#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.