Mercedes Salazar Joyeria : With incredible amounts of creativity and talent, Mercedes Salazar’s designs use traditional handcrafted techniques, versatilely combined with the most unusual materials. These beautiful and unique pieces “will connect you to the Universe”, in the designer’s own words. Besides gold, silver, bronze, semiprecious stones, diamonds and emeralds, pips, acrylic, glass, pearls, steel, aluminum, fabric and industrial materials can be found on the different pieces, creating an interesting contrast of light and color which Mercedes skillfully puts together thus creating a jewel that reflects all her love for existence and will never go unnoticed.

Mercedes Salazar was born on June 17th 1975 in Bogota DC, Colombia. She attended the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes’ Craftwork School in Mexico City (2000). Her work is diverse, sophisticated, voluptuous, and always tries to show the two sides of the coin, the balance between lightness and weight, roundness and squareness. To her, opposites are fundamental.

Mercedes Salazar is a young woman who watches what goes on around her and takes inspiration in the everyday life to turn those seconds and words into jewels. She spends the whole day with her artisans creating jewels, exploring and retrieving ancient techniques. Diverse, cheerful and defiant, she does not hesitate in breaking the rules with a profound conviction. The never-ending search for her own roots is the main nourishment of her spirit. Her lines are refined and subtle, and they reflect her admiration for hand-made jewelry.
The Mercedes Salazar Jewelry Company was created seven years ago and its headquarters are located in Bogota, Colombia. It includes boutiques in the stylish Parque de la 93 and the El Retiro Shopping Mall in Bogota, and the historical quarters of Cartagena de Indias, the magical city that was deemed World Heritage by UNESCO. At present, Mercedes Salazar’s work can be found in fine boutiques and distribution points in more tan ten countries around the world, including the United States, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Venezuela, Australia, Japan, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico. This Colombian designer has exhibited her work at local fairs as Expoartesanias, and international trade shows such as ENK – Accesorie Circuit in New York City on its three annual versions, Première Classe Paris, SIMM Madrid and Democircuit Barcelona.

The Company is an active member of the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce: www.amchamcolombia.com.co

Erika Peña : I am a designer, an entrepreneur and, above all, a dreamer. I was born in Puerto Rico, after my parents, Juan Isidro Peña and Maritza Milagros Peña, had emigrated from the Dominican Republic. On my 18th birthday, I moved to New York to study at Parsons School of Design. This is where my adventure begins.

In New York, my focus was fashion design where I worked with many designers, most notably Donna Karen and Josie Natori. Following my work with these talented women, I was inspired to launch a clothing line called “epe”. It was during this period, when I was collaborating with a number of different designers on various projects, that I started looking to the future for my inspiration and this led me on the path to launching the Erika Peña line.

The inspiration of my jewelry line comes from my move from Manhattan to Puerto Rico. I wanted to convey this experience through my jewelry, which is part rough and edgy like New York, and light and airy like the Caribbean. In 2006, I joined forces with my sister Bielka Peña-Bevillard, with her financial background and my creativity we are building our clientele and expanding the Erika Peña Brand.
In spring 2008, I launched my first men’s line, Simon & Simone. This collection centered on cultural, religious and magical icons combined with the force of energy from the love between men and women; the ying and the yang to create a powerful form of wearable art for both.
Currently, on my ninth collection I have plans of launching Erika Peña Handbags and eventually a clothing collection.

Here are some thoughts about trying skinny jeans:

Skinny jeans, when they fit properly, can give you a long, lean line, and are fitted all the way through the calf.  Two places that they are not tight are at the knee, and the ankle. 

The thickest part of the calf is in the upper back of your shin, so the legs are going to be a little looser at the knee to accommodate, especially when you have to bend your knee.

As shown in a Red Book Magazine spread, you should wear your skinny jeans with a loose top. Not only is this proportion more balanced, but you can also get away with wearing a waistband a little tighter than usual.  A flowing loose top allows you to hide any waist-pudge above your waistline. I feel that it is better to have skinny jeans fit very tight on top so you don’t have to constantly hike them up when the waistband loosens up, so feel free to choose a smaller fit in the waist for skinny jeans.

The last part of your jean that must fit on a skinny jean is at the leg opening and length.

There are several length options to choose for your new skinny jeans:

-You can cut them off at the ankle.

-You can also leave the hem slightly longer than you think. 

Since skinny jeans are so narrow, it’s ok to have scrunches around the ankle if they’re too long, which is how some of the more vertically challenged celebrities are doing it. If you wear heels with them, eventually that scrunch will work its way around the heels of your shoes if they’re too long. Enjoy feeling skinny!

Connie Chen
Technical Designer (clothing)
True Jeans Guest Blogger

 

With Spring in the air here in Boston, brighter colors are fighting their way through the muted remnants of winter! I chose our street style tour destination today based on this same aesthetic. Nature can be so inspiring! So I bid you ‘Hallo’ from Amsterdam! Neon is one of the many hot trends happening right now, and I love how some of these guys have injected just a small dose of this bright color family into an otherwise pretty tame outfit!

Do you guys prefer the neon incorporated as an accessorie (like the sneakers and boots on the 1st and 2nd row) or would you prefer to make it the stand out clothing item (like the two guys in the middle)?