The best in style & beauty

Most Luxurious Shoes

Wild Women Wear Red
1512 U St. NW
Washington, DC 20015
Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m. -7 p.m., Sunday 12-6

Wild Women Wear Red is located in the hip, up-and-coming U Street neighborhood. Everything in the boutique is handmade, including the shoes. Co-owner Toddre Monier calls them “funky, functional footwear.”

Wild Women Wear Red began after Monier attended law school and then chose to go to the Peace Corps in Namibia. It was there that Monier vowed never to be in a job she hated and to always wear comfortable shoes. It was then that Wild Women Wear Red was born.

Prices run from below $50 to over $100. Wild Women also carries great boot styles.

Most Luxurious West Coast Fashions

Daisy Too
4940 St. Elmo Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814

Owner Fabiana Zelaya of Daisy Too is now in her eighth year of store ownership. Zelaya’s Bethesda-based store, Daisy Too, is home of great ideas for West Coast fashion.

Eight years ago, Zelaya and her best friend Andrea decided that they really wanted to open a clothing store in D.C. They started off in the Adams Morgan area and then six years ago, transferred to St. Elmo Avenue in Bethesda.

Daisy Too is great for its West Coast fashion sense. It tends to bring style in that works on both coasts. “We have some designers based out of L.A.,” Zelaya said. “We’re seeing a lot of big and flowy things.”

Zelaya said that their newest line, the Lauren Conrad Collection, is selling out quickly. “It’s not just because of her [MTV reality show] “The Hills” fame, women are buying it and they don’t even know who she is,” she said. “It fits a lot of bodies and it’s so soft —just like wearing a nightgown, but cuter, more fashionable, and you can wear it out.”

Zelaya thinks that D.C. has gotten very hip in the past 10 years. It’s 100 times better as it was 10 years ago,” she said. “We even have our own mini Rodeo Drive in Chevy Chase.”

Daisy Too gets clothing shipments in Monday through Friday.

Most Luxurious Jewelry

Tabandeh
Mazza Gallerie
5300 Wisconsin Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20015

Tabandeh has been making jewelry for years at home, and 28 years ago, at a show at her home, her store in Friendship Heights was born. “I was offered the space while at this jewelry show,” she said.

Tabandeh calls her jewelry fashion-forward, unique, one-of-a-kind, practical and edgy. She names her favorite jewelry designer Iradj Moini, who makes handmade pieces that are worn by celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Sharon Stone. Moini also has 12 pieces that are in the Louvre.

Tabandeh’s advice to women is to invest in a simple black dress and use most of your money on jewelry that will make a statement.

“To me, jewelry never goes out of style; trends always come back again,” she said. “Women should wear jewelry for themselves, not for others. It should make you feel good.”

Most Luxurious Handbags

Nina Perrera Handbags
found in Tabandeh, Mazza Gallerie
5300 Wisconsin Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20015
Call 202-244-0777 for hours.

Nina Rosen is in her third year of designing handbags. Her merchandise, priced from $200 to $1,400, uses old vintage handbags refurbished with new, modern twists.

Rosen, who is also a psychotherapist, said that D.C. is a fairly conservative fashion city, and people want to feel safer, so they’re much less likely to take fashion risks.

“They’re comfortable with their brand names, like Louis Vuitton,” she said.

Rosen’s bags are also carried in the Georgetown store Pirjo and in the Del Ray Beach, Fla., boutique Trilogy.