FACE IT: RAW

As we evolve and age we should expect to see some evolution in our wardrobes, taste in food & drink, hair styles as well as skin care regimes. I for one was ready for a change for my skin when I had to FACE IT: RAW! Model/Actress/Author Carol Alt has a new line of skin care that is RAW, all active ingredients never heated above 115°

I have been vegetarian for almost 4.5 years now and as I age care more and more what I am putting in my body and on my skin. When I heard about her new line I was so EXCITED to try it! Carol has spread her love and enthusiasm for raw food by educating people over the last decade via her 2 books and her lifestyle. Carol says "I decided to take action by creating my own skin care products out of the same raw ingredients I eat."

RAW ingredients retain all the vitamins, minerals, nutrients and antioxidants providing maximum nourishment to the skin. Carol Alt is proof to me that there is something behind the RAW food & skin care movement. She is still as beautiful as she was in the height of her modelling career and I know she attributes her aging so gracefully to a combo of raw food, exercise and fabulous skin care. I had to investigate and try the line.

I am currently using:

1) The All Day Eye Cream
2) Radiant Face Scrub
3) Night Time Firming & Nourishing Face Moisturizer
4) Nourishing Face Serum
5) Clarifying Pore Tightening and Face Toner
6) All Day Eye Cream

In 3 words: I LOVE IT!
Why I love it:

* My skin feels AND looks amazing
* the line is cruelty free and not tested on animals
* the price points are AMAZING ($15-$30)
* I feel really good about what I am putting into/onto my body
* The products smell like fresh citrus
* My skin does not feel oily
* Available in both Canada (at all Shoppers Drug Mart locations) and the USA (FREE shipping on all orders over $75)

When I had a chance to talk to Carol (Check out her Style Maven interview HERE) she said "Your skin will never get oily because the oil in our product is “raw oil”. It is in a form that the body can understand and utilize immediately."

According to the RAW ESSENTIALS WEBSITE; "Many chemical-based traditional skincare products may provide short-term superficial results, but did you know they can also encourage long-term damage and premature ageing? This is because your body absorbs up to 60% of what is placed on your skin. It doesn’t discriminate between beneficial or damaging ingredients. By feeding your skin with raw ingredients, instead of synthetic chemicals (that your body was never designed to assimilate), your skin becomes nourished, naturally healthy and balanced. RAW ESSENTIALS skincare incorporates an abundance of super-nutrients, nature’s vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids, enzymes and proteins."

I however need to get used to using a serum as opposed to a moisturizer so I may try the RAW ESSENTIALS moisturizer for day. Now that I love the line I am off to get the body wash and the body oil.

I have used several skin care products from high to low end and this is by far my FAV! Don't take my word for it though. Give it a TRY! Literally while I was composing this blog my cousin is down the hall using the face scrub and the night time moisturizer. Her thoughts after one try? She's going to Shoppers Drug Mart Tomorrow.

Have you already tried the line? Post your thoughts and/or comments. Let me know if you do give it a try and your feedback. Also check out the FAQ page for RAW ESSENTIALS.

Got a question that needs an answer? Tweet it to Carol @ModelCarolAlt

Embrace the LACE

Vintage Balenciaga Lace Hat

I Love LACE! It is a style element that can reflect two sides of the fashion coin; it can make a look soft and feminine or give it Edge and Rock'n'Roll. Lace is all over the place, but has a very Rich history. The concept originated with the Pharaohs using flax cloth decorated with colored threads working them into their own geometric designs.

Balenciaga 1950's lace dress

The site ERAS OF ELEGANCE gives a fabulous and concise history of lace, how it was created and used in FASHION! "The ancient Greeks and Romans also ornamented their togas with colors or gold. A new garment needed no ornament about the immediate edge, but as it became worn and frayed, the threads had to be twisted and stitched together. Lace was derived from the twisting techniques used in decoration of the fringe ends of woven fabric.

True lace was not made until the late 15th and early 16th centuries. In Flanders, lace is called "kant", meaning border or edge. The birthplaces of lacemaking are generally recognized as Flanders and Italy. A true lace is created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to others threads independently from a backing fabric. Originally linen, silk, gold, or silver threads were used. Now lace is often made with cotton thread. Manufactured lace may be made of synthetic fiber. A few modern artists makes lace with a fine copper or silver wire instead of thread.

For firm evidence of the origins of lace, written history indicates that Charles V decreed that lace making was to be taught in the schools and convents of the Belgian provinces. During this period of renaissance and enlightenment, the making of lace was firmly based within the domain of fashion. To be precise, it was designed to replace embroidery in a manner that could with ease transform dresses to follow different styles of fashion. Unlike embroidery, lace could be unsewn from one material to be replaced on another. Lace became fashionable on collars and cuffs for both sexes. Trade reached a peak in the 18th century.

Additionally, the vogue for lace also is recorded in pattern books as early as 1540. Early reticella designs usually included pointed or scalloped edges. By the time of Charles I, lace was used extravagantly for both costume and interior decorating; by 1643, lace making had become an established industry. In France patterns became increasingly more detailed and delicate; the light, flowery point de France was used for every conceivable decorative purpose. Later the laces of Alencon, Argentan, and Valencienne exemplified French style and design. The making of bobbin, pillow, or bone lace, which is mentioned as early as 1495, passed from Italy to Flanders, reaching its height of production there in the 18th century.

Machine-made lace first appeared circa 1760, and by 1813, a bobbinet machine was perfected. After 1832, cotton thread somewhat replaced linen. In the 20th century, many lace patterns have been revived and modified, and called Cluny lace. The chief modern centers of lace making are France, Belgium, England, Ireland, and Italy."

Lace looks have spanned all era's Madonna has ALWAYS been a LACEY LASS!

Lace is still relevant on the red carpet and runways today. Black is the basic and most classic but colored lace has made a chic comeback.


There are too many "Types" of lace to list so if you are interested you can explore via the LACE FAIRY IDENTIFICATION PAGE

Get LACED From your FACE
Carol Alt - 80's lace veil

to your FEET
DIOR


Can you EMBRACE the LACE? SHOP EVOLUTION VINTAGE


Want to go BOHO? Check out this Vintage 70's beauty from 4BirdsVintage
"Lace - the invention of a goddess and the occupation of a queen" - Vincio

Persnikety Vintage has the BLUES

Style Maven Series: Carol Alt

1979 was a fabulous year; It's the year I was born, US & China began diplomatic relations, Margaret Thatcher becomes the First Woman Prime Minister of Great Britain, Mother Theresa was Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
AND it was the year Carol Alt burst onto the modelling scene on the cover of Harpers Bazaar (Italia). She is a Multi faceted and talented Maven who has an amazing career as a model with over 700 magazine covers to her credit and countless editorials, ads and features.
This is one of the most iconic Sports Illustrated images I remember.

She is also an actress, and author 4 times over writing about her passions: Fashion and Raw Food.
She is an entrepreneur with a RAW & NATURAL line of skincare products called RAW ESSENTIALS.

She told me "We are the ONLY chemical free skin care line on the market. That’s good for healthy bodies because everything you put on your skin is absorbed into your body; which is why women are having problems with breast cancer tumours from paraffin, because paraffin’s mimics hormones. We are also results driven. We get unbelievable results. Our results are so fantastic that the photographers taking the before and after pictures said “these are the best before and afters we have ever seen!”
I asked Carol; If someone was going to try RAW ESSENTIALS what should they start with? Carol suggests "Start with a scrub, it is good to get rid of the old dead skin cells and bring up beautiful young skin. Then a moisturizer. We have a sensitive skin moisturizer and an anti-aging moisturizer. Your skin will never get oily because the oil in our product is “raw oil”. It is in a form that the body can understand and utilize immediately."

RAW ESSENTIALS WILL BE FEATURED IN GREATER DETAIL IN AN UPCOMING BLOG - PURCHASE IT HERE

Carol LOVES FASHION and since being in the business since 1979 she has acquired a collection of pieces, gained invaluable knowledge of design, textiles and the business of fashion and seen trends come and go (and perhaps come back again). I had the chance to chat with Carol via telephone recently and ask her my Style Maven questions.

LISA: Can you describe your personal Style aesthetic AND attitude about fashion?

CAROL: I’m a classic Sexy, I like tailored. I love the female form and I think it should be shown off. I like simple, sleek, chic, classic sexy things that show the form off. There is a problem with that because some people cross the line and it becomes trashy. There is a very fine line of just being a classic, simple, sleek, sexy dresser and I don’t over do it with accessories.

LISA: What are the key components / pieces in your closet?

CAROL: It depends what we are talking about. If it is dressing for an evening I like my simple black dress. I also have the simple black dress in lots of different colours. For day, I think anything paired with a nice pair of jeans is fine. I think dressing up jeans is great. I LOVE, LOVE White Shirts (fitted). I have different versions of the fitted white shirt. I think it's great for people who don’t have a lot of money to spend or don’t have the excess money to have a lot of different things. You can wear a pair of jeans and if you change your shoes and bag people think you are dressed completely different. Things that aren’t as expensive as say your blazer or your silk shirt.

LISA: How do you feel about Vintage Clothing and Accessories?

CAROL: LOVE IT!!! last night I wore a vintage piece to dinner.

LISA: What are your favorite Vintage pieces (Clothing and/or Accessories)? Do you only wear designer vintage?

CAROL: I like what suits my body, I don’t really care what is in fashion. I really like to wear things that look good on me. Ultimately if they look good on you people are going to ask you where you got it anyway. I have a girlfriend who is a Vintage shopper and she dresses me. Her name is Melanie and she picks all my pieces for me. In a sense I am somewhat spoiled because she knows me better than I do.
She is into designer pieces and likes picking designer pieces. For the AMFAR gala I wore a gold Gucci vintage gown that she had picked out for me.

She also has picked me up little Vintage sweater vests, not your typical vests but really unique styled sweater vests that you would wear open over a white shirt and jeans in a very soft brown knit. She also picked me up four Vintage shirts that are long, stretch jersey knit that I wear over stretch pants. I have no clue who they are, there were no labels in them at all. I really don’t care about labels, as long as it is a beautiful piece and looks good on me.


LISA: What are you wearing this Fall/Winter? Tell our readers the key elements for your F/W 2012 wardrobe?

CAROL: Unfortunately the platform is back so it makes all your other shoes look old if you don’t get a pair or two of platforms. It is unfortunate because I am 5’11”. I’m getting a couple of pair of platforms. I still like a sleek look and my skirts a little bit longer, it’s much more sexy and of course always a tailored jacket. I’ve gotten a couple of really short that I will wear over stretch pants but into boots. I am doing a real mix, I am finding at this age I don’t really care what people think. It allows me to experiment a little bit more because I don’t care.

LISA: If you could give women 1 piece of STYLE advice, what would it be?

CAROL: Simple. Just Simplicity.


CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE ~ Carol's Closet:














EVOLUTION VINTAGE Pick's for Carol:

VINTAGE FAUX FUR JACKET - SAKS FIFTH AVENUE 70's

VINTAGE CHRISTIAN DIOR CROP COAT 80's

VINTAGE RIDING JACKET - NAVY

VINTAGE Late 70's/early 80's EVENING GOWN - ROBERT DAVID MORTON for NEIMAN MARCUS

1990'S RICHARD TYLER SILK BLAZER

VINTAGE 80'S BACKLESS COCKTAIL DRESS

SHOP: EVOLUTION VINTAGE