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Chicago’s Fashion Future

March 11th, 2010
F.A.M.E. 2010

Fashion And Media Extravaganza

The international fashion shows for the Fall 2010 season are just closing. Fashion eyes are looking at what’s coming up from big name designers for the next season.
But what about the next several seasons?
Here in Chicago, we just saw the annual F.A.M.E. (Fashion And Media Extravaganza) show featuring students at the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago.

The designers showcased last night may not have a huge following (yet), but many of these designers are capable of great things in the future. I will definitely be watching.

There were so many great designs, but here are just a few favorites:

Relyn Aguero
won the award for sportswear design.
Krista D’amato’s sherbert looks in the Spring Ahead set.
Becky Mueller won the Whole Foods FEED 100 award. Designers created looks from feed bags and proceeds go towards providing food to children in Rwanda.
Savannah Shreves’ “Wonderland” looks in the Structured Chaos feature were a crowd favorite and award winner.
Coral Manor topped of the evening with a show-stopping evening dress complete with a peacock-feathered train. It was also the evening wear award winner.
Bese Guzeldere of Zeyno showed part of her A La Turka collection.

Relyn Aguero

Relyn Aguero Winning Look Sportswear


Relyn Aguero from the Going Green Feature

Relyn Aguero from the Going Green Feature

Relyn Aguero Sportswear

Relyn Aguero Sportswear

Krista D'Amato Looks

Krista D'Amato Looks from Spring Ahead

Becky Mueller

Becky Mueller's Winning Look for Whole Foods FEED 100

Whole Foods FEED 100 Looks

Whole Foods FEED 100 Looks

Savannah Shreves

Savannah Shreves's Wonderland looks for Structured Chaos

Coral Manor

Coral Manor Winner - Evening Wear

Brett Bischoff

Brett Bischoff

Angie Ortega

Angie Ortega Suenos Collection


Nicole London

Nicole London Textured Dress

Coral Manor Linear Luxury Dress

Coral Manor Linear Luxury Dress

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Spring Debate: Scarf versus Necklace

March 9th, 2010

What’s your spring accessory of choice? In the spring, you have to choose between a fantastic necklace and a bold scarf. Wearing both can make you look like you threw on everything you own before leaving the house.

Scarf v. Necklace Orange & Gray Tones

Scarf v. Necklace Orange & Gray Tones

First let’s agree that when it comes to this season’s jewelry, it needs to be bold. Save the dainty stuff for formal outings, big is in.
And then for scarves, the spring choices should be lightweight materials, soft and comfortable, in fashion colors and/or great prints.

But beyond those few guidelines of the current season, the rest is up to personal taste and lifestyle.

So what’s right for you? What does it say about you?

Can you never decide? Go with the scarf, you can take it off easily and then put it right back on – without a mirror. Messing around with a necklace in public just gets you stared at. No one notices the girl that quickly whips off the scarf.

Green and Pink Scarf v. Necklace

Green and Pink: Scarf v. Necklace

Do you love the layered look? You are definitely a scarf gal, it allows you to do layers even in warmer weather.

Are you a minimalist, a jeans and tee kind of girl? Necklace would probably suit you better because they are usually more simple.

Do you love lots of prints and patterns? Scarf, its the easiest way to wear all the prints you love without looking overdone.

Do you want to blend in more?
Necklace, since there is less bulk it won’t draw attention to you in a crowd.

Are your eyes your best feature? Necklace, it will draw the attention to your face instead of your outfit.

Do you have long hair that you like to wear down? Necklace, it’s difficult for long hair to lay properly over scarves.

Do you have fun spiky hair or wear your hair up? Scarf, opposite of above.

Blue Scarf v Necklace

Blue Hues: Scarf v Necklace


What you choose on a given day will of course depend on your mood, your hair-day, what you are wearing, etc. The most important thing is don’t get in a rut. You have options, mix it up.


And don’t avoid the scarf
(even though you love them) because you are nervous about tying them correctly. Google “how to tie scarves” images and you will come up with lots of options.

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Original Soles

March 4th, 2010

Editor’s Note: Social Stylists does not receive any compensation for comments regarding Kindred Sole – or any other topic we blog about. We put the Kindred Sole link on the right side of the page solely (pun totally intended) because we love the site and want to share it.

Normally I post about designers or trends. But there is an online shoe boutique that I want to share with everyone – I adore KindredSole.
It’s the most fun you can have shoe shopping. I could go on and on about the site’s inspired shoes and fun links, but instead let’s do an interview with Liz & Beth the duo behind the site & shoes.

Beth (left) and Liz (right) of KindredSole

Beth (left) and Lizzie (right) of KindredSole

Your love of all things shoes shows in the website, how did you develop the site?

We’ve been developing Kindred Sole for the past 3.5 years now and it’s already flown by. We started with the idea that we wanted to provide something different, something that wasn’t everywhere else! Kindred Sole is all about the customer (cliché, I know but true). So the logical place that we started from was the customer. We began with a detailed profile of our customer: what type of life she leads and consequently what type of shoes she wants to fit her lifestyle.

Two of my favorite links are Shoe are You & Shoe is She How do you come up with the ideas?

Shoe Are You?

Shoe Are You?

These characters refer back to our customer profile research – every woman has an alter ego and what’s to say that every day we all feel the same? Some days we want a casual fashion vibe, other times we want to channel our inner ‘Style Siren’ with our Style Overtime section.
And for the quirky in us all there is ‘Shoe Is She?’ We’ve all walked past a woman and thought ‘Oh my gosh – what is she wearing on her feet’ and this was the vision behind ‘Shoe is She!?’ It’s great to be quirky and you can do that in a conservative way or really push the boundaries – and make a wild impression. A picture says a thousand words, but to us a pair of shoes say that and much more!
These sections are works in progress and we’re enjoying expanding them – it’s a nice change to have a visual of a style that’s approachable, not just an airbrushed fashion image!

Shoe is She?

Shoe is She

How do you find vintage shoes?
The Vintage Sole section of Kindred Sole is really exciting and we’re enjoying researching old trends and sourcing designer’s vintage styles. We find our vintage shoes in a various locations (a girl can’t give away all her best secrets!) but for instance Lizze and I are going to Paris next week and are hoping to not come home sans shoes!
One important lesson we have learnt when buying Vintage shoes – you cannot delay – if you see a pair don’t hesitate – it’s a true gem when you find a fab pair!

Vintage Bridal is coming soon – what will you be looking for in vintage bridal shoes?

Oh my gosh, we’re so excited about the Vintage Bridal collection! We worked on the traditional idea of ‘Something old, something borrowed and something blue’ and that’s where our inspiration came from! To start it will be a smaller collection but we’ve got some great things – we have a mixture of traditional styles that lots of brides opt for as well as some more unusual styles!
Sneak peak: We’ve got a fabulous vintage Salvatore Ferragamo pair that may just be my personal favourite!

Claudio Rocco Vintage

Claudio Rocco Vintage


How did you come up with the idea to do a Designer’s Corner?

We both only graduated last July from university so it was important to us to be able to offer other newly graduated students employment opportunities. Both of us are highly creative and did a Fashion Retail Buying degree. And we’ve witnessed first hand what amazing design talent is out there with students. We wanted to be able to use Kindred Sole as a stage to launch their ideas in collaboration with us and to launch a Kindred Sole Brand label with these up and coming designers.
The response we have gotten from Designers Corner has been fantastic and surpassed our expectations. We’ve been contacted by designers world-wide – not just current students and graduates but also established designers. So watch this space!!

What is your favorite new trend for shoes / what do you see coming up that we all need?

With Spring/Summer just around the corner, we’re really hyped about several fantastic styles and silhouettes that any woman in the fashion-know needs to have in her wardrobe next season.
Our personal must haves are clogs (Chanel revived this style so successfully that they are going to be everywhere!) cuffed sandals and wedges. And that’s just to name a few!

So there you have it, some of the reasons I love Kindred Sole – www.kindredsole.com. There is also an International Shoe Size Conversion chart in the Help Hub. Liz and Beth have made it so easy, thanks gals!

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