Give in Style: DC Shoppers, Start Your Engines for the Fall 2013 District Sample Sale

I have - since its inception - loved the District Sample Sale. It's a lovely, well-thought out event. The vendors have interesting pieces - clothing, shoes, and accessories - oh, and the bags, and the sips and tastes are always worth the nibble.

L-R, from top: @travelinjames and the danglers she found; the silver lambskin "space vest" I scored; the faux reptile skin sheath Chelsea found for me (and subsequently earned a "Love the leather!" from The Stacy London as she signed my book); Chelsea, her ruffles, her animal, and her bubbles; me, travelinjames, and Chelsea with our packages; the Queen Bee Designs stunner that always makes me feel like Cleopatra when I wear it; the Vivienne Westwood Anglomania tunic/dress I adore and don't wear enough. (More pics from last year's fun here)

Never mind the monies raised for charity. This year, it's N Street Village. As the DSS website shares,

"N Street Village is the largest provider of women-focused services for D.C.’s homeless and low-income women, offering 1,400 women each year comprehensive services including affordable housing, employment, integrated health care and addiction recovery. The DSS Fall 2013 donation will specifically fund the Bethany Women’s Shelter at N Street Village, the drop-in day shelter that offers up to 100 women each day safe respite from the streets including breakfasts and lunches, shower and bathroom access, a place to receive mail, laundry machines and clothing closets as well as activities, resources and opportunities to help them move from homelessness, including crisis care, 365 days a year."

So. If for some odd reason you live in "the DMV" and haven't yet gone, here's the scoop. Tickets went on sale this morning, so get yours now. If you can swing the $100 VIP version, that extra donation is well worth the hour of masses-free shopping.

Tickets on Sale: Here
When: September 24, 2013, 5:30 (VIP, General Admission 6:30) - 9pm
Where: The Sphinx Club, 1315 K Street NW
Why: Do I really need to explain this again? See you there!

Style Dilemmas: A Ball, a Nomination, a Gala, and a Family Portrait

It’s been a little quiet here on the DC Celine blogging front lately. I’ve been trying to focus on work and prepping the new Day Job for my 2-week absence while amping up #healthyme and spending time with the family.

That’s a lot.

I am not, however, gone from the blogging airwaves. I’m just keeping it to the other media at the moment. So here’s a taste of what friends (online and IRL) are asking and how we’re (because it’s collective in almost every circumstance) solving their style dilemmas.

Belle of the Ball (Pinterest board here, Chelsea’s posts here)
We haven’t posted more than Chelsea’s updates on Lee’s online fashion show. We do have a styling challenge we’re going to post - Chelsea’s going to style the champagne one shouldered dress, I’m going to take the gunmetal (with support from my warhead friends). I won’t say more than that, because I’m keeping my styling secrets secret. Gotta beat Chelsea, you know.

Dining in DC Does the RAMMYs
Lisa, the beauty and brains behind the acclaimed Dining in DC blog as well as the newly minted (baked? stirred? some other cooking reference) 4 Bitten Media cooperative, asked me for help a while back. The theme to this year’s Big Gala (the DC dining scene's Oscars) is “Hats Off,” which translates to, literally, hats for the men (easy, right) and fascinators for the women. Fun, on trend, and, well, when else do you wear a fasinator except to Gold Cup? She had some fantastic gown options, including a red stunner I’m dying to see her wear, but she decided on a, well, gunmetal frock. Apparently my preference for the strong, elegant shade is catching. She’s going to top her dark, side-swept locks with a pretty fascinator in purply hues. Searching for a dressy but not bride-y fasinator was not an easy task. (No pictures on this one - I'm keeping her gala ensemble a secret for her.)

Celebrating CityandSand (Pinterest board here)
I “overheard” hillarygrove and jesserker, just two of my new twitterverse-to-IRL friends congratulating cityandsand on her nomination. Nosy that I am, “What for?” Turns out she’s been nominated as member of the year and will join the board of directors for an organization near and dear to her heart. There’s a celebratory reception at which they’ll announce the award, and she was contemplating a new dress. Fans of the twitterfashionshow that they are, hillarygrove and jesserker sprang into action, and I butted in. There’s a pinterest board, and lots of color and sparkle. And just so you don’t think that pinterest is just a tool for companies to get you to buy new things, turns out cityandsand was inspired by the pins to don a dress from her closet. She has one similar to the pink one hanging below in a dove grey.

Counter-clockwise, from top left: Quillaree Macaron Shoppe Dress via BHLDN, Kenneth Jay Lane Sculpted Branch Cuff via Rent the Runway, CUSP dress (no longer available), Tom Ford Neroli Portofino via Nordstrom, Kate Chandelier Earrings (Kate Spade New York Accessories) via Rent the Runway

Dress selected, we moved on to jewelry. I’ll admit I had a little problem separating cityandsand’s (whom I’ve never met IRL, but seems to be similar in stature to me) jewelry search from my own lust-objects. The Kenneth Jay Lane cuff needs to be in my jewelry box now.

A Mama and Her Beans
I have a cousin. A long-lost cousin. She was a friend first, and we later discovered through drunken yells about Iggles that we are, in fact, fairly closely related. (It was a long time ago, ok? Long before either of us even thought about Beans. Looooong before.) Well, she texted me a few weeks ago. She’s just had her 3rd Bean, a second girl to sandwich her boy, and they’re doing a family portrait. On the beach. They live near Lewes, Delaware, at the beach, and she’s constantly posting pictures of their “playground” time on the beach. Yeah. You can hate her.

But anywho, she needed help picking an ensemble that would fit into the blue & white theme they’d picked for eveyone to wear. It would be a beach shoot, too, so casual. She was brave enough (seriously, she shouldn’t have any shame in front of me, given all that’s in our past, family or no) to text me pictures from the LOFT dressing room. I haven’t seen the final shot yet, but she ended up with a prettily layered navy blue top and white capris. Beachy, comfy, flattering, and she was happy in it. Ultimately, she picked it herself based on how she felt in it (“Feels great!” she said), which should, along with the fact that it’s navy and textured, translate well into a flattering and not-dated family picture. I considered sending her to Allie’s advice on dressing for the family portrait, and I certainly called on it myself (don’t pick the white for up top), but she found her own happy clothes place.

Top has somehow disappeared from the LOFT site between me putting it in the image above and now, so here's a similar one, Marisa Cargo Pants in white cotton poplin (LOFT). Background: my FriendCousin's backyard. Almost literally.

The moral of the story? Just because I’m posting Favorite Posts and gearing up for vacation doesn’t mean I’m not available for ensemble idea bouncing. Really! Tweet, email (dcceline dot blogspot at gmail), facebook message, or comment with your own dilemma, and we’ll see what we can do! Also, I won't post it unless you say it's ok. I never, ever post anything about anyone unless they're ok with it.

Favorite Post: The Ties That Bind

I think I used this as one of my last Favorite Posts. I don't care. It is one of my favorites. I picked this today because I'm wearing my Mom-Mom's brass bow brooch in what I think (you be the judge) is a throroughly modern way. At least it's modern for those of us who have a small obsession with The New Bowtie, a la DC's best, my faves (and also Very Cool People) Accoutre or Ciao Nina.

So here's the story of how my "vintage bow tie" found its way into my jewelry box.

1 - Accoutre's Casual Friday ($60), 2 - Ciao Nina's Secretary Vintage Ascot Necklace ($42),

3 - Mom-Mom's bow brooch (Priceless). Photos 1 & 2 via Eliot and Nina's sites, linked above. Pleaseandthankyoupleasedontsueme.

Today's Favorite Post brought to you by sheer exhaustion last night that thwarted my noble attempts (OK, thwarted even before I started) to style one of Lee's ballgown options in the Style Dilemma Chelsea and I are solving. We both crashed. And we both plan (hope?) to have some #belleoftheball posts up on Monday for you to weigh in. Hope. If you're desperate for the possibilities and have to give us your opinion, Chelsea has a bunch of them posted over on her blog, here.

Style Dilemma: Guest of a Wedding Dress

Like many of my reader questions these days, this one came in from the twitterverse...short & sweet:

Style Dilemma alert! Chelsea needs my help! Here are the project requirements - I mean - dilemma details:

Where & When: Early May, in Annapolis, 3:00 ceremony at Naval Academy Chapel, with a 5:00 reception at William Paca House. It’s Navy. It’s Annapolis. It’s colonial.

Who: The Groom is a Navy pilot, and Chelsea’s hoping there will be some young Top Gun studs in attendance. Really. The Bride is Chelsea’s connection to these nuptials. “Bride is 28, totally hip and fun.” Chelsea, a blogger herself, posted their sweet engagement - and then wedding planning - here for all to read (don’t mind if do!)

Why We Care About Chelsea’s Dress: By Chelsea’s own words (at my nosy question of “who else will be there who's opinion you care about, whether or not you should”): “the pressure to look good is high.” While there aren’t a lot of folks in Chelsea’s immediate professional world there, a cross-section of her blog’s (small) fan base will be looking to see what she is wearing.

What Chelsea Says She Won’t Wear: “In terms of styles, I generally love cowl and v-necks, sleeveless and cap sleeves, and the body of the dress can be fitted or a-line. I hate dresses that have elastic around the waist (a thicker or banded waistband is fine). I am not a fan of one-shoulder or strapless dresses on me, primarily because I hate strapless bras (with all due respect to my friends at Coup de Foudre). The bridesmaids are wearing navy, so I am trying to steer clear of that color (though of course I have found a number of dresses that are navy that I love). I want to be able to wear it again (don’t we always say that?) and would like to keep the price under $350.”

As we’ve emailed, tweeted, pinned, and g-chatted through the beginnings of this search, it’s also come to light that she [eyeroll] has some hangup about not wearing a dress that might be perceived as “white.” Can’t imagine why.

What I Can Tell You About Chelsea: She’s a firey, spunky, passionate girl who runs her own business, is a mother to two amazing (not so little) boys, and has a thing for novels that pretend they aren’t trashy (don’t hold it against her - I certainly don’t). She’s a Hill junkie who’s been there, conquered that, and has the brains to prove it. Her style runs to brights (and navy, in this case) and appropriately flirty with a strong dose of class and elegance. The first time I laid eyes on her was at our first #BlackChampagne meet, where we dressed for an imaginary funeral. She had on a fitted black sheath with the most gorgeous neckline and back. Translation: she has an amazing figure with curves in all the right places and isn’t afraid to use them well.

So.

Normally, here’s where I’d offer 3-5 choices in her price range, taking into consideration her the “parameters” she gave me, and maybe include one that pushes her style envelope. I’d line them up in polyvore and make my recommendations.

But we’re not going to do that this time.

This time, we’re asking for your help, oh Infintessimal Readership. Chelsea needs your help. She needs the power of the social interwebs. And I just know you’re going to step up and deliver.

How You Can Help Chelsea: We’ve gleefully devised a couple of ways, and will keep you posted as each of them comes to life.

Pinterest: Chelsea’s just gotten addicted, so I’m taking her quite literally and made (ok, it took absolutely no arm twisting, but it just sounds better that way) her create a group board. She’s already invited a few stylish friends, and we’ve already started pinning and discussing. Join the crew at the great “guest of wedding” dress search board. If you can’t figure out how to get on to the board and start pinning your ideas, just tweet or email me.

Twitter: If you are on this 140-character time suck, and you follow me, you know that I’ve uesd the #twitterfashionshow a few times. It takes a bit of guts, but Chelsea’s game. When we get to the point where she has Dresses in Hand, she’s promised to tweet us the choices so we can all chime in (@chelseachronicl). We’ll do our best to let you know ahead of time, so you can “tune in” and tweet along. And if Chelsea actually goes to a brick and mortar store, she will - gasp! - tweet us from the dressing room mirror. #twittershopping. Really. It works.

facebook: Yes, we’ll use this, too. So you non-tweeters can join in the fun, we’ll also post the #twitterfashionshow and #twittershopping pics on my DC Celine page. You’ll be able to comment away. It might sound crazy, but a virtual stranger’s opinion on these things sometimes reveals the best, most useful style observations. I was grateful (cheezy but true) for the help you all provided for the reunion and for a few other nights when I just didn’t like my closet.

So jump in! The social media water’s fine! And help out a Really Cool Chick with a Style Dilemma. And watch the interwebs for #guestofawedding #styledilemma...

UPDATE: Miss Chelsea herself has posted. How does she really feel about being the subject of a social media experiment - I mean project? Read on...