Tag Archives: Nikki Poulos

Kalo Mina! October 2013!

1 Oct

 

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“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Kalo mina! Happy October 1st! The first day of fall was September 22, but the weather today feels more like late spring. The sky is a bright, bright blue, the color of parakeet feathers. I walked down to Union Square at lunch today and was tempted to play hookey just so I could sit in the grass and look up at the sky and dream.

September brought routine back to the city, and it was a busy month. A few highlights:

  • Attending Greek American Fashion Week and seeing the latest collections by Tatiana Raftis, Angelo Lambrou, Nikki Poulos, and Stratton, with hair by Christo Curlisto
  • Seeing Jonathan Collins’ Beat Traveller art exhibit in Paterson with Larry Closs
  • Conducting a live interview with Tim Z. Hernandez about his book Manana Means Heaven at the Spanish Harlem bookstore La Casa Azul and getting to meet all the great people who work at the bookstore as well as Tim’s insightful agent
  • Reading one of my personal essays about road trips, homelessness, and God as Jason Harrod softly strummed guitar at his album release party
  • Retreating to Connecticut for the Scripps TriState alumni book club
  • Attending the Brooklyn Book Festival with friends whom I co-lead a monthly writing workshop with and getting to hear Justin Torres read from We the Animals again. He’s brilliant. I’m obsessed
  • Watching Into the Wild. I know I’m late to the game on this one, but at least I had read the book by Jon Krakauer before. The film devastated me. It was beautiful and painful and haunting and true, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days….
  • Brunching with author Isobella Jade
  • Hearing Davy Rothbart read from My Heart Is an Idiot. I once wrote that a story of his made me “wonder if Rothbart might be my generation’s Jack Kerouac.” Yep, he’s that good. I was too shy to talk to Davy, but I met his dad and, despite my efforts to become invisible at the mere mention of audience participation, Brett Loudermilk selected me out of the audience to pull a sword out of him. Yes, you read that right
  • Reading Kristiana Kahakauwila’s story collection This Is Paradise — this is Literature. I am savoring it
  • Discovering H&M Home — whoops! There went all my money!
  • Finally getting Internet set up at my new place
  • Talked to my sister for the first time since she moved out of New York City
  • Imbibing my first pumpkin spice latte of the fall
  • Attending A Global Conversation: Why the UN Must Focus on Women’s Leadership
  • Oh and launching the e-book edition of Burning Furiously Beautiful: The True Story of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” with Paul Maher Jr!!!

So yeah, that was my September. What about you? Did you read any good books? See any movies that moved you?

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Greek American Fashion Week Presents Nikki Poulos

18 Sep

Nikki Poulos kicked off the 2013 Greek American Fashion Week runway event.

Nikki Poulos does retro right. The fashion designer’s eponymous ready-to-wear collection has vintage appeal with modern sensibilities. Poulos’ designs are all about bold graphic prints, feisty colors, and flirty cuts. They’re figure-flattering and sexy but never uncouth.

Take this punchy Palm Beach look for instance. The model has mile-long legs in these chic high-waisted shorts. The shorts are perfectly balanced with a conservatively cut shirt in bright stripes colors. Is it any surprise that Poulos is based in Delray Beach, Florida?

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Poulos is tops when it comes to bottoms. In addition to those killer-cute shorts, she has designed pants and a jumpsuit that ooze femininity.  Poulos pulls off the printed pant with a nod to the seventies.

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Her printed dresses offer something for everyone. Poulos’ maxis achieve that ideal balance between unfussy and stylish. Whereas the maxis may have plunging necklines, the tighter, shorter dresses—which have a Lily Pulitzer vibe—feature higher necklines, so that the right amount of skin is always showing. Right in the middle is the knee-length, button-down blouse dress, whose cut is reminiscent of the office wear of the fifties and sixties.

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Poulos is also a fan of stripes, and this little number is simply adorable. The boat neck collar, synch-tied sleeves, and belt are very gamine. The short scarf is quintessential fifties, adding a playful twist. (If someone finds the accessory too retro, they could swap it with a short red beaded necklace or a chunky gold necklace, but really the scarf does the trick!)

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Given the nautical stripes of this look, it’s not surprising that Nikki Poulos’ heritage stems from Kythera, a Greek island off the Peloponnese that was a naval crossroads.

Poulos starred on NBC’s “Fashion Star,” and her collection was included in the European spin-off of “Next Top Model.” She recently launched ‘nikki by nikki poulos’ on HSN. Her designs have been featured in the coveted Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Elle, Lucky, and Fitness magazines.

Fun fact: Poulos studied marine biology and worked in coral reef conservation:

In the 1990’s, Nikki was the designer and proprietor of ‘ecobaby’ an environmentally friendly babies and children’s clothing business in her native hometown Sydney, Australia. A love affair with the ocean led Nikki to pursue a career in marine biology and her Bachelor of Science degree and a scholarship opportunity brought Nikki to US shores. Working in coral reef conservation, Nikki juggled the dichotomy between science and fashion; ultimately her creativity lured her back to the fashion world.

I wish I could raid Poulos’ closet. I love, love, love her designs. Her nikki collection on HSN is actually quite affordable and adorable.

 

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2013 Greek American Fashion Week Overview

18 Sep

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Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week just wrapped up in New York City, and with it came the second—and highly anticipated—Greek American Fashion Week!

Greek American Fashion Week is presented by the Greek America Foundation, which was founded by Gregory C. Pappas to “promote, preserve and perpetuate the Greek culture, history and heritage in North America,” and the Committee for Fashion & Design was founded by Taso Pardalis and Maria Pardalis. Greek American Fashion Week is “a platform for talented, emerging, and established Greek and Greek-American designers to showcase their creations.” Some of the proceeds from the event go toward an annual scholarship to a Greek American student who is studying fashion design.

The runway show was held on Friday, September 6, at Studio450:

Studio450 is a penthouse duplex loft encompassing the 12th floor, enclosed rooftop room and rooftop terrace of 450 West 31st street. Located in the Hudson Yards, the penthouse features an all white room surrounded by large wrap around windows. The rooftop features a glass room and wrap around outdoor terrace. Both the penthouse and rooftop allow for stunning 360 degree views of New York City and the Hudson River.

On the left is Maria Pardalis, the host of Greek American Fashion Week. Doesn’t she look fabulous?! Her heels are killer.

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Fashionistas, models, and those in-the-know mingled at the show.

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Loi—the New York City owned by superstar chef Maria Loi—offered a delicious spread of mezze that included spanikopita and tiropita. Cocktails like “the Greek Greyhound” and a selection of wines were provided by Ya Mastiha and Nammos.

Here are Maria and Taso Pardalis with designer Timothy George at the start of the runway show. Timothy George showed his exquisite collection last year (see my coverage here), and this year came back as a mentor.

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The 2013 Greek American Fashion Week runway show presented the Spring/Summer 2014 collections of:

Hair was done by Curlisto.

I’ll be featuring each one today on my blog so check back soon!

 

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