fashion trends

Our agency represents various fashion and luxury brands. As such, we have a nice (and sometime early) take on what is trending in fashion, et al. Refinery29 has a great article that provides advice on how to wear a sheer top. Having worked with this "ongoing" trend for years now, I have my own advice...

1. If you don't have the right figure forgo anything sheer at all costs...
2. A nude cami can be just the ticket for sheer, but be prepared for people to stop and stare, until they've figured out that it's a nude cami and not your bare naked self...
3. Be careful of jewelry, most everything sheer is prone to pricks. That fab necklace just may spell the death of your new EXPENSIVE sheer top…
4. Sheer can kill. Just kidding, wanted to make sure I hadn't lost you… 
5. Sheer should be season appropriate - think spring/summer, when your goose pimples won't show through…
6. Opt for sheer when you want to "say" elegant, not sexy. In defiance of common wisdom, sheer really isn't about sexy, and when it is, it almost always goes wrong…

So check our Refinery 29. They are definitely more sophisticated than I am when it comes to these types of subjects...

LOL! 

My world was atwitter (pun intended) yesterday upon the appearance of Lauren Benet Stephenson’s story in WWD entitled, “Social Media Rewrites the Rules for Brands.” The big news (gasp!) was that Gucci, Oscar de la Renta, Donna Karan and other fashion overlords are now baptizing social media platforms as valid and acceptable modes of communication.

Now, my initial reaction to the cover story was one of anticipation. I was excited to read the story to hear about, oh I don’t know, something NEW as in “news” that was happening. But it was a total snooze. I was more than disappointed. I was embarrassed for my industry, which I often defend to friends who work for the State Department and economic think tanks.  

I really felt that the entire article made us (all us purveyors of fashion and style) look like dinosaurs. We, the people who supposedly predict what billions will be purchasing and lusting after for fall 2010 in July 2009, are talking about Facebook NOW. Here in lies my issue. And, furthermore my friends, when we are all clearly WAY behind the times can we not announce it on the cover of our industry bible? The headline may as well have read: “Social Media Exposes the Close Minded Nature of the Fashion Industry.” Now, there’s a story I’d like to read in WWD. Oh, snap.

A much loved and former boss once told me: “I never wear a trend twice.” She was referring to the leggings epidemic of 2005 at the time. Her rationale was that if it was her fashion obsession when she was 10 years old, it wasn’t appropriate for age thirty. At the time, I thought this argument was pretty tight. However, my questioning mind couldn’t help but think: If I had the legs I have now when I was ten, I would have looked a heck of a lot better in those neon pink Limited Too leggings at the St. Mary’s talent show!

Thus, I felt compelled to differentiate the trends that I feel should die and those I’m excited to welcome back into my Quarter-Life Crisis lifestyle.

DIE

1.     Scrunchies: My fabulous friend Cassie just wrote on Facebook today that she saw a gal in Brooklyn rocking a side ponytail adorned with a scrunchie.  Cassie, I’m with you! Make it stop!

2.     Acid Wash: I was on the subway this morning and noticed an amazon sized woman in an acid wash denim blazer that was dusted in a neon pink dust type of wash. I was shocked and horrified to see that this jacket was from my beloved See By Chloe. Oh, horror!

3.     Ripped Jeans: Listen, a little boyfriend jean with careless ripping is cute in a tomboy, Americana kind of way. But, my colleague Stacie was at 5 Ninth with Mary J. Blige last night and reported on her atrocious pair of tight, white shredded skinny jeans. I don’t think Stacie will ever be the same again.

LIVE

1.     Rompers: I freely admit that 85% of my wardrobe is from J. Crew (I love you, boyfriend ), but I jumped on the romper, one-piece jumpsuit gravy train back in February. I love’em! I ordered the full-length navy silk jumpsuit from my client Cynthia Steffe’s Spring line and I’m waiting with bated breath for the short and sweet Fuji romper in the June delivery. I want it!

2.     Neon: I love neon. I have a neon pink dress from Wayne that I am obsessed with (my co-workers are probably suffering from eye fatigue at this point) and I have a pair of neon yellow, orange and navy pumps from J. Crew that put a sassy little sashay in my step.

3.      Hammer Pants: Let me clearly communicate that this is a trend I believe works best when it is a “modern translation.”  So no madras balloon pants, please. Those can go to the Salvation Army with that scrunchie. But, I do like the chic new harem pants that came out this spring and they are looking mighty fine in the fall collections. Stop! Hammer time!

 Source: www.bloomingdales.com, www.hii.co.uk, www.customizedgirl.com/blog, www.garancedore.fr/en