Trenches

I have seen a comback of trench coats in current collections, new york magazine is also featuring trench coats in the style section of their website recently showing how designers are trying to create a more youthful, and sexy version of the iconic classic.
Ashley D.

Tribal Trend

We have seen a lot of tribal or tribal inspired prints in fashion this season but these two accessory looks really capture the feeling without having to worry about mixing prints, which can sometimes be difficult. The look on the left mixes high and low end fashion from topshop, American apparel, and Diane Von Furstenburg. The look on the right is a high end combination from Diane Von Furstenburg and Giuseppe Zannotti. These accessories also hit on the trend of layering and play with oversized items.

Ashley D.

I've noticed that minimalism is a becoming a trend and designers are also putting twists on basics.
The Swedish designer Hope has a line that really caught my attention.
It had these wedges wrapped in canvas and leather. I also loved the long skirt which could be worn a lot of different ways!- K.Ritter

Dude approved necklaces, Braclets, and Rings

Accessories are huge for women right now, but now men seem to be getting some much needed attention in the accessory department from such designers as Lanvin. These designs are masculine, but some do have a bit of a feminine feel to them. I am excited that designers are trying to focus on men's accessories in a more creative cutting-edge way.
Ashley D.

Cuttting Edge Craze

Stijn De Boeck


A Belgian Fashion Frenzy, who takes deconstruction to a total new high-end . Boeck's designs are all about the detail and how it can add to his creative play on silhouette with a twist of his own imagination. Here are some of his recent pieces where he takes a stab at playing with cowls, pleating and asymmetry in a weird and chic way.

D. Freeman

Resort 2011 Trend: Walk the Line

Stripes have a huge play in the trends for Resort 2011 in many designers styles. From T-shirts to Cocktail dresses!










Salvatore Ferragamo

















Marni
















Christian Dior















Tracy Reese















Chanel

Carla Gargano

House of Holland

I saw this designer while doing research and wanted to share him with all of you! Henry Holland (British) was a former fashion editor and started his design career by making t-shirts in his spare time. All of his designs are whimsical, happy, and fun with the use of layering patterns, colors and different textures. He does men's and women's wear, as well as shoes and handbags. Holland uses a lot of trends in his Fall 2010 collection, it's almost too much. He has an interesting background check out the link to the NY magazine designer profile and past collections.


A. Davis

Viktor and Rolf

The Fall 2010 RTW collection for Viktor and Rolf is absolutely breathtaking. Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren are truly amazing designers. Their show was a remembrance of what one does at home while trying to find the proper outfit for the day. You try on one thing, layer it up, accessorize, and then you model it to see how it looks. The most interesting thing about this collection is how one garment is removed from one model, placed on another, and transformed into a totally new garment. At first glance, I thought it to be odd that the designers were undressing the models on the runway for public display, but the show would not have worked otherwise. Although this show was done for the effect of the theatrics, the clothes were just as spectacular as the concept of the show.

-S. Smith

Fug Girls: Ten Couture Ideas Real People Can Co-opt

Here is a slide show of 10 couture looks that we can take and do at home. I really liked all of the looks as crazy as they were they really showed a sense of chic style.
-Laura M.

Men's Street Chic

I love this look by John Richmond. The plaid blazer with pockets in contrasting color and fabric definitely changes things up a bit.

-S. Smith

Clothing that can take your blood pressure?!?!

I think this is one of the funnest new fabrics that have been invented recently. The fact that not only will our deodorant keep us from smelling bad but that our clothes will not assist is amazing. Older Americans will benefit greatly from it being able to take their blood pressure. I am really amused by this.
-Laura M.

Cutting Edge and Artistic

Cutting edge and artistic is what first comes to mind when I look at the designs of Romain Kremer. It is obvious that he studied art before studying fashion. These clothes are obviously works of art first and fashion second. Kremer definitely has fun when he is designing.

-S. Smith

Japense Street-Chic

I think this was very innovative and I found new looks, off the streets of Tokyo. I am amazed by how fast Tokyo is becoming the number one trend setting country. They have an urban unique vibe to their style and like to start trends rather then following them. They are true innovators, and it is just the average men and women dressing their own style. Pattern play and layering is key to this years trends, with paisley and plaid prints. This is considered " Japanese street-chic". Japan is becoming the target of our fashion industry, and I am looking forward to getting more insight about the country and its unique styles. My goal is to someday visit and get the experience myself.

Carla Gargano

lv new look (vihdi pandya)

Trend setters

Hey!
I don't know if you all know of this site but a lot of what we go over in class can be found on this website. I suggest checking it out once in a while! Just click on the title of this blog and it will bring you to the page directly.
~
Brooke S

Concept stores

Hey guys just click on the title and it will bring you to a cool website for concept stores. It breaks down by country lists of concept stores. I thought it could be helpful when doing some of our projects!

Brooke S

the born identy

Consumed
The Born IdentityBy ROB WALKER
Published: July 30, 2010

When I heard that Huggies had begun to sell a “limited-edition jeans diaper,” and that its bigger rival Pampers was offering a new diaper line carrying the imprimatur of the fashion designer Cynthia Rowley, it struck me as a throwback. Could there be a more absurd example of the sort of mindless conspicuous consumption that marked the years before “credit default swap” entered the national vocabulary? I seem to remember a lot of declarations that the urge to buy anything signaling nonthrifty behavior had been left behind as decisively as a house with an upside-down mortgage. Even TV commercials said so!

But upon further reflection, it’s a little too simple to conclude that designer diapers signal the return of the splurgy ’00s. An ad for the Huggies jeans diapers — obviously they’re not really denim, just a denim-suggesting pattern — pokes goofy fun at fashion tropes: women peep over their trendy shades to glimpse at a stylish player who turns out to be diapered child, pimp-rolling in slow motion to his convertible. A Euro-voice coos over an electro soundtrack, “My diaper is full — full of chic.” It’s parody, except the product is real, and really does cost more than standard diapers — 40 percent more, according to a Los Angeles Times “parentology” blogger who reported that the product was selling out in some stores and than an “online frenzy” was under way.
Rowley’s Pampers line, devised in conjunction with her ongoing relationship with Target, offers a more straight-faced rationale for setting aside tightwad habits to pay more for the very finest in things that will be soiled with excrement and thrown away. According to an official Pampers announcement: “The diaper collection, which will be available in pastel designs including madras, stripes and printed ruffles suited specifically to babies and toddlers” — not to teenagers or the middle-aged, you understand — “delivers the perfect blend of utility and aesthetics.” The same document quotes Rowley: “As a mom, I wanted other moms and dads to have more options in every part of their lives — even diapers. It’s the first piece of clothing your baby will ever wear, and it should be special.”

Maybe you think that one thing America consumer culture had successfully delivered to its moms and dads was a sufficient number of options, or maybe you don’t think of diapers as clothing. If that’s your reaction, you’re missing the point, just as I was. Designer diapers do not portend widespread return of pre-recession overspending habits. Most of us are going to need something more convincing than economists’ declarations to persuade us that the recession has ended in the face of all the bleak news about jobs, income and debt. But even in penny-pinching times, parents still want to demonstrate how well (or at least tastefully) they are bringing up baby. Designer diapers are a useful tool for sending that message. And perhaps more to the point, they are also an extension of the well-established tendency among contemporary parents to treat their children as identity props. And it’s plausible that this version of that behavior says something about this specific cultural moment.
For years, we’ve seen youngsters in luxury-brand outfits (if not in real life, then at least in magazine ads, where they often look distinctly insolent). Similarly, the onesie has long since been converted into a wearable billboard for parental taste, a means of swaddling infants in visual endorsements of the Ramones, the Yankees, Sarah Palin and any number of other things that a budding human does not yet understand. And it has been a couple of years at least since I marveled to a friend about tiny Timberland boots on the feet of beings as yet unable to walk, and she patiently explained to me that the concept of a fashion-aware baby was both funny and pleasing. If that is so, then clearly there’s no reason not to extend the general idea to diapers.

Especially, perhaps, now. Surely there are those among us with the means to reclaim flashier pre-recession behaviors — back before the president called upon us to “set aside childish things” — yet remain squeamish about doing so. Why not satisfy the urge by putting your baby in a top-notch diaper? I have to admit, though, that this development makes me sad. One of the few genuinely charming things about infants, in my view, is their indifference to, and indeed ignorance of, the identity projection and status signaling that will soon enough complicate their lives. Do we really want the burden of society’s designer desires being newly borne by the newly born? I don’t think so.

Moreover, the disposable diaper seems like a particularly unfortunate vehicle for identity signaling, given its status as a longstanding bugaboo of many environmental crusaders disturbed by our throwaway culture. It’s a regular tactic of the eco-concerned to prod us to imagine a future in which our children ask us, “As the evidence mounted that the way we live might not be sustainable, what did you do?” In this case the answer would be, “We bought you some trendy diapers, and baby, you looked fantastic.”
Sierra Roberts

converse rock

Fashion News: ConverseRock 'n' roll legends grace Chuck Taylor All Stars
By Anne Slowey | June 30, 2010 3:00 p.m.


Photo: Courtesy of the designer

Worn by the very first NBA basketball players and the fathers of rock ’n’ roll, Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars are literally being stamped with music legends, such as this Jimi Hendrix rendition. converse.com
Sierra Roberts

fashion know it all

Fashion Know It All: ShearlingAnne Slowey shows you how to get the right coat
By Anne Slowey | July 16, 2010 12:00 p.m.


Photo: Imaxtree


Fall 2010 looks from Céline, Burberry Prorsum, Derek Lam

Dear FKIA,
There’s so much shearling for fall, I don’t know what to buy. Help!

Dear Karen,

Shearling coats haven’t made such a statement since the 1980s, when oversize bomber jackets and trenches lined in nubby fleece were all the rage. What makes them new this season is that designers have turned them inside out: What was traditionally just a lining is taking center stage, turning up on cropped jackets, car coats, and capes. Christopher Bailey’s Burberry Prorsum show was a veritable homage to the fluffy stuff, which was paired with everything from silk ribbon dresses to lace skirts. His skill at combining fine fabrics with such sturdy outerwear is subtle and ultrasophisticated. Plus, the genius of shearling is that it keeps you warm but doesn’t share in fur’s inherent snobbishness—it’ll also look great with your more casual garb, such as jeans and chunky sweaters.

Phoebe Philo, who in two seasons at Céline has perfected the idea of utilitarian luxury, knows the merit of the big, simple gesture. Her clothes, for all their simplicity,carry hefty price tags worthy of their couturelike details. Her showstopper for fall—in a collection of gorgeous, long shapes, such as her floorsweeping skirts, caftans, and down-to-there white blouses—was a below-the-knee crème-anglaise-color shearling cape that could double as a sumptuous blanket on a chilly night. If you’ve got the cash or credit, it’s a museum-worthy investment to have and to hold forever.

Derek Lam’s western-inspired fall show was one of his best in years. He mined an urban-cowgirl vibe, sending out models who were equal parts Grace Kelly and pioneer heroine, as if New York were readying itself for a showdown at high noon. His tan shearling car coat, supersmart and classic, is perfect for a high-powered career girl. Lam showed it with eveningwear, but it would work just as well over tailored pants or a skirt. At a recent charity event in his architectural gem of a store on Crosby Street, Lam racked up more than $20,000 in sales in just two hours. Women seem to love his talent for creating sophisticated American sportswear with an elegant edge. He’s the hometown answer to Céline, with a slightly less pared-down silhouette. Add a soupçon of glamour, and you get the difference.

—Submitted by Karen from Portland, ME
Sierra Roberts

The lateset Nature inspires

The Latest Nature-Inspired LinesA new crew of back-to-nature designers picks up where the Love Generation left off
By Whitney Vargas | July 20, 2010 12:00 p.m.


Photo: Olivia Malone


Thornburg's silk rayon totem dress. View more photos of her line and Hershberger's Endovanera collection in the gallery below.


Fall's Earthy Fashion
Lindsey Thornburg, a flame-haired free spirit whose e-mail sign-off reads “warmth,” designs velvet burnout dresses from fabric she finds at the Oregon Country Fair. Meanwhile, David Hershberger, who creates washedsilk shirts and faded black pauper jackets for his Endovanera line—and who looks startlingly like a young Johnny Depp—spends leisure hours hiking Elysian Park, playing music, and fishing. If the two seem to have their beautifully blissed-out heads in the clouds, they’re not alone. From New York (Thornburg) to Los Angeles (Hershberger), a growing group of influential, under-theradar designers are focusing on a new kind of earthy fashion, turning back to the land and finding inspiration in nature, sunsets, and skylarks. Similar to the ’60s hippies and not unlike today’s locavore neofarmers, they favor a look that is rooted in self-expression and nonconformist ideas. The self-taught Hershberger, who also designs a men’s line (both Endovanera—phonetically, End of an Era—collections are sold at his hip Echo Park boutique, Front St.), specializes in deliberately rumpled style: borrowed-from-the boys button-downs that have been soaked in a bathtub then air-dried, as well as relaxed wool jackets with hidden inside pockets, “like the ones priests have to carry their rosaries,” he says. Add the requisite long, unwashed hair; a floppy, wide-brimmed hat; and jewelry made by a metalsmithing friend—what, you don’t have one?—and the image is complete. “All the girls I hang out with are tomboys,” says the 28-year-old Californian, whose muses include Warpaint’s Theresa Wayman and Megan Gold from the band We Are the World. “There’s a sexiness in effortlessness and being comfortable acting like one of the dudes.” Thornburg, 31, debuted her namesake line four years ago with a range of Navajo-inspired cloaks, so ideal for camping or concert carousing that they remain a cult favorite among the Opening Ceremony set today. For fall, the designer, who grew up in Colorado and studied philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before attending L.A.’s Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, branched out to floor-length totem-print gowns, highwaist crochet flair pants, and silk-velvet tops, tie-dyed by first-wave Oregon hippies. “I’m interested in things that are naturally psychedelic,” says Thornburg, whose influences range from Frida Kahlo to Native American folklore. Right on. Sierra Roberts

The Poncho- Guy Laroche

Artistic Director, Marcel Marongiu has reinvented the poncho. This poncho is made of cashmere and is without a doubt, a step up from the classic poncho.

-S. Smith

Chiq.com

Hey guys! This website I randomly saw on Facebook and I found it very helpful to keep up with trend reports and innovative designs! You can buy or just discuss the items on the website or go to the category Trendsetters on the menu. Check it out :)

Here are a few recently updated hot new trends that I found cutting edge!


Snake Skin Gladiator Heels

Felted Military Coat - Burberry

Carla Gargano

Recycling and going green with your high heals

Everyone wants to be green now and this is a new and exciting way to go about it. Mathieu Missiaen is a french designer who takes vintage shoes and customizes them to how you want them with urban street designs. I think people will really start to fall into this trend.
-Laura M.

Kitsuné Maison 9 + Kitsuné "Ivy League" AW10 collection - teaser