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So last week I had a bad experience following a man jogging in these kind of silky sport shorts that have the splits at the side. Flapping in the wind I just felt a little violated by his choice of running attire. On top of this, I went into the American Apparel store on Saturday and all the staff were wearing them - the two pictures are of styles they sell for men and women.
It all just reminds me too much of the episode of Friends with the immortal line "put the mouse back in the house".
OK so you wouldn't normally put the Woodland Trust and fashion together, but Dorothy Perkins has teamed up with them to raise money and awareness. The lines include vests, bags and these funky wellies with a direct donation to the Woodland Trust from every purchase.
This is another example of consumerism with a conscience which is a massively influential movement currently. We are seeing a huge increase in retailers teaming up with charities but even more popular is working with perceived socially and ecologically sound companies. It's interesting to see this trend filtering through - I wonder how far it can go before people wonder why they are suddenly paying more? Can the fashion conscious trade price for a clear conscience?
Urban Outfitters have got these fab 50's style swimsuits exclusively for sale on their website. They look pretty flattering and have an interior bra shelf for those with smaller to medium size chests! Not cheap at $98 for the print suits and $88 for the plain suits, but they are mega stylish!
Whilst most of my friends have heard me evangelise about Threadless the online retailer, I thought I'd do a slightly wider recommendation of their T's and explain from an industry perspective why it is such a genius idea.
Firstly from a customer point of view you get to pick through funky designs which you can put on a variety of garments. In terms of shopping usability of the website, you can check all availabilty in your size which is a nice touch and the quality of the products (in personal experience) is better than average.
However, the real genius of Threadless is not for customer benefit! When designs are first muted on the site you get to vote on whether you would buy it or not. If you are signed into the website they know your size and based on this vote they can come up with a (pro rated) amount of people who will buy a specific design and in what sizes! Whilst other clothing retailers can base the quantity they buy of a garment on past history of similar garments, this information is current and invaluable.
How many retailers would kill for the information Threadless get about their customers in advance...
My good friend Elina pointed me towards the ultimate in fashion trash bags
Oh and nothing more glam than putting this kind of trash out in heels!
Maxi dresses are seemingly a fashion gift to girls who don't want to wear the mini dresses so apparent in stores at the moment. Whilst I agree that they are in some cases much easier to wear, I wanted to add a simple word advice from experience - they can also make you look huge and frumpy!
Take these two dresses on the left. Only a few people could wear the pink dress (Oasis) and not look they are wearing a sack! The printed dress (Miss Selfridge) is also difficult to wear as there is no shaping in it except under the bust.
However on the right these dresses have a better looking more flattering fit. The contrast colour shaping on the one on the left (Oasis) and the print on the one on the right (Dorothy Perkins) would flatter most shapes. Choose maxi dresses but choose wisely!
So you might have seen US Vogue's front cover for May with the hottest young supermodels wearing re-imagined white shirts by the hottest young designers. This seems a great project for breaking designers to get their garments into high street stores ensuring mega publicity. Even if they are not aiming for that section of the market place long term, making the front cover of Vogue is a major step up in the fashion industry!
Whilst I love quite a few designs, my only criticism is that as a lady with a few curves, none of the designs seem to do anything for my figure! Whilst I applaud the sentiment of 'designer clothing on the high street', it would be even better if some of them had considered the 'shopper on the high street'. However if you are on the petite side, I recommend you check them out in your local store carrying the range - if there are any left!
I spotted these funky dresses while poking around the internet and I love the bold prints! The two on the left are from UK store Wallis, and the two furthest right are from US store Forever 21. All would look great with sandals on a hot day or leggings and pumps on those slightly colder ones!
It's boom time for celebrity clothing ranges at the moment with Kate Moss's range sending people crazy in TopShop in the UK and soon to be potentially doing the same in US stores. Next into New Look stores in the UK will be Lily Allen's range (an example of which is on the right) and recently we have seen the Madonna range in H & M.
Whilst I can understand the need to emulate your hero, to me it seems weird to want to be a carbon copy in terms of fashion of someone like Kate Moss. Her range is so large in TopShop it seems like the aim is to dress like her for every occasion rather than to catch a glimpse of what of what it is like to own her wardrobe.
Another problem with celebrity clothing ranges is apparent in Madonna's collection for H & M - an overstretching of resources. Whilst the celebrity's idea for an item might be wonderful, to make it affordable (and profitable) for a high street company means a compromise and generally that has to come from the fabrics. You then end up with the equivalent of a market stall version of a Diane Von Furstenberg dress.
To have the spirit of Kate Moss, Lily Allen or Madonna is to know your body type and be confident in your own style. My wish is that they inspire that moral in girls rather than getting them to make themselves clothes clones.
So I saw this page and loved the jewellery - so modern, clean and unique! There are fabulous silouette rings like this rose gold diamond shaped one but this sandwich ring is my absolute favourite (one might say good enough to eat....). The safety pin pendant is the right side of kitsch and can show your punk side in a sophisticated way. All the jewellery comes in a variety of metals to match your outfit!
