1. The Downtown Rocker: The faux fur glams the boyfriend jeans. Clutch a briefcase for handsome points via Song of Style.

2. Caramel Chic: The Song of Style twists cable knit over a trench. This time a clutch of suede keeps it ladylike.

3.  Laced Up: Five Inch And Up takes it knee high with super high equestrian boots and ankle skimming coat.

4. The Cashmere Crusader: The Glamourai kicks cashmere up to a fresh place.

5. Bundled Beauty: Sea of Shoes layers on the scarves and cozy sweaters. With Aztec print.

6. Glitter Guru: Sparkle like the snowflakes, and like Cherry Blossom Girl’s shoes and clutch.

7. The Colorblocker: Fashion Hippie Loves eats her color palette with a side of mustard. These rich autumnal hues fall brightly into winter.

8. Polka Dots & Hawaiian Punch: Profresh Style took a plain red sweater to werq!

9. Fur + Sequins = BFFs: Brooklyn Blonde makes opposite textures attract under one glamorous guise.

10. Wild About Layering: Keiko Lynn transforms a catty shirt dress from day to night a cinched belt.

 [FlyandMighty]

Were you girls a design team prior to studying at Ars Arpel School in Milan or did you meet there? As a team, did you always want to design shoes or was it something you fell into along the way?
We met when we both started work in the same week as junior designers for an Australian footwear group. We clicked immediately and it wasn’t long before we were planning our own label together. We’ve always both been interested in shoes and our passion and study drew us together. We both studied fashion design in Italy at different times and we’ve worked together now since 2003.

As designers, you maintain a “strong focus on the silhouette” of the shoes for your line tom gunn. Are you inspired by architecture in modern and ancient building? What about the architecture of nature like mountains and valleys?
We are inspired by everything around us. We collect images and photos on an inspiration board when we start to design a new collection and quite often use both modern and ancient architecture as inspiration as well as nature. We then zero in on the small details and take lines and shapes from the image to create the design lines of the shoes.

You source leathers and exotic skins from some of the top Italian tanneries. What about these materials make your shoes stand out from other lines? Has working with such high-end materials changed your perception of the footwear industry as a whole?
We absolutely love working with beautiful Italian leathers and exotic skins. The best quality materials make the shoe much more luxurious and comfortable. Snake and lizard leathers also have such a gorgeous texture that adds another dimension to the design.

There are so many footwear labels using low-end, cheap and plastic materials to keep the prices extremely low. This means you get what you pay for in terms of quality and comfort. Now we strive to use the best materials we can to ensure our shoes are luxurious, comfortable and the wearer will love them!

Do you look to forecasting trends for the colors and textures you use for your collections, or does the inspiration stem from inner creativity? Or is it a mix of both?
We build our colour palette from our images on our inspiration board. We love colour and leathers so we usually choose them first before we even start talking about design details for the collection. We don’t look at forecasting trends but design based on how we’re feeling and on what we would like to have in our shoe collections at that time! Of course, this means we need to wait six months for the shoe we’re coveting at the time, but it’s worth the wait!

Who and what inspires you? From nature to buildings, and blogs to other designers, where do you turn when a creativity block comes along?
Our design time is the most fun part of running the label so we usually come into it bursting with ideas and inspirations we’ve been dreaming about after the previous collection. There are a few amazing blogs including The Selby, Jak & Jil and Sea of Shoes we love looking at and some designers that inspire us are Dries Van Noten, Phoebe Philo of Celine and Consuelo Castiglioni of Marni.

It is so amazing tom gunn was awarded Footwear Designer of the Year at the 2010 2threads Fashion Awards. How has this changed the attention toward your brand?
Winning the 2Threads Footwear Designer of the Year was fantastic! It has certainly helped raise the profile of our brand and we have received many more inquiries and press.

You can learn more about tom gunn on the brand’s website.

Beautiful Stranger.tv launches the first online reality-programming event entitled “Hey Fashion Blogger, Are You The Next Beautiful Stranger?”  Think you’ve got the style it takes to win a glamourous weekend in NYC during Fall Fashion Week? Be sure to enter to win.

The contest, which runs from May 12 through June 9, invites fashion bloggers to submit their style, story and overall got-it-togetherness to Beautiful Stranger.tv. “This platform to feature fashion bloggers has been created as a tribute to the important new role they have begun to play in the fashion and media industry,” says Melissa Fedor, Co-CEO and Editorial Director for Beautiful Stranger.tv.

Fashion bloggers–the new wave of fashion trendsetters and 24/7 journalists–are encouraged to step out from behind their screens and present their style story and photographic images to a celebrity expert panel of judges, including:

• Frederic Fekkai (CEO, Fekkai)
• Catherine Malandrino (Fashion Designer)
• Amanda Ross (Celebrity Stylist, Fashion Director of the W Hotels)
• Fern Mallis (President, Fern Mallis, LLC)
• Brandusa Niro (Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Front Row)
• Eva Lorenzotti (CEO, Vivre)
• Rebecca Minkoff (Handbag Designer)
• Jayne Chase, and Jenn Goodkind, hosts of ‘A Fashionable Life’ radio show
• Melissa Fedor and Abby Wallach, Co-Founders of Beautiful Stranger.tv

The winner will be selected based on their personal style, photographic images, presentation and
story behind their blogging beat. The Grand Prize includes:

• A glamorous weekend in NYC during Fall Fashion Week 2010 at Lincoln Center
• Transportation to NYC
• Two-Weekend-Night Stay at The Mark Hotel
• Dinner for Two at The Mark Restaurant by Jean Georges
• $1,000 Shopping Spree at Catherine Malandrino, plus Backstage Pass to her fashion show
• An exclusive interview with Designer, Catherine Malandrino
• Cut and Color with Celebrity stylists, Robert and Tammy Sherman at the Renowned Fekkai Salon The Mark Hotel and Fekkai Hair Product
• The “Dior Classics” package, featuring Dior’s most luxurious products, including L’Or deVie La Crème and DiorShow Mascara
• Rebecca Minkoff Handbag
• Gold Serpent Cuff from Vivre
• Interview on ‘A Fashionable Life’ Radio Show with Jayne Chase and Jenn Goodkind
• Shoot Street Style for Beautiful Stranger.tv with Co-Founders, Melissa Fedor and Abby Wallach

“We are very excited to have a platform with Beautiful Stranger.tv where we can connect the fashion bloggers with the fashion industry in a new and inspirational way,” says Abby Wallach, Co-CEO and Executive Producer, Beautiful Stranger.tv.

Beautiful Stranger.tv, the online media brand, hits the streets in search of real people with great style. They start in New York City, the mecca of fashion, and find out what well-dressed denizens are using, wearing, loving, listening to on their iPods, how they’re going green, where they eat, shop and get their goods. Beautiful Stranger.tv now offers cutting-edge shopping technology where consumers can purchase every product that the beautiful strangers mention with one quick click.

For more details on the contest and daily updates from Beautiful Stranger.tv follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Who doesn’t love Jane’s blog? We all dream of having that many pairs of shoes. Jane, we love you! Check out our exclusive interview with Jane Aldridge of Sea of Shoes.

1: What made you start the blog?

I started it three years ago when I was fifteen, because I was bored, lonely for fashion friends, and because spent lots of time on the computer.

2: Best perk?
Valuable insight into an industry I loved but had no realistic ideas about.

3: What is the best advice you can give someone who wants to start a
fashion blog?

Be prepared to learn a lot of the boring tech/graphic stuff. Blogging is a huge investment of time if you want unique high quality content.

4: Tell us about your typical day?

Usually wake up around seven, have coffee in bed and write in my journal, check email, answer emails. Sometimes I’ll go into Dallas for meetings or have conference calls. Taking pictures for my blog takes a long time, especially if I take them myself! I have to spend a long time editing and uploading them when I’m done. When I’m free my friends come hang out and we’ll make dinner or go to shows.

5: Who or what inspired you to work in your field?

When I started my blog three years ago I was inspired by Susie Bubble and Kingdom of Style. I still love their blogs! I love Tommy Ton’s photography style and how he embraces the fetishy side of beautiful shoes. I love the layouts on JustJr too.

6.  Do you have any hidden talents?

My hidden talent is keeping secrets.

7.  If you weren’t in fashion today, what would you be doing?

Making toys.

8.  If you could meet anyone, who would it be?

Miuccia Prada or maybe Werner Herzog

9.  Tell me something most people wouldn’t know about you

I’m a big sicko.

10. Is there anyone you really want to work with?

I wouldn’t be so bold as to name names! ( and wouldn’t that jinx it?)

11.  Describe yourself in three words

Dirty old man

12. What do you do when you have free time?

Download music, go to shows, watch movies, read.

13. If you were given three wishes, what would you wish for?

That’s an overwhelming question! I have a terrible hoarding habit, if I were given unlimited means to indulge it, my life would be ruined!

14. Describe one of the best moments that you’ve had so far

Sitting on Coco Chanel’s couch. Totally zen moment for me.

15. Is there any fashion trend that you can’t stand?

I don’t know. There are a few colors that I can’t stand, but I don’t if I can think of any trends.

16: Do you receive free shoes from designers or do you buy everything?

Very rarely are my shoes gifts.

17: If there was movie made about your life, who would you want to play you?

Tough question…I’d want the actress to be from Texas too. And the movie would have to have an awesome soundtrack.

18: What makes you really mad?

People are so uptight and judgmental!

19:  What superpower would you want?

The ability to pause time.

20: What are five things you can’t live without?

1. Lots of alone time
2. Lots of sunlight
3. Nice clothes.
4. Nice shoes.
5. A certain degree of organization….
21: What do you hope to be doing 10 years from now?
Entrepreneur…is that vague enough for you?? Sorry!
22:  Any other projects you are working on?

Yes, there are
23. Are you planning on going to college? If so where and to study what?

For now I’m taking a year off.
24. Are you planning on moving out of your small town?

Yes, but I find New York and LA a little overstimulating. I like the south.

25. What is your favorite item in your closet?
At the moment, a vintage fuchsia Victor Costa bolero with tulle-stuffed sleeves the size of disco balls.

For more pictures, click here.

The trench designed by Judy and Jane Aldridge of Sea of Shoes is now available on ShopBop, it’s wrinkled cotton, features a hidden front zipper and comes with a detachable leather pouch. It will also cost you $875, about the same cost as this really cute Burberry Trench, so what would you rather have? I know I’d stick with a well known classic!

LINK LOVE: Fashionista

Jane and her mother have teamed up with Aimee Cho to design a  khaki trench coat that  features brass buttons, bell sleeves and a caramel colored leather pouch around the waist. She also might have gotten a book deal.

LINK LOVE: Fashionista

Sea of Shoes girly J. Aldridge’s second collection for Urban Outfitters is now available online.

LINK LOVE

The one where Daniel Saynt discovers the chick from Sea of Shoes has a hot mom.

So, I’m flipping through Vogue (as I never do, but they offered a subscription and I was lured in and now I read this shitastic magazine) and I totally spotted one of my favorite style bloggers Jane Aldrige from the fairly must readable, Sea of Shoes. You see, Vogue is finally in with the cool kids and have taken to featuring things from the oh so scary world wide web everyone keeps talking about, so they featured Jane and her mom Judy. The mother-daughter tag team of bloggers were asked to style themselves in three of the seasons must haves. It was all fine and dandy, Vogue pushed their agenda to prove that chicks with wrinkes were still relevant and I found a new BILF to stalk. Seriously Judy, thou art a fox (or a cougar if you prefer).

Jane, if you’re reading this (which I’m sure you are cause all us little bloggers Google Alert the shit out of our names) tell your mom to keep doing whatever the hell she’s doing and that she can pingback me all night cause her posts get me all hot and bothered in my RSS (and that kiddies is how bloggers flirt. recognize).

P.S. BILF = MILF except mom is replaced with blogger. yeah, we’re clever like that.

Anyways, here are the ediorial from Vogue.

Fellow blogger, Jane Aldridge (from Sea of Shoes), recently designed a capsule collection for Urban Outfitters, giving us yet another reason to envy the YSL cage-heel wearing teen. With a “Victoriana meets gladiator warrior” vibe, the shoes are very much Aldridge’s style and will undoubetly be appealing to the typical Urban Outfitters customer. Due on shelves next month, you might see my resurrect my flat wearing days with those adorable laced flats! Ugh, is it just me or is it getting easier and easier to hate this girl?! 

Check out the entire press release at Sea of Shoes!

How cute is the chicka from sea of shoes….but that’s not the point…let’s focus our attention to the most amazing shoes I’ve ever seen!!!

Thanks Refinery29!

Just spotted the chickalita from Sea of Shoes rocking some serious stems. Her Emanuel Ungaro’s are flipping worth stealing. I’d take some jail time for these. They are that cool. Check em out below…

LINKAGE: grocery shopping….blah!!