Image Credit: elle.com
Alexa Chung in Luella at the ELLE style awards
If I say ‘tiers’ and you think of wedding cake or Swan Lake and nought in between, hopefully these party dresses will spark your imagination. A black tiered dress is more or less a sexy senorita’s flamenco uniform, is it not, and this Freemans £60 bargain makes me want to salsa all the way to my savings account. But don’t be restricted to black. Jewel colours make a bijou statement this season, so swish those tiers to full effect. This Temperley dress (below) is the height of grown-up dressing, but the belt keeps the look young and hip. Alice Temperely, like Luella, is clearly a dress girl – they understand how to make women feel utterly pretty. The fabrics are key: satins and silks reflect the light and show movement, think how leaden and flat velvet tiers would look.
That Luella dress on Alexa Chung at the Elle style awards couldn’t have been more right, and regardless of her loveliness you can see there’s a model working that dress to the max. Pink and black? Agent Provocateur couldn’t have done it better themselves. The golden limbs, the flushed cheeks, the frou-frou chic reined in by that belt. And the pièce de résistance – the Alexa touch – the patent shoe boots (out of view) which take girlie down a notch or ten. And I’m sure if Alexa had her way she’d accessorize with a beaten up old satchel rather than a clutch.
Tiers before bedtime? Only if you miss out on this unique vintage 80s dress from Rockit online, which is SO now I’m really quite chuffed with myself for finding it. At £50 it’s full lined and the bodice is boned, plus there is an oversized bow on the black, and a black netted underskirt.
Image Credit: style.com
Image Credit: rockit.co.uk
Image Credit: freemans.com
Image Credit: freemans.com
posted by The Style Critic at 10:59 am
Image credit: netaporter.com
Further to my post about heavy bags, here is the Chloe Cyndi, and yes it does look like it’ll be heavy as a raincloud to lug around, but the pain is incidental when you co-ordinate so effortlessly with your surroundings. By this I mean the grey urban skies, the pigeons, the exhaust fumes, the pavements, the mood of a nation in recession. This is more than a bag. It is a reflection of our times, and at £1072 you should gag your inner Gordon Brown and see it as a bargain. It’s your economic duty, and when the clouds disperse you will see this bag for what is: a step closer to Hermes in dove grey. Grey goes with everything, especially good ol’ British cynicism.
Also, I’m glad the leather isn’t real croc but stamped to look that way. I’m no Stella McCartney when it comes to leather but I struggle with the ethics of snakeskin and crocodile. In 2008 carrying those rare skins on your arm says ‘I belong to a colonial age and the environment bores me, so does animal welfare, so does everything but myself, in fact I’m sending my gran to the tannery and making a holdall out of her too.’ Hmmm. OK I’ll be honest; I did have a fantasy fling with another Chloe bag. The mahogany brown snakeskin Silverado, but I just couldn’t see past the price or the python so I made it go away. But the Cyndi may well be the perfect compromise, and one that’s here to stay.
posted by The Style Critic at 10:44 am
Now I’m not one for red lipstick myself, although if I had the right kind of mouth I’d run to the shops and buy this exact shade of red and start practicing my Jessica Rabbitt pout. I admire women with signature red lips but on me it’s hardly the height of sophistication; more costume vamp or first-time-with-mum’s-lippie amateur. Lulu Guinness practises what she preaches when it comes to retro glamour and like many designers she prefers to wear own creations. Her clothes and accessories emancipate the 50s pin-up in all of us and ensure she’s right up to date. The result is tongue-in-cheek but not kitsch, and that’s because the quality and craftsmanship are superb. I can’t think of a more winning combination with this season’s structured looks than this clutch. Love love love. Or should that be mwah mwah mwah! And if you’re not a fan of snakeskin there’s a perspex version of the evening bag at £195.00, plus other colours too. Who needs the right kind of mouth when you can carry one?
Photo Credit: luluguinness.com
posted by The Style Critic at 10:33 am
When Gwynnie stepped out onto the red carpet for the UK premiere of Iron Man in April 2008 she didn’t need to announce to the world that she was out of mommy hibernation. Her Balmain dress did the talking. That – and the legs – said loud and clear that ‘the husband’s on tour and the kids are in bed.’ If it wasn’t for the artfully casual tux jacket and mussed-up hair, we’d have wondered if Gwynnie wasn’t a bit too close to Soho, if you know what I mean. Even if she was in Leicester Square.
Lace has that effect on the consciousness. Until this season, that is, when Miuccia Prada paraded the most beautiful collection of couture lace made in Switzerland specially, and showed us how lace could be anything but slutty or grannyish. Whip-fierce shoes and blade-like necklaces cut through any hint of twee.
Luella’s spin on the fabric was more punk witch, and Stella McCarney’s more traditional Victoriana, but no question this was going to be a big trend for this season. This translation has been a challenge for the high street, and you only have to examine a piece of antique lace next to an Ann Summers basque to see why. But there is so much of it about you can afford to pick and choose, and it’s the spin on the trend that you’re going for, rather than the full Mrs Havisham.
PS. If you’re itching to ditch the look altogether, give a thought to lace tights by Wolford or Jonathan Aston.
Image Credit: style.com
Miuccia makes it happen: the cutting edge of demure for Prada A/W ‘08, and not a mothball in sight.
Image Credit: Metro.co.uk
Image Credit: marksandspencer.com
posted by The Style Critic at 11:27 pm
OK so most of the time I look at Posh and I feel for the woman. I put myself in her shoes and I’m tottering on the verge of a high fashion breakdown. I long since made a pact with the world that I would eschew papparazi intrusion in exchange for more sleep, less frequent applications of make-up and a husband who recognised me in the morning. Posh, on the other hand, takes ‘on duty’ more seriously than a sergeant major, and she’s raised her bar so high that anything but the sharpest of cut and the highest of heel make her look scruffy. So whenever I see a nod to mufti day or even a hint of let up or playfulness in Victoria’s outfits, I undo the top button of my jeans in celebration.
Now perhaps it’s the hearts but I just want to hug Victoria in this dress. I can see her at Glastonbury festival in this sort of thing, it’s as close to hippie as she’ll get until Hermes makes a patchwork Birkin. I’m guessing it’s Marc Jacobs but I’m hoping, I’m dreaming that she found it in a thrift shop in downtown LA and just had to have it.
PS. I dig that the purple grape hearts exactly match the purple grape Ostrich Hermes Birkin, and I’m guessing that Louboutin doesn’t do a stiletto in purple grape otherwise the feet would follow; but red heart shaped sunglasses? Such an omission.
Image Credit: dailymail.co.uk
posted by The Style Critic at 11:12 pm
How heavy is too heavy when it comes to your handbag? I carry the weight of a small child with me most of the time. It starts innocently enough with the basics of wallet and keys. But living in London means an umbrella on standby, something to read, something to drink, something to keep you warm, something to nibble on. I have become something of an urban warrior equipped for survival at all times. I even carry bags within bags – I have a condensed medical cabinet on my person most of the time, by which I mean plasters in case of sudden heel blisters, headache tablets etc. I travelled to Australia last year and it took me a while to register that this is a country with shops, just like our own, and I didn’t have to take every single thing I may need for every eventuality.
So I’m wondering whether the size of our bag represents the scale of our anguish at being unprepared in life. It’s a crippling fact that womens’ handbags seem to be getting heavier and heavier, with the average woman’s bag now weighing in at 5.2lb. The weighty padlock feature on the Chloe Paddington sent droves of women to the osteopath. I coveted the Burberry Knight line, but those metal studs made the bag alone wear a ton, and that’s before I put my life in it. My girlfriend Z has given up the fight with hers and stuck it on top of the cupboard. If it fell on her she’d be concussed. I watch innocent people try and move my handbag and give up. Soon, the most desirable bag will be like a Sword in the Stone scenario, and only the richest and strongest among us will get to carry it. And in the meantime I’m working out how to downsize to that Jimmy Choo Kase Oval Clutch I’ve got my eye on: purely for orthopaedic reasons of course.
Poor Agy, exhausted from lugging that Burberry Knight around all day I bet…
Image Credit: Unknown
posted by The Style Critic at 10:04 pm
If you look like Aladdin you’re gone too far, but Arabian nights is one way of interpreting the amethyst purples, rich emeralds, topaz and garnet reds that typify that luxurious and poised feel of A/W ’08. There’s nothing gaudy about these structured looks, and indeed it is structure that underpins many collections. It’s all refreshingly solid and held together. Just what we need after an unforgiving summer of floaty dresses. Structure and statement are the words du jour – ‘statement bag’, ‘statement coat’, ‘statement dress’. Get used to hearing it a lot, but unless you have deep pockets – ‘credit card statement’ is not a trend in itself sweetie – pare your choices right down. Get the best you can afford.
Look for the ultimate jewel handbag or clutch like this from Missoni.
Image Credit: popsugar.com
Image credit: jimmychoo.com
And who needs jewellery with the Jimmy Choo Kase Oval cluch. It’s £750, but tell him it’s one zero less than the engagement ring you’ve set your heart on. That should do it. For now.
posted by The Style Critic at 9:34 pm
If your floral dresses are beginning to droop in your cupboard as we speak, it’s time to re-pot your ideas about how you can wear them this season. They will only look wrong if your accessorise with bare legs and goose bumps so first thing’s first – head to the hosiery department. Tights are a designer’s perfect counterpoint in a/w, and as we’re only moments away from squeezing our pins into lace-patterned ones (thanks to Prada’s striking revision of this delicate fabric as heavyweight couture styling), get ready for contrast. But for now let’s keep distraction from our florals to a minimum with simple block colour tights in maroon, plum, slate grey or black.
Erin Fetherston shows that A/W florals can still be light and breezy, but with a longer sleeve and something underneath you won’t be out in the cold in the fashion stakes…pssst Celia Birtwell for Topshop does the best on the high street.
As for footwear, shoeboots look cute yet tough and balance out any nostalgia for summer, or loafers if you have long legs and are utterly dedicated to the cause. Team leader: Alexa Chung.
Image Credit: erinfetherston.com
Image Credit: erinfetherston.com
Image Credit: topshop.com
posted by The Style Critic at 8:53 pm
If you believe in fairies you’ll know that they don’t just disappear after one season sweetie. Prada’s collection for spring featured the Fairy bag, which some women believed in and others just wished would fly, fly away. The award winning artist/illustrator is James Jean, and as with Murakami and Louis Vuitton, the collaboration divided the old and new guard. More mature women simply didn’t feel it was age-appropriate, even though at over $2000 a bag the price definitely was – hardly teen pocket money. But when nymph went head-to-head with nymphette in the real world, Catherine Deneuve and Tilda Swinton had the soignée edge over Hilary Duff. In spite of its theme I think this is a woman’s rather than a girl’s bag. It wants contrast: some austere tailoring rather than a cutesy top and skinny jeans.
Long before James Jean there was Cicely Mary Barker. Her Flower Fairies series was first published in 1923 and she drew with as much care and detail and love for her creations as Beatrix Potter. Generations of children have since been enchanted by her work, including myself. I don’t remember anything of the text but those dainty creatures certainly took flight in my imagination. If there was a patron saint of fashion she would surely be a fairy – beautiful, ephemeral, but immortalized in a Prada bag for a long time to come.
The Fairy Bag will be a classic, so close your eyes and say after me ‘I believe in fairies’. I’m hoping there’s one under my pillow in the morning.
Image Credit: prada.com
Image Credit: flower-fairies.com
posted by The Style Critic at 8:03 pm
Elle magazine (September) has declared it, and so it must be this season’s sartorial truth. The dress is the thing. The one item you’ll covet beyond all else this season. Hemlines have dropped to the knee and below, and the high street have translated the more oblique catwalk designs into affordable, desirable fashion.
Of course for many of us dresses can never go out of fashion. This is because we are lazy, slothful creatures who cannot process more than one large item of clothing in the morning. Separates? Separates shmeperates. Separates mean a full-length mirror, semi-darkness and any number of crumpled little items held up for inspection like pairs of odd socks. Take my advice and dress up. It’s a remarkably stress-free experience, and if, like me, you are still mourning the loss of opaque black tights in your life, the dress will be your NBF.
There is a dress for all sizes and all moods, and because it is one complete shape on the body, you can judge whether it suits you and how it fits you without playing matchy-matchy. The key words are structure and simplicity. Grown up sophistication is the theme that runs through it, so if you catch yourself looking like your daughter/niece/granddaughter you’ve fashion-forwarded a season so back to bed.
And do not pass Go.
Image credit: style.com
Sculptural ruffles at Lanvin ready-to-wear a/w ‘08. Sarah Mower decried Elbaz’s collection as “a tour de force of innovation and simplicity” and in one way “a feat of technical genius”.
Image Credit: style.com
Slick and simple at Thakoon a/w ‘08. The LBD grows up.
Image Credit: phase-eight.co.uk
posted by The Style Critic at 6:55 pm
