A Look Inside America's Coolest Beach Homes

As the summer winds down, TopTenRealEstateDeals.com has a look at America's Coolest Beach Homes. These are the 'coolest' of the 'cool' -  the best times of the summer beach sizzle like suntan lotion, bikinis, surf boards and Jimmy Buffett songs. They have it all from top-of-the-line design, technology and upscale amenities to breathtaking ocean views and crashing waves. All are now for sale.  

California's Malibu Beach has been a popular surf & sun site with 32 beaches on 21 miles of ocean since the Pacific Coast Highway came through town in the 1930s. More visitors and surfers hit the Malibu beaches after the 1960’s teen bikini movies were filmed there, followed by a wave of hit television shows including “Charlie's Angels,” “Hannah Montana” and “Two and a Half Men.” Past and current celebrity residents range from Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston to Halle Berry, Ellen DeGeneres and Charlie Sheen. The Hollywood stars can choose from a large inventory of expensive homes to live on the Malibu sand. It is the site of the 2015 #1 Beach Home.

Malibu architect Ed Niles has long been known for functional cubist glass and steel homes designed to maximize natural light and landscapes. It’s the type of home he's built for years for his clients, including the late Johnny Carson’s Malibu home. In 1910, Niles built a dream beach home for Dr. Wei-Tzuoh Chen, a California nephrologist. In addition to maximizing the beach experience, Dr. Chen wanted to incorporate his Chinese heritage and his vast collection of Asian art, antiques, and 80,000 classical albums into the home. He also asked for the exterior to be unassuming, but the good luck color of red should be prevalent.  Even with the striking modern architecture, the house can barely be seen from the Pacific Coast Highway and almost everything from the open triangular cooking area and dining structure to the museum-quality art incorporates something red.

Located on one of Malibu’s best beaches and with the Santa Monica Mountains rising in the background, the 8,989-square-foot residence includes walls of steel beams, concrete, translucent fiberglass and glass walls with 29-foot ceilings that provide for Dr. Chen's art collection, while allowing prisms of sunlight and breezes to sweep through the house and expansive ocean views. The home is now for sale at $53 million.  The listing agents are Aitan Segal of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties in San Diego and Ari Afshar of The Agency in Beverly Hills.

Other 2015 cool beach homes include Casa del Cielo (House of the Heavens) located on over an acre of prime Florida beachfront on Siesta Key Beach, voted the #1 Beach in America by Dr. Beach in 2011, for sale at $5.999 million, and a contemporary home of 7,473 square feet on Oahu, President Obama’s favorite Hawaii vacation beach, for sale at $18.5 million.  

To see the complete beach homes list and more celebrity, historic, famous and spectacular homes, visit TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.

fashionado

TOMORROWWORLD TIX NOW!

Everything AMAZING you've heard about TomorrowWorld is TRUE! I've been covering TomorrowWorld since day one and it is by far one of the most dynamic and electrifying weekends of the year. The incredible energy that TomorrowWorld brings forth through its attendees and DJs is ridiculously and insanely fabulous. The Main Stage Headliners list, talents like Afrojack, Martin Garrix and Armin Van Buuren, to name just a few, is so impressive that you need to hurry and get your tickets. Last year more than 160K people attended TomorrowWorld and I wouldn't be surprised if that number increases. Yup, it's that GOOD! Eat. Sleep. Rave. Repeat.   

PS... take a look at the TomorrowWorld Stages in the slideshow above - You know you want to be there!

fashionado

Top 10 Independent Fashion Weeks Not Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz

The energy surrounding Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City is always very exciting. Many have referred to MBFW / NYFW as a big fashion circus with as much of a style show on the street as on the runway. As we are just days away from fashion week, I'd like to share with you  a list of ten of the best fashion weeks from around the world that are NOT sponsored by Mercedes-Benz. Imagine that... Hey, I love MBFW as much as the next guy but they're not the only "ride" in town. After all, fashion loves options... See list below:

1. FASHIONCLASH

As an international and interdisciplinary platform, FASHIONCLASH organizes a variety of events and projects to showcase the work of new generations of designers and artists. The main event is the FASHIONCLASH Festival, an annual international fashion festival that features emerging talent from a range of disciplines.

2. BERLIN ALTERNATIVE FASHION WEEK

Berlin Alternative Fashion Week is a platform showcasing the rise of alternative concepts in fashion. With a weeklong program of shows and marketplaces, it aims to promote influential, genre-breaking innovators and connect them with established contemporaries in the fields of fashion, music, and art in a context that isn’t constrained or dominated by big brands and labels.

3. BRIGHTON FASHION WEEK

Brighton Fashion Week was born by serendipitous necessity, the need to give voice to the creative individuals that are taking control of their creativity, their work, their output, and their vision. Working with and not for designers, Brighton Fashion Week has for 10 years offered a platform for designers, artists, costumers, and explorers the opportunity to showcase their talents.

4. VANCOUVER FASHION WEEK

For an outstanding 25 seasons, Vancouver Fashion Week has brought emerging talent from around the world to their runway. Diversity and multiculturalism are celebrated in the heart of the bi-annual fashion shows. By providing an accessible platform to designers, buyers, media, and industry professionals, VFW leads its participants on a path to success in the world of fashion.

5. FASHION WEEK BROOKLYN

Founded by the non-profit BK|Style Foundation, Fashion Week Brooklyn puts on a bi-annual show featuring designers from around the world. FW|BW goes beyond fashion to support and raise awareness for social issues like human rights, HIV/AIDS, poverty, and community development. Proceeds from each season support charitable organizations.

6. SERBIA FASHION WEEK

Serbia Fashion Week is the country’s leading voice in international fashion. With partnership agreements from 16 European countries, Serbian designers are able to showcase their work across the continent in fashion shows, educational workshops, exhibitions, and competitions for students studying fashion. SFW encourages the exchange of ideas, creativity, and talent across borders.

7. COPENHAGEN FASHION WEEK

Copenhagen Fashion Week is the largest fashion event in the Nordic Region. With its mix of Danish and international talent, the shows attract an enormous number of designers, buyers, and press from around the world. Every February and August, Copenhagen Fashion Week fills its catwalks and trade fairs with a diverse array of progressive fashion brands.

8. AFRICA FASHION WEEK

Showcasing contemporary design from countries across Africa, Africa Fashion Week aims to foster economic cooperation between nations around the world while simultaneously promoting African designers and brands. Founded by New York public relations and communications firm Adiree in 2009, Africa Fashion Week puts on shows in fashion capitals like New York, London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, and Tokyo to expose the African fashion industry.

9. MELBOURNE FASHION WEEK

With a weeklong program of world-class runway shows, workshops, seminars, forums, and live entertainment, Melbourne Fashion Week offers both up-and-coming and established designers in Australia the opportunity to make their work known to the world. The Melbourne Fashion Festival will celebrate its 20th edition next March.

10. VFILES MADE FASHION

A crowd-sourced runway show, VFILES MADE FASHION offers young talents in the fashion world the opportunity to show their work on runways like New York Fashion Week. VFILES is an online community that enables all those involved in the fashion world, from designers to photographers and stylists to fashion fans, to get exposure digitally and on the runway.

fashionado

VIDEO: Jeffrey Fashion Cares 2015

jeffrey-fashion-cares-2015-runway-fashionado

"We try to bring Paris, Milan, New York..." Jeffrey Kalinsky.

The only thing more epic than celebrating 25 amazing years of Jeffrey Atlanta at Phipps Plaza was the incredible runway fashion at the 23rd Annual Jeffrey Fashion Cares on Monday August 31st. "We try to bring Paris, Milan, New York..." [to Atlanta] said Jeffrey Kalinsky and from the caliber of labels and looks I'd say he did just that! Jeffrey carefully curates the collection to achieve a perfect balance of classic, chic, modern and edgier looks for the runway. There are always plenty of show-stoppers as you'll see in the video.

Relive the fashion and hear what Jeffrey has to say in my video coverage from Monday night's event.

fashionado

Fashion Moves: So You Think You Can Dance Episode 15

Everyone continues to step up their style on So You Think You Can Dance. Paula Abdul was sexy in a body hugging yellow dress and tWitch was cool in a blue Ted baker v-neck sweater. Nigel and Travis wear suits well and they know it. My fave this week goes to Cat Deeley in her Dries Van Noten ensemble and those killer Givenchy shoes!! The dresses' floral pattern said "nice" but those heels said "naughty!"  

“So You Think You Can Dance” airs Mondays at 8/7C on FOX with host Cat Deeley, judges Nigel LythgoePaula Abdul and Jason Derulo, and mentors Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Travis Wall. Photos: FOX/Adam Rose

fashionado

Getting the Best Fashion Show Pictures without a Press Pass

fashion-week-photos-fashionado

No matter if you’re a blogger, an intern or launching your own fashion brand, the more pictures you can take, the better, right? Fashion shows are notorious for showcasing incredible theater that is moving, memorable and painfully hard to shoot. Overhead lighting, sweaty dressing rooms and the blur of a million other flashes can make even your best-laid plans for snapping a few fantastic shots impossible. But don’t let the fashion police fool you: not only can you go to fashion shows, you can get some great pics that you’ll own the rights to for use down the road.

Wear the Right Outfit

No matter how cute your little lazy day sundress is or how much you really don’t want to put on pants, remember that so many people would kill for the opportunity to be part of such a lucrative and creative industry, so dress accordingly. You should have elements of the cutting edge of fashion mixed unexpectedly with wardrobe staples that do not have to be expensive. But they do have to fit like a glove. Check your local Goodwill and find a good seamstress for the occasional alteration. The beauty in wearing vintage is you know that no one else will be wearing the same. For a dressier event, consider Rent the Runway.

Bring the Best Camera

Even your most vintage, hipster-looking camera is most likely not allowed without a press pass. If you don’t have one, make sure you have the best phone possible for taking the highest resolution pics possible. Samsung phones — both the Galaxy Note 5 or S6 Edge — have a 16 megapixel camera allowing you to zoom in and see couture details no matter how many rows back your seats are.

Beat the Blur with Video Effects

Go slow motion with your favorite look of the night or the final walk for a refreshing alternative to blurry action shots. Slow motion is especially awesome when the garment incorporates a lot of movement or is very structured. The Galaxy S6 is killing the fast action game right now too with a downloadable sports setting that is aimed to give you less blur and more Burberry in live-action shots.

Don’t Borrow for Your Blog

Be super careful when posting pics of the event. Resist the urge to borrow better pics from social media especially to avoid serious fines down the line. Even if you’re not making money off the photos, even if you take them down immediately after learning that it was under copyright, it can still cost you stressful and expensive litigation. Blogher.com has a great reference for when you’re iffy on the source of an image you want to share.

Get Your OOTN without a Selfie Stick

Even if you have a plus one, you must resist the temptation to just head straight the bar and not take any pictures. You got this dressed up, you need to document it to get the full return on your investment! Selfie sticks stick out like a sore thumb with the fashion set; they are synonymous with trying too hard. And besides, asking a total stranger standing nearby is a great networking tool! You never know who you’ll end up talking to. And don’t forget to offer to take a photo of them and their date in return. It’s the little niceties that people remember.

fashionado

Miley Cyrus and her WILD Designer MTV VMA Outfits 2015

I don't know about you, but I love when an awards show host changes outfits many times. Miley Cyrus may take the prize for the most costumes changes ever, at the MTV VMAS! Regardless, she did not disappoint. And though most of her outfits, well, actually all of her outfits, are totally unwearable in public, you have to admit that they were as entertaining as they were crazy! She really had fun with them and it showed. For my label-loving readers, as you know, Miley Cyrus embraces designer fashion so many of her pieces were custom made by Versace, Prada and The Blonds. I loved the tinsel coat by Prada, but my favorite look (believe it or not) was the rainbow dress by Agatha Ruiz de la Prada - so much fun. Only Miley Cyrus could pull off that look (and ALL looks of the night!) 

MORE MTV VMA Red Carpet Photos...

fashionado