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tys loves: late fall

Thursday, October 28, 2010

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I love the glimpses of perfect weather sprinkled in between the cooler mornings and nights.


Pumpkins



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Love these free Halloween card downloads over on Samantha's blog Maquette.


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I'm always interested in the melding of fashion + art + design, so the recently opened exhibit, ENERGY, at Art Center College of Design, caught my eye. Exploring the intersection of the left and right brain—of art and science, this vision for sustainable and innovative design in the Twenty-First century is worth checking out. Read more on this exhibit here.


Anticipation



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The debut of my new line is right around the corner {February}! I came across this fabulous Rene Gruau illustration recently. It's so similar to a black silk velvet gown in my new line that it made me catch my breath, almost like someone had sent this little gift traveling through time to find me at the perfect moment.


Happy Halloween!



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Mellow or manic, here's wishing you a wonderful Halloween weekend. Make sure to enter the giveaway for Tattoo Chronicles here and if you're in the mood for some DIY projects, I'm extending the giveaway for Frank Fontana's Dirty Little Secrets of Design--I enjoyed both books and think you will too!



"Sun" Stereo/spacecraft view using Extreme UltraViolet Image, revealing ionized iron, 2007. Courtesy of © Solar System Visualization Project, NASA/JPL-Caltech. Photography by NASA/JPL-Caltech. All other photos via Tumblr.

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Thursday, October 28, 2010 Post a comment:12 Comments

the rock within + tattoo chronicles giveaway

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

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I'm convinced that every girl, no matter how sweet or conservative she might seem, has an inner rocker.

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Rock appeals to everyone because it's so raw and uninhibited. In the beginning it might be about rebellion or feeling different. It might involve lots of conforming to be cool and fit in. But I wish everyone could have a period of rock. I mean it more as a state of mind than a genre of music.

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A thick red book arrived in my mail with Kat Von D's photo on it and I thought it must be a mistake. But no, there was a nice letter addressed to me about her book, The Tattoo Chronicles, hitting the shelves on October 26, tucked in the cover. I was down the flu last week (and this week) so I started reading. And reading. I could say that I connected with her because she's into art, but I think it's really more about her spirit and style.

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Style comes out of being free, out of making mistakes. It's so easy to forget those days when I wore a thrifted children's ruffled skirt as a mini and lived in motorcycle boots, hot pink or black tights and dyed my hair a different color every week. Sometimes every day. Ugh, they actually sold flourescent hair colors that came in spray cans that you could spray in and wash out. To think that now I'm a beauty editor who writes about sustainable products and designs couture clothes. There's always more than meets the eye to every story.

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If you'd like to win a copy of Tattoo Chronicles please leave a comment below. You can have a second chance to win by following trustyourstyle on twitter.

images via tumblr

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Wednesday, October 27, 2010 Post a comment:7 Comments

three things to borrow from 70s fashion icons

Monday, October 25, 2010

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70s fashion has been coming in for awhile and the trend has never been louder and stronger than on the Spring 2011 runways. Beautiful Faye Dunaway set every trend happening right now in the movie Network, with her silk blouses, maxi skirts, and 70s pant suits. The past week's latest breaking fashion news has been telling us to look no farther than vintage YSL to understand what we should be buying. Luckily, what gives the trend more depth than the latest camel coat moment is that the glam style icons of the 70s are being applauded for their unique personal style. Enduring style always goes beyond the clothes and captures personality. Here are three of trustyourstyle's favorite ways to bring 70s style into your life:


Lauren Hutton: Curves under straight men's clothes



Before there was Annie Hall, there was Lauren Hutton, the embodiment of American Sportswear at a time when it was just hitting it's stride. Her gap-tooth smile became a symbol for embracing ones imperfections, and women have loved Lauren Hutton's personal style ever since.

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Ali McGraw: Always Effortless



Known for inventing bohemian-meets-preppie style, Ali McGraw was the quintessential natural beauty who elevated the free-spirited lifestyle to high fashion. She made it all look so easy.

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Bianca Jagger: Dramatic and Bold



Bianca Jagger is considered an old school icon whose style is still right now. She wore a white YSL suit when she married Mick Jagger, which was unheard of at the time. Like many of the top style icons of the 70s, Bianca was often seen with and wearing Halston, but it was the way she wore his clothes and the daring choices--one shoulder versus peasant sleeves--that made all the difference. She is living proof that exotic and daring never go out of style!

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Monday, October 25, 2010 Post a comment:14 Comments

frank fontana's dirty little secrets of design + giveaway!

Friday, October 22, 2010

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Today Frank Fontana, the star of HGTV's "Design on a Dime" is here to talk about style, decorating, and his new book, "Frank Fontana's Dirty Little Secrets of Design," chock full of his trade secrets and tips to pull off expensive looks for less. Frank has become HGTV's go-to guy for chic makeovers on a budget and has earned national attention because of his innovative ideas. I just finished the book and loved his advice and DIY projects that are accessible and doable for design buffs with varying skill levels.

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mj: Hi Frank, I enjoyed your book and love how you say 'understanding yourself is the first key to decorating' as that's an underlying premise of TrustYourStyle.

frank: Absolutely, to know oneself is to know ones style, and owning it is everything.

mj: Let's start with your top three style tips.

frank: Don't over-do the accessories, add bold color pops, know your comfort zones.

mj: Who are your biggest style influences?

frank: I really dig Johnny Depp, George Clooney, and Bono's personal style - I am a combination of all of them.

mj: What is one of the most challenging decorating issue that you see over and over?

frank: Clutter and improper scale of furniture compared to the size of the room.

mj: How do you approach/resolve it?

frank: You resolve it by cleaning out the crap. Getting rid of the things you truly don't use, and always bring measurement of your room when you shop for furniture.

mj: What is one of your favorite remodels that you find yourself encountering again and again? What is your approach?

frank: I encounter a lot of dreary spaces, so those are my favorite spaces to transform. Making a house a home. The cure is my main Dirty Little Secret, the QDE (Quantum Design Element) This is a method of design that I created based on Quantum Physics. I have been Studying Quantum design for quite some time, and I have been basing all of my designs with the idea that everything we bring in to our homes has its own quantum energy field that will interact with you and every other piece in your home. So choosing the wrong furnishings, can actually add bad energy to any home design.

mj: For people who are looking to remodel the kitchen, living room, bathroom, floors, and patio--how do you suggest prioritizing?

frank: Each room has its own plan of attack but generally, I start with the Feel, then the Function, then the Style and finally the Execution.

Thank you Frank for stopping by! I know that your book will be a great success! Besides HGTV, you can also find Frank regularly featured on NBC’s TODAY show or check out Oprah.com's "home 4 design" section where Frank is a contributing writer.

To enter to win a copy of Frank Fontana's Dirty Little Secrets of Design leave a comment below. The winner will be announced next week.

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Friday, October 22, 2010 Post a comment:8 Comments

pastel nostalgia

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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What is it about this wet and chilly weather that has me escaping into flights of whimsy, craving marshmallows in those sweet vintage colors, tea by the fire, curling up with a good book, day dreaming of childhood rides and remembering how I wanted to dye our poodle pink...

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Sending you sweet thoughts! Hope you're staying warm and cozy wherever you are!


coffee cups by Ida Dutka via print & pattern; kitties by Tim Walker; other photos via Tumblr

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Tuesday, October 19, 2010 Post a comment:9 Comments

pink and red: the surprise trend

Monday, October 18, 2010

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Good morning! I love the new pink and red trend coming in for Spring 2011 don't you?

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photos: Isabel Marant, Tumblr

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Monday, October 18, 2010 Post a comment:10 Comments

tys friday love: mid-october

Friday, October 15, 2010

I am a sucker for images that can turn a head. Isn't this one from Alexander McQueen's Spring 11 line lovely and strangely fall-like in color?

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Another amazing image from Ungaro's new line that makes it hard to resist a peek into the future. Sprint 2011 is going to be a pretty one!

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I'm still thinking about Oprah's interview with J.K. Rowling from a couple of weeks ago. It's one of my favorite interviews that she's ever done. I just loved what Jo said about how her mother dying is the reason she went on to create her story and her love for her shows up on every other page of all of her books. I really relate to that so much. If you have a chance to click on the interview (linked above) it's definitely worth a read!

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Since it's the season to consider all things ghoolie, I had to mention the prettiest Halloween pumpkin roundup on Christina's blog. You must check it out!


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If you're in the mood to ponder what may (or may not) be spring 2011's hit bag, click over to my guest post on Bagpoor today.

Looking for some quick fall makeovers for your home? Check out House Beautiful's website filled with great tips and tutorials.

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Wishing you a cozy mid-October weekend!

Images via Fullfrontalfashion.com; Martha Stewart; House Beautiful.

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Friday, October 15, 2010 Post a comment:8 Comments

waisted

Thursday, October 14, 2010

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There's nothing like a nipped waist to make a girl look pretty.


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photos: Alexander McQueen Spring '11 via Style.com and Elle Magazine via Simply Luxurious.

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Thursday, October 14, 2010 Post a comment:7 Comments

why hip is forever

Monday, October 11, 2010

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Gauzey bootcuts make for easy style in Milan via the Satorialist


I read a great article recently about why Italian women look so chic and own a lot less clothes than other woman. The secret is understanding their bodies. It doesn't matter how great a piece looks on the runway or a magazine, if it's cut for a woman with a short torso and you have a long one, it's better to pass it up for a more flattering cut. So often we fall in love with pieces that accentuate our hips and thighs, when most of us would rather get a tetanus shot than draw attention to this area! It's easy to make a purchase when it looks really cute on the dress form in the store window and seems to fit okay. A stylist or real friend will tell you that if you're partial to hacking jackets (those blazers that hit mid-thigh), pants with pockets, tight pants, or skirts with side pockets, you're emphasizing your hips.

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Young beauty in Milan via the Satorialist. Note her sweet A-line tent dress


Stovepipe jeans look awesome on a model with 8 mile long legs, who dines upon twigs, leaves, and vegan treats. For the rest of us mortals, our god-given hips that are so practical for mundane tasks like child-bearing and attracting the opposite sex, look more like over-stuffed zucchinis in tapered cigarette jeans. So what's a girl to do? If you have hips, don't hide them, celebrate them! The difference is skimming the hips versus emphasizing them. The two cuts to look for are bootcut in pants and A-line in skirts and dresses.

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Marc Jacobs offered many A-line coats and skirts this season


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Phoebe Philo's collection for Celine was one of this season's most popular shows. If you study the line, every piece has an A-line silhouette, making it wearable for almost every woman!

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Note how even the slim leg pants have a gentle A-line to them? Top it with yet another Celine A-line coat and it's a slam-dunk!

The reason that the bootcut is such a univerally flattering line is that the width of the bottom of the pant evens out the width of the hip and creates a slimming silhouette. This is really important if you are top-heavy or have--how to say it delicately--generous hips? My petite and shorter clients sometimes come to me struggling with the bootcut and gravitate toward the skinny jean even though it's less flattering because they feel swallowed up in all the fabric. The secret is to find a good tailor and have the trousers taken up so that the hem hits the middle of the top of your foot (a good rule of thumb for all hemlines). You may also may need to slightly take in the sides of the legs if they are bubbling out with too much fabric. Just make sure to have your tailor keep the A-line of the trousers intact.

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Classic A-line cuts equal easy to wear at Gucci. Notice how the coat falls well below the thighs?


The A-line is a gift to women! It's slimming because it skims the hips and the thighs, and creates a lean cohesive line. That's why the shift is always a classic wardrobe piece, and if fitted correctly, it can show off the curves you want to emphasize, while minimizing the ones you don't.

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Prada is a master of the fitted shift!


For summer 2011 there will be tons of loose shifts to chose from. This one hot off the Stella McCartney runway:

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The benefit of understanding how to dress your hips means that clothes will look better on you, you'll become much more focussed on what you really need, and your shopping list will be much shorter. This in turn frees up cash for those things I call forever pieces: that classic Burberry trench, top of the line cashmere, a great pair of bootcut wool pants, a classic strand of South Sea pearls...


Images courtesy The Satorialist and Style.com.

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Monday, October 11, 2010 Post a comment:7 Comments

how to wear high waisted pants right now

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I know, some of you feel betrayed that fickle fashion has taken away your skinny butt hugging jeans, just when you were getting used to them. And to add injury to insult, these new high-waisted boot-cut intruders come with big hideous 80s sashes. But before you despair or leave more salty comments on my blog, please check out Diane Kruger, looking ever so lovely in a pair of the season's camel high-waisted pants above. Like it or not, these pants with the big sashes are what will be hitting the stores for the next year and a half. All you have to do is wrap the sash and knot it. As a stylist and your friend, I couldn't be happier that the boot cut, known for being the most flattering proportion on almost any woman, is back!

It's a busy Monday here, but before I dash off I wanted to announce the winner of Anna Hrachovec's Knitting Mochimochi giveaway. The Random Number Generator picked Christina of Mildly Delightful. Congrats!


Image courtesy C Magazine, photo by David Cameron. Agent Provocateur bodysuit, $790. Chloe Trousers $1,265.

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Monday, October 11, 2010 Post a comment:5 Comments

tys loves

Friday, October 8, 2010

During the week I come across so many great posts and images, I thought Fridays would be a great day to round up some favorite picks. Enjoy!

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A Continuous Lean had a great post reminding us why Steve McQueen was a great Hollywood icon.

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Jen Brill's NYC apartment and fabulous life detailed in Harper's Bazaar.

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Loving all the colorful coats! Above Donna Karan's gorgeous pink coat. Below lovely watercolor blocks from Moschino Cheap and Chic.

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Who doesn't like a good woman with a camera shot? Still on the verge of buying a new one, this could be the weekend it goes down (although I'm trying to wait for the D-Lux 5 to drop and hear how others like it). If anyone has tried one out or pre- ordered it, please let me know your thoughts.

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Hoping you have a good one!


Images: ACL, Style.com, Haute Design

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posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at Friday, October 08, 2010 Post a comment:11 Comments