Trends

New York Fashion Week fall winter 2011/2012 recap

 in General Fashion / Trends  tagged fall 2011 / new york fashion week / winter 2012 by

New York Fashion Week ended yesterday and London begins today, but before London calls, New York Fashion Week has left us quite a bit to talk about. The week kicked off with a charitable red dress fashion show as part of the American Heart Association’s Go Red campaign. The red dresses were modeled by celebrities and signaled more than just heart disease awareness; the red dresses gave the fashion world a glimpse of what was about to appear on the runways.

Red was everywhere. It did not seem to matter what type of collection a designer created. Whether the collection was art deco, vintage 1970’s or new-age 1980’s, there were splashes of red. Red was paired with everything from shades of brown, blended in with deep oranges and showed off on black/white ensembles. Fashionistas found that a single pair of red shoes or a red handbag could easily update a minimalism outfit from last year; with the addition of bold jewels of course. 

The decade of the week was the 1970’s. Everyone from Diesel Black Gold to MARC by Marc Jacobs showed 1970’s silhouettes on the runway. There were long hemlines, earth tone colors, long shoulder strap handbags, tassels, fringe, natural fabrics and floppy hats.

The art deco period and early 1900’s appeared on select runways including Marc Jacobs. There were vintage inspired column dresses, flapper fringe and the ever-popular Lady Bag.

Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein stayed true to their roots and went with minimalism. Ralph Lauren gave the fashion world a luxurious version with black ensembles made from decadent fabrics with hand stitched details. Calvin Klein fused space-age and new-age with minimalism lines. The Calvin Klein collection appeared rather bland at the end of the week when compared with the vibrant collections other designers showed on the runways.

It should be interesting to see which trends continue on the London, Paris and Milan catwalks. Will there be more red? Will the 1970’s continue with a vengeance? Will we start sneaking into speakeasies? Will the platform ever come back to earth? We shall see as the most important fashion weeks continue. . .

Denim trends for spring 2011

 in Bay Area Fashion / General Fashion / Trends  tagged denim / historical fashion / levis / spring 2011 / summer 2011 by

Every time denim makes a big splash for a particular season, the smiles on Fashionistas in the Bay Area grow slightly larger. Denim is one of the fashion claims to fame we have here in the San Francisco Bay Area and it is no secret that we are proud of our denim history and how important denim has become over the last century to fashion around the world. Denim started its’ Bay Area history during the gold rush when Levi Strauss found the gold miners were in dire need of pants that were durable. Since the gold rush, Levi Strauss continually improved upon the pants and soon ventured into creating other types of garments using the thick fabric that was made stronger with the use of rivets; an innovation from Levi Strauss himself.

Fast forward to spring 2011 and denim is popping up, once again, on everything imaginable. Denim dresses, shirts, jackets, shoes and handbags are popping up on store shelves this spring with a vengeance. Interestingly enough, denim appeared on the spring 2011 ready-to-wear runways, but not with a large impact. Store buyers seem to understand that consumers love denim since it washes well, wears well and for some reason is incredibly flattering. Wonder if Levi Strauss knew back in the 1800’s that his pants would become the ultimate way for a woman to show off her, shall we say, derriere?

Denim pants for spring are popping up in several silhouettes; the skinny jean, wide leg jean, classic boot cut and the cropped skinny jean. In addition to pants, there are denim dresses in casual and structured styles; such as the structured, vintage 1940’s style by Lela Rose which offers a slim silhouette, cap sleeves and square neckline.

Denim shorts are being shown in short styles as well as Bermuda lengths and Prada even created a denim peacoat for spring. Handbags are sitting on store shelves in denim by designers such as Prada, Gucci, Christian Louboutin and Kooba have created denim handbags in varying styles for spring 2011 as well. Denim shoes are flying off of store shelves; Christian Louboutin created denim kitten heels for spring which are already creating a waiting list at Neiman Marcus.

The verdict is in! Denim is, once again, hot. So feel free to stock up on denim items, they are classic, easy to care for and part of Bay Area history. Love it! Happy shopping and stay fabulous 

Prada1

Prada spring 2011 denim tote bage with detachable strap.
Photo: Prada

2011 Fine Jewelry Trends: Rose Gold Jewelry

 in General Fashion / Jewelry / Trends  tagged fine jewelry / pink / rose gold / spring 2011 by

The Paris, Milan and New York runways gave the fashion world a glimpse into the jewelry trends for spring 2011. Although the trends on the runway were more in the “costume jewelry” category, fine jewelers do look for color trends and ways to make precious metals and stones integrate well into the apparel trends. With bright colors and patterns making a mark on spring fashion during the runway shows, fine jewelry designers have followed suit with either dainty pieces that will not overshadow a bold print or color, or with statement pieces that signal an end to economic distress.

Rose gold has been slowly increasing in popularity over the past few years, and with Pantone declaring “Honeysuckle” or bright pink to be the “IT” color for spring and summer 2011, rose gold has made a bigger spike in popularity for the upcoming seasons.

Rose gold works well with cool toned colors such as blue and it also blends well with purples and pinks. Rose gold also works well with shades of brown, which makes it a good precious metal choice to pair with neutral toned color palette which is another trend from the spring 2011 runways.

While casual jewelry is trending in silver, bronze and black metal, fine jewelry is trending towards rose gold; this is not to say that white metals and yellow gold are not important, they are, but rose gold is making a bigger mark in fine jewelry this season than in past seasons.

Rose gold is being shown in both polished and brushed fine jewelry styles; brushed rose gold being the more trendy style for spring and summer 2011.

Cheap Luxury Handbags Store’s semi-precious and precious stone color picks for rose gold: Smoky quartz, pink stones, red stones, purple stones and clear stones.