#10 Your Choice

Personal Style is something that as a fashion student I hold near and dear. We all use our clothes as a form of self expression, and if you look back on old photos you will see your fashion sense evolve. Some things you may look back at and wonder "What the hell was I thinking?!", but at the time that outfit may have totally made sense and made you feel like a rockstar. I for example used to own a pair of hot pink pleather pants with orange flowers. Looking back, not such a good look, but at the time they were my favorite pants in the whole world. Our styles evolve as we grow up, but I think it is important to stay strong with what you love and not fall into a clone of what's trendy.

We get the inspiration for our personal style from so many different places like nature, peers, streets, movies, and of course celebrities. Celebrities act as style inspiration for the world and because of that are severly criticised for what they wear. When I need some style inspiration I look to a few lovely ladies who have truely defined their personal style and won't buckle to what critics say.

 

My top 3 style icons right now are...

 

1. MILEY CYRUS

 

 

I love her grungy edge and her ability to wear such a variety of styles while still keeping it cool and young.

 2. GWEN STEFANI

 

She has always been such an individual when it comes to fashion and I love her for it. She rocks a glamerous grunge look and always looks beautiful and tough at the same time.

 

3. KRISTEN STEWART

 

She has become a recent addition to my style icon favorites. I love that she refuses to change who she is for anyone. She is awsome and that is reflected in her clothes. She has that tomboy look with a girly punk after thought.

 

All these lovely ladies have had great style evolutions that reflect their lives at different years, which is what we all experience. We may have good and bad outfits but fashion is something you need to experiment until you find exactly what describes you and what you feel confident in.

 

So enjoy fashion and have fun developing your own personal style!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thats all for now,

 

Nicole

 

 

 

#9 New Show Formats

Long gone are the days of simple department store fashion shows. Enter the new world of runways that are so innovative they should be in a new performance catagory. With the development of new technologies traditional runway shows are being challenged by new formats like holographic models, building projections of enormous polo players, and popularized TV and online broadcasts of live shows. Designers put millions of dollars into their runway shows and make a performance out of them to capture audiences and get people excited about the brand and what will happen next. You always have to be thinking of new ways to get customers, or at least good press.
 

Who can forget when McQueen
put the Kate Moss twirling hologram
on his runway in 2006 right?

Or the Ralph Lauren show that happened in November of 2010 at the opening of the London flagship store. After months of preperations and work with light mapping techniques and building projection they were able to pull of an 8 minute 4D show that when projected onto the building front made the walls dissapear leaving 15 ft tall models walking runways and polo players riding on horses. Thats no ordinary cat walk, that was true brilliance and technology at work.

Ralph Lauren London

Last year Burberry tried their hand with technology at the opening of their Beijing flagship store creating a spectacular vision of a psychedelic runway show featuring holograms walking through one another, bursting into snowflakes and multiplying along the catwalk. The show was a real production lasting almost 20 minutes. It began with projections along the walls and ceiling creating a mood and then when the catwalk began you were amazed when the models suddenly began bursting. It was brilliant, and so lifelike that you have trouble detecting the holograms.

 

 

Burberry Beijing

 
As we progress further into the future I see more and more deisgn houses going in these directions and creating bigger and bigger productions out of their runway shows. They are becoming more like little plays and skits than just models walking in a line. And with the help of the internet they are ever more accessable to to watch even if you are not invited live.

#8 Lookbooks

When doing your daily dose of online shopping at all your favorite stores, let your mouse glide over to the little tab that says "Lookbooks". It will lead you to a magical world of perfectly put together outfits comprised of the curent hotest items for the store. It's like having a stylist show you exactly what the vision of the season's collection is, and how you can wear each new piece. Think online manequins, but with models wearing the clothes.

 

If you take a look at Club Monaco's website you can see a new Lookbook every month showing the latest merchandise. This month they have 11 looks for you to shop and explore. Just browse, click the outfit you like and it leads you to the links for each individual garment and accessory of the look that Club Monaco is selling. 

 

 

#7 Trunk Shows

For those of you out there who are like me and 100% obsessed with wedding dresses, and watch Say Yes to the Dress like it's your religion you may have heard them throw the term "trunk show" around quite often. A trunk show is a special type of sale that allows for a preview, and sometimes purchase, of new designer clothes before they are made available for public sale. Usually the designer is present at these shows to promote their designs, answer questions buyers have, and mingle with customers. The term trunk show came to be because the garments are traveling to new locations all the time for the sales and were displayed in the trunks they were shipped in.

Today luxury brands are using trunk shows in new and innovative ways. Bergdorf Goodman had its first virtual trunk show in 2010 which allowed buyers from around the world to view the collection without having to travel hundreds of miles.

Bridal is still the biggest area of fashion to utilize trunk shows to promote business in their stores.

Kleinfeld's, the home of Say Yes to the Dress, has their schedule of upcoming trunk shows posted on their website for future brides to peruse while searching for that perfect dress for their special day.

Right now they have scheduled :

• Anne Barge- Oct. 26-28
• Badgely Mishka- Oct. 26-28
• Edgardo Bonilla- Oct. 30- Nov.1

       Anne Barge Sweetheart Ball Gown

 Badgely Mishka Scoop Sheath Gown

 

Edgardo Bonilla Strapless A-Line Gown in Satin

Photos taken from Kleinfeld's website

Keep your eye's and ear's out for any upcoming trunk shows in your area, you may be able to meet your favorite designers and look at (or buy!!) some amazing new merchandise that are not available to the rest of the shoppers yet.

-Nicole

#6 Video Fashion Show

There are so many blogs and style forecasting sites to learn about upcoming trends and fashions, but every fashionista's ultimate dream is to attend the live runway shows that happen every year around the globe during Fashion Weeks. Fear not thought because thanks to the wonderful world of technology we can finally achieve the goal of seeing these runways live. Yah it may not be sitting front row, but it is almost as good. Many designers are streaming live videos of their shows that anyone with a computer and acess to the internet can log on to watch. You never have to miss Fashion Week again. Woo Hoo!!!!

Here is the film of the Women's Spring/Summer 2013 collection created by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, one of my favorite design houses.

Ughh beyond amazing, I can't even stand how beautiful, elaborate, imaginative, inovative, detailed, and every other adjective you could use to describe the beauty of each and every garment of this show. The inspiration videos of bees and the music played during the show accented the clothing perfectly with out over whelming the senses and distracting from the clothes. The use of the bee keeper style hats that each model wore I thought were a great way to incorporate the theme, and by covering the faces of those beautiful models you actually focus more on the clothes because you are not distracted by the makeup and personality that come through a face. It creates an air of mystery around the looks. 

When describing her collection Burton said, "The collection is a study of femininity. We looked at erotica. Vargas girls, cages, corsets and crinolines and the idealisation of the female form. Nothing is set in a particular period. It's about sensuality and skin but not nudity. We also wanted to express lightness, for the clothes almost to hover over the women who wear them."

I loved the use of foundation garments that are traditionally worn under your clothes such as corsets, cages, and crinolines, in a new way. They made them into elaboratly finished pieces that would have been sinful to cover up. Much of the collection was a play between opposites, covered up and exposed, tailored and exagerated femininity, and a balance of laser cut leathers with silk organza. The textiles were also spectacular. The incorporation of the honeycomb and bee patterns were done in a sophisticated and innovated way. All around I loved the show. Sarah Burton and her team have shown their true brilliance.

#5 Retail Window Displays

Every year thousands of people flock to NYC in the holiday times just to see the beautiful window displays that stores like Macys, Lord and Taylor, Barneys, and Bloomingdales put up. But the busy visual merchandisers that come up with, and create these elaborate and gorgeous window displays are working hard all year round to get people to come into stores. These windows are our eyes into the store, our first look at the gifts that are waiting to be sold inside. They create a mood, a feeling, an inspiration, anything that will get the consumer walking down the streets to stop for a second and say to themselves, "Hey, I could really use a new jacket." or "O my gosh I have to have those new jeans!" Those windows make a very big impresion on shoppers and can make or break a stores image to the world.

 

One example of a reatil store's new window displays that I really liked were H&M. Now that they have a new spokesmodel, singer Lana Del Ray, they have revamped their displays to have mannequins singing into old fashion microphones, and big beauty queen hair that Lana is so famous for having. They also sport big sets of false eyelashes.

These pictures are of the H&M location on 7th avenue, but if you walked down to the one on 34th street you will see the same dressed mannequins but some are on a revolving platform so the mannequins change to the front slowly.

 

The H&M displays are rather simple,

 but some other stores have the ability to do moreelaborate and creative displays. Another store on 34th street called Desigual sports a wacky window

 that goes with its crazy patterned clothes.

P.S. - Sorry for the glare in all my pictures its hard to get a clear shot with the glass!

 

#4 NY Times Blog

Although you may not think of looking to the NY Times for style insight, there are actually some great writters there who report on the upcoming shows and news in the fashion industry. Eric Wilson is one of the talented individuals who writes for the Fashion & Style section of the paper. When you read through a fashion report there are a few key terms to keep in mind.

1. Silhouette or Design

2. Details

3. Colors

4. Fabrics

5. Creative Jargon

 

These are some of the many aspects of a fashion reporters repertoir that you should know.

 

In his article titled "Channeling the Codes of Saint Laurent", Eric Wilson uses this language to describe the Saint Laurent ready-to-wear collection recently shown at Paris Fashion Week. This show was highly anticipated because of the vast changes happening at the fashion house. Under new direction by Hedi Slimane the fashion house has changed its name to just Saint Laurent, redisigned its logo, and changed its base location to Los Angeles, CA rather than Paris.

 

The show setting proved to be very dark and dramatic taking place in the rafters of a black gallery. The invitations were thick black journals filled with photos of animalistic images and prints. the seats and stage were constructed of plywood, and the lighting was so dark it proved hard to read the place seatings. Large speakers flanked the runway giving the whole event a concert vibe.

 

 

 

The fashion paid tribute to the classic house of Saint Laurent displaying designs of floor length caftans, fringed shawls, and peasant blouses. He also used classic suede and leather fabrics in jackets and skirts. Mr. Slimane added his own touch with skinny suits in tuxedo fashions. The finale showed a few of Saint Laurent's signiture colors in floppy hats and sweeping caftans. One guest at the show said that it reminded him of an opium den envoking a sense of rich colors and fabrics. Actress Salma Hayak described it as a modern Saint Laurent, and very rock and roll.

 

Eric Wilson's full article can be found at:http://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/channeling-the-codes-of-saint-laurent/

A full slideshow of the Spring 2013 RTW Saint Laurent collection can be found on www.vogue.com

Pictures taken from:
http://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/channeling-the-codes-of-saint-laurent/

http://www.vogue.com/collections/spring-2013-rtw/saint-laurent/review/#/collection/runway/spring-2013-rtw/saint-laurent/35