Tuesday 31 August 2010

Who am I today? Eclectic Taste







Vogues catwalk special for Autumn/winter 2010:

Such choices… On occasions I want to be the Jane Eyre, 'All Woman', in the black buckled and buttoned up Dries Van Noten, stating most categorically, my thinking serious days but still remaining a woman. The no-nonsense, stylish, yet, get-the-job-done look as more pressing issues ensue.

Why do I love the "Lace" pages? The Valentino maxi flowing with luscious lace and hints of pink flesh underneath steaming with femininity. Roberto Cavalli's creamy/pink maxi glides up the catwalk like the princess we all want to be – not today though, right place, right time. Marc Jacobs has the edge with the dress I would like in my wardrobe because it can cover all occasions as well as being beautiful and original – This one goes on my fantasy list.

My special night out I would want the Louis Vuitton pink background with attached black, what looks like chiffon subtly swaying as I walk (or possibly fall over in my high platforms and heels).

Mostly I want to be the girls in the Marc Jacobs mustard glamour grunge jumpers and skirts and the Dries Van Noten purple maxi with the brown tee shirt not forgetting the cool sunglasses. The pairing of the contrasting fabrics, the hard and the soft remind me of the functional and feminine. The freedom of movement in wearing these clothes provide this function and the beauty and femininity of them is the essence of pleasure. So I win on both accounts.

Why shouldn’t we be… Whatever we want to be on that day.

Pringle Autumn 2010



Pringle Autumn 2010- Not much makes me look forward to winter but this is very close.

Just looked at Clare Waight Keller’s Pringle Collection Autumn, 2010. Sooo imaginative and unusual. Mixing fabrics, hard and soft seemingly sitting together like they were made to be there. Shapes, angles of straight lines unevenly placed with pleats when it suits and turned back edges revealing the inside of the garment and the prominent zips with no apologies for the flaps shown this reminds me of the architecture of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, not so much transparent but showing the construction of the building revealing the workings of it – maybe used a decorative feature – I don’t know, but it works, it really works.

What I want to know is why Clare Waight Keller and the Pringle Collection isn’t even more renown for her/their work, it’s not only beautiful but functional. Pringle should be Proud!

Friday 20 August 2010



Must mention the little red dress more modern than a Chris de Burgh song.








Just to let you know some new designs from Maria & Sophia. The black organza overdress, one with double satin ribbon trim and the other has vintage-style lace, works with shorts underneath or a dark underskirt. Can be worn with boots or high heels, take your pick? Another new design is a brown and orange jumper with a black elasticated frill around the neck and above the chest. It is short, up to the waist, with elongated sleeves.

The vintage style floral skirt is paired with stripes, yes, stripes! why not?
maria xoxo

Thursday 12 August 2010

INSPIRATION






Yesterday afternoon, walking around the city centre looking for some examples of street style to be inspired by but unfortunately it wasn't a brilliant day for fashion. I recollected my thoughts and realised my favourite place for fashion and culture - PARIS (of course!!!!). So I thought I would share a few pictures with you. They aren't of people but sometimes I find buildings and architecture inspire me more for style than peoples outfits. For example the structure of the Eiffel Tower could be said has a resemblance to a past Christopher Kane collection.
http://trendland.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/christopher-kane-fw09-1.jpg

Sunday 8 August 2010

Vogue - The September Issue 2010


Oh how my days are happy when I see the huge, chunky, glossy September issue of Vogue sitting on the shelves of WHSmith. Without hesitation I pick it up, quickly thumb it and decide my life would never be the same if I bought it.

Vogue, to me is something of a necessity and I can't help but fall for it every time. So when I saw Kate Moss on the cover, I thought ok this should be brilliant. For me the articles in Vogue are beautifully written, with linguistic structures that are so clever, but I have to admit the photographs make it for me: the interesting settings, the stunning models and most importantly the gorgeous clothes. Hmph. Well, I can not say that the magazine delivers this. The shots entitled 'and God created woman' are perfectly shot but model, Guinevere Van Seenus is more than enough to put you off looking at them. Yes I know that's harsh but it's also very true. Then my eyes are also plagued by model and singer Jamie Bochert. The shoot would be fine if it was two photos with an interesting article but oh no we are subjected to 7 incredibly dull and quite frankly scary shots of Jamie, who could easily be mistaken as a man with ambiguity being taken to a new level.

So on to my favourite section!!!! MORE DASH THAN CASH. The clothes used were stunning as usual, highlighting this seasons trend for celebrating the woman. (skinny, skinny model with no boobs or bum - wow not being hypocritical there are we Vogue?) I thought Gaps cotton anorak £59.50 was paired perfectly with the House of Fraser cotton silk dress, tied together with that all important thin belt. However of course the wool military blazer by Zadig & Voltaire would win the fashion face off every time but the River Island parka, £70, is a great contender and a definite staple item for the winter, giving elegance a twist, when paired with a knee length skirt.

I could talk forever about this months issue of Vogue but I shall shush myself as my ability to ramble takes control of my writing.

I'll let you make up your own mind but please leave a comment on your view it's great to hear everyones opinion!!!!
So is Kate Moss the model over? Is Vogue better than Elle? (Of course!!!!)

lots of love as always

Maria & Sophia
xoxo

Wednesday 4 August 2010

WHITNEY EVE - FALL 2010


So after watching too many episodes of The City and consuming every second of fashion that was thrown in front of my eyes, making me want to clear my whole wardrobe and cry because the girls just look AMAZING, I thought why not review the Whitney Eve collection fall 2010.

Hmmmm, it's hard to know where to start with this. The materials she used seem cheap looking and the vile, velvet multi-coloured leopard skin tops, dresses, trousers just look tacky. I think the collection is disappointing, especially considering her Spring 2010 showed so much potential. As an aspiring designer, unique designs with a signature style is essential, whilst considering the seasons trends, however she lacks these two things considerably, seeming to design clothes that she would like to wear, rather than something new that we can all crave. Personally I'd buy from Topshop before I'd buy from Whitney Eve fall 2010 collection. The prices are ridiculously high for clothes that don't deserve to be labelled as designer.

Considering Whitney dresses so beautifully on The City, I was surprised at the collection. Personally, I feel that although not copying the fashion she does need to incorporate some of the latest trends as that's how natural progression occurs from line to line, also creating a clear theme and focus in the collection.

I know I have completely criticised Whitney Eve but I did like the Farrah dress, which I think could transfer from day to night elegantly but again 'could do better' is my final evaluation. However, after saying that, I would still be really interested to see her next collection because I do think she has a beautiful personal style and an obvious eye for fashion so hopefully she can pull through and make us all fall under her style spell.

love as always
xoxo

Tuesday 3 August 2010

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Marc by Marc Jacobs fall 2010 collection


Eugh technology!!!! Finally got the blog sorted (I hope!).

On to more important issues like my obsession with Marc by Marc Jacobs. His fall 2010 collection was something that made me question why I really do like him. After reading a host of reviews, like The Times article by Luke Leitch, I understood the disappointment of the multitude of khaki and black on the runway. However, after a while I thought about it and realised the natural progression, as although not new and inventive, I think he has considered his customer and understood that the younger generation love to follow a certain fashion, so with the green parkas filling shops, a tribute to the end of Oasis maybe, it seems like a natural thing to move on and due to his recent love of celebrating the feminine form, move khaki from grunge to beautiful elegance and make the oh-so-Kate-Moss-I'm-at-a-festival-and-ridiculously-gorgeous-I can-throw-a-masculine-jacket-on-and-look-amazing-and-cool a thing of the past. Well this is certainly my interpretation, but admittedly I will always love the grunge look so marc's collection didn't excite me as much as I hoped or as much as it will probably excite Olivia Palermo (bleurghhhhh).

Anyway, on to the obvious trends that will be HUGE, yes HUGE, this autumn. One thing that is being consistently used is the thin brown belt, origin - the vintage indie look made incredibly popular with the new London IT girls like Alexa Chung. So this thin brown belt, I love the way it can travel from vintage to smart elegant reflecting the colours of the autumn atmosphere. Now I come to think of it the whole collection seemed very in touch with nature, sticking to traditional autumn colours.

Another thing I did pick up on were the dresses, which stemmed from his Louis Vuitton collection and Marc Jacobs show as they again were designed to accentuate a woman's form, unfortunately the super skinny, girls didn't accentuate the dresses enough. However, with the slightly and therefore elegant plunging necklines and floaty bottom half it was enough to bring the past in to the future. A few of the prints for the dresses did remind me of Christmas wrapping paper but his genius of shape and cute grey ankle socks made the look very high end.

A favourite dress of mine was definitely the lace one. With our eyes being constantly hurt by Primark's never ending racks of cheap lace nylon designs (if you can call them that), it was so refreshing to see this years essential lace dress reworked with a high neck and a unique lace pattern - BEAUTIFUL!!!!

All in all, what I love about Marc by Marc Jacobs is the way he sticks to his traditional preppy look but never fails to rework it in to young and trendy styles, usually with colour but this time he even managed to make black and khaki smart and strict lines cool and young, rather than Halifax banker uniform. So Marc, military, preppy, 50's, Victorian, Christmas wrapping paper, and one dodgy romper suit later, you always seem to make fashion a style and an attitude rather than another item to throw away come May.