Fashion Blogs

I invite all fashion aspirants and industry watchers to the Fuel4Fashion blog (http://fuel4fashion.wordpress.com).

Fuel4Fashion as an entity is nearly four years old, but my fashion industry journey began over a decade ago. In the period, the experiences and opportunities that came my way have helped shape Fuel4Fashion into the independent fashion design entity that it is today. The journey ahead is in many ways more exciting and challenging, and this blog will help me document the way Fuel4Fashi

Every now and then I will find a Donna Karen item that I absolutely love and this is one of those times.  This simple and elegant skirt, made in Italy, is stunning.  The vintage Sonia Rykiel sweater looks like it was meant to go together with the Donna Karen skirt and again both came out of the same thrift store.  It’s just a matter of finding the luxury items and pairing them together which is what I do best.  Throw on any fantastic belt and heels and off you go into the wilderness.  I’m Daniel

I recently got an email from Nikki Hall who was in DC on a trip and hit the mother load at an estate. She said she had gotten Ferragamo, Robert Lee Morris, Genny, Adolfo, Carlos Falchi, Akris, Karl Lagerfeld and Scherrer all for over $200.  Nikki was told by the woman who ran the estate sale that the clothes belonged to a woman that was going into a retirement home.  Nikki wrote to tell me her story because she reads The Thrifters and I inspire her to dig for vintage treasures and the thing I lo

I love finding wrap blouses because they are not only practical but timeless, case in point this Oscar de la Renta.  There is nothing that tells me that within the next few years or decades that this wrap blouse will ever go out of STYLE.  Nothing.  That’s because it’s a classic piece created by an iconic American fashion designer.  I love it with the Armani skirt & jacket.  I love rolling up the sleeves because it makes it look fresh and casual plus you really should show off the cuffs on the w

I’m always thrilled to find Badgley Mischka when I’m out and about looking for luxury.  It was the neckline and the elastic sleeve that sold me immediately, well that and of course the label.  I am a tag hag after all.  This brand is sold at Neiman Marcus, Sak’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s etc etc.  They are hugely popular and very collectible amongst the jet set crowd and since I fly Southwest Airlines that puts me in with the jet set crowd!  I’m Daniel Troppy your luxury curator!

You would just have to be living under a rock or some other planet in some other solar system not to get excited about finding vintage Celine from a thrift store, now wouldn’t you?  My eyes nearly popped out of my skull when I saw this vintage label and since it’s in pristine condition, I’m surprised they didn’t !  This cheeky blouse will look amazing with any vintage YSL or Chloe slacks with a modern / current heel from Julie Bee’s or Stella McCartney.  I love putting my clients in vintage with

http://iconicitvfashion.blogspot.com/2013/09/radio-latest-fashion-and-entertainment.html

Check out Iconici Weekly Radio hosted by Poetrynmotion and Syndee. They broadcasted LIVE on Thursday at 9:30pm mountain time talking about all the latest and hottest Fashion and Entertainment news that has made headlines this week.

I loved finding this vintage 80′s Steve Fabrikant for Bergdorf Goodman knit dress with these wild crazy fun gold buttons.  Steve Fabrikant sold his designs at Sak’s Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman and it was usually the same clientele that loves and adores St John.  A good knit dress is always a staple in any woman’s closet, especially one from Bergdorf Goodman !  Wink Wink…  A fantastic gold bootie with this dress would make any woman green with envy.  I’m Daniel Troppy your luxury curator!  

The Fashion Group International of Atlanta is hosting a “Vintage Rising” talk on Sept 24th from 6-8pm and I’m talking ! FGI began in 1928 in New York City.  Some of the founding and charter members have been: Elizabeth Arden, Eleanor Roosevelt, Edith Head & Adele Simpson and has grown into professional organization of over 5,000 members in the fashion industry.  So when they recently asked me to bring a few pieces and talk about how I started The Thrifters blog that lead me to opening Doubletake

I saw this St John gold top at the thrift store for something like $2.29 and grabbed it and then I realized that this is going to be my last piece of St John that I ever buy from a thrift store.  Well unless it’s a vintage St John gown or something off the wall chic but I decided no more buying St John knit tops, jackets, pants or skirts anymore.   If I find a vintage 70′s St John gown in great condition for nothing, then hell yeah I’ll buy it but no more pieces from this label.  I kept shopp

 I saw this suede Prada messager bag at the thrift store, as well at the $45 price tag, and carried it around with me for what felt like hours.  I tried to talk myself out of it, I know that sounds crazy but it’s the truth.  I normally don’t splurge on items.  I’m known as The Thrift Guru – The Thrift King – The Thrifter etc etc so no I don’t spend this kind of money on items, I’m used to buying luxury items at 99% off.  I walked up to the counter and the lovely gentleman said “if you don’t get

I remember one of my earliest estate sales experience, it was in Austin Texas when I was 19 years old.  This 93 year old lady was getting ready to move into an assisted living place and had to sell her memories.  I saw this beveled gold mirror priced at $25 (1983).  I asked the lady about the mirror and she told me that when she was a young girl, living in the Texas Panhandle, she gold leafed the mirror with her sister and to get into the corners they used a Bobby Pin.  I will never forget her t

The entire world knows I have absolutely have zero respect for Tory Burch so I wanted to write a blog post about seeing a TB item at the thrift store and leaving it there…  My eyes caught her catchy logo as I was walking inside the thrift store and so I stopped to check it out.  It was a Tory Burch caftan, which you know I love my clients to have caftans, but I want my clients to have good caftans not ‘shmata’ (Yiddish word for RAGS) ones.  The thrift store was selling the item for $4.49 and I d

When I say that I picked both of these items from the same thrift store all within seconds of each other I wouldn’t be lying or exaggerating.  That’s the thing I love about shopping second hand, whether its at a thrift store, yard sale, estate sale or flea market, you just never know what you might find.  Even when you find certain items from various second hand sources you don’t know how they will pair up and look with other pieces but these look like they were always meant to be together.  It’

Love finding Miss O by Oscar de la Renta silk blue dress with a wrap top.  I mean if I saw any A list celebrity wearing this dress I would think it would be current but it isn’t, it’s a fabulous relic from the 80′s.  I could see Julianne Moore wearing this Oscar de la Renta vintage piece with a pair of her favorite Tom Ford heels – couldn’t you?  Hell yeah….  There isn’t one area of this dress that doesn’t look amazing & timeless and that’s exactly why I love vintage so much.  Good vintage is en

I have never in my 31 years of being an avid thrift-er found an early Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress made in Italy.  Over the 4 years of me writing this blog I’ve found numerous DvF items but they mostly were current and made in China …ugh….  so imagine my de-light when I found this lovely number.  I must look at hundreds of dresses everyday and if I hadn’t lifted up the Lord & Taylor label, I would have never seen the DvF vintage label.  So it pays to be diligent & stubborn!  It’s so refreshi

http://iconicitvfashion.blogspot.com/2013/09/tyra-banks-impersonates-other-iconic_22.html

I wrote a blog about a week ago that had only a few of the amazing photos from Tyra's shoot but I could not leave it with just those few photos after seeing all that have come out. Tyra is a true artists and you can see it in the many different photo shoots she did with photographer Udo Spreitzenbarth.

Tyra Banks has taught you how to smize, booty tooch and is a huge advocate for the body image debate in the

I never pass on the chance to collect another SKY by David Park LBD.  My clients at Doubletake Recycled Luxury LOVE this label because it makes every woman look & feel sexy.  There is enough spandex in this dress to choke a horse, it’s like wearing a Spanx dress !  This dress is always my go to dress for any client of mine.  I also loved finding this yellow Givenchy jacket, it’s so 80′s it’s on fire!  The client who wears this outfit will be singing “This Girl is on Fire….“  Less is always more

http://iconicitvfashion.blogspot.com/2013/09/rihanna-behind-scenes-look-at-rogue.html

Rihanna has done it again. Seductively dressed in an spaghetti strap black dress showing of her many tattoos and sitting on a chair in a dim lit room RiRi smolders and is ultra-sultry in the campaign ad for her Rogue fragrance.Her song "Right Now" plays in the video as she shows off her many sexy sides for the camera, and the girl can "work it!!" This isn't the pop singers first venture into the design world. Sh

Recently I was in Athens Georgia to see a fashion exhibition at the Georgia Museum of Art (thank you Barbara) and stumbled upon a resale shop downtown.  You know I love looking everywhere for my vintage treasures and a resale shop is no exception.  I flipped through all the blouses and when my eyes ran across this label, I knew I had struck gold !  Jacques Fath was a French fashion designer who was considered one of the three dominate influences on postwar haute courture, the others being Dior &