So this week starts like any other! what does that mean? every week in my life starts like any other but only because it starts with a Monday. I have now applied for my Mercedez Benz Press Pass for Fashion Week and no doubt it will be the usual fight to make them understand that I really deserve one and I really do write about what I go and see. Unlike a lot of other tweeters and bloggers that I could mention. Will I use the ‘Do you know who I am’? line no I don’t think so because there are so many Divas in fashion and you all know that isn’t really me, well not on a Monday.

So after the trauma of trying to understand an application form I ventured out to the office. Big mistake Huge! 93degrees and humidity like no other, I mean how do you describe that you are walking to work wearing cling film or food wrap I have no idea what the Americans call it. Fortunately I had just washed my hair and covered it in a bottle of Hydrating Creme thanks to Hair Rules and my good friend Dickey. I stress this point because otherwise I would have looked like a poodle on Crack! oh and 3 people tweeted me the answer cling film Brits in the US is called Saran Wrap, yep me, too no wiser.

Well anyway I have digressed but I am on Broadway crossing over 37th to 36th when I see parked in the street (Sorry Americans Sidewalk) this window dressers dummy dressed in a glass dress. I thought maybe she was Super Man’s girlfriend and really it was a case of Krypton.

SuperMan's girlfriend in Kryptonite

I really thought I was having sun stroke when I then noticed there was yet another dummy on the street (Sidewalk) and she had a Concrete Brick Dress… that literally takes the biscuit! I mean who can walk in a Brick Dress ?

IS this taking the Biscuit, wearing a House Brick

I am really needing to lay down in a dark room and I really believe that maybe I will be walking myself into the Betty Ford Clinic and saying ‘I give up, help me’ when I walk into Tiger Woods, I mean tell me who walks around New York with his gold clubs? Only Tiger Woods on a mission to find a hole in one! or a man hired by the mafia to take someone out right?

Mom's lock up your daughters Tiger is on the loose

You see I am definitely going to have to call a friend or go 50 - 50 on this one (Americans this is a TV show who wants to be a Millionaire!) me Me ME oh sorry the heat has really finished me off. Is it only 9am, umm therefore no way I can ask the intern to get me a glass of Chardonnay then!

I actually went home at lunchtime and thought it best to work from home in the afternoon because the office really did not believe the morning I had had. For those of you who really do not believe all I say (Actually does anyone anymore?) here is proof that I do work on the balcony.

Working Girl

As the day cooled down I went to meet two New York tweeters that I met of course on Twitter, @tishacakes and @bridalease and we had a couple of cocktails and I told them about my day. I haven’t heard from them since so not sure if they are still trying to call Betty Ford on the bar telephone but Tisha left me with two very lovely birthday cakes, one of which I devoured on the way home, so say no more. Check her out!

The Best tasting birthday cake ever

Before I go I have to tell you about today I met with Celebrity Make Up artist Gregg Hubbard and we went for lunch at the Market Cafe in Hells Kitchen. We talked all lunch and I think my salad even turned warm, he is such a doll and re told me so many secret stories that had me laughing out loud in the restaurant. Especially the one about the celebrity who chased a burglar whilst butt naked over two 10foot walls… Who was that? well that is my secret.

Just because I am worth it he left me with this little goodie bag from Bobbi Brown. Gregg I love you but what do I do with the Bonfire Palette?.

I just love Bobbi Brown

On Tuesday Night Robert Verdi invited me to his very special Luxe Laboratory to tweet with him about suggestions for Father’s Day gifts. I was really impressed with the quality of gifts he had chosen to talk about so here they are let me know what you would choose.

Robert Verdi & Anne Agoren

John Bartlett Tees which are really cute, they all come with a picture of John’s muse Tiny Tim who he rescued from the NSAL. The 3 legged dog he rescued became his design inspiration and company logo. A percentage of the cost of each shirt goes to the NSAL so what better gift to give your dad and to know that a man’s best friend will benefit.

John Bartlett Tees

Jonathan Adler Hot Pop candles were the next gift idea, now I love candles but this one has got to beat all others as they come in the most bizarre smalls ever, Grapefruit, Cilantro and Tomato Vines. I am not sure that my mom would really like my dad burning a candle that smells of the greenhouse in the lounge, but the grapefruit I can see would be a different matter. The candles are $38 each so go by the website and check out a retailer near you.

Jonathan Adler Pop Candle

Now the next gift is awesome Kenneth Cole Vintage Black Fragrance, anyone who knows me knows that I have a rather unhealthy addiction to fragrances. This is one apart, fresh citrus woody that blends effervescent citrus with masculine woods and soft skin musks. I would recommend you check this out and at only $70 I think it is a must.

Kenneth Cole Vintage Black Fragrance

John Allan’s Grooming Services was one of those items I was really not sure was going to be any different from any other hair salon, how wrong was I ? The full service experience is in the atmosphere of a private club with a full grooming service outpost for men. The busy dad only needs to take 30 minutes out of his busy schedule to take advantage of a scalp massage, shampoo and conditioning with a hair cut, full manicure and shoeshine, it even includes a beverage. You can get a gift certificate with a travel kit of goodies for only $65

John Allan's The Full Service

Rowenta just launched a new First Class Travel Iron and I have to say that at 1.65lbs in weight and folding to 7.8″ it is a must for the travelling, jet setting dad. So even when Dad is away he has his own personal mom in his suitcase to keep him looking pristine.

Rowenta First Class Travelling Iron

I loved the next gift Hugo Boss Aviator sunglasses and I can actually see my brother stealing these before my dad gets chance to wear them. I loved the fact that dad can even change the lenses to his own prescription lenses.

Hugo Boss Aviator Sun Glasses

Joseph Abboud for JCPenney came up with a really super idea and that is to give your dad a voucher to get a new suit, think about it every time he wears it he will think of you and at $180 this is a bargain. I took a look at their website and these suits are really chic and modern styled.

Joseph Abboud Suit for JCPenney

At $145 I thought this Skagen Watch is for the dad that deserves more of life’s little luxuries and it is really stylish and tastefully designed. Affordable luxury which looks like a million dollars and is made from high quality materials.

Skagen Watch

The next gift Stoner Solutions invisible glass cleaner is a must for every car enthusiast dad at only $30 this is sure to keep him amused for hours. He will have the best shiny car on the street. Tell mom that when he is done shining his car he can come into the house and clean her tables and mirrors. Just spray on wait until it evaporates and then wipe off without leaving streaks.

Finally my last and favorite gift has to be the Leatherman Skeletool, this is multi functional combining style and function into one design, it has won numerous awards. It weighs only 5 ounces and can easily fit in dad’s pocket, complete with a blade, pliers, bit driver, removable pocket clip and bottle opener.

Leatherman Skeletool

How I Did It

Anne Agoren, owner of UK / NYC based izzi Bag, shows how to build a brand over Twitter. Lauren Parker finds that life is indeed tweet.

Tweeting her way to success here’s a story a little bird told us:

izzi bag on Twitter

Out of the 17 million users on Twitter, 250,000 were nominated for the Shorty Awards—an international “Oscars” for those who live their life out loud on Twitter in 140- character blurbs. Of those 250,000 nominated, a year-old,  little-known English handbag company named izzi Bag made it to the top six in the “Brands” category—the only fashion brand nominated. izzi was up against brands like Whole Foods and ultimately lost to Sesame Street. Heard of them? Here, izzi Bag owner/designer Anne Agoren—who wisely moonlights as a social media strategist—tells Accessories her David and Goliath tale.

‘Are you listening? Because your competitors are. You need to join the conversation— because it’s going on with or without you.”

@accessoriesmag: So how did you get into the top six? Do you have 86,000 followers like Sesame Street? Or 4.7  million followers like Ashton Kutcher?

@izzibag: I have 2,000 followers and was nominated by one of them. You aren’t allowed to nominate yourself.  Actually, I did lose some points after showing someone via Twitter how to nominate me since he was having trouble and asked for help.

AM: You only have 2,000 followers?

AA: That’s one of the biggest misnomers for brand promotion. More is not better. It’s  about quality, not quantity. I have 2,000 of the right followers. They spread my word to their followers. There are lots of sites where you can buy 50,000 followers but they’re not relevant to your brand. Don’t do it. You’ll start getting spam and your important—and legitimate—followers will stop following you. Protect your brand reputation.

AM: How do you get started using Twitter?

AA: My techie husband pushed me into it to help build my budding brand. I was so resistant to Twitter—saying I didn’t understand it, that I didn’t have enough time, and so on. Now I’m a Twitter addict. I use it to promote my blog (blog.izzibag.com), to talk about things that are happening to me, and to strategically promote the brand. I realized the power of Twitter early on—I ran a Twitter competition where the first 10 people who went to one of my retailers on Bond Street got a $40 keychain. Suddenly, a rush of people went to that store. It was apparent it was working.

AM: Did you launch your brand and tweet about it simultaneously?

AA: I launched izzi Bag with no customers, no retailers, no e-tailers. So I used Twitter and the blog to find those small stores that I wouldn’t even know about. The goal was to get retailers talking about us. To build that buzz.

AM: Do you think that too many brands don’t take Twitter seriously enough?

AA: You need to join the conversation—because it’s going on without you. The most important thing I say to companies is  ‘Are you listening?’ Because if you’re not, your competitors are. On Twitter, you can read every tweet that mentions your brand—good and bad—and respond if you want. It’s important to join the conversation.

Bag Lady -Anne of izzi bag

AM: What do you tweet about?

AA: I come here a lot so I write about my life as an English person in New York. I write about the journey of building izzi  Bag. Yes I’m a brand but I’m also human. People want to relate to you. It makes them want to buy your product.

AM: Do you use Twitter to show your bags?
AA: I use Twitpic to upload images, but often I link a Twitter entry to my blog so people can see more there. There are so many tools that are all free, from Twitpic to Tweetdeck, which helps you manage Twitter better.

AM: Do you tweet all day?

AA: No, but my followers are passionate! When I slow down, they start with the ‘Where’s izzi Bag?’ ‘Did something happen to izzi Bag?’ They miss me! I’d say 60% of my tweets are relevant to my brand. The rest are relevant to other people — recommendations of things to check out, or I pass along information I read on Twitter.

AM: Ah, so you’re a re-tweeter?
AA: In many cases, yes. You can retweet (i.e. RT) something that one of your followers post. It’s good will and keeps the conversation going.

AM: Did building buzz on Twitter in the U.S. and UK give you immediate international cred?

AA: I was able to simultaneously connect with retailers worldwide—all for free, and all with the power of social media.

AM: Has Twitter gotten you free publicity?

AA: The Australian news show equivalent of “60 Minutes” found me on Twitter. They sent a crew to New York and filmed me for a day-long documentary. Later, they flew the reporters back to New York to get additional footage because they wanted to extend the segment! That publicity didn’t cost me one cent. And although it aired in Australia, I was able to post it on my blog and tweet about it, and still get local (and worldwide) exposure. Again, for free. Take a look at the video SundayNight Live.

AM: How does a brand prevent a tweeter from posing as them and saying something bad?
AA: It’s important to control the conversation. You can be verified by Twitter (celebrities do it), and you’ll get a blue check next to your brand’s name/avatar. That way the Twitter community knows it’s authentically you.

AM: But it must be a little bit tempting to bash your competition on Twitter…

AA: Never do that! If you report another company for spam, for example, the Twitter police will shut them down while they investigate, so you really must follow business ethics. I will unfollow people if they don’t “keep it clean.” That’s my one rule.

AM: What about companies who say they don’t have time to tweet? Or skimp on the resources to hire someone who can?

AA: Social media should not replace your existing business structure, but it must be integrated with what you have in place. Just as a brand has a PR, branding and advertising budget, it must have a social media budget.

AM: What if the company owner, or designer doesn’t want to tweet personally?
AA: The person doing the tweeting or blogging must have a passion and understanding of the brand and its objective. They should write in the “voice” of the brand.

AM: What are some great Twitter branding anectodes?
AA: There were some people in the Empire State building tweeting that it was so hot and they wished they had ice cream, but they were too busy to run out and get some. An ice cream truck picked up the conversation on Twitter and sent over a truck to give them free ice cream! The story got picked up on the international news. You can’t buy that sort of publicity!

AM: So what were the Shorty Awards like?

Shorty Awards Diva Fit - No Sesame Street Here !

AA: First of all, I pulled a Diva moment and while walking the Red Carpet I refused to be photographed with some of the puppets from Sesame Street. Then they beat me!

June 2010 - Accessories Magazine

izzi bag founder Anne Agoren at the FGI Rising Star's Awards

I have listed the talented people who won the Rising Star’s awards on Friday at Cipriani’s in New York, it was a fabulous day and I am now awaiting the lovely photographs of the budding star’s. I will update you as soon as I have them, so in the meantime you will just have to make do with yet another picture of me! LOL.

The category of  Accessories  winner was Amanda Pearl Brotman from Amanda Pearl.

The category of Beauty / Fragrance from a Corporate Company was won by Juliette Karagueuzoglou from IFF.

The Home /Interior Design category was won by  Dror Benshetrit from Dror.

The Fine Jewelry Category was won my Monica Rich Kosann from Monica Rich Kosann.

The Men’s Apparel winner was Anthony Keegan & Richard Christiansen - Commonwealth Utilities.

The Retail Category winner was Edward Chai & Paul Birardi from ODIN of New York.The Women’s RTW winner was a tie between Joseph Altuzarra from Altuzarra and Peter Hidalgo from Peter Hidalgo.

This week has been taken up with moving and a rainy New York.  I made my husband’s weekend by taking him to his favorate place Shake Shack for the best burger in New York. They are so popular that you can go to their website and check the size of the line waiting to get served. Can you believe that, they have a webcam showing the line! would that happen in the UK? Er I think not, no Brit stands in line for over an hour to get a burger! well this one did and it was worth it, not only as I had to make an exception and eat the Bun, but the burgers are just the best ever. Oh and I forgot to mention that the venue is outdoors, so we stood in line and then sat outside in the park to eat the burger, yep you heard me I sat outside to eat my burger in the freezing cold. It was fun and we laughed to think what our British friend’s will say when we tell them. The highlight of my weekend was AVATAR, we went to the IMAX on Times Square (Eat your heart out!) it was the most amazing film I have ever seen and I cannot believe that my Hubby had to drag me to see it. If you have not yet been GO! you will not, I repeat will NOT regret it. It was full of emotion, it was full of the most amazing animation and the only question I have is:

How did they get the camera crew to that planet?

Yesterday carried a weather warning, the wind was so bad they had to close streets off where construction work was going on due to flying debris. I spent a lovely hour with Dihan, who is the Fashion Editor at 5point Media, lovely lady.We met at the Bryant Park library, where else? We spent ages talking about features for izzi bag together with where I can get the best deals on food! so armed with that information I will be treking uptown to 145th street to PathMark later today. I had no internet yesterday and I got so frustrated that I could not connect with the outside world. How amazing is it that we rely so much on cyber space internet? anyway the world did not end and I am still here, although yesterday I really thought the world was ending when I could not get my computer to cooperate.

I have finally started to receive tickets for the shows for NEW YORK Fashion Week and am excited that it is only a couple of weeks away. The hussle and bustle of Fashion Week is amazing here in NYC and the thing I love most is that is a frenzy around everything in the City.

But before I start to get too excited I have another event to go to which is going to be even more fun, I will be back in London at the weekend for the Fashion Group International event, which is being held at Stewart Parvin’s, I can’t wait. The down side is that I will leave OH behind as he is still in training. Will he manage to remember to collect his shirts from the cleaners and to eat properly? the tirals and tribulations of being a wife and a designer are not always as glamorous as you might think believe me! I am laughing out loud right now, sitting here in the apartment thinking if only you guys could see me!

I love my life and I never forget everyday just how lucky I am to be here.

Oh today has been such a lovely day, I was in such a mess this morning I could not control myself with excitement. I was off to the most amazing place in New York, Cipriani on 42nd Street. It used to be a bank and it is absolutely gorg inside and so many of the bank features have been left in plaace. Anyway I am moving away from the story. I got up super early as I knew I would be amongst some of the fashionistas of the world today and needed to look my best, actually 300 of them so I needed to look great, well as great as I can look anyway judge for yourself. I spent as little time as needed on hair and make up but the biggest dilema was the out fit. I could not decide on Michael Kors or Calvin Klein or Theory I went for the safe bet and wore the LBD which had the loveliest bottom frill which you cannot see in the piccie below, but it looked great and the jacket was a big hit from Calvin Klein. Of course the shoes and handbag were easy to choose and the handbag is one of our concept bags, which a few people asked where they could buy one!

izzi bag Retro hand bag

Cipriani was just so gorg, the ceiling is so high and full of character, never let anyone tell you the American’s have no history.The building was just full of it, in fact if i did not know better I would have said I was in London or Venice or Rome.

Ever fashionista was there and I had a lovely time, I met with some really nice people and I look forward to catching up with them in the coming weeks ahead. The lunch was so scrummy, I had Chilean Sea Bass (not sure if that is how it is spelt) but is was delicious and unfortunately I only ate the topping of the Lemon Pie as it had a pastry case bottom and of course you know I don’t eat carbs on this diet so that had to be left. Promise you all, I did leave it, but I did not leave the glass of wine sorry !

The awards went without a hitch and their were some real Rising Stars who won the awards. Will be here with piccies tomorrow. There were lots of Papps there and everyone was well photographed

Rising Star Awards at Cipriani New York

so look out for more on izzi bag travel’s and the highlights of my adventures in Manhattan.

Well today I am feeling so much better and the sun is shining and I had to get some fresh air. So off I went in search of the Metro, actually I was corrected and told that New Yorkers call it the subway, I thought that was a greasy spoon sort of low end Maccie D’s but there you go what do I know? Well I went in search of the subway and got totally lost. I eventually found the entrance and then I had to manage the ticket machine, not quite like Bond Street Tube station and noone to ask! How I got on the right train is beyond me, but I did and finally there I was in Union Square Down Town New York.

As I came up in to the day light I saw a shop called DSW - Stands for Discount Shoe Warehouse - my kind of shop - What is a girl to do? nothing but nothing was stopping me from entry. I spent more than 2 hours in that shop, it was like being in a candy shop, I had to sit down like 4 times as I just could not carry anymore shoes. I have to say I gave myself a good talking to and then decided on 5 pairs, see evidence below! How on earth I am going to justify these I have no idea when the OH gets home. Justification to myself is that they were all on sale and I did not part with $100 which is marvellous and they are pretty aren’t they? and I do need them don’t I? so finally my ending comment is of course I am worth it. Aren’t I ?

Enjoy!

Naughty Monkey Shoes

Shoes, Shoes, Inglorious SHOES !!!!

This bag is made from the softest ostrich skin I could find, it feels like butter and I love the colours.  Be the envy of all your girlfriends and get on the waiting list for this gorgeous bag, launches in to the shops January 2010. You can get one in advance by emailing us directly at info@izzibag.com

Tigi in buttery Ostrich Skin

Patte Green soft and Buttery Ostrich Skin

Sunflower bright and summer feeling

Crazy Turchese - Bold for summer loving

Fly the Flag is the order of the day and we are so excited to see the first sample of our new key ring which will hit the shops in the UK January 2010, for your chance to own one before then, send an email to info@izzibag.com and we will get you on the priority waitlist.

Red, White & Blue