Gina Michele Featured in Daily Candy Today

We're happy to see one of our fabulous new designers, Gina Michele, featured in Daily Candy today. Check out the Drawstring Top that Daily Candy loves, or Gina Michele's entire collection of fun dresses, tanks and silkscreen tees.

unsung/offline: Saturday, May 6

first Saturday of every month... protect your identity... buy unsung.

Get away from the herd. Come check out all the great new merchandise we have in for Spring. This Saturday, May 6, noon to 6pm (same time, same place, as always).

Cool Supermodel

These days there are all kinds of celebrities branching out in new directions: sports stars singing, singers acting and starting clothing lines, actors directing and becoming global ambassadors, models hosting talk shows and designing clothes... but one must wonder: how much are they really invested in their new ventures? In supermodel Alek Wek's case, she is dedicated and passionate. I was surprised and impressed to see her personally showing her handbag line Wek1933 at Designers & Agents today. Alek is not only stunningly gorgeous as we all know, but gracious and down to earth and obviously believes in her work. I mean, how many celebrities do you know who would personally go pitch their work if it wasn't on Oprah or the Tonight Show or some star-studded event? Alek Wek is real and I adore her for doing things the way the rest of us do, rather than using her money and fame to bypass the usual processes. Everyone should check out her handbag line. (I love the Akua Bag shown here.) They're beautiful and functional, and much of what she does goes back to her support of charities and humanitarian causes.

Unsung Trunk Show: Saturday, April 22

We would love for you to join us for our first trunk show, featuring handbag designer Oovoo and jewelry designer Barefoot Czarina. We are having a virtual trunk show for our customers who don't live in the D.C. area. A discount will be automatically calculated when you buy anything by these two designers online!

Scott Gibson Gets a Nice Blurb in the New York Times

When he's not busy designing beautiful clothes for Unsung, Scott Gibson finds time to support the arts. Scott was mentioned in the New York Times dance review for a new work inspired by 9/11, called Fissures:

"This mix of hope and sadness is communicated through movement alone by Mr. Passafiume's five dancers, whom the costume designer, Scott Gibson, turns into everymen and everywomen dressed in bits and pieces of clothes in earth tones. They look like people who have lives and thoughts outside the dance studios where they have trained long and hard."
-Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times, Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Scott designed the gorgeous costumes for the performance, which is now playing at Lincoln Center. (Photo by Richard Termine, New York Times.)

Prizy Sebastian in New York Moves

We're a long-time fan of Prizy Sebastian's for her utterly feminine clothing. Dresses and blouses in whisper-soft fabrics, jewel tones and exquisite detailing. One of Prizy's signature dresses makes an appearance in New York Moves magazine this month.

New York Moves covers fashion and lifestyle for urban women. We're big fans of the edgy articles and monthly columns with great headers like: "bitch" (letters to the editor), "chow" (food), and "scope" (as in horo).

New York Moves Design Edition, April 2006. (Photograph by Emily Travis.)

Check Out Our Myspace

Don't forget to check out our myspace, lovingly crafted by our resident fashion vixen Lulu. Lulu always has her hand on the pulse of the lastest and greatest fashion news, and she shares her views with us there. We also love to hear what Lulu is listening to at any given moment. The girl knows how to rock out!

Project Runway Open Casting: Update

Unsung's ultra-talented designer and namesake of the Sirius clothing and accessories line (she had the name way before the satellite radio company) tried out for Project Runway today. I was lucky enough to accompany Siri on this exciting day, but I had to sign a release not to spill any of their inner workings so I'm sorry I can't report more, except to say: the long line was made bearable by all the raw energy (creativity, excitement, nerves) and great people-watching.

I do want to pass on this piece of advice: to all the emerging designers out there, it's worth it to try out next year. Even if you don't get chosen for the show, you get to meet amazing people with similar goals and dreams, get a behind-the-scenes look at one of your favorite shows, practice presenting yourself and your work (artistic philosophy, technique), get feedback from the folks at PR (who, if you think about it, have seen so many designers they can give an honest opinion if you want it), and meet some of the people who make the show happen. That's a pretty decent day's work.

Here's a picture of Siri, with friends Stephen (a fellow designer) and Jane (his model), whom we met in line.

Project Runway Open Casting this Weekend

NYC is the final city for open casting for Project Runway. Several of our designers will be standing in line at Macy's this weekend, auditioning for season 3. We know how talented they are and we'll be there to give moral support. (Check back for pictures.)

Better get your dibs on the merchandise at Unsung before some of these designers become the next big thing!

Belabunda Bikini Featured in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2006

I keep the SI Swimsuit page bookmarked to give me incentive to eat well, but even if my diet consisted of celery and Metamucil I would never look like these models. However, I can get the same bikini as the one worn here by Bridgett Hall.

The simple suit is Belabunda's most basic bikini style and even normal human beings look good in it. The halter top gives great push-up and you can adjust the bottom to sit lower on your hips or higher on your belly.

The bikinis are Brazilian style, so they are cut small. But they're so much fun and so flattering that once you get used to baring a bit more behind, you'll want to stay near water just to keep one on.

We Love the New Jewelry Designer: Right of Purple

Metal rules! (and so does purple.) Cases in point: Kiss, Prince, Calder, Grimace, jewelry, Right of Purple.

In this case, delicate, hand-crafted metal. Gold, to be precise. We covet every piece by Right of Purple, a new jewelry label out of NYC. Everything is hand-crafted by this talented young designer who apprenticed with Jill Platner. You can tell she really knows and loves her metal: subtle details and graceful curves are worked through every piece. Dangles and charms evoke fragile things fossilized in time: fallen leaves or a brush stroke on rice paper. The necklace clasps are even beautiful enough to wear in front.

Celebration Blew My Mind

I saw the most amazing band at North Six the other night. So much that I keep thinking about them and feel I have to share. Celebration opened for the Rogers Sisters' (another fave I try to see live whenever possible) album release party. Aside: The Rogers Sisters' new album, The Invisible Deck, is excellent and you should all go out and buy it. Back on point: Celebration gave one of the most intense, hypnotic, energetic performances I've seen from anyone anywhere in a long, long time. They seriously rocked my world--in that frenzied, religious cult, state of ecstasy kind of way--and I don't use that term lightly. Go out and buy their album too; I've been listening to it non-stop; I'm listening to it now.

If you love the indie rocker girl style, check out the links to both these bands because these women--Celebration's Katrina Ford and the Rogers Sisters' Jennifer Rogers and Laura Rogers--have it down.

Tim, You're Supposed to Represent, Not Dis, D.C.

I read today that Tim Gunn (of Project Runway fame) was born and raised in D.C. As a cheering squad for all things stylish in D.C., I was disappointed to read in the interview by Express that Tim wonders how he ever lived here, saying "No one understands fashion at all!"

Tim, you and I can agree that D.C. is short on Chanel jacketed, Christian Louboutin heeled women running down the Metro platform, but let's all remember this:

D.C. is home to some serious indie fashion, much of it born from the world-renowned local music scene here. And fact: Since Unsung first opened its doors to the public, the well-heeled and the hip, young and old, male and female, coiffed and dreadlocked have come out of the woodwork to find our little showroom in an alley.

If people in D.C. don't understand fashion, why do they bother?

Jon Wye is featured in the Washington Post

We love it when our designers get great press, so when we saw Jon Wye in the Washington Post, we were proud as mother hens. Jon has expanded his line from funky belts (as well as t-shirts and undies) to his newest creation – the Petruchio Necklace. In true Jon Wye form, he named it after a Shakespeare character and uses a naturally heart-shaped sea-bound seed (continuously polished for two months) as the focal point of the necklace. So Jon….what’s next?

Oovoo is Featured in TIME

Pauline Lewis, founder of the handbag line Oovoo, was recently featured in TIME Magazine for her support of hundreds of women in Vietnam who hand-embroider and assemble her wonderful handbags. The women receive fair trade wages and many other bonuses. Thanks for doing the right thing Pauline! It's nice to know you are doing good for others while looking fabulous.