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'Survivor' Jenna to appear at fashion show in South Fayette
The parade of spring styles and swimwear will highlight a party to kick off the 23-year-old Morasca's new venture -- Model Challenge USA, a national contest for aspiring models. Party proceeds will benefit Animal Friends, the no-kill Strip District animal shelter, and Grassroot Soccer, which raises AIDS awareness in Africa.
Models from the Patrick Talent Agency will show off fashions from shops and suppliers with local ties: Pittsburgh Jean Co., Sophie's Swimsuits and E. Recht Underwear.
Plans call for Model Challenge USA contests across the country to culminate in a final pageant set for October at Station Square. Any woman 18 and older may enter the competition. Finalists will compete for modeling contracts, photo sessions and clothes, among other prizes.
Admission to the Jenna Morasca Revealed party is $50 for the 6 to 7 p.m. VIP reception and $25 for the 7 to 9 p.m. party and fashion show.
The Rhythm House Cafe is at 3029 Washington Pike, South Fayette.
Details: www.modelchallengeusa.com or (412) 291-1807.
Resale shop in Ross helps women in need
From Coach handbags to Talbot's separates, Treasure House Fashions recycles a lot of upscale labels and helps women in need.
The Ross women's resale shop, a nonprofit venture, offers gift certificates to needy shoppers through nearly 20 charity organizations.
A bag sale -- everything you can put in one brown bag for $25 -- opens Tuesday and ends Feb. 26 at the shop near Northway Mall.
"We get a lot of Talbot's, Pendleton, Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne and Jones New York (clothing)," says Susan Smith, vice president of the shop. "All our clothing is donated. All our help is volunteer."
Treasure House Fashions welcomes donations of clean, useable apparel, preferably in season.
"Only the best of the best goes into the shop," Smith says, but all donations reportedly go to good use -- perhaps as materials recycled for use in Third World countries. "Nothing is discarded, or not used to help others in some way," Smith says. "Once women learn of us, if they have trouble parting with things, it helps them open their hearts and closets a little wider."
Shop hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays; and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Treasure House Fashions is at 8035 McKnight Road, Ross, on the ground floor of the Andre Plaza office building at McKnight and Peebles/Three Degree roads, near Borders, Northway Mall.
Details: www.thfashions.org or (412) 364-3256.
Your feet will thank you: Flat-heeled shoes are back in style
Maybe it's because world events brought people down to earth. Or perhaps people just got tired of sore feet. More likely, it's a natural swing of the pendulum that keeps fashion shifting from one extreme to the other.
In any event, style-conscious women making their spring shopping list these days are including something new: flat-heeled shoes.
It started more than a year ago. As Vogue recently noted, that was when Carrie Bradshaw of "Sex and the City" put away her high-heeled Manolo Blahniks and when Tom Ford, whose stilettos at Gucci boosted the fashion sex quotient about 1,000 percent, retired.
Just about every major designer beginning with Prada, Jil Sander, Miu Miu and even Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld offered low-heeled versions. And now the look is available from American houses as diverse as Kenneth Cole and Kate Spade. The looks run the gamut from ballet slippers to loafers to Grecian-inspired, strap-laden sandals.
Of course, you still have many options in stilettos for spring. And it matters how you wear flats. Don't mix them with tweed suits (too dowdy). Prada suggests moving in the sporty direction. Lagerfeld, on the other hand, put some of his evening gowns with flat thongs.
And as Vogue emphasizes, the last look you want is sensible.
Color trend spreads from women's wear to jewelry
Color has come to dominate the fashion scene in recent seasons.
Who ever imagined wearing lilac, baby blue and acres of pink in the dead of winter?
The same phenomenon has hit fine jewelry. Color has been increasingly popular in stones such as tourmaline, amethyst and pale sapphire. Now new rainbow hues are also reflected in pearls. Make way for pink, coral, pale green and bronze, the shades to cast all the more glow on a woman's complexion.
"I think people want to wear what flatters them," says Katy Briggs, director of marketing for Tivol, a Kansas City, Mo., jewelry store, where multicolored freshwater-pearl necklaces glimmer next to traditional ivory pearls and diamonds.
Other trends in jewelry include the return of yellow gold after a long run in platinum and silver.
And say goodbye to chandelier earrings. The new luxury diamond look is a long, thin line, perhaps with a curve at the bottom. It is likely to be the prevailing style on the red carpet at the awards shows, says Tivol merchandising executive Ward Manes.
As for sales, the tip-top end and the lower rung of the jewelry market are holding strong. The middle price ground is the weakest, Briggs and Manes agree. The Tivol perspective is in line with market researchers who report that in all categories consumers are cutting back on spending where they can by shopping discount stores so they can splurge on things they want.
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