Feeling Festive

Festival season has kicked off, and alas I didn't jump on the music train. Luckily there is a ton of inspiration all over the interwebs, with the passing of SXSW mid-March in Austin and the first weekend of Coachella this weekend. Can we say jealous???

[clockwise from the left]

1. Color me lacey with a hint of printed bottoms. Sold. LF

2. Oversized tees and neon non-print prints = Swoon. One Teaspoon via Singer22

3. Neon cut offs, baggy tees, and arm parties galore. Song of Style

4. Functional and cute. Turban's protect against that cali sun {and sweat} Tumblr

5. Chambray shirts as a third piece paired with a printed bottom is love at first sight. Planet Blue

6. Ummerica. get it? Bleach distressed vest, plain white babydoll dress and sack backpack = Easy Camping. LF

I'm certainly eager to see what images pop up on the blogs in the coming weeks, I'm sure Coachella part one and deux will be very inspirational. If nothing else, it serves as a jumpstart to summer fashion.

Yayyy!!!

Spring Uplift

 WILDFOX S/S '12 White Label || Planet Blue Feb '12 || TNA Spring '12

Studies show, stepping outside for fresh air can uplift the spirits during the work day. Coincidentally I got the rare opportunity to venture out of the office to do some research, yeah that's the word for it, research. Any who, a colleague/myworkbestfriend and I met with a vibrant 60-something fabric connoisseur  slash the best story teller I've ever met thus far in life. Talk about a real Sex & the City type encounter with a grandma aged Carrie Bradshaw. Any who we stumbled into a vast library of vintage swatches from all over the globe. I won't divulge much about this encounter, rather, express how invigorating this experience was to a hopeful designer. Some may even say it was sexual. I apologize for my use of this term, my friend Fro, who y'all have yet to meet says it much more enthusiastically then i ever will, so consider it a whisper coming from me.

Anyways not to venture too far from my point ... It has been a while since I've been exposed to so many unique ditsy florals, yarn dye plaids, indigo's, and conversationals in my life. Yes, that may have been the largest understatement of the year, I have such things available to me 5 days a week--> (by that I mean work.)But this is far beyond the point, and I don't wish to continue on...

But this got me thinking, really got those creative juices in my head flowing, and happened to help me recall the recent announcement of the Pantone color of the year. Drum roll please ... Tangerine Tango. Just the little kick i needed in my non-existent pants. As an ebony complexioned individual, I mean we might as well cut to the chase, all things in the orange, pink, yellow family tend to bounce radiantly off of my beautifully bronzed skin. And let me tell you ladies and gents, I am completely natural. This dancing orange made me extra enthused to look for pops of color all over the interwebs. Luckily for me, I hadn't the faintest recollection of which shows had the brightest pops of colors. (Let me tell you how dreary and depressing the Europe runways were with all that black, blah.) So I took a shortcut to brands and stores I rather enjoy browsing on the rare occasion I can do trend research, which is basically everyday.

Enter Wildfox, if it werent for this oversized boyfriend sweater and obnoxious printed love flag, i wouldn't be proud to announce i have found love at the meer age of twenty-four. The ombre/dip dyed hair and white platforms really set it off for me, maybe that or the fact that this is a back shot. Yup, I said it and meant it. Lastly, TNA offers a subdued outfit of chambray, a heathered sweat-y, and colored denim. If there's one thing I've learned about spring trending, colored bottoms are super important, sadly I haven't hopped on the colored denim train and I'm not too scared to admit it. I much prefer my colorless grey skinnies from Uniqlo circa 2010, if you couldn't tell that means they are old, but not ripping at the seams yet. Add some rolled cuffs and neutral ankle booties and you got yourself one good looking hipster.

Secondly and most importantly, we have a pastel option provided by no other than Planet Blue's Valentine's Day Catalogue. If it werent for the predominance of pastels and neons all over this glorious city's streets, I woudn't know what to do with myself. Personally, I am a huge fan of all things not vibrant, sure hit me with a pop of color, but I much prefer the basics. This look is all things wonderful: lace to knit mixing, patterned bottoms, and huge platform booty. Although you wont catch me in any form of short unless I'm found drowning at the beach, I give props to those that dare to bare the leg. This is the perfect pairing of color, texture, and print.

And with that folks, I do bid you goodnight, one can only trail off for so long.

NYFW Top 5

Ok, by 5 I mean 4, as of now. Hopefully the concluding shows of Fashion Week will really wow me. But as of now i must highlight my faves of the season.

Alice & Olivia (via Style.com)

One Word: Refreshing
Compared to the lull of whites, overly pastel, and neutral collections evident all over the runway, Alice & Olivia really put their best foot forward in the development of this collection. Although soft, the colors are way vibrant, each look is beautifully styled, and just as equally simple.

Look 1 is beautifully paired with the hues of mint blue and poppy yellow- easily a work ensemble easily taken to cocktails after work. Look 2 is clean and refined with a pretty basic clean white boat neck dress with a hint of charcoal black peaking through at the hem. Look 3 is ultimate 70's chic- A tonal vibrant red placement print seems bold against this rose colored floor length dress. Look 4 is so on trend its absolutely ridic - a salmon blazer over a poppy yellow bow front crop top and the perfect cerulean HIGH waisted pant.

All i can say is I love this collection, and the beautiful color palette, kudos to you Stacey Bendet.

 

Jen Kao (via Style.com)

A safari meets the clean runways of Lincoln Center. I commend Kao on her experimentation with prints and colors; they make sense in a nonsensical way- kind of like Dr.Seuss (but that's another discussion.) The colors evident in most pieces were toned perfectly thus that each look didn't look to cray with all the zig zags, checkerboards, striping, and sporadic placements. 

Look 1 so subtely makes sense, it lack much explanations- a printed tank, pencil skirt, and kimono style paired layered with novelty laced pieces strategically engineered on top. Look 2 is a different story, grunge meets brooklyn street style, a grey sharkbite tank is paired with printed shorts and tiered fly away ( or maybe its a scarf, whose to say???) Look 3 really speaks to my girdle - i adore the combination of the printed short and high-low crop top.

Although a little cray-cray i think these looks are definitely wearable, well for those that dare.

L.A.M.B (via Style.com)

The return of the serene rocker.

G.Stef def put her thinking cap on when producing this collection. It's like the introduction of the serene rocker, provided that that's not too much of a DOUBLE NEGATIVE. The collection displayed a variety of easy separates, via two tone prints and simple silhouettes.

Look 1 is the NSFW type of outfit that could easily be paired with some solid stockings to soften it up for the workplace. Look 2 is my understanding of sex, give me a big bold tie-dyish print paired with textured leather any day and I'm set. Look 3 is just simple, i think it's really the messy bun and model's facial expression that do it for me. Look 4 is a stroll in the park, I may not be a fan of onesies, or rompers, or whatever the updated footed pajama is, but this look is easily wearable. (Except for the fact that it is two separate pieces and I just JEDI mind TRICKED you.)

Word.

So last but not least, I present:

Prabal Gurung (via Style.com)

They always taught us to put a strong piece at the end of our portfolio, and that's exactly how I feel about Prabal Gurung's collection. Talk about WEARABLE ART, ok maybe to fancy parties only, but still. Purple used to be my favorite color, and I always find it makes the boldest statement in any runway piece, especially on the right body and in the right tones. Hello perfection, it's found for this season. But more importantly theres feathers, tons and tons of feathers, or something favoring feathers on like 3 looks, it's really nbd.

But really since there's nothing shiny and sparkly that says cha-ching, I'll take feathers.

End. and Over It.