FASHION BY THE RULES – Meet Danilo Herrera

As a change of pace, let’s address the men, and those who love them, and introduce menswear designer by the name of Danilo Herrera. (www.daniloherrera.com)

I am proud to be amongst the first to write about this fabulous collection as Mr. Herrera designs a collection, which I can totally relate to on many levels. This jewel box of a collection is going to become one of the must have brands come Fall 2011. The grouping is decidedly tasteful and skews a bit on the younger side but not that young that man of even 50 or 60 couldn’t wear these with full confidence.

One of the inspirations for Mr. Herrera is his concern for furthering a lost art, which in this case is shirt making within the city limits. It was long ago that the side streets off Broadway in the garment center were dotted with custom shirt makers as well as custom suit makers. For those old enough to remember there was even a chain of stores called The Custom shop whose primary business was making shirts to order and then as time progressed they branched out to ready mades as well as furnishings.

The eponymous collection is of crisp tailored shirts constructed with the finest and softest of imported cottons and ranging from “basics” like a solid shirt to what we might refer to novelty, at lack of better word, which include plaids and plaid trims as well as bi-color creations. If you have never had the pleasure of owning well made, unabashedly luxuriously fabricated and superbly styled shirts, then this will be your chance to start a new habit. You might even give up the tee shirts and relegate it to only weekend wear.

Again, what makes these shirts even more appealing is the fact that not only are they Made in America, but they are Made in New York City and conceived in New York City by a resident of New York City. The uniqueness of these factors gives even greater intrinsic value to what is already a stellar product.

Hopefully, come fall the Danilo Herrera collection will be available at fine stores such as Barneys, Bloomingdales, Bergdorf’s and Saks as well as fine specialty stores dotted all over the trendiest parts of NYC.

P.S. You ladies who adore these shirts can wear them as well, don’t forget to look for me on Facebook as well as at www.examiner.com/

FASHION BY THE RULES – Where has all the jewelry gone?

Nestled amidst what once was the burgeoning millinery and fashion jewelry district (36th-38th Streets between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue), there is still a jewelry business that continues with the history of designed and made in NYC . Whether you look at the jewelry (www.gayboyer.com) as tailored and sophisticated or you view it as statement making pieces, you will not be disappointed with the breadth, wearability and variety of this collection.

It is so sad that many of department stores, which had huge fashion jewelry areas, have transformed those areas into “bridge jewelry” (aka cheap silver) or fine jewelry with little room for what was an ever changing variety of jewelry that suited every particular taste level and budget. With the changing retail landscape came the advent of continuing growth of the online shopping experience which has grown exponentially in the past 10 years.

Gay Boyer can be found online http://www.maxandchloe.com/ , http://globalfashionbrands.com, http://www.fashionstake.com/ , or http://www.touchoffabulous.com/ or their eponymous website mentioned above.

Take it from a seasoned fashion jewelry veteran, the collection is wearable and shopper friendly in every way and will surely enhance your summer wardrobe. I was particularly taken with the larger scale pieces as well as some of the more tailored looks and was very pleased to find the crowd pleasers such as the bumble bee earrings and pins and the multi bead stretch band bracelets which are a season’s must have especially when this Spring/ Summer is all about color.

You may have to enquire about the styles that have been photographed as Lisa Harris (Gay Boyer, President) was kind enough to allow me to mix and match in my own particular style according to my likes. So, ask your favorite boutiques and your accessory shopping spot, “Where’s the Gay Boyer?” and tell them that “you don’t know what you’re missing!”

FASHION BY THE RULES – Photo Finish

In the early 70’s, that’s 1970’s, there was a printing process which enabled the maker to get a “photo quality” print onto fabric which would then be cut and sewn into a garment.  Alas that was the time of Nik Nik shirts (look it up) and knit shirts for men. The process proved unattractively expensive and very limited in its use due to all sorts of shortcomings, enter the 21^st century.  Keep in mind that I was able to “test” a computer, which was about the size of a room, in its experimental stages at the time and it was prototyped by 3M.

With the advent of almost seemingly impossible abilities computer programs and those talented enough to use them, there comes a new dawn for the process and this time it is showing up in everything from couture dresses to T shirts.  One of the first appearances worldwide was Martin Margiella’s horse dress and then came Mary Katrantzou , Alexander McQueen and Sarah Burton following in McQueen’s footsteps.  The process is mesmerizing as it takes shape into the finished garment in a way that no print has ever been able to accomplish.

At around the same time in a place that is hardly known for the couture, came an enterprising mother and son team who have perfected the design and its details with amazing dramatic affect.  With mom’s talent in the construction of couture garments and the son’s interest in the world of computers and digital imaging arrived the birth of Olympia Creations.  (www.olympiacreations.com ) Together they use the digital imaging process with great ease and create some of the visually stunning pieces that only a true fashionista can understand or comprehend.  It is essential to grasp the fact that  that this is not fabric  printed by the yard, but each design is custom constructed to fit a particular pattern; pattern meaning the pieces of the puzzle that make up the construction of a particular garment. (Think jigsaw puzzle)

Now you are able to see the process on their website as well as own a piece for your wardrobe that will no doubt be a topic of conversation for many years.

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