by Danielle Kaplan
A Netflix for dresses, sounds too good to be true right? Welcome to the most genius idea in the history of fashion – Rent the Runway. (renttherunway.com)
It’s simple, too. The purpose of Rent the Runway is to rent dresses from top tier designers at a fraction of the cost for any event that [...]
by Danielle Kaplan
Beat the heat with our five fave summer sandals our feet are dying to wear…
1. Metallic
Dress up any outfit with these stunning strappy, high-heel sandals from Tory Burch.
2. The Wedge
Let your feet take a break from the stiletto while still staying true to the trend of the summer – platform [...]
By Ellie Leeper
Of all the premieres around the country for the fashion-laden film Sex And The City 2, the one that caught our eye was the party with Neiman Marcus partnering with Mercedes-Benz of Boerne to host a VIP screening at the Santikos Palladium Theatre recently for the new, sexy film.
The event also had [...]
When you think of summer, you likely think of a tall glass of cool, sweetened iced tea. Now, when you think of summer fun, you can now think of a more grown up iced tea beverage… like the new Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka, an infused drink that is sweeping the trendy bars and restaurants [...]
The Bigger Picture with Kimberlie Dykeman:
Try as we may, our status-obsessed, competition-hungry society lures us to acquiesce to judge and further dole out rampant titles, labels and assumptions. Like children, we find pleasure in comparing things and compartmentalizing, for it helps us define our own identities and positions… in some odd way. But, good [...]
By Jake Gaines
In our still rollercoaster-like economy, around here we’re always looking for a great value that is still luxurious. And, we want a grand experience while doing it. At Hamilton Shirts, that equation of a solid value plus luxury equals a great experience.
I noticed this when shopping in a hipster menswear [...]
If you’re thinking of buying a new BMW – and, who isn’t – now is the time to check out the BMW Ultimate Driving Event happening now for a limited time. Here’s how it works: simply sign up with BMW of Austin to experience all of the 11 new BMW models, including the all-new, beautifully [...]
By Jen Roosth
Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston held its second annual Tapestry Gala this month at the Hilton Americas chaired by Philamena & Arthur Baird with honorary chairs Peggy and Bill Barnett. The gala drew 800 culturally, ethnically and socially diverse Houstonians, and raised more than $600,000 in celebration of Houston’s various faiths.
Jan Duncan accepted [...]
by Natalie Bond
It was another great night to be in Texas. This time, it was in Dallas, when the legend of rock Sting took the stage at the Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center for the second of a three-part concert series leading up to the Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium [...]
By Chelsea Paul
Memorial Day weekend is the inaugural three day summer kick off. It is the weekend that most of us mark on our calendars in spring and then begin to plan traditional backyard barbeques, lake parties, and summer reunion get-togethers. Memorial Day weekend welcomes summer with a bang, and for three months fun in [...]
Let’s face it: if you live on this planet, you’re a social entrepreneur. But how can you gain more skills needed to change the social system for the better and share this solution with the world? It helps to have access to the right tools, like the new book, Social Entrepreneurship for Dummies® by [...]
By Lance Avery Morgan
It’s no secret that Houston loves art and also, loves a good party. Mix the two with a dash of a fun crowd, stir with great energy and voila’, you have an art opening as bubbly as a fresh glass of champagne. Leave it to Carolyn Farb and Deborah Colton [...]
by Lance Avery Morgan
Recently, at the Headliner’s Club in Austin, at a small luncheon honoring Ambassador Roy Ferguson and his wife, Dawn, the vitality of New Zealand was front and center.
The views of the city surrounded the gathering, hosted by former Texas Secretary of State Geoffrey Connor for the Ambassador and his wife, who [...]
Thinking ahead to cooler days is what Neiman Marcus San Antonio is all about right now.
This week the grand Texas store in the Alamo City’s La Cantera Mall is showing the Roberto Cavalli Fall 2010 Collection, chic truck show-style.
Animal prints, glam get ups and sky high heels will be just a few of [...]
by Lance Avery Morgan
The 25th anniversary Cinderella’s Ball gala honoring the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Central & South Texas was certainly the place to be recently. The sold out and almost standing-room- only crowd was wowed with the transformation of the Four Seasons Hotel ballroom fit for royalty – and the 600 guests. Miles of [...]
The Bigger Picture with Kimberlie Dykeman
I am certain many of you grew up watching the Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang, and each quirky, endearing character resonated with your own inner character at random times as they dealt with L-I-F-E. What’s funny about this wonderfully simplistic look at life is that there never seemed to [...]
by Lance Avery Morgan
Want your home to be inspired with both high design and high fashion? You’re in luck with the Women’s Symphony League Showhouse gala opening at the new Austonian high rise downtown, which will be the first and last opportunity for the public to see the building before its June opening with [...]
By Chelsea Paul
Summertime is right around the corner, so here’s how YOU can get hotter. Get set to bask in the sun with your friends with neighborhood barbeques, pool parties, and weekend lake excursions will be the thing to do at the end of a long work week. What to wear? Surf shorts, bikinis, [...]
By Lance Avery Morgan
The Austin Children’s Shelter recently partnered with Saks Fifth Avenue for a stellar evening of high fashion and philanthropy, Fashion for Compassion. The spring style show was socialebrity-studded, yet you’d think these gal and guy models were catwalk pros. They strutted their stuff for a great cause, the Shelter, while the audience [...]
“Our sense of style depends on the day, and that’s what makes it fun,” says Peacock Plume co-founder Cara Morgan. Her co-founding partner Holly Hargrove agrees by enthusing, “We love going from a classic dresses and heels, to sweet floral dresses, to layered or vintage inspired looks on a whim.” And, so an idea for [...]
By Lance Avery Morgan
With summer tans and summer white dressing starting to appear, a sparkling smile is the perfect accessory. Being toned and tan, along with the whitest teeth possible, is sure to help you feel your best.
We went searching and found the perfect teeth whitening system that will get you there fast. How? [...]
By Lance Avery Morgan
If you thought the world of lush life cabaret - with its sophisticated ladies (and gents) – just couldn’t be found anymore, guess again. And it ain’t misbehavin’, either. Well, ok, maybe just a little. The Austin Cabaret Theatre is bringing the often imitated, yet never duplicated Jim Caruso in his open [...]
By Dee Covey
“’WHAT house in Alpine?’”
“’The century-old adobe we just redid. Our daughter Cristina opened a really cool store on Murphy Street and our intention was to create a space so friends could finish their creative projects. We rent it out sometimes, too. If you can get out there soon, Cinco Estrellas is yours,’” [...]
By Chelsea Paul
It is getting warm in Texas and you know what that means: bright colored short shorts, mini-skirts and stiletto sandals, flirty floral dresses whose hemlines sit at the mid-thigh and teeny-weeny bikinis. That’s right ladies, as temperatures rise so do the inseams of the season’s flirty frocks, and the shape of our [...]
By Lance Avery Morgan
It’s finally happened. The king of pristine lines has brought his passionate design vision to a city that is known for design that is, uh, not considered as pristine. By all estimations, it might that the hotel that just opened yesterday could become the new Middle Eastern luxe icon hospitality destination. [...]
The Bigger Picture with Kimberlie Dykeman
Do you believe in destiny? If so, what does it mean to you? If it means attaining some kind of elusive state of greatness by crossing off all to-do list line items and settling into (and settling for) society’s expectations of worthiness…then you might be a little confused.
Society would [...]
by Lance Avery Morgan
Friday Night Lights’ star Kyle Chandler
You know it’s springtime when the Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Classic is tee’d up to raise money for charity. This third annual golf tourney and event will again be hosted by Kyle Chandler (Brilliant’s cover man in May 2009) and Brad Leland of NBC [...]
By Lance Avery Morgan
The hit AMC series “Mad Men” is re-shining the spotlight of the advertising world in the 1960s. Heck, what little boy of a certain era and a certain pop cultural affinity didn’t want to grow up to be Darren Stevens on “Bewitched”, with its cool advertising campaigns and taglines aplenty? Now, [...]
By Amber Elliott
Endlessbeauty.com proclaims to help you “look better and live longer”; we’re sold. This Saturday, Austin’s beauty fanatics will be getting down with The Donna’s at the websites’s sure-to-be-stunning launch party. Show some face at the Seaholm tomorrow night for mixing and mingling that will dominate water-cooler chatter come Monday. Get all the info [...]
by Lance Avery Morgan
It’s not every day that something important turns 25, is it? This year the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Central & South Texas is having a real ball to celebrate its position in the community since 1984. To celebrate this very special night the organization’s first-ever black-tie gala event, Cinderella’s Ball, will be [...]
By Amber Elliott
Runway show, live entertainment and free-flowing cocktails: the perfect formula for a stellar Saturday night in Austin. Everyone who’s anyone will be in the Warehouse District this weekend, so what better reason to pop into The Phoenix on 4th and Colorado than to catch the town’s movers and shakers watch custom swimwear strut [...]
The Bigger Picture with Kimberlie Dykeman
[Editorial Note: It gives me great pleasure to introduce the enlightened Kimberlie Dykeman: author, speaker, and television personality, who will share her ongoing insight on the Brilliant Social Network of blogs. We hope you enjoy her as much as we do… Lance Avery Morgan, Publisher/Editorial Director]
In a time when [...]
by Lance Avery Morgan
When the curtain goes up on this year’s Dallas Summer Musicals gala, the star-packed night will not only focus on the DSM children’s outreach programs, but also will focus on the seven music-filled decades of entertainment that has graced the stage in Dallas. Six talented singers (and one Tony™ Award=winning ventriloquist) [...]
By Chelsea Paul
Pure Austin’s Chelsea Paul dishes on today’s hottest work out trends and the bods that inspire them.
I love Texas weather–where tank tops, strapless dresses, and feminine necklines are the quintessential go-to wardrobe staples for six months out of the year. Halter tops and plunging necklines reveal not only freshly tanned [...]
By Jen Roosth
It’s that time of year again for the most coveted clothing swap this side of the Mason Dixon Line. This week, the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary Fashion Show and Chic Boutique “Reflections on Style” event, a Houston tradition that is so fun and fabulous, was a sell out to the 450 lucky [...]
By Jennifer Roosth
Lynn Wyatt / Christina Girard, Valerie Salembier and Anthony Freud
Louis Vuitton threw a champagne reception and kickoff to celebrate the sellout crowd for next week’s highly anticipated Houston Grand Opera Ball’s Yellow Rose of Texas Gala. This year’s honoree features the one and only Lynn Wyatt. Harpers Bazaar recently profiled our [...]
By Lance Avery Morgan
Meryl Streep, Mike Nichols, Malcolm Gladwell, and Kristi Yamaguchi are just a few who are showing their roots these days in the new “Faces of America” PBS series soon available on DVD.
In America, we all came from somewhere. With The Great Melting Pot of the United States that we call [...]
By Natalie Bond
In Dallas, it is difficult to find a place that marries comfort with upscale, cozy with sophistication. Brought to us by Scott and Gina Gottlich, of acclaimed local favorite, Bijoux restaurant, The Second Floor provides an ideal environment in which to dine. The Second Floor is aptly named – not only for the [...]
by Valerie Hausladen, author, Your Professional Destiny
The journey into doing what you love is not all airy-fairy. The beginning can be downright tough. It takes strength, discipline and an unwavering commitment. At times, it even can feel like you’re pushing a massive boulder. In the beginning you need to clearly set your vision and become [...]
By Lance Avery Morgan
There are galas and then there are galas. Last night was a real gala – and for a great cause – Austin’s premiere performing arts venue, The Long Center. Yes, Saturday, March 27 was the to place to be for the “Shades of Purple” theme, co-chaired by tireless and super stylish philanthropists [...]
by Lance Avery Morgan
Audrey. Jackie. Grace. There are very few style icons of the 20th century we can recognize by just their first names. Grace Kelly, also known as Princess Grace of Monaco, still influences a legion of women, both young and young-at-heart with her iconic style.
Want to see the how the real deal [...]
By Lance Avery Morgan
On Wednesday night at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Klieg lights spun and fans cheered as veteran stars Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and native Texan Sissy Spacek strolled the red carpet, likely knowing they have a huge hit on their hands with the new film that premiered, “Get Low”. Executive Producers Joey [...]
By Amber Elliott
Photography by Amelia Hindmarch
Austinites have an ear for the next big thing, and we’re declaring Chasing Kings and Rey Fresco our Artists to Watch. BMI introduced the talented groups out of California to press and VIPs during their 10th Annual Howdy Texas Happy Hour at Stubb’s. Catch Chasing Kings today at 3pm when [...]
By Amber Elliott
1. Giant Noise’s Locals Only Happy Hour
Since out town has been taken over by SXSW mania, Austin’s own Elaine Garza hosted Happy Hour at Star Bar on West 6th from 6 to 8pm.
2. WIRED Happy Hour
Like you need a reason to go to Moonshine. Stop by this afternoon for free drinks, apps and [...]
By Amber Elliott
On Sunday evening, screen sirens Malin Ackerman, Emmanuelle Chirqui and Carla Grubino lit up red carpet at the SXSW Film debut of Elektra Luxx.
By Amber Elliott
Co-stars Chloe Sevigny (L) and Rhys Ifans (R)
Chloe Sevigny, clad in Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent ankle boots, and Rhys Ifans walked the red carpet in front of Austin’s historic Paramount theater this afternoon for the debut of their film Mr. Nice, during SXSW’s Film Festival. Director Bernard Rose was also on [...]
By Amber Elliott
Photography by Amelia Hindmarch
After last night’s first look at Robert Rodriguez’s highly anticipated project Predators, the Austin based filmmaker held a press conference this morning at the Four Season’s with Director Nimrod Antal and the film’s lead, Adrien Brody. Shot on location in Hawaii and here in town at Rodriguez’s troublemaker studios, [...]
by Amber Elliott
Photography by Amelia Hindmarch
Gym Class Heroes (L) and Pete Wentz (R)
SXSW festivities kicked off last night at Ustream’s exclusive, one-night-only bash at the Phoenix in Austin’s trendy Warehouse district. Pete Wentz hosted the interactive event with a live performance from Gym Class Heroes that streamed live worldwide.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler (L) and Kim Stolz [...]
By Amber Elliott
Photography by Amelia Hindmarch
The stars at night, are big and bright, and out in the outskirts of Austin where the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards are well underway. Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the Austin Film Society honors Lukas Haas, Bruce McGill, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Nesmith and WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, the Christopher Guest [...]
By Erin Mallory
For most shoe-aholics, enduring a little discomfort for one’s oh-so-hot stilettos is a part of looking fabulous. But thanks to innovative shoe designer Dana Davis, the “beauty is pain” mantra is quickly fading, one cushioned platform at a time. Her revolutionary new collection blends high-style with comfort, engineered from the inside out [...]
