Apps You Need Now

There are so many smart phone apps out there…how do we know which ones to use? We did some homework to find the top new apps you need to know about now.  These are sure to make their way to your home screen and become a part of your everyday life.

Slice is a new app that you are sure to fall quickly in love with. This new app simply keeps track of what you buy online and even tracks your packages for you. No need to dig through your crumpled receipts. Slice even keeps track of your LivingSocial, Groupon, Bloomspot, and Gilt City vouchers. To see how it all works, check out this video.

One of the best ways to stay fit is by using My Fitness Pal. It’s the perfect app for those who are looking to shed a few pounds or to stay in good shape. Plug in what you eat and do for exercise each day and it will track  your progress and let you know how many calories you have left to eat to reach your daily goal. It’s proven that recording what you eat helps you to loose and maintain your weight. My Fitness Pal will quickly become the best trainer you’ve ever had and it’s FREE! You can find out more information here. P.S. The pounds are falling off everyone we know using this app.

Burst is the newest way to share videos and photos instantly with family and friends. It organizes them for you with a one-touch share system via any internet-enabled device that is SO easy to use. Just sign up, create your personal list and start shooting video and pictures to share with your loved ones. We used this app all weekend long and our relatives are still thanking us! This is truly a great app for anyone, but it is sure to be a Mom’s new best friend. Check out their website  for more information and to sign up now!

Now you can hail a cab with the push of a button…so cool! With this fantastic new taxi app, you can quickly see which cabs are using the app and they can see you. Your location is sent to the cab drivers phone and you don’t have to worry about having to wave your arm around until it falls off. This app is a win-win for everyone. Passengers find taxis, taxis find passengers. You can find more information about ZabKab here.

Cloth helps you to organize your outfits by being able to categorize your wardrobe into separate categories. It even suggests outfits from your ‘Cloth-set’ depending on the weather. This is perfect for fashion lovers and for those who are indecisive on what outfit to wear. Create, share, and save outfits for later. Cloth is going to quickly become your newest obsession! Unlock your closet with this informational video.

Changing Over Your Summer Clothes to a Winter Closet

So many of us in smaller spaces urban environments like Chicago, NYC, Washington DC or Boston– just don’t have the space to have all our seasons in one closet!  Here are some tips on how to make the task of the change over more organized and streamlined while also being smart about leaving those bikinis nearby in case of a lucky mid-winter trip into the sun!

1. Always wash or dry clean anything that needs it before changing over your closet- yes, this may take some effort on the front end for those of you non neat freaks but your noses and clothes will thank you when it is time to put them on again!

2. Depending on whether you have any hanging out of season storage or not, always try to hang items you would naturally hang if folded storage is all you have, take great care in folding the items clean and neatly into a plastic container which is hard and allows for clothes not to be smashed!

3.Try to keep one container ready for resort items or items you may take with you on a warm weather trip on top of other items for easy access!

4.When putting clothes back into your closet, especially wool coats and cashmere sweaters, pants and blouses- invest in a steamer to bring them back to life and give everything that sat for months away a fresh, fluffy feel!

5. Boots and shoes do well to get a boot tree or shoe bouquet in them. To help restore their shape and store them upright.
6. I stuff winter purses and totes with dust bags when they’re being put back into the closet, this will help the bags take shape again after being flattened!  the dust bags have a two fold use since I always use them for packing as well!

Melanie Fascitelli grew up in many places: Manhattan, Palm Beach, Denver, the Caribbean, even a ranch in Georgia. A lifetime of traveling between several homes led Melanie to understand the need for the right clothes-and to develop the know-how for finding them wherever she happened to be. As a hobby, Melanie began to dress her mother, her brothers and whoever else would let her. In fact, her style-conscious father, a fellow shopaholic, was the lone hold-out. Upon her return to New York to attend NYU, that hobby quickly turned into an infatuation. While at NYU, Melanie worked for PR firm Paul Wilmot Communications, where she put her talents to work, consulting with designers and PWC’s many luxury goods clients to organize showrooms. Later, as an editor for Channel magazine, she developed a keen editorial eye, covering fashion and accessories and writing both news and feature stories. At LuxuryFinder.com, which was later acquired by eLuxury, Melanie further honed her knowledge of the fashion industry, outfitting celebrity clients, writing articles and helping to conceive and develop the site. For Style.com, Melanie covered European and American fashion shows as well as parties and celebrities, and then went on to serve as a director of public relations at Anne Klein. After going out on her own, she mainly worked as a fashion stylist and then a freelance creative design director for retail and showroom spaces in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles. Melanie is considered the “closet organizer to the stars…the absolute guru in designing and building custom closets and dressing rooms…”  She has worked with a number of celebrity clientele. Her elite clientele swear by Melanie’s ten commandments of hanging outlined in her book, such as “Thou shalt hang as much as possible in thy closet”.  Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, designer of international brand Shoshanna, lists Clos-ette as “…One of her top wish-worthy products sure to make any woman feel stylish everyday.”  Actress Lake Bell attests to Clos-ette’s success saying, “It will not cure your shoe shopping addiction, ladies, but it can help you understand how to store your 23 pairs of Louboutins.  I recommend it to every fashion slut out there.” Today, Melanie’s distinct fashion sense and skills at working one-on-one to help others achieve their ideal style, whether in their wardrobes or their closets, have been channeled into Clos-ette. Since the founding of Clos-ette in the spring of 2002, Melanie has designed a line of storage solution products called Clos-ette Too…, written the ultimate closet guide book entitled “Shop Your Closet: The Ultimate Guide to Organizing Your Closet With Style”, and transformed countless dressing room spaces around the world.  Melanie and the Clos-ette Team continue to expand Clos-ette through their evolving product line, an array of media opportunities including a television show, and by sticking to what they do best – working inside the closet. Clos-ette is a reflection of Melanie’s personal style and taste, both of which are brought to the craftsmanship and attention to detail of everything Clos-ette offers.  The Clos-ette team boasts not only Melanie, but some of the most experienced stylists, millwork detail designers and inventory specialists in the business.

Image Credit: clos-ette.com

Buy, Store, Garbage: Organize Your Closet for the Fall

I am constantly asked by friends and family alike if I can come and “edit” their closets. It seems that without the stern hand of a disinterested party, people really do have a hard time parting with anything – I have even found one anonymous friend holding onto her junior prom dress.

In an effort to help you all at home, I have put together the following guide on how to edit your closet. I call it the “buy, store, garbage” plan and if you follow it diligently you will not only find that you have a lot more than you thought, but that you gained a few extra sq. feet in that closet of yours:

Initial Edit: I start at the left side of my closet, working my way to the right, and pull out every item I haven’t worn over the past year. The key here to purging is quality and frequency. If you’re debating over a poor quality top that you “might” wear one day, but haven’t yet, toss it. Chances are, it will cost you more in dry cleaning than what the shirt’s actually worth. Keep your maxi dresses, leather pants, pencil skirts, fur vests, wide-leg pants and capes. Toss your overly girly dresses, circle skirts and cropped shirts. One rule of thumb is to always keep bags and shoes. Accessories are cyclical. My best friends in college chipped in for my birthday and bought me the denim Dior Saddle Bag, channeling Carrie Bradshaw. I stored it away a couple of seasons later, but boy am I glad I hung onto it. Rediscovering an oldie but goodie is like shopping in your own closet…for free!

Break It Down By Style: Whatever has survived in your closets after the initial edit should now be organized by style. I have a separate closet for skirts and dresses, and my main closet is broken down into two areas: button-downs (I can never have enough white ones) and every other kind of top.

Break It Down By Color: Your closet should have some semblance of organization by this point. Now it’s time to think like a kid, ROYGBIV. I organize my closet (within style) by color. This lessens the chance of items getting lost in the mix and makes it easier to see what you actually have. Plus, it looks pretty!

**Jeans Tip: I’m a big believer in folding your jeans to take up less hanging closet space, the most coveted kind of space. I have one pile for my skinnies, another for boot cuts and the last for bells and wide-legs.

Get Philanthropic: Don’t throw out your rejects. Here are a few places where you can donate. Remember, what’s one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Dress for Success: Outfits suitable for job interviews
Salvation Army: Clothing will be donated to homeless, abused and the disadvantaged
Donations Central: (General index of charities that accept donations)

Lindsay Brooke Weiss (Cohen) is a fashion and accessories editor and on-air style expert. She was previously Haute Living’s editorial director, Niche Media’s fashion and accessories editor and fashion editor for L-Atitude.com. Lindsay has been a frequent contributor at styledon.com and is a regular guest stylist on NBC’s “Gossip Gram.” For more articles from Lindsay, check out her site!

Image Credit: Sanyartspace.com