Out and about

Time to play catch-up on a busy week. Usually I’m in the office working, but last week my calendar was stuffed with three events, two of which I was speaking at.

First Fashion Friday finally arrived—a day I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I was giving a presentation on home style as part of Aloha Tower Marketplace’s final FFF of the year. Friends came out, but there were many more new faces. Truthfully, it was one of the toughest speaking gigs I’ve ever done. Don’t get me wrong, in no way was it bad, it was just a different challenge to hold focus and attention (including my own) in the open-air environment of ATM’s beautiful atrium, where shoppers and diners are walking by and talking. At one point during my segment, a store’s siren went off. I tried to shake it off, but as I’m talking I’m thinking, when are they going to shut that d--- thing off?!

Fortunately the audience was great and responsive and people came up afterward and told me they got a lot out of it. I wanted to make it visual and interesting, so I brought up some props to illustrate how by learning a few simple tricks and techniques and adding a few pieces, you can blend styles to create a space that’s more eclectic and personal, and it’s not hard and doesn’t take long. If I can do that onstage in the middle of Aloha Tower Marketplace, you can certainly do it in your home!

Melissa from our office helped me onstage with my props, my cute little Vanna White, while Lissa and Kara manned our table. The man of the hour, James, videotaped the whole thing for us. The video will be up on www.rsvpstyle.com tomorrow—watch it and tell me what you think!

After my segment, FFF ended with a fashion show, and by the time that was over I was starving. Together with a nice-size group of old and new friends, we capped off the evening at Gordon Biersch with garlic fries, pizzas and one or two mojitos. Thanks Jason for the pics.

But we couldn’t stay out too late—we had to be up early for an 8 a.m. gig on Saturday. Tell you more about that later!

Window Dressing - Top Design Style

The good news is there’s been some great TV lately. My favorite show, Bravo’s Top Design, was on the other night, with some fan favorites from Project Runway as special guests, including Sweet Pea and Jeffrey with the tattoo on his neck.

The challenge was to create a window display. It’s a much smaller space compared to a room, but concepts remain the same. You start with your inspiration—in this case dresses designed by the Project Runway stars—and you have to layer your colors, accessories and textures, trying to determine scale and proportion, and whether to go understated or over the top.

The winning window belonged to Ondine and Natalie. Their inspiration dress by Sweet Pea had bold stripes in bright colors. Natalie had the idea to lift one edge and pin it to the back wall so the dress looked like it was doing a little twirl. It was a very cheerful, whimsical window, with mirrors reflecting the light and lots of butterflies. Sweet Pea was thrilled.

In second place was Andrea and Preston. I actually liked their window better: they bought trees and spray-painted them very dark against a subdued charcoal-gray background. The dress was a beautiful color between yellow and lime, and they suspended the mannequin so it looked like it was floating. The window was sophisticated and serene and made the dress pop out.

Ultimately it was Big Daddy and Wisit who were at the bottom. Their designer, Jeffrey, created a tailored, contemporary, sexy pantsuit, and he wanted a window that was edgy. Big Daddy came up with the idea of looking at the display as if through a kaleidoscope. I felt sorry for Wisit.
All Big Daddy wanted to do was buy a whole bunch of mirrors, and Wisit said, how is buying all these mirrors going to showcase our design? So he proceeded to add his own flair and they ended up with mirrors and gilded wallpaper and part of the window painted black. It was a hodgepodge, there was no clear vision, and Jeffrey was not happy with it.

Big Daddy, a big ole charming Southerner, is a very sweet guy. I found it endearing that in the end, he refused to throw Wisit under the bus and instead stood up to his name. He took the blame himself and ended up being ousted.

So what did you think? Would any of the window displays have inspired you to buy that dress?