summer of color 2011

The Summer of 2011 is not exactly a 'Summer Of Love' I'd say. Although hippie style is back on the streets with a vengeance, the peace & love experienced in the original Summer Of Love in 1967 is largely non existing today. Sad, right. But what can you do?

Since I can't speak of another Summer Of Love, I will say, while ignoring everything else imporant going on in the world, the Summer of 2011 is a Summer Of Colorful Nail Polish. Nail salon palettes seam to ever expand by the day. Instead of the usual variety of shades of reds, there are milky greys, dirty muds, sparkly yellows, camouflage greens, soft purples, day glo oranges, electric and midnight indigo blues... wait! Blues??!

Years ago if you would have been seen with blue nails, they would have thought you are about to die. Today in 2011 blue nails are no longer something worth more than a quick "Yeah, I know this is the newest color" nod. No stares and no head turns. Blue is totally cool in 2011.




Nothing to be afraid of. But wait, I missed a point. Not only is this 2011 the Summer Of Crazy Nail Polish, it is also a new Summer Of Color everywhere! Colors and graphics. Nobody is afraid of color or graphics. Not even men. I see the craziest combinations, polka dots and stripes combined... everything goes!

Well of course not everything 'goes', but people seem to be getting better at being confident about what goes.... An abstract painting on a blouse anyone? Monet? Yeah, go right ahead and add the highest platforms with that in a 'non-matching' leopard pattern.

Meezer, Caroline and IdilVice during Summer Of Color 2011.

Feathers in your ears? Flowers on your head? Pink, blond and blue hair all at once? Go right ahead!

I always was a colorful individual myself, someone that would not let anyone tell her: "This does not match." But I am suspecting that Lady Gaga has freed a lot more people by now.

betty rocks!

Voila! Here's the new tote bag which is currently rocking my Spring world (Can't wait to take this to the beach this Summer)! Check it out:




Buy the Betty Rocks Bag!

1/11

So the new year 2011 came upon us and yet no new post on my beloved blog until today! Well, I have been finishing up work from the end of last year (yes there are a few dresses that did not make it to the post office yet) and just basically tried to find spirited ideas for the new one. There are indeed so many things that I have to and would love to work on and I just basically have to figure out which one to do first. So prioritizing, that is what I am doing, sorting through a vast array of things to do.

I am going to be doing some web design, besides clothing design, yes. There will be a lot of new fashion design too. For example, I have a Betty Boop print in front of me that is so amazing! It's Betty as a hippie girl on a brightly colored tie dye... Carl stepped by the studio today and saw it and said: "That would make a great bag!" I have to say, yes, it would! And I think I will follow his intuition and make a bag out of it, besides the dress that I already have in mind... it'll be amazing to wear this Summer, with lots of glittery jewelry and fringes... is this going to be another Summer of Love?!

O.K. so as I do not have anything to 'show' you just yet, I wanted to at least fill you in on this new Idil Vice portrait by Carl Posey. I love it! It's my new facebook profile picture too... BTW, did you see The Social Network? Amazing! So driven! I want to see it again and again!


Carl is working on a fast forward photo slide show/film which is putting several version of this image in motion so to speak and yes, it is an amazing piece of work... will be posted shortly, O.K.?

I am wearing a vanilla cream colored button down shirt from Uniqlo under the psychedelic Jim Morrison Denim Jacket from my own FashionRocks collection. Plus I am holding over my eyes my signature Swissair eye mask hairband in royal blue.

hippie summer fashion

Yes, I said I was real busy lately and had no time to write... je m'excuse! Nowadays in this economy it's no joke and if one wants to survive he or she better invests a damn large amount of time and sweat into the business. This blog is part of that business, but I admit: it's not priority. I just really love to write and talk about my business so I do want to continue posting when the time allows...

So, right now 2 of my main Bernina sewing machines are in for a tune up (as always in Spring, but one of them has an issue most likely bigger than a regular service can take care of, so I am just hoping my mechanic can take care of it sooner rather than later :/ and weirdly still today, after all these years, I am shocked to see empty tables when I walk by the sewing work space. I am simply not complete without these incredible tools. Well, hopefully there won't be any pressing fashion matters before Memorial Day... But, it's not all bad, because I do have some time to blog now!

I wanted to show you some of the images from our new Spring photo shoot. You'll see, my hippie inspiration continues... Jimi Hendrix on a fringed kaftan and a super hippie Madonna on a woven jacket! O.K. here we go: a couple new pictures from our Spring campaign:

NYC model Jessica Calle in the Madonna (Celebration) Woven Jacket, photo by Carl Posey.

Jess with guitar rockin' out in our purple Jimi Hendrix Kaftan Dress, photo Carl Posey.

So all you really have to do is slip on one of these, turn on the music and relax. Enjoy Summer time! If you are more into skirts, you'll digg our One-Of-A-Kind pleated minis or our fabulous floor length hippie patch work skirts... their all in our New Arrivals category.
O.K. guys and girls, stay tuned for more hippie treats this Season!


And "pssst", I 'm not really supposed to tell you yet, but in one of the next posts, I'll put the spot light on Zimmermann & de Perrot, a Swiss theater troupe which is really good. They had their US premier here in NYC earlier this month. Because Zimi (Martin Zimmermann) and Dimi (Dimitri de Perrot) are both friends and we were roommates in Zürich more than 20 years ago, I was invited. So you'll get the inside scoop and you'll see some images (with ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov) from their NYC photo shoot with photographer Carl Posey.

free give away sweepstakes

Yeyy! I am so happy to announce a free give-away sweepstakes of this Woodstock Skirt from the IdilViceFashionRocks collection! You choose a size between XS - XL, more information on sizing is posted here.


Check it out! All you have to do is leave a comment below this post and you are automatically entered. The winner will be announce in our March newsletter. If you are currently not a monthly newsletter subscriber you can sign up here. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Once you let us know about which size you wish to receive it takes between 2-3 weeks for your skirt to arrive in the mail, just in time for Summer - it'll be your Summer Of Love!

Can't get enough hippie, Woodstock, peace + love, Summer of love?

do you own other dresses besides this red one?

"Do you own other dresses besides this red one?" Oh goodness, but of course! Naturally I always have a favorite at the time and I'll get some wear out of it while it's hot dear... but uups! Bingo - I've got to change wardrobe!! There must be about 5 or 6 posts picturing me wearing the same red dress, yikes! After all this is a fashion style blog, so sorry fellow fashion people, for not straightening this out sooner! Here's a recent snap shot of me in a different printed dress - HALLELUJAH!



- although it has the same cut as that infamous red one >_<

sick of fashion?

Yes mam, you can imagine it happens that fashion designers have it up to here (over the head) with fashion. Now is Milan Fashion Week and before it was London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week has not even started. I am just glad New York Fashion Week was first! I was all energetic for it starting out. Saw a great many shows, including my own and mingled at the best parties in town. Lots of inspiration at the end of a season to go right back to the drawing table and start designing Fall 2010!

Over the course of the last 3 weeks I have become a little numb to the fashion news, sorry to say. That feeling will last for a day or two, then I usually snap right back into it! It's that one bad day per year we're all too familiar with. The quick fall after the long high. Melancholy maybe. But holy cow and thanks goodness: My customers don't wait, they want more designs, new designs, freakin' every day! And I love it. I do. I LOVE what I do. I have a dream job.

I guess I just don't understand why everybody has to come up with new collections at the exact same time, thrown at you all in a span of a mere 3 weeks!? It's commerce. I got it. The season clearly calls for us to buy new clothes now, the ones from last season are no longer fashionable.
You know I don't believe in this. I always wear my old classics, that is what personal style is about. It's about not letting anyone dictate what you wear at what time. You decide.

Oh, let me be grateful to you, for just hanging in there with me, while I freely dispose into cyber space what's on my mind, all these scattered thoughts which may or may not make much sense.... Thanks for just going through this little personal evaluation with me!

Anyway - so no - of course we are NOT sick of fashion just yet and I am confident once the last show goes over the runway and the curtains finally close, the lights are turned off, life goes on. We will come up with our own styles and we might buy a new dress or a coat. It's all up to us.

To my customers: Thanks! I adore my customers. Some of them send me pictures of themselves wearing the clothes they bought, sometimes they look great, sometimes not so great, but it's all good. Sometimes they look just stunning!

...karen and artist tyler jordan...

So to end this season on a really great note, here's the shot of Karen, the original hippie chick in the Woodstock Dress (the absolute bestseller of my season) and Tyler Jordan as Jim Morrison! PEACE.


O.K. I am on to Fall 2010!

the ones who were there

Carl Posey Photography

I was just 3 years old in the Summer of 1969. I did not make it to Woodstock. I asked myself, so who WAS actually there? Who ARE those people and where ARE all those hippies now? Surely they must be old now. Was there still a way to recognize them? None of my friends, family members or colleagues were at Woodstock. So WHO was?

Little did I know that they would eventually make themselves heard. I mean I am wearing my red Woodstock Dress all over town and get a lot of compliments on it.

One recent night at a roof party on the West Side highway in Greenwich Village this lady Rosemarie comes up to me and says: "Wow, I love your dress! You know I was there. At the Festival." I told her I never met anyone who WAS there and that she is the first. She mentioned her husband - who WAS there with her - was somewhere around the roof top and she wanted to introduce me and my dress. So I met Warren, my first Woodstock Hippie man! They said they could almost not remember anything about the festival! Rosemarie, originally from the Bronx, thinks they actually missed Jimi Hendrix, because they went home early because it was raining, but she could not recall for sure. They were very sweet and we took some pictures.

...Rosemarie & Warren Dobbs, the first hippies i ever met who were at the Woodstock Festival...

...me in my red Woodstock Dress flanked by 2 original Woodstock hippies...
...all photographs by Carl Posey...

BTW, I haven't seen the movie yet, because none of my friends wants to go see this movie..??!! Well, I can wait too, maybe it is available on DVD soon...

dressing in red for woodstock and later

I promise the Woodstock posts will cease latest by August 31st, 2009. But until then I'll keep buggin' you about this hippie stuff! I am just so exited to show you the new version of the Woodstock Dress: A cool printed Mini Tunic Dress! Ahhh! I've been wearing mine since I finished it and I have a hard time taking it off - it's the most comfortable piece and so right on target - love it!


This I'll also wear way into Fall. With tights. And boots. And a hippie scarf. Plus I'll dress it up with some chunky, black bakelite jewelery to match the buttons of my favorite dress. Hey, I think I hooked that up!

...with a variety of fashion accessories you can finish the look and continue wearing Woodstock style this Fall...

best hippie looks of the week

This week (in celebration of Woodstock's 40 year anniversary) I wanna stay within the hippie theme and spotlight what the children of love 2009 have to offer in style terms. Yes, hippie culture started 40 years ago, but there is an abundance of hippie looks today, just look around you!

























What can I say? Love & Peace.

summer of love 2009

At the time I felt there was a hippie holiday theme going on in December of 2008, but I swear I wasn't planning to post on Woodstock this Summer, nor did I intend to design the Woodstock Dress for an anniversary of some kind. I'm not lying! The John Lennon and his round glasses post? Also innocently just a coincidence of hippie culture coming together. I just recently spotted the very 70's inspired typography poster around town: A Woodstock movie? Well, let me tell you: I stopped smoking that weed a long time ago and I am not a hippie by all means, but it is the music and the culture that has always inspired me in my life!

The weather is about right as it was then, exactly 40 years ago. 40 years ago, what?! The Summer Of Love, baby! What an incredible story!

Yes, it was in the Summer of 1969 when the Woodstock Music & Art Fair (informally, Woodstock or The Woodstock Festival) a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition", was held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18. Bethel, in Sullivan County, is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York.

Thirty-two acts performed during the sometimes rainy weekend in front of nearly half a million concertgoers. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in popular music history and was listed on Rolling Stone's 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.

I went Upstate in the late 90's to see the town of Woodstock for myself and I thought about all the great bands playing there in '69 (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Sly & the Family Stone, Joan Baez, Santana, Johnny Winter, etc.) and I was a bit surprised to still find all that leftover hippie vibe there... I recall buying a bunch of hand made bee wax candles.

There is no doubt that we would need another Summer of Love in 2009, but sadly we are out of luck! There is no more Jimi Hendrix and there is no more Janis Joplin and no more The Who!!!

Before I get too sentimental, I better come to the point of my post now: You may want to head over to the ticket office and grab a couple of tickets for the "Taking Woodstock" Movie, directed by Ang Lee! It opens Friday, August 28th, 40 years after Woodstock. And check out my Woodstock Dress while you are getting into the 70's groove:

As you well know there are many more 70's music inspired items to find in the idilvicefashionrocks online shop... just saying!

And because you are so cool to check out my blog, as a very special treat y'all: here is the full set of Jimi Hendrix's performance at Woodstock in 1969 - ENJOY!!

Vote for your favorite Woodstock song! See you at the movies!

tv star in idil vice fashion

I really was not aware of Jessica Lowndes until l I saw her wearing The Beatles Strawberry Fields Printed Dress! Her name surely will sound at least familiar to me now!

round sunglasses

You all must have seen the John Lennon Poster (Mr. Lennon’s image, in round sunglasses) allover the NYC town, peering at us from subway walls and billboards since May, publicizing a Lennon exhibition at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in SoHo. That show ignited requests for round sunglasses at stores around the city.

...john lennon and yoko ono...

The hot eyewear look of 2008 was pretty much defined by plastic Wayfarer knockoffs, garish neon trapezoids often seen color-coordinated with a plaid shirt and sneakers. Or else it was “shutter shades,” those ventilated blinders popularized by Kanye West (that was really too much).

It's 2009 and sunglasses must be round! Why? Only last year round sunglasses were considered square?

...a pair from the linda farrow collection...

Round frames last appeared as a fashion trend about two decades ago. In 1989, when Alain Mikli introduced a thick-rimmed version. One of my very first were Mikli's!

Before that, they were a defining element of hippie style during the 1960s counterculture movement — just about the only time that round glasses could be described as an unqualified fashion hit. Throughout the last century, round glasses have been associated with celebrated architects, literary stars and intellectual thinkers — Philip Johnson, Le Corbusier, Dominick Dunne, Gandhi — almost all of them men and rarely a figure noted for his cutting-edge personal style.

...hippie...

And yet something about the style, as uncommercial as it may seem, has clicked with designers. Or, as it turns out, several things happened at roughly the same time, in 2007 and 2008, that help explain why you are seeing round sunglasses again.

The story of round would not be complete without a nod to the hippies. This year’s Broadway revival of “Hair,” while not exactly fashion friendly, had its first performances last summer at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. At a preview last May, its cast performed at the Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before an audience that included a spectrum of international fashion designers.

...photograph by Mr. Sidibé...

Remember the black-and-white portraits taken in the 1950s and ’60s by the Malian photographer Malick Sidibé, who was given a lifetime achievement award at the Venice Biennale art fair two years ago? That was when Mr. Sidibé, now in his 70s, began to have an unexpected fashion moment. Designers sought out monographs of his work, notably a 2004 edition published by Steidl that conveyed the exuberance of postcolonial West Africa with images of stylish young men and women, many of them wearing incredible sunglasses.

...another Sidibé photograph...

But it was not Mr. Sidibé’s influence alone that set off the trend. John Lennon deserves some credit, too. In July 2007, Mr. Lennon’s name was again in the news when a pair of his wire-rimmed round glasses were sold at auction, drawing bids of more than $1.5 million, the BBC reported, though the final sale price, which was never disclosed, was believed to be far less.

But it also just makes plain sense that round glasses would return because they mesh with other eyewear themes occurring at the moment, like vintage, geek-chic and Hollywood.

This round shape is the most natural shape for designers to embrace and maybe, another signature Lennon style — an upside-down pear shape — would be the next big thing after that?

to be or not to be on that list

It's rough these days, you don't need me to tell you that. It's to buy or not to buy. But in any case, I always thought it's a good thing to be on the list, good times or bad. When you go to a night club, being on the list is a treat, sometimes it's a must to get in to party, "hey"! To be on Schindler's List would have been a great thing, which would have most likely saved your life!

Yeah, lists rock, but recently I have been on a list that I was not sure to be pleased to be on, right? I mean, can you imagine to be (or rather have your merchandise be) on a list of things that will not be bought? Ever heard of that one?! Well, let me tell you, I have been on a list like that and I was like: "What tha heck?!"


So this girl named Lexi put up this blog site "Not Buying" where she lists all things she desperately wants but will not get. Yooh, that's a first for me!

It's a sign of the time guys, so even though I don't want to be on that list, I kinda think it's great to be on it at the same time :) I mean - come on - Lexi adores the Beatles Hippie Tunic, and if the economy would be as usual, she'd have purchased it, right? So it's cool! "Yes, I want to be on that list!" The question is: "To buy or not to buy..."



Lexi told me in private she still might buy it... ;-)