Looking for an excuse to go to New York City? We’ve got one.

Who doesn’t love hanging out in New York City with fashion industry greats, fashionable bloggers and (cough) EcoSalon’s Editor-in-Chief? If this sounds appealing, sign up here for a chance to win $500 and a ticket to the Sixth Annual Independent Handbag Designer Awards from our friends over at JP Selects!

Presented by Handbag Designer 101 and sponsored by InStyle, the awards are a great night to see up and coming designers on the handbag scene and will be featuring an Audience Fan Favorite which you get to be part of with your very important vote. Watch this video below and cast your own vote at InStyle.

Join us at the event, where JP Select’s CEO Paolo Fidanza will be awarding the prize for Best Socially Responsible Handbag designer. In addition to the partnership with InStyle, expect to see fashion greats like Kenneth Cole, representatives from Timberland, Singer Sewing, Save the Garment Center, The Fashion District, WWDMagic and more.

Plus, if you get two friends to sign up, you’ll have a chance to win an extra prize – one of the winning handbags!

Enter by midnight June 1, 2012!!

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1oo Unforgettable Dresses on 100 unforgettable women.

For any fashion lovers out there with a gift card to spare, Hal Rubenstein’s new book 100 Unforgettable Dresses may be the perfect present. As Fashion Director of InStyle, Rubenstein knows a thing or two about the magic that happens when a woman finds the right thing to wear (and knows how perfect it is).

Kate Middleton’s Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen wedding gown.

Documenting a mix of film fantasy, red carpet arrivals and timeless moments throughout fashion history, Rubenstein attempts to explain the enormous impact fashion has on our cultural landscape and what it is about those dresses that sear a special place in our sartorial consciousness.
While the dresses featured illustrate what happens when a moment in the fashion time and space continuum collide with design genius and flattering cut and color, there’s evidence of some higher alchemy at play. The greatest lesson learned is that what elevates any woman wearing a great design is an inner confidence that imbues her outfit with an aliveness that’s timeless.

Here are some photo highlights from the book.

Elizabeth Hurley in Versace with Hugh Grant. Marilyn Monroe in William Travilla. 

Grace Kelly in Edith Head. Michelle Obama in Jason Wu.

Rita Hayworth in Jean Louis. Jennifer Lopez in Donatella Versace.

The post Hal Rubenstein’s 100 Unforgettable Dresses appeared first on EcoSalon.

As I flicked through the January edition of Harpers Bazaar, I came across an excerpt from a newly released bio of Jacqueline Kennedy by John Loring, who had worked closely with her during her days as a Doubleday book editor. He described her savvy approach to dressing and wide knowledge of fashion, writing, “Yet Jackie was more interested in how people wore things than in what they wore.”

I imagine in this digital age of fashion voyeurism, the many online style tools available with a click of her mouse would have delighted the high priestess of American chic.

Photographer Scott Schuman, better known as “The Sartorialist” to the rest of the world is one of the industry’s most influential figures, capturing exactly how the stylish are wearing their things from New York to Milan. Together with StreetPeeper, currently documenting the world’s fashion editors as they arrive for the fall shows, the sites make for utterly irresistible daily style inspiration. Another favorite of mine is Vogue’s online feature “Five days, Five looks, One girl” where they break down the looks of glamorous gals about town in their daily ensembles.  Rather than looking at fashion through the abstraction of a magazine layout, it’s useful to see how real people wear the latest designer fashion to work, albeit to a job that accommodates 5-inch ponyskin heels.

Putting together our outfit for work every morning is one of the most creative things modern women do. In our fast-paced, work-heavy lives, few of us engage in other types of creative pastimes. Many of us are waking up to the environmental ramifications of forever buying more while still wanting to revel in the fun and creativity of fashion. Happily there are a number of sites that aim to provide with the grown-up version of playing paper dolls. Vogue’s Light box, Polyvore and Closet Couture allow users to put together an outfit, to see which combinations work – and which don’t – without handing over credit cards or adding to our overstuffed closets.

Perhaps you get your creative kicks from hair and make up. The hundreds and thousands of viewers who enjoy the beauty tutorials on YouTube phenom, Pixiwoo prove you are not alone.  Make up artists, Samantha and Nicola Chapman’s exhaustive resources show you everything from how to wear to Spring’s acid bright color palette to how to skillfully recreate the chiseled cheekbones seen on the runways.

InStyle magazine’s Hollywood Makeover feature allows you to upload a photo of yourself and superimpose a collection of celebrity make up and hairstyles.  Another way to utilize the style know-how of celebrity stylists  (who are largely responsible for enhancing their client’s best features and minimizing their worst), is to take some cues from your celebrity lookalike.  Try uploading a picture of yourself onto My Heritage’s face recognition tool to find out which star you most resemble and pick up some hair and make up tricks from your Hollywood doppelganger. You can spend a frivolous ten minutes, okay, 40 minutes – uploading your photos to produce a range of celebrity faces that are most similar to yours. Consider yourself forewarned and turn the gender function on first.

And if, after all that fun and creativity, you do decide to go ahead and buy something, first visit Made By, a U.K. based non profit that recently launched a set of online tools that allow us to make our fashion purchases as transparently as possible. Features such as Scorecards and Track & Trace, record the eco-developments of the participating brands and allows the consumer to see exactly where and who created a garment.

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