greeting from the swiss mountains

peace & love & free gift wrap cyber mondays!

That's right, at IdilViceFashionRocks.com Cyber Monday is a day to celebrate the holiday season and so we are offering free gift wrapping all day long! Along with our usual Peace & Love - the one we've got all year round! Simply enter code 'wraprocks' at checkout to receive free gift wrapping.

On this occasion, I am very happy to present to you the very first image of our Yoko Ono inspired photo shoot by Carl Posey with beautiful model/actress Sandra Martinez, who is showing off her own Beatles Tunic Dress. Check it out!

So we hope you remember during these busy holidays, what is really important after all. Make it a peaceful and loving time for all.

Special thanks to Diana from Revival Vintage for all the authentic 70's accessories.

decorate with contemporary art

Darren Henault's dressing room.
Alex Prager photograph, his work is in the Museum of Modern Art's "New Photography" show.

This years Kips Bay Children's Charity Decorator Show House was delayed due to some NYC style real estate conflict, but like every year it is forecasting some great decorating trends. Contemporary art was an item in several rooms - most likely resulting from designers carefully attended to relationships with galleries. Two of my favorite rooms where centered around pictorial art. Right up my alley!

Elizabeth Pyne - focusing on younger clients - made a bed-sitter covered in acqua and gold linen.

In a sitting room by Ed Ku and Etienne Coffinier, a piece by Norman Mooney, an Irish artist living in Brooklyn.

Well worth a visit! The Kips Bay Decorator Show House, to benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, is open through Nov. 11. Cost: $30. Kipsbay.org

fashionable sparkling water

I am a big sparkling water fan. Primarily because I really like to drink it (you can't satisfy me with sugary soda) but also to try to ward off and dilute any bad ingredients that I might take in with the water that comes through the faucet at home, which I already filter. My favorite of all is Valser Wasser, but that is exclusively available in Switzerland to the Swiss citizens and since I reside in the US, I have got to go with others, until they are importing it (they are importing Rivella, so it shouldn't be too long). But I also like to change it up. Mostly it's the kind that contain at least some per centage of calcium. I drink Perrier, Pellegrino, Blu Italy, Gerolsteiner and many more... Sure, they all taste different.

So for me, water is already very fashionable but when I saw the Missoni Pellegrino at Pastis in the Meatpacking District, I knew a new wave of fashion waters has arrived. I am pretty sure Missoni pays Pellegrino to be on their branded bottle. A nice and easy way to promote Italian fashion. Pellegrino water is available everywhere in New York and it is a healthy beverage. I wonder if we see Gucci Pellegrino or Prada Pellegrino in the near future... what about Giorgio Armani Pellegrino? Maybe Pellegrino has to pay them... Anyway, I just wanted to fill you in on maybe the most fashionable drink in Manhattan today.

chocolate as an antidote

I am Swiss and I love chocolate! Hah! Surprised? Formerly known as a sort of sin and a bad nutritional choice, it has since been categorized as one of the great antioxidants to benefit our health (at least the dark chocolate). I use it in the studio as a quick pick me up in the afternoon and as a treat before bedtime.
In my teens and beyond I favored the milky kind chocolate while my mother preferred the dark bittersweet ones, which I always thought of to be pretty close to disgusting... well times have changed and so did my palate.

Nowadays I indulge in the darkest of chocolates, the more per cents of cacao the better! When I got wind of the Antidote Chocolate that my colleague Red came up with, all I wanted was taste it.

My opportunity came last week when Red announced the launch of Antidote Chocolates:

At the launch from left to right: Awa Kamara, Red Thalhammer, Nadine Buchler, Armando Forlin and IdilVice.

After tasting the 5 different kinds of flavors, I give the Antidote brand a thumbs up!

Antidote chocolate is made with raw and roasted organic cocoa, for a full aroma profile and potent health benefits. The 84% dark chocolate bars are flavored with dried fruits, flowers,spices and nuts. Named after Greek goddesses with the spirit to relieve body, mind and soul. Check out the different flavors! What's your favorite?

seriously, all you need is love

John Lennon Tunic Dress from the Fashion Rocks collection by IdilVice, photo by Carl Posey.

You know all you need is love but if you absolutely have to have something else, then maybe, how about this cool John Lennon tunic dress? An exclusive limited edition. More John Lennon clothing designs! Peace & Love.

rastafari rocker

too cool for school

Fall's here and kids are back to school. Fashion Week has passed and it's time to exchange summer clothes for fall and winter styles in our closets. Here is my tip on where to go style wise right now: Preppy is cool! I've included some university crests in the IdilVice skirt collection: Yale, Harvard, Brown University, Penn State and more - They are fun and so easy to accessorize!





In a snap you've got yourself a whole new look for fall! Take a crisp bow tie button down shirt (will work with so many other looks this season) under a blazer, a high boot (you can wear the one from last season) and some color accents will work just fine to bring this look together. Too cool for school maybe.... but just right for the streets - Check out preppy!

lady gaga the new liberace?

To be honest with you I never thought about it, but when I heard that the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas is closing next month and the reasons given for it's demise, among others, were general loss of interest and the fact that Vegas has to keep up with the 21 year olds, comparisons were made to Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is the new Liberace! Well, sort of I think. There are many similarities. The piano, the showmanship... they both know how to go to extremes and they love to shock, each within his/her generation. So it's only natural that when we are looking towards our own Liberace (Lady Gaga), the original one is slowly forgotten...

...Liberace and his Emmy's...

I remember the Liberace Museum in Vegas, it was one of my very first encounters with American Pop Culture. I surely was impressed by all the glitz and glamour and all at once it was clear to me that here in America, one can go this far, his/her own way and I thought that was simply amazing. Talk about inspiration! There it was right there.

Not only did Liberace have rhinestones on his wardrobe, he had cars covered with it!

For me Liberace has therefore a special place in my heart and nobody can take his place. The idea that Lady Gaga is the new Liberace is exiting, as she is showing new generations what is possible and continues the history of pop culture!

nyc fashion night out look

Ahhhh, it's been crazy lately in the NYC, especially with Fashion Week underway, it's bustling in the town and everybody is looking his/her best. So the recent Fashion Night Out event left us wishing that this way of celebrating style and fashion would happen more often. Once a year? It's a good start but certainly not enough to get folks back into the stores... Anyway, we had a blast (my favorite stop was Issey Miyake in Tribeca) and Carl is developing his images of that night and we'll be seeing more soon but here is one of myself and my outfit of the night that I really like.

...IdilVice Fashion Night Out NYC, photo by Carl Posey...

We'll also be seeing The Swiss Federal Design Price winner of 2010 Armando Forlin, who is currently in NYC enjoying his 6 months in the Big Apple. How exiting!

e-40 and björk?

I just was told about this E-40 video “Spend The Night” and was surprised and pleased to hear Björk's voice mixed in with all these male rap voices... can you believe this? Quiet a mix! Makes me wanna spend the night, right?

mother teresa or womans rights and how fashion saved a day

...Mother Teresa supporters in front of the Empire State building in New York City, August 26th...

It's pretty hard to imagine that one would have to decide between Mother Teresa or Womans Rights. What?! But that is exactly what happened on August 26th. New Yorkers had to decide weather the Empire State building should light up in red, white and blue (honoring the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of American womans right to vote from 90 years ago) or prefer the colors blue and white (Mother Teresa's missionary order colors seen on her gown) to celebrate another 26th of August, 100 years ago, when Mother Teresa was born.

Well New Yorkers did not literally have to decide (it's not like we can ever vote for which colors are lit), but they had to make up their minds on which side they would be on, in case someone asked. Mother Teresa's 100th birthday or the woman voting rights law anniversary. Sheer craziness!

It is safe to assume that Mother Teresa would not have wanted a controversy and I think woman in general rather make a compromise in place of arguments (maybe... or maybe not?) As a matter of fact, the Empire State was lit in red, white and blue that night. To add some balance, I pulled out my red & white Mother Teresa outfit. Have a look...

...IdilVice fashion show featuring the Mother Teresa outfit in red & white...

Mother Teresa comes to mind, even though the colors are not the original missionary order colors, so maybe colors do not matter that much after all anyways.

...IdilVice wearing her red & white Mother Teresa outfit on August 26th...

Wewh! Fashion saved this day!

a look back to summer 2010

Yes that's right although we still have high temperatures of 90 degrees, we all know that Summer is on it's way out, sooner rather than later... I don't know about you, but I really, sincerely enjoyed Summer 2010! It was warm and beautiful and it smelled so good! The many weekends at the beach, my birthday, swimming, biking, my summer wardrobe... I really loved it, maybe more than ever... I had a clear vision of style and it was easy... I can't think about not being able to wear my eggshell colored converse high top sneakers and my vanilla cotton shirt and it's gonna be hard to store my gradient printed sheer cotton pants and my wide rimmed sun hat... not to mention my red Woodstock Tunic Dress, which I wore over cropped pink tights with my silver Sketcher Tone-Ups (they might actually have caused my knee and ankle to be a bit sore, so don't wear them for extended periods of time, O.K.? They however sure add a nice bit of height for a flip flop!) I'll miss my soft pink shorts (I will look forward to wearing the matching sports blazer though, I never wore it because it was simply too warm) I will try to sneak my wooden bangles past labor day.
I'll be glad to skip sun lotion and mosquito spray, but I will miss my easy breezy summer style! Of course I am also looking ahead to Fall and Winter... I have so many new designs and I guess all I have to do is get into the mood and I am sure that will happen as soon as the temperatures drop... it'll be all good... but for now, I'll still enjoy to the fullest every day over 70 degrees and up!