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When it comes to office attire, your wardrobe needs to be on point. You can’t just go into the boardroom wearing any old thing and expect to be taken seriously. Unfortunately in this game – image is everything with potential clients and investors coming to a conclusion of who you are by how you look.

So what does this mean – we need to go into debt looking good? By all means no! Many women are quite savvy in the fashion department and know how to make pieces work to their benefit. Still, it’s important to know which stores are available for affordable office attire. If you happen to be on the search for staples, you may want to consider these stores.

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NBC head Bob Greenblatt addressed Donald Trump’s offensive and downright nonsensical behavior during the Television Critics Association press tour this weekend, warning the blowhard that “if he becomes somehow hurtful and says or does things that cross a line, we would figure out what to do with that.” Hmm… more of a friendly reminder than a strongly-worded caution, but OK.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Greenblatt opened by saying “We live in this country where you can say anything you want as long as you are not harming other people. He has his political belief system but I really don’t think what he’s doing in his personal life is going to corrupt what he’s doing on the show.”

You’ll recall, the “Donald’s” final presidential election stunt was a call on President Obama to produce his birth certificate (again) in exchange for a $5 million charitable donation. That prompted a negative reaction from Barbara Walters, Brian Williams, (possibly) his kids, and the public, among others. Angelo Carusone started a petition to have Macy’s “dump Trump” and his many lines of clothing and accessories because of Trump’s attacks on women, “racially-charged birther conspiracy,” and hypocrisy. Carusone took his protest one step further right before Christmas, sending a mobile billboard to Macy’s headquarters in Cinncinnati to circle the building and call for Trump’s ouster. Macy’s hasn’t reacted besides issuing a lame statement but, at that time, The Hollywood Reporter said 680,000 people had signed the petition.

HuffPo Live commentators say that the warning will not likely amount to anything as long as The Apprentice TV franchise does well in the ratings. But Trump has been noticeably quiet over the past weeks, with only the occasional political tweet about taxes or Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. And the fact that Greenblatt talked about it at all means he is listening, if not to the protests then to the celebs who have given Trump the side eye.

Anyone out there plan to watch The Apprentice? Buy Trump items at Macy’s? We’ll take a pass.

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Want to smell like Nicki Minaj? Well, the American Music Award-winning rapper hopes so. She has just launched Pink Friday perfume—just in time for Black Friday shopping.

Minaj has been in overdrive, trying to pump up her brand. Soon after joining American Idol, she launched her own reality show, “My Truth.”

To promote the perfume, which is named after her hit album, Minaj debut a television commercial that got mixed reviews. According to Huffington Post, AdWeek called the TV spot a “pile of cliches.” MTV Styled, however, though it was “amazing.”

The perfume, which is available at Macy’s, is $49 for 1.7 ounces. It’s supposed to smell like vanilla, skin musks and woods, but to our sensitive noses, it comes off like a good deal of bubble gum.

It seems almost inevitable these days that once a celebrity achieves a certain amount of exposure, a perfume will be on the way. Celeb scents aren’t just vanity ventures. The top 10 bestselling celebrity perfumes from 2010 brought in $215 million in the U.S., according to Euromonitor International. Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Fergie, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian are just a few of the stars with perfumes on the market. But only a handful are actually successful.

The late Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds remains, since 1991, the top-selling celebrity scent, according to Forbes. White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor grossed $54 million in 2010. Oddly, Driven by hunky baseball star Derek Jeter ranked second with $27 million in sales. Third was Heat by Beyoncé, which earned $21 million in sales. Four scents tied next, each with $18 million in sales: Unforgivable by P. Diddy’s Sean John brand (which won the The Fragrance Foundation Award in 2007 ), NYC by Sarah Jessica Parker, Fancy by Jessica Simpson, and Harajuku Lovers by Gwen Stefani. Diddy’s scent does so well, he has two. The second is I Am King, which he launched in 2009.

Do you think Minaj’s Pink Friday will  join the top ten selling  fragrance list?

A group waits in line at a California job fair this summer. AP Photo/Nick Ut

The holiday season is here (as of Thursday), with droves of shoppers looking to spend their extra cash on the latest gadgets, toys and big purchases. And while the economy might seem a bit more stable when it comes to driving consumers, many still struggle with unemployment. As 7.9 percent of Americans face the possibility of unemployment during the holiday season, the craziness of the popular consumer season sparks an increase in seasonal job openings.

According to the Tribune Chronicle’s TribToday, retailers nationwide “are expected to hire 585,000 to 625,000 seasonal workers this holiday season, according to estimates by the National Retail Federation.” So if you are still in search of a job, or looking to earn a little more money for extra spending or expenses, try your hand at getting a seasonal position for the holidays.

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The online petition urging Macy’s to break ties with Donald Trump has moved to social media. Earlier this week, an online petition was started, encouraging the retailer to drop Trump’s line of clothing and fragrances, after the mogul’s antics around the election.

While Macy’s has continued to post normal status updates and tweets on social media, consumers have flocked to Facebook and Twitter to complain about its relationship with Trump.

Macy’s CEO has come to Trump’s defense and Mashable reported that Macy’s released this statement about the petition and social media criticisms:

“Macy’s marketing and merchandise offerings are not representative of any political position. Many of the individuals associated with products sold at Macy’s – or at any retailer, for that matter – express personal opinions that are not related to the merchandise we sell or to the philosophies of our company.”

Interestingly, for all his bluster, Trump and his special counsel have not responded to requests for further comment on the matter. But he did comment earlier this week on Twitter, “My fragrance–”Success”– is flying off the shelves @Macys. The perfect Christmas gift!”

Moving into the holiday season, we’ll guess Macy’s doesn’t want a ton of customers boycotting its stores. Another guess, they may have told Trump to shut his yap in the hopes this will die down. Do you think it will?

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Angelo Carusone wants  Donald Trump to get fired from Macy’s. And he has 390,955 people who agree with him.

Carusone, who is director of online strategy for nonprofit progressive research and information center Media Matters for America, has started a petition to urge the department store to break its ties with Trump. The Donald developed his line of clothes and fragrances through Macy’s.

Trump’s recent antics prompted Carusone to take such a step. As he outlines in the petition, Trump has:

-Long engaged in sexist behavior. Trump has a long record of personally attacking women he disagrees by calling them “unattractive,” ugly or fat. He once sent a targeted a personal note telling her that she has the “face of a dog.” Not even his own daughter is immune to Trump’s sexism. While referring to his daughter, Trump observed: “She does have a very nice figure…if [she] weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.

-Hypocritically complained about jobs being shipped overseas to China, despite the fact that almost his entire clothing line sold at Macy’s is made in China and other Asian nations.Perpetuated the racially-charged birther conspiracy, repeatedly arguing that President Obama has been lying and was not born in the United States.

There is more, but according to Carusone, Trump’s behavior does not fall in line with Macy’s social responsibility policy, which reads: “There is no shortage of talk about the obligation of public companies to be socially responsible to the people and communities where they do business. At Macy’s, Inc., we hold those same beliefs – along with a belief that actions speak louder than words when it comes to helping tackle some of the toughest problems facing us today.”

The Donald was up to his attention-seeking antics until just days before the election.

Do you agree with Carusone?

Debra Messing, Michael Kors and Kate Upton were just some of the celebs making the rounds during FNO. This was taken at his East Side store. Image: Aaron Showalter, New York Daily News

Last night, the world celebrated shopping. It was Fashion’s Night Out, the evening that fashionistas of all levels can head out into the streets of cities around the globe and expect to see celebrities, get free booze, stand in line for stuff and maybe even buy a thing or two.

FNO (as all the cool kids call it) started in 2009, after the economic collapse led to a drop in sales for clothing and accessories. At that time, Vogue editor Anna Wintour wanted to spur spending. Now, it serves more as an exercise in audience participation for the much more exclusive Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. And thousands of people surely did come out, clogging the streets and packing the stores.

Image: Tonya Garcia

Along 34th Street in Manhattan, signs invited people in to shops to celebrate. But it was when you got to Herald Square that the party really started. We walked past a stage with loud music (but minimal dancing) on the way into Macy’s, which had events on seemingly every floor.

At 7:30, fashion designer and Project Runway judge Michael Kors was meant to make an appearance, but at that time, the MC was still announcing names for people that, as best we can tell, had won some sort of raffle. Note: The photo above was taken at Kors’ East Side shop, not at Macy’s. We never actually got to see him, though we did take a look at his line of shoes. We asked a woman standing in line whether she was waiting to meet the designer.

“I think so,” she responded. So theoretically, she could’ve just been standing in line for her health. But whatever. Everyone was just happy to be there.

It should also be noted that people, some in large groups, were strutting about the second floor dressed like they were heading to the club to pop bottles in the VIP section. Or wait behind the velvet rope in the hopes of getting to the VIP section. One or the other.

High off of the many squirts of perfume that were fired my way as I left Macy’s, I thought it would be a good idea to head over to a Target pop-up store in the Meatpacking District, which featured the five special collections available this fall. After zipping through the line to get in (Hugo Boss, Diane von Furstenberg and other high-end shops in the neighborhood had lines that were at a standstill), I waited in line to get into the Kirna Zabete shop to look at the women’s fashions, which were very nice, though I couldn’t find my size. All around were people grabbing free bottles of soda, moving to the music (FNO is a big night for DJs, who were spinning everywhere) and chattering blissfully. Over at Odin, the men’s shop, things were much more calm.

Image: Tonya Garcia

“It was packed before,” a salesman told me. “That’s because men know how to shop. They get in and get out.”

Interestingly, the one place where there wasn’t a line was at the cash registers (see right), where we only saw a couple of people actually making a purchase. I was told on the way in that there was a limit of five items per customer, but it looks like there was a lot more cola consumption than actual purchasing.

Also interesting, at least to me, I did manage to get a couple of things from H&M, which offered 30 percent off of the item of your choice, special for FNO. There has always been the question of whether FNO is more for window shopping, freebies and celeb spotting than actual sales, but, according to reporting by Reuters, the organizers of the event declare it a repeated success.

“Data from NYC & Company found that two thirds of stores who participated in 2011 and responded to their survey said store traffic increased as a result of the night,” the article says.

“What happens is there’s a big bump in the stores the following week or 10 days after that. People go and they see … and then they go back to the stores and buy what they want the next day,” the story quotes George Fertitta, head of NYC & Company, the New York’s marketing and tourism group.

Click here for more celebrity images from the New York Daily News. And visit our friends at Styleblazer for additional coverage of Fashion’s Night Out.

Source: Madame Noire

Want to look good for your next date, but not looking to splurge for your look? Looking the part for a date should be effortlessly chic, but not rob your pockets. Looking good for your next date night doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag. Do your research, prepare ahead of time and save some money to look just as good on a budget!

Here is how you can do it!

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NBC’s new reality competition show Fashion Star isn’t just helping aspiring designers find a footing in the fashion industry. It’s also bringing to light the accomplishments and leadership roles held by women of color in major retail companies nationwide.

“As a black woman starting out in the corporate retail environment, it was quite discerning to see that there were very few people, specifically women, who looked like me making senior executive decisions regarding the business,” Erica Milton, a corporate employee of one major retailer said to Huffington Post.

The show, which premiered on Wednesday night, showcases two of the women making executive moves in the retail industry. Hosted by Elle MacPherson, it features Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie and John Varvatos as mentors for aspiring designers on the show. But while these celebrities may be the official mentors on the show, women of color can look to Caprice Williard and Nicole Christie as true aspirations for their professional goals.

Williard is the Vice President/Regional Planning Manager for Women’s Apparel for Macy’s Southwest region and serves as the featured buyer for Macy’s on the show. She has almost 18 years of experience in retail starting as an executive trainee at Macy’s and now as a vice president.

Nicole Christie, the head manager of US communications for H&M, is the featured representative for the store on the show. She too worked her way up through the company, first as a sales manager at of the H&M’s first stores and now as a national spokesperson.

As Milton says, “Now to have a nationally syndicated show shine light on women of color making power decisions for some of the top retailers in the country, its more than eye opening, it’s extremely encouraging.”

by R. Asmerom

Macy’s knows that its customers reflect the broad range of ethnicities that compose the American landscape. More than half of its customers in top markets are minorities, according to Businessweek. Macy’s also knows that it’s a challenge for  small businesses to get contracts with the department store behometh. To reconcile and address these two facts, Macy’s created a training program to encourage and mold minority vendors for the chain.

It’s a win-win situation for minority business owners and Macy’s, which seeks to better service its demographic. According according to the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth, Black buying power will expand by about a quarter, to $1.2 trillion by 2015: ”Macy’s forecasts its sales of goods from minority- and women-owned businesses will jump to $1 billion in two years, after rising a projected 22 percent, to $683.2 million, in 2011.” Source

To deliver the training course, Macy’s partnered with Boston-area school Babson college and coordinated a four-and-a-half-day course taught largely by Macy’s executives including Lisa Price, whose Carol Daughters’ products are sold in Macy’s stores.

The program received over 250 applications, from which 22 finalists were selected to participate. Applicants had to submit two years of financial information, product lists, and photos. Classes included lessons on the art of markdowns, supply chains, and raising financial backing.

Four of its graduates received contracts with Macy’s in November – two of the women were African-American entrepreneurs. Kim Roxie, founder of Lamik, will be selling her line of  cosmetics which focuses on “problem-solving” make-up and kits. Her products will be sold in Macys’s stores in Texas, Louisiana and online. Monif Clarke of Monif C. also got tapped to sell her line of  plus-size apparel.

Both brands have generated a lot of buzz in the past couple of years and this Macy’s program has proven to give them an extra boost, rather than a foundation, by which to expand their businesses.