Designer Day

Women In Charge:: Tamara Mellon

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 by admin

For the month of July, we’re turning our Designer Day segment into a weekly blog where we spotlight some of the women who run the fashion world. They might not be names you recognize, although some will be, but they’re all powerful, in charge women who daily make decisions that change the face of fashion. Nothing is more POSH than a woman who isn’t afraid to lead in her industry, and it’s always our goal to show you women who inspire us all towards greater success.

  • Job Title:: Co- Founder & chief creative officer for mega shoe label Jimmy Choo
  • Age:: 44
  • Net Worth:: Estimated at $160 Million
  • Resides In:: New York

Tamara was born in London to a successful entrepreneur father and a former model mother (hence her drop-dead beauty!). She began her career at Mirabella, a public relations firm, and upon leaving there she became the accessories editor for British Vogue, where she met shoe cobbler Jimmy Choo. She is the mother of one daughter, Aaraminta Mellon, and the two reside in a stunning 30, 000 square foot apartment in Manhattan. (Which you can see here!)

No doubt you’ve heard of the luxurious shoe brand Jimmy Choo before, they’re everywhere, but do you know just how much work went into making this a reality? One of the reasons we love Tamara Mellon so much is that she built this company from the ground up. She had a vision and brought it completely into fruition through hard work and a lot of dedication. In 1996, Mellon approached Malaysian shoe cobbler Jimmy Choo about the idea of creating a line of high-end ready-to-wear shoe company. After securing a loan from her father, Mellon sourced factories in Italy, as well as setting up a personal office in Italy to help handle production, quality control and shipping. By 2001, Jimmy Choo was being carried in the top retail locations around the world, including Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. Choo’s niece, Sandra Choi, became the creative director, and together they were unstoppable, and today they have a total of 39 Jimmy Choo stores around the world, and hundreds of retail accounts. They’ve also done major collaborations with stores like H&M, as well as labels we’ve all heard of such as UGG Today, the company is valued around $890 million.

Tamara Mellon is a business leader, a mother, an entrepreneur and a hard working woman that is really making her mark in the fashion industry. We believe there’s something that we can all learn from her career!

Designer Day:: Cydney Lewis

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011 by admin

The Background::

Cydney M. Lewis, the oldest of three siblings, was born into art. Her father, a thirty-year art educator in the Evanston school system, and founder of The Art Unlimited Children’s Art Studio is an accomplished artist himself. He often took young Cydney along to the studio where she spent many hours by her fathers’ side, learning and watching while developing her own need for self-expression. She credits her use of color to him.

Growing up, Cydney’s interest in the arts was far reaching. She studied ballet for 15 years, before moving on to study Architecture at the L’ecole d’architecture des Versailles, France and later studying art at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Architecture became the outlet for expression but soon gave way to Hollywood. As an Art Director/Production Designer, Cydney worked on films such as the critically acclaimed Love Jones and later on Oprah Winfreys’ Beloved. Motherhood brought back a need for a different self-expression and as her own children showed an interest in the arts Cydney returned to her roots.. Cydney is working with unconventional materials in a sculptural and painterly form, while exploring time and space in this modern culture.

The Line::


Not only does Cydney design one of a kind- drop dead gorgeous jewelry, but she creates absolutely breath-taking art pieces, paintings, sculptures and various other works. The kind of art work that you cannot help but fall more in love with every time you take a glance. She works in amazing mediums, from plastic bags, paper, wire, wood and water color paint, Cydney’s work is truly one of a kind.

What Inspires Her::

Cydney states:

While walking the streets of Chicago, I looked up and noticed several plastic bags trapped in a tree.  
Others were floating in the air.
More tumbling along the ground. 
At first I took them as litter, as so many do.

I have taken my life experience and shared it through my art. 
I draw my inspiration from my surroundings relying on the experiences in my daily life, my relationships with friends, family and accomplices. 
I hope to create an awareness of our life in progress and the obligation to find its brilliance and truthfulness through all the anxiety and uncertainties that encircle us. 

My jewelry adornments are a reminder of how we can create  beauty, by transforming a useful, yet harmful material into a work of art.

Her Adornments That We Love::

Would you even believe it if we told you that all of the pieces below are made of transformed plastic bags?! Plastic bags! You never would have thought this was possible until you see how intricate her designs are::

Why We Love Her::

We love that she can take something that others looks at as trash, and transform our way of thinking by making it something beautiful and innovative and one a kind. We love that she thought outside the box, while others just saw something to throw away, and turned these pieces into works of art that are loved by museums and patrons all the same. We love that she is so much more than just one type of artist. She’s a jewelry designer, a sculptor, a painter and so much more! And we absolutely adore her use of color! Aren’t her necklaces absolutely stunning? It’s literally wearable art!

Jewell recently found wore one of her pieces to an event, and she got stopped at least 20 times by people asking where she found such a gorgeous piece! Her answer? The one and only, brilliant artist, Cydney Lewis.

You can purchase all of her artwork directly through her website, Meartcy.com

Designer Day:: Phillip Lim

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 by admin

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The Background::

Born in Thailand in 1972, Phillip Lim didn’t grow up with the idea that being a fashion designer was his calling. It wasn’t until his parents brought his family to Southern California to escape Cambodia’s civil war and Lim had a weekend job at Barneys in Beverly Hills. With no background in fashion, just a keen eye for design, he decided to pursue internships, and landed an internship with Katayone Adeli, which eventually led to a position on her design team. At age 31, he left Los Angeles for New York and Lim launched his personal collection with a business partner and friend, Wen Shou. One year later, Lim debuted his eponymous brand, 3.1 Phillip Lim to instant success. He’s received numerous awards for his excellent design work, including the prestigious CFDA Award in Women’s wear in 2007. Today, 3.1 Phillip Lim is carried in over 50 countries and in 400 boutiques and department stores world wide, including their 5 flagship stores around the world.

The Line::

3.1 Phillip Lim is a Women’s wear line that puts out five collections/ year: Spring, Summer, Pre-Fall, Fall, Resort and Holiday. They also make handbags, shoes and other women’s accessories. For Men, they put out two collections/ year: Spring and Fall. 3.1 also makes some of the cutest children’s clothing that you can ever seen!

Who is wearing 3.1 Phillip Lim?::

Everyone. His contemporary, cool, modern line is a celebrity favorite. you’ll see everyone from Rachel Bilson (a HUGE 3.1 fan) to Lauren Conrad and Beyonce wearing him. One of the greatest things about 3.1 Phillip Lim is that it crosses over so many genres of style. From casual to formal, he has something for every occasion, and you can be guaranteed that a least one A-list celeb is jumping at the seams to wearing something of his.  

The Current Season Favorites-Spring/Summer::

Summer at Phillip Lim is a lot of beautiful silks cut with menswear like tailoring. We see brilliant suit jackets, tailored slim pants with a beautiful nude color palette.

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(Images via Style.com)

What’s To Come:: Fall/Winter ’11

Cropped pants, wool coats and a lot of leather accents are 3 key components that build up 3.1 Phillip Lim for Fall/Winter. Mix that in with bright pops of blue, greens, dark purples and perfectly shaped outerwear and this collection is complete! Our favorite piece? The gorgeous camel colored wool coat with the oversized bow at the collar. To.Die.For.

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Designer Day:: Rachel Pally

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 by admin

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“Just because its fashionable doesn’t mean you should wear it. Stick with styles that suit you…”

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The Background:

Rachel Pally holds a degree from the University of California Berkeley in Urban Planning, but it’s her passion for costume design and dance that has brought her major success in the fashion industry. She sought out to combine the  fluidity of movement and the beauty of the human form in every garment that she designed and produced. Founded in 2002, she’s become known as Los Angeles’ “Jersey Girl”, because of her love for all things made out of the amazingly comfortable and chic jersey fabric. Her line started out with just the basic tee, and later expanded to the caftan dress (one of her most popular items). Rachel herself is a walking example of her collection. Beautiful, classic, timeless… that woman you see on the streets and you marvel in how effortlessly stunning she is. That’s Rachel Pally, as well as Rachel Pally, Inc., which is what makes her so successful. She lives the lifestyle that she’s creating. Beautiful.

Who is wearing Rachel?

Really, the better question is, “who ISN’T wearing Rachel?” A-list celebs like Cameron Diaz, Jessica Alba, Sophia Bush, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lauren Conrad absolutely cannot get enough of her line. And who could ever forget when Oprah added the Rachel Pally Swing Turtleneck and Sailor Pants to her 2007 list of Favorite Things and shortly after you could not find these in stock ANYWHERE. Everyone loves Rachel Pally.

The Line:

Rachel Pally, Inc. is women’s ready-to-wear dresses, pants, tops, skirts and accessories. She also has an unbelievably, in our opinion- the best, plus size collection (her White Label) with many of the same garments from her regular collection, but in sizes and cuts that will really flatter a woman’s figure.

Current Season Favorites: Spring/Summer ’11:

We love and believe in what Rachel Pally is doing so much, that we decided to carry her line in Shop Posh Boutique. So below are a few of our favorite pieces for Summer. We LOVE her dresses; don’t you just die over how beautiful and flowy they are? We can’t seem to take off any of her line! It’s all so lush and feminine. We feel absolutely gorgeous in this collection!

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from left: ‘Dove’ Maxi Dress // ‘Rosalind’ Maxi // ‘Tova’ Maxi

from left: ‘Porter’ Slouchy Tank Top // ‘Extra Wide Tee’ // ‘Wideleg Trouser’

You can check out all our favorite items here!

Designer Day:: Cynthia Rowley

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 by admin

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The Background::

Born and raised in a suburb of Chicago, the 35 year old designer has garnered fashion acclaim since the early 1980s. As a senior at the Art Institute of Chicago, she sold her first collection of eight pieces to a number of New York’s most prominent stores, furthering her passion to pursue her dreams. She launched her collection in the early 80′s with just $3000 she was given by one of her grandmothers. Her first fashion show was in her apartment, where she daringly invited every important fashion editor in New York as well as a few movie stars and artists…not one of them came. From a humble beginning, Cynthia proves that hard work and dedication to your gifts will bring success, because not even 20 years later and the Cynthia Rowley collection includes menswear, women’s, acessories, bridal, home and so much more. She is an author, a mother, a designer, an innovator, a business woman, a wife and so much more.  She lives in New York and is married with two daughters, Kit Clementine and Gigi Clementine.

 

Why We Love Cynthia::

She’s daring, she’s adventurous and she’s always involving herself in new ventures. Like in 1999, along with her best friend Ilene Rosenzweig, wrote a best selling book entitled “Swell: A Girl’s guide to the Good life.”, and then again in 2002 they released a second book and then a third just one year later. She continues to expand her Cynthia Rowley collection by adding in more avenues, such as bridal wear and bicycles. We love how well rounded she is and that she’s never afraid to fully after for what she want. Who else do you that has the confidence as to invite movie stars they don’t know to their apartment to see their collection, because they’re just that proud of it? Amazing example for all business owners out there: create something you’re proud of, and don’t stop until you make everyone else believe in it as well. Plus, she’s absolutely gorgeous.

The Line:

Cynthia Rowley includes women’s wear, beachwear and wetsuits, eyewear, beauty, handbags, shoes, baby, home sewing patterns, tools, legwear, bridesmaid dresses, shapewear, and ‘dress-up’ band-aids, not to mention a mobile fashion unit: the Cynthia Rowley Shop on Wheels. Literally, she does it all.  How amazing that she designs critically acclaimed fashion lines, as well as fashionable band-aids. We adore her for that kind of innovation.

Current Season Favorites:: Spring/ Summer ’11

Flirty and feminine with hints of racy behavior done with see through details like skin-baring circular shaped cutouts. Gorgeous sherbet tones accompanied by loose cuts and silky shirtdresses lead way to a very light and airy  Summer feel. The looks were coupled with a strong red lip and a beautiful, pulled back hair style, this season was one of Rowley’s best.

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(Don’t you just d.i.e.  over those grommet detailed, black shorts? They’re basically perfection.)

What’s the Come:: Fall/Winter ’11

Fall for Cynthia Rowley is all about geometric shapes, soft fabrics like velvet and, of course, shimmer. We absolutely adore the patterns she’s chosen that she carries throughout the collection.