Suzanne Juul's Eternity Shawl Continues to Rock

Back in February 2005 when StyleChronicles first started, Suzanne Juul gave us our first interview. Besides being one of the most inspiring designers out there, Suzanne is one of the kindest women we know! Her Eternity Shawl is one of the most versatile pieces we own. The shawl, which is made of one continuous piece of super soft kid mohair from Italy, can be worn a bunch of different ways--looped loosely around the neck, stretched across the shoulders, or bundled up against one's neck--and it will always keep you warm. For winters in New York (as Mary Kate Olsen discovered), Boston, Chicago, or any city covered in the snow for much of the winter, the Eternity Shawl is an absolute necessity! Suzanne Juul's Eternity Shawl can be purchased at LuvCharlie, www.luvcharlie.com. Check out the StyleChronicles interview with Suzanne Juul here: http://www.stylechronicles.com/News/p2_articleid/6. Photos are courtesy of LuvCharlie.com.

Forget your Balenciaga, Coffee is the hot new celebrity accessory

These days, what complements nearly every celebrity’s outfit whether dressy or casual, classic, or trendy? A cup of coffee. While celebrities are certainly responsible for serving as catalyst for many different trends, this is perhaps the most unusual. A cup of coffee in the hand of a celebrity is becoming almost as ubiquitous as the Balenciaga bags thrown over their arms.

The great thing about the coffee-as-accessory trend is that almost anyone can replicate it. If you have $5 to drop on a cup of hot or iced coffee at your local java house, then you’re ready to walk around looking appropriately bemused by the absence of paparazzi as you walk to your car/home/job. (Please note: cups from Starbucks, organic coffee mini-chain Urth Caffe, or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, are preferable).

If you're trying to channel a particular celebrity with your coffee purchase, it is also important to get the look right, and that means figuring out what your favorite celebrity drinks. Mary Kate Olsen prefers to mix things up--sometimes she likes two coffees, one iced and one hot--while Britney Spears sticks to frappucinos. Nicole Richie, on the other hand, seems to prefer iced coffee, even though her attached-at-the-hip fiance Adam Goldstein likes it hot. Ashley, the calmer and blonder Olsen, shares her preference for hot coffee with Nicole's fiance, often toting oversized cups of joe around L.A. and to classes at NYU.

While we write this entry in jest, we are most definitely in awe of young Hollywood's ability to single-handedly bring the coffee cup into fashion. What's next, dry cleaning?

Who Needs Buttons?

Who needs buttons when you can have a just-as-sassy cardigan with an ornamental pick of sorts? Sounds odd, but Cue & Emm's Circle Sweater, available on LuvCharlie, is actually cool. At $65, the cotton/acrylic/wool blend sweater will keep you warm without breaking the bank.

Money to burn? Then consider Rick Owens' shawl cardigan made of merino wool, available on Net-a-porter. While this piece is pricey at around $395, the neutral color and unstructured design mean you can pair it with anything from jeans and a t-shirt to dressier pants for the office. Need another reason to justify spending a chunk of change on a sweater? Figure out the "cost-per-wear" of the item (the cost of the item, divided by the number of times you'll reasonably wear it year-round).
Photos courtesy of LuvCharlie.com and Net-a-porter.com, respectively.

Stella McCartney for H&M, the countdown begins...

H&M, the Swedish company that employs over 30,000 people can now add one more to that figure: Stella McCartney. As Vogue.com states, the uber-designer raised the profile of Chloe when she became chief designer in 1997. When McCartney finally left Chloe, she began designing her eponymous line of women's clothing. Since launching that endeavor, McCartney has continued to expand her brand name with cosmetics ("Stella," her perfume, is to die for), and has now partnered up with H&M to bring her high-fashion design to consumers looking for a lower price point.

In the October 2005 issue of Harper's Bazaar, McCartney says of her line, "Girls of all ages, shapes, sizes and backgrounds were always coming up to me and saying, 'I really love your stuff, but I can't afford it,' and this was a great opportunity for us to give them everything they've ever wanted from Stella McCartney."

The line, which hits select H&M stores nationwide in the U.S. on November 10th, is available for limited preview online at hm.com right now, but will be unveiling more of the collection on the site on October 27th. The collection will most likely cause quite a stir--translation? You better hit H&M on November 10th to get the best selection of the limited edition Stella McCartney for H&M line.
Photo at right is courtesy of hm.com.

Take a trip down Ruby Lane...

Looking for a civilized online marketplace to sell your work? Looking for antique and vintage jewelry and more? You'll find both at Ruby Lane, a website that allows artists and designers to sell their wares easily and economically. In addition to making it simple to set up a shop, they have some of the best selection of unusual necklaces, and collectibles (including jewelry crafted in vintage bakelite by artists like Aileen Ward, featured in StyleChronicles).

Sellers can put their items up for sale, but only after a thorough approval process by Ruby Lane. Prices are more or less set by the artists, however you can "Make An Offer" if you would like to suggest another price for an item. With a set return policy and a commitment to customer service, this marketplace is unlike others you're probably familiar with. Sellers have Ruby Lane Shop Ratings, and give you information about the seller so you don't have to be fearful about purchasing goods.

Browsing the site, it is easy to see that both the creators of Ruby Lane, and the shop owners who post their merchandise take pride in their work. So far we have found many stunning items on Ruby Lane, including as aforementioned, vintage bakelite pieces by Aileen Ward's Bakelite Bits line. We also love the new necklace from another Ruby Lane seller, The Vintage Boutique (which you can take a peek at in The Drawing Board this week)!
-Ruby Lane (www.rubylane.com); pictures courtesy of respective artists and RubyLane.com.

Frye Dorado Slouch Boot

What's better than a great boot? A great boot you can actually walk in. Among Frye Boots' other amazing styles this season is the Dorado Slouch Boot. At about 2 1/2", the heels are extremely functional, yet still incredibly good-looking. The leather is super soft, and the slouch offers up a retro-80's look, but in a very good way (honest!). Unlike other Frye boots, these aren't insanely heavy on the feet, either, which is nice for stomping around the city or the 'burbs. They're expensive at $450, but they'll probably last quite a while. If, on the other hand, you wouldn't dream of spending that much on a pair of slouchy boots, Dolce Vita, available at PinkMascara.com, makes a similar pair for around $160. Frye Dorado Slouch boots are available at Bloomingdales.com, Saks.com, ShopBop.com, and Zappos.com.
Photo is courtesy of Bloomingdales.com.

Active Endeavors--Why We Still Love This Store

After discovering Active Endeavors for the first time so many moons ago, we still love this online boutique. Why? Because it is one of the few shops online with an eclectic mix of mainstream (think C&C California, Ella Moss) and smaller labels (Grey Ant, Mint, Spring & Clifton, among others). Based out of Chicago, Active Endeavors has four brick-and-mortar locations in addition to its online boutique, and one kids' shop. Besides having some of the best customer service out there, the folks at Active Endeavors are generous with discount codes (which you can look for on www.reesycakes.com), which means you can snag an Andrea Brueckner bag for less than many other retailers. We also love Mint's wrap collar coat, and Emerge's line of comfortable and inspirational lounge wear. -All photos courtesy of activeendeavors.com.

StyleChronicles + Vintage=Love

Hello all! This is StyleChronicles' first post in the new blog section of the site! We decided to start a blog so we could keep you even more up-to-date with various findings and what not. Best of all, the blog format allows us to be a bit more informal with StyleChronicles readers. Style is something you confront every day as you decide what to wear, listen to or read the news, and enter into the social world--the StyleChronicles blog will allow us to convey our latest finds and relay various musings on a daily basis. We hope you like it!!

While working on the article for Adore Vintage (a wonderful vintage/fashion site run by Rodellee) back in August, we stumbled upon so many amazing vintage sites, many of which were clearly small projects run by talented people from their homes. Since we couldn't cover them in the article on Adore Vintage, we decided to set aside all of the amazing other sites for our newest StyleChronicles article, "Talking Vintage Shop." In "Talking Vintage Shop," the wonderful Cat from Vintage-Doll.com helps us figure out what to look for on lots of other vintage sites like YesterdaysMoment.com (LOVE this site--Heather, the owner, is super nice!), Legacy-Nyc.com, and Vintageamore.com, among others. Cat has a great eye for vintage, and scours thrift and vintage boutiques in all five boroughs of New York City. We've already purchased a couple of her wonderful items, pictured in this post. For more of StyleChronicles' vintage finds, check out The Drawing Board... We hope you enjoy the article!