The Boutique Buzz

The Boutique Buzz - http://bit.ly/bJSAmr

The Fashion Industry Insider by Nicky Harris

It’s very easy to be weighed down by doom and gloom. We have only to pick up the newspapers or turn on the radio for the latest awful news to seep into our consciousness. Good news just doesn’t make it except as a ‘triumph over adversity’ story. The Fashion business is by it’s nature upbeat and is sometimes seen as trivial. That is something I would argue very heavily against. Ok we women do love clothes and the business is sometimes built around the striving for that idea of ‘want rather than need.’ The reality is that we need to feel good about ourselves. To get up and get ourselves dressed in a way that means we can hold our heads up high and face the day and whatever it brings. We want and need to feel good about special occasions and love when we find that perfect dress or pair of shoes. Constantly striving to be better is not something to be in any way ashamed of.

Our local boutiques and great Irish Independent Fashion Stores do a fantastic job of presenting to the customers the best of what the world has to offer. At the moment buyers are travelling to shows in Paris, London, Berlin, Denmark and further a field to Australia and America. They are picking the best from the ranges and deciding what will look good on their customers. Many of the buyers come into my show room; they go through the ranges and buy for individual customers often remarking that this or that garment would be perfect for Mrs So and So. Irish shoppers who support their local boutiques get tremendous personal service from the owners who go to enormous trouble to bring interesting and new as well as old faithful labels onto their rails.

So my message for this week is to enjoy looking at the new collections for Spring Summer, they are just hitting the shop floors. Happy shopping…..

http://www.nickysragtales.com

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From the Blogs

Chanel Surfboards by RDuJour

A Roundup of the Irish Fashion and Beauty Blogs

Stylebible.ie: It was ooops for the Grammy award
that fell ... and ooops for the dress choice unfortunately for Taylor Swift.. but we still love her. Check out our Grammy pics and commentry here

Whatshewears.ie: Collection We Covet: Alice by Temperly
Each season has a defining scarf that for the past few years has been dominated by Louis Vuitton (who can forget the leopard print?).However, there’s a new scarf in town and it’s already been adopted by celebrities such as Fearne Cotton, Gemma Arterton (both pictured) and Trinny Woodall.I sense the arrival of the new “IT” scarf…Fearne’s blue and black tiger striped scarf is from Alice by Temperley (€58, Harvey Nichols, Dundrum Town Centre) – a new diffusion collection with an affordable price tag (€58 to €580 more

The Savvy Shopper: Vita Liberata Odourless Tan

Vita Liberata’s odourless tan has landed (at a discount!) online.You can pick up the rich silken chocolate self Tan (200ml) for €17.64 or the 24ct Silken Shimmer Self Tan (200ml) for €16.88.A streak free glow awaits……..more

RockinFashion: Life's a Beach

I don't know about you guy's but I am seriously lacking in some Vitamin D & have had enough of these grey, dreary winter months. In my cravings for the summer sunshine to pop it's shiny head back up again, I have found myself checking out our counterparts blogs Down Under ALOT more often these days! more

Stylefish.ie: Our Fav Shop turns one
SWOPSHOP, Dublin’s first dedicated fashion exchange boutique, turns one – and to celebrate, there’s a dress with your name on it! And more… To mark the event they are holding a one-day exclusive style and makeup makeover event…more

I Blog Fashion: Sinead Doyle
It's rare that I get obsessive about clothes. Okay that's a lie. Let me rephrase. It's rare that I obsess ad infinitum about a particular item of clothing. Normally it's a stormy tempestuous lust-fest which fades to a worn fondness with time. Not with this dress. This is THE dress I've not been able to shake since clapping my peepers on it last year.more

Angela Scanlon: Miu Miu SS10 boots are delicious
I’m a sucker for shoes of any description but am currently going through a phase of boot love. Last night I counted my boots. Not including those at my “home house”, there are 12 pairs of black boots, 4 grey and 1 brown. Too much, I know. But… I have absolutely nothing in my boot wardrobe that resembles the whimsical lovelies that showed up on the Miu Miu catwalks for SS10.more

Tatlers Top Ten Dressed Women in the World

Caroline Sieber has been named the best dressed woman in the world by fashion bible Tatler

She's not on the celebrity A-list, she’s not a supermodel, actress or aristocrat – and you are more likely to find her munching Krispy Kreme doughnuts than edamame beans.

But when it comes to dressing well, it seems there’s not a lot that even the most glamorous women in the world can teach Caroline Sieber – named the best-dressed woman in the world by fashion bible Tatler magazine.

Caroline, 27 – a virtual unknown to everyday fashion fans – beat trendsetters such as Carla Bruni, Samantha Cameron and Georgia May Jagger to the coveted accolade.

And her success marks a radical change of tack for the Tatler judges, who have chosen high-profile celebrities for the title in the past three years – X Factor judge Cheryl Cole, catwalk star Agyness Deyn and fashion goddess Kate Moss.

Bayswater-based Caroline is a ‘brand ambassador’ in London for fashion house Chanel, working as a stylist to the stars.

Harry Potter actress Emma Watson is among her celebrity clients.

Her fondness for doughnuts from Harrods does not seem to have adversely affected her willowy frame and she is always perfectly turned out at fashion events – though she is said never to wear the same thing twice.

Caroline, the daughter of a wealthy Austrian businessman, grew up in Vienna.

After university she arrived in London to work in accountancy, but abandoned her day job for a career in fashion.

New entries: Jazzy de Lisser and supermodel Natalia Vodianova are amongst Tatler's best-dressed Top 10

Tatlers Top Ten

Article from the the Daily Mail

Emma Manley SS010 Inspiration

My initial inspiration was Bauhaus art. I wanted to zone in on the simplicity of the big and basic shapes mixed with bold colors. As I began sketching and sampling for the collection it took a completely different turn. The Manley aesthetic is quite romantic so for me the challenge was making something beautiful using tough fabrics, hard shapes and strong lines.

As things progressed i completely toned down my color palate. I introduced terribly feminine fabrics to balance out the pig skin, essentially I softened my inspiration and hardened the garments basic structures.

I always begin my design process with the eye catching pieces. This way I can use these pieces to inspire my basic and simple pieces. At the moment I am creating a simple separates line to add to my current collection. I want that all the pieces can be teamed together in a million different ways. I want people to be able to make their mark on an outfit and not just put on a ‘Manley’ dress with a ‘Manley’ coat and look like their dressed head to toe in ‘Manley’.

http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx318/emmamanley/

New Kiss Boutique Stock SS010

www.kissboutique.ie

Available to Buy online at www.kissboutique.ie

The LBD By Delphine

Award winning Kerry based designer, French born, Delphine Grandjouan, along with her mother, Christine, hosted a ‘Salon Styled’ showing of her new LBD collection in the Berkeley Court Hotel, Dublin, on Thursday 28th of January. Guests included many well known faces from the world of fashion and celebrity, including TV personality, Lorraine Keane and Editor of IT magazine, Tara Corristine, customers and friends from Kerry including Anne O Neill and Tracy and Carly Horan. The House of Delphine won the prestigious Kerry Fashion Designer of the Year Award in 2009 and has twice won Irish Brides Designer of the year. For more information visit www.houseofdelphine.com


The little black dress (lbd), made famous by Coco Chanel, Audrey Hepburn and countless other women through the decades, is always in fashion. This is good news for fashionistas - especially in recession, as one beautifully made LBD, designed completely to flatter a woman’s personal shape, is the investment purchase of our time. Every woman should have one . . . and the House of Delphine revealed an extensive selection of designs to suit all ages and flatter the female form in every shape and size.


Operating from her studio in Kerry, and by monthly private appointment in Dublin, Delphine uses only the finest fabrics in her creations all personally sourced in Paris. The Salon Show was co ordinated by Orla Diffily and Louise James of the Kerry based consultancy Upfront PR, Event and Model Management.