{#Photo} Highlights from the @GNOSSEM #Fashion Preview held @MaseratiNYC!

I would have to say second to Broadway, the great thing about New York is the myriad of unique Fashion Shows and Designers to showcase their collections here.

I got to check out a Fashion Preview held in a pretty unique venue, The Maserati Showroom in New York City! Gnossem is an online fashion website who carries Asia's largest collection of luxury independent designers who previewed for the first time ever in New York City in February. (Yes I did say February, my travel schedule has been nuts lately!)

In addition to a host of new and exclusive Asian labels, some of the independent Fashion Designers included: Zenchi (a Singapore Top Designer who Naomi Campbell walked for last year), Zardoze (whose Creative Director previously designed for Alexander Wang, Michael Kors, Narciso Rodriguez as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs!), and TOTON (an Indonesian label that Andrej Pegic walked for in 2012).

Lisa Crosswite, Gnossem's Founder was named by Louis Vuitton Singapore as one of the Top 10 Stylish Women 2013. Gnossem offers uniquely artisanal products, quality independent designers that are specially curated for the most discerning tastes! Certainly luxury at it's finest!

I am kind of glad that this post got so delayed as many of the Fashions I previewed had a breezy, easy feel that remind me of Spring easing into summer!

Here are some photo highlights:

I saw this poster on display at the venue and I just had to get a close up!

This Dress is EVERYTHING!

So nice I had to capture it from both angles!

You know I love that leather top with the stamped detailing right?

I have always had love for high collars!

This just yells Resort Wear to me, in a good way!

A little prom meets Met Gala Realness!

This is probably more daring than I'd feel comfortable with, but it's pretty!

I'd probably end up wearing it as a blouse or on top of White Jeans, but I like the bold print!

All the looks - Love how I captured someone else across from me taking the same shot!

Ascending Butterfly Editorial Team taking in the scene! (I'm the one on the right, holding the champagne glass of course!)

MY TAKE:

I loved the unique venue! Fast Cars, Luxe Fashion, it was a great night in the city. With Besfren featuring their Dessert Collection Box (this is the chocolate gift you give to someone who you think has it all),  Zico keeping us all hydrated with their premium coconut water (really good by the way!), and illy USA providing their celebrated Italian Coffee Drinks it was as close to Fashion Event Nirvana as you can possibly get!

Butterflies Check out Gnossem for yourself and let us know which style is your favorite!

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FTC Disclosure: Ascending Butterfly was provided with If/Then Tickets for Editorial Consideration, all opinions are 100% my own!  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR, Part 255 - Guides Concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising, you may check our Giveaway and Disclosure Page for additional information regarding Ascending Butterfly Disclosure.

My Spring #Fashion FAVES + Enter for a chance to win a $100 #GiftCard to shop at @IGIGI

This giveaway is sponsored by:

Old Man Winter hasn't totally let go of his grip here in the North East, and today is a cool, rainy one here in 'the big apple'. I'm not letting the rain dampen my Spring thinking, and our friends at IGIGI put some Spring Like Pep back in my step after I viewed their new 'The Fresh Sophisticate' Collection.

The collection includes an array of mood brightening florals, decidedly fun Polka Dots, colorful spring alternatives to the 'Little Black Dress' that are all figure flattering and drop dead gorgeous! And I can assure you that is how you will feel while you are wearing them.

I was so inspired I created a Polyvore set with my top two favorites from the collection! First up is the Vintage Floral Plus Size Dress by IGIGI:

This is what I call the adult version of a 'sundress', and it is my favorite because it fits the name of the look book to a perfect tee, this is "The Fresh Sophisticate". This is fun, floral, fresh and sophisticated, florals don't have to look 'dated', 'boring' or 'old-fashioned' in plus, they can be flirty, fun, sophisticated and stylish. I am LIVING for this dress this season butterflies and it goes from Spring straight into Summer with a change of accessories.

My second pick from The Fresh Sophisticate Collection from IGIGI is a different color scheme, but it's also a super hot floral, it's the Janus Hot Floral Dress that is as equally style forward and fun as the Vintage Floral and as decidedly feminine, see below:

I am normally not a 'pink' type of gal, but this dress is my exception. It's a grown up pink with touches of spring/summer blues and greens against the Black with the cinched in waistline, this dress is just as bold of a feminine style as the Vintage Floral.

You will see me sporting both of these Dresses very soon butterflies I promise, I am saving them up for an upcoming conference, but I didn't want to make you guys wait for a chance to get your own dresses, so I decided to post the giveaway to keep you guys busy while I am gone, and I will close it a bit after I return from the Mom 2.0 Summit in Atlanta. (If you will be there I'd love to meet you in person tweet me and let me know!)

WIN IT:

TWO Lucky Butterflies have a shot at a $100 Gift Card to IGIGI to add a new Spring Dress to your own wardrobe. Use the Rafflecopter Widget/Link below to enter. As always our 'main entry' is easy peasy, and once  you do the main entry you unlock a ton of fun extra credit entries.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Take:

IGIGI has brought me back into wearing dresses way more often and these two are going to be in heavy rotation in my wardrobe this Spring right into Summer, personal photos of me wearing these to come.

What is YOUR favorite Dress from the IGIGI "The Fresh Sophisticate Collection" Butterflies? (Commenting with your answer to this question gets you an extra credit in the giveaway!)

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FTC Disclosure: IGIGI provided Ascending Butterfly with product for Editorial Consideration, all opinions are 100% my own!  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR, Part 255 - Guides Concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising, you may check our Giveaway and Disclosure Page for additional information regarding Ascending Butterfly Disclosure.

Plenty of Dresses Review and Giveaway - Item of YOUR choice!

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This giveaway is now CLOSED. Thanks so much to our wonderful sponsor Plenty of Dresses! We look forward to working with you again! The winner has been notified and upon confirmation, follower name will be posted both here and on our homepage. Remember: There are great giveaways active on the upper right hand side of the page Where it reads “Today’s Butterfly! Win Here’!

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Plenty of Dresses, Where Fashionable Meets Affordable!

Now that the little one's are back in school, have you taken a moment to think about your wardrobe yet? Have you swapped out your summer clothes and started looking at your Fall clothes and sadly realized you've come up a bit short for yourself? Do you have a perfect outfit at the ready for Thanksgiving, for office holiday parties and family festivities?

I am currently in the process of clearing out closets, and getting my home and wardrobe and ready for the new season.

I have to start by apologizing, this review is way overdue, and I want to thank Plenty of Dresses for their patience!

I connected with Plenty of Dresses earlier this year and as I am a butterfly lover, I was sent a variety of butterfly themed items to review. Two very special blouses, that I absolutely adore and a pair of super cute butterfly earrings that were thrown in by the owner, which I thought was extremely thoughtful!

I wore the first blouse and the earrings on my smooth jazz cruise this summer and received numerous compliments! I absolutely love this blouse, it has washed very well, no pills, and no fade out in the silver butterfly design. It looks fab on it's own as I paired it with Black Pants, and also super cute under a jacket for a quick change for evening. I posted the picture of me wearing it earlier this summer, but I just thought I'd show it to you again:

It runs true to size, and I can report it is super comfortable. If you'd like to grab one, it's still in stock, it's called Blue With Butterfly if you can't wait and want to order it now! (And I couldn't blame you!) The other two items don't appear to be in stock (including the butterfly earrings I am wearing in the photo), but there are a wide variety of butterfly themed and non-butterfly themed fabulous clothing that are. And I'm very excited to share that Plenty of Dresses has an excellent variety of Plus Sized items in stock as well. Sometimes when it comes to plus sizing you end up feeling cheated because the selection isn't normally as varied as smaller sizes, but not at Plenty of Dresses! I find it a time saver that I can shop by size and find something super cute that is in stock and available in my size!

I love to get a behind the scenes of brands I work with, and when I'm allowed a glimpse of the person behind the brand I jump at the chance. Plenty of Dresses is a one woman show, that began as a retail location in Canada, the owners, sisters, grew the shop that started with jewelry and accessories, one sister married and moved abroad and the sister that remained expanded the store slowly. She added clothing in a variety of styles, and it took off! Customers responded enthusiastically, and she experienced increased sales and steady growth. And eventually an online shop was formed, that is how Plenty of Dresses was born!

The owner, is the most down-to-earth, approachable person ever (and she's super patient too!) and when I asked her for a bio and more about her she shared her story, but something she wrote really stood out with me, she said:

I'm just a small town girl trying to make it big ~ Corinne, Plenty of Dresses

I honestly don't know how she manages to juggle the demands of a brick and mortar store and running an online shop simultaneously! But with her drive, ambition and perserverance I have no doubt in my mind her quote above will come to pass! I know I make it a personal choice to be sure I think of woman owned businesses first when I shop, I can tell you that having had the chance to try out two pieces from this shop that I fully intend to return to Plenty of Dresses again! As a matter of fact I was thinking of this next:

What do you think? I love purple and the silver accent detail gives it that extra something for evening! OK, I'll be nice and share the direct link to this top, but please don't order them all because I want one! Purple Plus Size Top With Silver Accent

WIN IT! - Ascending Butterfly and our friends at Plenty of Dresses would like to provide 1 Ascending Butterfly Follower with your choice of any in-stock item, shirt, dress, the choice is YOURS!

Don't you just ♥ Plenty of Dresses? (I know I Do!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - How to Win: (1) You must be a PUBLIC follower of Ascending Butterfly to be eligible for this and all giveaways. Indicate in your entry that you follow (if your 'comment name/user id' differs from your profile id, please let me know what name you follow under) and Mandatory Entry: (2) Visit Plenty of Dresses and Share a link to the item you would pick if you won! (Remember it can't be the giveaway item, or the other items mentioned! Be careful if you link to the review item your entry will be disqualified!) (3) You must also leave your email address somewhere in your comment. (You can format it this way for security, example: ascendingbutterfly AT mail host DOT com). (If your email is clearly visible in your profile, you can just say so, that's OK!) Please follow the easy 1, 2, 3 steps to winning (or in this case, the A,B,C’s of winning!) This giveaway is open to USA + Canada residents who are 18 years of age or older. No PO Boxes.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Please follow directions or you will be disqualified! All comments are moderated, they may not appear on the site right away (comments like "I want this" or "I want to win" will not be entered). You have from Saturday, October 23, 2010 until Sunday, October 31, 2010 at 03:00 PM (EST) to comment and be entered for a chance to win. You will have 48 hours to confirm if we do not hear from you we will be forced to move on to an alternate. (We only notify winners DIRECTLY via email, so if your profile or your comment does not have an email your entry will not be processed)

EXTRA CREDIT:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Blog about this giveaway, linking to this giveaway post. Leave the URL in a comment. (If your blog post contains more than just a pic and link you'll get 5 extra credit entries!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Grab our Button and put it on your Blog. Leave the URL where we can see it in a comment (if you already have our button, just let us know, you will still get extra credit!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @Tracy_Iglesias on Twitter (this is ascendingbutterfly’s editor) and give me your twitter ID in a comment

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Tweet this:

Ok to RT Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ  #ascendingbutterfly + @plentyofdresses  #win clothing item of YOUR choice #Giveaway! - http://tinyurl.com/2756a3o

(Leave a comment with the tweet’s url so you can get a valid entry (click on the time your tweet was sent to get the direct URL and then copy and paste it here). You can Tweet TWICE per DAY. If you Tweet more than that, that entry will be disqualified.)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - ‘Like’ (and don't forget to write on their wall that Ascending Butterfly sent you!) Plenty of Dresses on Facebook HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @plentyofdresses on Twitter HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Digg about this giveaway and leave your digg username in your comment

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Fave this blog on Technorati and leave your Technorati user name in your comment

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow Ascending Butterfly on Facebook HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow Ascending Butterfly on Networked Blogs HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Join Ascending Butterfly's NEW Community/Real Time Chat, Group HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Vote for Ascending Butterfly on: Fuel My Blog

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Have you entered another giveaway on Ascending Butterfly? Let me know which one and you’ll get more extra credit!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Have you commented on a non-giveaway entry? Let me know which one here and you’ll get more extra credit!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Ascending Butterfly needs your votes! I really want to be NatureMade's Good Mood Blogger, please rock the vote for me daily here:

Good Mood Gig from SAM-e

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Ascending Butterfly is a nominee for the Bloggers Choice ’10 Awards in the ‘Best Blog About Stuff’ Category - You can press the button below to go straight to the page where Ascending Butterfly has been nominated!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Press the button below and join, you get an extra entry for this giveaway and a shot at more great prizes, lets win together! (one time extra credit, will be verified before entry can be accepted)

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FTC Disclosure Info for this Giveaway: This is not a paid insertion. This is a non-compensated post and all opinions regarding Plenty of Dresses are my own experiences. I was provided product to facilitate the review & giveaway. The sponsor is fulfilling directly to prize winner(s), this in no way influenced my opinion of the product. Once a winner is selected and their information has been forwarded to the sponsor, the responsibility of prize fulfillment rests with the sponsor.