Kate Middleton in Abi Ferrin leggings (photography courtesy of www.dailymail.co.uk)

Getting the perfectly polished Kate Middleton into your designs must feel the ultimate celebrity victory. It has long been a goal of local designer Abi Ferrin’s, and it has happened. See the Duchess above, sporting Abi Ferrin’s leggings during a ski trip in early March.

I found this out during a recent visit to Abi’s South Side on Lamar studio, where I also got to see the spring 2013 collection and a sneak peek of fall. The spring lineup consists of Abi’s signature stretchy fabrics in bold prints and new shades and floaty sheer dresses and tops. I’m particularly fond of this flirty Honey dress with a cozy jersey body and textured chevron sleeves.

Fall is equally texture-focused with silky patterned dresses, the trademark Nikki dress in two-toned jersey, and leather embellishments.

Hangers full of Abi Ferrin pieces in signature stretchy fabrics and colorful prints

(left) Super soft Freedom tees in shades of spring and (right) a flowy spring Honey dress for hot summer months

Leandra Medine in Man Repeller x PJK and two looks (photography courtesy of Man Repeller x PJK)

I heart Leandra Medine, fashion guru behind The Man Repeller, but who doesn’t? Let’s all jump up and down now because she’s coming to Dallas to visit Neiman Marcus NorthPark Wednesday, March 6, and maybe we can fawn over and profess our love for her, I mean, meet her. In celebration of her capsule collection with PJK, she and the NM gang invite you to come have a drink, peruse the clothing, and you know, stare in awe at her hopefully extra man-repelling ensemble. And because I can’t say it any more Man Repeller-y than it is on the invite:

So mark your calendar for Wednesday, March 6, from 6 pm to 8 pm at Neiman Marcus NorthPark in Cusp on Level One and RSVP to rsvpnorthpark@neimanmarcus.com.

Kira Plastinina, left, and Jessica Nowitzki, right (photography by Tommy Ton)

We just talked about Kira Plastinina, Russian fashion designer and SMU girl, opening her first Lublu boutique here in Dallas this spring. I mentioned her florid spring collection, full of color (notably her neon yellow floor-length frock), but her autumn collection tops it. The fall 2013 campaign was shot by Tommy Ton, famous street style photographer, and features our own Jessica Olssen Nowitzki, Goss-Michael Foundation associate director and wife of Dirk Nowitzki. Also, making an appearance is beloved Man Repeller, Leandra Medine, in a print I’m head-over-heels in love with. I need that full, striped floral print skirt.

Man Repeller Leandra Medine, left, and Claire Distenfeld, right, in a dreamy skirt (photography by Tommy Ton)

(photography by Tracy Regan)

When I discovered our media development department’s very own intern, Tracy Regan, was hitting up the awards show, I knew I wanted her inside scoop for ShopTalk. Who really looked good? Honestly. Who looked uncomfortable? Did anyone trip? Basically, I wanted gossip, and Regan provided:

The 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards had its hits and misses, with a carpet full of sex appeal, chic cutouts, and old Hollywood glam.

Co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler looked the best I have ever seen them. During Amy’s quick carpet appearance, in a shirtless Stella McCartney tuxedo, she acknowledged the stands stating, “My chest is going to pop out if I lift my arms up, so I can’t wave to you guys.”

While blood orange was a popular hue for the gowns, some of my favorite picks went in other directions.

Jump for more juice. (Spoiler: apparently, Taylor Swift was bored).

(photography by Tracy Regan)

Best Looks:
Olivia Munn was one of my personal favorites. She stunned in Armani Spring 2013, rocking something totally different than anyone else on the carpet. I spotted her later heading into the HBO party to celebrate her cast’s nomination. She was covering her dress, all bundled up, trying to keep warm from LA’s freezing temperatures.

Jessica Chastain was just lovely. I didn’t originally like her look, believing that her chest looked a little droopy in her gown. When she approached the stands and got a little closer, I realized how flawless she was. I was lucky enough to see her after her win, and I got the opportunity to congratulate her.

Katharine McPhee of “Smash” was definitely the sexiest of the night. She gave off a mix of ‘sexy pouts’ and laughter as she walked down the carpet in her Theysken’s Theory dress.

Kerry Washington was the tiniest (and most beautiful) thing I have ever seen. Her nude Miu Miu dress was form fitting and sweet. I hadn’t realized how small she was on television.

Also included:
Emily Blunt and Jennifer Garner brought their best accessories, their husbands! And were hands down on the best dressed lists.

Worst Looks:
Alyssa Milano was a miss in a yellow number, which gave her absolutely no shape. She was speaking with a lot of press across the way from my seat. Does anyone know why she was even there?

Anjelica Huston: Reason being, she frightened me on this red carpet more than she did in the movie “Witches.” Her lips were freshly plumped – and I don’t mean that in a good way.

Although she was a two time winner on Sunday, Lena Dunham got it all wrong. She should have chosen comfort over attempting to look more glam. Every time I saw her, she was pulling up a strap to her dress or stumbling on her heels.

Sienna Miller looked as though someone pinned a bunch of paper flowers on her with this custom Erdem skirt and top. Regardless, I couldn’t stop looking at her flawless face as she walked passed me.

(photography by Tracy Regan)

As For the Men:
Bradley Cooper, who is even more attractive in person, did not win in his category for Best Male Actor, but he definitely won for one of the best males on the carpet in his Tom Ford. He was personable with the crowd, fist pumping and waving.

Also in Tom Ford was Daniel Craig, who briskly walked down the carpet in a pair of shades, an unfitting suit, and sans Rachel Weisz, who later came down the same path.

I was able to get a quick glimpse of Leo DiCaprio, who I am still drooling over. He looked ten years younger.

(photography by Tracy Regan)

Other Notes:
The always darling Amy Adams, in nude Marchesa, looked beautiful, but uncomfortable on the red carpet. You can see why.

Claire Danes had the new baby glow when I spotted her in a red Versace, which she received at 9 pm the night before.

Taylor Swift’s eggplant dress may have been a hit to some, but she was a miss in my book. She looked bored on the carpet and barely acknowledged the fans.

What you didn’t see on TV: Stylist Rachel Zoe’s hair for her after party appearances was perfection. She had it up in a bun, which was a nice surprise from her usual down hairstyle.

Under $50: Senhoa Simplicity unisex cord necklace with antique brass chains, $49
Under $500: Jo Malone Orange Blossom Luxury Candle, $425 at Neiman Marcus
Unlimited: Christian Louboutin Donue open-front bootie, $1,295 at Neiman Marcus

photos courtesy of retailers

Under $50 item: Canadian Birch Straws, $8 at Anthropologie
Under $500 item: Cult Gaia Headband for resort, $100
Unlimited price item: Balmain spring 2013 RTW dress

photography by StyleSheet

Victoria Beckham made her final stop in a three-city tour yesterday at Dallas’ downtown Neiman Marcus. She posed for photos and headed upstairs to a very private spring 2013 runway show, which she topped off with a Q&A session with Bag Snob’s Tina Craig. We had the honor of not only attending the show and chit chat, but sitting directly behind her and her perfectly coiffed messy ponytail. After an intro by Jim Gold, Neiman Marcus specialty retail president, Victoria Beckham took the mic to tell the room full of perfectly polished ladies how “gorgeously glamorous” they looked and that she was “at a loss for words.” (She also mentioned she’d never seen so many diamonds.) I’d been wondering what kind of role Posh Spice would play–coy and quiet? removed and haughty? sexy and smirky?–and she was none of the above. She was perfectly delightful. Funny even, ending her intro speech with “I’m going to be hanging around afterwards. I’d love to meet some of you and chat, try clothes on, be girly, and have some fun.” How cute, right?

Now, a few highlights from the Q&A:

On her design philosophy…
“I always want to design things that I would want to wear myself. I love women and I want to empower women. I want women to feel beautiful and feel confident.”

“It’s about clothes being flattering. Nothing too challenging. Sucking in the bits that a lady wants to suck in and creating an incredible shape.”

“Nothing’s too complicated. You get in, you zip in, and you go.”

On having children…
“I have so many kids. I really do. I have a lot of children.”

On her first handbag…
“The first bag I ever had was actually a Gucci carrier bag. One of my mother’s friends bought something from Gucci and gave me the bag that it came from. I used to carry my schoolbooks to school in the Gucci bag, day in day out, until the bottom fell out.”

On her new spring 2013 collection…
“This is the first time I’ve introduced separates to my line, so not only do we have signature dresses, we have shirts and blouses, skirts, trousers. There’s lots in this collection.”

On her handbags…
“Everything is custom-made for us. The bags are all handmade in Italy. So it’s really important that I can offer my customer the best quality in everything from the bags to the clothes.”

“I just want to make women feel good and special. And every time somebody takes one of my bags out of their closet, I want them to feel special. That’s why I do what I do.”

Person of Interest: Mary Padian
She turned her Design District furnishings store into a starring role on Storage Wars: Texas. –by Zac Crain

Q: We’ve been trying to do this for a week, but you’ve been busy shooting.

A: God, I mean, it’s taken up most of my time. I didn’t think it was going to be this time consuming. I mean, it’s a full-time job. [laughs] Yep. We go to at least two auctions a week. [They bid on the contents of abandoned storage units, essentially sight unseen.] And then we have to excavate the units and see what we have. So it’s an all-day thing. And then, if we’re not doing auctions and excavating, we’re doing appraisals, or I’m doing refurb stuff.

Q: Between the auctions and everything else, how much of your week is taken up by Storage Wars?

A: At least four days out of the week, if not five. Most of the time it’s Monday through Friday. And we’re doing that through January.

Q: How did you end up on the show?

A: One of the producers just came into my store in the Design District, Mary’s Finds. I was working in the back. She came in and said, “Do you fix all this stuff up yourself?” I was like, “Yeah.” She didn’t tell me who she was or anything. The next day, she came in with someone else. They were just going to do, like, a how-to on their website. And then the rest is history. [laughs]

Q: Your Storage Wars partner is Moe Prigoff. Did you know him before?

A: No. But literally the day we met—it was five minutes before taping—it was like we’d known each other for years. We instantly became like long, longtime friends. He’s like my other grandpa and the nicest, most genuinely good man. He’s become like family to me, and, at this point, if I were ever in trouble, he’d be the first person I’d call.

Q: You weren’t really looking to be on TV. Was it a difficult decision to join the show?

A: No, it wasn’t. When they first approached me, I just did two episodes with Moe. The great thing about Storage Wars: Texas is the people who work on the show are all my age. They’re good at what they do. They love what they do. They’re all friends. It’s fun. All the film guys are like my brothers now. They kind of found my talent of refurbing. It’s been good, because it just happened so naturally.

Q: Had you seen much Storage Wars before you were on it?

A: My brothers love it, and so they’d all tell me to watch it. So I’d watched a few now and then, but, no, not really.

Q: How long has Mary’s Finds been open?

A: Two years. I was in New York before, working for Architectural Digest.

Q: Since what you do on screen—sort of digging for buried treasures and fixing up what you find—is basically what you do at the store, I’d guess being on the show has helped business.

A: Yeah, but the bad thing is that I’m never there, and I run it all by myself. I’m always either filming or refurbing.

Q: I’m imagining there are weird people contacting you on Facebook now that you’re on TV.

A: I mean, yeah. The thing is, you know, it’s Storage Wars, so there is a broad range of people who watch it. You know? Not just a certain audience. It’s all realms. I’m a young girl, so, yeah, I’ve gotten a few marriage proposals. [laughs] It’s been interesting, that’s for sure.

Q: Do you get recognized much?

A: A little bit, yeah. I’m starting to more and more. It’s just weird.

Q: Bidders on Storage 
Wars have ended up with everything from fake shrunken heads to a gold certificate from the 1920s, among many other random items. What’s the most interesting thing you’ve found during the excavating process after the 
auctions?

A: Um, well, I can’t say anything that hasn’t been aired.

Q: Okay, what’s the strangest thing you can mention?

A: Let’s see. We’ve found a prosthetic leg. An antique metal head form. We’ve found an urn with someone’s ashes in it.

As you may have heard Bobbi Brown was in town this week, blessing beauty lovers with her words of wisdom and signing her new book, Pretty Powerful. I’ve been a fan of Bobbi Brown and her love-what’s-good and don’t-hate-on-what’s-bad approach to makeup since my mom bought me my first beauty book, Bobbi’s Teenage Beauty. So when the opportunity to interview the beauty sage, entrepreneur, wife, and mother of three, of course, I was so in. Joslyn and I tag teamed the chit chat and took away some interesting factoids. My favorite tidbits below.

Bobbi doesn’t think Dallas gals are too gaudy.
“In the 20 years that I’ve had the company, it has really toned down a lot. A lot of Dallas women look like they can be in New York. They’re really kind of simple and paired down.”

On her new book, Pretty Powerful, and its message to beautify based on your personality:
“Makeup needs to fit your style. Some women look great in an atomic orange lipstick that I had out there that was for a moment, and they want that as their everyday lipstick.”

On her newish BB cream:
“BB creams are for textured and oilier skin.” (She doesn’t use one herself.) “Use it in place of foundation. For a fresh face, go with corrector, concealer, BB cream, and you should be done.”

Bobbi’s on-the-go ritual:
A ponytail, nice earrings, comfortable clothes, shoe selection, concealer, corrector, tinted moisturizer, blush, eyeliner, mascara.

Makeup looks she wishes she’d never see again:
“There are so many things. Dark lip liner and light lips is something I’d be happy not to see. Or people wearing the wrong foundation; foundation that doesn’t look like skin.”

Bobbi Brown fall makeup must have:
Creamy Matte Lip Color. “Our new formula is kind of revolutionary because often, matte lipstick is really dry, and this is like velvet. You can get it from nude colors to red to orange to beige to pink. It’s really modern. It stays on a long time. It’s great for someone on the go, and you can refresh it at the end of the day with gloss if you want to.”

On a new way to get the statement smoky eye:
“Everyone wants to know how to make their eyes stand out. Our mascara is very, very black, so even for people that don’t wear a lot of makeup, go for a very black mascara.” (Love this tip.)

To tie together a made-up eye and a red lip:
“You can do a red lip with the eye if you put a really pretty pink cheek with it.”

In another life:
“I’d probably be a nutritional chef. I think food is the key. Because I think we all love to eat, and we all want to be healthy and pretty and want food to taste good. Your skin is an organ, so what you eat shows.”

Check out Joslyn’s half of the scoop on excepting imperfection, raising foodie children, and her simple-but-sophisticated daily “uniform.”

photography by Susan Bellson Photography

Pat Smith has many titles: philanthropist, mom of five, former Miss Virginia USA, last year’s 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas winner, yes, Emmitt Smith’s wife, and now, clothing consigner. From Monday, August 27 through Wednesday, August 29, you can shop a few of her “luxury items” online at The Real Real, a resale e-tailer. You’ll have to sign up (it’s easy) to explore the goods, but it’s all for a good cause. The proceeds from the sale will go to Treasure You, a non-profit women’s organization.

DJ Paris Vidal aka Jane Aldridge from Sea of Shoes (photography by William Neal)

Beloved Dallas fashion blogger Jane Aldridge from Sea of Shoes is wearing more hats these days as she’s added DJ to her resume. Spinning under the name DJ Paris Vidal, the style star hit the decks at Texas Theatre’s Yesterday’s Gold concert this weekend. Though we weren’t able to get a listen ourselves, Jane’s eclectic wardrobe and quirky inspiration makes me think a personal music compilation of hers would be just as interesting. See more photos from the event here.

Jane Aldridge's choice of shoes for the evening (photography by William Neal)

photography by Matthew Shelley, design by Charlotte Tobin

We’re long overdo for a purse spill with Most Eligible Dallas star Courtney Kerr. Roll your eyes about the show if you must, but sit down with the hairspray queen, and you’d like her immediately, regardless of your preconceived notions. She’s quick, funny, and totally down-to-earth honest. Since the show ended, local buzz has included talks of casting for MED Season 2 and whispers of a solo show for Courtney, so I asked. A coy response suggests a new project is in the works, but the specifics… TBA. In the meantime, take a look into this accessory-stuffed clutch.

"I hate logo bags." Pink clutch from ASOS.

1. Stress Relief Eucalyptus Spearmint Pillow Mist. “I keep this for my office, home, bed, hotel, car… it smells like a spa.”
2. Comb. “This comb has been through the ringer. I don’t know what I would do if I lost it.”
3. Sunglasses. “Sunglasses are like shoes. You have to have options.”
4. Vicks VapoInhaler and asthma inhaler. “I have really bad asthma and allergies.” (Her allergy list includes cucumber, watermelon, and cantaloupe.)
5. MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in “Dark.” “I have to be tan.”
6. BlackBerry and iPhone. “The BlackBerry has the same number I’ve had since I was 16, but I got an iPhone after the show aired.” (Lots of phone calls from strangers on her old number.)
7. OneSight bracelet. “It’s Luxottica’s charity. It takes recycled glasses, refurbishes them, and gives kids the gift of sight.”
8. Salon Grafix travel size Shaping Hair Spray. “That’s obvious. My favorite brand is actually Enjoy, but the big one won’t fit in my bag.”
9. Louis Vuitton wallet. “I needed something easily accessible. It’s from an ex-boyfriend, so I actually resent carrying it, but it’s so handy. And I love patent.”
10. (from left) NARS Velvet Matte lip pencil in “Dragon Girl,” Revlon ColorStay eyeliner, MAC Viva Glam Tinted Lipglass VI (“It’s like diamonds on your lips. If I’m not wearing this, I’m wearing red.”), Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat concealer (“It’s a saving grace”).
11. Mace. “I live downtown and my mom gave it to me. But I actually feel really safe.”
12. Women’s Wear Daily. “It’s half fashion, half business, so it feeds both sides of my brain.”
13. Bandages. Since dropping a MacBook on her toe and winding up with stitches (minus a toenail), “I’ve become a connoisseur of Band-Aids. I have all kind of prints. It’s a fun conversation starter.”
14. Calendar. “If I’ve written it down, it’s happening. And I like crossing things off.”

Peek into more purses.

Kendi Skeen from kendieveryday.com in Brahmin's summer 2012 catalogue (photography courtesy, er, stolen, from Brahmin's summer 2012 catalogue)

Our very own (well, McKinney’s very own) cute-as-a-button Kendi Skeen from kendieveryday.com and owner of one of our fav shops, Bloom, stars in Brahmin’s summer 2012 catalogue with only two other young ladies. You. Go. Girl. And I think you deserve a round two with those Christian Louboutins. Check out the catalogue and shop the looks at our Galleria Dallas store.

photos by Mario Sorrenti, courtesy of Barneys

Jane Aldridge of Sea of Shoes blog fame hinted that she spent a little time in front of famous fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti’s lenses back in November, but now we know why. Josyln from D Home rushed over this morning with the newest Barneys New York catalog, starring the lovely red head amongst several other style icons.