Gorgeous in YELLOW... Spring 2010?

I've always been interested in clothes, but only recently can I say I've been interested in fashion. And when I say fashion, italics included, I mean not only fashion-as-art, fashion-as-expression, but also fashion-as-buzz. There are so many fashion blogs out there! Is this a big "duh" or what?

Ever since I opened this can of extravagant worms, it became addicting. One blog led to another, one comment led to another blog, and in some cases, links to clothing led to purchase! But don't worry, I'm not in too deep yet. I did notice, however, that I love looking at the fashion shows.

Spring 2010 seems like a long way off, but believe it or not, that's where the buzz is. For those of you that may not follow fashion, the shows feature clothes for the next season. So we saw Fall 2009 back in February (in New York anyway), and Spring 2010 now. And I'm seeing whether the buzz is right: Is yellow going to be the hot color in Spring 2010, just because it's all over the runways now?

I guess we'll wait and see.

In the meantime though, half of me is sold already with Charlize Theron:



What a gorgeous outfit! The gold and even the subtle white on the purse really complements the yellow, and nothing on her looks too gaudy even though you wouldn't think, without looking at this, that gold, yellow and white would go too well together. Just stunning!

Here's a peek at other "yellows" featured on the runway:


Diane von Furstenberg, Spring 2010 RTW


Brian Reyes, Spring 2010 RTW (more greenish than yellow, but I love the structured rouching!)


Zac Posen, Spring 2010 RTW

I actually have a yellow shirtdress that I rocked this past summer, sometimes to work :), and I always got comments on it. Mostly because the yellow was so bright (think Tide bright :) and not muted like Charleze's. I feel so fashion-forward! :)


(dress: From Amsterdam in New York, cardigan: Abercrombie and Fitch [really old but stays in my rotation :)], belt: patent black belt that came from a dress at Ambiance)

I love this dress because I always like unexpected colors that momst people would shy away from. Like this yellow, or when Carrie from Sex and the City would pair rich saturated pink and blue together. (of COURSE I'm a Sex and the City fan...! :)


By the way, the above pic took FOREVER to find. I couldn't find it anywhere until I finally got the right Google phrase: "carrie bradshaw pink knit hat" haha.



I paired this today to go run some errands after work:

(hoodie: Juicy Couture, tee: LnA, pants: HardTail black foldover stretch pants)

So comfortable. And I just loved how I felt in the colors.

Colors make a difference - I wonder if yellow has anything to do with trying to cheer ourselves up given the economic situation? Hmmmm...

80s is back with a vengeance! My lazy-chic shouldered blazer look :)

What was it about 80s and early 90s fashion that made us cringe so much? For me, it was the haircuts. Not that I really remember all that - I was but a toddler :) But still... shudder:



All I know is spandex no longer invokes jokes about Richard Simmons, exaggerated shoulders are no longer for the moms who had shoulder pads in their dresses and suits, and bleached and acid wash and ripped holes and plaid and Raybans are back! Are we seeing something this second go-round that we didn't see the first time, or are we just running out of original ideas?

In an article I read about how to dress for fashion week, the author made a very interesting point - just because you're wearing what's in now, doesn't mean you're being fashion forward.

5. Don’t slave the trends.

Just because something is in when fashion week rolls around doesn’t mean you should devote your entire look to it. Remember, once a trend ships to stores it has been wholesaleing for over 6 months and was designed several months before that. So maybe lace is huge right now, maybe you’ve seen it all over Barney’s Co-op and in the Bloomies catalogue and The View talked about it in their ‘hot trends for Fall’ feature but that doesn’t make it fresh to anyone in the industry. We’ve all been looking at it for the past year!

I’m not saying don’t wear it, I’m saying don’t wear too much of it, i.e. a lace dress with lace fingerless gloves and lace half socks under your open toe booties with a jacket covered in zippers on top (because zippers are everywhere too so you thought it would look totally trendy!). Like most things, a little bit goes a long way.

Just an interesting tidbit that I'd never thought about. Not that I've ever been to a fashion show period (though, duh, I want to go so bad! :), but I'm definitely more interested in how fashion-as-art translates to and inspires fashion-as-expression in the real world. Wear what makes you feel good!

The impetus for this post comes from something that happened to me last night. I was sorting out clothes to hand down to my sister when I came across a suit jacket that I never ever wore because it was slightly too big, and the shoulders had pads in them that I've been too lazy to cut out and alter to fit me. Besides, the suit jacket was $30 and I bought it over a year and a half ago for work.

But when I took it down from the hanger and was about to throw it in the pile, something compelled me to stop and put it on. At the time, I was wearing a pink backless LnA spaghetti strap top and leggings. I loved it! I loved the look! I added my Coach black heels and accessories (my Cobalt Love Quotes scarf or my fake pearl necklace), and tried both long and cropped leggings, and came up with this:




My shoulders in the second set of pictures, plus the leggings - so 80s! I could totally see myself going to a casual gathering or even out somewhere like a museum party. I could even see myself putting on a pair of RayBans!

To give this formal piece (a suit jacket no less!!) that casual vibe, wear it with a tee and a lazy-chic (i coined that term :) accessory underneath. The final touch? Cuff the sleeve!



I can't help it. Maybe I am a slave to trends sometimes.

Maybe I really need to get a real room lamp so everything doesn't come out so blurry!

Faux Fall: My Two (non)Leather Jackets!

I don't know what the two leather jackets I bought at Ambiance in SF are made of, and I don't care. They look amazing!

One person who would especially appreciate this post is my girlfriend, who is not only vegetarian, but doesn't purchase any accessory or piece of clothing made from an animal.

I'll be adding more photos to this post, but I took a couple of outfits from my last post and added my non-leather leather jackets to them, paired them with shoes, and voila! Looks that are very me :)

The crop black jacket was only $65 at Ambiance, and I have to say I was again inspired by Shopbop's "pretty tough" lookbook. I'm in love with the blue jacket, $75, because not only is it an incredibly flattering fitted shape, but the color is SO unique! I was torn between getting this one or the grey one I saw, but this blue just popped!

How To Do Haute Looks for Less

Browsing Shopbop.com is probably one of my favorite things to do when I have absolutely nothing else to do, and it's not necessarily because I can afford everything that's on there.

I think marketing counts when it comes to online fashion stores, and Shopbop-- with their Lookbooks, their blog posts, and the way they stylishly present their clothes-- is a pleasure to navigate, even if the credit card stays resolutely in the wallet.

One of the best things about browsing Shopbop is getting style inspiration. A few of my favorite past lookbooks are the "ballet-inspired lookbook" (taking the graceful style of a ballerina and making it so chic and comfortable looking!), "pretty tough" (leather and pretty making the perfect pair :), and this season's summer lookbook.

"On Pointe" lookbook (had me wanting Elizabeth and James' Harlem pants for awhile!)

"Pretty Tough"

Shopbop's Summer 2009 lookbook

But even better than browsing (and coveting) these looks is using the power of inspiration to create the same look for substantially less money! Which I found myself doing eventually. I have a couple case studies to illustrate my point.

Let's take a look at these two styles:

This is the "Pretty Pearl Tee" by Alice and Olivia. I was in New York for the first time at a Nordstrom with my friend Wei and I saw this and wanted it pretty much immediately. I probably wouldn't style it the same way, but it really didn't matter how I would or could style it once I saw the price tag: $195.00.

No matter how rich I ever eventually get, I'm not sure if I'm willing to dish out that much money for such a simple concept - the classic elegance that pearls are automatically associated with contrasted with the simple casualness of the t-shirt.

Walking out of the store though, the idea of long strings of pearls stuck with me, evoking images of a young girl playfully experimenting with her mother's old castoffs in the attic in front of a full-length mirror.

The black dresses below are another couple of gems that I became drawn to the more times I found myself navigating to their links throughout the day. However, it wasn't so much the brands or even the craftsmanship I was impressed with-- it was the idea of mixing that casual tee or top with that funky skirt!

The prices on these two dresses are gawk-worthy as well. The one on the right is the hooded ruffle dress by Young Fabulous and Broke at $176.00. The one on the left is the Haute Hippie Tutu dress at a whopping $495.00! (It's on sale now for $247.50. I adore Haute Hippie's style, but really. Really?)

I was going through my wardrobe and I noticed that on some level, sub-consciously, these ideas were swirling around in my head when I was shopping. I found myself not only finding pieces that recreate these looks, but in a way, my versions were more.. me. Which made them better, more original, and most importantly, a heck of a lot less expensive. I also stopped coveting these things that I couldn't afford.

Starting from the pink tee with the ruffle skirt, there's a punk-y pretty influence

I bought the t-shirt at a Buffalo Exchange in Berkeley, CA for about $4.00 (I swear), and the CHIFFON ruffle skirt comes from www.jstyleshopper.com for about $20 (this will work for you if you are a size 2-4/xs-s). I LOVE the feel of this skirt - it seems solidly made.

A side note about www.jstyleshopper.com: No tax and free shipping if you spend over $100, but I find their clothes hit or miss and the quality of *most*, not all, but *most* of their stuff is lacking. I think they source from Asia. I had to return a bunch of things I ordered from their website. Also, warning: there is only one size for most of their things.

This skirt is an exception though - it's very solid.

Anyway, I personally like the idea of having the ruffles be a skirt as opposed to a dress because you can pair it with whatever you want! Instead of being stuck with the same top because it's attached. Also, I think just pairing it with a black top is boring! There, I said it. :)

If you really want to recreate the look from Shopbop, you can pair the ruffle skirt with a black tee or tank and voila-- you have yourself a $200-$400 look for less than $30. I've personally preferred to pair the skirt with a white tee with a simple design, or a loose tank top, or one of those vintage soft "broken in" feeling t-shirts. Such a great casual-but-different look!

As for Alice and Olivia's Pretty Pearl tee, what I did with that concept was find a "boyfriend tee" in that beige color (about $15 at Nordstrom Rack, by Trouve), and I bought two strings of pearls (fake) from Nordstrom Rack. I believe they were $14 each. I also made sure the pearls were of two different pearl sizes.

I like the bigger tee better than A&O's shorter tee because I can pair this with long ankle-length leggings and high heels. So much more the "playing with mom's clothes" look that I was going for as opposed to the slightly short length of the more expensive version!

I also found my new wardrobe staple: this beige tank dress (sorry for the foot haha)! I bought it at a boutique in SoHo, New York City, called Amersterdam (which I am in love with!) for I think $27. Pairing it with the pearls, or even knotting one of the strings of pearls (as shown), gives me a variation on this same look.

The great thing about this dress is shorter girls can wear it as a dress, or you can also pair it with leggings for a different look. The leggings do a great job transitioning this piece into fall. Also, belting this dress creates the very forgiving babydoll shape. But again, I'm digressing.

If you take anything away from this article it's this: I'm all for looking to the haute brands and expensive lines and drooling over the models that work those cameras and make it look sooo good - BUT! in my opinion, fashion is as individual a journey as religion is, and everyone is going to have their own ideas about the rules. Go ahead and splurge every now and then on something you love, but in my opinion, the concept of your look is worth much more than the pieces that make it happen.

Next up: Two leather jackets, stockings and a belt make me look forward to the fall...