I never was much of a resolution maker.  I felt the need to make lots of commitments and resolutions in my life no matter what time of year.  This year was a little different though, because it is a great time and place after such an exciting 6 months to reflect, regenerate and plan.

That being said, we aren’t perfect and though I personally have made great strides in sticking to my yoga/running plan, I can’t say so much for my chocolate eating.  And, I’m not going to name any names at SA VA, but I am not the only one.  So, ok, maybe we aren’t doing so well on resolution #2 but we are doing pretty good on the laundry list of commitments.  And if you are going to do something (good or bad) you should do it right.  So, we thought maybe all of you would follow the ‘if you can’t beat em, join em’ philosophy.    In honor of breaking our ‘eat less chocolate’ resolution we are throwing an in-store shopping event this Saturday!  Come drink wine and eat chocolate with us at SA VA.  You will get an extra 10% off of all clearance items ( already reduced 50-75%) and 25% off all jewelry the day of the event.

So tell me, how are you doing with your new years resolutions?  Which have you broken?

oh, and we have some great new things in the store, check out these looks of the week:

New Carla Blouse and the best pencil pant ever. IN Store this week!

Tweed Riley skirt, Wooden Ships sweater, Tolani scarf and beaded clutch all on line and in store now!

Ruana sweater, Tie Dye leggings, Carla Mancini bag

It has been sub arctic here for weeks now. I barely want to leave the house, let alone ‘dress’ and it has started to freeze my fashion sense on all fronts.  I am contemplating doubling up and wearing two pairs of tights at once on days I feel gutsy enough to wear a dress….. But alas, I am strong willed and MUST reinforce our New Year’s commitments and I am doing so in no particular order.  I don’t know about risk in these, only because I am relatively daring and wear some edgy looks. I think the real key is to wear something that you wouldn’t normally and see if you can make it work.  Sometimes this works out and other times I am left walking down the street knowing that it didn’t quite hit the mark that day.  For instance, yesterday I was in New York for Premier Vision Preview (this is the precursor to the by annual and most incredible world textile show in Paris).  After the show, I went to SoHo for some meetings and to check out what the other retailers are doing.  It was a cold day in NYC yesterday.  As some of you know, with my curly hair, I don’t sport hats very weel and often wear a silk scarf wrapped around my head in a babushka (but tied in the back of the neck, not under the chin).  I really question whether I get away with this.  I think that sometimes I look like I am auditioning for a part in World War II movie.   However, I walked right in to Prada, babushka and all and two sales people said “I love your scarf, what a great look!”  and no – they weren’t kidding.  That, I would say is more of a risk.  These looks, I feel are  more of a new invention, something to warm me up to create a new look for the upcoming warm weather.

When consciously making shifts in your fashion mentality there are two ways to go about it 1. the drastic (as seen on t.v.) makeover and 2. the slow, comfortable progression where you try something new and then another new thing and then another. Both have their merits, but lets face it, the weather right now is not leaving much room for what we would all really like to be wearing i.e. flip flops and tank tops.  The girls and I put together a few casual looks for the week.  Let us know what you think.

p.s. this week on line; free shipping on regular priced merchandise.  in store: 15% off 1 regular priced item

Poncho with Tort pant, Tolani scarf and Zina Eve Bowler

Rena top, Audrey pant, JPK bag

This wasn’t just any old new year.  It is the start of a new decade and the end of a challenging one.  It is SA VA’s first decade in fact and we are looking to make the most of it. So, we collectively made a list of things we as individuals and a company wanted to achieve this year.  We didn’t make the list of normally breakable items (i.e. I want to lose 10lbs by next week or I am going to stop eating chocolate), we really looked at it as things to be committed to and ways to ‘be’.

We resolve to: Be happy, live healthy, make style effortless, create a new trend, do 1 thing every day that makes someone else happy, reduce our carbon footprint, volunteer.

We also thought that there were just some things that we would like to leave behind in 2009! Starting with: unbalanced lifestyle, predictability, pollution, stress, negativity, selfishness, and passivity.

Now, there is of course the issue of how we plan to achieve these resolutions.  So we came up with a few ideas on that: Experiment with new SA VA prints,  Mix unusual fabric combinations, take a fashion risk, host a canned food drive at SA VA, eat less chocolate (ok, this is a personal one), find new uses for scrap fabrics, use inspiring trims, use less paper in the office, wear our values.

SA VA beaded clutch (click for more product info)

What are you resolved to this year?

What are you leaving behind in 2009?

Click here to tell us what you are resolving for 2010 and enter a chance to win a  SA VA beaded clutch