Marni Teams Up with H&M

Allegro Creative — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:25:36 +0000

After a successful collaboration with Versace, H&M is now teaming up with colorful brand Marni. A family-owned Italian company founded in 1994, Marni is best known for their prints inspired by the fifties and sixties. The collaboration, available March 8, will include items for both men and women, with most pieces under $100. Full pleated skirts, dresses, cropped pants and jacquard knits will be available for purchase in the women’s line, as well as shoes, bags, scarves and jewelry. According to a press release, the women’s line features, “all-over prints in strong colors intended to be worn together in layers that both match and clash.” Judging by the newly released lookbook images below, we completely agree. To view more, visit Vogue.

NYFW: Leather Pants Steal the Spotlight

Allegro Creative — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:57:00 +0000

Quite frankly, we have never been one to wear leather pants. Relaxed jeans and leggings have always been our preferred option for bottomwear, especially after we saw the episode of Friends in which Ross wears the tightest leather pants known to mankind. Thanks to that hilarious scene we cannot even look at a pair without wanting to burst out laughing…that is, until New York Fashion Week rolled around this year. Designers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez and Proenza Schouler are taking a more relaxed approach at the rocker staple for Fall. If the pants feel as great as they look, then we know what trend we’ll be sashaying in come September. To see more visit Neiman Marcus’ blog NM Daily.

Coming Soon to the Red Carpet: New York Fashion Week

Allegro Creative — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:41:29 +0000

New York Fashion Week is over, but we won’t have to wait until the designs hit shelves in the Fall to see all of the dreamiest dresses in action. Thanks to strategic front row placement of stylists and celebrities eager to wear the garbs, we may be seeing creations from the 8-day event making appearances on red carpets soon. FabSugar recently did a fun post on the top gowns from NYFW and which famous face should wear each. The site envisions Viola Davis in a purple satin Ralph Lauren dress; Rooney Mara in an edgy, short black Marchesa number; and Natalie Portman donning an offbeat Wes Gordon ensemble. We completely agree with their picks, and look forward to seeing their wishes (hopefully) become a reality. To see more of their celebrity dressing suggestions, visit FabSugar.

Rihanna’s $5,000 Gold Grammy Manicure

Allegro Creative — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:44:23 +0000

Rihanna sizzled on the Grammy Awards red carpet this past weekend sporting a low-cut custom Armani black gown, gobbles of jewels from Neil Lane and a 24-karat gold manicure. What we initially believed to be a simple metallic polish is in fact pure gold squeezed into a bottle that sells for an astounding $5,000. For that price we would think that the bottle would come with a full-time manicurist, who would also dutifully follow us around with a dust pan to make sure the eventual polish chips can be resold for cold hard cash. Guess all that glitters–and costs a small fortune–really is gold.

How to Fold a Fitted Sheet

Allegro Creative — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:34:30 +0000

We fully believe that folding sheets is an art form, especially the dreaded fitted sheet. In an attempt this year to channel more Martha Stewart around our place, we watched a how-to video of the home queen herself getting a refresher course in the elastic banded sheet. See the clip below:

Getting Your Beauty Sleep Without the Sleep

Allegro Creative — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:25:58 +0000

In college, we could easily go from an all-night party straight to that 8 a.m. class in Holly Golightly style, but those days are no more. Surviving the hectic pace of everyday life, unfortunately, can sometimes mean goodbye Breakfast at Tiffany’s and hello Night of the Living Dead. We turned to The Fashion Spot for a few simple tricks of the trade to look amazing on zero zz’s. The site recommends doing a few jumping jacks to get the blood circulating, donning light eyeshadow to brighten tired eyes and, gulp, drinking water instead of coffee in the a.m. to help rejuvenate the skin. Hmm, that last one is going to be tough.

Tell Us: What do you do to look rested on zero sleep?

The History of Valentine’s Day

Allegro Creative — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:42:07 +0000

Valentine’s Day is here; and whether you love or loath this holiday, there is definitely no escaping it. As Americans are expected to dole out $17.6 billion on their loved ones this year, we got to wondering…why do we celebrate love on February 14th? According to History.com, the day can be traced back to a number of different origins, one of which being that a Roman Priest by the name of Valentine was martyred after trying to marry young lovers. Another story suggests that Valentine was imprisoned and fell in love with his jailor’s daughter. Before his death he signed a note, “From your Valentine”, thus the greeting card and infamous line were both born. To read more about the origins of Valentine’s Day, visit History.com.

Cook Your Way to an Engagement this Valentine’s Day

Allegro Creative — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:41:37 +0000

The old adage is true: the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach. Glamour magazine has found this to be fairly accurate with the advent of their “Engagement Chicken.” Initially published in 2004 after a few assistants at the glossy received a ring soon after cooking the dish, Engagement Chicken has now garnered well over 70 proposals. If you are looking to enjoy a cozy meal indoors this Valentine’s Day (and signal a question of sorts from your partner), then we highly suggest cooking this recipe. Visit Glamour for all the details.

Whitney Houston — An Iconic Look Back

Allegro Creative — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:56:49 +0000

A somber mood could be seen at the Grammy Awards last night as the entertainment industry–and the world as a whole–mourned the loss of legendary singer and actress Whitney Houston. With a voice range that spanned three octaves, Houston’s multi-million selling songs will live on as one of the greatest contributions to music. Below, we take a photographic look back over the life of a talented artist gone way too soon:

Top left to right–Whitney Houston singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1991 Superbowl, in the midst of the Gulf War; A vision in blue in 1986 accepting her first Grammy for “Saving All My Love for You“; Houston with Jordin Sparks on the set of the film “Sparkle”, which is slated to be released on August 10th; Houston with Clive Davis, the record producer and music executive who discovered her. Bottom left to right–Houston with Bobby Brown on the day of their 1992 wedding; Houston pictured with Mariah Carey at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards purposefully wearing matching gowns; The cover for Houston’s self-titled debut album; A young, fresh-faced Houston; Pictured with Kevin Costner in a promotional photo for “The Bodyguard”.

Silicon Valley Socks

Allegro Creative — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:45:23 +0000

In the land of Silicon Valley, where business attire typically consists of jeans and hoodies, a curious trend has appeared. Technology entrepreneurs are adding a little flair to their daily ensemble in the form of colorful socks. Geometric patterns, stripes, and socks with words are favored according to The New York Times.

“Let’s say you are wearing sweat pants and a hoodie, but you have really cool socks on,” said Joey Flynn, 24, a product designer at Facebook whose most loved pair contains orange and red elk. “It can be this rebellion against everything, but I’m still considerate about how I put myself together because I have these really cool socks.”

Want to find out more interesting tidbits about the faces behind your favorite tech brands? Visit Jesse Draper’s site The Valley Girl Show.