Valentine's Day by Victoria's Secret

     Valentine's Day is just around the corner, which means there will be plenty of chocolate, hearts, and lace sold by a retailer near you. So who will win your heart, and make you spend your dollar? Well if you have ever spent a dollar in Victoria's Secret, you've probably already gotten mail or emails reminding you to buy that "special outfit" or gift for Valentine's Day. So I was curious to see the Victoria's Secret Love Me campaign online and in-stores for the holiday. As soon as I pulled up the Victoria's Secret website, I noticed how tailored it was for Valentine's Day; they made a link just for the holiday. The Valentine's Day link provides direction on different types of lingerie, fragrances, and outfits for the holiday. This will definitely be useful for men, especially if they feel too embarrassed to go and buy their special lady something sexy at the store. The Victoria's Secret staff in-stores are very helpful, and they do have some great options for Valentine's lingerie though. Below are pictures of the visual merchandising at my local Victoria's Secret used to seduce customers in:

  

Lola, la la la la lola

       I am in a transitional point in my life. I'm going to graduate in April, looking for jobs now, and not sure where life is going to take me within the next couple of months. Since I am going through this period in my life, I believe its time for a transformation. I recently changed my hair, I'm getting fit, gradually changing my style, and now the next step is to change my fragrance! My favorite fragrances are listed below:

1. Lola Eau de Toilette by Marc Jacobs - a floral fragrance that is like no other, by my favorite designer, Marc Jacobs! Top notes consist of pink peppercorn, pear, and ruby reb grapefruit. Mid notes are peony, rose, and geranium. Base notes are vanilla, tonka bean, and musk.

2. L'instant de Guerlain Eau de Parfum - This floral citrus fragrance is my favorite from the well known French perfume house Guerlain; it's an older, sophisticated scent. The predominant notes are citrus honey, magnolia inclusion, and amber harmony.

3.  DKNY Be Delicious - This delicious sweet scent is fun and flirtatious; perfect for the summer! Notes are: American Apple, Cucumber, Grapefruit, Candid Magnolia, Tuberose, White Muguet, Rose, Violet, Sandalwood, Tender Skin Accord, Blonde Woods, and White Amber.

4. PINK by Victoria's Secret - This youthful, fun, and sexy floral scent drives men crazy! Top notes are bergamot, mandarin, green leaves, violet leaves, artemesia, and juniper berry. The mid noted are freesia, muguet, neroli, and peony. Base notes are sandalwood, vetiver, musk, and vanilla.

H&M's Fashion Studio Feature creates incredible interactive entertainment

       H&M is one of my favorite affordable trend setting stores. According to H&M (2011), "Today H&M operates in 38 countries and has over 76,000 employees all working on the same philosophy: to bring you fashion and quality at the best price". The retailer has also had very well known designers create affordable lines for them; designers such as: Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, and Jimmy Choo. The most recent name to hit H&M is high fashion design house Lanvin. The new line of the design house's affordable garments, Lanvin for H&M, was launched November 2010. So needless to say, I can always go into H&M and find at least one quality garment on their racks.

       I've always been a loyal customer of H&M, and when I moved to Florida in 2008 I was devastated that there were no stores in my region. One day after I recently moved, I was craving some H&M and decided to see if I could maybe find some of their clothes online. After going to the official site, I realized that not only could I not purchase their clothes online, but I could barely see any of their collections! For a year I was unable to shop at H&M, until they finally opened one at the Florida Mall in Fall 2009. Recently I went to the website and saw an incredible difference! Although one still cannot shop online, there are plenty of more features. There are more collections visible, H&M fashion online videos, an iPhone app, and even a social media room for H&M fans to interact (and if you didn't already know, it is extremely important for any business to have social media presence, but I'm not going into that tangent right now).

       The newest feature that I have come across and can play with all day is the H&M fashion studio feature! In the H&M fashion studio you can: choose a real model, dress them, accessorize them, strip them, and start all over again. I believe that H&M's use of this technology creates incredible interactive entertainment with their visitors. Now all they need to do is add a digital shopping cart so that the customer may purchase the outfit they put together on their models!

       My H&M Fashion Studio creation :)

Inspiring Fashion Start-Up

 Elle Shorts by Win.k at http://www.garmz.com/shop

      I was recently flipping through the latest W Magazine (a fashion industry magazine that focuses on the who, what, when, where, and why in fashion) and came across the most intriguing blurb. This little article described the working of this online company, called Garmz, that created garments by designers who submitted their sketches, and whichever designs had the highest votes got sent to production; half of the profits would go to the designer. They also had a picture of one of the garments that were recently produced, that I found extremely appealing and unique. It was a pair of black shorts with a black chiffon draping on the thighs and bow on the waist, designed by W.ink referred to as the Elle Shorts. After seeing the article and the shorts, I immediately went to the website to check out Garmz even more.

      I scrolled through the sketches, the designs, and felt my away around the website. The more I ventured into the website, the more envious I became of the inspiring company. So, I highly suggest going to the website, http://www.garmz.com/, and experiencing it for yourself. The business model for Garmz is to showcase new designers from across the globe by letting them submit their work, market themselves on the website, send the product to production if the design shows popularity on the website, and distribute the product via Garmz.com. The idea and set-up of this company is inspiring and innovating, making me wish I had came up with such an idea, and I believe that it is a great opportunity for young designers trying to make it in the industry. So if you're a young designer with some fabulous sketches, post them on Garmz.com and show the world how talented you are!