Bellevue Fashion Week

Since I missed most of Bellevue Fashion Week (BFW) due to being in Japan, I was only able to attend 2 events this year, Youa attended the rest so check out her blog for the recap of the other shows. The first being the Lululemon Athletica fashion show and the Vogue Front Row Fashion Show. This years events were held at the Hyatt and it turned out to be a great location - parking was free!!

Lululemon Athletica: This show was a bit different than any of the others I have attended in the past. It began with some belly dancers and then moved to 20 minutes of Allison Forsyth, owner of Lululemon Athletica, giving a motivational speech about her time in the Olympics and her mother's battle with cancer. Her story was well received and touching but it was quite a different format for a fashion show. After she was done talking they had 8 or so models come out on both sides of the runway and workout in their clothes. Then they would switch sides. It came down to about 8 different outfits but different workout routines (however they seemed to lean more towards yoga). I liked the clothing and even saw a pair of shorts I need to go buy for my hot yoga classes but the workouts kind of took my attention away from the clothing and more on what was going on... Not sure if that was the point. Each model/athlete was really good at what they were doing - some of the yoga moves were amazing! All in all it wasn't a bad show, just different from what I have experienced before... Here are the pictures from the evening.

Vogue Front Row: The Vogue fashion show was introduced by Anne Vincent, Vogue's merchandising expert. She told us that some of the models were flown in from LA and some were from Seattle. I will say I missed the models that I have seen in years past but this selection of models did a fine job showing off the clothes and strutting their stuff. The selection of clothing was well paired with the different themes of the show. The 80's section of the show reminded me of the color block spread they did in The September Issue (if you haven't seen it you need to!).

I think my favorite part of the entire show was when they flashed past photos from the magazine up before the segment would begin. As for the fashion, tights were the one thing that stood out the most to me - lots and lots of great tights. I will be stocking up on tights for sure, especially after seeing all the great patterns and colors.

Thanks Vogue for adding a new element to our fashion scene! I wonder if they will pair up with Vogue next year or go it alone. In my opinion, BFW doesn't need Vogue to put on a great fashion week. It's definitely a very cool element to have but they have some talented people on their staff and have for the last few years pulled off some amazing shows. So, if Vogue comes back that will be great but if not, no worries, BFW will still be an amazing week of events.

Lastly, thanks BFW for allowing the media to even get swag bags - that is ALWAYS a plus! (7 Salon free haircut, shoe shine kit, spa kit, gift cards and discounts, headband, and much more).

Check out my pictures from the event - I can't say they turned out as well as I had hoped since I was in the 2nd row and had a few heads in the way. You get the idea though. :)

Wow...

Wow is really all I can say. Tonight was so. much. fun. I just got home from the Neiman Marcus Gala in Bellevue. I had been trying to get a press pass for awhile and finally acquired one! It was worth all the email stalking!

Dawn met me at Neiman Marcus at about 6:45pm. After our media check-in we walked in to the beautiful new Neiman Marcus. I feel the need to mention that all the people greeting us and working in the store were beautiful and well styled. You know who you are Mr. "male model who I have seen before".

First thing was first, we posed for our inaugural picture taken by Team Photogenic and then we grabbed a glass of bubbly.

Oh wait, I am way ahead of myself. The clothing... It was a black tie affair so I picked out a black lace dress I bought at Anthropology years ago... on sale mind you for a ridiculously low price! I was planning on wearing my strappy satin red heels but then Dawn reminded me of "the shoes". "The Shoes" being my $800 Christian Louboutin shoes I won at Barneys... Do you remember that post? I hadn't even thought of them, shame on me, this was the perfect occasion for them. Man was she right. I fit right in! I have never seen so many high end shoes in one place... on people that is as the shoe department actually carried all the high end designers so my statement would be a lie if I didn't mention that.

Ok, so anyways back to the event... Dawn and I headed up to Mariposa's, the Neiman Marcus restaurant/bar, for the VIP party. We found a place to stand so we could people watch but it just so happened to be the perfect place for food as well. Ah the food, everything was so tasty! More champagne please!

At around 7:30, Magic Johnson (Yeah, the basketball player!) and his wife were announced (Cookie Johnson is doing a designer preview tomorrow) and then everyone dispersed into the store to mingle, eat, drink and shop.

Dawn and I carefully examined every floor, tried numerous hors 'd orderves and had another glass of champagne. We chatted with people we knew and didn't know along the way. The clothing and shoes were just amazing. If only I had an endless supply of funds to throw at Neiman Marcus, life would be good... or at least look good.

One of my favorite parts of Neiman's was their shoe department - it was like Barney's on steroids. Barney's has an amazing shoe selection of designer brands but Neimans will definitely be a rival. I guess it's good that one is in Seattle and the other is in Bellevue.

After walking around for 2 hours, we decided to call it a night... actually my feet called it a night, they felt dead, as those shoes were not made for comfort... They look hot though! We were handed an amazing gift bag as we excited - now the excitement will be "what is inside"... (The answer is a Neiman Marcus pop up book, $25 perk card and Anthousa home ambiance perfume with scent sticks.)

If you have a free moment this weekend, head on over to Bellevue to the new Bravern shops and check out Neiman Marcus - its beautiful. They officially open on September 11th.

P.S. I saw a must have for me - a GIANT book on Barbie... Ignore the fact that it was $500 (GULP!)... I just need it for my collection. Take note Santa!

Check out the rest of my pictures from the evening.

Neiman Marcus is Opening Sept 11th!

Today it has been confirmed, I'll be able to cover the Neiman Marcus Gala on Thursday September 10th for UFN! Dawn will be accompanying me so I can take pictures and have someone to help me re-cap the event.

Not only will it be a fetching event (you like that?) but it's also for a good cause. The company will be donating all the money raised from their ticket sales to Hopelink, Overlake Hospital Medical Center and PONCHO. I have learned it is pretty much SOLD OUT!!

From what I have been reading online from a Bellevue Blog, "Bellevue's new store is the only new Neiman Marcus opening this year in the nation, and it's just the 41st store in the country. Read more about why Neiman picked Bellevue in this story by Seattle Times reporter Amy Martinez from last year. "

Also, "The Bellevue store will also feature 166 works of art from 27 artists who reside in, or have strong ties to, the area, the company says. And the Texas company appears to have noticed our passion for recycling. From the press release: "An exciting theme, 'the art of recycled material,' runs throughout the art collection. Various artists have interpreted the use of found and recyclable materials. Their unique and dynamic translations of this theme are exhibited storewide"."

UFN Featured Boutique for September

This month we are featuring the Bellevue boutique, La Ree.

La Ree not only carries some big name designers but they also carry some amazing local designers such as Jamie Joseph Jewelry and Rachel Burklund Jewelry.

Their tag line is FIND BEAUTIFUL STYLE, check out their Q&A and pictures and you'll see why!

My New Report Shoes

I headed East to Bellevue this morning to check out the Report Shoes Sample Sale and man, am I glad I did!! I was expecting a line of ladies when we arrived at 10am but there weren't any at all. We walked right in and joined the women already shopping around. Thankfully there weren't to many at that time so we got first dibs on alot of cute shoes. (It strated to fill up shortly after though).

There were so many cute pairs for $15/$25 that were once $75 and higher... I ended up buying 4 pairs total but could have easily walked out with more. I had a pair of boots in my possession for quite awhile but decided on a pair of heels instead since I won't be wearing those boots anytime soon... You know, with Summer and all... I also was drooling over 3 pairs of HOT trendy heals from their signature collection that were $70 each but originally in the $200 range. It was really hard to decide!

In the end, I went with the idea of what am I really going to get use out of right now. So, I bought 2 pairs of sandals (Tori by R2 and Rayne by Report Footwear), a pair of grey flats (Laney by Report) and a hot pair of their signature line brown Hearst heals.

There was no tax and the money goes to charity - what could be more perfect when shopping for shoes... or anything for that matter!

The sale ends at 1pm so you still have time to head over if you are reading this right now!!! (520 is closed so expect traffic coming home)

Thank you Report for having a sample sale... I'll be at your next one, no worries! Oh and thank you Nurit for meeting up with me, it was fun shoe shopping with you!

REPORT Footwear Sample Sale

Lately, I have been seeing a lot of gorgeous shoes by Report and Report signature at local fashion shows. I am so excited to find out that they will be having a Sample Sale (13150 SE 32nd St in Bellevue) on June 20th from 10am - 1pm. Now I can go and pysically check them out for myself and stock up!

All of the net proceeds from the sale will go to New Beginnings which is a non-profit, battered women’s shelter in Seattle. They will be selling women’s shoes in all sizes and styles from REPORT, REPORT Signature, R2 and Rocawear.

Will you be there too?

Ok, so as I was saying, I have been seeing these shoes a lot... The last two places were at the Save the Girls event and in the Vantha Ry fashion show (Blush Event) - (I have linked you to the photos of the events so you can see for yourself if you weren't there).