Thursday, September 06, 2007

Fall fashion trends

I've gone through a ridiculous number of fashion magazines (Elle, Elle Canada, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Fashion, W, and Flare) this fall. You might remember that I love looking at the fall magazines because they're so big - they have a lot of ads in them and lots and lots of new clothes and styles. :) It's an activity that I look forward to every year :) Here is my list of the fall trends for women:

Overall
  • Lots of pleating and ruching to create interesting shapes
  • Black, grays in every shade, and silver
  • Red
  • Other bright colours like purple and royal blue? The editors say they're in.... but almost every ad was dark and had dark clothes so I don't know if this is true. Maybe for evening dresses it is but not so much for everyday wear.
  • The waist is the focus. Empire waists are on their way out (but can be updated with a belt). Low-rise pants are definitely on their way out. Yay!
  • Lots of 40s-inspired shapes, styles, and colours
  • Patent leather is everywhere
Clothing
  • Trapeze dresses, especially if worn with a belt
  • Dresses, especially shirtdresses
  • 3/4 and 7/8 length sleeves
  • Tunic tops
  • Very wide-legged jeans
  • Skinny jeans
  • Menswear-inspired clothes: trousers, jackets, shirts, and patterns
  • Pleated pants are on their way back
  • Pencil skirts with new seaming and that are fuller on top or at the bottom.
Fabric
  • Plaid, plaid, plaid!!!
  • Glen plaid, flannel - the types of fabrics mens trousers or suits might be made of
  • Aran sweater patterns in other colours like blue, green, and red
Shoes
  • Stiletto heels. Chunky heels are around, but heels are pretty thin and light these days. Wedges are on their way out. Yay!
  • Platforms are getting lower.
  • Flat boots
  • Round toes
  • Small peep toes
  • "Booties" - lace-up brogue, wingtip, or oxford shoes as a stiletto. Example here. Personally, I think these are hideous. They're worn with skirts. I don't think this will stay long because it just isn't attractive on most people.
  • Ankle boots (differentiated from booties by the fabric that goes over the ankle on the front and back of the leg on ankle boots) with a medium to high heel
Accessories
  • Hats. The structured kinds, like cloches
  • Belts of all sizes
  • Big clutch bags
  • Smaller handbags; ginormous bags are out
  • Lots of hardware, studs, and chains. Bags are to be noticed
  • Jewellery is getting smaller and more elegant or not used at all. An outfit with a lot of ruching or interesting folds can't take a big, chunky necklace.
Hair and makeup
  • 40s-style wavy hair. Think Veronica Lake.
  • Red, red lips
  • Smoky eyes. Not with red lips.
  • Gray or bright coloured eyeshadows. Also not with red lips.
  • Black liquid eyeliner extended past the eye (sort of a 60s Mod look), but not with gray or bright coloured eyeshadows. Do this with natural colours only. And not red lips.
  • A matte face. In past seasons the face has been dewy (ie just this side of shiny). Now we're looking at a matte face - not with too much powder, though. Use powder really only in the T-zone across the forehead and down the nose and cheeks.
  • Short, dark nails. Like black or midnight blue nailpolish on nails that don't extend past the end of the finger.

Whew! That's a lot of stuff. I guess there aren't that many trends, but when broken down into each of these sections, it seems like a lot.

Flare has given themselves a new look. Personally, I don't like it. I find their pages disconnected with not enough information about fall fashion. They had pages featuring what certain people like. The fact that no one has heard of these people is irrelevant, I guess. The magazine simply didn't do enough to show the trends. Their fashion shoot photos were awful and uninspired. I'm quite tired of seeing models in that "put your hands on your hips with fingers pointing to the bellybutton, push your stomach back and your shoulders forward and your elbows out". I mean, we see that everywhere. Sigh. I don't recommend Flare and I won't buy it again. I will be writing to tell them my opinion, but I'm not sure it'll matter because I don't think I'm in their target market.

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