The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Photo by Vanessa Meade

Content courtesy of l'étoile magazine

Yes, it's still only May, but now's the time to start planning your outfits for summer's most stylish soirees in Minneapolis. Here's a guide on what to put in your social planner and ideas on what to wear.

The Event:

"Cliche: 5ive Years of Fashion" summer fashion show

Photo of EC by vanessa meade / styling by eclecticoiffeur

Last night, after watching another boring Red Carpet Event for the SAG awards, it really made me question why talented actors and actresses whore off everything from their hair to their underwear for the privilege of borrowing something that is probably not in "their" budget--but with the right PR will make you think it could be in "yours."

I am going to piss off a few people here by telling you the truth about this phony act they call "how you can look like your favorite celebrity"--for a price.

Here at Secrets of the City and MNSpeak, we thrive on the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. We love to feast and be merry with our friends and families...and to exchange cool presents, which is often easier in theory than in practice - especially with all that merriment. But gifts happen, so we prepare! Think of this guide as your brainstorming jump-start: gift ideas, tips for fun shopping efficiencies (oh yeah), and thoughts on how to make your holiday season sparkle in a creative and original way.

To highlight our semi-annual selection of new fashion, we turned to a population that—let’s face it, unfair as it seems—looks delightful no matter what they’re wearing. Our models are four dance students at the University of Minnesota and their choreographer (who moonlights as The Rake’s stylist); we captured them during a rehearsal at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance on the Minneapolis campus.

Unbeknownst to most folks, there was a public preview of the Voltage '08 fashions at last night's 10,000 Arts Party. Mostly I spent the evening being a bugaboo to the models backstage. (Don't they look irritated?) But I also managed to take these snapshots of the looks:

This month, all sorts of lucky boys and girls are sporting shiny new electronic doodads, freshly delivered from Santa and other thoughtful gift-givers. It’s good timing: A hot-pink Motorola RAZR or aquamarine laptop does much to cut through the gray midwinter cloud cover, not to mention spruce up many a gloomy coffeehouse interior. In fact, around these parts, tech accessories are one of the few acceptable ways to incorporate fluorescents this time of year—especially if you’re in possession of a Y chromosome. Cell phones and iPods are only the most