Nicole had an arrow in her hand as she walked down the runway. At the turn she quickly raised the arrow to simulate an "attack". The action was perfect and the Tim Hughes photographed her perfectly.
Each model had a prop and an "action" to perform at the end of the runway. Nicole did a fantastic job with her assignment.
Jennifer
Photographer Tim Hughes just sent us the photo's from the Wisconsin Fashion Week 2009 and they look fantastic.
As I mentioned earlier, Art Shegonee was our surprise guest and his job was to "WOW" the crowd before our "Tribal Collection" began and he was incredible. Tim got some fantastic shots of him and his daughter Marel doing their three minute dance "for all nations."
As you can see, the spectators could not have been any closer and Art really worked them into his performance.
The feed back has been tremendous about Art and the show.
Jennifer
Audrina Patridge one of "The Hills" stars was photographed wearing this pale pink top. It looks pretty close to our Miss Me "Embroidered" Top. Same style with the strap and off the shoulder sleeves, but different color. I love the way that she styled the top with a light wash denim short, very cute :) I might just have to copy her! 
Wow Green Dragon is really colorful! It's so refreshing to see all these fantastic summer colors! Tie dye is the big trend for the summer and these tops are a stylish way to pull off the look in a casual way. I love the color combination of the "Warhol" Tank, and the ruffle sleeves on the "Karma Ruffle" Top. I love the little detail that are in these unique tops! 
I've always been a huge Yoana Baraschi fan. Her merchandise is always made so well and beautifully put together. These two new dresses are absolutely stunning! The "Poppy Field Draped" Dress has a great pattern and I love the options on how to wear the sleeves. Off the shoulder or on the shoulder, one side up, one side down. It's very tasteful yet it still has a certain sexiness to it! 
The thought behind it all.
Our Wisconsin Fashion Week 2009 concept was "Tribal" and all of us had some great ideas on how to pull this off without looking over the top and offensive. Brainstorming is a good thing. Once we had a starting point we were off and running.
(From left to right - Julie, Jess, Mandy and me are waiting to take our rolling racks and props to the dressing rooms.)
Tribal can mean a lot of things but we wanted to stay "Native American Tribal". How cool would that be! We were scheduled first on the runway for the main event Saturday night and we wanted to set the place on fire, not literally but figuratively.
Once we had a theme established we wanted to tie it all together with a Native American dancer and some killer props that the models would carry down the runway and then perform some type of "action" with each prop at the turn around. The "turn" is the models moment to be seen and we wanted to change that and put the prop and the action center stage. Literally! The model now needed to be an actress. We wanted to entertain and excite the crowd as well as pay tribute to the Native American influence in fashion right at the turn. We wanted to set a new standard for fashion shows - Surprise!
For the dancers we had Art Shegonee and his daughter Marel but for the props we went to Katy's American Indian Arts on Monroe Street and found an amazing assortment of arrows, spears, dream catchers, and drums that Katy was more then willing to let us use in our show. Without Katy the show would have been missing a very important element.
In addition to everything else, we now had to worry about the props as they were authentic and VERY EXPENSIVE. Yikes! I had no idea. Because they were so expensive nobody wanted to be responsible for theft or damage to the props so we made everyone responsible and we stuck to them like glue the entire night. Not once were they ever out of our site. Thank you Katy, we greatly appreciate the support.
As soon as I get the pictures of the models I'll post them for all to see.
Jennifer
Putting on a fashion show and keeping your surprise guest a secret is not an easy thing to do. There is plenty of room for error. But all of us managed to pull it off and keep the mistakes to a minimum. But as the show gets closer, the details quickly stack up and so does the frustration level. You can't stop that but if experience teaches you anythings its that you just have to roll with the punches.
There is far too many people out of your control to obtain perfection. Hair, makeup, stylist models, music, show coordinators, venue people, talent, photographers, prop people, security, special guests, honored guests, VIP guests. Not to mention technology problems, marketing issues and TIME! The worst of all is time. Those four little letters are a killer that has no friends. This is why you should always have experienced people around you. I wouldn't trade that for anything.
J. LaMore has put on many fashion shows in the past but this one was different because we wanted to put on a show first and use fashion to tell the audience who we are and what we can do. We wanted to change what you expected into the unexpected and turn an ordinary run of the mill show upside down on its ear. We wanted to lead the way to a new form of entertainment with fashion. It was a big challenge and a little risky but the results were incredible when it was over. Art Shegonee was incredible and a fantastic addition to our show.
Expectations have forever changed, the bar is raised pretty high, and once again, innovation has changed the way we play, and that's a great thing!
Jennifer
All of us at J. LaMore would love to thank Art Shegonee and his daughter Marel for their dance performance at Madison Fashion Week. It was a huge hit for the show and for J. LaMore. We had a tribal theme for our show this year and we wanted to put on a show and entertain the crowd like no one has done before. With the help of Art and Marel, we went far beyond our expectations, much to the surprise and delight of the crowd. 
I just bought the Language "Dusk" Tube Dress and I absolutely love it! I literally was organizing the store and realized that I've never tried it on before. The second I had it on I knew I had to have it! Now I'm wearing it today at the store as well as this afternoon for a barbeque with my friends. It's so perfect! It'll also work well for babysitting in the summer. Long enough to do activities in (mini golfing, bowling, kid stuff, the pool, etc) but still super cute!!
WFW (wisconsinfashionweek.com) wrapped up last night and it was absolutely amazing! The whole week was full of fashion events, and it all ended with a huge designer runway show, which we participated in. Stay tuned for pictures from the event to see what our theme of the show was! Pics will be up by Wednesday.
-Julie
Miss Me makes a great stylish jean! My new favorite is the Miss Me "Cheyenne Bootcut" Jean. I love the studs and the western look that they have to them. These are perfect to wear with a little tank out on the town. I own a couple pairs of Miss Me jeans and the really are a great fitting, great priced jean :) 
American Idol was amazing last night and Kris Allen's mom summed it up the best. "The show is so good I forgot why I'm here."
As the show progressed last night the "Idol awards were given out to various contestants who "stood out" but didn't make the final cut. It was hilarious as some of the early contestants were down right fall-on-the-floor funny.
'Bikini Girl' won an award, of course, and when she showed up on stage to accept her award she kissed Ryan Seacrest right on the lips, again. But when she came bouncing out on stage her boob job was more then obvious much to the delight of the crowd. Even a wide eyed Simon Cowel mouthed the word "amazing" to Paula.
Bikini Girl can't sing to save her life but when she started the song she sang at her audition Kara came out behind a surprised BG and started to sing along with her. If you remember, Kara was especially critical of BG and her singing at the audition and when she tried to show BG how the song should be sung BG told Kara that her rendition 'wasn't any better.'
But last night Kara belted out a fantastic version of the song leaving BG speechless and virtually frozen on stage and rolling her eyes. And then, Kara unbuttoned her dress and flashed the crowd in her bikini to completely upstage BG. It was fantastic television and one of the best moments of the night. Apparently there was a bet that if Kara flashed the crowd a large sum of money was going to be given to a charity. Even better!
Rod Stewart was great and so was Steve Martin when he hoped he would be the winner tonight. Smooth as silk Lionel Ritchie was very good and he showed Danny Gokey how to have some stage presence and showmanship.
Kris Allen won the competiton and for me it was a big surprise. But at the same time when Danny Gokey lost, all those people who loved him would defintely cast thier vote for Kris more the Adam. I have to say that Adam can sing better and has a better stage presence but he had a shreaky high note that he always found and it got old for me. But it was a surprise he lost.
Oh well! Go Bikini Girl!
Lynn, LA
Hi Jennifer and friends! I just read an interview of Ann Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, in which she admits to telling Oprah Winfrey that she needed to lose 20 pounds to be on the cover of the magazine back in 1998. Wintour said that Oprah was a "trooper" and went on a stringent diet and lost the weight and then some. She made the cover, (left)looked amazing, and it was a huge hit.
Hi Everyone. J. LaMore and jlamore.com will be introducing a new line of jewelry called "DiversCity." The line is from Europe and is brought to J. LaMore by Connie Mills Imports. The line is hip, trendy and very cool along with being priced right.
The pics and info will be viewable and online today but I thought I would give you a preview of what you can expect. Here is Allison who posed for us on the recent look book shoot.
Some of you may recognize Allison as a contestant for America's Next Top Model a few seasons ago.
Jennifer
I love to wear shorts everyday in the summer! I have so many pairs it's unbelievable :) I have everything from cut off denim shorts, cotton shorts, khaki shorts, and so on. I came across the Miss Me "Rhinestone Twill" Shorts and they were like a breath of fresh air! I love the rhinestone detail and the cute wings on the back...they definitely are something new that I can add to my wardrobe, I'm going to need these in both colors!
This top hits this summers look right on the bulls eye! Embroidery is the new hot trend for the summer and this Miss Me "Embroidered" Top has such a sweet innocent look that any fahsionista can pull off. It will look great with denim shorts or dressed up with some jeans and heels for a night out!
I love it, and it's reasonably priced!
Hi Everyone: I am extremely proud to announce that J. LaMore was voted the bronze medal winner for the "Best of Madison" 2009 in the women's clothing division. In the years past we have won the gold medal many times because the category we won in was for "locally owned" stores. But this year the category we normally would have been listed in was eliminated leaving the "women's clothing" category the only place where you could vote for us. So that meant we would be directly competing with nationally recognized "big box" stores like Banana Republic, Macy's, and Ann Taylor. Because of the national exposure these stores get, we thought we might be squeezed out of the running!
Then a friend of ours, Renee Brantner who owns Ruff'n it Resort, an incredible doggie day care & spa, stopped in J. LaMore and metioned that they had received their letter about winning in their category several weeks earlier. Congrats' to Renee! We hadn't received anything at this point and thought for sure the "big guys" had won!
Then, on Monday, we got a letter from Madison Magazine! I was nervous to open it and when I did, I was stunned. "Record voter turnout!" and all sorts of other fun words describing the bronze medal winner, J. LaMore. Wow!
This is a huge victory for us to know we can compete with big box retailers with a much bigger customer base, advertising budget and name recognition. In my opinion, this is much better then winning the gold in a smaller division. It's truly an honor to sit along side of these national stores.
Jim is upset that we didn't win the gold regardless of the division and the competitors. If you know him at all this would not be a strange thing to hear him say. You go Jim!
Congratulations to all of the J. LaMore and jlamore.com gals who work with us. You deserve the recognition and we'll have a great time at the Best of Madison Party on June 12th. What will I wear? Hmmmmmmm!
Jennifer
Mischa Barton is always getting ripped on by all the must read bloggers and entertainment magazines. They’re always blabbing on how her style is so fug and how she has no career and so on….
I really adore this dress that Jessica Biel wore to the Costume Institute's annual gala Monday night. She looked stunning, and so did her date Justin Timberlake:) I think that Jessica was best dressed by far for this event.
I recently attended at formal party / fundraiser which required me to wear a fabulous black tie dress, which made my day! I LOVE dressing up! A couple of days prior to the event, I tried my dress on and was quickly reminded of the long sunless winter that had just passed. Head to toe I was pasty white. Not good! I went to my closet of goodies and was overjoyed to see an ample supply of my all time favorite tinted sunless tanning lotion, Loreal Sublime Bronze.
Jim and I received amazing tickets to the Elton John & Billy Joel "Face2Face" concert by our great and long time family friends Fred & Larry Frank from Frank Productions. They're show biz promoters and put the show on at the Kohl Center.
If you love music, extremely talented musicians, and great time tested songs, then this show is for YOU! Watching both of these music legends is incredible. One camera is located right at the key board so you can watch them tickle and pound the ivory keys like no one else. You can watch them play on big monitors and its crazy cool.
The show starts out with both legends facing each other on giant grand piano's singing each others songs for about an hour. Then Billy Joel leaves the stage for Elton John to play all of his hits for another hour. Then Elton John leaves the stage for Billy to play an hour of his hits. The they play together again for another hour at the end. After 3 1/2 hours "Piano Man" was the last song and we were sad it ended. I can listen to this kind of music all night long.
If given the chance to go, don't let it pass you by!
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer:
I have to say that giving Allison Iraheta the boot last night was a bad call by the 'Idol' voters. She is the only singer who can stay (almost) note for note with Adam Lambert. She also has a stage presence far above Kris Allen and Danny Gokey and at least equal to Adam. Danny and Kris look so awkward and clumsy on stage that I get the heebie jeebies just watching them try and be comfortable. Yuck!
But this is the beauty of reality TV. It's more then just singing talent and when you tally up 64 million votes in one night anything can happen. I am also disappointed that Allison just couldn't establish a strong fan base and I think its because she's only 17 and doesn't express herself that well. It's too bad because she will be on stage somewhere long before Allen and Gokey who I believe, to quote Simon Cowel, are pretty "forgettable."
Also, the pairing Danny Gokey and Kris Allen in a 'duets' contest was almost sinful. Two guys with zero stage presence singing together is not a good thing and when Adam and Allison sang together it was fantastic and natural. I don't know how they decided who would sing together but it was bad for Danny and Kris. So I thought.
Which reminds me, since Allison did such a great job in her duets song how did she get voted off? Are the Idol voters awkward as well as tone deaf because this gal can sing circles around Danny and Kris. By the way, that scream at the end of "Dream On" was obnoxious to say the least.
Right now its a one horse race with Adam Lambert far out in front and the other two are fighting for a distant second.
Lynn Los Angeles, CA
No! Oh c'mon! Will the Carrie Prejean story ever end? I don't think so. She's more popular now then the crowned Miss America, whoever that is! Scandal makes for bigger celebrity.
Hi Jennifer: As your London correspondent for all things fashionable, I thought all of your readers would find this interesting.
I just got my 6th "basic" tank of Susana's and I love it so much! Here's a list of why I keep on buying and wearing these tops!
Hi Jennifer and Friends: Next week Bono is going to recite a 14 minute poem about Elvis Presley on the BBC here in London on May 14 at 11:00 pm.
The BBC is better known as the a primary repository for serious news and comment, but Radio 4 is to enter uncharted territory next week when it broadcasts a bizarre 14-minute poem about Elvis Presley written by Bono, the U2 frontman. The Irish singer has long been a professed superfan of the king of rock’n’roll, and is thought to have written the rhyme, American David, in 1994.
Listeners will be treated to lines such as: “Elvis, with god on his knees/ Elvis, on three TVs/ Elvis, here come the killer bees, head full of honey, potato chips and cheese.” The BBC has billed it as “delivered plainly, but intensely, by Bono. Some lines are purposefully quintessential Elvis clichés while others make listeners view Elvis in a new light.”
The recording is thought to have been made two years ago by Ten Alps, Bob Geldof’s production company, as part of a Radio 2 programme exploring the history of Sun Records, which released Presley’s first records. U2 are huge fans of Presley, and recorded their 1988 album Rattle and Hum at Sun Studios, Memphis, with Bono using a microphone once used by Elvis. Larry Mullen, the band’s drummer, called his first child Aaron Elvis, an inversion of Presley’s first names. In recent performances Bono has taken to the stage wearing eyeliner, telling journalists that he thought he looked like Elvis’s stillborn twin brother, Jesse. “Which, maybe, is in poor taste,” he added.
Clare, London, England
Hello Everyone:
Amanda was our very first intern and our first 'shopping friend' on jlamore.com. She is also the sweetest person you would ever meet in your life and one of the smartest too. Jim and I have become close to Amanda and her family over the past ten years and we have shared many laughs and humerous times. Ohhhh I could tell you some stories:
Remember the time we were on a buying trip and you forgot to come to work . . . . ! I think you were upset over that for five years. We still laugh about that today. :)
The flower arrangement you sent is unbelieveably beautiful. There are so many interesting flowers that I can't describe them so we took pictures to show everyone along with the other flowers we we received.
Thanks again Amanda! Jim and I are so happy that you were such a big part of the past ten years.
Jennifer
Thank you to my sister Michelle and her husband Kevin for sending all of us at J. LaMore this beautiful floral arrangement. It was such a wonderful surprise and the colors are so brilliant and the fragrance is remarkable.
Thank you Suzanne for the gorgeous orchid you sent all of us at J. LaMore and jlamore.com. The color and the fragrance are amazing.
I have your arrangement on the coffee table in my office and I have the pleasure of looking at it everyday.
That was so nice of you to send it to us and it's beauty has helped us celebrate "10 years."
Jennifer
