fashion, interior, beauty & Travel
Last week’s Veronica Beard Georgetown event was a huge success!
Thank you to everyone who came out to shop and support! So many of you walked away with some amazing fall pieces from their latest collection which is simply put, divine! And a percentage of each purchase went to The Napkin Network to help local moms in need.
Hope to see you out and about in the city rocking your latest VB finds!
XO
~April Yvonne
With fall right around the corner, I would like to cordially invite you to attend an evening of fabulous fall fashions at Veronica Beard Georgetown benefiting an amazing local organization, The Napkin Network.
Thursday October 7th
Veronica Beard Georgetown || 1254 Wisconsin Ave NW
A personally curated selection of my favorite fall ‘21 VB fashion finds will be available for you to try on and bubbly will be passed while you shop for a great cause, The Napkin Network.
Founded by my friend Lindsay Gill, The Napkin Network is an organization that was created to bridge the gap between Moms in Need and Moms who Care by providing essential baby items including diapers, formula, wipes & creams, and emergency grocery items directly into the hands of Moms in Need. A portion of every purchase will go directly to The Napkin Network.
RSVP to me directly at stylistaprilyvonne@gmail.com at your earliest convenience.
So, hop on to Veronica Beard and if you find anything you love, send me the name or link and I will make sure it’s available in your sizing the evening of the event for you to try. Their Fall ’21 collection is simply amazing!
In the meantime, here are a few of my must-have recommendations :o)
Beverly High-Rise Vegan Leather Pants (not sure how I survived without these in my life!)
Oria Camel Dickey Jacket with Cashmere Hoodie Dickey
#VBGIVESBACK
I hope to see you there!
XOXO
April
I was honored to be featured in this editorial piece in the May issue of Modern Luxury DC Magazine walking through my day-of rituals as I prepared to host the 2019 St. Jude Heart of Fashion at CityCenterDC! Thank you so much DC Magazine – shout out to Kristen Schott for doing the piece so beautifully and bringing awareness to a cause so near and dear to my heart, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital! And to Greg Powers – you’re an amazing photographer!
XOXO
~April
For this past weekend’s Hope for Annabel event, The Magic WAS Real and we raised over $800,000 for Annabel which will help her fight her battle against Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood (AHC) and find a treatment to cure this rare and severe neurological disease!
I opted for this beautiful Chiara Boni La Petite Robe gown in a gorgeous Barolo wine color – the perfect fall evening gown color and surprisingly coordinated perfectly with the backdrop. :o)
Paired the gown with these beautiful Dolce & Gabana earrings from Net-a-Porter, Manolo Blahniks and Saint Laurent clutch.
It’s always refreshing to break away from pairing everything with the traditional black – go for something new and fresh like a nude or monochromatic to mix up your looks and get more wear out of your gowns! :o)
XOXO
~April
I’m thrilled and honored to be apart of this committee to support my dear friends Simon and Nina Frost in their journey to help end their sweet Annabel’s battle with Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood (AHC), a severe and rare neurological disease.
Through the past few years of sleepless nights spent tending to Annabel’s terrible symptoms (seizures, paralysis, choking in her sleep, to name a few) while simultaneously conducting research behind the screen and traveling overseas, Simon found the doctors and the actual treatment, via gene therapy, which is necessary to cure her AHC but they need close to $3million in order to create the cure!
This treatment will not only cure Annabel but also help rewrite the future for thousands of other children whose lives could be transformed by gene therapy.
So please join us at this one-time gala, The Magic is Real, to help FUND THE CURE!
Saturday, November 9th || St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School || Washington, DC
For tickets, sponsorship information and to find out how you can help visit: www.themagicisreal2019.com
If you can’t attend, you can still support the event by clicking on the DONATE box. Every dollar counts.
Thank you in advance for your support and I hope to see you there!
XO
~April
Last week I had the pleasure of going on-air with the ladies of Great Day Washington at CBS Studios talking about the St. Jude Heart of Fashion alongside one of my fellow Co-Chairs, Stef Woods. It was so wonderful to be able to share all things about my journey with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and share the exciting details for the 2019 Heart of Fashion taking place this Friday, May 17th, on the gorgeous, open-air Plaza of CityCenterDC.
Many of you have been asking so I’m telling – my black dress is the Leather Belt Pencil Dress by Karen Millen. It’s completely SOLD OUT but you can request to be notified via email of when it’s back in stock and once it is – buy it! It’s truly one of my all-time favorite black dresses.
XOXO
I hope to see you there!
Scoop your tickets today before they sell out:
http://www.stjude.org/heartoffashion
Contact me for sponsorship info at stylistaprilyvonne@gmail.com
XO
Last month, I had the pleasure to style for Washington Life’s Balls & Galas issue and was thrilled to take on Andrea Rinaldi and Ginger Dietrich, Co-Chairs of The Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker Tea Party. Two people I adore coupled with one of my FAVORITE events of the season! :o)
Since the Tea Party falls right in the middle of the festive holiday season, I wanted to include jewel-tone colors, so I put Ginger (left) in one of my favorite formal gowns of the season, a stunning emerald green Jason Wu gown from his Fall ’17 collection paired with Jimmy Choo black glitter heels. The gown is simply gorgeous and something I can see her wearing at a holiday gala this winter, but the best part is that it’s even functional – it has pockets! (Nothing I love more than to have a place to stick my iPhone and lipstick.) For her hair I decided to have her do large barrel curls in a side-swept style along with a bold lip and lashes – old Hollywood glam!
For Andrea, we chose to go with a flirty black Tadashi Shoji dress she already owned and I decided to pair it with an amazing pair of ruby red Gianvito Rossi pumps to add a POC (pop of color) to her look, but, the icing on the cake – the satin ribbon that tied up her leg just like that ballerinas do in their point shoes! So fitting for this shoot! Her hair was pulled back in a loose up-do with a couple strands of bangs to frame her face then we added a bold lip to make her eyes really pop!
Both of the ladies were adorned in Tiffany & Co. diamonds and the shoes and the Jason Wu gown came from Saks Fifth Avenue.
Mark your calendars now – December 10th – for what will be another amazing Tea Party taking place this year at the National Museum of Women in the Arts!
See you there!
XO
Sunday night’s Oscars showed us that old Hollywood glamour continues to dominate best-dressed picks on the red carpet! I love the timelessness of these looks and below are a few of my favorites as well as misses from the night.
As you can already surmise, Taraji P. Henson (above) was my pick for best dressed of the night, not only for her dress but for the complete head-to-toe package, she simply nailed it! The sultry Henson donned an off-the-shoulder, velvet custom Alberta Ferretti gown with a thigh-high slit showing off her incredible physique in all the right ways. Henson completed her look wisely with a diamond encrusted neck, sexy hair style, flawless make-up, and open toe heels. Simply put, she was en fuego (on fire) and gets an A+ in my book!
Next up, Kirsten Dunst in a regal custom Dior Haute Couture black gown, which was just everything to me because I do adore Dior and this dress in particular scored extra points in my book for the pockets! Head-to-toe Dunst nailed it with a side-swept, loose curls up-do paired, smoldering eyes, red lips and warm cheeks combined with the simplicity of a diamond choker and earrings to match made her look another on my best-dressed of the night list!
Next up, Hailee Steinfeld opted for a whimsical look in an ethereal flower-garnished sheer gown by Ralph & Russo. I loved this for Steinfeld because she chose to go big and ballgown-y but it didn’t look juvenile, it was just right. Plus, the silhouette was so flattering with the halter neck line showing off her killer arms and back and the waistline hit in just the right place to highlight her tiny frame.
— Misses —
The first on my list of misses belongs to Felicity Jones in Dior. While I get the look she or her stylist was going for here, I’m simply not a fan of this dress on Jones for many reasons. First and foremost it does not flatter her tiny frame but rather widens her waistline and her pale skin blends in to the color of the dress completely washing her out.
Another miss of the night was Alicia Vikander in Louis Vuitton. There’s simply too much going on. The large necklace competes with the cap sleeves, the intricate neckline and the tiered ruffles at the bottom of her dress. Also, the cut of the dress is not flattering on her figure. And I have to say, the hair is nothing to write home about…something more sleek would’ve been more appropriate for this look.
— Oscars After Party —
For me, some of my favorite looks of the night came from the after parties! Celebs like Jessica Biel – whose red carpet gold Kaufman Franco gown left me on the fence about her being on the best or worst-dressed list – brought the sexy back in a Ralph Lauren cape gown. For this look, I like Biel’s sleek hair and the make-up…it works here.
Kate Hudson was sizzling in a nude-colored Cavalli Couture lace gown and had her hair and make-up on point as well! The color of this dress complimented her sun-kissed skin and the plunging neckline looked exquisite on her. Hair and make-up, on point!
Viola Davis looked uber chic in a Brandon Maxwell white pantsuit accompanied with some cool kicks. I thought this was a very good choice to show she cared enough to dress up but wanted to do a pantsuit and high-fashion sneakers after donning that gorgeous red gown to the Oscars main event.
Jennifer Aniston looked ravishing in a beaded Versace dress, accompanied with a plunging neckline and thigh-high slit. I would’ve preferred her bangs swept to the side or a loose up do with large curls cascading down one side, especially because she was rocking a 100-carat $9.5 million pair of emerald cut Lorraine Schwartz earrings, which you could barely see! Come on now, show off those bad boys!
(Previous photos sourced from LA Times.)
XOXO
~April
Looking back to a few years ago when I hosted an amazing event with Dior (before they moved to City Center) a Midsummer Champagne Toast, which goes down as one of my all-time favorite events to date. :o)
April Yvonne 