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: Get Booted!!

This is the season of the boot, let there be no mistake about it. The runways for the current fall season were loaded with boots – boots of every description, boots of every height, boots with every heel height and boots of almost every conceivable material.

All you need to do is look at what is happening in the streets of New York City and every other city in the country. Look in any shoe store or shoe department whether it is JCPenny or Bergdorf Goodman, Kohl’s to Christian Louboutin, every shoe site on line, and all you see front and center is BOOTS!! Yes there are the de rigeur spike heels of dizzying heights but boots of every silhouette are the “shoe stars” of the season and they are the “must have” item for your wardrobe. One of the greatest advantages of this fall’s must have item is that there is such a huge variety, you don’t have to teeter along in stiletto over the knee suedes when you can have ankle length with a wedge. In other words, you might even buy a comfortable pair this year and as opposed to buying a single trend look.

When you are out in search, which if you haven’t found your ideal pair yet, you are in for a lot of disappointments as these boots, of every price, are literally walking out of stores. By the way, this epidemic of boot fever includes your cowboy boots, a rejuvenated Frye boot, Uggs, Hunters, and even those old Doc Martens.

Don’t forget to look for me on Facebook or at the Examiner. http://www.examiner.com/aging-style-in-new-york/jeffrey-felner and feel free to subscribe, it’s free.

FASHION BY THE RULES: Be Subversive – JUSTIN GIUNTA

Not many jewelry designers can boast degrees from Carnegie Mellon and Yale and even less can boast of 2 CFDA awards as well as an Eco-Domani prize and collaboration with Target. The one person I speak of is Justin Giunta whose Subversive jewelry company has earned him the recognition of so many within the fashion business. In a relatively short span of time, Mr. Giunta has eclipsed many and catapulted his company and artistry to dizzying heights.

“The way I design comes natural because it is how I, as an artist, deconstruct coded messages of the past and present and assemble them to create my own visual language.”

His design vocabulary has transformed the jewelry business into a much less rigid symmetrical look. His lexicon of style is his own but has yielded many imitations, just not as successfully.

Mr. Giunta has also done special projects with Alexander Wang (one of the darlings of fashion at the moment), Patrick Robinson and J.Mendel. Once you see the “vocabulary” of Mr. Giunta, you will understand just how influential he has been and remember that he did it first!!

Please look for his collections at Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, and fine specialty stores worldwide and don’t forget www.subversivejewelry.com for the full breadth of his talents.

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