Serene Comfort

Add A Splash of Style: New Jewelry Collection

The easiest way to spruce up any outfit is to add a little color and charm. What better addition than a beautiful necklace? Serene Comfort would like to introduce their new jewelry selection. With bright colors and neutral tones, there is something for everyone! If you’re looking for a bold and daring addition, try the Goddess Red set. Paired with the striking Coral Harmony dress (pictured right), the Goddess Red necklace features three strands of natural and imitation red coral beads with a touch of gold tones.  Matched with hypo-allergenic fish hook wire drop pierced earrings, you are sure to make a bold statement with your ensemble! 

For a softer, beach time look, the Ivory Cheers necklace is an easy fit with any beach dress or cover up, as shown over the Palmodoro beach cover up by Tybee Island. Made from handcrafted natural wood ring beads with a touch of genuine shell accents, this beautiful necklace will add a touch of fun to your day! Another easy-to-match piece of jewelry is this adjustable natural tones necklace made up of quartz stones, crystals and beads (also available in blue tones and pink tones). With its soft neutral tones, this gorgeous necklace adds just the right amount of flair to your outfit without overpowering it.

For a classy addition, the Caribbean Seas necklace and earrings set adds a soft splash of turquoise, blue, mint green and golden hues to any outfit. With its mix of turquoise blue stones and crystal mixed media beads, this set will add charm to your wardrobe without overpowering. The hypo-allergenic earrings are also in soft hues and lightweight. Also available in the matching Caribbean Seas 2 stranded bracelet. In the same tones and beading as the necklace, the bracelet makes a wonderful addition with the necklace and earrings or on its own!

Staying with this classy look, the gold circles necklace (also available in silver) adds a contemporary, abstract flair to your look. With matte gold imperfect interlocking circles, this stunning necklace is both simple and unique. With its gold hues, this adjustable 17-20’’ necklace is an easy match to any outfit as well!

Diving back into the colors, the 3-strand mixed media 18'' necklace in Turquoise Seas will definitely add a splash of life! Made of colorful wooden and stone beads in shades of blue and turquoise, this gorgeous necklace is both fun and stylish. With its soothing blue tones perfect for any beach dress or outfit, this necklace will add a touch of paradise and class and can take you from day to night!

For a strong hold, all of our necklaces have a lobster claw enclosure and each are adjustable in length, whether it’s a chain extension or the ability to be worn in different number of strands like our long Pink Mist Illusion necklace (pictured right), measuring 64’’ long. For an added bonus, most of our jewelry is lead and nickel free or compliant and all of our earrings in the sets are hypo-allergenic!

Check out Serene Comfort's jewelry selection now for these gorgeous pieces of jewelry - limited inventory! 

Time for a Vacation: Resort Wear & Cover Ups

Now that the holidays are over and we’ve said goodbye to 2012, many people are welcoming 2013 with a little treat for themselves – a vacation! Whether you will be flying in a plane, cruising on a ship or finding a little piece of paradise at home, the center of all your plans should be relaxation and comfort. With Serene Comfort’s line of resort wear including cover ups, beach dresses and loungers, you won’t have the stress of searching high and low for the right clothes to relax in.

If you’re flying away to a tropical island, a beautiful warm resort or maybe just to rediscover the beach, the last thing you want to worry about is how you look. With all the fabulous styles Serene Comfort has to offer in their line of Resort Wear & Cover Ups, you won’t have to! From cover ups to sundresses to caftans, there is something for everyone and for all sizes.

Walking around town or hanging by the boardwalk, you can wander around in a beautiful short dress from Peppermint Bay. This simple feminine dress has cutely gathered cap sleeves and an A-line style that is flattering on any figure. Just throw this on over your bathing suit and you are ready from day to night. Careful of that bright sun, though! If you aren't used to the extreme rays from the sun, a simple shrug can help protect your skin from burns. Offering a variety of colors, these cute shrugs from Eagle Ray Traders can be matched with any dress or top!

When the night comes, blend in with the rich paradise setting in a gorgeous short Batik Rio sundress by Bali Batik with its beautifully hand-painted green and coral print and unique tiered flounce hem (Pictured left). For a less bold approach, try the Blue Crystalline maxi dress, a stunning long sleeveless dress with a striking print of blue and white from Peppermint Bay (Pictured right).

Or maybe you’re sailing off on a ship for a nice week long cruise? With the changing temperatures between the air conditioned rooms to the sunny outdoors to the windy nights, you’ll need something that can help you through all kinds of temperature. Escapada’s White Coral caftan made from cool and crisp rayon is the perfect solution! With its kimono sleeves and full length, this caftan is airy for a cool comfort, but covers the body enough so you won’t get burned by the sun and won’t be bothered by a gust of wind. This beautifully printed kimono caftan also features a drawstring, allowing for a flattering fit.

If you aren’t a fan of caftans, however, there is also the option of a sleeveless long dress or a maxi skirt. Both offer the same coverage from the sun and a length that will keep you protected from the cool night air. With a variety of styles and colors from popular names such as La Cera and Treasures of Bali, you’ll be sure to find one you’ll fall in love with. And as beautiful as they are, you’ll also find yourself comfortable and relaxed – a combination that is perfect for every vacation.

Just looking for some relaxation at home? Caftans are a wonderful pick for that! With their spacious easy on fits and their soft smooth fabrics, caftans make the best loungers. With many different prints, fabrics and styles, you can find the perfect one for you! Serene Comfort has a great selection of caftans from popular names such as Peppermint Bay, Oscar de la Renta, Natori, Winlar and Sante in both long and short lengths. Maybe you want to hang out by the poolside or at your local beach – then a cover up is the choice for you! One of our most popular items is the Jessica Taylor crinkle beach cover up. With the long length providing great coverage and their unique tie-dye prints, these simple yet stylish beach cover ups are a favorite among our customers! But hurry before they’re all gone!

Whatever the occasion, don’t let your clothes ruin your good times! With Serene Comfort line of Resort Wear, you’ll find comfort and style at a great value.

The Masterpiece of the Closet – the Sundress

With any print, color, fabric, neckline, hemline and closure style, the sundress is a little miracle in women’s closets. Any day in the spring or summer, you can pull on a sundress and be set for shopping, looking after the kids, walking on the boardwalk, going out to eat, playing badminton, etc. If you’re in a rush to work, you can easily slip into a more conservative looking sundress and still beat the heat. Serene Comfort has a great selection of sundresses - ones that double up as a cover up and ones that are perfect for that dinner date you have. From bright colors to modest blacks, from sleeveless to short sleeve, the sundress is definitely an amazing asset of the clothing community.

But the sundress is more complex than you might think. The sundress must find that delicate balance between flattering, cooling, modesty and sun exposure. But how did the sundress come about, you might be wondering. Well, if you aren’t, you are now, right? It all started in the 1950s with Lilly Pulitzer.

Lilly Pulitzer’s story is an oddball one, especially for the 1950s. Growing up in a privileged and wealthy family and then marrying a wealthy man, she found herself bored – enough to use that popular saying “to die from boredom”. To satisfy her boredom, she decided upon selling fresh oranges – which her husband flew in from Florida every morning in his private plane. So pictures this, a rich socialite who could pretty much have anything she wanted was going door to door selling oranges to all the mansion houses in Palm Beach. Surprisingly, her orange business became quite successful and she opened up her own shop – the hang out spot to get a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

The problem with her lucrative business was the fruit juice stains she would end up with on her dresses at the end of the day. So, with the necessity of a change in wear and having her own personal dressmaker, Lilly wore simple shift dresses in busy patterns with colors that matched her tropical fruit juices. Not only were the dresses eye-catching, the fruit juice stains were barely noticeable! Of course, other women took notice and a demand for those dresses began. With a personal dressmaker and social connections, it didn’t take long for Lilly’s juice business to turn into a fashion one. And that was how the sundress came to be.

Thanks to Lilly, we’re left with a practical and comfortable dress that can be flattering on almost any figure. Sundresses can also be very versatile in both the designer’s point of view as well as the wearer. Where the designer is not limited in the colors or styles, the wearer can also choose to wear a sundress as a cover-up or vice versa and can wear a sundress from dusk to dawn.

SereneComfort.com took notice of these little miracles of the wardrobe and have stocked up on these adorable pieces. From La Cera to Bali Batiks, Serene Comfort carries many different styles and colors because everyone has different tastes and the sundress is perfect for fulfilling that. The sundress, the must-have masterpiece of our closets!

What to Wear on the Beach in Summer 2012

Summer is around the corner and beach time beckons!  We women are expected to throw off our cozy sweats and bare our limbs to the world (or at least the population that happens to be at the same beach or pool as us!)  For those of us who may not be feeling in perfect toned condition… a beach cover-up is the perfect solution to feel those balmy breezes caress our winter-weary skin while having the confidence to mingle amongst the bikini-clad.

So… what style of beach cover up is best for you? As a buyer/owner of Serene Comfort… I get to go to what feels like hundreds of trade shows and walk miles of concrete staring into booths overflowing with options looking for that one or two special tops that is “just right” – of course, not just right for everyone, but just right for someone! We have a lot of special but unique “someones” who are loyal Serene Comfort shoppers and it’s you I keep in mind when making selections for our shop. You have that elusive “good taste”, you know what makes you comfortable, you like flattering clothes that are more classic than trendy… but after that the similarity ends and you each have unique likes and dislikes.

Some of you like a simple swingy, lightweight, feeling-free and summery beach dress like these by Raya Sun, Treasures of Bali, Bali Batik, Icantoo and La Cera.  Falling just above the knee – these provide great coverage of the hips and upper thighs while leaving your legs free to kick up some sand. No need to limit to the beach – these dresses are cute enough to go out for après-swim or to stroll a local art festival!

    

What about a big shirt, tunic or oversize T-shirt cover up? Falling to just about hip length, these coverups offer some nice coverage on the shoulders and arms to minimize burns. Slip on some leggings or pants after you leave the beach – and you’re ready for those cool evening breezes!

   

Some of you like flowing one size coverups like a beach kaftan – they can come in long and fluid or short and sassy.  I’ve seen caftans being worn in the casinos of Las Vegas, on the streets of New York, by the pool, and at elegant parties… and always looking just right!

   

A short sleeve A-line beach dress is perfect for many women… in breathable cotton and rayon. Those shown are from La Cera, Treasures of Bali and Icantoo.

   

For those with the confidence to wear a whispy semi-sheer cover-up – these flirty coverups and pareo sarongs may be just the thing… all from Peppermint Bay (we love their fun prints!)

   

Finally, a discussion of what to wear on the beach just wouldn’t be complete without some hooded cover-ups… as the day draws to a close, whether you have a bad case of hat-head from sea salt in your hair (if you actually managed to get your hair wet) or if you just like to snuggle in – check out these cute hooded coverups:

  

I found so many cute coverups that I just had to buy that we are overflowing with them! These are just a few of the styles we recommend for summer fun! Here’s hoping that you take time for you this summer…. time to relax and enjoy, time to visit with friends, and time to enjoy some outdoor time! And remember, whatever you end up using as a beach cover-up… don’t forget the sunscreen!

Happy Summer (almost!)

To purchase the items found in this article, see below:

Caftans  Beach Dresses  Swim Coverups  Tunics  Casual Dresses

 

Taking a Bite Out of the Big Apple

We just came back from our big buying trip in New York City… racing between trade shows and showrooms.  We saw a lot of great new styles for both sleepwear and our new expanded casual clothing departments.  Although the days are getting longer and warmer we had to switch back to thoughts of cold weather since most of the products we saw were for next Fall and Winter.

But don’t worry, you won’t have to wait until then to see new items in our store.  We have great new products being set up every day to help you get ready for Spring and Summer… which, by the time March storms in, is what we are all looking forward to.  Although we may still need the flannel for a while longer, we women of Serene Comfort (and our models) have been drooling over our new  Sun Dress and Beach Cover Up collections… just add balmy days and lemonade for a serene break from hectic lifestyles.

The photo that is posted with this article is of Times Square, February 2012.  Because school vacation week coincided with the trade shows, our daughter, Serena, joined us for this trip so we switched from our usual favorite business hotel – the Affinia 50 (if you ever need a great hotel in NYC, we highly recommend the Affinia 50 or Dumont – you can get a 2 room suite for the price of a hotel room with all the amenities of home) to the Doubletree in Times Square.  Although New Yorkers say that Times Square is just too touristy, there is nothing like it for pure awe-inspiring adrenaline and fun!  If you haven’t been there in a while (or ever), it’s worth a trip if you get an opportunity. 

Although we stayed in Times Sq. two years ago, it has since exploded with the latest technological advances.  It feels like you are standing in the middle of a wild 3D surround sound movie.  Every high tech billboard is trying to outdo all the others by presenting their products in fast paced short movie format.  They have even recently added flashing bleachers that you can climb up on (did you see them on Glee?) to get a better view and take it all in.  Add in fantastic Broadway-wanna-be singers at Ellen’s Stardust, half price theatre tickets, a kaleidoscope of yummy colors at the m&m store, break-dancers and musicians entertaining in the streets… and 15 minutes here and there in Times Square can turn a hard-working buying trip into fun vacation spirit!

The Remarkable History of the Dress

“Dress [dres] noun – an outer garment usually consisting of a one-piece bodice and skirt.” Now that’s not a very exciting definition for one of my favorite things to wear. I’ve got thick, warm dresses for those snowy days and cute, floral sundresses for those strolls along the beach. But dresses weren’t always this easy to wear as they are today. So let’s dive into the “Remarkable History of the Dress”, shall we?

The 1840s introduced the heavy layers of petticoats which were socially criticized for their decadence and materialism that the petticoats represented, but in the 1860s, dresses with a hoopskirt and a crinoline-supported style (to achieve that stylish bell-shaped skirt) interrupted the demand for petticoats. But once again, these dresses were criticized for their corsets by feminists and advocates of health. To solve this issue, in 1908, French couturier Paul Poiret designs the corsetless dress. Problem solved! Sort of.

Although now without corsets, dresses were always long and modest, covering a woman’s figure down to the ankles. But women didn’t just stop there. The 1920s took charge, and the hemlines of dresses slowly rose to knee length in a matter of years. It was as if all the women woke up one morning and wanted to free their legs from those ankle-length dresses. At the same time as the women were entering voting booths, the fashion world took a whole new turn and a new era began for women. Then the 1950s came about and out came the mini hemline (above the knee), which was popularized in the 1960s. From the 1920s to the 1960s, the rising hemline was the symbol of revolution for women, almost a rebellion for women.

Today, dresses vary in length from midi-length (calf-length) to thigh-high. Whether it’s the polka dot print of the 1950s, the bright colors of the 1960s with white gloves, the disco styles of the 70s, the 80s dresses with oversized bows, the babydoll dresses of the 1990’s, or the “mash-up” styles of the 2000s, one thing is for sure: Dresses are here to stay! And with a lot more personality than we give them credit for. 

Looking for that perfect dress that screams “you!” ? Serenecomfort.com is continuing to expand their popular casual dress line, from cotton to rayon, sleeveless to short sleeves, and loosely flowing to hugging the curves.  Whether you’re looking for a short, airy sundress for the boardwalk or a long evening dress for a dinner date, Serenecomfort.com offers something for everyone with our wide selection of dresses from La Cera, Bali Batik, Eagle Ray Traders, April Cornell, Lost River, and much more to come!