When Cute is Cool

I can't wipe the smile off my face when I'm riding "Lucy", as my kids call my Vespa.

Every Saturday, my sweetie and I head to Cave Creek Coffee Company (C4) on our bikes for coffee on the porch. C4 is a local gathering spot, and on Saturday mornings, the patrons are mostly Harley riders and other sport bike enthusiasts. The parking lot looks more like a motorcycle dealership and I'm always (smugly) surprised when my little Vespa gets more attention than the tricked out hogs on the lot. Because it's so darn cute!

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Beijing Olympics

Beijing National Stadium blends Chinese tradition with innovative modern architecture.

Although the Olympic Summer Games ended a few weeks ago, the designer in me is drawn back to the stunning visual beauty presented by Beijing. The Olympics have always provided a great showcase for design, from the logos to the architecture, the athlete uniforms to the mascots. Seeing all the visual elements packaged together is as fun for me as the athletic games themselves.

Beijing, the cinematic vision of Zhang Yimou and choreographer Zhang Jihang, took large-scale design and presentation performance to a whole new level with minute details and flawless execution. The blend of the modern, high-tech with the artful grace and beauty of As we witnessed from watching China’s rich heritage was stimulating and will inspire fashion and design styles in the year to come. Here’s a few inspiring points for my next round of projects that I took away from the pageantry of the event:

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Yours as a Gift With Purchase

Clever and sexy, prints featured on Benefit makeup bags lure even the most focused shoppers.

September shopping. It’s the perfect storm of end-of-summer clearances, back-to-school sales and fall shopping incentives. A chance to stop in to check in on my favorite indulgence—shoes.

Over the weekend, I dropped into Macy’ with one particular item in mind (black peep toe pumps). Determined to stay on budget, I was on a mission to find the perfect pair and nothing else. No meandering through clothing racks or browsing through the handbag section today. I headed straight towards the shoes when out of the corner of my eye I caught the “Free Gift with Purchase” promotion sign at the Benefit counter. Before I knew it, the perfect pair of heels was no longer on my radar and I had a rainbow of tested eye shadows on the back of my hand.

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Luxury and Design for All

Celebrity acclaimed Botkier handbags for every budget. Available at Nieman Marcus  ($500, featured on the left) or Target (<$50, featured on the right).

Carried with elegance and grace, a $50 handbag can pull as much caché as a $10,000 designer bag.

The Fall issue of Vogue is officially on newsstands, requiring steel reinforcements to support 800 pages of mostly luxury brand ads, with some editorial content here and there. Mingled between the pages of Valentino and Prada ads hawking handbags and shoes in the 5-digit plus price range, Target ads stood out with a simple message: Design for all.

A limited edition Botkier handbag for less than $50, advertised with simple copy: “A handbag should be designed for the reality of life, combining style and substance at a smart price.”

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