High Fashion at Barney's New York

We stopped by the Barney's New York at the Carlsbad Premium Outlet Mall while visiting San Diego area.  I have always loved to look at the high fashion at this store.  There were a few pieces I found very interesting this time and thought to share them here for fun.

The black straps on this dress was what attracted me.

I love the combination of this outfit.  The gray print scarf with a chiffon dress.  Very light and airy, plus...

laces on the back, what a surprise.

This is elegant.  Beige and black, love the flowy design of the dress.

Here comes the shoes department.  If you have nice legs, imagine wearing these with shorts and layer with a longer jacket outside, so chic.  This is one pair I love to own.

Suede Booties, the chunky heel is actually not chunky.  It's tappered downward but gives a chunky look.

What's unique about this is it deliberately showed the buckles and zipper.  The stilletoes just make it more faminine.  Very nice combinaton.

I like the little details that were placed on this.  See the silver strap at the ankle?

Clutch is everywhere these days.  The silver accents added a little nice touch on this grayish leather clutch.

Metallic gold and ruffle leather clutch

Now, this is really unique.  This wrap is leather weaved with silver beads. 

Doesn't this look like a curtain?  I only like the color combination.

Shall we go see something else, where am I?



This pink hat is really nice on me but the pink is ..... too pink.

Perfect for this spring - stripes.  I like the pattern on pattern design.

It's too bad that I didn't have time to check out the jewelry section.  I should do that next I go to Barney's New York again.

Barney's New York

Carlsbad Premium Outlet Mall

5620 Paseo Del Norte

Carlsbad, CA 92088

(760)804-9000

Stripes In The Spring

The fashion trend for this spring is all about stripes.  I always love the black and white stripes but was afraid to wear them.  After reading this article: Horizontal stripes make women look thinner, I was excited to try on all the stripes fashion that are availalbe at the department store.

After experiencing all the difference clothing, I have found only certain type of cut and width of the stripes that across the body gave the slimming effect.  Here are what I found:

Medium size horizontal stripes that are in darker color are better to wear.  It gives a depth of curve and hide area that you don't want people to notice.  I found it is important to not wear top that's fits to the body.  It should not be too loose or too clingy.  It definitely gave a curvy look with a supported bra.

With broad stripes across the top gives an illusion of a bigger bust and narrower waist.


Bold wide stripes works better on a loose garment

I love this diagonal and vertical stripes blouse which elongates the body.

I particular like the look of  a broad stripes cardigan over thin stripes top.  This cardigan is similar to what I have at home but mine has broad and even stripes across.

If you are one not into stripes but still want to keep up with the trend, layer a plain cardigan or jacket over a  top like this:

or use these cute accessories:

I bought this infinity scarf for my daughter.  She looked so chic when she wore it with her solid black long sleeve top.

There are also many colorful stripes around to have fun with this season.  Colorful stripes accessories can really make a simple outfit "pops". It's best to avoid yellow color when pair with black and white stripes as it would seem like a "bee" costume.     I hope everyone is having as much fun as I have with this trend.

Washington, D.C. Day 3(b) Museum of Natural American History

I have to dedicate a single post to the Museum of Natural American History.   My favorite exhibit was the First Ladies Hall where it exhibited most of the First Ladies' Inaugural Ball Gowns and accessories.

The original sketches of the gowns

Our current First Lady,  Michelle Obama's Inaugural Ball gown which was designed by Jason Wu was set in the middle of the room.

Front view

Back

Accessories

Historial Inaugural ball accessories

In another hall of the museum, Abraham Lincoln's top hat was exhibited too.

Famous American chef  - Julia Child's Kitchen

When we finished with the museum, it was dinner time already.  We took the metro again and went to an busy area called the Adams Morgan where shops and restaurants were everywhere.   We stood in front of a cafe style restaurant called Bardia's New Orleans Cafe and were contemplating whether we should go in, when a couple came out told us the food was very good, and they originally were from Louisiana.  That immediately set our mind to go in right away.  The food indeed was very good.  We ordered the Bayou Po'Boy, which is a sandwich with spicy sausage and creole sauce.  We also ordered the seafood Creole, which is seafood in a spicy tomato, vegetable sauce over white rice and Andouille (sausage) Etouffee, which is canjun roux over white rice.  We learned that Jambalaya actually is sauce mixed with fried rice and not over white rice.  The Andouille Etouffee creole was so delicious that we had another one.  My husband and kids had never tried Beignets before, I ordered the beignets to go with the cafe au lait, and the beignets were freshly made.  This is one cafe we will be sure to visit again if we ever return to DC.

 

Bardia's New Orleans Cafe

2412 18th Street, NW

Washington, DC. 20009

(202)234-0420

It was late and dark after we finished the dinner,  We took the taxi back to the hotel since it was getting late and the walk to the metro station was a bit far to walk.  The fare was about $15 compared to the $9 for the four of us taking the metro.   Taxi was easy to find everywhere and sometimes worth to take it depends on the distance if you have a group of three or more people to share the ride with.

Great Finds At The Mall

I was browsing through some stores while waiting for my daughters to finish a movie in the theatre at Great Mall last weekend.  I was surprised to see there were so many great sales going on.  It seemed that many stores were giving an additional 40% off clearance items or 25 to 30% off sale items.  Take a look at my great finds at the clearance section:

I love these ocean theme gold necklace and earrings from Off Fifth and there were on an additonal 40% off sale:

and this sterling silver chain necklace can be worn short or long:

This simple desgin gold necklace was on clearance from Last call /Neiman Marcus with an additonal 30% off:

Since metallic is so in trend now, I am happy to have found this woven leather handbag in metallic by Elliot Lucas:

Shoes and clothing were on an addtional 40% off sale, but I was not in the mood to shop for those then.  Besides, I was already content with what I had  bought.

Gold Is In

After we left SFMOMA, we headed to the nearby Westfield Mall which is where the Bloomingdale's  is located.  As I was walking around in my favorite department-handbags-I noticed that there were so many handbags in gold.   This must be the trend this year, well, at least for this summer.  I hadn't been following the trend lately as I was so busy with taking care of some home business.  I did notice that a lot of people were wearing gold sandals while I was shopping in Stanford Mall at Palo Alto last week.  I concluded that Gold must be the trend now.  I did manage to buy myself a couple of pairs of gold shoes on that day for the summer.  Now I am in search of a gold handbag.  Look at all these gold handbags at Bloomingdale's.  One just can't miss the "gold is in".

I liked the Tory Burch clutch on the upper right:

I don't usually fancy Kate Spade's colorful designs, but the tote bag on the upper right was my favorite:

The bottom left  is a nice size and shape for me.  I liked the outside pocket design:

These were not on sale, and they were really out of my budget. It doesn't hurt to look at them, does it? 

After the trip to San Francisco, I got an urge to shop for something gold.  I was shopping at Nordstrom at Stanford shopping mall one day and found these beautiful gold sandals.  These were so right to wear to dinner during the warm summer evening:

and this pair of low heels are so comfortable to wear and can be worn casually or dressed up at anytime: