TOLANI SCARF GIVEAWAY! ENTER NOW!

I am incredibly pleased to announce the first EB Rue giveaway thanks to chickdowntown.com! Since it’s the first giveaway, I am giving away an amazing item – a Tolani scarf! This scarf is beautiful! I love the colors and the design, and it looks great on any skin tone and body shape! Tolani scarves have been seen on celebrities and ordinary people, and now you can be sporting your very own fabulous scarf! Tolani scarves can jazz up any outfit, and make even the simplest attire look chic! They can be worn with a simple t-shirt or tank top and jeans, with shorts or skirts, a fancy dress… anything! Tell me how you would wear this scarf and why you like it in a comment below, and you are instantly registered to win this Tolani scarf! The sale price, $85. Your price? Free! In order to be contemplated as a winner, you must either follow Amy from chickdowntown.com on Twitter at http://twitter.com/chickdowntown, or be a fan of chickdowntown.com on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/chickdowntowncom/77235297751?ref=ts. So let’s review the steps.

1) Become either a fan of Chickdowntown.com on Facebook or Twitter

2) Comment below on why you like this Tolani scarf and how you would wear it

And that’s it! So easy to enter, and for a great prize!

The contest ends August 1^st, so enter now!

I hope you’re as excited as I am!

Xoxo,

Ashley

Blazers: A Must-Have

I have an obsession with blazers. I think they instantly make any outfit chic, and make it appropriate for any occasion. They can be worn with dressy clothes, or jeans, and they look good with all styles! ABS has a great Boyfriend Blazer that I can’t wait to get my hands on! Check out the line of ABS clothing at http://chickdowntown.com/designerproducts.asp?designerID=68799. All of the pieces are classic but with a modern and edgy twist – perfect for this day and age! I’m now shopping for college attire and the Boyfriend Blazer is a must-have for my closet!

SHOWStudio.com Opens Up its SHOP

SHOWstudio.com, the groundbreaking website which has pushed the boundaries of online fashion communication since its launch in 2000, is set to introduce yet another element to its constantly evolving platform: the SHOWstudio SHOP. SHOWstudio.com was founded on the idea of showing the process behind the creation of fashion imagery - now the SHOWstudio SHOP will offer the public the unique chance to purchase part of this process, and indeed part of fashion's history. The new retail space, situated in the heart of Mayfair, is based on two completely new retail concepts - part live studio, part gallery. For the first time, the SHOWstudio SHOP will offer for sale some of the spectacular props that have graced iconic photographic shoots and catwalk shows, selected from historical and contemporary fashion imagery and created by set designers and fashion stylists including Simon Costin, Katy England, Simon Foxton, Shona Heath, Jane How, Michael Howells and Gideon Ponte. Simultaneously, SHOWstudio will continue its commitment to live online creation, inviting some of the world’s greatest designers to create unique pieces in front of webcams in a new purpose-designed live studio space. After seeing the articles being created real-time, SHOWstudio’s audience will be able to purchase the final items from the SHOWstudio retail space and through the website itself. This innovative venture will continue SHOWstudio's commitment to collaborate with a wealth of high-profile creatives, which to date has included such luminaries as Alexander McQueen, Björk, Comme des Garçons, John Galliano and Gareth Pugh. Carefully chosen and curated by Nick Knight and the SHOWstudio team, the pieces within the SHOWstudio SHOP will available on line as well as from the Bruton Place shop. Formerly a barn, a brothel, the studios and galleries of Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud, and most recently Maison Martin Margiela, 1-9 Bruton Place now houses the new purpose-designed live studio as well as the retail space. The SHOWstudio SHOP enables the public to experience the outstanding creativity and originality expected from SHOWstudio.com, first hand.

The SHOWstudio SHOP opened on July 14th and is already generating lots of positive buzz! Fashion is art, and it's wonderful seeing the two come together with such unique people and in such a perfect setting. I think the project is an amazing collaboration, and I can't wait to visit the shop myself and be a part of history!

Lauren Bush - Humanitarian and Model

Lauren Bush is a fashion stylist, a model, and designer. Now, she can add humanitarian to her resumé. She recently launched FEED bags, on behalf of the UN World Food Program, which fights world hunger. Watch and read an interview about her and her heartwarming project below, and buy a FEED bag to help the world fight hunger. "It was my love of design and my want to give back that helped me create the first FEED 1 bag. I think that design can be the best communicator, and that is what I have tried to utilize with FEED and Lauren Pierce. I get to be a designer and a humanitarian!" - Lauren Bush, CEO FEED Projects.

http://www.stylecaster.com/news/3889/lauren-bush-and-ellen-gustafson

MAC Cosmetics and Stars Unite

The glamorous worlds of art, beauty and fashion collided as M·A·C Cosmetics hosted a private art tour of photographer Marilyn Minter, illustrator Maira Kalman and photographer Richard Phillips respective studios, allowing guests inside their personal world and previewing exclusive works created for M·A·C’s Fall Colour Collection, Make-Up Art Cosmetics. Leave it to M·A·C Cosmetics to host 3 parties in 1 night at each artists’ studio where they live and create their genius works of art.

Ed Westwick and Jessica Szohr of Gossip Girl fame, designers Gareth Pugh, Erin Fetherston, Isaac Mizrahi and Cynthia Rowley, Ashley Greene of Twilight, models Siri Tollerod and Ataui Deng, nightlife queen Amy Sacco plus many more where in attendance to catch a glimpse at the worlds of these talented artists, while listening to the sounds of Xeno & Oaklander.

Photos thanks to www.patrickmcmullan.com.

Szohr Sizzles

SPOTTED! Jessica Szohr carrying a Nancy Gonzalez python clutch on the set of Gossip Girl. It seems as though Szohr’s character, Vanessa, has a new love interest. The Nancy Gonzalez clutch completed Szohr’s boho-chic look. She is so beautiful, as is the whole cast! I wonder who this new man is... can't wait for the new season!

Gossip Girl Style Part II

Spotted again on the set of Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester wearing a Slane & Slane 16 Strand Alexandria Clasp bracelets. This opulent look is made from multi sizefresh water pearls strung on a distinctively Slane & Slane Alexandria Clasp. A chic twist on pearls for an Upper East Side fashionista. She is just too fabulous!

Gossip Girl Style

Leighton Meester toting a Nancy Gonzalez handbag on the set of Gossip Girl this week. In true Blair Waldorf style, Meester carried the crocodile Nancy Gonzalez handbag as she sat on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Blake Lively. I absolutely LOVE the style on the show - can't wait for the new season! Image thanks to popsugar.com!

Gone Until Tuesday Night!

Hey everyone!

I'm leaving for Maine in a few hours!  A private island with no internet/cell service... I'M SO EXCITED!  It will be nice to get away from the real world for a bit :)

So I won't be doing any updates or anything while I'm away, but I'll be back in action on Wednesday!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and HAPPY BASTILLE DAY on July 14th - celebrating the independence of my home country!!!

xoxo

Ashley

P.S. My friend Kelsey took this photo in Martha's Vineyard!  I know I'm not going there, but it was so beautiful and reminded me of Maine (sort of) so I posted it - isn't she so talented?