Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and with all this cold, rainy, snowy weather – it is the perfect excuse to cuddle up with your man stealing kisses by the fire. So instead of going out and finding a fancy dress, choose something sweet and easy.

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I suggest the Coldharbor Lane Dress with it’s pretty plaid – pair it with warm wooly tights, your favorite booties and a cozy knit cardi and top it off with an infinity scarf.

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Romantically Perfect!

New York, New York

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Spring is almost upon us. Almost.

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In anticipation for this season’s light effortless layers and lived-in, loved-in styles, we invited some of our personal fashion heroes – a.k.a. our favorite New York bloggers – to come check out our spring 2010 collection. Inspired by the amazing location – a dream penthouse towering over the West Village- we decided to add a little twist to the event. Armed with a photographer and videographer, we asked these fashion connoisseurs to pick out their favorite pieces and style them to reflect their unique fashion perspectives.  We were thrilled to see the results. Each woman put her personal spin on things and gave us beautiful and oftentimes unexpected spring combinations to inspire any wardrobe. But what else do we expect from these talented fashion mavens?

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For the next couple of weeks, we’ll highlight some of these stylish bloggers who dropped by. Stay tuned for more images & video.

Every season there is one item that becomes my obsession – I can’t help but notice it everywhere, I can’t quit ripping out editorials featuring the look and I can’t stop wearing it. I know, I need help!

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This season my obsession is the military jacket, and Quiksilver Women’s York version is to DIE FOR. It is everything I want in a military-inspired jacket – it has the drawstring waist, the patch pockets and the surplus green color I crave.

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So yes, of course I picked one up – I couldn’t resist, and the great thing is that I don’t have to wait till the weather turns warm to take it for a spin. Nope. I wear it Now & Then.. and this is how I work it.

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Now, I layer it with a striped tee, the QSW Karma destroyed ankle jeans, lace-up boots, and top it off for warmth with a fur vest and cozy black beanie.

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Then, I will go easy and wear it with the QSW Wonderwall tank and the crazy love cutoff shorts. Keeping it cool with studded sandals and my sunnies!

Let me introduce myself on a more personal level, I am Beth Jones, Style Specialist for Quiksilver Womens. What exactly does that mean? I live and breathe my life as a stylist and work to collaborate often with the Quiksilver Womens team. I am here on the QSW Blog to give my perspective on how to wear each collection, what inspires me and to fill you in on the happenings of my life.

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So today, I give you a peek into my world.

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Currently, I am working with Quiksilver on an upcoming styling event (that you must stay tuned for) and also setting up for a photo shoot I am producing next week for my website, B. Jones Style. This photo shoot captures three women with whom I have been working with as a personal stylist and will showcase their individual style that we have built together.

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I am excited to bring you more behind the scenes images and let you in on a day in my life as a stylist.

When Quiksilver Woman hit UK shops in Fall 2008 I couldn’t have been more excited! Not just because QSW seems to encapsulate that edgy yet feminine look I love, but also because here in front of me Quiksilver were offering eco-friendly clothing that I actually wanted to wear.

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Eco-friendly clothing is synonymous with flappy dresses made from frumpy fabrics, naff hippy t-shirts and ill fitting hemp trousers. But not any more! In fact, environmentally conscious fashion has had a major overhaul in recent years and it’s getting much easier to find stylish alternatives to mainstream fashion, even on the high street.

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The first thing that struck me about the QSW eco-friendly range were the organic t-shirts, which are so soft you won’t want to take them off, and you’ll never have to use fabric softener – which is also better for the environment!  We all think of cotton as being one of the most natural things around, but for the average cotton t-shirt only 73% of it is actually cotton, the rest is made up of chemicals and resins used to make the fabric. These chemicals are not only bad for your health but the health of the cotton farmer and local wildlife, too.

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In addition, hemp isn’t as bad as I made it out to be either, and bamboo is my new favourite fabric. Both of these take far less water to grow than cotton, which is much better for the planet and bamboo is so smooth against your skin it feels like silk. Don’t believe me? Try it out - you won’t be disappointed!

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My favourite piece so far would be the Sweet Thing Dress  from the Autumn/Winter 2009 collection - I love anything checked! I like to layer it with one of the lovely organic tees, black tights and little black ankle boots. I top it all off with a chunky cream neck warmer that I knitted for a cosy but stylish winter look – it’s very cold and snowy in Scotland right now! For spring 2010 look out for the Russell muscle tee and the Millbank long skirt.

Sweet Thing Dress from Quiksilver Women's Fall Winter 2009 Collection

People often complain that you have to pay more for eco-friendly clothing, which is sometimes true, but can we really afford to put a price on the environment and the health of workers and wildlife? After all, would you rather have one really great, good quality organic t-shirt that you can wash and wear over and over again or for the same price buy 4 cheap conventional ones that loose their shape after a couple of washes and end up forgotten about at the back of a drawer? I know what I’d choose…

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Quiksilver may not be completely organic yet, but they are changing little by little and making it easier for you to do so too, without having to sacrifice style!

Russell Muscle Tee from Quiksilver Women's Spring 2010 Collection

Millbank Skirt from Quiksilver Women's Spring 2010 Collection

The new Quiksilver women’s Spring Summer 2010 collection is now available for all of you to enjoy ! Check out our new line in the video below !

Ela wearing the Evershlott Tank and the Box Springs harem pant (photo: Timo Jarvinen)

I don’t know too much about the feelings of weekdays but did you ever ask yourself about Mondays’ emotional equilibrium? Only think of how many people curse them for their existence each time they pop up on the calendar. It must be at least two-thirds of the world population which currently amounts in about 4.5 billion human beings. What if Mondays can hear us curse them? How low could their self-esteem possibly be? I mean, 4.5 billions curses a week? Gosh! Mondays must be survivors… Don’t get me wrong. I don’t come to their defence. I’m a weekend person, and I certainly dislike Mondays for ending my most favourite time of the week. But at the same time, I have always had this soft spot for discriminated fringe groups, and this is why I recently started to worry about Mondays and wondered if there was anything at least slightly positive we could get out of them. They could simply not just be doomed to be cursed, right?

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It was during a chat with a friend when it became clear to me what positive side Mondays might come along with. My friend had just been dumped by his girlfriend for the umpteenth time and he yet again wanted her back. They lived one of these on-and-off-relationships that everyone in a circle of friends secretly wishes to be over. So when he told me over dinner that he and his ex-girl might get back together, I reacted with as much excitement as a sated dog would to the tofu steak on my plate. I advised my friend to give it more time, wait until he was able to see things more clearly for once, understand that their constant break-ups were probably for a reason and that they most likely didn’t belong together… I thought I sounded smart but what I said was obviously not what my friend wanted to hear. He looked at me completely devastated, called my advice ‘bullshit’, told me that he couldn’t stand this crap about time would heal wounds and that he no longer wanted to talk to me about this… Although I respected his wish and changed the subject, I couldn’t help being bothered by his harsh reaction. Was it possible that I (and everyone with mutual convictions) could just be wrong? Could time actually heal wounds or was it really just an awfully overrated verbal tranquillizer that only existed in the dreams of creators of painfully romantic Hollywood movies?

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Well, I reflected about this long and intensively and I have to stick to the ‘no’. There was this one thing life and especially being single had taught me and this was that the passage of time would make us see more clearly and make wounds eventually heal. I mean, how many times did I already purportedly have a crush on a guy knowing for sure this oh-so amazing person was my designated one? And how many times did these oh-so heart-breaking crushes turn out to be a total disaster, or – if only I let time pass by – mutate into something more serious no matter how hopeless they seemed in the beginning? Yes, wasn’t it only a few Mondays ago that a wound was still bleeding and today, some nth Monday later, not even its scar is  visible anymore? Time does heal wounds, and if for for nothing else, Mondays are here to remind us of this reliably and punctually every week again.

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Up from now, I hope to make some Mondays a little brighter with my new column ‘Mondays matter’ (each 1st Monday of the month) on blog.quiksilver-women.com. Let it remind you monthly that any unanswered crush, nasty break-up or any other conceivable affaire de coeur may come and go, but Mondays will stay.

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Because Mondays do matter!

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Ela

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No need to look back, another Monday will come eventually... (photo: Timo Jarvinen)