Unless you’ve intentionally avoided all fashion magazines and clothing stores the past couple of months, you’ve probably noticed that neon is a HUGE trend for this summer (and continuing into the fall). Bright oranges, lime greens, hot pinks, electric purples, and bright turquoises abound. You can get neon jeans, shirts, dresses, shoes, handbags etc.

So, I’ve been thinking a lot lately (clearly not a lot going on in my life) about how and if I am going to incorporate neon into my wardrobe.  I’ve personally always been a neon fan; I think neon colors are great for the summer and flatter most women.  You might not look good in the lime green, but the electric purple and turquoise look great against most skin tones.  Trust me, there’s at least one neon color that will work for you.

Trends come and go and the last time neon was in was the early 1990′s.  I remember this because I had a bright pink DKNY dress and a pair of Girbaud lime green linen pants, both of which I adored and wore to death one summer.  But the thing is I am now 20 years older, and at the age where covering my body in neon may be unflattering and quite possibly, inappropriate (and I generally don’t worry too much about whether  my attire is appropriate for my age).

Although I still own the Girbaud linen pants and plan on wearing them, I will wear them differently that I did 20 years ago, when I wore them with metallic heels and a dressy silk blouse.  The time around, the lime green pants are going to be  the “main feature” of my outfit.  I’ll wear them with a plain white or neutral t-shirt, a nondescript belt, and quiet flat sandals. I’ve been subtly mixing in neon for a few weeks now, and it seems to be working.  So far, I’ve gotten almost all of the neon colored Snug tank tops at STASH, and have been wearing them under sheer t-shirts or blouses (the purple looks amazing under a sheer black blouse).  I’ve also taken one of our neon Posse bags, which I am careful to wear only when my clothes are completely neutral.  We’ve also have  some great neon  Freelook watches (not oversized!), that add a great pop to any outfit.  For what it’s worth, my conclusion is that unless you are young and fabulous, the best way to participate in the neon trend is with one really stand out article of clothing or jewelry, worn with a neutral outfit.   In small doses, neon it is a powerful way to add fashion value to your life.

Happy belated mother’s day and I can’t wait for the summer!!!!!

Stacy

So summer seems to have arrived and once again, I look in my closet, completely flummoxed (yes, flummoxed).  Although my closet is embarrassingly stuffed with enough clothing to dress a small country of chic women (who wear anything from a size 4 to a size 10), I can’t seem to remember how to dress for the summer.  Winter is easy–I could throw a nice (black) cardigan or a great (black) jacket over anything, and it almost didn’t matter what I wore underneath.  It was all about covering up with thick, beautiful clothing that rendered my actual body dimensions irrelevant.  But the summer is all about showing skin….the fabrics are sheer and the colors are “look at me bright”!   Yikes!  I took a few hours last week to pull out all of my summer clothes and actually tried them on to see: 1) if they fit, 2) if they were still in style (so long, harem pants), and 3) if I still like them. As I tried them all on, it started coming back to me…..oh yeah, I used to wear that camisole over this tank with shorts and my have white belt.  Once I sorted through everything, I made 3 piles for the clothes that didn’t cut it; one for my friends who I think might like something, one for consignment, and one for the big metal donation box.  It was only at that point that I could really appreciate what I needed……luckily, I co-own a store (!!!!!!), so Tracy and I get first dibs on all of the stuff we’ve ordered.  So far, I’ve taken a gorgeous tank dress from KOCH (pic in gallery), several cute camisoles from Pas de Calais (my new favorite line), a gorgeous hand painted beach poncho from Glamourpuss, a great pair of cropped linen cargo pants (Pete & Greta), and finally, this insane indigo blue leather jacket lined in muslim from Jakett.  Oh, and also, a white  eyelet blouse from Cino that I can wear with my Black Orchid skinny micro flare jeans……We also have got in a ton of really cool summery jewelry.  Enjoy the weather, and remember, we’re available for summer clothing suggestions and direction!

Stacy

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Hi!  It’s winter….at least for a while!  All of our coats, boots and handbags are 30% off.   We still have a decent size selection of two styles of Manitobah Mukluks fur boots, and given the snow forecasted for Saturday,  some really warm boots might come in handy.  I have the high mustard colored ones and wore them this past weekend in Vermont (without socks), and my feet  were toasty warm even in 10 degree below zero weather.  We also just got in a new line of reading glasses called Jimmy Crystal, which are essentially pimped out reading glasses (but not too over the top).  Although we love our Eyebobs, we thought these were so cute, we had to carry them also.   Separately, I’ve been doing a lot of research on trends for spring and am almost ready to share my findings.  STAY TUNED, STAY WARM, and STAY FASHIONABLE>.

Dec. 12, 2011: So, it’s finally cold out. Not sure how I feel about that–on the one hand, it’s starting to feel a bit like Christmas (or Hanukah), but on the other hand, it was fun pretending that we were living either further South or on the other side of the country. Anyway, we’ve been super busy at STASH, with a lot of old and new clients coming in to either refresh their wardrobe or buy gifts for the holidays. Now that it’s actually boot weather, you should come in and check out our Manitobah Mukluks fur accented suede booths. We’ve got a short boot in brown and a really cool tall boot in a muted yellow color that looks great with jeans. Also, we just got in another shipment of Yarnz cashmere scarves that are gorgeous, and these incredible rabbit fur fingerless gloves ($90–great gift!). We also have had a great response to our Simone Smith earrings–there is a pic on our What’s New page but you should come in and see them in person cause they are awesome. (Simone is married to LL Cool J, the rapper, and her jewelry line is super hot right now.) Drop by and say hi!

Hi.  It’s Stacy and Tracy here (but it’s Stacy writing).  Anyhow, we are working with this awesome web designer named Jill Becker to build a real live website instead of just a placeholder.  She is teaching me how to do all kinds of magical things on my computer and once I get up and running, I’m going to start writing about our fashion thoughts/concerns.  So excited!