For Fall, I Spy….

Margherita of Savoy, Queen of Italy, wearing a multi-strand choker and a rope of pearls, possibly with matching bracelet and earrings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last week, we took a look at the hot colors of fall. This week, let’s talk about the trends in fashion from the runways.

First out of the gate are pearls, pearls, pearls. They are everywhere, from jewelry to adornments on dresses and jackets, to embellishments on belts and shoes. When going for pearls go big or go home. Don’t think Barbara Bush’s triple strands; think studded on big hoop earrings, adorning vintage shoe clips (with rhinestones), or scattered over an evening bag.

Grunge is our next trend. It showed up in many, many collections–think dirty denim with small floral pattern dresses, leather accessories, big knuckle rings, heavy soled boots, or spiky adornments. If you are no longer in your 20’s, use this sparingly–leather jackets with softer pieces, messy hair, flat boots. A little grunge can add a nice edge–too much, and you’re playing dress-up.

For fall, fur cropped up in new and somewhat unusual ways: skirts, belts, shoes, even sunglasses. Who didn’t want a pair of those funky Celine Birkenstocks with the fur interior? Designers also shaved furs down to create thinner, finer textures, and dyed furs great, bright colors. A fur vest remodeled from a consignment mink jacket would be fun, fun, fun–even more fun would be faux fur pieces as collars and cuffs on sweaters and jackets, or a fur boa draped about the neck of your leather jacket to juxtaposition hard and soft.

Mixing your patterns, ladies, will put you right in style.  Proenza Schouler showed a crazy quilt of patterns in black and white that looked fresh, dramatic, and very of-the-moment.  Other fall collections featured mismatches of floral patterns, stripes, dots, and other funky motifs that catch the eye and spark the imagination. The trick to not overdoing this trend is to keep to a common color scheme with a predominant color repeated, and to be sparing with throwing animal prints in the mix.

Are you into flowers? Great news for you! Florals stormed the spring runways, and are going strong into fall. Mixed floral patterns were featured in sheath dresses, full skirts, and structured jackets. I think the trend is best used sparingly, in accessories such as a great clutch, a statement ring, or a wonderful pair of pumps. We have a Flower Power table at Doris’ Closet, so come see how you can incorporate flowers into your wardrobe mix. Everything’s coming up roses and daffodils!

The secret is to have fun with these trends. As with any of-the-moment look, don’t redo your wardrobe; incorporate a few fun pieces that you acquire at consignment or thrift shops into the mix.

Project Runway, Ep. 8: It’s Raining Men, Hallelujah!

Before I recap this episode, can I just get this off my not-so-substantial chest? On Tim Gunn‘s Facebook page and mylifetime.com, folks are gripe, gripe, griping about the team concept. Having just followed the Fall/Winter fashion shows, I keep wondering–when DON’T you work in a team as a designer? You have investors, major fashion houses (many owned by conglomerates looking for name recognition and return on investment), vendors, and other players. You have to work collaboratively or you won’t succeed. I keep thinking of the recent shows by Proenza Schouler and Rodarte–teams, people–and how fresh and lovely their creations were. So, the team concept is here for the season. Can we just see how it plays out?

Thanks! I feel so much better!

This week, the challenge is to create a collection of tear-away clothes for male strippers. Really, I could not make this stuff up. And the designers have one day to do it! Menswear is hard enough, but it has to be tear-away and done in a day? Thanks, Heidi and creative team for dooming us to a pitiful collection. Tim tells the duos that each collection must include a suit–“suave, sophisticated,” both modifiers I associate with strip shows. Why not dress them up like cops and Indians and sailors, like the Village People? I mean, that would be fun.

The designers really seem lost struggling with menswear. Stanley and Richard have done some beautiful, well-fitted pieces, but can’t seem to tailor these clothes to save their lives. I LOVE that Daniel does a trench coat–I mean, isn’t stripping sanctioned flashing?

In short, the clothes look horrible, all the judges are gravely disappointed (although Nina has a giggling fit the whole runway show), and Heidi lectures them sternly that there are no winners, but oh, are there losers. Team Shades of Gray is not on the chopping block; Team Slick and Hip gets read the riot act. Amanda is out–finally! And Layana whines and whines and whines. This was a very sad episode. Isn’t it time for a road trip, powers that be?

Best lines of the night:

“I smell chaos and bedlam,” Tim

“Michelle’s vest looks like the Lollipop Guild from the Wizard of Oz,” Daniel

“It looks like something that might have fit but was sent to the wrong dry cleaners,” Richard

“This is like a weird dream,” Zac Posen. And so it was.