New York Shows - Day 3 Coterie!

There is so much to see at Coterie in NY! There are thousands of clothing, accessory and footwear lines showing their spring collections to buyers. Chelsea and I walked most of that floor (miles and miles of fashion) to soak in the spring trends. Velvet always shows great color trends in soft knits and wearable shapes. They are showing casual stripes and muted prints that will be hanging in Helena's next year!

Denim is all about classic Americana! The boyfriend jean is front and center in this perspective, as well as a classic skinny jean in medium washes. We met with DL1961 to see the upcoming washes in the customer favorite Florence Jean, and see their new soft neutral colors for the spring. The Florence crop was a runaway hit last year. It will be a basic for us next spring in new hues!

What we love about the spring 2016 collections: button up shirts (like this one from DL), hi-low tops, shades of rose pink and lavender, fit and flare dress silhouettes, and plaid! We will pull all these trends in to a beautiful fashion offering for you!!

Helena's 10 Year Anniversary Weekend Event!

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of our boutique! To celebrate this milestone, we are honoring brands that have come to define our style perspective, and are customer favorites. This Friday through Sunday, the brands Prairie Underground, Nally & Millie, Wooden Ships, DL1961 Premium Denim, and Printed Village scarves are 15% off storewide at both Helena's locations. Also, enter a daily raffle with purchase! Come celebrate with us!!

We love you, Wooden Ships.

Sometimes, you have to profess your love to someone who has been in your life for a long time. Wooden Ships by Paola Buendia has been an essential part of our stores for years. As we celebrate 10 years in business, Wooden Ships continues to be a leading line and always a customer favorite. We all know they produce beautiful knits season after season. They are also incredible people, always supportive, authentic, funny and helpful. Paola, Mark, Kitty and Noreen, thank you! - Katherine

New York Shows - Day 2 Stitch + Moda + Coterie

Day Two in NY brings us to the Javits, which is headquarters to fashion week. We met our Nally & Millie rep at the new show Stitch for a preview of spring sweaters, dresses and skirts. Nally, of course, shows us color, and the best spring duster sweater we have seen for spring 2016. 

The Spanish line, Kling, was full of novelty, whimsy, and yes, popsicles.  The cut of their dresses for spring was what most impressed us, a modern twist on the classic fit and flare summer frock.

We also previewed Beautiful Stories, a great graphic t-shirt line, Wooden Ships, and more.  The color trends for spring are lavender, light lemon yellow, powder blue, cocoa, and soft pink and they are strongly represented in just about every collection we saw. 

And then...there's happy hour. Chelsea and I had dinner with our dear Gigi, who moved to Manhattan in June to persue her big-girl dreams and her new fabulous job.  Gigi was a Helena's staffer for years during college. It was lovely to re-connect and give her all the details of the shows over yummy cucumber martinis.  Cheers.

New York Shows- Day One Designers & Agents

Every year, on the heels of the couture spring 2016 fashion shows, New York welcomes boutique owners and department store buyers to the big fashion shows of Coterie, Designers and Agents, Moda, Fame, Stitch and Edit. All the lines we love are debuting their spring 2016 collections. We look, we peruse, we soak it all in, and then we order the best fashions for our respective stores. 

We started our show tour at Designer and Agents, the curated show in Chelsea. It's small, and bursting with creativity and fashion innovation. This is the venue for designers who are building their collection on the platform on sustainability, small production, and quality, local sourcing and talent. Here, we buy Prairie Underground, Curator, and the new line The Odells.

Here, we work with Tracey Forrest who founded True Collaborative Fashion. Tracey knows our store and works closely with us to build the best collection for each season. We've worked together since we started carrying Prairie Underground in 2007!  We're thrilled with the spring presentation of the lines at this show!

New line, Beautiful Stories, arrives!

This was a staff favorite line, before it even arrived in the store.  The Helena's team loves to peruse online photos of our upcoming deliveries and Beautiful Stories garnered lots of attention during the preview stage. And it deserves it. Print, embellishment and special, unique details make this line deliciously wearable. This tunic is easily paired with a pleather legging or a skinny jean!

Mix your prints with ease.

Want to mix your prints like a boss? Here are key tips: 

- Find the common color or shade that you'd like to bring forward. Here it's black and white. It could be brown, if you are mixing a herringbone jacket with a plaid top. Also the common color doesn't have to match perfectly, just in tone.

- Mix size and scale. A bigger print, like the one in this black and white top, is best mixed with a smaller scale print like the all over, differentiated print on the scarf.  Think about this with texture, too.  I big patterned lace tank, can look great with a ditsy flower button up top.

- You can go two-tone, or bring in another pop color. In this look where black and white unites the patterns, we have bright orange, blue and yellow to compliment the look. However, a whole look of mixed print cream and cocoa, or cobalt and turquoise can be dynamic and dramatic, too.

- Don't be afraid to go head-to-toe mixed print and texture.  We love this look with a medium wash jean, but this would also look great with a black & grey tweed trouser, or a diamond small print legging.  

- Experiment! It's meant to be fun. Pull your favorite prints out of your closet and get started!

Gorgeous coziness from Wooden Ships.

The fall-to-winter fashion season brings out lofty "grassy" knit sweaters from Wooden Ships. The Darcy pullover has pretty open line details in a shorter cut that looks divine with your favorite jeans!  We havet his beaty in bone, cement, and storm blue.

Our Arlington Town Day SIDEWALK CLEARANCE is this weekend!

It's that time of year! Arlington Town Day is this Saturday, and with that comes our Sidewalk CLEARANCE! This will happen rain or shine. But, if it's rain on Friday, we will have the sale racks up inside. Come shop this annual epic sale!

Welcome new Louie et Lucie!

Our favorite Dutch line, Louie et Lucie, is finally coming in for fall!  This line has a basic cardigan that is a customer favorite.  We have a list of folks waiting for their fall colors to arrive!  In the newest delivery, this pretty lady arrived.  Bright flowers on a classic fit and flare shape. So pretty for fall transition!

Fall in Green.

The Spanish line, Skunk Funk, is new to our store, and has a delicious collection for fall. (We know the name is odd, but memorable.) This sweater has an hombre look, but the delicate details in the knit are apparent as you come closer.  Come shop this line at both locations!

Happy Labor Day! We are closed Monday, September 7th.

In observation of Labor Day, we will be closed at both Helena's locations on Monday, September 7th. Have a wonderful holiday!

My favorite look for an easy weekend.

My go-to look is great denim with an easy casual top. I add a statement necklace, or my favorite print scarf and I am out the door and on with my day. Nally & Millie created a luxury, cozy "athleisure" collection for fall that is gloriously soft and wearable. I am sold (meaning I bought these pieces as soon as they landed at the store). This waffle-weave vneck pullover in charcoal is beautiful. I pair it with the Azalea boyfriend jeans from DL1961 and top it off with a Joy Susan print scarf. Where does this outfit take me? Everywhere! Errand running, coffee pick-up, kid's soccer games, and casual dinner with friends. Sounds like a great weekend!  - Katherine

Your jeans + tee look, only better

We know you love the ease of the jeans + tee combination. So do we! It's an essential part of our fashion perspective. And with the right color, print and style, it creates a memorable look. The new tees from Joules have bright poppy colors, in easy to wear shapes. Our favorites have floral panels and a combination of stripe colors. 

Yes, these novelty sweaters are adorable.

So, we have a thing for animalia. If it has an owl on it (be it a scarf, mug, wallet, or sweater) we probably have it in the store.  This season's novelty sweaters are pretty special.  There's a dachshund in Arlington, and this sweet bunny in Belmont.  We love it paired with DL1961 Florence jeans and a pretty pastel print scarf.

DL1961 Fall Denim. Pick your favorite!

New York line, DL1961 offers great fitting denim to build the core-denim in your wardrobe.  Two of our favorite styles for fall: The Azalea in Shallow, a slightly distressed boyfriend jean; and the Emma in Berlin, a denim legging in a classic dark wash.  Diversity your denim looks this season with these classic denim styles!

Soft Palette for Fall Transition.

Creams and soft greys in luxurious, yummy fabrics and yarns is a trend we can all enjoy for fall!  This new layered top just came in from XCVI.  We love it with Red Engine medium wash jeans and a super-soft scarf in powder blue.