Get It Together with Garde Robe's Personal Valet

Chris McKenry started Get It Together LA! with the desire to help people overcome their clutter and benefit from a more organized life. Now he's blogged about Garde Robe's fabulous service that's available in southern California.

"Heading to your Sun Valley residence and don’t want to pack? Let Garde Robe know what you need and the items will arrive to meet you cleaned and ready for a night on the town."

Thanks for the shoutout, Chris! Check out the rest of the blog post here.

Shop Share And Compare - On Your iOS Device

It seems like Apple is considering getting in to the emerging trend of combining fashion and technology. On Thursday, the iDevice maker extraordinaire file two patents - one describing a virtual closet with social connectivity, allowing "friends to see each other's Virtual Closets, recommend outfits to one another, recommend fashion items to buy, recommend fashion items to get rid of, recommend outfits to wear at a particular event, share and borrow each other's fashion items, or can otherwise suitably provide a social networking environment through the Virtual Closet," according to the patent application.

The other is geared towards high-fashion, describing "an integrated [app] available on an electronic device [that] can provide information for promotional and invitation-only events, allow a user to browse and search through fashion items, recommend fashion items to purchase based on outfits desired by the user, check for the availability of particular fashion items, and view or providing ratings or reviews for stores or fashion items."

With Gilt Groupe popularizing the concept of invitation-only online sales, Apple could really be on to something. After all, clothes are all about social expression and with the ubiquitous nature of iDevices, these two seem like a match made in heaven! I can't wait to see what these patents turn into - in the mean time, check out NY Mag's list of Top Ten Fashion Apps here.

Apple Developing Social Fashion Shopping Technology - Information Week

How To Mix High And Low Fashions

Check out this great clip on NBC New York! You don't need to wear designer clothes head-to-toe to get a great look...

Style expert Constance White shows how to pull off mixing designer labels with chain-store basics.

The Streamlined and the Fantastical Meet

From the haunting beauty of Ricardo Ticsi’s creations for the house of Givenchy, to the more demure cropped looks donned on the runway at Valentino, Fall Couture 2010 seemed to be where modern reality and wild musings shared the same creative consciousness.

This season included silhouettes that were derived from experimental layering, like those seen at Alexis Mabille, and dramatic draping as observed at Christian Dior. Designers emphasized textiles as well. Sumptuous organza, structured gabardine and beautifully crafted Chantilly lace were all on display.

Here is a sampling of some particularly striking designs:

An embellished skeletal-like gown at Givenchy

A dramatic and demure cropped look at Valentino

A well layered suit ensemble at Alexis Mabille

Simple cut-out elegance at Bouchra Jarrar

An Edenic creation at Christian Dior

Bold ruching at Elie Saab

Classic and modern at Chanel

A structured and whimsical look at Jean Paul Gaultier

A profusion of sequins at Armani Prive

Just Luxe Finds Just The Right Luxury Travel Service

Affluent lifestyle guide reviewed our services and added us to the list of Just Luxe City Guides for Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego. They noted that our

"unique and convenient luggage-free valet system is the first service of its kind to hit the market and has been endorsed by celebrities such as Ivanka Trump, and utilized by fashion designers such as Oscar De La Renta."

And a great service "for any trendsetter, who is in constant pursuit of the latest fashions."

Check it out here.

L.A. Times Finds Endless Closet Space In Cyber Closet

Wooo! The L.A. Times wrote us up in their blog on Tuesday!

"Trying to stay well-dressed is hard work, especially when you open your closet door and out tumbles an avalanche of wire hangers, stilettos and a precariously placed box that clocks you in the head.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have an infinite closet and a valet to handle it all for you?"

Yes it would!!! And that's what Garde Robe is here for =)

Clothing Production Done Democratically

I just stumbled upon (no, not using StumbleUpon) a post about a new site called Garmz.com, an Austrian-based startup that allows designers to upload designs, voted upon by readers, with the most popular designs being produced by the website.

It seems the most difficult part of breaking into the fashion world is transforming ideas into products, and that's where Garmz.com comes to the rescue.

"Starting a fashion label is a long and expensive process with a wicked learning curve. Add a lack of adequate outlets to begin production and it becomes even more of a daunting task. In fact, the difference between the successful designers and never-weres can be traced to this stage in development. [...] The one crucial difference we see in Garmz is that they seem to already have their production chain mapped out with promises that they will produce winning pieces through their vendors in Eastern Europe and sell finished items on the site. As well, fashion designers can set their own selling prices, margins, and cuts per sale; an open model that favors the creator." - Afingo.com

I can imagine a site like this helping to launch successful designers who otherwise
might not get that break they so desperately need. The site is still in preview right now, but promises to be up and running in August. Garmz.com