Scarlett's Closet Bridal 4-1-1 has a new web address. Please visit us at our new digs:
http://scarletts-bridal-4-1-1.blogspot.com
I know. It's a small change. But even small change is better than no change at all!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Semi Annual Dirt Cheap Clearance Sale in Scarlett's Closet
On sale now, first quality designer samples by Lazaro, Watters & Watters, Jordan Fashions, Montage, Mon Cheri Evening, Cameron Blake and others, dirt cheap. If you're even thinking of a wedding this summer, now's the time to buy. Don't dawdle. Sale ends August 1 2010.
Evening Dresses by Watters & Watters, Lazaro, Jordan Fashions, Mori Lee - just $25!
Evening Dresses by Watters & Watters, Lazaro, Jordan Fashions, Mori Lee - just $25!
Tea length and knee length party dresses by famous name designers - just $25!
Special occasions dresses by Jade, Montage, Cameron Blake and other top designers - just $50.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Summer Wedding Guest: Sassy
Summer often moves weddings into the garden. This is tricky for high heels; terrific for party dresses. Think sandals. Think short. Think color. Think Scarlett's Closet where there's always a designer sample on sale perfect for any affair.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Size Guidelines: Help Me Help You!
In the movie, Jerry Maguire, it's hilarious when Jerry expresses his frustration with Rod. "Help me! Help me help you." Today, I'm not laughing. I am beseeching online buyers looking for a beautiful gown at a bargain price, "help me help you!" In order to be happy with the wedding gown or evening dress you purchase online, know the style and color that flatters you and know your measurements.
A week ago, I chatted with a mother of the bride whose wear date was fast approaching. The dress she originally ordered had not come. She needed another one pronto. Size 10.
After eight years selling bridal and formal dresses online, I know all too well there is no standard sizing in women's apparel.
Bridal and formalwear generally, but not always, runs smaller than sportswear. Every designer cuts to a slightly different standard. A Vera Wang size 10 will fit more like a size 6 in some sportswear. Jade by Jasmine size 10 is a full three inches larger than Vera Wang.
What's more, all size 10 bodies come in different shapes. Bean pole, apple, pear, hourglass are the most common. There are even finer variables within these.
If you lined every size 8 women up, side by side, around the world, you would see variables that make each and every one of us unique. It is no sin. There is no shame in this game. That's how God made us.
Finally, every designer cuts to a standard shape, usually a triangle that is narrow in the bust and wider in the hips. Few women are shaped like this. This "cookie cutter" standard is for economies of scale and profit margin, not perfect fit. This is why God made tailors.
I automatically ask this mother of the bride her measurements.
Yes, she is 38-30-44.
The size chart in the listing states Size 10 Bust 38 Waist 29.5 Hips 41.
It's too small for her hips, so I tactfully say, "You have to fit your largest part."
Somehow she pretends not to know what that is and takes the dress. Four days later, she returns the dress, it's too small, the zipper is pulling apart.
Well du-uh. Zippers pull apart when you try to force a size 10 dress over size 12 hips. I diplomatically do not say this. And authorize her to send a return.
She is frustrated. I am frustrated. In fact, I'm frustrated by an order of magnitude. She is buying one gown. I am getting back one gown a week because women are stuck in their vanity about the size they wear. How can we avoid this frustration?
If we were engineers, we'd be objective. It's just numbers. Dimensions and variables. That's it. So why is it so difficult for adult women to own our true dimensions and variables? The numbers that define us are loaded.
We are not buying a dress; we are buying sex appeal. We will go to ridiculous extremes to have sex appeal. And we have been conditioned to believe that sex appeal only looks one way. This pretty much ensures that a very large percentage of women walk around deeply dissatisfied with the very fiber of our being - body shape, dimensions and the variables that make us unique.
May I tell you a small, little acknowledged truth? There is nothing sexier and more appealing than a woman who is comfortable in her own skin.
So please, help me help you.
Know your dimensions. Love your variables. And get the name of a good tailor. We'll all be much happier.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Mother of the Bride: Smokin' Hot!
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Today's mother of the bride or mother of the groom has a wide variety of designer styles from which to choose. Polished. Glamorous. Youthful. Frankly sexy. She doesn't want to out do the bride, but face it. Dresses for mother of the bride, mother of the groom and best dressed guests "of a certain age" are dowdy no more.
Mother of the bride, mother of the groom sample dresses by Jade by Jasmine, Montage, Siri San Francisco, Sarah Danielle, Val Stefani and many others, on sale now in Scarlett's Closet.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
New Arrivals: Evening Drama
Make dramatic entrances in beautiful evening dresses by Lazaro, newly posted to Scarlett's Closet. Sex appeal, superior quality and the sale price! ooo la la
Friday, April 23, 2010
Designer Wedding Dresses: Light as Angel Wings
New York Magazine showcases gorgeous designer wedding dresses in styles and fabric as light as angel wings.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
New Arrivals: Piccione by Alfred Angelo
Michelle Piccione banishes extravagance and takes a stand for elegance and refinement in gorgeous silk designer wedding dresses from Piccione Alfred Angelo. Reasonable prices become fabulous buys in Scarlett's Closet.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Trendy: Pastel Wedding Dresses
Save the Date discusses couture bridal designers who are moving away from white and ivory wedding gown. During bridal fashion week, color was everywhere.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Spring 2010: The Little White Dress is Back
Fashion is round. What was once great always comes round again. Like the little white dress. Have a look at the white way on the New York runway.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Miriam Haskell at J Crew: A Beautiful Marriage
Thrifty brides take note: The venerable Miriam Haskell jewelry company recently unveiled a new line of costume jewelry for the bride in conjunction with J Crew.
Lest you think there's is something tawdry and not quite worthy in wearing good costume, consider some of the ladies who have proudly worn her creations since Miriam Haskell opened "Le Bijou de L'Heure" in a New York hotel in 1926. Coco Chanel. The Duchess of Windsor. Lucille Ball. 1926! Coco Chanel!
While I would not have envisioned glamorous Miriam Haskell in league with preppy J Crew, there's huge promise in this partnership. Fabulous faux at prices you can afford.
Stay tuned.
This could be a beautiful marriage.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Say "I Do" to Carol Hannah at Michael Fineman, NYC
Be still my beating heart. Carol Hannah of "Project Runway" fame launches her first bridal dresses and bridesmaid gowns at the Michael Fina Boutique on Fifth Avenue in New York. Based on her show at Bryant Park last year, they've got to be divine. Plus a chance to win a $10,000 bridal package. How cool is that?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Spring Bridal Sample Sale in Scarlett's Closet
New arrivals from top bridal salons on sale in Scarlett's Closet include one of a kind sample wedding dresses by Paloma Blanca, Mon Cheri, Moonlight Designs, Maggie Sottero and Mori Lee. Save hundreds of dollars on your dream wedding dress.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Bride Wears Red? Absolutely!
Once white and ivory wedding dresses were de rigeur for the Cinderella bride. Not any more. Today's Cinderella is falling in love with color - and it's red. Red is not as off color as it seems. It is a predominant choice in Chinese, Hindu and some Muslim weddings. But for American brides? Maggie Sottero Patti is an emphatic "yes!"
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Bridesmaid Trends: Color Me Blue
Blue is a hit on the chapel aisle as too. After all, the next best thing to a vacation in a tropical paradise is a dress that echoes the sea or sky when you get there.In the terrestrial world, signs of blue life have been flowing onto the runways and pages of glossy magazines. At the recent fall shows, designers from Proenza Schouler in New York to Pucci in Milan, have explored myriad shades of cobalt, cornflower, turquoise and cerulean. It's almost as if Miranda Priestley's spirited defense of fashion in The Devil Wears Prada, a reaction to her indifferent assistant's "lumpy blue sweater," is being played out in real life. In her new "Marrakesh" collection for Tiffany, Paloma Picasso blends geometric gold patterns and lapis lazuli--the color of which recalls the walls of Morocco's Majorelle Garden, where Yves Saint Laurent's ashes are scattered. Meanwhile, the style bibles are teeming with all manner of blue foo dogs, turquoise jewels and lapis collectibles Read it
Friday, March 5, 2010
Party Perfect Tea Length Dresses
Nothing says "party perfect" like a swingy, tea-length a-line party dress from W-too by Watters & Watters now on sale in Scarlett's Closet.
Great legs go shorter with a just above the knee look that is both sassy and lady-like.
Maid, matron, mother of the bride, or best dressed guest, you are bound to make a favorable first impression in these kicky and flirtatious styles.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Platinum Taste, Copper Penny Budget? Deal Diva Bridal Guide
Meet our new friend, the Deal Diva Bridal Guide, a hot off the hard disk blog that scouts and touts the best deals in bridal and formal for women who have expensive taste and a tight budget.
*eye roll*
Isn't that everybody?
Have a look and be sure to subscribe. Sue Robinson, the author, is an expert at hooking you up with the deals and steals that will stretch your bridal budget dollars to the max.
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