NEW! Madison Mannequin: Geometry Class

Guest blogger Alexandra Graves is an intern here at Madison Magazine and my eye on the streets for all things chic, eccentric or otherwise inspirational. So check back weekly for the latest “Madison Mannequin,” posted every Tuesday from now on. Lex will be conducting all interviews and providing commentary for this special weekly segment.

Ciera McKissick, twenty-one, is at the top of the fashion class. I spotted McKissick at the Best of Madison party on June 12th not only because she’s a classmate of mine at UW–Madison’s journalism school, but because I liked her season-hopping knit dress that married soft fabric with hard angles.

“I like to combine elements of masculine and feminine,” McKissick says of her style. She did just that, finishing off her geometric look with black maryjane pumps, trapezoidal earrings and a killer coif.

McKissick, a web editorial intern, was working the crowd with gold winner Madison Verve, voted one of Madison’s favorite Web sites. Even among a sea of award winners and fabulous cocktail dresses (not to mention some stylin’ suits—nice work, gentlemen!), McKissick stood out, and for that, I give her an A+.
— Alexandra Graves

Best of Madison: What We Wore

I live for party attire. Sometimes I wish I had a job that I could wear a cocktail dress to every day—but alas, I do not. And I’d probably get tired of that eventually anyway, so for now, special occasions are all the more special!

The Best of Madison party is just one of those times when our city’s finest get to dress up and celebrate one another’s success. Restaurants, salons, stores, auto dealerships, jewelers, movie theaters, florists, arts and entertainment groups and much more came out to socialize at the Madison Club and the Hilton last Friday night and everyone had a great time.

I wanted to share with you some cool photos: the first is of Madison Magazine’s very own edit staff—left to right is myself, Katie Vaughn, Neil Heinen and Brennan Nardi. Katie is wearing a J. Crew dress and beautiful chunky, bejeweled necklace (that I want myself!). Neil chose his comfy uniform of a T-shirt and blazer (he asked me ahead of time if his outfit choice was appropriate to wear to the Best of Madison—of course I said yes). Brennan is wearing a cool blue jersey dress by Jones New York that’s very Marilyn Monroe-esque. Too bad we didn’t catch her shoes in the photo! They were sassy patent cream and gold stunners.

I sported a Juicy Couture black silk cocktail dress with feathers at the hem from bop. Because I can never wear all black (seriously—too boring for me!) I had to add a pop of color with these Nina red peep-toe heels from DSW. If they look familiar, you might have noticed them in our June Luxe for Less issue—look in the lower right-hand corner!

To check out pics from our party, go to: www.madisonmagazine.com/scenes/