Boutique & Beauty Week launches!

It's coming to Kansas City, then spreading to other Midwest metro's...Boutique & Beauty Week gives you 20% or more discount at participating boutiques, spas and salons for just one week!
Ladies, you will be able to buy a Boutique & Beauty Week passport for just $10, 1/2 of which goes to local charities. The passport comes with a complete list of all participating businesses and is your license to pamper yourselves!

If your business would like to participate, please email us today jennifer@hauteweekly.com

Great music is fashionable

Music and fashion often go hand-in-hand. The makeup, the styling, it's all part of the package.

It's really great when a local band hits it big and it helps that they are fashionably hip too.

Drew6 and Haute Market have worked together several times over the last 2 years. Drew and a few of the band members have performed at the Haute Market events. Haute Market even had the honor of being the presenter for the We Kiss CD release party a few weeks ago.

Today I'm extra proud because Drew6 had the greatest review from our friends at INK Magazine here in Kansas City:

"With its latest, We Kiss, Drew6 shows it has no pretenses. The record is an unbelievably polished collection of catches and traps carefully designed to ensnare the female listener. With a sharp ear to the ’80s, We Kiss runs the gamut from upbeat electro-pop to snakey slowdowns. Gooey synths melt across distorted yet restrained guitars to back up singer Drew Six’s extra-breathy delivery." Steven Garcia, INK.

Not only is the music great, but Drew has a great sense of fashion...especially on stage. Always hot denim, usually a very cool vest and a hip scarf. Drew knows how the ladies like it! ;)

Get your CD and a few for your friends because this baby is blowing out quickly.
Download it directly to your music library.

Designers going ghetto?

I'm not sure where or when it started, but it was most noticeable with Target. Liz took the chance and revolutionized maternity wear. I noticed because I was pregnant at the time (ahem...again) and was so excited that someone thought beyond the maternity tent and actually designed affordable, wearable clothing that I wept (shut up...I was a preggo....we all cry).
Liz Lange Maternity for Target was genius.
Yet naysayers basically accused some designers of going ghetto...selling out to go "mass".

Next for Target was Isaac Mizrahi, three time winner of the prestigious CFDA Designer of the Year award. Selling out? Hardly. It's selling smart.
Making fashion more affordable? Brilliant.

Now you see Botkier doing bags for Target. For lack of better punch-lines...Target has hit the bulls eye time and time again.

Then there is Kohl's. I'm the first to stand up and protest the wearing of any "fashion" (ahem...using that term loosely) from Kohl's. And bless their hearts for trying, but Daisy Fuentes? No. Missed badly.

So what happened at Kohl's to make them finally get it? Well, the name ties my tongue up in knots (Very Vera by Vera Wang)...but otherwise I think they got it! Not to mention a sweet little line by the name of ELLE. Perhaps Kohl's realized that to carry a "designer brand", it helped that the label was by an accomplished designer. Someone who has not only been to fashion week but shown on the runway.

How do I know about this, you ask? I certainly don't watch the news.
I am going to make a confession.
I shopped at Kohl's last weekend.
Seriously...it was to find some shoes for the boys! They are little, they trash their shoes and I was going to teach them a lesson by making them wear those utility- boot looking things. Plus they carry Tony Hawke clothes and it's about the only brand my 8 will pay attention to and my 5 is addicted to (my 3 doesn't care...he'd rather run around naked).

We're making our way to the checkout and I remember..."oh yes...that silly rumor I heard about dear Vera and also our friends at ELLE".
YIKES...rumor no more...it happened.
"Hey...that dress is kind of cute (I duck my head and graze thru the rack). Cripes...this isn't half bad". It's pretty cute...most of it (beats the hell out of Croft & Barrow). I wanted to just grab a few "research items" and leave but figured an extra trip to make returns is not what I needed...so I tried a few things on and came home with some quite surprising finds. Bargains too since it was all half off. A Vera dress, t-shirt and ELLE's cute faux leather cropped jacket.

So it's kind of cute that designers occasionally go "mass". Why not? We're the one's that stimulate the economy, after all.
Wait....what's this? Zac Posen is now planning on an expansion beyond ready-to-wear and a lower-priced collection. Seriously? Ok...now I've heard it all. But truth be told...I can't WAIT! Zac Posen items that won't make me miss a mortgage payment? Brilliant!

"IN" is Buying Local

Haute Market is proud to support talented designers. Two such designers we love are Sophie & Gwendalynn, and Squasht by Les. Both have been seen in Kansas City fashion events, and have had their fabulous products featured on TV.

This dress, by Sophie & Gwendalynn is a throw-back to the era of simplicity and structure. Think Jackie-O. A beautiful creation for a summer party or lunch with the girls.

S&G also designed the fabulous corset I wore to the West 18th Street Fashion Show. It is amazing what the proper fit can do for your figure! Show it off girls!! (both the corsets and dress are $175)

Squasht by Les, owned by Lesley Timpe, has been on the St. Louis fashion scene for quite some time and recently moved to Chicago to be closer to her team of sewers. She's making the trip to KC to show the local ladies some of her great creations, like this cute vintage-pocket Martini Lunch Dress in blue floral print. With adjustable shoulder straps it helps ensure a great fit and compliments many body types. $132 at Squasht by Les's online store.

Support local designers and grab their goods while you can because both of these featured designers are going places! With such fabulous patterns and craftsmanship, it won't be long until they are nation-wide!

See them both at Haute Market tomorrow. Last chance for online ticket purchases is today. Tomorrow they are $15 at the door.