D

Is H&M Blowing Us Off?

NBC DFW says maybe.

The Dallas Flea Market Opens Doors Dec. 5

Our very own upscale flea market opens at South Side on Lamar December 5. Made up of rows of Texas-based artists, this flea market will feature all kinds of goodies, like art, home goods, accessories, clothing, furniture, and edible treats. According to the market’s curator, Brittany Edwards, the concept for this flea market was inspired by legendary flea markets in California and New York and will contain a highly edited mix of Dallas’ best jewelry makers, bakers, designers, etc. She’s hoping, she says, to give the public access to some of Dallas’ hidden treasures. So mark your calendars for December 5 and get ready to do some local shopping! Five dollars gets you in the door, and most major credit cards will be accepted. The Dallas Flea. 1409 South Lamar St. www.thedallasflea.com

Louis Vuitton NorthPark Now Open

Louis Vuitton lovers, rejoice! The new store at NorthPark Center is now open, and it’s the biggest LV location in Dallas. The 6,200-square-foot space features a large women’s lounge area and a display of antique trunks, among many other special design touches. Merchandise includes luggage, handbags, men’s and women’s shoes, watches, jewelry, sunglasses, textiles, ties, and other accessories. This is great news, if only because you now have such easy access to the Christmas gift you’re going to buy for me. Just in case you’ve forgotten, it’s the Keepall 50 with shoulder strap that I have my eye on. Happy shopping!

American Apparel Open Call Model Search this Weekend

American Apparel is looking for models for print ads, online, photo shoots and artistic projects – which currently appear in 20 countries worldwide. If you have the figure to flaunt the brand’s daring duds and have always dreamed of gracing the pages of glossy magazine’s, now’s your chance. Stop by the open call this Saturday, October 17th from 1pm to 3pm at the Mockingbird Station location. Get more details here.

Spider Silk – The Newest Luxury

And you thought you worked hard.  How about collecting one million wild spiders from telephone poles?  For 4 years?  To produce a piece of cloth 11 ft x 4 ft?  Just the latest in the “hard to get” category, and it is on display at the American Museum of Natural History.  It is supposed to be stronger than Kevlar, but don’t expect to see it yet in military haz-mat suits – unless we only need one per year. Maybe that’s the answer to get us out of the war.   “Sorry, no equipment, those damn spiders just aren’t working hard enough.”  Thanks for the link, Danny Piassick.)

Valencia Fashion Week: Alex Vidal

Alex Vidal Jr, the founder of Valencia Fashion Week’s son, just showed his collection of grey, pink, & vibrantly colored (a signature of Valencian designers) dresses and gowns. The backdrop was a photo of the Brooklyn bridge.

Valencia Fashion Week: Head Gear

Designers are sending the models down the runway with lots of head gear, including these elaborate head pieces seen at Tomera.

Valencia Fashion Week: Jose Zambrano

Menswear designer, Jose Zambrano was the first to show today. The collection featured mostly black and grey denim and jersey pieces with zipper accents. Skinny pants are a big trend in Spain, men and women of all ages are wearing them everywhere and l00ks like they will continue to do so next spring.

Valencia Fashion Week: Swimwear

Beachwear was bright & bold on the runways of La Cinta Roja. Knit bikini’s in red, white, blue, and yellow.

OMG! A Belly Roll! In Glamour!

I’m a little late to this story about Glamour featuring an almost naked plus-size model in its last issue. Frankly, I’m not sure how I missed it. Apparently, the appearance of a belly roll in a women’s magazine can really get the Internet in a tizzy. Newsweek has weighed in (sorry, pun police). Salon has weighed in. Jezebel (of course) has weighed in. And the list goes on. So, basically, not sure what else I can add other than a single piece of advice for “the woman on p. 194.” As my mother would say, suck in.

H&M Is Coming to Town! Eventually…

That’s what Unfair Park is reporting.

Project Runway, Episode 1: Dallas Designers are Safe

Louise Black's two-toned Dress

Speaking of party dresses. The first episode of Project Runway’s sixth season aired last night on Lifetime (finally!). Dallas-based designers and Project Runway contestants, Louise Black and Shirin Askari (whom we profiled in the current issue of D), are off to a good start after the first challenge, a red-carpet look. Neither of them designed anything jaw-dropping, but I thought both girls represented our fine city quite well and created some very wearable and pretty dresses. Did any of you watch…what did you think? If you missed it or want to see additional comments and sketches from the designers, go here.

Pretty Kirribilla Dresses Coming to Neiman Marcus this Fall

Eloise, (above) a sweet, wool A-line party dress with oversized bow. Also available in jade.

Your social calendar is filling up and it’s time to stock up on frocks for all occasions. Next month, Neiman Marcus at NorthPark will introduce San Francisco and London-based Kirribilla, a small collection of pretty party dresses appropriate for many affairs – from luncheons to cocktail soirees. The watercolor palette of warm creams, peaches and poppy prints paired with sophisticated black lace and garden-inspired details are sure to get noticed amongst all the LBD’s. With a palatable price-point that averages $440, you’ll be able to buy that many more.

Pinkberry Opening Soon in Preston Royal Village

The preferred fro-yo treat of Hollywood stars and New York fashionistas is coming to Dallas this fall. Read more about it here.

V.O.D. on Style.com: What Dallas’s Most Fashionable will be Wearing this Fall

Speaking of fall must-have’s, one of our favorite boutiques in town, V.O.D., is currently featured on Style.com’s Style File blog. Check out what owner, Jackie Bolin, says their fashionable customer’s will be wearing this fall.

*Photo by Billy Surface

Shannon Wynne + Lower Oak Lawn = Meddlesome Moth

It’s really happening – Michael Ablon promised three restaurants in the Design District,( or what he likes to call Lower Oak Lawn), last spring.  I was pretty wowed by his ambitious promise for three restaurants when it’s been pretty hard to convince any local restauraneur to open in a week day only locale like the Design Center is, but Shannon Wynne has taken the plunge and is opening the Meddlesome Moth (crazy name) next spring.  In the Dallas News article he admits he may be crazy, but a) Ablon seems to get things done, b) there are really aparments right next door, and  c) designers and showroom people are notoriously fond of drinking and eating.  Plus, the old Ann Sacks place is really cool with all the mosaic and tile displays still inlaid in the floor.  Does it worry anyone that the Moth doesn’t end in O?

Huge Sale at Parkerhawn Vintage Shop!

This fab vintage shop—to whom we just gave a Best of Big D award—is hosting a Brown Bag Blowout Sale on August 22 from 12 pm to 5 pm. Prices on all pieces in the store are being dropped to make room for the fall supply. (Nothing in the store will be priced at more than $20!) Add this to the fact that this sale takes place during tax free weekend, and you vintage lovers have got yourself a dream shopping experience. Parkerhawn Vintage.

Billy Reid End-of-Season Sale this Weekend

Some of the guys and girls in our office were sad to see the Billy Reid headquarters move to Alabama, mostly because that meant their big warehouse sales would be a thing of the past. Lucky for us and you, they are having a huge sale (up to 75% off) to clear out all spring and summer inventory to make room for fall August 14-16 at the Billy Reid store in NorthPark. All Billy Reid stores have shipped their sale merchandise to the Dallas location, so there will be plenty to choose from, including shirts as low as $35, tees at $20, polos at $29, and pants at $70 and below, as well as 20% off the lowest price on all women’s sale items. Now, that’s what we call Southern Hospitality.

Calling All Barbie Doll Collectors: Barbie® Turns Fifty & Gets Covered in 34 Carats of Diamonds

It’s been fifty years since the original doll was introduced at the New York Toy Fair in 1959. Barbie has come a long way since then and to celebrate her 50th year Beverly Hills premier jewelers Layna and Alan Friedman, through their jewelry line Barbie Rocks, have unveiled a diamond-encrusted Barbie doll that resembles the bathing-suit-clad original. There will only be three dolls donning diamond striped bathing suits, diamond heels and diamond earrings, produced (each numbered and signed). Made in 18kt white gold with 1,183 round, brilliant-cut white diamonds equaling 16.73 carats and 1,206 round black diamonds equaling 17.66 carats, the cost is $50,000. Are there any Barbie collectors reading this blog…would you buy this Barbie? I am thinking I would much rather buy a $50,000 diamond-something I can wear myself.

New York Fashion Week, Spring 2010

Fall hasn’t even arrived, but Spring 2010 is already on the minds of those in the fashion industry. The schedule of shows – taking place September 10-17 -  has been announced for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York and registration for press and industry-insiders is open. What designer’s collections are you looking forward to seeing ShopTalkers?

New Dallas Shops for Tots

In the current issue of D, I wrote about an adorable vintage-inspired children’s line called Pout and a few other tid-bits on cute things for kids. It seems that this is one category of retailers and fashion unaffected by the recession. Kids stores and clothing lines seem to be popping up everywhere, including two new stores worth mentioning in Dallas. Christine Visneau, designer of clothing line, Baby Bean Vintage Daywear has decided to open up a shop for tots, Little Bean, that’s stocked with cute clothes (including her own line) and unique accessories, gifts, and art from independent designers. Little Bean (pictured at left) is tucked away in East Dallas’ historic Junius Heights neighborhood (5308 Junius St.), where Christine’s sewing machine is on site for made-to-measure requests and spur-of-the-moment creations that you won’t find anywhere else. Also be sure to stop by Mockingbird Station to check out the recently opened (Erykah Badu attended the Grand Opening party last week) Kidrobot. The gallery-store sells limited edition art toys and apparel, many collectibles.

Illamasqua Cosmetics Launch at Sephora in the United States

This MAC-esque dramatic makeup line, inspired by the “illicit 1920s club scene,” encourages self-expression with its intense and edgy colors. Illamasqua launched in the UK last year, but fortunately, they’ve decided to share their goodies with us over here. Two hundred of the best-selling Illamasqua products have made their debut at the Sephora in Times Square and on Sephora.com. The products include eye shadows, nail polishes, lipsticks, glosses, and lashes. These will slowly be released to more locations in October of this year. I haven’t tried the line myself, but I’m looking forward to the day. Stay tuned. I’ll be sharing the experience with you.

Nail Polish News: Matte Polish for Fall

You may already know this, but the nail polish trend for fall is matte polish. That’s right, matte. No shine, no gloss, just an edgy matte finish. I’m a huge fan. It’s a nice twist to shake things up in polish land. Black was great. School bus yellow was fun. But matte shades? Undeniably cool. Lines including OPI, Rescue Beauty Lounge, Essie, and KnockOut Cosmetics have created matte products for fall. I dig it. ShopTalkers, what do you think?

images from KnockOut (left) and OPI (right) ad campaigns

Jaunt New York: New Clothing Line Launched by El Centro Grads

El Centro Grads Jeremy Freeze and Diego Vela (both from Texas) recently introduced a small collection of knit-jersey separates via their website (hopefully coming to a Dallas store soon…word is they have an appointment with one today), www.jauntnewyork.com. The concept of modular dressing (like Units from the 80’s, but updated and much more stylish), appealed to the designing duo, whose goal was to develop stylish and easy to wear garments that are affordable. Nothing is over $200. Look for their “Diatom” leggings in our fall fashion feature in the Septebmer issue of D Magazine. We can’t wait to get our hands on a pair ourselves!

Jimmy Choo Sale & Vince Opening at Highland Park Village

If you’ve been craving the “cora” or “caviar” but couldn’t bare to spend the extra cash, now’s your chance to get them 65% off at Jimmy Choo in Highland Park Village through August 2. Be on the lookout for Vince to open at the end of summer in a portion of the space previously occupied by Harold’s. The L.A.-based line, best known for their stylish cashmere sweaters, is opening a 1,450 square foot store that will offer both men’s and women’s collections.