’s focus on ART, I figured it was important to address why art is such an important part of your home’s design and style. Here is the quick rundown:

1. As you’ll find in fashion, an outfit is incomplete without jewelry and/or accessories. Your home is the same; while the focus and the funds favor functional* pieces like furniture and lighting, the space won’t look finished without art.

2. Art is emotional, personal, inspirational, and aspirational… Can you say that about a throw pillow? Invest in what will make you feel something.

3. I have no intention of talking you out of buying a Helen Frankenthaler or the newest lot of Keith Haring up for auction at Sothebys. However, buying art from local artists (which in turn helps keep them living here) keeps our community culturally vibrant.

As for where to go, and resources to have, I recommend the following:

BMOCA– Our local art museum is situated in an old warehouse (located along the Farmer’s Market route) and allows locals and tourists an opportunity to engage in the contemporary art scene. In addition to their regular exhibits, they host educational programs and throw events for various occasions.

Art & Soul Gallery– This is one of our best galleries for local and national art (and jewelry too), where I’ve personally purchased two paintings for my home, one by profiled artist Karen Scharer.

madelife– This storefront and gallery carries the most extensive collection of local art (and furniture and accessories) and hosts monthly exhibits.

Mercury Framing– For all your framing needs, from a photo collage to a canvas painting, a silk scarf to a wedding veil, Mercury does it all. They also host regular shows featuring many local talents.

15th Street Studio– Another great option for framing, they also exhibit museum-track and emerging artists and actively back to our community through support of various non-profits.

The Dairy Center for the Arts– Our biggest multi-purpose cultural center, their 3 galleries carry exhibits by local, national, and international talents.

*Say that 5 times fast.

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Beautiful in Boulder: VOSS Art + Home

Beautiful in Boulder: VOSS Art + Home

by | Feb 17, 2015 | Interior Design

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Now that Art Month is over, we can catch up on important matters of style; in this case, Boulder’s best new boutique. Voss Art & Home. Located on East Pearl (#1537), Voss fills a crucial niche for those who love high home style but can’t find it in Boulder. Everything here is beautiful, interesting, has presence and will add real panache to any space: distressed leather club chairs, beautiful jade lamps in a variety of colors, fantastic Bolivian throws, to-die-for baby clothing and accessories, faux fur pillows, barware & tabletop decor. They also carry an extensive collection of art (mostly paintings) that is flying out of the store!

If that’s not enough, Voss is offering a 10% discount on all merchandise through the remainder of this February- simply mention Mile High Style!

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Oscar’s Best

Oscar’s Best

by | Feb 22, 2015 | Fashion

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In celebration of tonight’s Academy Awards (aka Fashion’s Biggest Night), I’ll be posting my picks for best and worst; but they’re not the choices most of you would make. Rather than Julia’s Valentino and Bjork’s infamous ‘Swan Dress’ (which pops up first under a Google search of her name, a testament to its iconic bad-ness*), mine are slightly more controversial. In the case of Worst Dressed (posting tomorrow), down right scandalous!

Cate Blanchett in Givenchy is my choice for one of Oscar’s all-time best. There are so many fabulous things about this dress, styling and context-

  • The hate this dress often generates stems from the fact that many people didn’t understand it. Unlike Oscar De La Renta and Atelier Versace confections (the kind Penelope Cruz favors) that are created for these events, Cate’s dress was made for the Runway. Taking a high fashion Runway dress and putting it on that traditional and conservative carpet is a big risk. True lovers of fashion love risk takers and rule breakers, and these attributes alone bump her past some safer choices (like Reese Witherspoon in vintage Dior).
  • Created by Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci who’s not exactly known for traditional black tie couture, this dress is edgy. The juxtaposition of the ethereal lilac with neon yellow, the front and back cut outs, the soft draping of the skirt contrasted with the strong lines of the ‘sleeve’ all present as fashion-forward while still embodying elegance and total sophistication.
  • Great Red Carpet fashion is not just about the dress- it’s also about the styling. Cate (or her stylist) understood that to showcase a piece with so much going on, hair and makeup should be soft and modern and jewelry should be kept to a bare minimum. With the wrong styling (a severe eye, an ornate hairdo, statement jewelry), the precious balance she strikes between simple and detailed would turn into a hot mess.

 

*From all I’ve heard about Bjork, it’s obvious to me that she both knew and wanted that dress to be ‘bad’. Her meta-consciousness of Oscar Fashion should disqualify her from Worst Dressed consideration, and someone like Demi Moore, who thought that outfit actually looked good**, should instead wear the crown.

**I know this was the in the 80s, but still!!

Image via visual-therapy.com

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