ELIE TAHARI site redesign - Stripes or No Stripes?

After many rounds of concepting, I finally settled on a redesign for the ELIE TAHARI site; however, I'm not sure what background works best: Stripes or No Stripes?
Click the image to enlarge. Before I turn it in Thursday, I would love any feedback or comments.

YAY for finishing school... 2 days and counting.

ELIE TAHARI site redesign - Round 2

So I finally got around concepting a second homepage for my ELIE TAHARI site redesign project. My two concepts are inspired by two moods, which I had made mood boards for:

Mood Board 1: City Social
I surveyed some friends and this was their least favorite mood out of the two; however, I think the mock-up looks pretty modern, feminine and metropolitan.

'City Social' Homepage Mock-Up
Mood board 2: Bond Girl
I love the high contrast and pop of color. The mock-up is pretty consistent with the current clean style of retail websites.

'Bond Girl' Homepage Mock Up
Which one do you think is better? I need to choose one to pursue and write up a style guide. I would love feedback and appreciate any comments.

ELIE TAHARI site redesign - Round 1

A while back I made mood boards for the ELIE TAHARI site redesign.  Most of you chose the 'bond girl' mood because it was clean, modern and elegant... so I finally got started concepting. Here's round 1:

I'm pretty happy with the colors.  I just got to tweak the alignment and add icons.  What do you think?  Better than the current site (below)?:

Personal Plug #3 - ELIE TAHARI site redesign: mood boards

I am redesigning the ELIE TAHARI website in my web design class, because the current site is very web 1.0 (no flash or interactivity) and doesn't reflect the sophistication, workmanship and femininity of its designs. Also, ELIE TAHARI seeks to push its designs globally so it definitely needs to update its website.

Current ELIE TAHARI site:

The current site is bland. I've completed a competitive analysis, creative strategy, site map and wireframes... but my favorite part of the class so far is creating mood boards to determine the look and feel of the site redesign.

I used an article from W Magazine (October 2008) to gain insight and inspiration into the ELIE TAHARI brand:

• W Mag says, "Tahari is a master of distilling current trends into high-quality, reality clothes for the fashion wise but not obsessed woman."
  
• Rory Tahari (Elie Tahari's wife) says, "If it's not sexy, it's not Elie Tahari. I'll tell you that."

I've created two mood boards to represent different ends of the brand spectrum:

1. CITY SOCIAL

2. BOND GIRL

I haven't decided which "mood" I want to go along with. I like that the "city social" board reflects real life but the "bond girl" board can work well globally. Either way, I'm excited with how my project is going and can't wait to work on the actual site design. Which "mood" do you think I should choose, City Social or Bond Girl?