Strappy Sandal Giveaway from ShoesGotSole!
January is turning out to be Giveaway Month here at Chic Steals!
I have the wonderful opportunity to offer my readers another fabulous item for a giveaway – this time courtesy of ShoesGotSole.com!
ShoesGotSole is part of the CSN family of stores (200+ online stores for baby, home furnishings, housewares, luggage, and pets, just to name a few), and offers competetive prices on a wide variety of Men’s, Women’s, and Kids’ shoes, as well as socks and accessories. With brands such as Aerosoles (just launched – check it out if you love the brand!), Carlos by Carlos Santana, Fergie Shoes, Bronx, Timberland, Dingo, Gwyneth, Luichiny, and Dr. Scholl’s, the picks run the gamut from comfort to trendy to fashionable. Orders over $69 ship for FREE – and they offer free shipping on all returns. They also work hard to offer customers the lowest prices prices around – you find it for less elsewhere online, and they often can match the price for you! How’s that for customer service?
ShoesGotSole.com is offering a pair of shoes to one lucky reader! Choose between the Bronx Women’s Fancy Platform Sandal in Black (a $75 retail value) at left, or the Blast in Aqua/Black from Fergie Shoes (a $74 retail value) at right. (BTW, neither shoe is available anywhere else – and Zappos doesn’t even sell either brand!)
Sandals are in for Spring – the heels are high, strappiness and sexy are back!
How to enter?**
1. Leave a comment on this post! Make sure there’s a method of contacting you in your comment – and choose which shoe you want from the two above!
2. Extra entries? Tweet this giveaway, blog this giveaway, post on Facebook etc….come back here, and leave another comment with the link to your promotional effort. You’ll get one more entry per tweet/blog entry/FB post!
**Giveaway open only to residents of the U.S. and Canada.
Edit 1/19: Entry period is now closed and winner will be announced shortly.
Entry period ends in one week on Monday, January 18, at 12 PM PST. Winner to be drawn by Random.org – and she gets to choose her size and have it sent to her by the folks at ShoesGotSole.com!
Enter, tweet, blog, promote! Thanks ShoesGotSole for offering this – and best of luck to everyone!
xoxox
Carly
Phi Fi Fo Fum
As I happen across Phi and their Spring/Summer 2010 collection – something happens. I feel compelled to look – to click – to gaze in awe. My jaw slowly drops. Bondage straps? Lingerie-style boning? Fanlacing? Bodycon dresses, wrapped bandage pants, grommets, girdles? Love at first sight? I think so.
Founded in 2003 by Susan Dell (wife of Michael Dell of Dell Computers), Phi is a luxury brand that started off with a major advantage. Pronounced “fee,” the brand commanded a 10,000-square-foot showroom in New York, its own store after one season, and Norwegian designer Andreas Melbostad at the helm. Melbostad’s previous experience includes working at heavy hitters such as Guy Laroche, Yves Saint Laurent, and Donna Karan. At Phi, he favors reinvented eighties silhouettes and masculine tailoring.
“I feel I’m very influenced by the ’80s. To me it feels like a period when fashion was quite impactful, almost a little freer than it became in the ’90s, when it began to be more business-driven. The ’80s just had a lot of artistic sensibility. It seemed like a freer, more adventurous time,” the designer said in Interview Magazine.
Counting Bijou Phillips, Emmy Rossum, Padma Lakshmi among its Hollywood clientele, the brand is now struggling in the current economic climate. Its boutique in Soho is slated to close at the end of next month.
For the Spring 2010, Melbostad put a sophisticated twist on biker chic with a black and white palette that included slim leg suede pants that buckle and lace up the leg, strappy and banded brassiers and bustiers, as well as metal-encrusted jeans, studded blazers and a leather zipper jacket.
Oh Phi, where have you been all my life??
Edit 1/11: The label will no longer be produced and the pieces shown above will not even be manufactured. Pre-Spring 2010 was the brand’s last collection to be in stores. So sad!
See the full Spring 2010 RTW Collection on Style.com
and learn more about the 6-year old…soon to be defunct brand at http://www.phicollection.com/
-Carly J. Cais
Cutting Edge Eco Chic Innovation in Clothing Production & Design
Eco-aware fashionistas already know that cotton is a singularly un-green & spectacularly wasteful crop, requiring more pesticides than almost any other crop and over 400 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce but a single t-shirt. Similarly, they embrace dying methods that use no water (like the Air Dry Dye method popularized by alottosay tees), non-chemical plant-based dyes, and silkscreening that relies on soy inks which produce no toxic byproducts.
However, here are a few new innovations in clothing production that you might not yet be familiar with:
Zero Waste Clothing Although garment factories place pattern pieces as closely together as possible, an average of 15% of the fabric used in the production of clothing is still discarded as scraps. The Zero Waste movement is attempting to reduce this percentage to nothing by constructing garments with pattern pieces that interlock, like a giant jigsaw – using any fabric that does end up on the cutting room floor as trim and for embellishments. Although it might seem counter-intuitive, clothing made this way is not ill-fitting nor strangely shaped; it is, however, cheaper to manufacture and to cut. Practiced by current Parsons instructor Timo Rissanen, the Zero Waste movement in the fashion industry is spearheaded by former Rissanen student Mark Liu, the winner of the Ethical Fashion Forum’s Innovation Award. By creating garments via the Zero Waste principle, these innovators are proving that fashion and eco-sustainability are no longer mutually exclusive concepts.
“Production” on Demand Lengthy wait-lists for the overpriced “it” item of the moment tend to get the most press, but the truth is that the fashion world is actually plagued by over-production. Design houses order countless garments from factories and typically, they don’t sell out completely; because there’s just not enough demand, remaining items move to discount stores, off-price stores, and eventually overseas. To counteract this excess of merch flooding the marketplace, New York-based clothing line SANSdownloadable patterns from their line for $6 to $20 apiece – to make yourself or take to a tailor – giving consumers the option of making an item on demand. By producing it yourself locally, the carbon footprint is smaller, the cost cheaper, and the item less likely to be tossed out. “When you have a piece that you made yourself, you relate to it differently. You value it differently,” notes Lika Volkova, designer of SANS. For a good selection of downloadable patterns, try BurdaStyle.com, one of the largest online sources of free and affordable patterns (their most expensive is $7.50). Even the most “overpriced” patterns (hello Vogue patterns at $18 each!) are still a relative steal: add a yard or three of fabric, (designer tip: buy fabric in odd numbers – 1, 3 or 5 yards for items like a top, skirt/pants, or suit respectively), plus your time – and you’ll end up with a finished price for around $30-$50. And should you decide to splurge on really opulent & pricey designer fabric – you’ll still enjoy a much higher quality, better fitting garment or outfit for much, much less. has begun offering
Eco-Friendly Fastenings Most of us give little thought to the snaps, grommets, hooks, zippers and plastic or metal buttons that fasten our clothing…and eventually find their way into landfills. One solution is to purchase clothing made with no metal fastenings, such as wrap shirts, kimono-style jackets, tops with frog closures, ribbons, or stretchy jersey. For woven sheath dresses or more structured items, look for either the Natulon zipper from YKK, made from recycled PET polyester, or their biodegradable ReEarth zipper made from corn and other plant materials. Both are considered eco-friendly and low-impact, as are buttons and fastenings made from natural materials such as wood, bamboo, and nuts. Find them at eco-friendly retailers like Fashion-Conscience.com and The Green Loop.
Designed by You to Last The trouble with “fast” fashion is that it’s cheap and disposable; when we consider how little we paid for something along with the fact we no longer wear it – we simply get rid of it. However, if your closet was filled with pieces that you helped design – choosing everything from fabrics, to silhouette, to trim – it would be a lot less likely to get tossed. At StyleShake, for as little as $78, you can design and customize your own dress, and receive your made-to-order piece in about 2 weeks. For younger fashionistas, FashionPlaytes lets girls design everything from hoodies to leggings to bags using their own graphics or elements from the site. Alternatively, est.Today, Zazzle & CafePress are all great resources for customizing tees, tracksuits, aprons, and even housewares (clocks, mugs, tiles, cards, ornaments).
UpCyling What Already Exists One of the easiest ways to be fashionably eco is by not buying anything new. New products require raw materials which, no matter how sustainable or green, require some mix of energy, water, and human labor to produce. Refashioning what already exists is as eco chic as can be…starting with your own closet. To get some great ideas and tutorials on how to revamp what you already have, check out ThreadBanger.com, Craftster.org, and CutOutandKeep.net. The best part of DIY? It puts your stamp where it belongs: on your things instead the environment.
The More You Know Info is power, especially with respect to eco-friendly issues. Some of our fave go-to sources include Green Grechen, EcoStiletto, the GirlieGirl Army, Eco Fashion World, White Apricot, and Ecouterre – all of which will keep your look – and outlook – fashionably sustainable.
Carly J. Cais, Contributing Editor
(image at top)
As written for FashionTribes.com
1-2-3 Giveaway with Accessorize.com!
300 Followers! You guys are awesome!! I can’t believe there are so many of your out there, reading, commenting, being on the journey along with me. After starting this blog, it took almost a year to even gain one follower. I had that one for a very long time after that. I wondered who that person was and what she was into – and I was thrilled she was out there somewhere, reading. Then, one day, a second follower appeared! I was ecstatic. To think there was a time when I squeed at 2 followers! (Then the next day I was back down to 1 follower. I took that really badly.;-)
Now this little blog has 300, and I’m so so proud. Thank you for being there and reading! I have the best readers in the world!
So to commemorate this momentous occasion – I’m giving away not one – not TWO – but THREE SETS of items this time – SIX pieces in all! Wow!
Accessorize.com has graciously partnered with Chic Steals to offer my readers a sampling of their Spring 2010 line. (If you don’t know about Accessorize.com, you can check out my intro post to the brand here.) They are a U.K.-based mega-chain of affordable and chic jewelry and accessories – hence the name. They’ve just introduced U.S. shipping on their website (and they already ship domestically in the UK and to much of Europe).
Here is what is available for the giveaway (in 3 sets):
SET 1: ONE SEQUINED CLUTCH (TOTAL ARV = $48)
American Sequin Clutch from the Blue Belle Collection, ARV = 30 pounds ($48 US)
SET 2: TWO BOHO BAGS (Total ARV = $104)
from left, Safari Sequin Bag from the Harlem Collection, ARV = 35 pounds ($56 US)
(Note: the bag I have for the giveaway differs slightly from the bag in the photo…it has gold beads on the ends of the drawstrings instead of tassels.)
(Note: the bag I have for the giveaway differs slightly from the bag in the photo…it has gold beads on the ends of the drawstrings instead of tassels.)
Rope Handle Beaded Carryall, ARV = 30 pounds ($48 US)
SET 3: THREE FLOWER RINGS (TOTAL ARV = $40)
from left, Mauritiaus Cluster Ring, ARV = 10 pounds ($16 US)
Large Flower Ring, size S (adjustable), ARV = 5 pounds ($8 US)
Triple Flower Gold Ring, size 8, ARV = 10 pounds ($16 US)
Large Flower Ring, size S (adjustable), ARV = 5 pounds ($8 US)
Triple Flower Gold Ring, size 8, ARV = 10 pounds ($16 US)
So…one sequined clutch, two boho bags, and three rings! (Somehow that has a lovely ring to it, don’t you think?:-) It’s over $190 of merchandise up for grabs – my biggest giveaway yet!
How to enter?
1. Follow this blog (subscribe thru Google reader, Bloglovin’, an RSS feed etc.). If you’re not a follower already, please become one! I’d love to have you here:-)
2. Leave a comment on this post telling me which set of items you want: the sequined clutch, the boho bags, or the rings. (You can’t split up a set – if you win the rings, you get all three!) Your comment must have an email address in it/method of contacting you. Don’t just leave your Blogger profile if there is no “Contact” option in it!!
3. Extra entries? Tweet this giveaway, post it to Facebook, blog about it, Digg it…whatever you like! Come back here and write the link to your posting in a comment AFTER your original entry comment. And you can pick a different item that you want the second time around…or the third time around…or whatever. You get my drift!
Any comment that does not conform to entry method will be removed. Sorry, but that’s the way it rolls.
3 Winners will be chosen one week from today on Friday, January 15, at 12:00 PM midnight PST, by Random.org.
Edit 1/16: Entry period is now closed and winner will be announced shortly.
Giveaway is open only to those with a U.S. or Canada mailing address. Sorry – I will go broke shipping things internationally if, say, all the winners are in Italy. I’ll be having a giveaway open to all my readers worldwide soon!
Please enter – tell your friends – and spread the word!
Best of luck to all, and thank you for helping to make this blog what it has become!:-)
xoxo
Carly
V Magazine – “Doll Parts” Spread
DOLL PARTS by V MagazinePhotographs by Glen Luchford / Styling by Panos Yiapanis
Natasha Poly, shot by Glen Luchford for the upcoming V MAGAZINE (issue #63). Inspired purely by Hole front woman Courtney Love, Natasha sports textured bustiers, kilts, petticoats and headpieces constructed of toys throughout the spread. Although the release date has yet to be announced, “Nobody’s Daughter,” the fourth studio album by Hole, is set for release later this month. V63 does not hit newsstands until January 14, 2010.
The self-made, rough-and-tumble glamour of Courtney Love couldn’t feel more of-the-moment. In an ode to the queen of grunge, whose album is out this month, supermodel Natasha Poly piles on the ruffles, prints, and girlish fineries of spring
I’m not sure I agree that Courtney Love’s “rough-and-tumble” is any more “of the moment” than it was when she first rose to fame (I personally love the deconstructed mish-mash that is her “look” most of/some of the time) but I find it amusing that after being a media pariah for so long she’s now being featured again in a spread…well, sort of. Her style is being featured, that is. I wonder why Natasha Poly is playing her rather than Courtney appearing herself? (Maybe an attempt to fashionize someone whose actions are just too controversial for glammed-up photos anymore? An attempt at iconography whereas the musician and paparazzi train wreck that we’re all familiar with defies iconic status and in fact, doesn’t really have a singular style?)
I don’t know, but I’m getting a lot of great DIY ideas just looking at this spread. And Jo-Ann’s sells pre-pleated and ruffled cotton trim – so just think how simple it would be to sew that on to the bodice of a dress like the right one in spread #3! And a crown…made of doll legs. Somewhat disturbing, but yes – this says Courtney Love!
What do you guys think of the spread?
-Carly J. Cais
Who I Am
Carly J. Cais I am a DIY’er, designer, sewist, maker, and marketer. Chic Creative Life is where I share what I do, and help others bring their unique style into their own lives.
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