Current Fashion Trends | Fashion Facts

What to wear as winter closes in

As the days shorten and the clouds begin to close in over the Southern Hemisphere, women usually know that the days of cheerful colors and fun patterns are over for another few months – but not this year.

The patterns, prints and textural fabrics that were summer mainstays have seeped into 2011’s winter catalogs and are providing some welcome relief from the usual greys and blacks.

Layers are always in fashion during the winter months, but this year boring wool-on-wool outfits can be spiced up with fabrics such as brocade, leather jackets, and long or short sleeved chunky knits.

Print dresses in luxurious materials like satin and silky elastane [correct spelling] fibers are vying with masculine military ensembles that have remained popular from last year. Waist-hugging A-line skirts are also back in vogue, but this year the tendency is away from a stiffer, tailored style and towards more comfortable materials that move with the body.

Winter means the old favorites like the versatile trench coat and trusty boots make a return, but this year a pared-back fisherman’s pant is also on the scene, and while the gathered material around the thighs and tapered legs may seem daunting, this is actually a highly flattering style that veils all manner of indulgences.

Chunky scarves, woolen berets and leather gloves are a must-have in the colder months, but to top off any winter outfit, bring out the big statement jewelry. Chunky necklaces and broaches complement layers and thicker fabrics, and when a dreary day is matched with black-and-grey clothes, they can provide an outfit with that extra vivacity to stand apart from the crowd.

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Filed Under: Current Fashion Trends Tagged With: Clothing, Southern Hemisphere, Wool

Finding Doll Clothes

American Girl dolls have been around for a long time. If you are a mom, you may have had one as a child and now want to pass the tradition down to your own daughter. As you know, these dolls are not exactly inexpensive. Although you may have no problem splurging for the doll for a birthday or Christmas gift, it is important to remember that your child may want more items for the doll as time goes on.

When your child starts asking for American Girl doll clothes, your first instinct is probably to go to the official American Girl website. This is a great place to shop for the doll clothes, as it will have the largest selection. However, if you are on a budget, these tiny clothes can add up fast. There are other specialty doll clothing stores on the web. It is important to do a search for some of these shops and see which company offers the best prices. You may also be able to find a few unique pieces this way.

Don’t forget to check auction sites like eBay or discount sites like Amazon where you can find both new and used American Girl clothing. Sometimes you can get a really great deal if someone is trying to sell a bundle of clothes because her daughter has become too old to play with the doll. If web shopping is not your thing, you can search local toy stores for 18-inch-doll clothing meant to fit other brands of dolls. If your child is young, she will not know the difference.

Filed Under: Current Fashion Trends Tagged With: American Girl, Clothing, Doll

The Japanese Influence on Car Interior Design

Japan has been known for its love of nature, the exquisite taste in painting, calligraphy and sublime use of colors and patterns in their clothing as well as interior design. This enormous talent has manifested itself in car interiors, especially in luxury brands like Lexus and Acura.

Japanese culture and artistic bent is naturally influenced by Shintoism and Buddhism, and both these religions emphasize natural living and caring for nature in general. Japanese are therefore deeply inclined towards using nature’s colors and patterns such as mountains, springs, leaves, flowers and animal world to depict their taste and values in clothing, car and home interiors.

Not many non Japanese are able to visit or live in Japan for any length of time to appreciate the richness of Japanese home interiors or Japanese clothing, but Japanese cars are sold around the world and Japan is the largest manufacturer of internationally recognized branded vehicles and therefore millions of people around the world can study and appreciate Japanese design flair in objects such as car seating, car shapes, ergonomics, the design of vehicle dashboard, the choices of colors, the clarity of all the buttons and electronically controlled functions.

The choice of plastic textures, colors and their fusion with leather, cloth and other materials is uniquely Japanese in many car models, especially among Lexus and Acura brands.

Lexus brand’s flagship vehicle LS460 has been known to be one of the most beautiful and exquisite in its interior design and the interior has been described as Zen like in appearance. The sublime level of color combinations, clean simple lines are somewhat reminiscent of Scandinavian design without the Scandinavian minimalism.

Filed Under: Celebrity Influence, Current Fashion Trends Tagged With: Interior design, Japan, Lexus

How Fashion Designers Can Showcase their Work Directly to Audience

Until the 1990s the fashion designers had to either start their own magazine, publishing company or tie up with a magazine which could showcase their work in front of the public and let the people decide whether the fashion designer was going to be successful with his or her talent and artistic impulses.

However this was a very tedious and whimsical process since the designer had to build a good relationship with the magazine’s publishers and if the publishers and designers did not have great personal chemistry, there would not be a successful launch of fashion related careers, or the careers would depend upon the blessings of the publisher.

The fashion designer could always go to hundreds of other publishers and depending upon what contract they could come up with, how their personal relationships were developing, the designer could always find some outlet to showcase their work.

With consolidation of media and fashion industry it became increasingly difficult for designers to display their talent to the masses and the fashion world saw increasing levels of conformity and uniformity.

This led to a brief but invisible decline in the rise of talented designers who were entirely dependent upon influential publishing houses for their career prospects. 1990s was a welcome change for thousands of fashion designers who could now go directly to people online to express themselves and their creativity and no longer had to depend upon exclusively on media conglomerates to showcase their work.

Fashion designers are often graphic designers themselves and with a team of as few as two to three people they can easily build their website and display all their work by using latest flash or upcoming HTML 5.0 standards. This has led to tremendous explosion in creativity and new fashion trends have emerged on regional and international level.

Filed Under: Current Fashion Trends, Designers Tagged With: Career, Fashion, Fashion design

Diamond Color: Key Points

Many people are unaware of the fact that diamonds come in different color grades, and that these color grades do have an impact on the appearance and the price of diamond engagement rings.

• The color of the diamond actually refers to its relative lack of color, because the ideal color of a diamond is one that is completely white, or completely lacking any discoloration.

• The highest possible color grade for a diamond is D, and the lowest possible color grade is Z.

• Most jewelers have a specific standard and will only sell diamonds above that standard. For example, a jeweler may decide only to sell diamond engagement rings in J to D grade.

• For most diamonds, if there is color it is a pale yellow, which is why lack of color is so important. The less color that a diamond possesses, the higher the color grade will be.

• Color is typically viewed to be the second top important characteristic in diamond selection, next to the diamond’s cut.

• If you are looking for a diamond that lacks any discernible color, look for colorless diamonds ranging between D and F in grade.

• For excellent value without the price associated with colorless diamonds, consider grades G through I, which will have no visible coloration but are still not quite perfect.

These are just some of the considerations that you will want to make when shopping for diamond engagement rings.

Filed Under: Current Fashion Trends, General Tagged With: Diamond, Diamond color, Engagement ring

“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”: Best of ’80s Teen Fashions, Cyndi Lauper-Style

Cyndi Lauper’s epic pop anthem “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” was the girl-power mantra of the ‘80s, mobilizing teenage girls by the millions to live its title motto to the tee—and dress the part, too. Lauper’s classic also spawned a mirror-titled ’80s film, a big-screen ode to her trademark extravagant aesthetic, for which her teeny-bopper minion mobbed the multiplex and the mall to ogle and mirror the Cyndi-inspired ensembles in turn. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” in movie form, brought to soundtracked-life the generational tale of a gaggle of gals who, aptly, wanted more than anything to have fun, at any cost—preferably by dancing, flirting, and fashioning themselves in as many awesomely over-the-top ‘80s trends as could possibly fit into one feature-length flick.

This now cult-favorite is a veritable cinematic fashion show of every article and accessory that an ‘80s teen wanna-be fashionista simply had to have, notable highlights including: florescent leg warmers layered with equally loud leggings; acid-washed, painted-on and high-waist jeans; bubble skirts in ever neon shade known to man; leopard-print stirrup pants; and sky-scraper shoulder pads. These demonstrative get-ups were, of course and always, accessorized for maximum fabulousness with such stand-outs the likes of: fringed white leather cowboy boots; bodacious pumps; scrunchie-adorned perms; and bangles and bows abounding. Fun fact! That starry-eyed, big-haired heroine rocking these rags as if going out of style (which, indeed, they’d thankfully soon be)?: Why, none other than modern-day style icon Sarah Jessica Parker, “Sex and the City’s” very own Carrie Bradshaw herself. Ever the trendsetter…?

Filed Under: Current Fashion Trends, General Tagged With: Cyndi Lauper, extravagant, fashioning

Ironic Gifts for a Stylin’ Sister: Fashion-Forward Photo Montage

Sometimes, the most meaningful gifts are those that buck gift-giving convention for outside-the-box thinking and expression of personality. Sibling relationships provide a particularly apt context for quirky gifting, kicked up with a twist of well-meaning, sarcastic humor. And no one gets your sarcasm quite like your sister, and no will appreciate that a sarcastic gift is, ironically, indeed a heartfelt tribute to your closeness like she will, either. So next time you gift-give your sis, replace those tiresome ribbons with some wised-up, off-color ribbing; she’s worth it!

For a sister who considers herself quite the fashionista, here’s a tongue-in-cheek gift idea for any celebratory occasion: a personalized photo montage trip down her fashion-forward memory lane. The thing is, though, memory is both subjective and selective, so take the liberty of selecting those photos of your subject that highlight the, let’s say, nuances in her coming of age to her present oh-so-stylish self. Make a montage of sister dear’s most hilariously awkward stages—read: braces, perms, unitards, prom dresses, leg-warmers, shoulder pads, stirrups—in chronological order, to paint a biographical portrait of the trend-setting artiste as a young studmuffin. Pick any medium you like (photo-board, digital album, perhaps T-shirts for your whole family?), the ultimately un-ironic sisterly message will be the same: you love her no matter what she’s wearing, always have, always will. Such a message delivered with a hearty dose of laughter is indeed the deliciously designed present she could ask for, custom-designed just for her by her as-ever biggest fan.

Filed Under: Current Colors, Current Fashion Trends Tagged With: Gift, Personalized, Photomontage

The Pending Design Piracy Prohibition Act: Copyright Protection for Fashion?

For the last several sessions, Congress has considered the Design Piracy Prohibition Act (“DPPA”), which would extend a form of sui generis limited copyright protection to the “overall appearance” of new and original fashion designs for a period of three years.

Elements of the DPPA:

If enacted, the DPPA would provide a very modest scope and term of protection. It is carefully calibrated to protect only innovative, high style fashion elements (i.e., designs of ‘haute couture’), leaving everything else in the public domain and available to copy. In effect, it would capture only truly unique original designs. This limit is consistent with the copyright law principle that basic creative elements remain unprotected; per the DPPA, those staple, commonplace, ordinary, and/or prevalent clothing design parts—such as sleeves, collars or even bell-bottom pants—are explicitly excluded. As notable, the copyrights it would afford would extend solely for a three-year period: the concentrated time window in which such design elements are most likely to be infringed and designers most likely harmed by the sale of infringing lower-priced articles.

Effect of the DPPA in Practice:

Ultimately, the DPPA protection would be a very thin copyright, but adequate to defend against very similar knock-offs and possibly the item types often appearing in “splurge and steal” magazine columns (comparing new high-end fashion items to available cheap rip-offs to save readers’ money). Perhaps most importantly, it would provide a fundamental safety net for small-scale or up-and-coming designers, as a general rule less able to rely on customer loyalty or luxury name attraction to effectively compete with cheaper copies of their original innovative designs. Note that the bill would not affect out-and-out counterfeiting. Such “street-corner” piracy (i.e., selling fake Gucci bags on sidewalks) is already illegal under current laws; it continues due to enforcement problems.

Filed Under: Current Fashion Trends, Designers Tagged With: Design Piracy Prohibition Act, Fashion, Fashion design, United States Congress

Fashion Crimes At Work

Fashion crimes are something that you should not be doing. It is impossible to keep up with the current trends of the fashion industry as it is constantly changing. With every change in the season, there is a change in the fashion trend. It is difficult to follow that every time but what you can do is to prevent yourself from committing any of the following mistakes.

Wear formals at work – pants, skirts, formal shirts, ties if required. Avoid t-shirts and dressy trousers and miniskirts. Refrain from wearing anything that’s revealing and can cause embarrassment around. Dress appropriately at work. Even if hot pants are the current flavour of the season, do not wear it at work. Want to wear something dressy on Friday, opt for flared or pleated skirts or some nice dress which is not revealing. Avoid wearing any see-through-tops or transparent tops or tops which have low necklines. Save it for party wear, at another time. No sweatpants either.

There are lot of people who walk into their office right after their work-outs, thinking it’s cool to wear it at work. Everyone knows how overalls look cute on anybody, but if you don’t work in a construction site or as a gardener or as a painter, my advice is to leave it at home. Wear appropriate shoes at work. If your work involves long hours of standing or walking around, opt for comfortable shoes with not too much of heels. High heels and bad fit can cause feet ache and can strain your back. Slippers are a definite no-no, be it weekends or weekdays.

One of the biggest fashion crime is to wear garter belts at work. Save it for clubbing later. It is important to dress appropriately and according to the environment we are in. If it is at work, dress formally else at a party then choose for something that is fashionable, stylish yet decent. Pay some attention to colours that you wear. Avoid anything that is too loud like neon. Do not over accessories, it can spoil your look.

Filed Under: Celebrity Influence, Current Fashion Trends Tagged With: Dress, Fashion, Formal wear, Miniskirt, Skirt, Wear

Renowned International Fashion Designers

Some of the renowned fashion designers in the international circuit, in random order:-
Donna Karan – Her “Donna Karan New York” collection was about seven easy pieces which was about working women’s wardrobe. Her collections are all chic, stylish and known for their sleek designs. Donna Karan’s empire includes accessories, perfume, leg wear and menswear.

Ralph Lauren – He markets his brand under Polo-Ralph Lauren for Men, Double RL, Ralph Lauren Home, Ralph Lauren for Women and Ralph Lauren paint. His designs are distinctive and classy and is not limited to clothing line but to furniture, accessories, perfumes and house ware.

Calvin Klein – His designer jeans is what took the world by storm which was sophisticated and wearable. His range of undergarments also became a hit in the 80’s. His empire includes perfumes such as “Obsession” and “Eternity”, swimwear, accessories, eyewear etc.

Donatella Versace – Considered a fashion goddess, she launched clothing line for children under” Young Versace”. She combined her brother, Gianni’s, fashionable styles of clothing with her own rock-n-roll, which was a huge hit.
Dolce and Gabbana – Considered fashion’s Italian stallions, their designs are all about perfectionism blended with style. Their empire includes eyewear, underwear, accessories, perfumes, watches etc.

Giorgio Armani – Not just a designer, he is considered an icon, an institution by the other designers in the fashion industry. Known for his suits, men love them and they are most wanted all over the world.

Hugo Boss – After Armani suits, Hugo Boss suits are most desired by men. They have been dominant in the market for a long time now.

Prada – Her brand encompasses bags, shoes, first women wear clothing line, Miu Miu line for younger generation, menswear, Prada Sport and Prada Beauty. Her designs are unconventional yet chic.

Christian Dior – He infused lot of spirit into the fashion industry; his designs spell femininity, seductive and innovativeness. His brand includes sunglasses, watches and handbags.

Gucci – She is known for her splendid evening wear, pencil skirts and glamorous sportswear. One of the recognizable brands known in the international circuit.

Filed Under: Celebrity Influence, Current Fashion Trends Tagged With: Clothing, DKNY, Miu Miu, Ralph Lauren