Retail may be in a funk, but designer Phillip Lim has a new angle on cinched waists and jagged-edged trim. This season, the Neiman Marcus darling introduced a sophisticated two-tone shift for $325 and orange tea dress for $225 -- both in girls' size 6 or smaller.
FASHION SKETCHBOOK
Fashion doesn't have it easy these days. Michael Fink came to town recently to talk style to a group at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami. He was dressed in a rather startling combination of a gray Ralph Lauren suit, purple and white gingham-print shirt and pink striped tie.
Michael Tonello didn't grow up wearing Hermès, the venerable French label founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès as a saddlery. He never coveted Hermès ties or scarves, hallmarks of the upper crust.
REALITY ON THE RUNWAY
Jay McCarroll -- best known as the mouthy winner of the first season of Bravo's Project Runway -- was in Miami Beach on Saturday for the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. The fashion designer stars in the documentary Eleven Minutes -- the title refers to the average length of a runway show -- which chronicles the year leading up to his first solo New York Fashion Week show last September. Apparently having your own show isn't as easy as Heidi Klum & Co. make it look.
Economy: $29.99 (Target at Target.com) If you're a girl who can never leave home without something in hand -- whether you're on your way to work, the mall or the dance floor -- this gold NYC by Perlina clutch/wristlet comes in handy. With a flap closure and credit card holders, the clutch is compact, yet large enough to not take the form of the many items you'll try to stuff inside of it.
MICHELLE DELAMOR, 20, pop/R&B singer. She grew up in Miami Shores and lives in Miami Beach.
LOVE IT/IT'S OK/HATE IT The Miami Herald has composed a panel of readers to try products for face, body and hair. Here are their opinions:
The iconic prom dress -- in all its floor-sweeping grandeur -- has been cut off at the knees. Some promgoers this year are ditching the long gowns for dresses that skim the thigh.
FASHION SPOTLIGHT
Can a stripper pole inspire family fun and spiritual epiphanies? Anything's possible at Splurge Studios -- Miami Lakes' new, one-stop vanity shop where clients can get anything from six-inch pumps and an airbrushed tan to an occasional religious tract.
FASHION TIPS
Forget Anna Wintour. Stacy London may be the most feared woman in fashion. London has become famous for the sharp critiques she gives makeover subjects on The Learning Channel's What Not to Wear. She doesn't bat an eye when a person's entire wardrobe is tossed into the show's famous trash can and defies anyone who will tell her that four-inch heels are uncomfortable.
Get your game on Golf accouterment designer Keri Murschell has come out with a new round of cart bags for women that are handsome enough to entice spectators onto the course.
Economy: $22.80 (Forever 21, 5701 Sunset Dr., Ste. 114, South Miami. 305-740-6410) No matter the temperature in South Florida, the inside of an office building can make you feel like you live in North Dakota or Michigan rather than the Sunshine State. Keep yourself warm and stylish in this embroidered cotton cardigan with beaded flower detail and a rib-knit trim.
If there's one thing Steve Madden hates, it's a cup of joe all dressed up in soy-this and frappe-that, putting on airs like its coffee beans don't smell like, well, coffee beans.
FASHION SKETCHBOOK
Gotta love it: Spa treatments slashed to a crazy 50 bucks. It's National Spa Week through Sunday, and hundreds of spas nationwide are drastically discounting massages, facials and microdermabrasion sessions from $100-$200 to $50 a pop.
FASHION COMMENTARY
If there were ever a woman in need of retail therapy, we're guessing it's Hillary Clinton. She's up, down, a shoe-in, a lost cause -- lordy, the mere mortals among us would've blown a gasket by now and run fleeing to the nearest mall.
MICHAEL MIARECKI, 43, managing partner of Michael Miarecki, The Branding Group, a luxury real estate and goods marketing firm. Miarecki is from Massachusetts and lives in Miami Beach.
Economy: $7.50, C.O. Bigelow Mentha-Lip Tint in Bare Mint; (Bath and Body Works locations, Bathandbodyworks.com.) When it comes to lip gloss, there's an endless supply on the market -- tinted ones, flavored ones, ones that make your lips plump. But so many of them leave your lips feeling gooey and sticky. If you're tired of your lips acting as a magnet for hair and crumbs, try this lip tint. The shiny, mint-infused balm leaves a refreshing, tingly sensation and has a creamy, not waxy, finish.
LOVE IT/IT'S OK/HATE IT
The Miami Herald has composed a panel of readers to try products for face, body and hair. Here are their opinions: Product: BioCare Labs Best Body Oil
Fashion is a field known for its prodigies. Zac Posen broke into the field at the age of 16; at 18, Michelle Smith was the first American to work at Hermès in Paris. Coincidentally or not, both Posen and Smith had their runway debuts during GenArt's annual Fresh Faces in Fashion show, which has served as a showcase for the work of emerging design talent in various cities for the past 12 years, and in Miami for the past five.
