Style at the State of Style Summit

Who: StyleCaster, together with 92YTribeca, hosted the 2nd State of Style Summit yesterday, followed by a cocktail party at the Above Allen bar.

Summit speakers and party attendees included Joe Zee, E! Scouted's Julia Samersova, Mary Alice Stephenson, Nate Berkus, Derek Blasberg, Lucky Magazine's Brandon Holley, DKNY's Aliza Licht, Robert Verdi, Bobbie Thomas, Electric Room & Rose Bar owner Nur Khan, Patrick McMullan, BlackBook Editor in Chief Adam Brent Houghtaling, and many more.

Of course, the whole StyleCaster team was there, including Editor in Chief Laurel Pinson and founders Ari Goldberg and David Goldberg, as well as the brilliant brains behind 92Y, Sol Adler, Henry Timms and team.

When: Thursday, October 11th, 2012. 9 am - 8:30 pm.

What: "What does style mean to you? What makes someone with a Twitter handle into an expert…or -dare we say it- an 'influencer?' If Patrick McMullan took your picture and nobody was there to tweet it, did it really happen?"

The style industry’s top leaders answered all of these questions and more at StyleCaster’s State of Style Summit.

Fresh off the plane from Paris and en route to LA, Joe Zee kicked off the day by explaining the value of digital in his every day life (Did you know his dentist follows him on Twitter?) and the importance of new media to the evolution of the style space. His candid conversation with Mary Alice Stephenson and Julia Samersova came to the conclusion that, "Video blogging is the next big thing. But, at the end of the day, you've got to be real," and "Social media is not a high school popularity contest. It's NOT about numbers, it's about what you do w it." (Mary Alice Stephenson)

Next up was an insightful - and pretty hilarious - dialogue between buds Nate Berkus and Derek Blasberg. "Because there are so many experts now, I'm held to a much higher level on honesty, thoughtfulness & research," said Nate.

Throughout the day, social media moguls like @DKNY herself, Aliza Licht, and BuzzFeed's Jon Steinberg duked out the effectiveness of aggregation in making clickable content into a conversation.

Entrepreneurs like Pose's Alisa Gould and StyleOwner's Joel Weingarten and e-commerce execs Stacey Santo (Rue La La) and Katherine Bahamonde (C Wonder) concluded that curation is key. "The brands that are going to win are the brands that have a point of view," said Joel.

And then we did yoga in heels (thanks to our friends over at Pure :)

And Electric Room's Nur Khan, DJ Mick Boogie, and BlackBook's new EIC Adam Brent Houghtailing hopped on stage with the one-and-only Patrick McMullan to share how the definition of 'cool' has evolved with new media. ""If you have a good night it doesn't matter if you don't have a picture of it," said Patrick.

Just after Robert Verdi told it like it is, everyone headed over to Thompson LES’ Above Allen to mix, mingle and celebrate. Why? Because it was 5pm. And why not. :)

Stars Celebrate with Tacori Last Night in LA

Celebrities gathered to celebrate an evening of Old Hollywood at Club TACORI's "TACORI Productions" last night at L.A.'s iconic film studio, The Lot. Mad Men's Christina Hendricks, Breaking Bad's Betsy Brandt, Friday Night Light's Aimee Teegarden, Premium Rush's Dania Ramirez¸ The City's Whitney Port, Twilight's Christian Serratos, Eastwood and Company's Francesca Eastwood, host of NBC's Stars Earn Stripes' Samantha Harris, The Office's Melora Hardin and The Hills' Stephanie Pratt all glimmered in TACORI jewels as TACORI unveiled its "City Lights" Fall 2012 Collection. The debut included an exclusive teaser trailer of TACORI's new short film, "Par Chance," written & directed by acclaimed director, Steve Antin of Burlesque.

Below are photos of only a few of the stars in attendance:

Wrapped Kickstarter Campaign

Beginning October 9th, WRAPPED will feature a campaign on Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com) to launch a new innovative collection of journals, while further expanding the brand through Kickstarter's creative funding platform. The original Venice, California based wrapping paper company aspires to stay true to its local production, and needs to reach a goal quota of 5,000 journals in order to thrive while staying true to the brand's value of authenticity. Founders Ryland Arnoldi & Sam Seidman are inspired by WRAPPED's quick success and have distributed wrapping paper to some of the nation's most renowned retailers; they're excited to capitalize on their potential and evolve WRAPPED into a repertoire of paper goods including journals, postcards, invitations, stationary and more through the Kickstarter campaign. Generally sold at $18.00, the journals will be available on Kickstarter for pre-sale at an exclusive price of $15.00 with a tier of rewards for your pledge and appreciated support. For instance, pledges of $100 will receive a journal designed by renowned artist, Charles Arnoldi, and produced by WRAPPED. Arnoldi states, "these things are incredible and I really wouldn't mind keeping all of them for myself!" These particular journals will each be signed and numbered, starting at 1 for the first contributor.

Here's how it works:

Donate $1 - Receive a special postcard from WRAPPED thanking you for funding the campaign.

Donate $15 - Receive a journal of your choosing! Pick your favorite design and it's yours.

Donate $30 - Receive two journals of your choice!

Donate $50 - WRAPPED will send you a custom wrapped design of your choosing from the studio printer. This is how they make all of their prototypes and they look unbelievable! They're printed with archival pigmented ink on enhanced matte paper and will last over 100 years (24"x36").

Donate $100 (Limited Edition: 200 units) - Receive a journal designed, signed and numbered by Charles Arnoldi (Founder, Ryan Arnoldi's father), produced by WRAPPED. This is a one-of-a-kind reward and exclusively available for Kickstarter.

Donate $120 - Receive all eight journals!

Donate $200 - WRAPPED will send you a custom wrapped 44"x66" design of your choosing from the studio printer. The design will be printed with archival pigmented ink on enhanced matte paper and will last over 100 years (International shipping not included; contact for details).

Donate $1,400 (Limited Edition: 25 units)- WRAPPED will send you a mounted WRAPPED print. This is not some framed poster-it's printed with archival pigmented ink on glossy paper, mounted on aluminum and faced with a quarter inch of acrylic with polished edges. The piece is signed, dated and numbered (24"X36"; International shipping not included, contact for details).

Donate $4,500 (Limited Edition: 25 units)- WRAPPED will send you a very large mounted print with archival pigmented ink on glossy paper, mounted on aluminum and faced with a quarter inch of acrylic with polished edges. "This is serious," say the founders. The print will be signed, dated and numbered (44"x66"; International shipping not included, contact for details).

Donate $5,000 (Limited Edition: 10 units) -WRAPPED will send you a copy of their custom 10'x20' floor decal made by Blik. "Created by meticulously photographing the Arnoldi studio floor at 1:1 scale, these things are big beyond belief and are the coolest thing we've ever made. We hope someone else is as excited about these as we are." say the founders (International shipping not included, contact for details).

Donate $10,000 (Limited Edition: 1 unit) - Receive a one-of-a-kind Charles Arnoldi painted surfboard (International shipping not included. contact for details).

All WRAPPED journals will be 5" x 8.25" and each design will include inside and outside artwork as well as a place holder ribbon and a back pocket for storage. Available with either lined pages or blank cardstock with 240 sheets of acid free paper, the journals will be offered on Kickstarter from October 9-November 8,^, 2012, with rewards granted in November, and journals delivered in December (International shipping fees may apply; www.kickstarter.com) . 

 

WRAPPED stems from the idea that wrapping paper can be a work of art, rather than a generic disposable shell. Inspired by the California roots of founders, Ryland Arnoldi and Sam Seidman, WRAPPED's products include wrapping paper, journals, stationary and more, and are designed and manufactured locally in Los Angeles to ensure unparalleled quality. Both founders are strongly inspired to expand their brand to a competitive and international level, and through their partnership with Kickstarter, WRAPPED will be on its way; www.wrappedla.com.