Remember it like it was Yesterday: Great Gatsby Style Profile.

"Working on The Great Gatsby, I discovered just how popular the 1920s look still is today; and for good reason. Flattering to all skin types, I believe every woman can find a make-up look from the film to make their own."

   With summer upon us it is a great opportunity to try new & fun makeup looks! And with the debut of The Great Gatsby in movie theaters it has us dreaming of vintage inspired looks that are both smolderingly sexy but also something that can be tempered by airy pastels.

"It was essential that all eye make-up was created using a base (MAC's Prep & Prime Eye Light) to hold color in place during the long hours of filming. An eye palette was created especially for the film where the shades Scène, Contraste, Nehru and Club were all inspired by the colors of cars dating from the 1920s."

   Shown above are some of the featured colors used in this 2013 display of the roaring twenties. Lots of smooth browns that transition to the natural skin tone. But you will also see that POP of blue! Colors like Orb, Mylar and Girlie also make for wonderful shades that work on a range of skintones for this look.

MAC make-up used on set:
Impeccable Brow Pencil Dirty Blond, €15.
Carbon eye shadow, €17.
Smolder Khôl eye pencil, €15.
Blackberry eye shadow, € 17.
Old Gold tint, €21.50.
Prep + Prime eye primer,€16,50.
Snob lipstick, €18.

"At the beginning of the Roaring Twenties, women declared their own importance and independence, which we portrayed in the film through the make-up. Bold, smoky eyes, exaggerated mascara, highly-arched eyebrows and plumped lips were all set on a base of perfectly porcelain skin. It was during this time that make-up really became a medium of self-expression."

The lead actress is shown wearing lots of dusted pastel shades such as lavender and chinchilla...a palette evening wear designers like MacDuggal have included in their Couture lines for a while now. 

Shown in one of our first photoshoots of the year, style MacDuggal 78360D is a shoe-in for this style! The gown's claim to fame as it were, is it's unique freshwater pearl embellishments . Paired with the dusty lilac & ivory shades the pearlesent shades give it just the right amount of glitz to keep it elegant. Bits of silk are fashioned into violet shaped faux flower details all long the flared hemline and gradient up the legs beautifully. It also comes with a matching bollero jacket!

Shown above is another photoshoot which we acted as stylist for. The model normally has long mid back length hair but here we pulled it up into a faux-bob and heat treated barrel curls. A much easier way to get the finger wave feel without the fuss!  The makeup here is kept simple with a retro vamp red lipstick and strong brows.

The right gown and makeup will help you personify this historic time in a fresh way but lets not forget your date! Youll be in countless photos with your arm candy - why leave the tuxedo choices up to him?haha Once we started renting and selling tuxedos here in our long island NY shop we started seeing a hugeee trend for white tuxedos. Our inspiration for this look would be something along the lines of the Hackett Spring/Summer 2013 Collection.

White paired with sax blue or sand accents. Subtle textured pinstripes.

Under the Spotlight: 2013 Prom Fashion Shows.

One of our goals as a new prom shop on long island, NY is to reach out and connect to the community around us. There is such a lack of focus on the community these days that it seems pretty odd to us. After all, without you girls we wouldnt be much of a store!haha So with this in mind Merrily Couture has been hosting tons of fashion shows at local Highschools to raise awareness to these epic designs!

Two of our most recent shows have been with New Field Highschool & Comsewogue Highschool. Each had their own flare to the show itself, one focusing purely on the decadence of evening wear styles and the other offering a range of styles from mother of the bride/groom and even casual street fashion.

The New Field Highschool fashion show had this lovely runway set up for both students & teachers to strut it out on. The platform had a backdrop of their art student's finest work tiled behind and strips of glowing multi-colored lights trimming either side. Their theater crew had large spotlights trained on them that just showed how lovely these sequins & crystals look under light. In many of the photos you can even see how the light refracts onto the skin creating a rainbow prism effect that is just... mega dazzling!

On the left we have MacDuggal 50116M & the right is Primavera 9707.

Both dresses feature a silver touched champagne color and flirty aqua fabric, which as it ends up - are two of our most popular selling colors for this 2013 prom season. Champagne is flying off the shelves as it tends to be the color some of our most unique prom dresses that would easily outshine half the Oscars! 

Check our more photos of the New Field Prom Fashion show 2013 at our FB Fan page:

Girls were lined up in tiers across the Comsewogue Highschool auditorium's stage in every shade you could imagine! It really gives you an idea of the true range of styles we carry in the store when you see 50 some odd girls glittering before ya! Again, the most popular shade was that of Champagne , ivory gold & mochas.

In terms of the silhouette our mermaid fit & flare gowns really made waves. When you think of a mermaid dress a lot of people have such an outdated, 80s mental image associated with it that they tend to veer away from the style all together. These days the trumpet shapes are much more sophisticated and a fine way to chisel out a bombshell hourglass figure!

( Seen above on left are 2 of our most popular MacDuggal designs.)

These gowns feature semi sheer netted bottoms that are somewhat like the sheer illusion skirts we are seeing off the runway. Its a great way to show a little leg while keeping the mystery and extravaganza of a full length red carpet gown.

You can see all of our photos on FB! Or scroll down to watch a small video of them in action!

Formal Fashion Photoshoots & Other Goings on.

So Monday isnt exactly high on everyone's list of "fun times" but for two lucky girls it was a blast! During Merrily Couture's Grand Opening they were selected to star in their very own photo-shoots wearing what ever evening wear, ball gown or prom dress they wanted! Exciting, right?!

The store has been coming together wonderfuly - with our romantic lounge area featuring victorian couches and hugeeee polished mirrors. Flowers were dipped in black laquer and set afloat in bowls of water that catch the light. All in all - the shop was pretty inspiring of a location. So we chose to do the shoot IN SHOP! There for anyone who passed by to stop in and watch.

To start the day off we shot with our spokes girl Tiffany. Im sure youd all recognize her as the face of all our most recent flyers as well as the girl on our sign! Shes local born and bread with absolutely zero modeling experience. But hell if she doesn't rock it in front of the camera! We fit her in shimmering gold tinted champagne evening wear from the designer Terani. Sweeping sweetheart necklines with bold V accents that explode into a star burst array of delicate beading. The gown spilled across the velvet of the couch in so many different layers. Some semi-sheer with tight pleats worked throughout to give it that extra bit of texture. The second dress she wore that day...? Well, you'll have to keep your eyes open on our Facebook fan page to see the preview soon enough!

 

Let us introduce you to Christina! Our first customer model!
 She seemed to know right away what dress she wanted to wear. Sadly, the gown in the store was much 2 large for her! Did we let that rain on her parade? I THINK NOT! haha We pinned it back onto her petite form and wa-la! A dress fit for a Queen. Have we mentioned our couches are very throne like?lol She didnt have to do much to look truly glamorous wearing this silver ballgown. Each twinkle in the light is a shining crystal and string of sequins that are woven in-between layers of see through tulle and lace overlays.

Best friends for seven years, Christina's friend Sarah joined in wearing a more sophisticated and functional silhouette. The single shoulder pageant dress featured a low cut sweetheart bust with a fitted bodice and high side split. The hem was treated with a playful and feminine scallop and the see-through lace overlay gives it that air of mystery. She certainly wouldn't have to suffer a moment of being overlooked in this dress! And look at that one foot stepping forward- rocking a pair of our gold strappy high heels.

Now that is how you do GLAMOUR. H2T : head to toe!  

 

Want to see more? Im afraid you'll have to wait! It was such a pleasure to have the girls in our shop. And what a blast it was to give them the opportunity to show off their style! Dont you worry, we plan to have our Rocky Point School District girls in the shop showing off more dresses in the future.

Prom & Pageant Photoshoots to Celebrate 100 FB Fans!

    We have such exciting news! Our FB fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/MerrilyCoutureFashions  hasnt been around for more than a week and we already hit 100 fans! To celebrate we have been showing off some previews of all the pageant & prom photoshoots we have been doing in preparations for our Grand Opening. But its never good to take yourself 2 seriously so we included some behind the scenes shots and bloopers as well!

    So as not to neglect anyone who follows our blog, we figured we would share some here as well! Plus, One extra thats exclusive just for here!

 

   

Talk about your star style! This gown is ready for the red carpet....or a wedding! While shooting this intricately crystal embellished and beaded pageant dress we had strangers taking cellphotos left and right! Talk about being the center of attention!

 

"Beauty is pain!" But only when your assistant sprays you in the eyes with hairspray! haha 

 Merrily Couture prides itself on using local girls to show off the prom dresses we sell. Our designers of course provide us with their own images but taking our own means we can make sure the photos realy represent how the garment looks. With that said, seeing the dresses move in real life just has no substitute. But word in the office is that we will be hosting our own fashion shows soon. So prepare yourself internet! Hopefully we will be able to show you just how these dresses move in shake real soon!

We wanted to capture this dress in a way that screamed fiercely feminine tropical pageant queen! The vibrant hot pink chiffon dress just floated with every gust of wind and the crystal embroidery floral appliques on the waist and bust just felt like something straight out of the amazon! Granted, we didnt have an amazon landscape to shoot with - it still realy captures this dream like Grecian feel that we felt first laying eyes on it.

A single shoulder of organic silver crystals leads into the ruched sweetheart neckline and woven detail bodice. The mermaid reminiscent skirt is comprised of many super soft strips of nude/peach colored tulle that pick up the light around you. Everyone in the office sort of agreed we would love to re-shoot this style with a wavy blond with flush stained lips and dewy cheek makeup one day. Its a pretty versatile dress that really lets a natural beauty be showcased without being overshadowed or risking being far 2 "boring".

    We wanted to keep the color palette neutral for this dress and try some of the new earth tone smokey eye makeup trends we have been seeing. Something with a warm lip and ethereal eye. Our makeup artist used Geek Chic Cosmetic's golden shade " Exterminate" and a bit of "Yes, Sir" ( a pinkish tone ) for this look and even used the same shade "Yes,Sir" along the cheekbones.

But as you can see, well, or not see - we arent showing shoes in these shots. 

What shoes do you think would have complimented these celebrity fashion evening dresses?