Oh how much fun! I hope by now that you have purchased a few “fun” pieces for the summer, but if you haven’t this Alexander McQueen Turquoise Clutch would be a perfect choice. It would also add a great punch of color and style.

Zappos.com

The clutch itself measures  9.5″ wide x 2″ deep x 5″ high. It also has a rear exterior pocket and a magnetic zip closure to keep all your summer valuables safe. The clutch is $684 at Zappos.com

Ashley Shute spends eight hours a day working as a blue jean and t-shirt wearing community organizer in San Antonio. The other 16 hours are dedicated to dreaming about and shopping for the latest luxury fashions. Her style icon is Jacqueline Kennedy; classic, clean, and always professional. You will never find a fake bag in her closet and she wants a collection of Manolo Blahnik shoes before she turns 30.

I have a friend who has an obsession, a wallet obsession. One weekend we were doing some Spring cleaning and I came upon her wallets. There were big ones, small ones, bright ones, dark ones, brown ones, black ones, you name it she had it.

Net-A-Porter

Of course I knew about this obsession, but it was just amazing to actually see all these wallets in person. I asked her if I could swap her one of her wallets for one of my pairs of shoes. You should have seen the look on her face. She was wounded. How dare you ask to trade me one of your 500 shoes for one of my 501 wallets. Needless to say, the swap didn’t occur, but I did find a new appreciation for wallets that day.

That’s why, dear wallet obsessed friends, I am recommending this Marc by Marc Jacobs Zipped Leather Wallet. For those ladies who need a big bright wallet with gold toned details with pleated details throughout the front (which is my favorite part of the wallet) this is perfection. The internal pockets are great to hide all those maxed out credit cards and discount coupons you’ve gathered from your favorite stores. The wallet measures  8″ wide by 4″ high by 1″ deep and is $240 dollars.

Ashley Shute spends eight hours a day working as a blue jean and t-shirt wearing community organizer in San Antonio. The other 16 hours are dedicated to dreaming about and shopping for the latest luxury fashions. Her style icon is Jacqueline Kennedy; classic, clean, and always professional. You will never find a fake bag in her closet and she wants a collection of Manolo Blahnik shoes before she turns 30.

Most people with some type of creative bone in their body find inspiration from nature and their childhood home. That is no different for jewelry designer Winifred Grace Gundeck who is from Miami Florida. She is the designer of some beautiful pieces that I happened to stumble upon a few days ago. 

Winifred Grace

Ms. Gundeck and I both share a passion for the Spanish language, she has a degree in Spanish andso do I!  After spending time getting her Master’s in Graphic Design, she remembered how much she missed  to her youthful memories of selling barrettes on the streets. With these memories in tow, she decided to return passion of designing  accessories. Winifred Grace was created in 2003.  

Winifred Grace is based in Chicago, Illinois (go Cubs!) and is sold in several luxurious retail locations in California, Illinois, Florida, New York and Georgia. It sounds like I’ll be taking a road trip to go see some of these in person. 

The designs are decidedly girly and very fashionable. If you adore the boho chic look or even the vintage feel every now and then I highly recommend taking a look at both the Spring 2009 and Classic 2009 Collection. 

If you are in New York City, one of these retailers,Steven Alan’s , will be hosting a fabulous trunk show for Winifred Grace on June 4-5. So clear your calendars and check it out! For more information check it out here.

For more information about Winifred Grace contact Courtney Forrest.

Ashley Shute spends eight hours a day working as a blue jean and t-shirt wearing community organizer in San Antonio. The other 16 hours are dedicated to dreaming about and shopping for the latest luxury fashions. Her style icon is Jacqueline Kennedy; classic, clean, and always professional. You will never find a fake bag in her closet and she wants a collection of Manolo Blahnik shoes before she turns 30.

I have a rule. If I wear my accessories (earrings, necklaces, rings, etc) more than once a week, they’re good earrings. And good accessories mean they’re luxurious accessories. This also means means I spend a lot on them. I’m also always looking for great pieces and designers for these investment pieces (since I’m not buying a house anytime soon why not invest in good jewelry right?)

I’ve found a wonderful designer and collection that I’m totally going to one day be able to save up for. The designer’s name is  Yehouda Saketkhou and you can check out his jewelry designs at Yael Designs. He  grew up and was inspired by the Parisian life style (much like Christian Louboutin!). Yehouda has a wealth of knowledge, experience, and passion about jewelry. These characteristics shine through every single one of his pieces. And much like the uniqueness of Louboutin, Yehouda Saketkhou has to make things all his own.

He says, “Every step in the design process must be seamless in order to effectively evoke and communicate the inspiration, personality and story of each piece.” And each piece is special in every way. It’s special for everyone; especially for brides. Yael Designs specialized in bridal jewelry, but honestly…who is going to say, “Umm..I’m pretty sure that’s the  04330 Bridal Ring from Yael Designs that I saw online.” At least I hope not. You need new friends if that’s all they’re concerned about (unless you’re working at Vogue, Allure, or some other ultra fashion-y place).

These are totally investment pieces, but don’t you ever call them ‘fashion’ pieces. Mr. Saketkhou explicitly states that, “I design my pieces to move through the changing fashions, yet I don’t design ‘fashion jewelry’. Instead, I sculpt wearable works of art that have substance and can be worn as easily today as they can 50 years from now.” So watch out everyone, in 50 years you all may be looking for vintage Yael Design jewelry because it is still fashionable.

I’m particularly in love with the Mosaic Collection that will be fully available in August (counting down the days!). These pieces range from dangly black and white earrings to bold and daring rings.  If you’re looking for something a little more subtle, though, look at the Luna Yellow Diamond Collection which showcases smaller but equally as stunning rings.

Whatever your tastes in jewelry, I recommend you take a look at Yael Designs. You may find one or two “dream’ pieces or you may be making a grocery list of pieces you want. Whatever the size, it’s always nice to dream of that one investment piece you may not actually invest in.

Thanks so much to Sasha Vasilyuk the PR Manager at Yael Designs for all the fabulous info!

Ashley Shute spends eight hours a day working as a blue jean and t-shirt wearing community organizer in San Antonio. The other 16 hours are dedicated to dreaming about and shopping for the latest luxury fashions. Her style icon is Jacqueline Kennedy; classic, clean, and always professional. You will never find a fake bag in her closet and she wants a collection of Manolo Blahnik shoes before she turns 30.