limelight marketplace

I used to love the Limelight! I can't believe they're turning it into a shopping center!

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The brainchild of fashion retailer Jack Menashe, the historic 163-year-old venue in Manhattan’s Flatiron district will transform into a three-story shopper’s paradise.

Inspired by the U.K.’s Covent Garden, Dover Street Market and Burlington Arcade, the Limelight Marketplace will display traditional elegance with a modern twist, showcasing a fantastic “street of shops” with elaborate facades and varied designs that invoke the feeling of a stroll down a marvelous European street.

“Limelight Marketplace delivers an innovative shopping experience for customers who have ‘seen it all’ – and an unprecedented opportunity for visionary merchants.” said President Jack Menashe. “Our plan offers something for everyone – with high end fashion, unique artwork and home décor, a candy shop that would impress Willy Wonka himself, and an organic market - offering an unprecedented opportunity for visionary merchants across the board.”

Manhattan’s landmark Episcopal Church turned legendary nightclub will open its doors once again this spring reborn as Flatiron’s shopping haven. An unparalleled midtown retail experience, Limelight Marketplace will bring new life to the 6th Avenue stretch of the historic Ladies Mile district, creating hundreds of jobs by housing over 60 shops from the “who’s who” in New York City’s eclectic worlds of fashion, accessories, food, design, art, beauty and more. A premier shopping destination, Limelight Marketplace will house an exceptional scope of retailers where uptown merges with downtown, and street meets luxury.

Menashe commissioned renowned designer James Mansour to create a space that responds to midtown’s desire for a convenient one-stop destination where social interaction meets a unique, fashion-forward shopping experience.

The Limelight Marketplace will house independent jewelry designers on one floor, a cutting edge apothecary around the corner, a street-smart boutique for NYC’s “skater” culture, and a level of classic and organic cuisine that will attract both new business and consumers alike.

The Limelight Marketplace will welcome innovative retailers and entrepreneurs at a fraction of the cost of a street-front address, providing a turn-key solution to startups and established brands looking for a presence in the New York City retail market. Reducing start-up and maintenance costs for boutique brands through a unique in-house business model, Limelight Marketplace will supply participants with state of the art POS systems, technology, store build-out and maintenance support, branded materials, and marketing, PR and visual merchandising services.

Locals will also be able to pick up ingredients for organic cooking or dine-in at one of Limelight’s restaurants, purchase a last-minute gift, unwind at the salon or check out work from up-and-coming artists in the same place where visitors can discover the most compelling elements of Manhattan, all under one historic roof.

Limelight Marketplace is located at 656 Avenue of the Americas, and will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m

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something to do today in nyc

MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS SHOW THEIR SHOPPING SKILLS AND WALK THE RUNWAY AT NINTENDO’S STYLE SAVVY “FASHION FEST” EVENT

Charlotte Ronson Makes Guest Appearance at JCPenney’s Manhattan Store to Celebrate New Fashion Styling Game for Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi

On Oct. 29, style-minded mothers and daughters will prove their fashion sense and shopping smarts during Nintendo’s Style Savvy™ “Fashion Fest,” a unique launch event for Style Savvy, a new fashion video game for the hand-held Nintendo DS™ and Nintendo DSi™ systems.

Co-hosted by Nintendo and JCPenney’s Manhattan store, the event will include a live runway challenge in which mother-daughter teams must use their creativity to select fashionable styles within a set budget.

Expect fashion-forward fun as mothers and daughters tell one another what to wear and put their own “smart shopping” skills to the test.

Attendees can also enjoy a special appearance by acclaimed designer Charlotte Ronson and mini-consultations by professional stylists, snap memorable pictures at a red carpet photo station, win prizes and be among the first consumers to play Style Savvy in advance of its Nov. 2 release date.

Style Savvy lets players express their individual style and creativity by running a virtual boutique on their portable Nintendo DS or Nintendo DSi system.

Choosing from a variety of styles, designer labels and price points based on the customer’s budget, players keep customers looking fabulous with more than 10,000 clothing items and accessories.

Style Savvy also allows users to connect wirelessly to visit each other’s stores or strut their stuff in a multiplayer runway show using Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection and a broadband Internet connection.

WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 29: 5 - 7 p.m.

Participant casting call: 3 - 4:30 p.m.

WHERE: JCPenney

Manhattan Mall

901 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10001

how to make your own embellished tights a la miu miu's - part 2

This post is part 2 of "How to make your own embellished tights". Click here for part 1.

Before I even start writing about my embellished tights, let me say one thing:

Not as easy as it looks!

Ok, with that out of the way, let me begin.

Material you will need:

1) Some sequins and some beads. These are the ones I ordered online. Since I was planning on working on a pair of gray tights, I bought silver embellishments.


This is a closer look at each of them. Now that I have some experience with the process, I highly suggest getting all your beads and sequins as flat as possible. I was able to use the stars, the sequins and the round wheels, but the see-through flowers ended up being too bulky, so I didn't use it.


2) Of course, you will need a pair of tights.


3) A needle and thread of appropriate color.


With no experience whatsoever, I started my project by sewing all my precious beads and sequins like a mad woman. Everywhere. Randomly.

Half way through, not surprisingly, I didn't like the result:


I wanted it to look neater than that, so I pulled all the beads off, and tried with just the sequins this time:


After I had a neater base, I started adding the little stars:



Once again, I wasn't liking the way it was looking... I kept studying Miu Miu's tights for inspiration, but it just wasn't working.


Then I tried something really ugly: in order to replicate those areas with a lot of beads, I started to sew my biggest beads one next to the other... and it looked like crap again!


By this time I was getting really frustrated, and I wished I had Miuccia Prada's phone number so that I could call her and vent my frustration with her (it was after all her fault since she created these tights...).

Not to mention the fact that to sew these little buggers on the tights I must have tried so many different methods with no clear winner:

1) With the tights worn on my left hand and sewing with my right hand. Difficult because you need two hands to sew.

2) With the tights loose on the table. Difficult because you risk sewing the tights shut.

3) With the tights on. Better because you can use both hands, but a bitch after 10 minutes because you get such a backache from bending forward to sew on your shins.

So after about 2 hours I gave up. I gave up because I realized that despite my best efforts, it was never going to look good and for two main reasons:

- I didn't have the right embellishments

- I mistakenly thought that those areas with a lot of embellishments were just many single sequins and beads put next to each others. Instead, after really looking at it, I realized that those were appliques sewn in. Much easier if you ask me.

I will need to find all the right material before I even attempt going at it again. And maybe, one day, I will write the final chapter on these tights, because I don't think I am done with them (I am stubborn like that!)
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and the winner of the ymi jeans is...

Congratulations Marie!!!

It looks like your luck is starting to turn! :)

Thank you everybody for partecipating, and stay tuned for another contest this weekend. :)

weekend links and misc.

I know, I know: I am behind the Miu Miu tights project, and the reason is because I just received my beads a couple of days ago. I will definitely have a post about it next Saturday, I promise.

Stop by Martin + Osa this weekend for their cashmere sale.

Sass, Style & Substance beauty & fashion news:

• A Touch of Blusher
  A Touch of Blusher reviews Jill Stuart Jelly Eye Color N.


• STYLEnosh
  Easy ways to add color to your fall wardrobe.

• Raging Rouge
  Raging Rouge reviews the most lengthening mascara she has ever sampled! Hint: It's Estee Lauder!


• Bags, Bling & Beauty
  BB&B discovers a chic way to keep warm this winter, courtesy of Wallaroo.


• Splendicity Accessories
  Here are three budget-friendly options for one of the season's hot trends - gray slouch boots.

Have a great weekend! :)

ymi jeans giveaway

If you are shopping for a new pair of jeans, please put your wallet back in your handbag, because I am giving away a free pair of jeans! :)

So forget about spending $200 for jeans... seriously!

Jeans were originally designed for the working man, because they were made of such a sturdy and resistant material, denim, but after 1950 and their association with youth and rebellion, their price has just gone up and up and up...

I like the people behind YMI Jeans because they offer a great variety of styles, their prices are still extremely reasonable, and they are giving NY Spender's readers the chance to win a free pair of jeans!

YMI Jeans collection includes skinny jeans, bootleg jeans, distressed jeans, embellished jeans, and so much more that I am absolutely sure you will find the perfect pair for you.

About YMI:

"A leader in the junior’s denim industry, YMI Jeanswear International creates unique clothing for fashion-forward, young contemporary and junior women and pre-teen girls. Designing and manufacturing jeans, jackets, tops, bottoms and skirts, YMI is available in better national department stores as well as specialty chain stores and independent boutiques across the country and at select retailers in Mexico, Canada and South America.

The YMI name, a play on words asking “why am I?”, relates to all young women and girls seeking the freedom to be what they want to be. The YMI brand statement expands on this question and can be found on display at YMI retailers, promoting YMI product and their company philosophy."

For more information, you can visit their blog: YMI Obsessed and their Facebook page.

For a chance to win a pair of YMI Jeans, visit YMI's website and pick your favorite pair, then come back to this post and leave a comment letting me know which pair you like best.

The giveaway ends next Thursday, October 22nd at midnight EST. I will pick a random winner and announce it on Friday. The giveaway is open to US addresses only.

Good Luck!!!

Full Disclosure: The pair I own was given to me by YMI to try out their product, but having a pair on hand also helps me decide if I want to sponsor a giveaway. And that's how I know you will love these jeans!

Halloween Costume Ideas for Baby

Help Kaitlin pick her Halloween costume:

Baby Lobster

Snow White

Baby Ducky

or


Baby Caterpillar


ps. Kaitlin will be 4 months old for Halloween, and she doesn't crawl just yet.

october is also lupus research awareness month

October is famously known as "breast cancer awareness month".

Everywhere you turn you can find ways to buy something pink and benefit the ongoing research for a cure. Later on the week I will share my favorite "pink" products, but today I would like to focus on "purple" products, instead.

See, another illness that unfortunately has chosen October as its research awareness month is Lupus, and purple is its "sponsoring" color.

I write "unfortunately" because any October Lupus awareness voice tends to be overshadowed by the million of screaming pink survivors. Nothing against the pink survivors, but I am somewhat closer to the purple fighters.

If you don't know much about Lupus, you can visit the Lupus Foundation of America for a primer. And the Cure4Lupus site has a great symptoms list page.

In general lines, there are two types of Lupus: a systemic lupus (SLE) that can affect pretty much every organ in your body (and kill you), and a skin lupus (Discoid) which is milder and more forgiving than the systemic one.

One of the slogans of Lupus is: "Someone you know has Lupus" to emphasize how common the illness is, but at the same time how little people know about it.

And while Lupus strikes mostly women of childbearing age (15-44), men, children and teenagers develop Lupus, too.

Case in point: did you know that Seal's face scars were caused by Discoid Lupus?

Lupus in Latin means "Wolf", and the name was given to this illness because of patients that showed these facial markings resembling the marks left by the "bite of a wolf".

And now it looks like Michael Jackson suffered from skin Lupus also.

Was Lupus the reason for Michael's glove?

So this month, together with the pink, buy something purple as well. :)

These are my favorite purple products:


Purple Lupus Wristband




This Chick's Gone Purple for Lupus Awareness shirt











The butterfly is another symbol of Lupus, still relating to the facial marks that people with Lupus might get.

The butterfly rash (a redness that spreads on the nose and across the cheeks in a butterfly shape) is in fact one of the symptoms that help doctors diagnose Lupus.

SuperJeweler.com will donate $60 from each sale of this 1/4ct diamond and amethyst butterfly pendant in 14k white gold to The Lupus Foundation of America-Illinois Chapter

Other ways to donate:

Alliance for Lupus Research

Finally, Woody Johnson (his daughter has Lupus), the New York Jets owner, invites you on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 to walk for Lupus at the New York City ALR Walk with Us to Cure Lupus. If you can't walk, you can always donate.

Thank you.
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lamb booties

If you're in the market for new winter booties, don't forget to check out L.A.M.B.

I think these are the best looking booties out there right now.

L.A.M.B. Women's Jadia Pleated Bootie

how to make your own embellished tights a la miu miu's - part 1

As I've mentioned before, I really like these embellished tights by Miu Miu.

And I had been thinking about buying them...

Nah!!! Just kidding!

I was thinking about making them myself and I figured I share the creative juices with you.

I'll split the process in two posts, this first one about ideas and materials needed for the project, and the second one, in about a week or so (I'll give us time to find all the material needed), with instructions on how to actually make the tights.

Let's start with inspiration. I was able to find more pictures (from Style.com), that will allow us to see the project from different angles, and also in different colors:





As you can see, we can go light or dark, beige or black or gray. The trick is not to use too many colors when it comes to the embellishments otherwise we end up with clown tights.

Let's say you want to go for the black tights, pick only silver and black beads.

The gray tights will also look good with silver and black beads.

The beige tights will look good in gold and bronze beads.

At least this is how I see them.

You can come up with other color combinations, and when this project is done, you can send me your pictures and I'll post them in a third post about the finished project. :)

Materials:

You will need a pair of plain combed cotton tights. They need to be able to sustain sawing on them, so no nylon stocking for this project. The thicker the better. Just refer to the pictures if you have any doubts.

The fun part comes with the embellishment! ;) Here the sky is the limit. Find the beads you like and get ready to use them! I've found a lot of different stuff on Amazon!

For more sequins, beads and pearls just keep browsing the SeedBeadExplosion store on Amazon, they have pretty much every thing you need!

Stay tuned for post #2 next Saturday.


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