Wow… where’d you get THAT dress? Ohhh right from that um…Truck–

Halal trucks— move over. Hot dog stands, get outta-the-way. Stylish, shopaholic New Yorkers can now get their fix right on city streets. Mobile “boutiques” are cropping up, offering items from unique tops to stylish dresses to handmade accessories. 

“Rolling” retailers are a mainstay on the West Coast, and while table set-ups with fake designer goods are common in NYC, these newest  revamped trucks offer style in spaces where food-on-the-go is usually stationed. Household names such as Cynthia Rowley and Armani Exchange have even delved in this retail phenomenon.

Hoboken, NJ-based Chic Rattle and Roll was started by two hip-thinking mew moms, 28-year-old Danielle Mazzurco and Lisa Dunn, 35 in in December. Danielle’s passion for rock music blended with Lisa’s girly taste and offers Van Halen T-shirts alongside flowing dresses. Joey Wolffer, 31 years old of Manhattan, runs the the high-end Styleliner. Retail is in her blood: she’s the great-great-granddaughter of a founder of the U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer,. Now she drives a 20-foot-long potato-chip delivery truck that’s filled with hand-painted T-shirts and handbags from off-the-radar designers such as Beirut-based Sarah Beydoun, whose artisans are women in prison in Lebanon. Prices range from $30 to $1,800. Jessie Goldenberg, 24, launched her truck, the bohemian-themed Nomad, in late March.

Because this path to sales signals uniqueness and urgency to buyers, many hopeful fashion-minded entrepreneurs see this as a quick entry to selling their prized designs. Be warned: this new retail avenue is not cheap to enter as outfitting a truck runs between $15,000 and $60,000. While nationwide the number of mobile fashion trucks is growing, here Mr. Bloomberg limits the maximum number on the streets to 853 at a time; the waiting list is closed. The American Mobile Retail Association has grown from five members in California in 2011 to about 70 nationwide. So as long as no one conjectures that these trucks are highly caloric or cholesterol-ridden, perhaps the mayor will ease up on the limit…..

This boutique on wheels showcases the latest styles from exclusive designer brands not found in your everyday boutique or department store; and brings them to a corner near you. Fashion Societe loves this!!!

4 New Fashion Events in NYC: Siman Doonan, Hack Day 2012, FFF Fashion Week & More!

Just posted on the Fashion Societe Directory…. Check them out to be up on the latest in what’s around town!

Wilhelmina Open Call for W Runway Division Tuesday, June 12 12:00p to 3:00p

at Wilhelmina Models Inc., New York, NY

NYC Fashion Hack Day 2012 Saturday, June 16 8:00a

at Gilt Groupe Hq, New York, NY

Click here to read them all!

Thanks Genny from Gorgeous, Darling!

Fashion Societe with Cathy Berger
Posted by Genny from Gorgeous, Darling! on Mar 7, 2011

Ever wish you could get the same expert beauty and fashion advice given to top models and socialites featured in those glossy magazines? Wait no longer – style entrepreneur Cathy Berger’s company, Fashion Societé, offers a series of ”how-to” seminars in NYC packed with easy-to-execute lessons that teach attendees how to maximize their image and style.

Armed with degrees and years of schooling from LI University, Parsons School of Design, and the Fashion Institute of Technology, Berger has commandeered an A-team of vetted instructors, ranging from Judith Ann Graham, a former Miss New York State affiliated with the Miss America Organization, to David Derex, a glamour photographer who has worked with major celebrities, business scions, and sports figures.

Fashion Societé’s 90-minute look-great, feel-great classes, held in Midtown Manhattan, focus on topics ranging from professional hairstyle advice and body-type analysis to tailoring secrets and choosing the right clothing colors. Among the upcoming seminars are “Lingerie & Lace: A Lesson in Allure” and “6 Steps to Fashionable Fitting the Voluptuous Woman.”

“Our advantage is that we mix science with modern technology to turn regular women into drop-dead dressers exuding current, fresh style,” says Berger. “Learning in-person at Fashion Societé classes are the most effective way to improve your image, plus they’re fun and won’t break the bank,” she says.

Guess Opened in Manhattan

Guess Inc. just recently opened their biggest worldwide store in New York City. The extremely large 13,000 square foot Fifth Avenue retail store is just the beginning of the Guess expansion in New York. The company hopes to open others on Third Avenue, 34th Street as well as in the Flatiron District.

“This is a big step for us,” said Paul Marciano, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Guess Inc. “We’ve never had a major location on Fifth Avenue. We found a store that’s a little bit big, but it will cover every avenue of our business. We have collection of lingerie and underwear, but because of space issues, we’ve kept it in Europe and Asia. I will [now] have the space.” (WWD.com)

Customers can expect to get a special treat in the new store such as an exclusive international jewelry line, pricer than the normal accessories sold in the other stores. There will also be exclusive handbags sold in Fifth Avenue along with watches that cost from a couple hundred dollars well up into the thousands for a limited edition style.

Club Monaco’s Summer Preview

While everyone is focused on spring fashion, we feel it’s time to start putting our feelers out for summer styles. Club Monaco has some fresh new looks that include a mix of different fashion trends.

Caroline Belhumeur who is the brand senior vice president of women’s design says that July will keep the sixties with looks that are “very naive and simple.” (WWD.com) A more contemporary take will occur once August and September comes around with breezy lightweight fabrics in neutral tones and pencil skirts with leather detailed pockets for some edge. September brings sexy miniskirts with fur trimmed coats and burned out tees in soft satin.

For the men, we will see chinos in a slim fit and shorter cut blazers in July, and as the summer roars on the clothing will take a different stroll with “indian madras” that include denim jackets and ripped chinos, a sense of preppy grunge. Soft sweaters made out of mohair along with corduroy pants will be the look for the start of autumn along with relaxed wool blazers that match just about everything.

Coming Home To Diane von Furstenberg

Can’t get enough of Diane von Furstenberg? Well now you can sleep with her, well sort of. Bloomingdales is selling the designer’s latest creation, Diane von Furstenberg Home. The one who is so well known for the wrap dress will now be known for everything from bedding to bakeware. While she has done some previous home inspirations prior, this is initially DVF’s first debut line for home decor. And our first post about something you can’t wear on your body.

Bloomingdales shoppers can expect to see bright, bold patterns of DVF’s signature clothing on items like plates, cups, cheese platters, duvet covers and porcelain.

“It’s different. It’s got color. There’s a lot going on,” Bloomingdale’s chairman and chief executive officer Michael Gould said. “We have been a partner with Diane for close to 40 years. Her DNA and our DNA are very similar.” (WWD)  FS agrees.

New Designer Lines Coming to Forever 21

Target and H&M have taken on designer lines so why shouldn’t Forever 21? The trendy store had a designer t-shirt line back in August made by Brian Lichtenberg and now they are taking on two more.

Last week Petro Zillia’s bright and fun collection was revealed in Forever 21 and Rory Beca’s super chill line will be introduced to all 250 stores on March 4.

“This is sort of new for us,” Linda Chang, daughter of Forever 21 founder Don Chang said. “We want to be able to keep fresh new designs in our stores so that our customers want more and different things. We’re not really concerned with the financial impact [of the partnerships]. Our mind-set wasn’t that they’d be profit generators. We always like to be on top of trends, and collaborations are a trend in the industry.” (WWD.com)

The prices for these collections will fit nicely into the inexpensive retail tags that Forever 21 is known to have, ranging from $5.80 to $32.80. There will however, be a few fancy pieces that will be on the pricer side like the Petro Zillia’s Aztec-inspired silk chiffon top for $148.

Donna Karan’s New Take on Trunk Shows

First its sample sales going global and now its trunk shows. Donna Karan knows how important it is to be “in the know” with the online media that we have all consumed ourselves with over the past few years, and she is using it to her advantage. For her latest fall collection she will be hosting her trunk show online.

Donna Karan will be showing her collection on the company’s Facebook page on Monday, February 14th at 2pm. Look under the “What’s New” tab to find the runway show stream live. Viewers will then be able to take part in pre-ordering Karan’s favorite items from the collection at Neiman Marcus starting February 22nd.

Karan’s objective here is clearly advertising for the modern woman, who wants good fashion right at her fingertips. “Making the Donna Karan brand available to women wherever they are is one of our top objectives,” said Carole Kerner, president of Donna Karan New York. (WWD.com)

What is the industry consensus so far of Google’s www.boutiques.com?

In a deliberate collision between nerds and fashion mavens, Google has created a new
e-commerce site that significantly improves how fashion is presented and sold online. The site, Boutiques.com, which went live almost a week ago, may also change how people shop for clothes. 

Boutiques.com has so many capabilities and components that even Google engineers have a hard time qualifying it. It is a collection of hundreds of virtual boutiques merchandised — or, in the new parlance, “curated” — by designers, retailers, bloggers, celebrities and regular folks. You can shop in the style of, say, the actresses Carey Mulligan or Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen — among the celebrities who signed up — or you can build your own boutique and amass followers who can comment on your taste. 

It is a place, then, to show off your fashion acumen, much as millions of Polyvore users already do in their picture collages. 

It is also a source of inspiration. In every boutique on the site, there are dozens of additional choices inspired by a designer’s or celebrity’s style — generated by algorithms — with product photos that are much larger and sharper than on other shopping sites. 

And if you don’t know how to wear the leopard pumps you just bought, there’s a panel of street-style photos on the right side of the site that visualizes the shoes in more expressive modes. Indeed, whatever style preference you indicate — classic, romantic, casual — the inspiration panel automatically adjusts for them, like a support group that can read your mind with surprising precision. 

That may be Boutiques.com’s ultimate game-changer: how precisely it analyzes your preferences to give you what you requested. As many online shoppers know, search engines tend to give you stuff you don’t really want. A request for fern-colored shoes might yield fern shoes, plus fern-print blouses. 

But, as two experienced online shoppers found when they tested the site earlier this week at Google’s New York office, if you ask for cobalt blue shoes, you get them. And if you refine your preferences with a click or two, you get even more specific styles. 
The process at Boutiques.com is accomplished through visual search technology, and what style experts like Ms. Goodman and Ms. Holtz conveyed to Google code writers about the nuances of fashion — from color and pattern to silhouette and what looks good together and what does not. 

Despite the number of products a search on Boutiques.com kicks out, the download time is very fast, and choices appear on extra-long pages so you don’t have to keep clicking. Virtually every kind of information is analyzed — price, brand, color and so on. The site also includes a system called “Complete the Look,” for which Ms. Goodman wrote “a ton of rules,” Mr. Shah said, “and our computer vision and machine learning guys implemented them.” 

Additionally, there is a good sense of discovery on the site; items come to your attention — almost as they do in stores — that you didn’t necessarily plan to buy. Seasonal trends, like fall’s military looks, can be boosted on the site. Again, to Ms. Mulpuru, “that’s where Munjal gets it — fashion is about discovery.”

We at Fashion Societé also love scouring the runways of New York and Europe for new hairstyles to try. Here are some of our fall favorites.

Curling Lessons 

Big ringlet curls are a huge trend for fall. That means hot rollers and large curling irons are going to be hot commodities. Keep the curls down near the tips of the hair for the best look.

Pretty Polished   Ladylike hair doesn’t have to be prissy and precious, as evidenced by the styles at Carolina Herrera. All it takes is a great blowout and, yes, a deep side part. Of course, a Carolina gown doesn’t hurt either.

Uptown Girl   Sometimes bigger really is better. And the new twist on the beehive feeds both my updo and Mad Men obsessions. Get ready to tease it high this fall, ladies.