Love: Spring Trends 2011

As winter releases us from her icy grasp, its finally time to ditch the fairilse knits and embrace a bit of spring slash summer loving. And what’s not to love? All will be revealed.

THE NEW MAXI

Although maxi skirts and dresses will continue to fight for prize position in our wardrobes in S/S 2011, it will face tough competition in the form of its latest rival. I introduce – the midi. The midi has steadily been creeping its way from the catwalks onto the high street but it looks set to reign supreme this forthcoming season. Swinging pleats are the choice of the day styled with graphic print tees or pretty, sheer blouses and lady-like heels. By night, I would team asymmetric lines and graduated hems with block platform sandals and maybe a dash of leather to contrast the delicate fabrics.

A FRINGE and FLARE AFFAIR welcomes us back the Seventies. Think a 21st century take on the decade mixed with all the goodness of tribal chic. As trousers remain popular, it is no surprise that the pivotal item channelling this trend is the kick flare. I do think it will take substantial time for these to replace the skinny jean though. Resist conformity and team pale denim bell bottom flares adorned with patchwork detailing with knitted tank tops with the IT shoe of the year – the platform.

The flare goes hand in hand with fringing and it has no limits. My initial reaction is ‘oh really’ but the other day my best mate rocked a lush fringed biker jacket, so maybe it’ll rub off in time. Pringle showcased the trend with shoes while Betty Jackson went the extra mile with her black ostrich feather trousers as did Matthew Williamson with his bejewelled, tasselled dresses and fringed skirts. Bags, shoes, coats, skirts – you name it you’ll find a fringed equivalent.

PRINTS

Think the brighter and busier the better a la McQueen. Bright abstract graphics and architectural geometrics steal the style limelight. If you cannot resist a standard safe-bet though, throw cut-out suede or crochet over crazy florals to capture the folksy feel, plaster yourself with playful polka dots and flatter yourself with feathery patterns. All at once. More is definitely more this spring.

A BURST OF COLOUR

Move over nudes, statement rainbow hues are the colour choice of the season. Shocking tangerines and vibrant grass greens reign supreme. Brave block colouring in riotous neons à la Christopher Kane.  As before, the brighter the better. Pop colouring will extend its efforts to the make-up counters of the high-street. Light pinks and oranges on the eyes coupled with blueish-black liners and topped-off with strong red lips will prove a popular look. Judging by the general theme of S/S ‘11 fashion weeks worldwide, unnatural hair colours look set to become a big trend this forthcoming season too. A welcome burst of colour, hurrah.

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Author Bio:

Helen is a twenty-one year old vintage fiend and founder of http://areyoudressingupordressingdown.blogspot.com. A blog in which she shares her light-hearted fashionable experiences, musings and opinions on anything from her personal experiences to her latest purchases.

Love: Prabal Gurung NYFW Nails

I am completely and utterly flabbergasted by these glorious nails, hand painted by Jin Soon Choi for the Prabal Gurung fall show!

Inspired by Chinese calligraphy, they’re definitely eye catching but not garish and even more perfect when you look at the collection they were shown with.I’m thinking of trying a DIY version with Konad stamps and black and white nail polish, first I need to buy this template (m66)…

Take a look at how the black and white gradient feel of the manicures compliments the black and white pieces from the fall collection – perfection!

Love: A Patterened Interview with Melissa

As you all know by now, my interpreter day job means I spend most of my life in various shades of black, gray, and white so I don’t have much experience in the mixing and matching department. When I ran across Melissa from A Working Mom’s Closet, I was so fascinated by her use of prints and bright colors that I spent my lunch hour pouring over her blog. When I asked her to share some of her knowledge with all of you, she very kindly agreed to be interviewed and the following is the result. 🙂

Do you have any ‘rules’ for mixing prints?

I haven’t done a whole lot of pattern mixing but the times that I have, my thoughts are to keep the patterns within the same color family, or keep one of them black and white and only add in one other color. It also helps to use accessories as one or both of the patterns. A belt or leopard print shoes or scarf can go a long way to adding some pizazz with an extra pattern!

What do you look for when buying printed pieces?

Mostly just prints that appeal to me. I don’t have a standard print that I really like, as some others do. Some people really like stripes or polka dots or florals or abstracts…I like them all. It depends on what catches my eye and if the color scheme is suited for my coloring. I will intentionally look for certain things that seem to be trending, like the stripes and polka dots, but generally it’s just whatever is pretty. 🙂

What does your closet look like? Do you put all your prints together or keep outfits together?

I organize my closet according to type of clothing. Dresses, arranged by sleeve length, then skirts, then cardigans/jackets, then long-sleeved shirts and sweaters, then short-sleeved tops and then tanks and camis. I don’t keep outfits together because I don’t usually pick them out until I wake up in the morning!

You’re also an expert at layering, how do you build complete outfits?

Ooooh…I’ve never been called an expert at anything! Thanks! 🙂 It depends, really. Sometimes I’ll start with a basic piece like a dress or skirt and go from there, deciding which top would look best with it, if I need another layer underneath for warmth or if I want to throw another color in there for fun. I wear a LOT of cardigans, plus there’s the fact that my boss has issues with anyone showing too much in the chestal region (not just cleavage, but anything in the chest area at all!) so I have lots of camis and tanks to layer underneath.

I try very hard not to wear the same outfit twice, unless it’s one that made me feel really good, so I consider it a challenge to come up with new ways to wear the same piece (which for me only happens with layers or accessories). I have one piece that I’ve worn as a skirt the way it was made, but also as a tunic and as a tube top to work – with a blazer! Blazers and cardigans can make almost anything work-appropriate.

What are the go to pieces in your wardrobe?

My purple dress (that I desperately wish I could buy in every single color but so far haven’t found any more like it!), my black dress, my black rosebud boots and pretty much any of my belts and cardigans. I wear belts and cardigans ALL the time. It’s almost absurd how often I wear belts. I think I might have a problem.

What inspires your unique style?

Belts and cardigans. 🙂 Honestly, reading blogs has been incredibly inspiring to me. Before I ever knew style blogs existed, I never wore skirts or dresses and thought belts were ridiculous. Now you can’t get me to wear pants much and I have LOTS of belts! It’s through all of these friends I’ve met through blogging that I’ve been inspired to push my boundaries, try new things and thus figure out what *my* style is. I’m a belter, a layerer and a cardigan/jacket/dress girl. I love wearing at least one color, usually more and would like to venture more into pattern mixing territory. I haven’t done that enough or at least not bravely enough.

Anything else you’d like to say?

Thank you for interviewing me! I’m incredibly flattered that anyone would be interested in my answers to these questions. I hope I’ve been able to help someone push their own boundaries to find their personal style, too!

Lust: Bhldn by Urban Outfitters

A couple years ago it seemed like everyone and their brother had their own perfume line and now that same trend is moving into the wedding gown world. And while a part of me asks if we really need one more wedding dress designer, these amazing dresses from Urban Outfitters new line caught my eye. The brand is trying to fill a niche in the wedding market instead of competing with the swarm of white dresses.

“Traditionally, people got married in churches. Now, they’re getting married on beaches and mountain tops. We’re building our assortment for the ultimate end use.”

I really do love the styles they’ve released pictures of, and think they’d be great for a vintage bride or one who’s just a little quirky and wants something that defies wedding expectations. What do you think? Would you wear one of these on your big day or stay with a traditional white gown?

Check out the full article at Huffington Post.

Love or Lose: One Nail Different

I read in Cosmopolitan that celebrities are doing one nail an eye catching metallic while leaving the other nine a muted color. At first I thought it was an April Fool’s Joke, seriously, who would paint one nail a different color? But after I gave it a try for a  night out, I have to admit that the creative manicure set off my cocktail ring beautifully and made it look as though I’d spent ages planning it all (really it was a happy accident). Still, I’m not sold on this look for everyday, what do you ladies think? Would you rock this trend? (see my version below)

Lose: Retro Male Advertisements

I’m doing a paper on fashion advertisements for my visual communication class, and in my search I ran into these old school ads for some very… interesting male fashion choices. From jump suits that would make Juicy Couture shudder to man tights that belong in an American Apparel ad, some things should just stay in the past! Enjoy!

 

 

 

Images from Found in Mom’s Basement

Love: Accepting the Inevitable

I have a confession to make: between grad school, work, family craziness, boy issues and just general keeping busy, I haven’t been taking very good care of myself lately and it’s starting to show. I complained to my mom all winter break about how things weren’t fitting like they used to and how I was going to start hitting the gym hard the second I got home and never eat again. Until she offered a different solution that was so simple I’d never thought of it.

If your pants don’t fit, buy bigger pants.

Now, this might seem like the slacker’s way out, I’m sure the little personal trainer in all of us is squealing in rage, but here’s the thing: I was wear pants I’d bought in undergrad, long before I hit 20-something and my hips and boobs started to come in full force, the fact is I can starve myself all I want, I’m NEVER going to be the size I was as a freshman again. And that’s okay.

Yesterday bit the bullet and bought pants in a size I’d never even tried on before – and they fit! I didn’t have to pull, tug, lay down, suck in, or reposition anything, they just. fit. It was like a miracle!

So here’s to giving ourselves a little grace, accepting what we can’t change, and (sometimes) buying bigger pants.

Friend Friday: Outfit Planning

1. How do you determine what you will wear that day?

Since it’s so cold in Rochester most of the year, I usually dress for the weather, so that means checking my phone the night before and seeing what it’ll be like outside. I usually pick one piece (knee-high snow calls for tall boots) and then build the rest of the outfit around that.
2. Do you plan outfits out in advance for a whole week, month,
weekend?

I really only plan my outfits if I have a big event (I’m already figuring out what to wear for graduation!). Other than that, the most I plan ahead is the night before, or if I buy something new and get excited about wearing it I’ll plan around that 🙂
3. Do you have any specific way of tracking outfits and items already worn so you don’t repeat?

I work at a college, so I see the same people on Monday-Wednesday and Tuesday-Thursday and I try not to repeat on those days. Other than that, I don’t worry about repeating too much.
4. How do you discover new combinations of items in your closet? (Trial try-ons?  Hanging items together?)

Mostly I look through magazines and fashion blogs for inspriation. If I see someone wear a pencil skirt in a new way I like, I’ll look through my closet and see what I can do to incorporate that idea into my wardrobe. I also go through my closet every couple months and redo everything so I remember what I have, sometimes when things get shoved to the back I forget I have them!
5. To streamline the process for 2011 what is one new thing you can do to cut down your dressing time?

Actually move my laundry from the laundry room back into the closet! If I have a piece in mind that I want to wear, I have to look two places to try to find it.

Lose: Angelina Jolie’s Versace Glove Dress

Angelina Jolie in Versace by jennaw featuring satin gloves

Angelina Jolie wore this Versace glove dress to the Berlin premiere of The Tourist. The dress has gotten all sorts of praise by the fashion community (as opposed to the “fashion bomb” status the rest of her recent premiere dresses have earned) but personally, I think it just looks sloppy. Check out the mangled ends the gloves give to her fingers, it looks like someone broke her hands on the way to the red carpet! It’s not even just on the close up, but also on the long shot… I don’t know if it was rushed tailoring or a poor fabric choice, but this Versace dress is inexcusable.

EDIT: A reader commented that this dress makes Angelina look like the stepmother from Enchanted and it couldn’t be more true, take a look!

Love: Vintage Clothing

‘Love’ posts are all about fantastic, affordable fashion that you can buy today without putting a dent in your wallet. One of the best ways I’ve found to do that is by making my way through every Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Value World I can find. It’s a great way to find pieces both current and vintage on the cheap, but it can be time consuming. So lately, I’ve been checking out online resellers; these fasionistas do the collecting for us and then post them organized by size and style for online shopping pleasure.

One shop that’s caught my eye is Fluke Store over at Etsy. So, being the journalistic weirdo I am, I emailed the shop owner who agreed to be interviewed for Lust Love Lose, and also to provide a discount to readers (more on that below). Here’s an example of just a few of the items available in her shop:

LLL: Thanks so much for agreeing to be interviewed, can you introduce yourself?

FS: I’m Marian, 30 years old Live in Chicago near the lake in neighborhood with indie people.

LLL: What attracted you to vintage clothing?

FS: Wearing vintage makes you look different. Not everyone will have the same item as you. Also knowing for example that coat from 50s it’s not only coat. It has history to snuggle me in. That’s what make me to look at the vintage in different way. Like an old wine.

LLL: You have so many great vintage pieces in your shop, where do you find them?

FS: Chicago is and has been a place with a lot of auctions I’m lucky to have so many interesting people around me. My lovey friend  Sarah S. (now 68 years) use to own one of biggest modeling agencies back 30 years ago. Through her I met so many people who used to be in the fashion business. Also estate sells here in Chicago are amazing, I hunt in the North part of the city.

LLL: How do you decide which pieces to sell?

FS: As you see my store is new and I’m still learning. I want to put all of them together, but that doesn’t work. I just opened 2 more stores in Etsy and want to separate and make browsing more comfortable for my customers.

LLL: Is there an era you like best?

FS: The Great Depression era and the 1940s

Now for more good news, Marian has offered Lust Love Lose readers 15% off her shop if you enter code “SUR” at checkout.

Do you love vintage finds? Found any hidden treasure at a Goodwill lately? Leave me a comment and let me know!