At the New York market, Coterie, I also purchased pieces for Spring 2009 from New York designer, Yoana Baraschi.

I bought a dress called 80’s Modern Icon Dress in black with white lace. Beautiful and sexy at the same time.

I also purchased a dress called Le Palace 80s Dress. Oh my God–I love it. It has rose buttons all around the scoop neckline and then on the belt there are the same rose buttons on one side. Amazing. I also bought a top based on this same style of this dress.

As soon as I have pictures of these pieces, I will post them to the blog.

I went to the New York fashion market last month (Coterie) to do my buying for Spring. When I was planning the launch of my website, I knew that one of the designers that I really wanted to carry was Bettye Muller. Her shoes are so amazing: beautiful, original, fashionable, and, of course, made in Italy. Bettye uses all of the these wonderful textures and colors. I love color, so I was always attracted to her shoes.

I made an appointment to visit Bettye’s showroom. I went there and just fell in love with her Spring Collection. I purchased 5 different styles for Carina New York, but my absolute favorite by far is a shoe called Bettye Muller Visage.  Gorgeous hot pink and orange patent leather t-strap shoe. I can’t wait to receive it and start selling it to my customers. (See the picture on this posting for a preview of the shoe).

I met with Bettye’s sales representative at the showroom, Bryan. He is such a warm, friendly, no-pressure type of person. I just enjoyed my time working with him and being in Bettye’s space. At Coterie, I had visited the booth of another shoe designer, and I just got the sense that they had an attitude and that it might be difficult to work with them. One of my goals is to partner with designers who create beautiful, quality, classic almost artisan like pieces. I’m very happy with my decision to select Bettye Muller as the first line of shoes for my site.

One day, I hope she will design a shoe specially for my store.

I’m addicted to The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo. I’m not much of a reality TV person, but this is right up my alley. Rachel Zoe is a stylist to the stars and her job is to dress her clients for various red carpet occasions like Oscars, Golden Globes, etc.

I LOVE this show. She’s all about glamour, and drama, and beauty. None of this minimalist stuff. One week she was at the New York Fashion Shows with her team. She met with designers like Zac Posen, Oscar de la Renta, Diane Von Furstenberg. Then she went shopping for herself. She buys only vintage clothing. I kid you not, she probably bought 2 or 3 racks of vintage clothes in just that one week alone.

She was fawning over a particular vintage dress and one member of her staff asked her when she would have occasion to wear it. She basically said “Who cares? It makes me happy just to look at it”. As someone who visits the designer collection floor at Saks just to mingle with the beautiful clothing, I can relate to that statement. Sometimes I will buy a dress and hang it on the back of my room door, just so I can admire its beauty.

If you love glamour, you’ll love this show.