Lucky Brand's Denim Jean-ius Contest for FNO

A few weeks before Fashion's Night Out, Erin and I were invited to participate in Lucky Brand Denim's Jean-ius Contest alongside with other bloggers like Denimology, Midtown Girl, and Fashion Pulse. We were challenged with crafting something using all of the supplies provided at least once - a pair of denim pants, embroidery thread, patches, buttons, safety pins, glitter, puffy paint, twine, permanent marker and only a couple of our own supplies.

Erin's Denim Top
Erin wanted to create something that incorporated what is beautiful in pair of jeans but create something new. She worked on her project while she was on vacation in Stockholm. There she visited Skogskyrkogarden Cemetary and noticed the how the flowers glowed brightly against the serene environment and tried to recreate that effect with denim. Since denim is naturally serene, she used pops of playful color to create cheer.

Lani's Denim Shorts
I tried to create something that I would actually wear. Lately I've been wearing a lot of printed bottoms, so I decided to make denim cut offs and decorate them with the supplies provided. I originally wanted to use the embroidery thread to create a print, but in a time crunch, I decided to use the puffy paint to create a pattern and the thread to create a loosely braided belt. I used the rest of the supplies to decorate the coin pocket and one of the back pockets.

Sugar Rock Catwalk team effort


Fashion Pulse's Denim Bag


Midtown Girl's Denim Top

Target x Missoni: Pop Up Shop

If you're still deciding what you're going to be doing for this year's Fashion's Night Out - here's one more option for you. Missoni will be holding a pop up store where you can preview and purchase the collection before everything hits the stores on Sept 13. Previously we've covered the Anna Sui and Liberty of London events so stay tuned for an update once the store drops! If you'd like to see what the collection will have to offer, click here.

Who: Target x Missoni Pop Up Shop
What: Preview the collab before it hits the stores
When: Sept 8-10, 2011. Thurs (6pm-11pm), Fri-Sat (9am-8pm).
Where: 1095 6th Ave (at 42nd Street next to Bryant Park)

Nine West Blogger Breakfast

Last Friday was a hectic day, we really hit the ground running this NYFW. I started my day at 9am on 5^th Avenue at 53^rd St at the Nine West Flagship store for a blogger breakfast. There is a table laden with goodies from Clinton Street Bakery (I've never been able to withstand the 2 hour wait for brunch), fresh orange juice and strawberry lemonade.

I am amongst the first couple of people to arrive and it’s great because I get some great face-to-face time with Fred Allard, Nine West’s creative director. I had no idea that he would have a French accent and I am charmed as he shows me the Fall 2010 line-up with particular attention to the shoes that Nine West and singer/songwriter Joss Stone have collaborated on. Ms. Stone will be performing in the store later that night for FNO and they invite me to return, but I already have a full itinerary including the window display contest at Kate Spade.

When I asked Fred how he decided to work with JS, he tells me that from the beginning when they conceptualized the Vintage America brand, it was always supposed to be a brand that that found it’s inspiration rooted in music. Even when they first launched it was the reason they launched a nationwide Vintage America Voices competition. Fred is personally a huge fan of JS and felt she was an obvious choice to represent the brand.

“Everyone, when they picture Joss Stone pictures her barefoot and on stage, but they do not realize that she loves sexy shoes.” Every element of the shoes collaborated upon has been approved by Ms. Stone herself. She was the one who requested the sexy high heels. On the chunkier pair of boots, the trim actually came from a belt that Fred showed JS and she loved it – so they sourced a similar material and created a buckle to wrap around the shoes. Even the flower, that is branded on both of the shoes in the collaboration, is actually a replica of a tattoo that JS has adding a very personal touch.

I also had the opportunity to shop the rest of the store and pick out a pair of shoes courtesy of Nine West. It was hard to narrow down because there are so many great options but in the end I got a pair of studded shooties that I’m quite excited about, just in time to wear out to Fashion’s Night Out.

The military details on these booties were great! They are also quite sexy and would look great with skinny jeans or leggings.

For a more daytime look that might involve a lot of walking. I’m all about these lace up boots in olive suede

These studded boots were the near winner, their to shape is so great and they are as sexy as they are tough. Unfortunately lack of sizing (size 5) mean’s I’ll have to eventually order these bad boys off the internet. I was then tempted by this pair of cage like wedges, but decided I was having a stud moment! Alas, before I could have a chance to chat with any of the bloggers that arrived later on, I decided I needed to head to my day job. The job that actually pays my bills ;) A great start to a packed day.

Fashion's Night Out: SRC Rocks Kate Spade Contest!

As previously mentioned, for Fashion's Night Out, Erin and Lani were invited to compete in the Kate Spade window challenge. We arrived around 8PM at the Kate Spade store on Broome St. which was already packed and had a massive line outside as Tim Gunn was signing copies of his new book entitled Gunn's Golden Rules. After organizing the teams together and explaining the rules, the window design competition began around 9pm and lasted for 60 minutes.

Each team was assigned one of Tim Gunn's golden rules (from his book) as a theme and directed to come up with a window display that reflected both Gunn's rules and Kate Spade.

After being paired up with an amazing teammate (Sarah Shine), some heavy scissor work, taping like mad women and dolling up a couple mannequins, the girls from Sugar Rock Catwalk went head to head with four other teams and came out on top winning the competition!!! The window display was judged by Deborah Lloyd (Creative Director of Kate Spade) and Tim Gunn himself! Not only that, the girls each ended up scoring an iPad, Kate Spade bag and an autographed copy of Tim's book! Kudos to Erin, Lani and Sarah for their amazing victory!!!

Since everyone wasn't able to attend the event, I thought it'd be fun to sum up the night's event with a quick picture documentary, so enjoy.

Before the Gunn:

Erin and Lani were assigned Gunn's golden rule of "Take the High Road" which served as their team's theme for the night.

After figuring out their team name, they were introduced to Sarah - the third member of their group.

Go Go Go:

A timer was set up in the store with a 60 minute countdown. At the start of the clock Tim let out his catchphrase "Make it Work". It was just like being on an episode of Project Runway!

The girls' plan of attack had two phases - the first involved dressing the mannequins while the second entailed the decoration the window.

Phase 1: The Mannequins
As soon as the clock began its countdown, all the girls went for the clothes (how typical). There were some skirts, tops, dresses, a jacket, a cardigan and some tights for the team to choose from.

Erin tackled the first mannequin and outfitted it with a blue skirt, printed blouse, and cardigan.

Lani and Sarah double teamed the second mannequin and went to work outfitting it with a patterned dress and teal stalkings. Even though the dress was easy enough to slip over the body of the mannequin, the stalkings proved to be a bit more challenging and ended up becoming a group effort!

Overall the girls had great teamwork on the mannequins! The finishing details for each outfit including the top hat, accessories and placement of the cardigan were all a collaborative effort - good stuff!

Phase 2: Everything Else
The majority of the hour was spent on designing, constructing and executing the decoration of the window display. After dressing the mannequins, the girls were left with about 45 minutes to complete the window display.

The first thing the girls did at this point was stop and think of an overall design plan they could execute. Since the theme was "take the high road", ideas were thrown out which eventually led to the infamous "yellow brick road" from the Wizard of Oz. Once the idea was formed, Erin put her Crayola marker to paper and roughly sketched out the road and some sort of skyline.

Sarah began drawing out the outline for the winding yellow brick road and was joined by Lani to finish off the tail end of the road.

While the other girls were working on the road, Erin went after the skyline piece and ended up creating a NYC skyline out of gold which served as the destination point.

Next came the more difficult task of attaching the road and skyline to the piece of card stock which hung from the ceiling that served as a backdrop for the window. Definitely easier said than done.

In the meantime, Sarah began writing out letters in gold which spelt out their team name/theme of the night -"Take the High Road".

Once the letters were drawn, the girls began cutting them out while still trying to secure the road and skyline up against the window display.

With less than 12.5 minutes to go, the mannequins made their way up to the windowsill for placement.

A whirlwind of tape ensued (used to attach the cut out letters to the window board) along with lots of additional gold star cutouts.

With less than 20 seconds on the clock, some last minute touches of gold foil confetti were added to the base of the window.

All done!

The Verdict:

Next up, Deborah and Tim began the judging process and checked out each of the five windows that were created to come up with one winner...I had a good feeling about them taking home the prize after Tim mouthed "nice work" through the window as he passed by!

Drumroll.....Tim announcing team Take the High Road as the winner!!

Congrats!!!!

The winners posing outside in front of their creation!

Photos (two above) courtesy of Cory Schwartz/Getty Images for Kate Spade New York

Here's some shots of the other windows that were created:

This was my first experience at FNO and all in all, I had a blast! Special thanks to Kate Spade for hosting such an amazing event!!

Sugar Rock Catwalk