Spring Into Neutral

More home design treats coming this week, but on the fashion side of things, I'm intrigued by the very dominant neutral trend for Spring this year. I'm a color girl myself - bright hues make me happy. But bright hues AND patterns = a little much. This season, many color-heavy designers, such as Tory Burch, have erred on the side of caution, creating an abundance of complex patterns rendered in taupes, whites, and grays. What do you think - cool and collected, or a tad dull? 

All images, ToryBurch.com

The Designer Browser

Here at Sanity Fair, we prefer to talk about things we know something about, not things we know nothing about, and would probably break - a category that includes cars, computers, televisions, and anything with batteries. But what I do love is anything pretty and personalized for my laptop, from desktop to wallpaper, so I got kind of excited when a tech-saavy friend talked me into trying Google Chrome. It's supposed to do, oh, a lot of stuff, none of which I understand. All I know is this: IT PATTERNS MY SCREEN WITH DESIGNER TOGS. Right now, I'm typing away under a banner of Tory Burch orange and pink. Maybe tomorrow I'll try some Lilly Pulitzer print (if it's a grey day especially). Ta da!

Other designs available include Jonathan Adler, Matthew Williamson, Delft (the famous Dutch porcelain), Kate Spade, Todd Oldham, Vivienne Westwood, Charlotte Ronson, and Oscar de la Renta!

For a real article about technical stuff Chrome actually does, instead of just what it looks like, visit here. 

All images, Google Chrome.

Double Vision for Spring

Every fashion season brings trends and themes, but often, I'll notice one small "mini-trend" where a few designers seem to have hit upon strikingly similar ideas. It's not copying so much as accidental group-think (and the ubiquitous influence of Pantone's magic color wheel). One year the mini-trend was a pink, gray, and white tweed cloth that followed me EVERYWHERE. I found a skirt of it in a department store, a jacket in another, and finally, a coat in a third (that I eventually broke down and bought - it was a fabulous look). This season, it's abstract patterns rendered in red, pink, and purple cropping up in dresses from DVF to Trina Turk. What do you think? Great look, or too much color?

DVF

Tory Burch

Trina Turk

Emilio Pucci

Prefiguring them all:  a Missoni knit dress and Kate Spade coat from the 2009 winter season.

All images, as attributed. Emilio Pucci at Saks. Missoni dress at Yoox.

xoxo, Sanity Fair 

Technology Goes Gorgeous

Tory Burch in her NY office.

I remember my first computer, an unwieldy, unappealing chunk of black plastic produced by Dell Corp and accompanied by the greatest technological wonder known to modern mankind:  a WORKING PHONE NUMBER THAT DIRECTLY CALLED A HUMAN FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT. In under a minute. I know. I tried it.  

These days, such an incident would be relegated to the department of minor miracles, but at least one thing has improved: looks. The modern designing woman need not suffer hours awaiting technical support - oh, she'll wait, but she'll have something lovely to look at while she does it. Below, a few ideas for improving your view. 

Thomas Paul calendar mouse pads.

A personalized paperweight at Red Stamp.

An office by Kelly Wearstler. Orderly, but not TOO orderly shelf stacks and a variety of textures keep the look interesting. Most importantly, there's plenty of light - four light fixtures in this view alone.

Vivienne Tam laptop for HP (there's a matching clutch too).

Anna Griffin file folders from Elisabeth's Embellishments.

Kate Spade pencil case.

A Celerie Kimble office. I like this space because it just happens to have a desk tucked in the corner - the room can be used for so many different things at the same time. And the layers of cool color are wonderful. 

Images/Sources:  Tory Burch image, businessoffashion.com. Mouse pads and paper weight, redstamp.com. Wearstler office image, studioannetta.com. Vivienne Tam laptop, hp.com. File folders, elizabethsembellishments.com. Kate Spade pencil case, katespade.com. Celerie Kemble image, Kemble Interiors via lovely blog M.A. Belle.