Fashionista in Aspen & Nantucket

Plan a picnic!

Any event that says, and I quote, “Sparkly attire is beloved” is one you know your intrepid fashionista is going to attend, on or off-season!  So, of course, I donned my most casual and appropriate for daytime black and white sequinned top, and dropped in at our local Aspen Kate Spade shop on Galena Street for what was billed as an Aspen Locals’ Brunch, since that’s the only people in town right now!

Lovely little pastries and orange juice was served, but the real draw was the gorgeous spring clothes that manager Karen Morian showed off beautifully in her up-to-the-minute black and white boldly striped cotton frock that summarized this season’s ‘it’ look.  A discount of 15% was offered to entice locals to come in and shop for the latest spring fashions. 

Karen summed up this season’s collection, which celebrates Kate Spade’s 20th anniversary, by having a different theme for each month.  The dress that Karen was wearing was included in March’s Bold Blooms, while April’s sundresses was part of its Plan a Picnic theme, while June’s focus is the Element of Surprise with a golf theme a la Palm Springs, featuring a preppy collection with a twist,  such as metallic jacquard prints and stylized golf balls….kinda like Lily Pulitzer meets Gwen Stefani. 

This month’s concentration is Adventure, which Karen describes as clothes for a summer road trip, or a vacation down south.  “The outfits are for everyday, very wearable and extremely versatile.”  We agree!  It makes me want to jump in my convertible and head on out to see where life takes me….with a trunk filled with colorful,  Americana prints designed for a head-turning entrance no matter where I go. 

Kate Spade manager, Karen Morian, in a dress from the Spring collection.

Pueblo tile sundress

Bold chevron linen

On a cold night in December, Chris Klug, former Olympic snowboarder medalist, sponsored a fundraiser event for organ donation, with hundreds of hikers and skiers marching up Aspen Mountain at twilight.  Snow had been sparse at that point of the season, and something needed to be done.  Yours truly and my friend, Katy Bartlet, put together an impromptu plea to the snow gods, to bring us what we craved for.  And lo and behold, just as we finished our snow plow dance to Bruno Mars’ newly released “Locked Out of Heaven,” we received just what we needed and then some….15 inches of fluffy powder sent directly from heaven!  The song became the biggest hit of the season, and so did the storm that accompanied the race.  The evening was a huge success….in every way.  It goes to show, the good Lord delivers even more than we could imagine, when your heart is in the right place!  Thank you Chris, for all you do, and for a night that unlocked the gates of heaven to us who relish flying up and down our snowy mountains with unrestrained glee!

AIDS Benefit

AIDS Benefit

This is the second year I’ve attended the Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities (CCAH) fundraiser fashion show, Green is the New Black, as well as the Aspen AIDS Benefit Fashion Show at Belly Up, and I can tell you, that I wouldn’t miss either of them.  Both shows are much more than just fashion shows.  They are a theatrical and thematic experience, choreographed with great energy and depth of feeling.  We may not have had Aspen Fashion Week this year, but March certainly provided no shortage of fashion and style with a whole lot of soul right here in the Roaring Fork Valley.  Read my article in this week’s Time Out   http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/entertainment/157380

Green is the New Black

Green is the New Black

Green is the New Black

Green is the New Black

Green is the New Black

AIDS Benefit

AIDS Benefit – Katy Parnello

Ramona Bruland in Souchi cashmere at AIDS Benefit

AIDS Benefit

AIDS Benefit

AIDS Benefit

AIDS Benefit

AIDS Benefit Fashion Show – Ramona and Katy

AIDS Benefit

I had the pleasure of opening the festivities for Chris Klug’s fundraiser for his foundation promoting life-saving organ and tissue donation, with a much-needed Snow Dance choreographed to the just-released Bruno Mars’ hit, “Locked Out of Heaven.”  The Summit for Life on Dec. 8, 2012, saw four hundred racers hike 3,267 vertical feet, 2.5 miles at night to the top of Aspen Mountain, where a party and dinner awaited them at the Sundeck restaurant.  Guess what?  It snowed 15″ right on cue!  A successful evening from start to finish line!  It’s heaven in Aspen! 

Faboo – AIDS Benefit Fashion Show – Belly Up

Green is the New Black

Conscious Clothing – Green is the New Black

Green is the New Black

AIDS Benefit Fashion Show

Christie Interlante – Green is the New Black Fashion Show

There were two great fashion events in the Roaring Fork Valley this month, neither of which should be missed next year if you like fun fashion choreographed to driving music creating an energetic mood with a great beat all intertwined with a thematic story line.  The Green is the New Black show, benefitting the Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities, now in its fifth year took place in Carbondale on March 8th and 9th to a sold out crowd,  followed two and a half weeks later by the second Aspen AIDS Benefit Fashion Show at Belly Up.  Initiated in Telluride twenty years ago, in an effort to raise awareness and funds for beneficiaries in Colorado and Africa, this long running charity event has  raised over $1,8 milliion in our two small but mighty mountain towns.  Read my article in this Friday’s Aspen Daily News Time Out section for the complete review.

If you’re in town, you should not miss this year’s AIDS benefit Fashion Show at the Belly Up this Wednesday, March 27th.  The Telluride-born event, an amazing mix of fashion and performance art, started 20 years ago, as a nonprofit that raises moey for five AIDS advocacy beneficiaries in Colorado and Africa.  Since then, the organization has donated more than $1.8 million to the cause, with a focus on HIV/AIDS awareness, education, clinical care and NGOs. 

Well beyond your standard runway show, this innovative presentation is truly an entertaining show with a plot, interpreted through modern dance style choregraphy and jam-packed full of emotion.  Fifty designers from around the area, from Obermeyer, Heidi Hat to Autumn Teneyl in Carbondale donate to the show. 

The show and party that follows is co-produced by Telluride’s Katy Parnello and Aspen television personality, Ramona Bruland, who will be returning from France, where she was hosting ESPN’s coverage of the European Winter X Games, to be at her event.  Parnello, a designer herself, who has a background in acting and dance, describes the event perfectly.  “…If we just did straight runway, it would bore people to tears.  So we have a story line run through it and incorporate dance and music.  It’s really theatrical fashion.” 

I look forward to see what they have in store for us this year.   Don’t miss it!

  www.bellyupaspen.com or the Belly Up box office for tickets. Learn more at www.aidsbenefit.org   Show starts at 8PM.

It’s still snowing in Aspen….Halleluia!….but spring began officially yesterday, and the snow will be melting quickly now.  We love Aspen summers, short as they may be, and we girls need to be ready to go shopping for some pretty new frocks!  Check out my article  in the Aspen Daily News  to see what’s hot…and cool.  Thanks to Nuages for providing the head-turning, stunning Azzedine Alaia outfits and a big thank you to our gorgeous model, Juliette Pisano, a local Aspen High School student.  Your fashionista is lucky all the way around! Happy Spring!

Last Thursday, I made my first public speaking appearance in Aspen, asked to speak at the Women to Women luncheon at the Explore Bookstore.  Seventeen women lunched and chatted about their backgrounds…all fascinating…and their present endeavors.  I was blown away by the extensive experience and multiple talents of the women at the table.  I was humbled and quite honored to have been asked to speak about fashion and style, but, in reality, I felt compelled to speak more about appreciation and positive feedback towards each other in the workplace as well in our inter-personal relationships.  This was sparked by my career as a special needs teacher in three states.  I saw children who had never been praised for their academic accomplishments, who desperately needed to be complimented for something.  I made it my life’s work to find something in which to genuinely give them kudos for their good efforts  The results were both amazing and gratifying.  They bloomed.    It follows for adults in every walk of life.  I was thankful to share my experiences, briefly, to these lovely women, who never knew that my first career was as an educator, and how these lessons were completely applicable to my new life in retail and in journalism.  It was, indeed, a beautiful afternoon for me to meet these extraodinary women.

Shaun White with his gold medal in the superpipe.

Giovanna snapped at the B4BC charity event at the Caribou Club.

Markus Malin – Superpipe bronze medalist from Finland

Superpipe competitor Louie Vito – in color!

Ski Fashion Show at Wheeler Opera House in Aspen

Apres ski fashion show at historic Wheeler Opera House

More apres ski fashion

Uncle Jack’s Barber Shop for X Games at Buttermilk Mtn.

An example of barber, Steve Vilot’s hair art.

Repeat Gold medal winners, Shaun White and Kelly Clark

Bluegrass duo, Honey Honey, performing at B4BC event at Caribou Club.

Bronze medalist at Superpipe event, Ayumu Hirano from Japan, at post race press conference.

Shaun White 6-peats in the Snowboard Superpipe.  Competing since he was 13, he is now the veteran champion of the competition at 26.  Kelly Clark, competing since she was 16, who debuted with White at Mt. Snow, Vermont, becomes the first woman in X Games history to 3-peat in snowboard superpipe.  Ayumu Hirano of Japan becomes the youngest athlete, at 14, to win a Winter X Games medal, taking silver behind White in the Superpipe.  Elena Hight, breaks records, becoming the first person to land a double alley-oop backside rodeo, taking silver behind Clark,  in the snowboard superpipe compeition. 

Amazing feats, stunning accomplishments, combinations of skill and style, so much so that there is even an event called Speed & Style, launched this year in the Snowmobile contest.  Style is definitely becoming more of a component in the X Games, both on and off the hill, in what they do and what they wear.  Read more about the evolution of the X Games… eco-friendly clothing, charity-based events, runway shows and athletes’ personal on-hill fashion choices ….all done with great style.  http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/entertainment/156571

I was watching my favorite late now talk show a few nights ago, appropriately named “The Late, Late Show” with Craig Ferguson.   He opened the show with a kid wearing a bright green hoodie with a multi-hued pattern, one could only describe as a simulation of pixillation, used in such older video games as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Super Mario.  The new incarnation of this video-techno-style is called Minecraft.   It’s intent is to “make the world a better place.”  A noble goal,  doncha think? 

Ok, no big deal, right?  But the funny thing is, next day, I’m having lunch at my favorite pizza place in Aspen, New York Pizza, and what do I see, but a kid in the very same regalia! I had to go up to him and ask him about it to see if there was any correlation beyond sheer coincidence.  Guess what?  Indeed, he was wearing it beause of his devotion to this Minecraft game too, and it’s pixillation theme!  Now, I find out it’s a type of cult and fashion fad!  Had to relate to my blogger fans….just fyi!  Love to keep my readers in the know….Aspen style, cyberly speaking!