Posted: May 10th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: fabric, fashion, spring 2012, topshop, trends
We’ve discussed shoes, printed jeans and floral dresses, but the other key item this season — the one that’s almost the easiest to wear — is the floral print jacket. Personally, I’m a fan of the light weight bomber jacket. There is also the cousin style of the pseudo letterman jacket, but the idea is pretty consistent either way. And if you ask me, they’re beyond cute. They are a little young looking, but I think that designers have tweaked the style to come up with jackets that really anyone can wear.
Sportmax Stefy Floral Print Jacket $756.00
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Posted: May 2nd, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: designers, fashion, fast fashion, h&m, mary katrantzou, spring 2012, topshop, trends
If fall’s most mystifying trend was the mullet dress, spring offers an equally mystifying take on the idea. For spring it’s all about the peplum skirt. This is one of those trends that I am skeptical I will ever be able to get on board with. I am usually one to buy into just about any and every trend. I believe firmly in the concept so eloquently played out on Leandra Medine’s blog The Man Repeller, that women dress not for men, but largely for themselves and each other, and there is an enormous amount of pleasure to be gotten from indulging in the most preposterous of trends no matter how ugly and inexplicable men might find them. When I think about fashion and getting dress, it aspires at its best to art, not to a sales pitch for my sexuality. But a girl’s got to draw the line somewhere, and the peplum may be one of the most horrid design elements I have ever seen.
The peplum skirt was certainly a presence on the spring runways…
whether at Jason Wu
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Posted: April 25th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: British style, designers, fabric, fashion, h&m, shopping, spring 2012, topshop, trends
As spring gets into full swing, and the stores are starting to hold spring sales, it seems like must have item this spring and summer is not in fact floral jeans (although they’re still great, so don’t worry if you followed my earlier advice and got a pair), but the floral dress. As a certain kind of over the top Monet floral print becomes ubiquitous, it seems like everywhere I turn Erdem has suddenly become “the” brand. It may be that I only recently became aware of it and others have known the label for a while. But it suddenly seems to be in every magazine, on every celebrity, in every boutique …. And Erdem’s forte, as it turns out, is a certain style of floral print constructed into garments that seem almost sweet (kind of Mad Men style) but is tailored with a modern edge that tempers what could easily come across as awfully saccharine. Is Erdem popular because the floral thing is such a big trend right now, or did the line play any kind of a role in shaping the trend? That’s deep, right?
Erdem Spring 2012 Collection
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Posted: March 5th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion, other stuff | Tags: British style, celebrities, fashion, music, popular culture, topshop
A few weeks ago a friend was telling me about a rapper he had come across who he felt was poised to become the next big thing. Catch was, her hit song “212″ was explicit and raunchy enough that it couldn’t really be played on mainstream radio. Banks has a very strong cult following and promises to become ubiquitous soon, but has yet to gain solid footing in the mainstream. But, even in the two weeks since I first heard her name, curiously, I have found that Azealia Banks does seem to have emerged as the fashion world’s new it girl.
The harlem native with, as the London Financial Times put it, “Lil’ Kim’s filthiness, Nicki Minaj’s colourfulness and Missy Elliott’s darling” was a mainstay of London’s fashion week. She was the featured performer at the self-proclaimed “party of all Fashion Week parties” hosted by Topshop to celebrate 10 years of the high street giant’s support of NEWGEN.
Azealia Banks performing at Topshop's Fashion Week party at Mayfair club Le Baron in London via Insideout the Topshop blog
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Posted: February 17th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: British style, designer collaborations, designers, fabric, fashion, fast fashion, haute couture, mary katrantzou, shopping, spring 2012, topshop, trends
So, Mary Katrantzou for Topshop has quiety come and gone. There are a few pieces left, but it doesn’t amount to much at this point. Apparently the Bodycon dress — which is in fact the item that sold out within seconds of going on line rather than the hyped up limited edition dress which everyone predicted would be the first to go — will be coming back in stock in some quantity next week. No word yet on when. Otherwise, it’s over. No crashing website or crazy mobs. Topshop handled the whole fanfare without a whole lot of … well … fanfare.
The Bodycon dress is the one item coming back in stock. Oddly, the actual dress does not match the one in the promotion. To bad because I suspect the one shown above would be more flattering.
Posted: February 13th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: British style, designer collaborations, designers, fashion, fast fashion, mary katrantzou, mass market, shopping, spring 2012, topshop
In anticipation of the Mary Katrantzou for Topshop launch on Friday, I am trying to brace myself for intense disappointment. Fortunately, Topshop has an answer for that — at least I hope it’s an answer and not yet another set up with too many customers and too little stock. Friday also marks the launch of Topshop’s NEWGEN designer t-shirt collection. I like the whole designer t-shirt thing. It may seem like a lot of money for a t-shirt, but looked at the other way around, it is the perfect way to grab something affordable and absolutely fabulous! Unlike the dresses I buy that then sit in the closet waiting for the right occasion, t-shirts are a great everyday wardrobe staple. A nice designer t-shirt can even be appropriate for work. Maybe not where you work, but I wouldn’t bet on that. I’m pretty sure I could figure out how to wear a t-shirt in almost every kind of a situation … ever since Sharon Stone rocked a t-shirt with a taffeta skirt (if you ask me, the all time best outfit around). Nice crisp t-shirt, a tailored charcoal suit from All Saints — you may not be able to get away with it in the most traditional business-like environment, but I would sure as hell try.
There is a Mary Katrantzou shirt among the offerings, but oddly it’s not my favorite. Shirts are £30 each. There is pretty much something for everyone, but I think the JW Anders, Meadham Kirchhoff, Peter Jensen, Emma Cook and Marios Schwab shirts are fantastic. Do you think getting five is overkill.
JW Anderson
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Posted: February 10th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: British style, designer collaborations, designers, fashion, fast fashion, haute couture, mary katrantzou, shopping, spring 2012, topshop
Pictures of Mary Katrantzou’s collection for Topshop have finally been released! Yay! This is definitely a very different kind of collaboration than those from Target and H&M. Reports had stated that this would be a 14 piece collection. Now, apparently it has become a ten piece collection. I have only been able to find images of nine pieces, so I’m not sure where the last one went, but when the collection hit stores presumably there should be ten pieces. But any way you slice it, it is an extremely small and tight collection (although it is the largest of the three collections that Katrantzou has designed for Topshop to date). Perhaps most significantly, it is THE collection that seems to be driving all of spring’s major trends. Citizens of Humanity jeans, Zara, Topshop, H&M, Forever 21 — everywhere you turn, trend driven stores are all about the abundant floral prints. That is a hell of a lot of influence for a young designer. Way to go Mary! Party on!
Mary Katrantzou for Topshop, Blue Carnation T-shirt £50 and Jersey Leggings £40
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Posted: February 3rd, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: British style, fashion, fast fashion, shopping, topshop, trends
Time for a fashion respite. Too many words yesterday. Not so many today. Ladies, if you’re going to buy one thing this spring, let me suggest …
Printed Skinny Denim
Mink Pink Wisteria Lane Jeans available at Revolve.com - $88
Citizens of Humanity Mandy High Waisted Retro Slim Jeans available at most department stores - $189
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Posted: January 24th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion, stuff to buy | Tags: British style, designer collaborations, designers, economy, fall 2011, fashion, fast fashion, h&m, haute couture, Jason Wu, marni, mary katrantzou, mass market, popular culture, sale, shopping, spring 2012, target, topshop, trends, versace
Karl by Karl Lagerfeld
Is it just me, or is this whole affordable designer capsule collection thing just spinning out of control? I bet you’re getting tired of reading posts about designer collaborations. I’m getting tired of hearing of them and I am obsessed with the damn things. That suggests to me that something is clearly out of whack. Let’s take stock of the collections since the summer:
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Posted: January 8th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: British style, designer collaborations, designers, fashion, fast fashion, Jason Wu, mary katrantzou, mass market, shopping, spring 2012, target, topshop
This is not a shopping blog, so I’m sorry if I occasionally post something pretty much geared only toward female shopaholics. But you know there is nothing I love more than a really good designer collaboration. Waiting for February to arrive is kind of stressing me out. Meanwhile I am struggling to get by on the litter teasers the stores release – in order that we all spend a month coveting the exact same pieces as each other, when likely none of us will succeed in getting them. For a true fashion lover, the anticipation is at least half of the story, so I’ll enjoy the month of anxious desire almost as much as I would enjoy actually wearing the clothes.
I have a bone to pick with Topshop. Months after the first images of a dress from the Mary Katrantzou for Topshop collection (due to drop next month) were leaked, Topshop has finally released some new images. And … wait for it … they’re of the same fracking dress! I’m glad to see it on a person instead of a mannequin, it looks like it will fit nicely, yada yada yada. But really? You can’t leak one or two more garments? At this rate I’m not, in fact, going to have a chance to fantasize about the beautiful pieces I lust after, before it’s already too late for me to get any of them. I already feel jipped. Topshop, I’ll show you … so there … by not showing the new pictures until AFTER I show the Target pictures. Ha!
Meanwhile, I am clearly going to have to suck it up and get over any issues with Target, because pictures of the Jason Wu for Target collection (in stores February 5) have started so leak and it looks so darn cute! I have to have them all. I can already taste the disappointment. (Yes, I do realize that they are geared toward 20 somethings, maybe 30 year olds, and I am by no means a 20 something, but that hasn’t stopped my compulsive trendiness yet. I never thought I’d be one of THOSE women — the deluded ones who continue to dress like they’re 25 well into middle age — but apparently I’m pretty short sighted.)
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