Front Row

Look closely at the shot of the front row from my brother's fashion show at New York Fashion Week. Recognize anyone?

I don't know, maybe Kristen Johnston, Mena Suvari, Amber Rose, Caridee English, Shannon and Evan and Mom, etcetera...

Holiday Party Dresses

I am absolutely in love with every single dress currently on the racks at White House/Black Market. I couldn’t contain myself and ended up buying not one, but two holiday party dresses this year. I know I am supposed to be saving for a wedding, but these dresses are reasonably priced and the store is always having some sort of deal.

The first dress I purchased to wear to Evan’s work party. It is classic black, strapless and fits like a glove. I really feel beautiful in this dress, and isn’t that what it is all about? I am probably going to freeze in it because I’m not wearing tights. I will be wearing a spray tan to show off the shoulders, but probably no jewelry to keep it basic.

The second dress is a little more flashy and I will be wearing it with black tights and the heels pictured here. (The sales girls always bring you shoes to try on with the dress which suckers me every time! And their black tights are awesome!) I will be wearing this sparkly number to a House Warming/Birthday/Holiday party this Saturday. I don’t think that this event is formal, but I don’t mind being a little overdressed. If we decide to go out on New Year’s I could wear this again, or I use the occasion to justify getting this one-strap loveliness.

Siriano Head to Toe

Every year the owner of the company I work for throws a huge holiday party the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Every salon employee, from stylist to shampoo assistant, is invited from every Bubbles, Salon Cielo and Colorworks salon. People come from Florida, Philadelphia, Virginia, Maryland and DC to celebrate and it is always an event. This year’s theme was Brazilian Carnivale, so the dress code was “flashy.” I thought about going in full body paint, but then decided that this was the perfect opportunity for me to wear the dress that didn’t make it to the engagement party. Everyone’s outfits are always over the top, so I knew that it would be perfect. I wore head to toe, Chrisitan Siriano. I had the VS make-up, the Payless runway shoes and the dress from his most recent line. It was pretty show stopping. I even got a mention in the CIBU “Holi-do of the Day” video from the famous Jenn Mapp-Bressan.

Martin + Osa

This may not be a new brand, but it is new to me. I am a fan of this store. I bought this dress a couple months ago and thought it was the perfect summer to fall transition dress. I wore it with sandals when the weather was warm and dressed it up with cowboy boots and a cardigan when it started to get chilly. I planned to wear this into winter with tights and a sweater, but to my dismay, I got in a little accident. I tripped (over my cat) and split the dress right up the back. I was embarrassed and obviously bummed since I love this dress. My cat was ok, don’t worry. I put the dress back in the closet because I couldn’t bare to throw it away. Weeks later, I needed a dress for my engagement party and I immediately remembered that my favorite dress also came in a print. I bought the print dress and while I was in the store, I asked if there was any chance I could exchange my torn dress. I explained how it got torn, that I tripped over my cat, and they said, “No problem!” I was so happy that I asked. Last week, I took my dress in and they didn’t have my size. I was worried, but for no reason. They called another store and sent it to me at no charge. Isn’t it nice when a store goes out of there way to make you happy?

New York Trip Sept 2009 - Day 3

It has taken a full week to get all my posts up from our NY trip. In reality it has taken me this long to get back to normal life. I still think I’m in the Marriott hotel when I get up in morning, but once I open my eyes, I realize, no, I’m at home, bah.

Our last day in NYC was the only day that it didn’t rain. It was absolutely beautiful, sunny with a cool breeze. We had plans to have brunch with my brother and Brad, so my mother was anxious all morning. She didn’t want us to be late meeting him, so we had to make sure we were packed up and checked out of the hotel. I hate packing at the end of a trip. I can never fit everything back in the suitcase and with the two pairs of stiletto platforms, this pack up was specifically challenging.

After we checked out and checked our bags, we went on a little adventure to find a place to eat. We settled on The Bryant Park Grille. They have a beautiful patio with tables outside next to the Fashion Week tents. We had a really nice brunch, caught up on celebrity gossip and relived my trip and fall moment with good laughs. It is nice that my brother can still find time for us during these crazy weekend trips. We got to have good meal with just family, nobody buzzing around with cameras or clipboards. At the end of brunch we had to do our goodbyes and then headed to do some more sight seeing.

We jumped in a cab and headed towards Central Park. We drove past the MTV set up for the MTV Music Awards that were scheduled for that night. Tons of teens were already lined up on the sidewalks waiting to get a peak of their favorite rock stars. We got dropped off in front of one of the entrances to the park and were immediately approached by a rickshaw tour guide. We had to take two rickshaws, so Evan and his Mom rode together and I rode with my Mama. The tour guide was very nice, but had a small obsession with the movie Home Alone 2. He must have mentioned it at least 10 times on the tour. We learned about some other movies filmed in the park and saw the elite buildings over looking the park where different celebrities have apartments.

After the tour, we made it back to the hotel, collected our belongings and caught a cab to the train station. As our trip was winding down, we had time to review all the exciting moments from the previous two days. We talked about how amazing it was to see my brother’s name on the window at Saks. My Mom relived her encounters with Tim Gunn, Fern Mallis and the CEO from Payless. We all agreed that we were so glad that we ended up at Rock of Ages. We had such a wonderful time and I can’t wait for the next trip in February.

New York Trip Sept 2009 - Day 2

The day of the runway show is filled with anticipation from the moment I wake up. Fortunately for me, I got to sleep in this year! It was great that our travel day and the day of the show were not one in the same. That meant much less anxiety for all.

Evan and his mother jumped right out of bed with plans to see more of the city. They headed over to Rockefeller Center and even made an appearance outside the Today Show. If I was a morning person I would have gone with them, but I’m glad that they got to go exploring so that Jane could get to see more of the city.

Read more and see more pictures here…

New York Trip Sept 2009 - Day One

I am still reliving every moment of our New York Trip over and over in my mind. We had an absolutely amazing time and I wouldn’t have done one thing different.

Day one is always a whirlwind. We took the train up from BWI to NYC Penn Station and immediately headed over to my brother’s studio. On the way to the studio (which was only two blocks away) we passed by a Payless Shoe Store and had to stop to take a picture of the window. My brother’s entire line was displayed right up front with a picture of him and info about the shoes. My mother was so proud.

Once at the studio, it was a fun reunion, but it was also obvious my brother was incredibly busy. He really only had a few minutes to get us situated and get us out of there. His crew was having lunch when we arrived which was nice so we could chat with them for a few minutes before they were back to work work work. As I mentioned before I got to try on a few dresses, took home one and picked up the two pairs of shoes Payless had made for me. At that point, my brother called his driver to take us around the city.

It was a lot of fun to have the driver waiting for us. We are definitely not used to that kind of treatment. The first place we wanted to go was to Saks 5th Avenue to see my brother’s clothes on display on the exclusive designer 3rd floor. We were dropped off right in front and made a loop around the building to check out the window display. In the window were dresses by the likes of Roberto Cavali, Dolce and Gabbanna, Oscar DeLa Renta, Zac Posen and my little brother, Christian Siriano. We almost died as we walked around a read all the names. I thought I might fall over right there on the sidewalk and my mother got tears in her eyes. We posed for a picture at the window and then went inside. We took the elevator to the third floor and found his rack. The rack had been picked over quite a bit, but we each posed for another photo in front of the sign with his name holding a piece of this clothing. Then my mother told a few of the associates that she was his mother. After loitering in the designer area for a while, we went upstairs and Evan bought us each 2 pieces of chocolate from the chocolate counter. We went back one more time to look at his display and then called our driver to come pick us up.

Read more and see more pictuers here.

Fashion Week Outfit

It is that time of year again…FASHION WEEK!! This past weekend, Evan, Jane, my Mom and I had the best New York trip ever. The whole trip was absolutely awesome! I hope to post updates like I did last season, but I am trying to catch up with work and don’t have a ton of time to blog (hence my blogging absence the past few weeks). So until I can sit down and pour out our trip in written form, I wanted to post a quick update about the outfit I wore to my brother’s show. Of course my brother designed it! We stopped by his studio right when we got off the train on Friday. He had been doing fittings all day for celebs who wanted to wear something of his to his show. I tried on two dresses, the one I wore and another strapless short party dress, both in the red print. I was in love with both dresses but went with the halter style since the strapless was on hold for another celeb. The strapless dress may end up in my closet eventually since no one ended up wearing it. The shoes were also designed by my brother and produced by payless. I ended up wearing the gladiator platform boots that were worn in the show. I wore them all night and only fell once! More to come later this week...

Shout Outs

I am very excited to report that my brother is getting a lot of media exposure for all of his new projects! Last Friday, I was sitting in the nail salon flipping through the August issue of In Style Magazine (with Katherine Heighl on the cover) and came across a little snippet about his lip glosses from his Victoria Secret make-up line. I wanted to tear the page out, but since I was getting a pedicure, I thought that might be inappropriate. I did, however, run down to the Victoria’s Secret shop immediately after my nails dried to pick up a few items for gifts (since I already had a set for myself). The girl working cosmetics said that they had already sold out of a few items. The display wasn’t very big and easy to miss if you weren’t looking, but with all the buzz, I'm sure people are looking for it!

Yesterday, I received my September issue of Glamour Magazine (substitute for my Domino subscription since they stopped printing, so sad). I was going through the pages, not really reading and there was his face at the bottom of the page. He was included in the “Stylish Reads” section. As I’m sure everyone knows by now, his book, Fierce Style: How to Be Your Most Fabulous Self, is coming out in October. The magazine had a little mini interview at the bottom of page 80 in case you want to check it out. But for those of you who are not running out to the store to get it…here is one of the Q&A’s:

GLAMOUR: Who inspired you to be fierce?
CS: My sister. She didn’t look like anyone else-she’d go to school dressed like Snow White with lace-up boots!

I got a shout out in GLAMOUR! I am a little embarrassed to admit that, yes, I did wear a Snow White dress with black lace up boots to school in middle school. Thank goodness I can’t find that picture as it was during my “awkward” phase. Even if that is an outfit I would like to forget, I am so proud of my little bro! If you follow him on twitter, he has posted some pics from his line that is on display at Saks. And don’t forget his shoe line is coming to Payless in a few weeks!

Gift Cards and Exchanges

I read somewhere that most people have at least $20 of unused gift cards in their possession. I know I am guilty of keeping gift cards with tiny balances, in my wallet at all times. My mother must do the same thing because last week when she was cleaning out her spare bedroom she came across a Banana Republic gift card. She immediately went to the store and bought a dress for me, so that the gift card wouldn’t sit in her wallet. She didn’t specifically pick out a dress for me, but just got something so that I could return it and get something that I like. She is one smart Mama. I went this weekend to exchange the dress and found this little number on clearance. I absolutely love it and can’t wait to wear it to my meeting on Monday.

The Uniform Project

I just came across this site and am totally inspired. This fashionista has challenged herself to wear just one dress for a year and to accessorize daily in order to raise awareness for the Akanksha Foundation. This organization funds education developments in India. Not only does this generate some buzz for this great organization, you can donate right on the site. So far she has raised almost $6,000 and she is only in day 76. Here is the quick synopsis from her site:

“Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Here’s how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accouterments, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies. Think of it as wearing a daily uniform with enough creative license to make it look like I just crawled out of the Marquis de Sade's boudoir.”

I am extremely impressed with her accessorizing skills and will be checking in daily to see what she does. A lot of her accessories come from etsy, ebay and other second hand type of retailers. Her statement with this site is also about sustainable fashion. I have to admit that although moved by her efforts to promote some wonderful issues, I am just excited to see what she is wearing each day. And in the end, I guess that really is the point. If I’m on this site 289 more times (checking in daily), that is a lot of opportunity to learn more about and possibly donate to this Foundation.

Shopping Spree

A couple weekends ago, I went on a shopping spree for a new spring/summer wardrobe. I was on the hunt for deals and I sure found them. I spent about $450 and got 5 dresses, a skirt, a cardigan, a pair of shoes, a belt, two headbands, a necklace, a shirt and new undies and bras. Impressive, right? I had some gift certificates and returned some things, which is how I got so much. Plus, all the stores have deals because of the “economy”. Who knew the economy would help my wardrobe. Banana Republic is always my go to store at the mall. I got a pale blue high waste pencil skirt on clearance for $50 and everything else I got was 30% off. My favorite purchase is this pair of fabulous wedges
I also picked up two adorable headbands and an orange cardigan. I am probably going back to get another cardigan in black. A nice black button up cardigan is a staple in every girl’s wardrobe. Another deal of the day was the dress and belt I got at The Limited. I never shop there, but this dress caught my eye in the window. Everything in the store was buy one item and get the other 50% off. Hello!

I found two adorable dresses at Express for $30 with one of those coupons they send in the mail. I got a dress from Bebe for $6 because I had a store credit from Christmas. I picked up a white v-neck undershirt and some delicates from Victoria Secret for nothing because I returned a bathing suit that was not going to work. I picked out a dress on clearance at Anthropologie and found a really pretty long necklace for almost nothing because I had a $100 Amex Gift Card from the holidays. I read somewhere that people have on average $100 in unused gift cards and store credits taking up space in their wallets. I sure got the bang for no bucks in many cases on my shopping trip. It was a lot of fun.

Fringe Necklace

Today I received my Maximum Fringe Necklace from Norwegian Wood’s shop on Etsy. I am absolutely in love! This will definitely be my “go to” accessory for the summer. Especially, since I lost my other favorite necklace this Saturday after too many Blue Hawaiian Cocktails at a friend's going away party. (That’s a whole other story.) Angie, the artist who made this necklace, is so super nice and sent me a great follow up email right after I placed my order. I found her shop through stilldottie who always puts up great posts of Etsy finds. I am terrible at searching for fabulousness on Etsy. Thank goodness for the bloggers who highlight these great artists.

New York Trip Feb 2009 - Part 1: The Runway Show

As promised, I plan to post details about our New York trip throughout the week. We did so much in the three days we were there. It was an absolute blast!

The trip started off with a bang. Actually, it was more like a thud. It was the sound of our Amtrak train hitting a dear on the tracks. We had to stop for about 15-20 minutes so that someone could clear off the debris. Gross. Then we had to stop again because of who knows what, but we made it safe and sound to our hotel with plenty of time to relax and recoup before the runway show that evening. Or so I thought. I had a bag waiting for me at the desk with an amazing brown drapey skit, brown tights and the most amazing pair of his Payless runway shoes in a teal hieroglyphic print. The only thing missing was a top to this look. Did this mean I should go topless? Is that what is happening this season? A note said, “Maybe a turtleneck would look chic?” No color, no real description of what goes with the brown and teal. I wear all black at work everyday. I’m not good with color. What the hell? At this point we were about 4 hours away from the runway show, and Evan and I were off on a mission. My mother was in agony with an abscessed tooth, so she sat in the hotel lobby, looking pitiful and the concierge found a room she could check into early. Keep reading (and see more picures) here!

Street Style

I recently took a browse through my favorite Street Style blogs. I love looking at what people in other countries are wearing. It makes me feel like fashion is not too far away. My only problem with the new posts is that it is still very cold in most of the fashionable world. Our weather is warmer everyday, so I am patiently waiting for the Streets of London, Helinski and NYC to catch up with new Spring Fashions. For more fashions, check out the street style links on the side.

For more fashions, check out the street style links on the side.

Beautiful Dresses

I was browsing through blogs today when I came across Curious Bird. She recently posted about the Spring designs of Church & State. I am in love with these dresses! My favorite dress, yellow, can be purchased online at Sotto, but I’m not sure if I can spend that much for a dress that I haven’t tried on. I wish it was still my birthday.

Surprise On My Doorstep

I love getting packages in the mail. I buy a lot of things online, so it is not uncommon to have a box on my doorstep. Pre-planned packages are exciting, but the best packages are the ones that are unexpected. I got an expected package with an unexpected surprise inside yesterday.

Back story: About a week ago, my friend, Ann, sent me a link for Wire and Twine, a website that sells screen print shirts and other goodies. This particular site has a shirt dedicated to my brother’s most popular catch phrase, “FIERCE”. I absolutely loved the cleverness of the shirt and was excited to see my brother’s likeness. I tried to order one, but was having problems getting PayPal to work with the site. I sent a very desperate email explaining that I must have this shirt! Chris Glass wrote me back and offered to send a shirt for me and one for my brother. This I thought to be so incredibly generous.

Coincidence: Before I left my office yesterday (before I received my surprise) a co-worker came up to me to thank me for sending him the link to Wire and Twine site. He had bought two of the Project Runway inspired shirts for his wife who is a big fan. What goes around comes around these days, so I’m glad that I could at least spark some sales for the site seeing how generous they are.

Back to the box: When I got my package yesterday I was so excited. I ripped open the box to find not only the two “FIERCE” shirts, but also two of the “Ladies Hair” shirts. It just so happens that, the hair shirt was the next on my list of favorites. This is awesome! Another bonus, that I didn’t realize before is that the shirts are American Apparel, which are my brother’s favorite. The prints are just awesome and I’m so thankful to Wire and Twine. These shirts are hotness!

HE WON!!!

What an exciting night it was. Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep that a secret? I don’t do secrets, ask anyone. The party turned out spectacular. We had 24 guests to share the moment with. Everyone screamed and toasted champagne when the winner, MY BROTHER, was announced. It felt like New Years Eve. I’ll have to watch the show again without guests so I can catch all the little moments. There was so much cheering and laughing that I’m sure I missed some things. I can’t believe how much air time I got! I thought maybe a glimpse from the front row, but there were a ton of of shots. Every time my face flashed on the screen the group went wild. It was so much fun. One of my friends said that she had gotten her hair done right before the show and overheard two women talking in the salon and say something to the affect of, “I heard Christian’s sister lives here in Arkansas and is having a big party tonight, wish I was invited.” Isn’t that crazy?


We had the whole living room set up to look like the fashion week tent. We hung white bed sheets from the ceiling fan and down the wall, brought out all of our folding chairs and even painted a wooden runway. I made goodie bags for all of our guests. In the goodie bags was a photocopy of the TRESemme add in Elle Magazine, (I didn't invest in a copy for everyone) a travel sized TRESemme hair spray, a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups, a package of Kleenex with a sticker “Hold for Ricky” and an autographed photo of my little brother (curtsey of Brad Walsh). People went crazy for those goodie bags.

The pictures didn’t turn out very good, but we were so crazy with party prep we weren’t worried about good pictures. Sorry.

I will post more about the party later this week. I have more pictures and some great easy recipes that I want to share.

Thank you all for the amazing messages the past week. I really do appreciate all the kind words for my brother and me. It makes my day to get messages from his admirers.

Christian's Runway Outfit

I spoke to Christian for a few seconds on Saturday and he told me that he had been photographed attending some fashion shows this weekend. I searched the web today to find the photos and I was so excited to see that he was wearing a jacket that I had bought him on my trip to Italy. Does this mean that I dressed a celebrity on the red carpet? Ok, so the carpet was white, it still counts!

We are leaving for our trip to the big city very very very early tomorrow morning. We fly into Maryland at noon for my hair appointment at Bubbles Salon in Annapolis. I wouldn’t dream of going to NYC without making a trip to see my favorite stylist, Jamie. Then, we are having all of my girlfriends over to watch the new PR episode and eat pizza. We leave on a train to NYC on Thursday at noon and will be staying in Christian’s apartment on Thursday night. It’s going to be a full house, but we have a hotel room for the weekend, and this savings is how I validate flying to Maryland for a hair cut. I will be gone for the rest of the week, but will have many things to blog about when I return from the trip!

Avant Garde Toons

After every episode of Project Runway (PR) I get online to see what the bloggers have to say about the show. My brother, Christian, has warned me not to read the blogs because some bloggers say not-so-nice things about the contestants, but I can’t resist. I just can’t get enough Project Runway and all the gossip that goes along with it. Last week, two blogs posted similar cartoon interpretations of the Avant Garde Challenge, (that my brother won!) I wish that they would do them for every challenge. The blog that Christian warns against most, Project RunGay, had two cartoons about this challenge, one of Jillian and Victorya and the other of Christian and Chris. Even though these guys are snotty, I love this blog. Most of the time, they are right on the money and have very insightful statements about the designs, challenges and contestants. Other times, they are ruthless and make fun of everyone, but I like that, too. (Don’t tell Christian.) The other blog with cartoons of PR is Project 365: Drawing the Line. He has a similar interpretation of the Team Fierce Avant Garde Challenge. I just love it. It is getting closer to the PR finals everyday. I don’t know what I will do with myself when it’s over. :(