Metro Fashion Column

Hey All,

Here’s this month’s Metro Fashion Column… Evening Wear, a brief history and today’s translation.

To the Maxi…

This month we’re forgoing current trends to study timeless, classic evening gowns. Christmas is one of the few events in the calendar when we feel comfortable getting really dressed up; so forget your LDB, and your sparkling, frilly mini dress; think to-the-floor-glamour. Evening gowns should be stop-the-music, I’ve arrived, look-at-me dresses that enable women to exude subtle sexiness and chic elegance.

From black tie to ball gowns, evening wear remains the mainstay of elegant dressing, changing little throughout the last 80 years or so. After the knee-flaunting, fashion-scandalous 20’s, Hollywood glamour glittered into the lives of millions of women via the silver screen. Hemlines once again grazed the floor as they had pre 20’s, but there the similarities ended. Gone were high necklines, corsets and bustles as 1930’s women flaunted their natural shape in backless satin and velvet gowns; showing feminine décolletage through plunging necklines. Indeed, though legs were covered, little else was. Women and designers of the 30’s knew that the key to wearing a full length gown was to balance out the volume of fabric in the skirt by flashing a bit of flesh elsewhere. The back, arms and neckline have remained focus points of modern evening wear.

Clever designs with contrasting details mean the onlooker’s eye also focuses on sheer panels, leather detailing and intricate beading, rather than a single column of colour. The Elma dress in black silk chiffon at Monsoon (pictured €305/£189) has a hand-beaded cummerbund under the bust; Catherine Deane’s silk taupe maxi from Harvey Nichols (pictured €850/£720) has leather and zip details over a sheer lace bodice; the wine-coloured Grecian style dress at AWear (pictured €70/£65) has a black waistband and a stunning cut-out back. Follow these rules and dresses for this festive season should serve to enhance your wardrobe for years to come.

Yours,

Whisty Xx

A|wear A/W’11 preview

Hey All,

A nice change to write about a preview relevant to the season for once. I went along to the A|wear Autumn / Winter 2011 preview today. A mix of textured 60′s & 70′s pieces in autumnal and jewel tones, means that A|wear is in-tune with the rest of the high street; (its lower price points being the thing that will pull in the shoppers).

Highlights Include, Faux Furs, Especially Black

Classic Tasselled Loafers

Textures, Prints and Chunky Knits

Patent Mary-Janes and 3-tone leather bag

For me the two real stand out pieces; grey cigarette pants with ‘leather’ trim to the waist line and pockets…

…and the green tweed jacket, with bow detail being my favourites.

Bow detail.

Yours,

Whisty Xx

A Style Post: Prints Charming

Hey All,

… After a month or so, wearing black which has been heavily reflected in my blog posts. Summer seems to be waiting, for something… so I think it’s time to go a little brighter. Clashing prints being the main objective. Florals and feathers being the two prints; Palazzo pants and a sheer tie-front blouse being the pieces.

I love the huge 70′s-inspired, almost psychedelic, poppy print on the Palazzos, and the fact that most of the trouser is white. It made mixing it with the mainly blue, tribal-inspired, Navajo Native American, feather print sheer top really simple and quite effective.

Print Details:

Top, A|wear; Palazzo Pants, River Island; Suede Platform block-heel sandals, Carvela.

Yours,

Whisty Xx

AWear SS11 Highlights

Hey All,

Continuing the new season collections review – Hard when there is a hurricane blowing outside, I know – AWear have launched their latest offerings. I was in store on Monday and had to stop myself buying a fantastic pair of ‘peg-leg’* Chinos let alone anything else.

Their major trend  is a kind of soft Safari-Chic. All subtle animal prints and pretty neutrals; think tan, beige, cream and Khaki It’s been launched with RTÉ‘s The Model Scouts winner, Tabea Weyrauch (IMG). Click here for AWear‘s behind-the-scenes blog post on her shoot.

In case you missed it the first time… and if I could’ve tried anything on at all, it would’ve been this skirt (€35)… I haven’t seen anything like this so far on the High Street this season.

‘70′s Glamour’

‘Festival Festivities’

See that stripey jumper? That’s GOING to be mine…

Yep, there are definitely a few pieces there that blow my skirt up, so to speak. Oh and their shorts…

Yours,

Whisty Xx

*You know the kind, high-waisted with a tapered leg that ends just around or above the ankle.

Insider Tips and Blogger Favourites

Hey All,

I promise this is the last thing I write about A|wear this week, but if you haven’t already, you’ve got to see the vid from their FB page. Angela Scanlon (Irish Independent fashion blogger and all round fashion guru) presents it; a few fashion / style peeps (and yours truly) were asked for their tuppence-worth on their favourite pieces in the new collection. I chose the floral maxi skirts, I kinda love how unusual they are. Plus, teamed with my aviator Shearling boots and fitted polo-neck jumpers, I’m thinking, I’ll be wearing one all winter.

But if you need any more convincing that A|wear are killing it on the high street, UK Vogue featured this fur gillet in their hallowed pages this month!

Xx

Pieces of A|wear: It’s not all about the 60′s.

Hey All,

I’m sure at this stage you’ve seen the recent photo campaign from A|wear’s AW10 collection. You know the pretty ones with the girl who’s dressed a bit like Duffy with a scruffy beehive? Lovely right?

The thing is, as cute as they are, there’s so much more on offer in-store than the beatnik vibe of pretty 60′s shift dresses. These are the pieces of A|wear, I really want right now.(I am actually dying for a pair of skinny corduroy trousers).

NB: I haven’t been too greedy and have only picked one bag and one pair of shades!

Price range for featured pieces: Accessories €10 – €20; Tops €15 – €45; Trousers / Shorts €28 – €35; Dresses €35 – €65; Outerwear €55 – €70.

If you’re a student then it’s 20% off (5% more than usual) next Wednesday, September 15th at the Henry Street Student Lock In event.

Xx

http://www.awear.com/browse/awear_dresses?ex=co_wizr-locayta&collate=atrxsize&collate=price&refine_sort_alph=atrxsize&sortpdxtsortorder=ascending&sortrelease=disabled&sortprice=disabled&sortname=disabled&sortorder=pdxtsortorder:release:price:name&fieldcatrestrict=xancestorid&termtextcatrestrict=shop&typecatrestrict=exact&fieldrtype=type&termtextrtype=invt&typertype=exact&fieldpcatid=pcatid&typepcatid=exact&termorder=catrestrict:rtype:pcatid&template=wz_locayta_icat&pagenum=1&perpage=16&threshold=0&spellcorrect=1&datasource=awearen&setpagenum=1&typeprice=rangefilter&fieldprice=price&minprice=30&maxprice=50&refprice=30-50&setlocn=eur&log=4

Guest Blogging Over at Chez Hermia

Hey all,

There is a little story on the perils of me shopping for a suitable frock for my friend’s wedding over at A Chick Named Hermia today. A guest post as it were, because The Herms is off gadding about Paris, the lucky blogger! It’s not the usual type of Hermia post so I’m sure her readers will be a bit, meh about it but whatevs, I’ve got a wicked new dress (or two).

Click Image if you fancy reading the full post.

Xx

AWear SS10 Collection – Girls Rule O.K.

Now February is here, the bleakest time in high street fashion, the January sales, are now officially over. There may be a few straggling rails of clothes that haven’t quite managed to limp out of store, but the SS10 collections are definitely, firmly in place. Hoorah.

A|wear is no different and they showcased their lastest collection yesterday. Their new season has three elements; frilly pretty, pastels interspersed with denims and slouchy knits; an urban / utility element and a tropical / neon element that will be stores in time for high summer.

The pretty ‘Dakota‘ collection, (pictures left and below) is the main body of the collection. With its feminine pieces, in soft pastels it has a very on-trend feel. The denim and faux suede pieces serve to toughen a look slightly but I think mixing some elements from the utility collection would be more convincing.

I know this may be jumping the gun slightly seeing as it is only February, but A|wear’s high Summer collection (pics below) is a neon, tropical-print cacophony of frilly, floaty, sunshine-suited pieces.  I’m just delighted to see that for the next 6 months or so, it’s absolutely the on-trend thing to go all-out feminine and girly. From pretty pink to vibrant lilacs and blue in all shades, ladieswear hasn’t been as ladylike since the ‘Bo-ho’ boom. But it’s definitely a different look, with this slightly harder edge; think sheer and floaty floor-lengths rather than stiff embroidered cottons. Think bold bright prints instead of paisley and, of course, the more layers the better.

Don’t mess with my Tutu

I went to Dundrum on Tuesday and attacked A|wear with fervour previously unseen on a damp Tuesday in D16. The whole place was full of screaming children and harassed mums (and nannies obv.), the last thing these ladies were able to do was shop for new clothes. So I had all the choice and all the changing room space I needed to try on as much as possible. Trés bien!

I’ve never understand why women go shopping in twos; When I say shopping I mean the ‘sport’ of shopping. The trawling of shops for amazing pieces and utter bargains without a clue what you want, especially when you don’t even need anything in the first place. Plus, in my case anyway, I always take as many pieces as possible into the changing room. Most of the time I have to give the changing-room assistant 6 pieces and bring 6 more in with me. Then spend the whole time running in and out of the changing room in my socks at intervals to swap pieces with her that I want to try. It’s incredibly annoying, and is it really anything to do with thievery? I mean most stores have the little plastic alarm tags on them. It must just be because they don’t want half the stock in the changing rooms rather than out on the shop floor.

Anyway I digress, I always shop alone, I never know what it is I’m going to buy and the thought of dragging someone along from shop to shop while I decide is just awful. I understand the fun of group shopping for a special occasion; like why a bride-to-be would want someone there to help her choose her dress, or going out in a gang to pick a Debs dress but shopping is a solitary pastime for me. Like reading. There are just too many things in too many shops waiting for me to find them and I don’t want to miss out on something just because the person I’m shopping with wants to have a coffee break. Plus it’s always an hour before the shops close and the opportunity to buy an amazing pair of shoes, or a jacket that will suit me forever, is gone for good. Plus I’d sooner grab a glass of vino après shopping surrounded by bags of lovely goodies!

So with myself for company I went off to Dundrum, I hadn’t been there for ages and I love the LUAS journey, so I was looking forward to it. I tried on a few pieces in Penney’s (Primark) from the Limited Collection … oh dear no. It all looked dreadful on me and N.B. the sizes are way off compared to the rest of the stuff in there. If you do decide to try some of it on, grab some bigger sizes when you do. I went to H&M, but all I kept thinking about was the amount of cash I was hoping to spend in there tomorrow on Jimmy Choos so that was a complete distraction. I skipped River Island and Harvey Nics; had a look through Urban Outfitters but as I said it was in A|wear that I spent my dough. I bought two skirts, a lace dress and a huge black-stone cocktail ring. I fell instantly in love with this mink-coloured tiered net skirt with satin waistband. It kind of reminds me of a mini version of the dress that Carrie wore in SATC and American Girl in Paris.

This version is way more wearable though, I teamed it with a lamé top Dorothy Perkins, a multi-chain necklace, Penney’s / Primark and tied up one side of the skirt with a Grosgrain ribbon. More pics here on Her Apparel.

Update on Super Macs

Last week I posted about the joys of rain and how, inspired by Holly Golightly, I had bought a new rain mac. I finally got to wear it yesterday on a shopping trip to Dundrum. I teamed it with a jumper dress, a leopard print scarf and my DIY embellished boots. I found two studded belts for £1.50 in Matalan, I got a friend to send them over to me. Huzzah.

It is the perfect coat for shopping actually because it is so lightweight and keeps the rain off if I have to dash across to Harvey Nichols (or Nandos).

More pics here on Her Apparel.

N:B: I bought some amazing skirts in AWear and a remembering my friend’s advice on accessorising with jewellery, a huge cocktail ring.