la bella vita

Last night, Boyd's hosted an event at their store on Chestnut Street. It was held as part of the Philadelphia Collection and it celebrated Italian designers and Italian culture. I went with my friends Desiree (on the left) and Suzie (on the right) and had an AMAZING time. They sure know how to throw a party! The party was a blast, but I also had so much fun picking out an outfit:) Does my skirt look familiar? Yep, I wore it to the Kenneth Cole party I went to last month. It's not the only skirt I own, but it's probably my favorite. It's from H&M...actually my entire outfit is from H&M except for my shoes. They are my favorite pair and this photo doesn't do them justice! They're from Prada (a couple seasons ago) and I got them for an amazing deal at Neiman Marcus Last Call last summer. I love love love them.




The mannequins were dressed in their party outfits:




And there were live models too pretending to be mannequins!



I've only been to Boyd's once or twice before - it's not typically in my price range. But if I could afford to, I'd do all my shopping here. The space is just sooooo beautiful. And you could spend all day here. Literally. There are three floors of gorgeous clothes, bags, SHOES and a restaurant on the second floor - Raw - they have super yummy sushi (their main location is in the gayborhood). What better way to refuel after a long day of shopping than with some spicy tuna and sake?!!

Look at all the mouldings and the woodwork? It's incredible. I want to live there.

And those light fixtures!! I wanted to steal them all. (And some of those shoes as well)

It was hard not to do some "window shopping" while we were there. We were all in love with this leather jacket:

I'm glad we decided not to go out to eat before the party because there was so much food. So much GOOD food. There were multiple food and drink stations on every floor - all from local restaurants. I definitely hung around the DiBruno's station for a long while - I have a severe weakness for cheese and olives.

The ladies of La Castagne making gnocci-on-a-stick:

Have you ever seen yellow or purple cauliflower? Doesn't it look fake?

Suzie and I taking lemon drops courtesy of Positano Coast:

I met a lot of interesting people and ran into some old acquaintances too. There were beautiful people everywhere and who said Philly wasn't a fashionable city? It was full of well-dressed, well-heeled men and women, but this woman really stood out to me:

Her name is Gretchen McHale and she's a jewelery designer here in Philly. I really loved her dress - it looked so comfortable and I love the pattern. She's actually wearing two dresses - the top one is by Jean Paul Gaultier and the other one she got at a consignment shop on Chestnut called Second Time Around. Her shoes are pretty fantastic too - a find at Macy's. And of course all the jewelery she has on are her own designs. Isn't her necklace gorgeous? You can check out more of her stuff here.

The Philadelphia Collection comes to a close tomorrow, but there are events going on tonight as well as tomorrow. You can find the full schedule here. There's a really cool event going on at Banana Republic tomorrow night - independent designers will be showing their collections and they'll also be food and drinks. I would be there, but I will be busy dancing up a storm at a wedding in Maryland! If you want to go, email info@fbhtheagency.com - they ask anyone who's interested to make a reservation. If you can't make it to any events tonight or tomorrow - no worries! Philadelphia Fashion Week starts soon! More info about it next week! Can you tell I love my exclamation points today!!