“Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.”
- David Rockefeller
- David Rockefeller
Leather Leggings Trend
May 21, 2008 — blendnewyorkEven though we don’t think that this trend will emerge until Fall 08, we are constantly seeing this leather leggings or faux leather leggings trend on the runways and media. See Scarlett Johansson on the cover of Nylon Magazine below. You can also look at our previous Trend Watch posts to see other pictures.
DSquared Fashion Week RTW 2008 Milan
May 18, 2008 — blendnewyorkMILAN, February 21, 2008 – This season, the Dsquared² girl is a secretary, or maybe a librarian, with a seriously wild streak.
Balmain Fall 08 Runway Looks
May 17, 2008 — blendnewyork
Remember our post in March highlighting Balmain’s Fall 08 looks? Well, plenty of celebrities are latching onto his stylish creations – such as this dress worn by Christina Ricci on May 6th as she continued her press tour for Speed Racer, landing at the film’s Tribeca Film Festival premiere in a frilly keyhole dress and Manolo Blahniks.
How can you forget this dress from Balmain’s runway, worn by Kate Hudson on April 14th as she bared her legs follwing the U.K. premiere of her latest film Fool’s Gold.
The actress complemented the dress’s splash of shimmer with metallic peep-toe pumps.
Go Green Expo! A Full Weekend of Green! April 25 – 27 at the Hilton NY in Manhattan
April 25, 2008 — blendnewyork1335 Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue at 53rd Street)
FRIDAY, APRIL 25!
Business Goes Green (Daytime):
Go Green Expo has partnered with the producers of Hollywood Goes Green and created a compelling Business to Business summit in NYC. Business Goes Green will discuss how “Going Green” is good for the bottom line. We have a tremendous line up of experienced industry leaders and experts to discuss the eco-friendly roles of Advertising, Technology, Communications, Building and more. Speakers include CEOs, VPs, Managing Directors and a variety of representatives from Intel, Verizon, Ogilvy & Mather, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Green Team Marketing, BBMG, Davis & Gilbert LLP and many others.
If your company is interested in sponsoring the Business Goes Green Summit, please email BRand@GoGreenExpo.com before April 18th as time is of the essence. There are multiple levels of sponsorship that grant you access to eco-minded CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business executives.VIEW the agenda. Tickets will sell out in advance, purchase them HERE
Go Green Expo Gala Awards Dinner (Evening):
A black-tie benefit dinner featuring the eco-fashion couture of Maggie Norris. The menu for this special dinner has been created by Rachael Ray.
The following individuals will be honored for their excellence in Environmental Awareness:Alex Matthiessen, Anderson Cooper (accepting via satellite), Bryan Welch, Congressman Steve Israel, David Bach, David Zaslav, Graham Hill, Laura Turner Seydel, Kevin Wall, Nina Guralnick, Kevin Burke & more!
7pm ~ Cocktail Reception by 360 Vodka
8pm ~ Maggie Norris Eco-Couture Fashion Show
8:30pm ~ Go Green Expo Gala Benefit Dinner & Awards
Tickets: $500 each • $5,000 Table of Ten • $10,000 Table with prime location
Kindly RSVP to Allison Chamberlain at: AChamberlain@Riverkeeper.org or (914) 478-4501 x232
Limited Sponsorship Opportunities are still available. Please contact Bradford Rand at BRand@GoGreenExpo.com or call (212) 655-4505 x223.
Balenciaga F08 Paris Runway Fashion Week
April 16, 2008 — blendnewyork
Recent Inspiration – “Turning Japanese”
April 15, 2008 — blendnewyork
Requiem Fall 2008 Runway Show Paris
April 14, 2008 — blendnewyorkI just can’t agree with Nicole Phelps’ comment on Style.com. I thought the line was clean, stylish and very wearable. What else would a fashion consumer want? I agree that the houndstooth jacket is a bit loud, but that’s why I like it – because it is unique. That’s what being fashion-forward is about!
Here’s what she wrote about Requiem…
“But an oversize yellow, black, and white houndstooth looked garish, and the dirndl skirt they cut it in verged on dowdy. The couture feel they often refer to in interviews just wasn’t there.”
Check it out for yourself
Karl Lagerfeld Fall 08 Show – Paris Fashion Week
April 13, 2008 — blendnewyorkPARIS, February 27, 2008 – ”The show began, as usual, with boy-for-girl tailoring: Double- and single-breasted pinstripe jackets were worn over pleated miniskirts and flat patent oxfords; starchy white collars, not unlike the designer’s own, peeked out from the jackets’ lapels, this time with big bows replacing skinny ties. Austerity is too strong a word, but the tricky cuts and heavy-handed styling sometimes associated with the collection were absent. In their place were smartly wearable pieces like a belted vest dress that hit mid-calf; a narrow, fitted sheath with raised leather ribbing; and a jacket with a rounded eighties-ish shoulder and a built-in corset.” – Nicole Phelps Style.com
Givenchy Fall 08 Fashion Show Paris
April 11, 2008 — blendnewyorkFashion is turning in the direction of his kind of dark, romantic, faintly goth aesthetic…
Note the skinny leather pants and ankle / gladiator boots – these trends are emerging.
A New Earth Quote by Eckhart Tolle
April 9, 2008 — blendnewyorkReading this book is awesome… Here’s a great quote from A New Earth that I just read last night…
“The more unconscious individuals, groups, or nations are, the more likely it is that egoic pathology will assume the form of physical violence. Violence is a primitive but still very widespread way in which the ego attempts to assert itself, to prove itself right or another wrong. With very unconscious people, arguements can easily lead to physcial violence.”
Hmmmm…..is our government and the rest of the world participating in this war unconscious?
It seems like there needs to be an overhaul with the world’s ego. Why are we spending 400 BILLION dollars on unconscious activity when we can be doing so much more with that money!
Oprah’s Show Today – Puppy Mill Horror
April 4, 2008 — blendnewyorkAfter seeing Oprah’s show today about inhumane puppy mills, we at Blend New York had to post some comments from the show. We have also decided to put the Lange Foundation and Main Line Animal Rescue into our charity list. Here’s some of what was said on Oprah’s show…
“To see what goes on at puppy mills, Lisa Ling brings a hidden camera and joins Bill on a tour of puppy mills in Pennsylvania. According to The Humane Society of the United States, there may be as many as 10,000 puppy mills operating across the United States.
Bill has fostered relationships with hundreds of breeders across Pennsylvania. He asks them to give him the dogs they no longer want or, worse, the ones they’re planning to kill. Bill says these breeders most often want to get rid of older females and younger males. Breeders only need one or two male dogs to breed with every 20 fertile females, so young female dogs are valuable in puppy mills.
Before they go to one breeder’s property, Bill warns Lisa about what she may see. “It’s probably the worst place I’ve ever been to in my life. He has dogs running on wheels in fan casings,” Bill says. The contraptions look like big gerbil wheels. “[The breeder] claims that it’s good for them because they get exercise,” Bill says.That breeder wouldn’t let them see his dogs, but Lisa and Bill saw two dead animals on the property.At a third breeder’s facility, Lisa and Bill see outdoor cages that house scores of Pomeranians. Bill tells Lisa that not only have those dogs probably never been out of those small cages, it’s likely that they remain outside even in bad weather and could die from exposure.
Bill says many breeders call him to see if he wants to pick up unwanted dogs. “We form relationships with some of these people, and they’re actually the good breeders because they give us the dogs,” he says. “A number of times they’ll call us and give us 45 minutes to an hour to come out and pick up a dog before they shoot it when they no longer want it. It’s always amazing to me when I go out to pick up a dog, they’ve had the dog eight or nine years and it doesn’t have a name. It’s never been out of the hutch. It doesn’t know how to walk. I have to carry it to the car. It’s heartbreaking.”
Bill says he’s asked the breeders who own puppy mills why they treat the dogs so badly. “They think that we’re fools when we pick the dogs up,” he says. “I just went back to one of the mills, and they were asking me about the cocker spaniel we pulled out. … And I said, ‘Well, she’s fine. She’s walking around the house and everything.’ And he said, ‘You let that dog walk around the house, where the people in your family live?’ And I said, ‘Yes, we do.’ He just couldn’t get over it. It’s a different mentality. [Dogs] are considered agricultural products. They’re like an ear of corn.”
For some dogs, the medical care is urgent. Some have mammary tumors caused by years of nursing and overbreeding. Bill estimates that one cocker spaniel could have given birth to as many as 140 puppies. Before they were rescued, many of these dogs spent their entire lives in wire cages and had trouble walking on the ground once they were out. Some had their vocal chords damaged by a pipe in order to keep them from barking. Others were completely filthy, with their coats overgrown and soaked in urine.
Bill says Main Line Animal Rescue has rescued approximately 7,000 to 8,000 animals—about 5,000 of those from puppy mills. Their mission is to ultimately place each rescued animal in a loving family, and they are remarkably successful. “We have one of the highest placement rates in the country,” Bill says. “We place about 99 percent of the animals we take in because we have a really good trainer who comes and works with us. We actually have something called a ’shy dog’ class where we do massage therapy on them and everything else. It’s great.”
If you are thinking about adopting a new pet, make your first stop the local shelter or animal rescue office. “You can find any kind of dog you want, any age you want, at a shelter or rescue,” Oprah says. Consider these facts when adopting a dog. Sometimes, what you see isn’t always what you get when it comes to that doggie in the window of a pet shop. “You can be deceived when you see these cute puppies in the stores,” Lisa says.
The Lange Foundation was founded in 1993 by Jillian Lange, a woman who turned her passion for animals into her life’s work. At least twice a week, Jillian visits Los Angeles’s animal shelters to rescue dogs and cats that are unlikely to be adopted. Her mission is to save as many animals as possible before their time runs out. “I know that saving one dog is not saving the world, but it sure makes a heck of a difference in that one dog’s life,” Jillian says. During a typical day Jillian drives out to shelters and picks animals as she can—including dogs who have been disfigured or have expensive medical needs. “When I get in the car and leave here, all I do is think about the ones left behind,” Jillian says. After rescuing the animals, Jillian brings them to her no-kill shelter, which has placed 17,000-18,000 animals in loving homes over the years.
Taking care of animals is a duty that every person should assume. “It’s precisely because we are intelligent and powerful that we have responsibilities to these animals. They are helpless before us, and they rely on our good conscience,” Wayne says. “The terrible thing is the inhumane treatment of these animals at the puppy mills. It’s awful. It’s contributing to the larger pet overpopulation crisis, which is resulting in over 4 million dogs and cats being killed every year.” So what can we do to make a difference? “What we can do is we strongly discourage people from going to a pet store to obtain an animal. Go to a shelter. That’s got to be your first stop,” Wayne says. “A third of the animals are purebreds—go to a breed rescue group. And if you insist on going to a breeder, go visit the breeder, talk to them. See the condition of the animals, especially the breeding females.”
Eckhart Tolle Quote to Oprah
May 15, 2008 — blendnewyork“I AM A HOLE IN THE FLUTE
THAT THE CHRIST’S BREATH MOVES THROUGH
LISTEN TO THIS MUSIC”