New York Mad Tea party honoring DrossintoGold and Style Crone!

If you read my last post, I talked about attending an amazing tea party honoring my dear friend Jean from DrossintoGold and Judith from Style Crone (pictured above). The tea party minus the tea ;) was cp-hosted by artist and designer Carol Markel of Femme et Fleur and Debra Raporport.

These are some pictures from the afternoon with the backdrop of Carol and her husband Richard's beautiful apartment which is a work of art in itself! Thank you Carol for making everything edible and visual so beautiful!

If you don't know these ladies I recommend checking them out! You will be in awe looking through their blogs and seeing their magical outfits! They are all a part of a growing movement of women over 40 that have truly mastered the art of self expression through personal style. You may recognize them from the blog/documentary Advanced Style run by Ari Seth Cohen. I had a blast being around such amazing ladies and I left feeling so inspired!

Left to Right: Jean and Judith in their gorgeous outfits!

I consider Jean a soul friend getting to know her over the last year or so. We instantly clicked when we met and have so many similarities (She has been on the blog before here :) She is so GENUINE, kind and a breath of fresh air. She has such unique taste for mixing prints with layers of jewelry, usually toping it off with an amazing hat! What makes her even cooler is that she makes and up cycles so much of her clothing. It doesn't get more personal than that!

Judith and I met on instagram and her fabulous blog Style Crone. Meeting her in person was wonderful. You can tell Judith has a lot of fun with her clothing. It is extravagant, whimsical and classic all at once. She is famous for her gorgeous and unique hats that she pairs with her outfits!

LtoRight: Fashionista Anne Balcer, Jeff (Judiths partner) getting treats from the beautiful food table.  Some close ups of the table details below.

Along with running her lifestyle blog, Carol designs hats and now clothing. It was so nice to see her artist space full of her inspiration. Real life pinterest hehe. Her style is colorful, geometric and whimsical and so is her space! It's also extremely organized which I envy (inspired to get organized!).

Artist Elke Kuhn and her fabulous red hat!

Carol's home decor was so colorful! Loved it all! Below is her closet full of her handmade hat art!

Stan Satlin trying on a Carol Markel creation.

I loveee this one!!

Judith trying her hat out on top of one of Carol's hats.

Anne Balcer with artist Richard Cramer (Carol's husband). He showed me some of his recent work featuring birds and places he has been shown below that had me in awe! I really enjoyed hearing about his life as an artist and teacher at the Tyler School of Art in Philly. Check out his amazing artwork here: RichardCramer

Richard and Carol both having such amazing style and they've been featured on Advanced Style many times. I recommend reading about them here and here.

Left to right: Carol Markel, Marsha Carlin, Jean Barrett. Obsessed with Marsha's necklace mixup. My favorite colors. 

More of the fashionable crew!
Left to Right: Marsha Carlin, Jean Barrett, Carol Markel, guest, Debra Rapoport, Judith

Loved getting to know Debra Rapoport who has taught workshops on turning trash into wearable art! Most of the accessories above are made out of waste, believe it or not. Her hat is made out of paper towels! I really want her to come to Boston and teach a workshop. Check out her website and blog here. She's also a regular over on Advanced Style, read about her here and on Styleliku here.

Debra explaining to the ladies how she created this necklace!

Also loved meeting the elegant Joyce Carpati. I just love her braids and class, I was honored to be complimented on my outfit by her because I love her style. She's also a regular on Advanced Style. You can see more of her glamourous outfits here and here! 

Had the pleasure of meeting the Jean and Valerie (L to Right) of the duo Idiosyncratic Fashionistas. They were 2013's most stylish new yorkers and run their amazing fashion blog. All I can say is WOW! Loved their style and personalities, fun and down to earth. We were all gifted Frida socks by Jean that I had to put on right away!

Frida was in the air!

Jean's amazing shoes!

Hope you enjoyed! If you missed it, I shared the outfit I was wearing in my previous blogpost here. Seeing women be themselves and being around women that love to express through clothing just as much as I do was really surreal. Very grateful to have had this experience!

Much love,
Feda

Home made Love: Red Abaya and Tassel Earrings

This past week I traveled to New York City for a lovely tea party honoring two amazing bloggers, my beautiful and insanely stylish friend Jean from Dross Into Gold and the adventurous and eclectic Judith from Style Crone. I was so honored to be invited by Jean for this amazing party hosted by designer and artist Carol Markel of Femme et Fleur.

This is the outfit I put together for the party.  Photos were taken by my husband Anthony in New York at a park near where we were staying. Love looking at these and remembering the aura of New York (miss it!!).

I had been contemplating making this linen dress that has been in my head for months and I finally had an excuse to go ahead and make it. I was trying to decide on a color before I found out about the party and once I knew I was going I had to go with red. Red is just a color I am always in love with, my couch is red and I love red lipstick! The color of passion. My mom sort of held my hand throughout the process of cutting out the shape and how to put it together because I only ever made one thing before this dress. The design was simple enough though, and I just had to put in the time. It came out pretty well for my second ever creation. It's interesting that I made it with my mom because it almost felt like a Abaya or Kaftan arab dress inspired by her motherland Lebanon. The head wrap style and accessories echoed the feeling. I felt amazing in it and it kept me cool in the heat without sacrificing the more modest look I feel most confident in. I styled it with some earrings I also made on the bus ride into New York. I started making these tassel earrings last summer but it felt like the perfect time to finish them up to go with this dress. Talk about last minute, but I'm happy I went ahead and made them. I missed the feeling of creating things you imagine in a more tactile way. Hope you enjoy this summer look!

I will post some pics from the party up next. I had an amazing time and loved seeing Jean, meeting Judith, Carol and the many fabulous women I will gush about in my next post. Stay tuned!

Linking this post with Judiths June Hat Attack on her blog Style Crone. Happy headwear art!

XO
Feda

Outfit Details:
Headwrap: White Tassel Scarf from H&M  (recent purchase so you should find it there)
Dress: handmade
Earrings: Handmade/Upcycled- silver piece was from an earring set I was gifted- from Spain
Rings- all collected over the years.
Afghan large stone rings are from Avizeh Jewelry
Silver Filigree ring from Zamarut Jewel
Bag & Shoes- TJ Maxx a few years ago