Fashion Passion at Richards

Yesterday I posted about writing more about my "truest passion"; fashion.  Summer is always a quiet time in retail, as clients are busy "summering" abroad, out West, in the Hampton's and Nantucket.  True to the strangeness of the delivery cycles in fashion, it may be 92 degrees out, but we are already ga ga over the full out fall collections that are arriving daily at Richards.

This week we received some new cocktail dresses from J. Mendel  that simply took my breath away.  While Gilles Mendel was originally best known for his exquisite furs, his evolution into Ready-to-Wear as followed a meteoric path.  Here is how N.Y. Magazine describes the J.Mendel label:

Founded in 1870 in Paris by Joseph Breitman, a furrier to the Russian aristocracy, J. Mendel is one of the rare luxury brands to remain family-owned. Today, the fifth-generation Gilles Mendel acts as CEO and head designer, and the label is now based in New York. In addition to fur, the brand now encompasses a full women’s ready-to-wear line, which originated practically by accident; to detract PETA protesters from staking out his first flagship boutique on Madison Avenue in the mid-nineties, Mendel created simple sheaths to display in the store windows at night. Collections now run the spectrum from luscious chiffon dresses and sleek canvas trenches to tweed suiting and red-carpet gowns.

Talk about silver linings!

I fell madly in love with this new chiffon and satin cocktail dress and I styled it as I would dream of wearing  or selling it:

J. Mendel Cocktail Dress ($2990)

I would wear it with this gorgeous Rene Caovilla platform evening shoe:

Rene Caovilla Evening Shoe ($1075)

And accessorize it with this Irene Neuwirth `rainbow moonstone and pale amythest bracelet set in pink gold:

Irene Neuwirth Bracelet ($6535)

For earrings I would prefer something dangling and would have a hard time choosing between the Kimberly McDonald pink geode earring, set in rose gold and surrounded by pave diamonds or the more delicate Sylva & Cie rose gold, hand wrought  diamond scroll earrings:

Kimberly McDonald Geode Earrings($9800) Sylva & Cie Earrings (7500)

Beautiful, no???  Which would you choose???

A girl can dream, but she can purchase too!

xox,
DD