The day after...

Happy Holidays from your pals at Sweet Lady Jane!  With Christmas behind us, we're looking forward to ringing in the new year.  Do you have your holiday sparkle yet?!  We have a lot of great pieces left and they're all on sale!  Let's ring in 2012 in style! 

It's that time of year...

Are you looking for that hard to buy for person?  May we suggest a themed Santa character?  Just kidding - who the hell buys these?!  Can you imagine a collection of these themed Santa's?  


We're in the middle of the crazy shopping festivities.  I have to say that people seem prepared this year and on top of their game.  That can all change this week...and I might need to borrow some of that Santa tequila.

Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving and with it being over - the holiday madness begins!  This year seems more rushed than ever.  Stores opening at midnight on Thanksgiving eve?  Pretty soon, we won't even remember what Thanksgiving was.  I just want to say that I am thankful to have a good job that I love, a great staff that works very hard to bring style to Burlington and wonderful customers that allow us to do what we love.  


Nicolette and I collaborated on the holiday windows this year. They turned out amazing - not surprising because she is a very talented person.  I love the rain/snow clouds... 

 

Hoilday spirit

The holiday tree arrived on the Marketplace today!  Nothing like a big fluffy tree to get you in the holiday mood.  Another spirit lifter is the Mirror Mirror annual holiday party. 

It was last night and it was fabulous.  What girl doesn't love drinks, make-up and good friends?  I did a little gift shopping and got an amazing nail shellac.  Some of the SLJ staff got makeovers and then they were off to the midnight showing of Twilight.  

Rachel and I headed to Flatbread, after a quick shoe change - 5 inch heels and Flatbread, I don't think so.  A big thank you to the wonderful staff at Mirror Mirror and a BIGGER thank you for the swag bag!  WOW!

Love of vintage

I'm still waiting on pictures from the Wedding Affair.  In the meantime, I thought I would share my latest love - those vintage iphone camera apps.  I'm crazy for them.  They turn the everyday into a treasure.  I mean just check out this shot of a Corey Lynn Calter dress and a Tulle faux-fur collar.  I'm currently using Hipstamatic, pocketbooth, 360, hipster and Instagram.  I've gotta calm down. 

A Wedding Affair

We're very excited to be a part of The Wedding Affair.  "The Vermont Wedding Affair is dedicated to catering to local & destination couples that want to experience the BEST Vermont has to offer. From planning seminars & decor workshops to makeovers & manicures, The Vermont Wedding Affair will introduce you to the products, people & places that create Vermont’s most talked about events."  Although Sweet Lady Jane is not known for it's bridal dress selection, we do have great pieces for engagement parties, rehearsal dinners and honeymoon trips.  

 This is one of the looks that we'll be showing from Corey Lynn Calter.  

We'll probably use the Biata dress too - it will look great on Lola.  

We also managed to score some holiday samples from French Connection.  Mica is going to look killer in this piece.   

Cynthea's Spa is doing the makeup and Salon Cruz will be creating the hair.  Cynthea said that this Burberry campaign, will be her inspiration.  Love it. 

French Connection Show 2011

We went with two looks for each model.  This is Kelly in her daytime/causal look.  She's wearing a featherweight flannel jumpsuit, thin double leather belt and our new twill parka.  It's a great jacket - you can cinch the waist, tailor the fullness of the hem and even take out the inner liner, for those warmer fall days.

Here is Kat in the Jackson leather biker jacket and the ribbons knit off the shoulder dress.

The necklace is from trinket - designed by Molly M.  

Julia is wearing the petra puffa vest and the streaky stripe top, a personal favorite.

Mica is wearing the twinkle knit jumper, which turned out to be the nights most coveted item, and an amazing David Aubrey necklace.  

Lola rocked a long knit sweater dress, the purple suede belt, a chunky snood.  The puffa coat in her hand is amazing.  It has a high collar that snuggles right up to your face.  Perfect on a blustery day.  

Now on to the evening portion...

Kelly looked fabulous in the ella draped maxi dress.  

Kat was killer in the drape delight dream dress.  

I loved Julia in the pen dragon beading dress.  This dress was the inspiration for the head pieces and the amazing make-up by Kirstin.  The beading on this piece is to die for.

The tie on Mica's head piece broke right before she walked - she had to improvise.  She's wearing another amazing beaded dress, the winter bex beads sleeveless dress.  This dress is so on trend with what the runways were showing for spring 2012.  Mica also has on the most supple leather jacket.  I love the drawstring waist.

This look was a show stopper - Lola is wearing the starstruck asymmetric dress and the skating Kate faux-fur jacket.  Gorgeous.

A big thank you to our lovely models - Julia, Kat, Lola, Kelly and Mica! You rocked the runway!

A big thank you to Brett Lupfer for taking the stellar photographs, thank you to the lovely Miss Kirstin for her talented make-up skills and a big thank you to Lauren from French Connection, for making this event even possible.  
p.s. I'm wearing the starstruck scoop dress and Lauren is in the camilla stretch dress. 

French Connection Fashion Show - preview

Tomorrow is the third annual French Connection fashion show!  We've been busy trying to put together our looks - a daytime casual and a night out on the town outfit.  We're loving the faux fur jacket over the crystal crusted, one shoulder dress for your holiday event. 

The Clothes Exchange pop-up shop

Before

 

This giant, cavernous space is about to be transformed into The Clothes Exchange pop-up shop!  My most talented display team (Nicolette and Rachel) and I met with Leslie, the founder of The Clothes Exchange, to brainstorm display ideas.  The event is October 15th and 16th, at the old Outdoor Gear Exchange space, on Cherry Street.  Proceeds will go to the Intervale Center Farmers' Recovery Fund. 

Farm meets fashion.

Inspiration

It's show time - again.  I'm off to NYC this weekend to check out Coterie, Designers & Agents and a new show for me, capsule.  Packing can be a chore but I can inspiration in a single item.  I just got these shoes last night at the Stella-Mae launch party, they make everything pop!  Other places that I find inspiration are Garance Dore, The Sartorialist, and style.com of course. 

A closet full of clothes and I have nothing to wear

photo by Tommy Ton

Have you experienced this problem?  I was paralyzed today with the prospects of finding something to wear to work.  I wanted to wear a shirt and a simple bottom.  I don't own a "shirt".  Every top I have has some kind of issue - need to wear it with skinny jeans, need to wear it with high waist pants, need to tuck it in or belt it, way to casual, has a hole in it...  See what I'm saying? 

It's fashion week in NYC and my favorite thing is to check out all the street shots.  I love these outfits - simple, casual, and killer shoes.  I'm going to clean out my closet tonight and make a list of what I need to add.  No more crazy tops!

Fashion's Night Out - Burlington style

Photo by Brett Lupfer

What a night...it was crazy!  We didn't really know what to expect and we were not disappointed.  People were into it!  Was it the discount?  Was it the food?  Was it that over 20 stores were participating?  It was just fun. 

My best window dressers...

Nicolette and Rachel went to work today and got our windows ready for Fashion's Night Out.  They were originally going to use neon yarn to create a multidimensional window.  I was a little worried about our models getting trapped and decided to switch gears after seeing a Free People video.  I hope you can stop by and watch our models go from summer to fall...

Fashion for a cause

Burlington was really spared by Irene but a lot of people and families are still struggling in Vermont. People are banding together to help out our fellow Vermonters and this is an easy way to get involved.


We will also be donating a portion of our sales from the Fashion's Night Out event.  Hope to see you there. 

Fashion's Night Out - Burlington style

We have been really busy this week prepping for our Fashion's Night Out event.  A lot of the Church Street merchants are on board and are planning some fabulous events.  


We are going to have live models in our window, mini makeovers by Makeup by Kirstin, food from Plumpest Peach, you can get your photo shot by Brett Lupfer, and the entire store will 20% off.  When is this happening?  September 8th from 6-9pm.  See you there!

Seven Daysies!

We won another Daysie!  This is Seven Days annual reader choice awards and we won Best Place to buy Women's Casual Clothing.  We also got runner up for Best Place to buy Women's Evening Wear.  

Here I am - sporting my "winner" sash, which is destroying my outfit.  Click here for more pictures from the event. 

McQueen at the Met

photo by Garance Dore

I was lucky enough to get to see the McQueen exhibit when I was in New York.  It was sweltering and packed.  It seemed like every fashionable person in New York hadn't seen the show and decided to go that day.  At least it was nice to see people getting dressed for an event.  

So the wait was over two hours.  We became members of the Met to skip the line, only to find out that there was a member line!  It was well worth the wait, although I didn't get to see much of the "Room of Curiosities".  Click here to read Garance Dore's post about the show.  She really captures the spirit of the experience.

Northeast Kingdom

After a long day of shopping at the shows, this girl is looking forward to some good food.  Tonight we ventured out to Brooklyn, to see our good friend Erin.  She took us to her favorite place, Northeast Kingdom.  The place is named after an area in Vermont and was founded by Vermonters.  


The restaurant is based on foraging local produce and the salad that I had was picked fresh that day (and everyday) from a rooftop garden.  They also have a great "everyday" menu - double cheeseburger with duck fat fried tater tots! Long story short - the food was amazing, the atmosphere super friendly and we're definitely going back. 

First day of Intermezzo

It's hotter than hot on the streets of New York today.  I was almost glad to be freezing inside the Javtis Center.  Most of the vendors were showing their holiday and resort collections, which would be perfect to have in the stores right now!  But you won't be seeing this until January 2012. 

French Connection was lovely.  They really expanded their stripe collection - which we all love.  Color trend - mustard, melon, rust, burgundy, navy.

This was part of the holiday collection at Free People.  I saw a lot of cropped sweaters, loose knits, and fitted dresses here.  We've been layering the boxy sweaters over the fitted dresses and slips all summer.  Looks like it will continue into the fall.  They also had some great flocked velvet bras and knit wraps/capes. 

New York City bound

It's going to be HOT, HOT, HOT in New York this weekend.  I decided to pack most of my maxi dresses and a variety of shoe heights.  It's always so tough to decide on what to bring because it's so sticky on the street and freezing in the trade shows.  Please also note the lack of black...I'm trying to bring some color in my wardrobe. 

Love

These will satisfy my red pant lusting.  Yes - please!

Fall shows

I'll be in New York in a week and the outfit planning has begun.  The weather will be way to warm for a suit but how awesome is this hot pink number?  I'm dying to get some red high waisted or wide leg pants.  But hot pink could be an option.

Something like this would be more appropriate.  The shoe choice is the most critical.  Pounding the pavement, in the heat, really can make you uncomfortable if you go for a crazy shoe.  

I will definitely bring my Pour la Victoire sandals and maybe my new Jimmy Choo's that I got as an early birthday present (thanks Mom!).