Fashion-able: Celeb-inspired sunglasses

We’re no longer leaving home or the office in complete darkness these days: the sun is back! We suggest celebrating by rocking a hot new pair of sunnies while sipping a drink on a patio. Here are our picks for this season, inspired by some of our favourite fashion icons.

Sexy Marilyn Monroe

Classic Marilyn. Image source

Take a cue from Marilyn and turn heads with these classic and sexy cat eye sunnies from Tom Ford ($390), available online from Dealuxe. A little retro, a little sexy, this vintage shape is making a huge comeback. We’re into it.

Meow! Tom Ford knows sexy. Image source

Trendy Mary Kate Olsen & Ashley Olsen

Stylish sisters at Fashion Week in New York.

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s style inspires blogs, Tumblrs, the paparazzi and us. Dark sunglasses are a must for the sisters, who are always photographed wearing the style of the moment. If you want to be on trend but don’t have their budget (because really, who does?), order a pair for $29.99 from StyleMint, designed by the sisters in partnership with BeachMint. Our pick? The Waverly in White.

Lovely, and at $29.99, you can even afford to lose them.

Classic Jackie O

Most famous historical sunglasses? Image source

Oversized sunglasses are synonymous with Jackie O., as is timeless style in general. Copy Jackie’s style with a pair of oversize glasses this summer. We like the Nicole model ($125) from Nicole Richie’s House of Harlow.

Love.  Image source.

Posh Victoria Beckham

Whatever else you may think, she looks good.
Image source.

She wasn’t known as Posh Spice for nothing, the girl has style and is backing it up some killer pieces in her Victoria Beckham clothing and accessory lines. If you want to go all out, try these 18-karat rose gold-coated sunglasses from Victoria’s line.

A mere $745 will allow you to wear gold on your face. Worth it? You decide. Image source

  
Elegant Audrey Hepburn

Most famous on-screen sunglasses of all time? Possibly. Image source

Audrey Hepburn actually wasn’t wearing Ray-Ban Wayfarers in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but her Oliver Goldsmith Manhattan sunglasses are close enough to be commonly mistaken for them. While Goldsmith re-released the style in 2011 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the movie, we think you’ll be able to channel Audrey in a pair of classic Wayfarers ($190), available online at Dealuxe.

Classic Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses in black. Image source

See you on the patio!

Fashion-able: BeachMint

Some of the most exciting news to be announced over the holidays was the arrival of BeachMint in Canada. If you’re not familiar, this little family of sites – including StyleMint.com, ShoeMint.com and JewelMint.com – offers fabulous online shopping including clothing, jewellery and shoes.

Being savvy shoppers ourselves, we immediately signed up and took the quick personal style quiz, then became members (free!). It was quite adept at determining which pieces would best suit our individual styles. Like a Cosmo quiz, but they choose shoes we like. Fun. 

Every month, the site selects an item that they think you’ll love – whether it’s shoes from ShoeMint.com, t-shirts from StyleMint.com or yep, jewellery from JewelMint.com – and send it directly to your inbox. You can buy the piece, switch it for something else or skip the month entirely. Plus, it’s super affordable. StyleMint t-shirts are $29.99, JewelMint pieces are $29.99 and ShoeMint shoes are $79.98.

Here are some of the pieces that grabbed our eye right away: 

 

StyleMint.com features t-shirts designed by Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen – we adore the I’m Almost Not Crazy classic crew T.

JewelMint.com features jewellery co-designed by Kate Bosworth and celebrity stylist Cher Coulter – we dig this Madison Avenue Ring.

ShoeMint.com shoes are co-designed by Rachel Bilson and celebrity stylist Nicole Chavez, and manufactured by shoemaker Steve Madden – we are drooling over the Edith shoe in black.

Follow each of the Mint sites on Twitter (@StyleMint, @JewelMint, @ShoeMint) to hear news about new products, industry tidbits and warnings that the cute pair of suede wedges are down to the last pairs.  How does a girl choose between jewels, shoes and shirts? We don’t. We signed up for all three.

Fashion-able: Structural bags

Here On The Fourth Floor, and like most women, we need bags that are great for work and play. Versatility meets style is the name of the game when you work 9 to 5 p.m. and then go straight to evening events. Fun and bright structural bags are perfect to go from a client meeting straight to a work event.

One of our absolute faves is made by the Cambridge Satchel Company. The bag comes in tons of bright colours and can be seen recently on some of our favourite fashion blogs (here and here). This piece is classic, fun and adds a splash of colour that will make any outfit snap, crackle and pop.

Best yet, the 15-inch satchel is less than $150. Awesome.

Image source.

If you have deeper pockets, Proenza Schouler’s PS1 is the structural bag for you. Available in a variety of bright colours and luxe materials like calf velvet, leather and crocodile you can’t get a more luxurious structural bag. Hollywood’s shiny stars live for this bag and it’s been seen on the arms of the Olsen twins, Jessica Alba and Nicky Hilton, if you care.   

Image source.

Bags start at $1,500 and go up (way up) from there.

The bag we’re also coveting is Rebecca Minkoff’s newest design, appropriately named Cupid.  We love the shape, the detailing and the gorgeous color options. How perfect is this teal?

Image source.

The Cupid is available for $495.

Looking to take your boyfriend to post-work events without looking like a slouch? Filson makes the perfect structural satchel appropriate for any date night. The Leather Field Satchel is handmade in Seattle and will last your boy a lifetime. Hopefully your boy lasts that long, too.

Image source.

Available for $795 (find it at Garrison Bespoke in Toronto). 

What’s your summer 2011 must-have bag? Comment below or tweet us @rockitpromo.