Lessons Learned From 20 Years of Style Idolatry

Yesterday I celebrated my 20^th birthday. Having now spent two full decades on this planet I feel like I have more credibility when it comes to fashion. That’s because I can now speak from experience of not one, but two entire decades of style history. It makes me feel like an old fogey to recognize the 90’s grunge trend’s fierce comeback as just that, a comeback.

Thinking about my age (it’s an awkward one, right?) got me to start reflecting on the fashion choices of my bygone years. I started making wardrobe choices for myself at a young age and naturally developed a taste for only the trendiest of clothes. Of course my idea of trendy was severely limited by what I saw on television and in the movies. That is why I present to you now, lessons learned from my fashion idols: Dora Winifred Read, Lizzie McGuire, and Zenon: Girl of the 21^st Century.

Zenon, the smart, bold heroine had a wardrobe as sassy as her personality. Just because she’s a girl of the late 21^st century, doesn’t mean confident dressers can’t emulate her style in 2012. If anything, Zenon taught me to take fashion risks. No space station resident rocked neon and metallic quite like Zenon and there is no better time to try out the trends than now while they’re available at every store.

On Disney’s premier live-action sitcom, “Lizzie McGuire”, the title character Lizzie was known for her quirky fashion choices. My favorite look of all might be her iconic opening credit ensemble. I am not advising that any modern woman go pick up orange paisley pants and a purple tie-dye top. I certainly wouldn’t deign to wear that outfit. However it beautifully illustrates one of my favorite trends: mixing prints. Opt instead to mix a large, bold pattern with a small, understated pattern and it’s hard to go wrong.

Dora Winifred Read, or D.W. as fans know her, is the notoriously obnoxious little sister of Arthur. She might still be in playschool and seek advice from an imaginary friend, but the 4-year-old always gets one thing right: Dressing for comfort. Who cares about looking great if your feet are killing and your pants fit like a second pair of skin? D.W. knows well enough to wear flats, tights, and an A-line dress. She rocks it everyday.

Leopards and pythons and tigers. Oh my!

It’s homecoming week here at Drake University. Months ago a group of students began the arduous task of planning the festivities for an unenthusiastic student body. Last year the week of events was designed around a Disney theme, but this year we got “Wild about Drake,” a jungle theme.

A fashion forecaster must have pitched that idea because no trend is bigger this fall than animal prints. As far as I’m concerned animal print is never out, but the Fall 2012 RTW runway shows were particularly infected with jungle fever. The best example may be Roberto Cavalli’s Just Cavalli which delivered a heavy dose of leopard at New York Fashion Week in February.

Since then, nature has taken its course and the feisty animal print trend has trickled down into more accessible fashion markets and moved beyond ordinary leopard print. J. Crew is all about the look and their current collection is peppered with leopard printed blouses and trousers and exotic python selections. At $1800, their python skin pencil skirt won’t become a staple of the everygirl, but for the few bold women who splurge on it this season it’s bound to make a statement.

The leopard print look isn’t as fresh as python, but the pieces hitting stores this season are updated perfectly. There is a misconception that leopard print ought to be reserved for twenty-somethings at the club. False. Leopard print should be in every wardrobe. It’s nature’s neutral and in the right amount it pulls any outfit together. Weary consumers should at least pick up a pair of leopard print shoes or a belt because you can literally wear them with anything. More daring style mavens should wear the trend my favorite way, in a tailored pair of trousers or jacket.

Another fun trend that isn’t nearly so extreme are the literal “animal prints” popping up everywhere from ZARA to Forever 21. Knit sweaters with critters on the front are one popular way to rock the look. They made a splash last fall and winter and are back again for round two.

My favorite adaptation of the classic animal print has got to be prints with animals all over them. A slew of these fun textiles can be found in stores, often in the form of silk blouses, and they are easy to incorporate into your closet. If you hunt hard enough you can find pretty much any animal print your heart desires. As a Drake Bulldog, I love the bulldog print pants pictured above. They would take the “Wild about Drake” homecoming theme to an entirely different level.

 

Finally, a shout out to my loyal readers! Thanks again for the awesome boots Aunt Stephanie!

Presents by Polyvore

Birthday time is the perfect opportunity to mull over the options in your closet and reflect on another year of your style. I personally like to dramatically pull open the doors on my wardrobe simultaneously a la Carrie Bradshaw. I am always underwhelmed.

When October approaches (where did the year go, by the way?) I start to get the “what do you want for your birthday” emails and phone calls from my mom and dad and grandma and aunts. Typically, I don’t have anything to tell them. “Clothes,” I think, but I would never dream to express it verbally because I fear what I may end up with.

There are of course standard gift cards, but I dislike their impersonal quality. Moreover, I still love opening presents. To avoid opening a bunch of flat envelopes I opted to make a wish list this year with my favorite online shopping utility, Polyvore.

Polyvore works like a digital scrapbook for all of your wildest fashion dreams. Users drag and drop items on the site, which are all available in stores or online, to a white canvas and organize them in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Depending on taste, a Polyvore “set,” as they are called, can end up looking like a mood board, a magazine spread or more collage-y.

The site conveniently organizes all of the items on the page into a shopping list that tells the brand, the store and the price of each piece. When sets are published they can be shared with friends and family or saved for personal reference.

After wasting hours perusing online stores I finally edited down my birthday wish list to these 6 things. I think they’ll fit seamlessly into my wardrobe and give some of my well-worn favorites relief.

1. Wine colored, high-waisted jeans – This romantic color is all over the place this fall. It’s less bright than the pastel jeans from spring and summer so it will work perfectly for the darker, colder months ahead. Plus, they are really easy to wear and automatically have much higher cool factor with a simple t-shirt than standard blue jeans.
2. Chunky sweaters – Need I say more? My closet is full of them already because it’s beyond easy to throw one on and look put together in a snap.
3. Black Doc Marten’s – I wore these in brown as a gangly second grader. As much as I would like to avoid going down that memory lane, my boot collection feels incomplete without these.
4. Kate Spade stud earrings – These come in oodles of colors at a really reasonable price point (under $40!). I’m digging the black though because you can wear them with anything.
5. Pleated leather mini-skirt – I get so much flack from friends when I stop at the mall to admire these gems. I really want one. What’s more glam-rock than a full, girly silhouette in black leather?

(Well received) British Invasion

Anglophiles and British fashion fans have long loved the U.K.’s most hip chain brand, TOPSHOP.  For years the clothing, famous for its brave approach to current trends, was the envy of us Americans and sported stateside only by lucky jet-setting Hollywood starlets.

Eventually the brand hopped the pond, but American fans still had to make a pilgrimage to New York, Chicago or Las Vegas to shop the line in-store. But rejoice! This past week the clothing made its debut in select Nordstrom stores across the country making TOPSHOP more accessible than ever before.

The affordable offerings include some of the brand’s best sellers in addition to limited edition pieces that will no doubt be snagged up in short order. The department store is also carrying a full line of shoes and accessories, maternity wear, and TOPMAN products for the gentlemen.

The pieces, which are conveniently available online from Nordstrom too, are super on trend for the fall. There are tons of innovative prints, studded tops, chunky sweaters, and tailored tops and bottoms.

So plan a spree at Nordstrom and make off with some of these awesome pieces. Bonus points if you master an English accent to accessorize your new threads.

Fact: : No one dislikes weddings, surprises, or leggy blonde actresses.

That’s why Blake Lively’s secret nuptials over the weekend to People’s Sexiest Man Alive 2010 (that’s Ryan Reynolds of course) was the trifecta of awesomeness. I laud the genetic overachievers for pulling of such a stealth ceremony, but to deprive the prying public of pictures is harsh.

Blake Lively is my absolute favorite modern fashion icon. The woman can literally do no wrong. She rocks everything she dons from slinky red carpet gowns to skinny jeans and t-shirts. Of course she’s most notorious for showing off her gams in flirty frocks and menswear inspired short-short ensembles. The coolest part about her, and I’m gushing like a middle-school girl, is that she doesn’t have a stylist. She picks out her own stuff. Like a normal person!

Word is, she walked down the aisle in Marchesa, which couldn’t be more fitting because some of my favorite Blake moments ever were Marchesa moments. Nobody could have been better suited to dress Blake on her wedding day than Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig, the mastermind designers behind one of my all time favorite couture lines.

To celebrate the bombshell bride, and because it never hurts to feast your eyes on fine fashion, I’d now like rehash some of her greatest Marchesa looks.

Cue the somber song that plays during the “In Memory” slideshow at the Academy Awards.

Blake in a blue Marchesa frock at the 2010 Costume Institute Gala.

At the premier of “Where the Wild Things Are”

At the premier of her film “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee”

At the 2011 BAFTA’s

Bold in yellow.

Here’s hoping Blake and Ryan enjoy years of happiness and that Carl Lagerfeld starts making children’s clothing. Naturally, only Chanel will do for the offspring of these two.

P.S. – Time had fun speculating what her dress may have looked like. Check it out, there are lots more pretty dresses!

Fall & Fetherston

Fear not fashion enthusiasts, as confirmed by my Intro to Meteorology professor, fall is finally upon us. Months of oppressive heat, bad hair days and awkward tan lines will soon give way to the characteristically brisk weather of the superior season.  It is with great enthusiasm that I swap out flip-flops for leather boots and t-shirts for chunky knit sweaters.

Of course fall has more to offer than the chance to play with layers, it also heralds in a brand new crop of lust-worthy clothing at New York Fashion Week.

Before fashion lovers even have the chance to romp about in their fall wardrobes, the who’s who of the industry are displaying their Spring/Summer lines in spectacles of style across New York City.

These fresh looks might not hit shopping malls for months, but no one can stop you from getting a head start on 2013’s inevitable trends.

Erin Fetherston’s Spring 2013 collection was one of the first to show yesterday, kicking off what’s certain to be a bold, pattern laden Fashion Week. Fetherston, who’s been on my radar for years because of her fantastically feminine couture and ready-to-wear lines, gave yet another dazzling performance on the fashion stage.

The new collection has a distinctly glam, 60’s mod vibe, a departure from previous more ethereal looks, that I am absolutely loving. While the mini-dresses and tube tops don’t translate very well to the cool fall days of the near future, other elements of her clothes can, nay should, make appearances in your outfits this season and next.

Here are the notes you should take away: Collars are key. Opt for smaller, square shaped collars that are buttoned all the way up for a polished, as opposed to preppy, look. Embrace the unexpected. Fetherston gives typical feminine pieces new rocker attitudes by adding studs to a cropped cardigan and using black leather to amp up the drama of a classic swingy dress. Go bold or go home. Some women fear patterns. That’s silly. Don’t shy away from them! Patterns don’t have to be as loud as Fetherston’s neon lips and big cat print to make a statement. Give them a fighting chance with a floral blazer on top of a simple blouse or a tapered polka-dot trouser.