Fashion Camp LA, an interactive one-day conference, hits Los Angeles June 13, 2010 and brings together apparel and retail industry professionals, bloggers and designers and teaches them how to use technology as a marketing, business and brand development tool.

If you can’t attend or were unable to register, you’re not out of luck. UStream.TV has partnered with LA  FashionCamp to LIVESTREAM the entire conference on their site on Sunday.

Simply log onto UStream.TV on Sunday at 10AM, we’ll be live on the homepage; you may also go directly to the Fashion Camp LA Stream.

Clashe will be on at 2PM.  We hope to see you all there!

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.

At Clashe, we simply <3 fashion, style and beauty bloggers. We admire their talent and their inspirations. Their blogs are provide glimpses into their lives and sometimes, seemingly private, worlds. In support of  blogger zeitgeist, we’re supporting their creative geniuses with a little link love.

Links à la Mode : Fashion is Booming

Edited by Fashion Pulse Daily

Style cares not about the economy, so we continue on, falling in love with a fabulous pairs of shoes, lbd, and the perfect little cardie. New boutiques, designers, ideas, and innovative, avant garde concepts continue to emerge, and we can’t help but start a new love story with our latest DIY project, amazing vintage find, department store score, or simply a fabulous floral umbrella. And so, as the title suggests, fashion is booming, creativity is soaring, and we can take a big exhale and shove our worries aside – it’s time to allow ourselves to get excited about wearing some new or all-time favorite spring-weather garments and accessories.

As expected, there was a fabulous round-up of links in the forum as well, all worthy of your eyeballs!

[Note from Jennine] Oh, and if you’re looking for something to do this summer… IFB is looking for interns!

Links à la Mode : April 15th

• 39th and Broadway – An Interview With The Person Who Really Determines How Your Clothes Fit!
• Chic Steals – What happens to a piece of clothing once it is donated to a charity such as Goodwill?
• Dedicated Follower of Fashion - Explores the new Spring/Summer Collection from Stylesmith:
• Denim Debutante – Three Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Your Jeans
• Evoluer – My best friend & I came across mint condition vintage Chanel at the local thrift store!
• Fashion Pulse Daily – Discovers a new way to think about dress via Linda Grant’s ‘The Thoughtful Dresser’
• Fasshonaburu - Need inspiration on fun color combination? Try looking at wedding palette articles!
• For Those About to Shop - Breeyn McCarney’s eco-conscious collection finds beauty in despair
• House in Tillford – An interview with two big blogs: learn from their experience on how to grow your own blog
• Idiosyncratic Style – Recycled Style Project: DIY paperclip necklace
• Independent Fashion Bloggers – Microsoft Launches KIN : The Social Media Phone
• Maple Sucre – The Women x Women Exhibition: Inspiring Young Women to get Behind the Lens
• M.I.S.S. – The Rag Trade: Wear it Now or Wear it Later
• Oranges and Apples - Ways of wearing vintage
• Retro Chick – Video Tutorial: Vintage style victory roll fringe bangs
• Some Kind of Style – Mr. Sartorialist In Town…
• Style Eyes - Couture: What’s the Point?
• The Coveted - March Springs, April Showers…. Floral Umbrella for Spring
• TheWellAppointedCatwalk – Suneri on Newbury
• TheWorkingWardrobe – Battle of the Blazers: 25 different blazers for 25 different styles and body types
• TrueQueen – Can Sweat Pants be Sexy?
• Tweet - Simon Ekrelius: Chalk, Mirrors and Confessions
• Widespread – An Interview with a new SF based store who gathers inspiration from the world

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.

TALENTED AND TENACIOUS: Tenacious and Talented is about featuring the next generation of fashion entrepreneurs that have the skills, resilience and portfolio to make headway into the fashion industry. If you have what it takes, create your Clashe lookbook and contact us to be featured in an interview.

Check out Tara Lacey’s Lookbook.

Tell us about Tara Lacey and how did it get started?
TaraLacey is an online fashion boutique, aiming to cater for women of all ages who want clothes that not just make them look good but feel great wearing them aswell. After graduating from London College of Fashion in June 2009 I jumped straight into launching the website, searching for brands from all over the world. TaraLacey sells a mix of workwear, evening dresses, swimwear and accessories. All the items are handpicked by myself and are chosen for their quality, and the way they sit on the female body.

I want to encourage women to feel amazing in what they wear and select items that will boost their mood instantly – as I believe clothes can.

Tara Lacey sells mid-market and luxury brands to career women aged 24-55. What makes Tara Lacey unique in being able to help women dress themselves?
Tara Lacey aims to provide style advice and provide a good selection of items to chose from. Ranging from sizes 8-16. I hope that women will see Tara Lacey as the ultimate shopping experience, loyal and inspirational. Searching all over the world for brands that cannot be found in large department stores and bringing them all under one roof.

Fiona Paxton Earrings

I am still in the launching process myself, the main thing is to find what is different about your brand and focus on this. Then you have to get the attention of the press, which can be difficult for people who are not knowledgable of PR or Marketing. The best thing to do is hire a professional PR agent or Marketing Person. Most importantly have total faith in your brand.

Why is it important for Tara Lacey to create a digital lookbook?
A digital lookbook is a good marketing tool for my company. It provides customers/the media with a quick glance as to what my website offers. From a quick glimpse you will get a taste of Tara Lacey. This is my aim. Lookbooks are there to inspire, to convey a message and to encourage business.

What are you next looking forward to in the life of your business?
I am looking forward to expanding Tara Lacey – I still want it to remain as a boutique though, this is very important. I do not want my customers to worry about being caught wearing the same outfit as someone else, thats what is so elite about boutiques. I will continue to expand the range and hope to travel to Brazil and India later this year to search for more brands. Within the next couple of years I want to introduce Menswear and also start designing my own collection.

Where can people find your clothes?
My clothes can be found at www.taralacey.com I am launching on 17th March 2010 and clothes can be delivered all over the world. Look out for offers and discounts and free gifts!

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.

Image management for digital lookbooks couldn’t be easier. With a Clashe lookbook you can create collections to walk your viewers through your portfolio. Check out the video and see how it all works.

The clashe lookbook takes all of your online content and organizes it into a single webpage exposing your portfolio to the world while making you look professional, capable and credible.

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.

TALENTED AND TENACIOUS: Tenacious and Talented is about featuring the next generation of fashion entrepreneurs that have the skills, resilience and portfolio to make headway into the fashion industry. If you have what it takes, create your Clashe lookbook and contact us to be featured in an interview.

Check out Get Go Retro’s Lookbook.

Tell us about who you are, give us some insight into how you first got into fashion, when you decided that this was something you wanted to do, and other things you think we ought to know.

Get Go Retro is a family owned online boutique catering to the fashionista who loves the fashions of the 40s and 50s.  Proprietors Cait Lynn and Cathy Lynn are a mother daughter team who originally created the store with the idea of paying for college.  Mother and daughter are both   admirers of the 50’s feminine and old Hollywood glam styles; so it seemed a natural fit to sell new vintage inspired clothing.  Get Go Retro has blossomed since our inception in 2007; and we both continue to nurture its growth

What do you think sets you apart from other designers?

All of our items are selected with the express purpose of offering clothes that ultimately make a woman feel feminine and good about herself. We carry all sizes; from petite to plus size dresses and swimwear.  Our goal is to find a good mix for every body type. Our clientele are ultimately fans of the timeless and classic styles of the 40’s and 50’s.  Think silver screen glamour icons such as Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Bacall and Rita Hayworth; or perhaps Burlesque Queen Bettie Page; to the girl next door … Debbie Reynolds.  We want to have a style and a price range for every size pocketbook.

We  look for designers that carry retro fashions that “we would wear.”  This includes well known designers such as Stop Staring, Drama Queen, Fables by Barrie, and Nicolita (to name a few.)   But, it’s also important to us that we carry some of the lesser well known designers by embracing designers from the cottage industry in an effort to offer unique styles that other sites are not offering.  This concept has proved to be a “win-win” situation for us and the smaller designers by allowing us more variety, and the designers a platform to sell their items and get noticed.  Another important thing … it allows us a wider variety of prices so that we have items for every size pocketbook.

Do you have any favorites in GGR that no lady should live without, what are some wardrobe must haves??

Top on the list, a “little black dress.”  Every gal’s got to have one.  The little black dress is versatile and can be worn to a great dinner party, wedding or funeral.  A pair of high waisted jeans with a nice t-shirt or top is nice; and definitely a belted top coat (think Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca.)  And, don’t forget, if you want to look sleek with no lines and no bulges in the more form fitting fashions (or not), such as a pencil skirt or pencil dress, we offer the Body Magic Shape wear.

What is the next thing you are looking forward to for the business?

Get Go Retro has been growing by leaps and bounds in the short three years we have been in business.  We would definitely like to become a household name.  As far as creating garments, that’s down the road a piece. We will continue to tweak our products and improve in every way we can.  That’s a constant every day thing. We will continue to offer our customers excellent service.  If our customer’s are looking for something specific and we don’t sell it; just let us know, we will try to find it for you through another vendor.  We try to stay open to helping the customer .  Whatever it takes.  If we don’t have it … we will try to get it for you.  After all, we want to help you “Get the style when you go retro!”

What do you know now that you wish every woman knew, since you first started?

That every  woman wants to look good and feel good in her clothes.  Face it, clothes and how you look are a statement.  Good or bad, it’s you.  Whether you want to dress to the “nines” as a pinup girl or simply wear a pair of cute jeans; clothes will only get you so far.  The one thing we cannot put a price on and sell is confidence.  You have to feel good in your clothes and in your skin.  Second, “a little attitude,” doesn’t hurt and third; you have to create  “your own personal style.”  It’s not just the clothes.  It’s you.  Think about it; Lucille Ball, a beautiful woman who dressed great, but was known for her signature red hair.  Betty Grable; looked great in a swimsuit, and was known for her legs.  Even modern day pinups …. Farrah Fawcett – her golden locks and white teeth;  Cindy Crawford, for the mole above her mouth; and even Kat Von D who is absolutely gorgeous, is known for her Tats.  Whether you have perfect physical assets or imperfections, you need to have the confidence to play them up and turn them into an asset.  That’s confidence; that’s attitude and that’s ultimately your personal style.

Where can we find your collections?

Very easy.  At our website.  Get Go Retro

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.

TALENTED AND TENACIOUS: Tenacious and Talented is about featuring the next generation of fashion entrepreneurs that have the skills, resilience and portfolio to make headway into the fashion industry. If you have what it takes, create your Clashe profile and contact us to be featured in an interview.

Check out Branda’s Lookbook.

Tell us about Branda. How did it get started? What is important about your brand that customers should notice?
Branda is our hand knitted accessories brand where you can find scarves, neck warmers, hand warmers and head warmers made with different kind of fibers and colors.

We started almost by accident,  we were making these things for ourselves and friends and so we just decided to start offering them for sale.  At first we only knitted simple scarves and over time we had added berets and hats.  Since we started we became more interested in different fibers.  We decide what to offer by thinking about what we look for when we shopping: basic models and colors.

Knitted Lavendar Scarf

Your background is in architecture.  How and why did you decide to go into fashion?
We are so proud of our architecture background which is a good basis for any kind of design.  Fashion involves design, construction, decision making, and it differs from the architecture on the scale but the methods are basically the same.

We are less interested in fashion as a changing phenomenon: we prefer the design of small and classic clothes.  In these times everything seems to be invented and we can see there are two very strong currents.  One is the chaotic that attempts to combine the impossible and sometimes achieves happy results.  Our ideas are more subtle, trying to slowly incorporate new ideas into established themes.

You and your sister are the designers, knitters, models and photographers for your brand.   What have been some of the benefits for being so well rounded?

So far we work alone and as independently as possible for economic reasons.  Knitting is something that we absorbed from our childhood.  In our home women always sewed and hand knitted.  We grew up in an environment of sewing workshops, full pieces of fabric, and sewing machines.  Our grandmothers often competed for who made the best stitch or pledge more sophisticated.   They were the ones who taught us to knit.

The school of architecture gave us a solid foundation in design that allows us to make creative decisions and carry it out.  It also gave us an autocratic vision of our work.  The photography and modeling we learned for the necessity of exposing our work.  We researched and then tried to make pictures that we like.  We are always trying to improve.

Mustard Yellow Neckwarmer

All of your products are hand made. Has that been a challenge to growing your business? Do you have plans to start having your products manufactured?

We’ve started knitting commercially 3 years ago but since last year we’ve started to think about Branda as a possible brand.

Garments hand-knitted although repeated are unique.  It allows a high degree of perfection if you spend the time for revisions.  We like the craft way of doing things step by step.   It has a high cost of time which some customers value, and allows working with rustic elements like hand-spun wool.  The process though opens your mind, because the time dedicated to it allows to think about how the next product can be improved.

Until now our ability to work has been enough to cover the demand.  As emerging artists we are in a formative and learning stage in developing our roles to transfer to potential employees.  We are exploring the possibilities and potential advantages of manufactured products which could allow us to make more items per time.

You are based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Where do most of your customers come from? How do they find you?

We have customers from USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy and Australia.  In this moment we are exposing all our work just on-line, on Internet. We have our online store on Etsy but not only that, we have a Clashe portfolio where we are publishing our last collections.

What is the next thing you are looking forward to in your business?

We still think we have a long way to go.  For the moment we believe that our best means of communication is the Internet.  Our brand is new and not widely known by what we are trying to make us more visible on the web.

With regards to production we are looking at new items to complete our collection of accessories while only using organic fibers.

Where can people find your products?

All our available products are posted on our store on Etsy Branda

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.

Blogging is a way to make your brand credible, relevant and popular. Integrating your Blog into your lookbook couldn’t be easier.

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.

TALENTED AND TENACIOUS: Tenacious and Talented is about featuring the next generation of fashion entrepreneurs that have the skills, resilience and portfolio to make headway into the fashion industry. If you have what it takes, create your Clashe profile and contact us to be featured in an interview.

Check out Strapped Up’s Lookbook.

Tell us about who the three of you are, give us some insight into how you guys first got into fashion, work history, when you guys decided that this was something you wanted to do, and other things you think we ought to know.

Jeff Rogers, John Rogers, and Matt Wagoner are all students. Jeff is currently a student at Detroit Country Day School and will attend Northwestern University, John attends Northwestern University and Matt attends Duke University. We first got into the fashion world through our t-shirt company, Original Vagabond, which featured original artwork on fashionable tees. We sold the shirts at our high school and through a few local boutiques in the metro Detroit area. We decided that the clothing industry was saturated with small t-shirt companies and went on to focus on belts.

Strapped Up is a new company dedicated to the production of new and creative waistwear. The Strapped Up team got tired of the same black and brown belts and decided to create an alternative that is eye-catching and original

What made you realize that the small t-shirt industry was saturated?

When you look through the men’s section of a typical clothing boutique, t shirts dominate. With so much competition, it’s increasingly harder to distinguish oneself from the pack.

What made you decide to go into the belt industry?

The belt industry is a funny term…to us, it’s a niche market because few companies focus soley on waistwear, as we like to call it. Where they sell denim it makes sense to sell belts. A lot of shoe stores sell socks to get the consumer to complement their new purchase. The philosophy is the same.

Who came up with the idea of including a squirt gun with the belt? Has it been a successful promotional tool?

The name Strapped Up refers to the belt around your waist. Common slang today uses the term to refer to having a gun. Jeff got the idea to attach a water gun to the belt as a fun, humorous aspect. Yeah, its a little nerdy, but as a customer, you know you’re going to play with it when you get your belt in the mail.

What is it like starting a fashion business while still being a student?

As a student who runs a fashion business, we recommend it to other students who are interested in fashion and making money. At Jeff’s high school, students are required to wear a uniform, so a unique belt is one of the few ways for a student to stand out. Facebook and twitter are great ways to spread the word about Strapped Up, because high school students are always using social networking sites. And because our school is small (600 students), we can accredit word of mouth to many sales.

How did you convince your first store to carry you? What was it like when they agreed to carry your belts?

We were able to convince the first store to carry us because we had previously worked with them with our t shirt company. They are known for their designer denim and welcomed the belts into their store. When they agreed to carry our belts, the dream of Strapped Up became very real.

What is the next thing you are looking forward to in the life of your business?

The Strapped Up Team is looking forward to adding various elements to future collections, such as custom buckles and the use of materials other than leather. Stay tuned for that!

What is something you know now that you wished you would have known when you first started?

When we first started, it was difficult to gauge the size ratio we should order. As we continued to sell we used the trends to order accordingly.

Where can we find your products?

You can buy Strapped Up products directly from Matt, John or Jeff in these locations, online or at a growing number of stores including Caruso Caruso in Birmingham, MI, and Modern Skate and Surf at their locations in the Detroit Metro Area.

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.

Adding YouTube videos to your digital lookbook is easy. Watch the video and you’ll see.

Clashe is a platform for indie fashionistas to build websites without web developers, designers and data centers. The Clashe digital lookbook is the culmination of your career in one spot. It takes all of your online content. your images, videos, status updates and articles and assembles them for the world to see.

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.

Adding Twitter Status Updates to your Clashe digital lookbook is easy.

Clashe is a platform for indie fashionistas to build websites without web developers, designers and data centers. The Clashe digital lookbook is the culmination of your career in one spot. It takes all of your online content. your images, videos, status updates and articles and assembles them for the world to see.

Author Bio

Darryl had a problem. He needed to find clothing that was relevant to him, appropriate for where he was going, popular and affordable. He couldn’t find an answer on Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or Flickr. So he started building Clashe.