NEW YORK FASHION WEEK

Yigal Azrouel

Well unfortunately this year we missed out on our tickets to New York fashion week (some of you might recall our fluke encounter with a certain Ms Kelly Cutrone and our admittance into a certain Alexandre Herchcovitch show last year…where we brushed shoulders with our buds Kanye and Anna and the likes. If not check it out here!) but na bi buartha, I’ve kept a critical eye on the goings on across the pond and here’s my pick of the best trends and collections…

I can Dere-lick my own balls, thank you very much

Check out ONLY using some of us bloggers as models. That’s right MO-dels.  Swit swoo. Notice how the only acceptable pic of me is when I’m looking at the ground, turned away from the camera, with the jacket actually hiding my body. Now that is how you model when you ain’t one. You gotta hide. See more here.

This is England ’86. Will we? Yes I think we will.

Hold onto your braces people, This is England ’86 is definitely the real A/W trend we’ve been waiting for. You can shove your camel, eat your shearling cap and say goodbye to 1950s feminine restraint. Lol, Kelly and Smell are this seasons superheros.

The Promise Of The Playsuits

I refuse to bid fair well to my most treasured item of summer clothing, the playsuit. My playsuits have got me through so much these past months.  Casual barbeques, slouchy beach trips, grungy festivals – even formal gatherings. I am nothing without my playsuits. My love affair with playsuits started some months ago when my mother so graciously brought me home a lovely navy playsuit with beautiful yellow and white detailing for a mere 25 yoyos. Along came the black and white floral – very casual surfer chick and from a small market shop in France. Only a tenner. I kid you not. Some more to join the pack was a lovely choral one (purchased from the same market shop in france), a very beachy denim hollister piece and a polka dot black and white bargain from Pennys, ‘borrowed’ off a friend. (yes you MAY get it back some day).

The Lip of Death

Ok, maybe I’m a little late hopping on this bandwagon, but I’m about to embrace the Black Lip. The Lip of Death they called in back in ’09 when Luella, YSL and Giles paraded it down the runway in ’09. But dang, it was scary. I wasn’t ready for it back then. I mean, I’ve only started wearing lipstick in the past 3 months. I flirted with a bit of red, then came the neon pink and now it’s time for the true bastion of outré make-up* – black lips. To tell the truth, me and lipstick haven’t really seen eye to eye. I never learned how to ensure longevity with the red, my neon pink Mac lippie went walkabouts after two wears(you can see my piece about neon lips here) and I’ve no idea how I’m going to tackle this black beast.

*For me anyway, the Lipstick Virgin that I am.

Harajuku Girls: Not so crazy afterall?

Womens Wear Daily found themselves on the streets of Toykyo recently and discovered a whole slew of young ladies who eschew the Harajuku style. The ubiquitous Harajuku way of dressing embraces manga, anime, surreal fantasy and hyperactive colour palettes. The city is synonymous with Power Puff and Hello Kitty street style, and girls dressed up as boys dressed up as girls dressed up as superhero characters.

Backpackery and Rucksackery

So as all the poor scholars head back to school, pencil cases and shiny new shoes in tow, I’d like to bring your attention to one huge PLUS to being back in the land of education. Rucksacks! Backpacks! Knapsacks! Majorly trending, majorly hawt and guess what – supremely practical. I am so sick of lugging around a ginormous handbag, walking at a horizontal angle, banging into old ladies and streetlamps, and catapulting off my bike as my bag dangles over the handlebars (long story involving the hospital and liver damage). How I have wished it was fashionably acceptable to use the sturdy, robust backpack. And now it is.  Alexander Wang, Louis Vuitton, Donna Karan, Ann Demeulemeester all declare it so.

Whoop Whoop for Mr Wang and Edgy Backpackery

Style Advice from a 7 year old. I kid you not.

Animal print, sequins, layers, colourful ankle socks and matching nail varnish. Who’s that? Me I hear you say? Why no, not I, but Anna Mc Ginn – the youngest of the Mc Ginn family. Seven years old and a Sartorial Beast in the making.

Catwalk report – plus lots of reasons to beat the Autumn Winter blues!

I hate to admit it, and if I’m honest I am still in semi denial about the fact that summer is coming to an end but on the upside the dreaded sales are coming to an end (whoop) and Autumn Winter trends are taking over, with lots of new yummy trends to get my teeth into (extended whooooop) Every cloud has a silver lining eh!!! Working in a boutique, I’m like a kid in a candy store with new stock arriving every day!

Over the coming weeks I plan to do a focus on different key trends and micro trends that take my fancy, but after trawling through Harpers Bazzar, Vogue, Instyle, style.com, Image and our very own Stellar I thought I’d give you ‘What Will I Wear Today?’ readers a quick rundown of what we’ll be wearing over the coming months…. Sure, we’ve got to deal with long dark evenings, what seem like even darker mornings, cold and yucky rain and the dreaded umbrellas blowing inside out dilemma… but hey nothing a new a delicious new pair of booties won’t help us overcome…. ahhhh yes shoes the answer to all my woes..

Anywho folks here’s a quick trend overview. I’ve picked my favourite ten…

Pretty as a Picture in Lace

Delicate lace, sheer chiffon, uber feminine satin, frills, bows, floaty, billowing fabrics, baby pinks, pretty pastels, natural nudes…. all that’s missing is hundreds of daisies and big open meadows and we’ve got the intro to The Sound of Music or an ad for washing detergent….but no, what I am trying to create in your minds is the image of the ultra feminine romantic trend taking highstreet by storm. Yep the romantic trend is big news and girly, soft and oh so pretty is the order of the day.