Lovely Velvet!

Dear Fashion Friend:

For the past month, I posted fashion suggestions for St. Valentine’s Day. I hope that you have found my choices of blouses, and dresses, and gowns, which you can find at www.aleyacollections.com, inspiring! Speaking of inspiration, how about this exquisite velvet dress? I love it for so many reasons. The colors are enchanting! Aleya offers this dress in colors ranging from a delightful pink to a captivating olive green! I also admire the design. The spaghetti straps are, as I have mentioned in previous blog posts, stylish. The dress’ neckpiece provides a touch of chic to the attire! “This dress,” as Aleya correctly notes, “is perfect for a party!”

I often use the word “chic” to describe Aleya’s wonderful fashion collection! The dictionary describes this term as “elegantly and stylishly fashionable.” Kristen Bateman, in Harper’s Bazaar Italia (March 15, 2016), noted that actress Aubrey Hepburn “as one of chicest women of all time.” Kristen also wrote that Edith Head “put Hepburn on the map as a style icon and won multiple Oscars for her costume design. On Hepburn's dress in Sabrina, Head claimed, ‘If it had been worn by somebody with no chic it would never have become a style’" (Italics in the original).

My terrific friend Kath would concur with Kristen! Kath used to have an online fashion boutique called www.misspeachy.com (Kath retired about two years ago, and I wish her well) “Fashion,” Kath wrote to me “has always been in, my blood!” Kath talked about how during her childhood years she enjoyed playing “‘dress up’, trying on my mother’s clothing at every chance available, much to her dismay.” As she immersed herself in the fashion business, Kath found inspiration from designers like Coco Chanel. Kath notes that Chanel “was simple in her styling, her fabrics were superb, and the cut was edgy. She was a ‘no frills’ girl, and I identify with her as I believe most women look far better in well-cut clothing which defines the figure and enhances their curves.”

Perhaps our model aspires to be another Kath! In the meantime, I can see her wearing this velvet dress for dinner on St. Valentine’s Day. She meets up with her beloved at Le Bernardin in New York City. As she sits down, she finds a card on her plate. Inside, there is a quote from Alice Walker. It reads: “I have learned not to worry about love, but to honor its coming with all my heart.”

I hope your visit to www.aleyacollections.com was an enchanting one.

Sincerely,

Gabe xoxo

P.S. For this blog post, I drew a passage from a blog post I wrote back on June 11, 2017. It’s called “From Banking to Fashion” (See https://gabeaflie1234.blogspot.com/2017/06/from-banking-to-fashion_11.html). On Twitter, I have a wonderful friend named Coco. She and I would exchange fashion tweets. In one tweet, Coco referred to me either as her “fashion friend” or as “dear fashion friend.” The sentiment enchanted me! I love (and feel blessed) that we are great friends, and we have an appreciation and a love for fashion. From time to time, then, we greet each other as our “fashion friend” or as “dear fashion friend.” I thought the latter greeting would be a lovely way to start each of my blog posts at www.aleyacollections.com. I see this blog and this website as a community of fashion enthusiasts. I love writing this blog, and I look forward to writing many more posts for your consideration. A final note. Dear Coco: Thank you for your great tweets, your wonderful sense of fashion, and, most of all, for your friendship. xoxo