Hi everyone,

I am finally back. I miss sharing with you all my projects and the many adventures I am having lately. But here I am again.

I decided to not torture you anymore with my bad grammar and writing. Here is my first video blog and  many more to come.

You can purchase advance tickets at www.chloedao.eventbrite.com

Please come out everyone this Thursday to support BPSOS. See you there.

Love Life,

Love Fashion,

Love, 

Chloe Dao

Hello friends,

Well, the year is ending and I still cannot believe how fast it went by. I blinked and  I was a year older, and maybe a little wiser.  I  found my first gray hair.  It was staring at me and I was scared. I guess I should be thankful I saw just one… But you know, if there is one there is always more coming, like roaches!!!  Honestly, I am sure I had gray hair before but  ”Thank the lord” for hair dye b/c I never saw mine before now.

My memory is also leaving me.  Recently, I had dinner with old friends I have known since high school and while reminiscing about about old times we have shared together, I realized, I do not remember anything unless it was a great moment of joy or a friend who did me wrong.  I only have room in my brain for the good, bad and the ugly. But somehow, I can still tell you what designer did which dress from what seasons. It’s like I have elephant fashion memory.  So next time  I see you and cannot remember how we met or your name just think of this blog post.
Confession, I have had so many conversations this year where I had no idea who most people were.  I will apologize now ahead of time to everyone.

So how am I going to recap the year with a bad memory? Pictures and videos baby! Looking at these pictures made me realize how much I accomplished and how proud I should be of myself.

2012 was a very pivotal year. We rebranded, LOT 8  boutique became Chloe Dao boutique. We remodeled the store and the website.  I  mentally shift geared because now the store and the brand is my name. It was scary but it really felt right. I have never been all about me only so it was a bit strange to have my name so prominently displayed.

Enough writing, here is  the first year of Chloe Dao boutique.  There is no order, just moments that significant  or humorous to me.  Enjoy!!

  My two most favorite designs of 2012. It  is not clothes but chandeliers!!

My DIY glass bubbles chandelier. I wired and did every thing myself. Blown a few fuses but it was so worth it.  My pride and joy of 2012.

My other DIY  chandelier. It is made from Lumaquilt. I hand to stand on top of the table to do it. You can see me working on it. It is not as big as this picture makes you think it is.

Trims shopping in LA.

In LA and enjoying this wonderful view having breakfast. He gives a whole new meaning to cut off jean. Just lovely.

Working it up for Air Mexico magazine.

Community Clothe event at the store. They are  such amazing creative and courageous ladies.

Momma Dao receiving her certificate for helping at the Alliance Tailoring Project.

Doing a video for Channel KRPC.  I noticed I hold my hands together very often like that.

Getting ready to be the graduation key speaker for Art Institutes 2012 class. I was really nervous and I was still writing the speech when this picture was taken.

Trying to look cute for Italia Vogue interview.

Made a dress for Shaquille O’Neal daughter. She was so sweet and so tall.

Think Pink Luncheon 2012. Love designing a new scarf for them every year.

Meeting Christina Ha from MasterChef. Please cook for me .

Momma Dao and I shooting for a story for the Smithsonian Magazine

Hanging out with Uncle Nick in NYC during Fashion Week.

So proud of Emmett and Dimitry showing their work at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

No fashion just great old friends hanging out in a dive bar in Chinatown NYC.

Launch party for Houston Fashion week.

My Fall 2013 Mood Board

Styling the show with Dawn Bell and overwhelmed with all the selections.

Always Posing

Backstage Silliness!!

Adam wins “Best Picture”
Gorgeous!!!

Lena, my favorite dress of 2012. It works for everyone, a touch of class and coolness at the same time.

Sydney and I at  FGI Xmas Party. Everyone interested in Fashion should join our group. 

Coolest moment of the year.
Shooting an ad campaign for the H-town with all this talented people.

My personal” Favorite Picture of the Year” Ken and I at  the photo shoot.  Never miss a chance to  take  a picture with your man when you are all Glam up!! 

 There are many new projects I am working for 2103 and I cannot wait  to share them with you. Thank you for reading my blog and checking in with me.   2013 will be am amazing year b/c  we will make it amazing.

Love Life,

Love Fashion,

Love,

Chloe 

Hi,

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays with family and friends.   I’m really writing today to ask you all to show a little love for my friend, Jay Marroquin.  He is a photographer here in Houston.   I met Jay a few years ago after he had quit his job as an IT person to pursue his dream of being a fashion photographer.  I remembering thinking,  I love your passion but good luck,  it is tough being in any art field.

The last few years, I have gotten to know him better, and he has become a real friend. But what is really driving me to write this post is that I have a lot of “respect” for him.  Jay has accomplished a lot in the last few years and is very driven.   He is not all talk, he gets down and dirty. He did a ton of shoots.  He honed in and perfected his craft.  He hustled and networked like no one else in the business.  Once Jay started shooting for MetroVelvet.com, he met with many designers, such as John Paul Gaultier and Betsy Johnson.

I remember him telling  me about wanting to  go NYC and shoot the shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.  Again, I thought big dream, but he did it.  He wanted to travel to Europe and shoot beautiful models.  Again, he did it, and went to London, Paris and Milan and persuaded beautiful models to take their clothes off in the middle of the street.  Go to his website, www.jaymarroquin.com  to see  beautiful clothed/tasteful topless model pictures.  From now on I will not doubt him, but help him pursue his dream.

 Paris

 In the Trenches

  NYC street, Love the big giant Elmo!!!

I think it’s kind of wonderful that he thinks of projects and goals and he somehow makes it happen.  Next year, he really wants to shoot a book about “love”.  It is really inspired by his parents. They are like the old couple you see on a DeBeers commercial; you can feel the love between them.  We all hope for that kind of love. Well, Jay wants to help us all experience it or at least get to know couples like them all over the world and see how they have “made it work.”

Let’s celebrate the Holidays by helping him achieve his dream. This a gift worth giving, big or small. If you cannot give , word of mouth about this project is priceless! Jay can tell you more about his “Romance of Photograph” book. See the link below for more information.

SUPPORT AND SHARE THIS PROJECT – http://www.indiegogo.com/rotp

VIDEO:

Hi Everyone,

Every year I design a new scarf  for  ZTA, Seta Tau Alpha.  They are such a wonderful group of women who have worked so hard together to raise money for the Think Pink program. I am  honored every year to design a scarf to give to breast cancer survivors and to help raise funding for them.  ZTA do sell the scarf , so if you are interested  here is the link to purchase.

ZTA .

Last year the  luncheon raised $46,100.  ZTA provided $19,100 to the Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation in support of scholarships , breast cancer awareness, education, research, $28,000 to MD Anderson Cancer Center Inflammatory Breast Cancer Clinic and Research. I hoped this years raised even more.

This year luncheon at River Oaks Country  Club was on Oct. 3rd. It was a  great  event as always  b/c every year I leave the luncheon  feeling a very close connection to the sisterhood of women and friendship.  It is also a  great reminder to enjoy life with your family and friends.  Life is short and unpredictable but if you are surrounded by friends and family you can survive anything. Sorry I am getting a little  mushy but that is what happens when you are surrounded by estrogens.

This year theme was  ”The Gift of Friendship”  so my  first design was a beautiful girl, representing a “girlfriend”.

My beautiful pink Barbie.

No one seems to be happy with this design so I had to come up with  another one.  I thought a  great “gift” always comes with  beautiful bows, so why not a  Daffodil flower made of bows.

Can you see it?  It is vert subtle .

Softly, flowing blown bows….

What do you think?   Love to hear some comments.

Here are some pictures from the luncheon.   Enjoy!

 The Fabulous Melinda Kilpratick  and me

The sweetest and amazing  Kay King

Posing with a card!!

Think Pink Ladies

Love Life,

Love Fashion,

Love ,

Chloe dao

Hi Everyone,

I  have always looked forward to the Project Runway  finale show, especially  when it was only 4 designers showing. The last few years  the numbers have increased to 8-10 designers.  It bothers  me that so many designers are showing  b/c it diminishes how special it is to show at NYC Fashion Week.  Now if you can survive  half the season, you are guaranteed to show, I hate to say this but if you can not make it to the final 4 you should not be showing.

From memory, here is what I thought when I  first saw these season finale  collections.

Fabio Has  the winning collection, the most cohesive and modern.

Elena,  Has the most on trend collection.

Christopher, I can not even remember and that is not good but I think he was a great designer on the show.

Melissa, Very  her but  a few pieces  was out of sync with the rest of her collection.

Ven, Same old damn flower and the exact pieces he have done before. It felt like it was a big old “expletive” gesture at the judges for eliminating him.

Gunnar,  Looked like a  school project. Bad choice in the African theme and fabrication.

Sonjia, Big  disappointment.  I really like her but the collection was all over the place.

Dimitry, I love him but the all I can remember was the  bad black  cha cha  looking finale gown, it killed  all the looks before it b/c  I cannot remember anything he did after that gown came out.

If you want to see the collections  and read some hilarious comments go to Tom and Lorenzo. 

Here are some pictures I took  before the show. Enjoy.

Love Nathan and Kooan.  Kept running into him in the Fashion district later in the week.

Michael and Mondo. Mondo’s outfit was completely strange, the fake plastic mustache was the real kicker.

Jay and Nick, two of the biggest characters you will ever meet.

A fan and I

Nina and the rest of the judges waiting to make their entrance.

IMG_2172

Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, Guest Celeb Judge Jennifer Hudson and Nina Garcia–Mercedes-Benz NY Fashion week Project Runway Season 10 Finale Fashion Show

Today is a quick post. I have so much work to do. I have a wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses and a collection to work on all at once.  I am getting really excited about my on Nov. 14th. at the Wortham Theater. It is open to the everyone.  Don’t  forget to buy ticket here  Fashion Houston  .

  Love Life,

Love Fashion,

Love Chloe Dao

Hi,

NYC fashion week is not only  about the the shows inside the tent.   The side show outside the tent is actually more fun and entertaining.   I tried to channel  Scot Schuman, the  Satorialist  with my

iPhone.  Annie Leibovitz did say to buy an iPhone instead of a camera.  Enjoy the fashion and the show, I had blast being a witness to  this promenade.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. Let’s start the show.

She was gliding around the Lincoln Center, perfectly posing for everyone.  Even the back hem was  was working it, it lay there in perfect roundness.

Turquoise hair and turquoise/ black top is too die for. Love her but not the smoking.

Classic white shirt with a twist.

Love this sleeve

Love the print and these overlapping loops.

I hoped I am this stylish when I am her age.  Even the bike is freaking adorable.

Fashion Desperado. Sadly he was getting so much attention. Everyone wanted picture of crazy. Gotta love him!

 All that is shine is gold when you are that pretty !  Outside the Marc Jacob show.

Love me some Fabulous Asians. Outside Marc Jacob show.

The dynamic duo Tom and Lorenzo. I love red pant and pink trimming on men any day. The Italian men been doing it for decades. Love..

 Who is this girl? I love this dress, I know I worn it a million time but don’t hate b/c I still look so damn good in it.

Excuse my silliness I can not help myself. I hoped you enjoy this post.  If so, please let me comments. I need some loving words of encouragement.

Love Life,

Love Fashion,

Love,

Chloe  Dao

Hi,

So happy the cool weather is here in Houston. When we get in the 70′s we are so happy here.   When the weather gets like this I always think of dinner parties outside , having friends and family over to enjoy the weather, with great food and company. I  will never understand BBQing in 90′s degree weather.  Summer here is for staying indoor with the a/c blasting.

Enough about me and the weather, Fall is here and we need to talk about Fashion.

I started my Fall collection a bit late. Honestly, very late b/c it was so hot here this summer I could not get myself to start, But the luxury of having your own store is that you are not obligated to design based on the fashion calendar.  If so, I should be finishing my spring 2013 already. Have Mercy!

My ladies this Fall are very carefree like the 1920′s Flappers but very dangerous. She will break your heart but you can not help but love her, want her and to be like her.  She is dripping with luxury while being completely mischievous with you. She is the modern day siren. She embraces her femininity and used it to each advantage.

Here is my mood board for Fall 2012.  If you want to see more inspiration for Fall 2012  go to my Pinterest ‘s board here:

http://pinterest.com/daochloedao/fall-2012-collection-inspirations/

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Fall 2012 

Here is my fabric board for Fall 2012. I  am really loving my Fall colors and fabric.  I have always love  oxblood, hunter green and gold.  There are very rich saturated colors that just very bold but very traditional at the same time .  My Fall 2012 fabrication is pure luxury. It is all  about texture. I am working with sequins, velvet, brocade, and beading lace.

Rich colors and textures. Velvet, lace, brocade,sequins. All about luxury this Fall.

Earlier  last month, we did a Fall preview shoot with Jay Marroquin. Here  are pictures from the shoot. All the dresses are here are available at the store know.   But more Fall pieces are being made now.  This weather is really inspiring me.

Angel dress. She looks like one but she is not. Metallic gold denim fabric. Don’t you just love that !

Annabelle Dress. Classic Beauty

Kylie Gown pure 1920′s glamour. The hair and makeup was perfection.

Kylie gown , This is what you call an entrance!

Tell me what you think. Leave me comments so I can feel like you are reading this.

Love Life,

Love Fashion,

Love Chloe

Hi,

I am so happy to be back home.  I had a lot of fun in NYC, especially on FNO. I love seeing all of my old friends from the  PR at Lord and Taylor event and the next day at  PR 10  finale show. That will be another blog to post about.  Honestly, I am really only close to the designers from my season. It does feel like one big dysfunctional family.  Some people you love and hate, some you do not know at all and cannot remember their names. Honestly, any time I go to one of these events, I just feel old.

The best and worst part of this event is that you really find out who the fans care about. Some designers get no love or recognition  while others are surrounded by fans. You better have thick skin b/c it is the popularity contest all over again. High school never ends.

Overall, I had a lot of fun on FNO. It was brutally hot and humid that night. People were all out and about, crowding every corner of  the city. It was really great to see that Fashion has this much pull on everyone.  The night ended quite fashionably for me, I was in  the great company of Mr. Nick Verreos  and his man, David, their great friends, Louie, Tyler, and Brandon. I was  in the   “Gayasiana” of the night.   I was surrounded by fabulous, hilarious and very sweet gay men at the  always crowded Pastis restaurant  in the Meat Packing district. What more can a girl asked for on FNO.

Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Nick and I working those angles.

The coolest guy ever, Mr. Jay.  He had a whole entourage with him.  My people will call your people.

Seth!! I really do not know him at all but seem really nice.

Peaches! I think she is on the Next All Star seasons.

Ana Mae, Houston local Jewelry designer. Tempest line. We have her modern designs at my store.

We saw this window on the side of Lord and Taylor. Posing wherever we can.

I love these girls. Nothing like a group of beautiful tall divas. They were working it just sitting so I had to asked a for a picture.

Love this crazy chic at Pastis. I asked for a picture but she wanted to hide her face. Love it even more b/c I am crazy for the beaded fringe on her forehead,

 Love Life,

Love Fashion,

Love Chloe

Hi,

Fashion’s Night  Out is here again this year. I am really excited about it b/c I will be in NYC to  celebrate it, but truly sad b/c I won’t be here to celebrate with you.

What is FNO? FNO was started by the amazing matriarch of  the Fashion world, Anna Wintour, in 2009 to help the Fashion Industry in NYC.

“Fashion’s Night Out” is an unprecedented global initiative created in 2009 to celebrate fashion, restore consumer confidence, boost the industry’s economy during the recession, and put the fun back

into shopping! In the United States, the program is a collaboration between American Vogue, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, NYC & Company, and the City of New York.”

Now it is world wide and in 18 countries.

FNO for me is a night of fashion debauchery.   The best part of FNO is the  intermingling of  celebrities,  celebrated designers, and every fashion lover.

My  boutique  will be hosting the first  annual  FNO Fashions Crawl.  We are going to start a trend here.  Dao Chloe Dao boutique and 7 other boutiques in the  Rice Village will be hosting events and specials all night. Come and celebrate with other Fashion lovers and support the boutiques.   Elaine Turner, Premium Good, The Class Room, Soho, Langford Market, Myth & Symbol and Joseph Keith Jewelry are all teaming with us  for this shopping crawl.   Cocktails  are sponsored by Hynotiq and Harmonie, hydration is sponsored by Vitamin Water at all locations.

Want to know the special for each boutiques? Here are some  of the deals at:

Dao Chloe Dao, their special for the evening is a whoosy of a deal; purchase $100 or more and receive a accessory gift valued at $25

Elaine Turner receive a gift with purchase of a full priced item.

Soho receive 20% off store wide excluding sale items

Premium Goods take 15% off the entire store

Langford Market enter to win a $200 Gift Card

 Joseph Keith Jewelry take 20% off the entire store and receive a swag bag with a $75 purchase

 The Classroom take 15% off the entire store

 Myth & Symbol get a free BAGGU gift with a purchase of $100

Pick up a free punch card at any of the participating stores to get special discounts through September. I hope you guys can make it  this Thursday.

To follow me on Facebook, click here.

To follow me on Twitter, click here.

I will keep you  posted on my trip in NYC. I will be meeting up with all PR alumni from season 2 and all the other seasons.  On FNO, I will be at the Project Runway 10 piece collection event hosted by Lord and Taylor celebrating 10 seasons of Project Runway. I feel old. :(

Hey guys!

There’s been a little bit of confusion regarding where to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and so forth. So, I wanted to make it easy for everyone by clearly providing links of where you can follow me personally as well as the Dao Chloe Dao boutique. Just see below.

Thanks again for all your support!

Follow the Dao Chloe Dao boutique:

To follow Dao Chloe Dao on Facebook, click here.

To follow Dao Chloe Dao on Twitter, click here.

Follow Chloe Dao (that’s me!):

To follow me on Facebook, click here.

To follow me on Twitter, click here.

Note: My YouTube channel is used both for personal and business purposes (don’t mind some of my silly videos). You can subscribe to it by clicking here.

Love Life,

Love Fashion,

Love,

Chloe

Finally here is the video of the Spring 2012 runway collection.  Sorry it took us so long, but it is worth waiting for.  Part of this collection is at my store as well as the online shop. Remember, these are very limited pieces. Enjoy!!

Spring 2012 Runway