CocoGarcia

Leather Waves at Malibu Show

Can you believe these beautiful things by Jackie Robbins of Leatherwaves?  In addition to taking your custom orders for Jackie during my current show I have in studio for sale this denim blue yoga bag and tomato red leather tote along with a variety of belts, purses and dresses.  Starting tomorrow Thursday through next Tuesday, come enjoy all these beautiful things amidst the summer collection.  There is something special waiting for you!

 

 

Funkie Junk at Malibu Show

Stacie Dawes at Funkie Junk makes the most amazing accessories using stones and leathers to fabricate belts, bags and jewelry.  Her pieces will be available for purchase and custom ordering at my upcoming Summer Doncaster Trunk Show in Malibu, May 13-18.  Don't miss this fabulous opportunity to find a one of a kind computer bag, belt or bangle adorned with beautiful stones of your choosing.  One of my favorites is a silver belt buckle encrusted with an antique cameo brooch.  Come find yours!

Doncaster Trunk Show in Malibu and Beverly Hills

   

Save the dates and plan to visit...May 13-18 at my home studio in Malibu and May 20-25 at Dori Schneider's studio in Beverly Hills.  Great separates and suiting for summer along with a special showing of the Gold Line featuring a luxurious pleated LBD and a silk jersey jumpsuit among other goodies.  Come check it out!

Navy, the New Black!

Luscious gowns and lots of navy sighted at the MET's Costume Institute Gala.  Hardly a black dress spotted.  Oprah, Diane Von Fustenberg, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldaña and Tina Fey all sported deep navy.  Young and old, hip and elegant, turning away from black towards beautifully deep tones of dark blue.  Remember the advice recently featured here on using black like a condiment?  Only as an accent color, admonish our fashion elders.  Rich color alternatives to black still provide the minimizing that hides a multitude of sins and create high contrast silhouettes that flatter all ages and shapes.  Don't miss the yummy coverage of all these beautiful gowns in today's Daily Beast.

Clogs and Nude Toe Catch My Eye

   

My fashion antennae are always scanning, sometimes front and center in my consciousness and other times from under the stuff of life.  I'm always noticing how people put themselves together to go about life.  Catching my eye these days are couture clogs and that lovely neutral bare toe look.  Both attract me.  Why is that?  Mind you I am as unlikely to wear the new Chanel clog as that sky high nude Christian Louboutin pump I so admire.  Instead I simply enjoy them on others.  Until I discovered Louboutin's nude look in a flat sandal or Portland's clogmaster Cecilia Tidlund's custom masterpieces.  Now we're walking!

Talbots Works to Make Us Hipper

Talbots is moving its image from being for women over 65 to targeting 30 and 40 year-olds.  As much as it enervates me once again to have my age group's disposable income and fashion forwardness dissed, there is a silver lining to all this.  At a retailer long serving more realistically shaped women in middle essence with traditional styling, offerings are suddenly decidedly hipper.  Will it work for us?  All I can say it that the WSJ is reporting that Michelle Obama has been sighted as recently as last week wearing Talbots.  Something must be working!

Respect Your Fashion Elders!

Don't miss Horacio Silva's Respect Your Elders in today's NYT.  What a treat to stumble on Ari Seth Cohen's lovely blog Advanced Style featuring the irrepressible looks of older people free to dress as they want and their commentary on how they go about pulling together their particular look.  One advises to isolate all black clothing to the back of the closet and use it only as an accent color.  How about that?  I love it!  Check out the statements.  The stories.  The freedom.  What fun!

How to Dress Thinner

Check out Charla Krupp's newest book How to Never Look Fat Again:  Over 1,000 Ways to Dress Thinner - Without Dieting!  So many of us miss the opportunity to make easy fashion choices that help our silhouette and punch up our look.  Lately I was reminded that the single most important figure enhancing secret is how we pull ourselves together as a package.  A sense of overall polish rather than any single item of clothing item puts it over the top, bringing our look together.  Yes, the message is...buff up!  Think of those French and Italian women so many of us admire on our travels. Why do they look great no matter what?  Polish!  Let me know what you think of Charla's suggestions.  What works for you?

Catching Up with Hillary Before the Holidays

CocoGarcia's Doncaster trunk show is winding down with customer orders arriving and alterations underway to ensure perfect fit and delight with your new clothes.  Thanks to all for such a successful show!  In the meantime the fashion press continues and my goody pile to share grows and grows.  Don't miss the December issue of Vogue for it is chock full of worthwhile reads.  Shiva Rose's tale of moving away from a fairy tale marriage and the wardrobe that went with it is both moving and inspiring.  How to mourn, how to memorialize, how to move on, all told through the lens of clothes, of what we wear for the truly memorable moments of our lives.  Then Kennedy Fraser writes about her return to long hair way after its considered age appropriateness.  It brings Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses to mind and her articles of yore on the power of long wild hair later in life.  What a statement wild hair is on a woman in her full mid-life power!  The neoprene bathing suit pics made me howl with laughter.  What a functionally beautiful way to contain renegade flesh after a certain age.  Just loose the cutouts!  And finally the issue holds a long and thoughtful interview by Jonathan Van Meter on our ever admired Hillary Clinton.  She is out there doing the job of her lifetime and what ultimately we will all remember.  Don't miss it.

To Spanx or Not to Spanx?

Some of us love these foundation garments and some of us hate them. So much so that yesterday the WSJ saw fit to comment extensively.  I love camisoles, bodysuits and slips, hate bras.  How about you?  After embracing Spanx in a variety of styles now I've discovered TC Shapewear, total control and comfort in a lighter easier fabric that moves with you.  Samples of these wares will be at my upcoming trunk show in the studio for shoppers to check out.  A little smoothing of my ripples always appeals to me, as long as it is comfortable.  What works for you?