So you think you can DJ? Enter for your chance to perform at New York Fashion Week
Posted 01/05/2012 by Lara
Elettra DJing. Photo Credit: Stella McCartney
Supermodel, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann returns this February with her pop-up restaurant, GOODNESS for Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week. This season she has teamed up again with The Daily Front Row magazine and is partnering with Talenthouse and world renowned DJ Zen Freeman to invite aspiring DJ’s to submit a sample of their set for the opportunity to perform live at New York Fashion Week. One artist will be selected to DJ at GOODNESS and for an event at RLife LIVE in a New York Renaissance Hotel between February 11th – 14th, and offered travel and five night hotel accommodations in NYC, together with $500 (courtesy of Renaissance Hotels).
To enter, participants must submit a sample by January 18th of their DJ set which demonstrates their versatility, diversity and ability to offer a range of lounge music and remixes to suit both daytime and evening environments.
This is an awesome opportunity for DJs around the world to perform at New York Fashion Week and showcase their talent in front of the fashion elite. So get in on it and enter or send this article to your DJ friends and lets see what they got!
For more details and to enter visit Talenthouse.
And for all you foodies, get excited for another season of GOODNESS! They just released the line-up of this season’s chefs that includes Mario Batali, Alain Allegretti, Julian Medina and Leo Forneas. I’m salivating in anticipation.
UPDATE: Please note this post has been updated to note the submission phase has been extended to Wednesday, January 18th. Voting will now take place from Thursday, January 19th through Thursday, January 26th and the winner will be announced on Monday, January 30th. For more details and to enter visit Talenthouse.
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8 Interesting Shopping Trends we Learned From 2011
Posted 01/05/2012 by Lara
It’s amazing with all the advancements in technology and the increased competitive climate of the retail industry how much our shopping habits have evolved in the past years. Andrea Woroch is a consumer and money-saving expert and she shared these 8 shopping trends learned from the 2011 holiday shopping season with us:
1. Clicks Beat Bricks
This was the year e-commerce beat the pants off brick-and-mortar retailing. Although traditional stores did better than expected — up an estimated 3.8 percent — online shopping surged 15 percent over 2010.
2. Free Shipping Was Everywhere
Consumers clamored for free shipping offers and often abandoned their online shopping carts when such deals weren’t offered. That explains why nine out of 10 retailers provided free shipping during the holiday season. This prosperity no doubt will spill over into 2012, as websites like FreeShipping.org continue to attract bargain shoppers.
3. Free Return Shipping the Next Big Thing
Zappos and several shoe stores began offering free return shipping years ago, but this year even Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus got in on the trend. According to a MarketLive study, 73 percent of respondents named free returns as a deciding factor in their online purchasing.
4. iPads Rule
Laptop shopping is so passé! More than 18 percent of all e-commerce hits were initiated from a mobile device. That’s up of 8.4 percent from Christmas Day 2010 and an astounding increase of 117.8 percent. Yes, that figure is 117.8, not 11.78.
5. Dumbbell Shopping
Americans weren’t flocking to weight lifting; they were shopping early and late and avoiding the in-between, creating a dumbbell-shaped graph. As expected, buying surged on Continue Reading…
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December 7th is the Second Annual FashInvest Conference for Entrepreneurs
Posted 11/02/2011 by Lara
Being an entrepreneur in the fashion industry is tough. It is notorious for being cut throat and very expensive.
With the goal of encouraging funding for medium to smaller size businesses the FashInvest Capital Conference was created as the only place in the world where entrepreneurs within Fashion, Branded Goods, Retail and Fashion Tech start-ups can showcase their business vying for investment opportunities. Now in it’s second year, the organizers will welcome over 60 national and international capital sources (angel, institutional angel, venture capital and smaller private equity firms) attending the event who are looking to form relationships with viable candidates. The FashInvest Capital Conference will feature up to 20 selected, vetted and coached entrepreneurs presenting their company in an 8-minute format with the goal of fostering investment and strategic partnering opportunities.
The Conference will also feature Keynote Speakers, panels and networking.
Last year over 15 companies participated and many received initial funding as well as sage advice in their overall branding and prelaunch efforts.
The deadline for applications is November 4th 2011. Companies that are interested in participating can visit www.fashinvest.com for the online application.
The Second Annual FashInvest Capital Conference will take place on December 7 at the Fashion Institute of Technology
(F.I.T), 227 W. 27th Street, New York City.
Good Luck!
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TriBeCa Whole Foods Launches the Wellness Club to Promote Healthy Living
Posted 10/19/2011 by Lara
By Pretty Connected Contributor, Elizabeth Borenstein
Whole Foods is defiantly my go to grocery store when I am looking for food that I think is healthy. That said, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Indian hot bar station I usually beeline to is not the most energy producing, nourishing option. It can be hard to know what to pick up that is healthy and delicious and Whole Foods can feel overwhelming to navigate. For confused consumers like myself and health conscious neighborhood residents, Whole Foods is looking to add a whole new dimension in how to shop their grocery store. Starting this month, with a pilot program at their Tribeca location in NYC, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey introduces the Wellness Club. “Created by doctors, this program offers members a wide-ranging set of tools for a greater chance of sustaining a healthier lifestyle.” Mackey describes.
Whole Foods Bread Breaking Ceremony
I stopped by the TriBeCa store for a traditional bread breaking ceremony and cooking demonstration in the brand new wellness center to learn more about this new initiative and what it means for Continue Reading…
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DVF at Lucky FABB + TODAY ONLY 20% off Harper-Connect Bag!
Posted 09/28/2011 by Lara
DVF at Lucky FABB showing off her NEW Harper-Connect bag
Last month, the Pretty Connected team attended Lucky Magazine’s 2nd annual Fashion and Beauty Blogger (FABB) Conference. Highlight of the day was keynote speaker Diane von Furstenburg, who’s all around fabulousness inspires us to no end.
Her energy, her innovation and her support of women motivates us to be the entreprenuers we strive for at Pretty Connected –especially with our recent incorparation of our sister consulting company, Pretty Social (website and more info to come!).
We’re so used to women in this industry being powerhouses or workaholics (we’re slightly guilty of that), so to see the mother-ship of powerhouse women be so calm, collected and balanced made us hang onto her every word and feed off her advice. She stood before us composed, head to toe in her signature label; slim, tan and gorgeous (as always), spreading her message of ‘you can have it all; a great career, a wonderful family and healthy lifestyle’.
As she spoke out to a room of 250 predominantly female bloggers, she listed these three things all women should have (surprisingly enough a DVF wrap-dress was not one of them):
1. The most important relationship you will ever have is the one you make with yourself.
2. All women should have children.
3. It is very important for women to have an identity outside of their career.
DVF Harper-Connect bag
To each their own on #2 (especially since we’re not there yet, but look forward to that day), but we couldn’t be more thrilled and in agreement over #1 and #3; which we take to heart as we navigate to find a healthy work/life balance.
She also made a great social media point about when she tweets (yes when she signs ‘love Diane’ at the end of the tweet, it’s actually her!), that the non-sales, non-promotional, more heartfelt tweets are always the ones that get the most attention and responses!
She also took a moment to show off her new DVF Harper-Connect bag, which looks like any other gorgeous, well constructed, perfect-sized everyday bag and then opened it up to display that it doubles as an iPad case! To die for! And exclusive today only (September 29th) on DVF.com, she’s offering the bag for 20% off!!!! Use the code HARPER20 at checkout to redeem.
So if you have the means, take advantage. We’ll be infinitely jealous of all who do!
Also on our radar, is the new DVF fragrance, Diane, which debut last week at Bloomingdale’s. Described as a floral woody scent that combines the Mastery of the Frangipani Flower with the Softness of Violet Leaves, I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds divine!
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Exclusive: Preview and Buy Guerlain Holiday Collection on AHAlife
Posted 09/22/2011 by Lara
For the first time ever Guerlain is doing an online pre-launch of their holiday collection, Belle de Nuit, by partnering with the influential online discovery destination AHAlife.
Starting today, fans of the infamous beauty brand can purchase the artfully designed and packaged collection before it is available elsewhere. The collection was informed by the 1933 Geurlain collection called Vol de Nuit, which was inspired by daring women of that era, Amelia Earhart and Continue Reading…
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The WIE Symposium presented by Sarah Brown, Donna Karen and Arianna Huffington
Posted 09/22/2011 by Lara
Donna Karen moderates the 'Mind Body & Spirit - Creating Calm in the Chaos' panel
This week marked the 2nd annual Women: Inspiration & Enterprise (WIE) Symposium hosted by Sarah Brown, Donna Karen and Arianna Huffington garnering the theme of “what it means to be a woman now”. The two day conference featured a series of panels and discussions led by women leaders, activists, entrepreneurs and entertainers exploring how women can be more socially conscious, spiritually balanced and work to become more enterprising and inspiring leaders.
Sarah Brown autographing her book
Speakers and panelists included Nancy Pelosi, Dr. Jill Biden, Kelly Cutrone, Rebecca Minkoff, Jane Wurand, Katia Beauchamp. Cynthia Rowley, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Christy Turlington, Dany Levy, Fran Drescher, Nancy Brinker, Gayle King, Georgina Chapman, Sonia Kashuk, amongst many more. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to clear my schedule to the extent I was hoping to be present for all the panels, I did however catch the Mind Body & Spirit – Creating Calm in the Chaos segment moderated by Donna Karen; who’s panel took us through a meditation exercise illustrating how just a few minutes of “getting grounded” can help bring balance to ourselves and those Continue Reading…
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Get Lucky at Lord & Taylor: 20% off sale!
Posted 09/19/2011 by Lara
Shopping with Lindsay from Saucy Glossie
It doesn’t get too much lucky-ier then an invitation from Lucky Magazine and Lord & Taylor for an exclusive shopping experience with L&T’s Fashion Editor at Large, Suze Yalof Schwartz and their Fashion Director, Paula Correri before the store opens. What’s even better is doing so during this crucial month when it’s time to transition your wardrobe from summer to fall and your in need of a few key pieces! Suze’s advice for quick updates for fall is it’s all about sparkle (although pay attention to your shape to be sure it’s flattering), get into the color blocking fad and if all else fails rely on beauty for a quick and easy pick me up.
While it’s clear Lord & Taylor has been making grand strides to invest in their classic department store and modernize it (have you seen Suze on the cab TV’s?); I have to admit they have been my secret weapon for a while now. Since there ‘ultimate face-lift‘ last year on October 26th (I remember the opening date as it was on my birthday), the redesign has made for an exceptional shopping experience and houses my favorite Clinique counter (check it out, it’s interactive and so amazingly merchandized –read my post about it). Although, I didn’t really have a problem with the older one since what I’ve always loved about their 5th avenue location is it rivals the assortment of Bloomingdale’s but mitigates the crowds or over-selling sales associates. And while you may equate it with an older crowd or sans the cool factor of the Brown Bag, nothing beats the privacy, instant access to the dressing rooms or spectacular beauty floor; especially when you’re in a rush and not looking for that shopping experience as much as to just get in and out of the store as quickly as possible with everything on your list. And they have the best Continue Reading…
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Remembering 9/11
Posted 09/11/2011 by Lara
September 11th isn’t a subject I’ve ever felt comfortable talking about. I was a freshman in college and had just moved to the city only two weeks prior when the towers went down. Even when asked about my experience I’m quick to brush it off. I guess to this day I have such a difficulty digesting the ordeal and as human beings what we’re capable of doing to each other or how warped our perception of right and justice can be, especially at the expense of so many innocent people. It wasn’t until today that I realized I can officially say I’ve lived in New York for over 10years — although somehow using the publishing years of the anniversary of 9/11 as my marker saddens me.
This morning I woke up, ignored the news and any threats or scares that may come and hustled to the Empire Hotel to get straight to work on the events I’m producing for fashion week. As I got off the subway, I passed through Lincoln Center when suddenly I was taken aback by an army of performers dressed in white Continue Reading…
