Last night while getting ready to go meet up with the girls for bar food and a couple glasses of wine, I was having a dilemma. I couldn’t understand why I don’t have the perfect oversized sweater-dress to wear as a transition piece when the weather outside no longer feels like winter but hasn’t exactly transitioned into spring. A sweater-dress can be paired with tights and booties for when it is overcast or for night, and during a warm day is perfect thrown on with just a pair of sandles and sunglasses. Being chic without much effort is always a plus in my book! So now this weekend I am on a mission to find the perfect sweater-dress to add to my closet. I did a quick glance through the queen of oversized style, Stella McCartney’s spring and fall collections for some inspiration:

As well as found the look on my favorite fashionistas:

These pieces from Juicy Couture, Diane Von Furstenburg and Alexander Wang are so great I may have to get all three:

DSquared2’s uber-sexy fall show turned heads last week - and despite the red lipstick, lace corsets, leather gloves, and fishnet tights (above and below), it was all quite demurely retro.  Think Marilyn Monroe, or even a more stylized Christina Aguilera.  This is not the showy sexuality of the Tom Ford 1990s, but rather the sweeter, more playful sexuality of the 1950s pinup girl.

W’s March issue features a modernized take on this look; its Pinups editorial stars top models like Kate Moss, Devon Aoki, Suvi Koponen, Guinevere Van Seenus, and Amber Valletta dressed as scantily-clad high-fashion vixens.  Blumarine, meanwhile, showed oversized leopard-prints with flirty ruffled trim for fall:

The 50’s pinup look is not too difficult to get - as long as you have the confidence to carry it off.  Pencil skirts, tight blouses, dark tights, and wrist-length gloves are the building blocks.  Plaids and animal prints are cute when paired with red, black, or white; and red lips and nails are always charming accents.  Dark eyebrows and eyeliner and matte makeup are a must, as are pointed-toe pumps.

Be a modern-day bombshell in these looks from 3.1 Phillip Lim, LAMB, and Oh Deer.

  

Anyone who knows me well, or maybe even not so well, knows that I have the propensity to be incredibly lazy. I will often times opt to spend an evening on the couch rather than muster up the energy to put on my face and get cute in order to go out. Luckily, I noticed a trend on the spring runways that will make my life so much easier. Stacking bangles- large, colorful, bold and and funky ones are key- is a quick and brainless way to make leggings and an plain tee into an actual night-on-the-town worthy outfit. While the same applies to a great scarf, clutch or heels- bangles have an 80’s twist that just feels so perfect for this spring. My runwy inspiration from Salvatore Ferragamo, Marni, Hermes and Just Cavalli:

I’ll wear with skinny jeans, ballet flats, a white tee and my favorite over-sized navy blazer with the sleeves rolled up. These bangles from Betsey Johnson, Kenneth Jay Lane and Jessica Kagan Cushman are a great way to start a collection to mix and match:

There really is nothing like London Fashion Week.  London is, as of late, home to the most creative, forward-thinking, and different designers in the world.  From pearlized, pastel geometric puffer jackets at Giles Deacon (above) to Hansel-and-Gretel-chic at Luella, this season’s London shows were an oddball revelation.

Editorial favorite Christopher Kane’s mermaid-meets-flapper dresses were exquisite confections of chiffon and paillettes, grounded by earthy colorblock sandals:

Nathan Jenden’s show was equal parts goth and ladylike, capitalizing on both 2008’s big-bows-and-ruffles trend and London’s strangely prevalent and ultra-cool black lipstick trend:

Eley Kishimoto was all about tiers, cartoonish prints, and white gloves - only this house could make clown wardrobe staples look so adorable:

 

and Emma Cook showed Victorian-inspired,  ethereally thrown-together fabric combinations like antique lace and chiffon, faded cloth, and beaded appliques on modernized fitted minidresses:

Accent your wardrobe with pieces from London-bred designers like Burberry, Temperley London, and  Alexander McQueen:

    

While sometimes ripped apart by critics, Chloe Sevigny has been influencing the style of the hip, downtown fashionistas for quite some time. Before she was known for her acting, in 1992 at age 17 she was just a style intern at Jane Pratt’s magazine Sassy- taking the train from Connecticut to NYC and hanging out with the skater kids in the LES. Even back then she was getting recognized for her Indie style, her boss at the magazine lauded her as an “it” girl and put a spread in Sassy with the caption Our intern Chloe has more style in her little finger…

Today Chloe is a muse of Ben Cho, Academy Award nominated actress, face of the Chloe by Chloe fragrance, star of the hit HBO show Big Love, Elle UK Fashion Advisor and has her own collection- a collaboration with the oh so great boutique Opening Ceremony (whose own clothing label is available on PriceGrabber, woohoo!). While Chloe may not get it right every time, and sometimes her choices seem a bit off the wall- she must be admired for actually pushing the boundaries of style and doing her own thing. Unlike many of the other fashion icons out there, she doesn’t employ a stylist and takes risks. She often introduces what is hot next before anyone else recognizes it- such as the white Ray Bans she was blasted for wearing a year before the Olsen twins made them the must-have for every hipster. It’s been a long time since she was hanging with the skater boys but she hasn’t lost her indie spirit.

Chloe would approve of these pieces from Opening Ceremony:

In the spirit of my voyage to Paris… the beret has long been a symbol of France and the bohemian artist. Coming in many different forms- the classic small black of the mime, floppy red knit of the artist, army green for the revolutionary and sequins for the daring fashionista, the beret can be an accessory for many different types of women. Put one on and it can transform even the most basic white tee and jeans outfit. Of course, one of the most classic images that comes to mind is Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde.

Many celebrities have been seen in berets lately, ranging from dressed up on the red carpet to homeless chic on MK Olsen:

I love this Kate Moss photo (although I must admit I cropped it for a G rating):

These looks from the Marc by Marc Jacobs F08/09 show:

And these assorted options for you and I:

Designers Zandra Rhodes and Marios Schwab can be counted on for their trendsetting, out-there designs. Nat Weller is the just-as-hip son of “modfather” Paul Weller. I recently came across the film Chapter 7: Eat Your Chiffon - which captures these three surreally stylish individuals in conversation - and was thoroughly impressed.

The film, produced by Glass Loves, shot by Ben Charles Edwards at Rhodes’ penthouse, and based on Eat Your Makeup and Chapter 7 of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, centers around a dinner party at which Schwab, Weller, and other artsy guests chat candidly. This forward-thinking piece is unique in that it acts as a visual art installation and a documentary at once. And the best part? It’s only the first in a series of similar “dinner party art films” available online.

To capture the surrealist, mad-tea-partyish feel of the film and the truly unique designers featured, try these looks from LAMB and Versace. Or, learn more about Rhodes and her art in Zandra Rhodes and the Art of Textiles: A Life Long Love Affair.

In the past year or so I have noticed a phenomenon in the closets of me and my girlfriends. We began to amass quite a collection of vests between us, in such varieties as thin cotton, plaid wool, sequins, colored denim, and so on. While I thought this may be a fleeting fad, the vest is definitely not going anywhere soon. In fact, designers took it to a whole new level on the 08 runways, some seeing sleeveless jackets as the new answer to the power suit, seen here as such at Yves Saint Laurent:

For those of us less likely to be found in a boardroom, Vena Cava opted for avant garde sexy and Etro kept the look young and relaxed.

I am enamored with how Hermes and Yigal Azrouel styled their over-sized vests with short skirts and a lot of leg. This is a great update for a LBD or mini that you can’t bear to part with but need a style revival.

Make the look your own with these vests from Bloomingdale’s exclusives, Inhabit and Vena Cava:

 

Can we just set something straight?  I am the kind of person who never, ever wears brown.  EVER. 

It just seems wrong.  Brown is not a color that generally stands out in a crowd.  There are many colors with which it really doesn’t match.  Black is sharper, stronger, darker, edgier,  and goes with just about everything, so why on earth would I bother with brown - the one color that black doesn’t look good with?

But come this fall, I might just have to concede that I am wrong, and the time has come to put away the black and white and break out the brown.  Fall’s clothes, particularly in Milan, are a little bohemian and a little earthy, and just about every designer, notably the always forward-thinking Prada, above, has been putting the shade and its more wearable cousin, beige, on their runway:

Alessandro Dell’Acqua:

Marni:

Fendi:

Some timely looks by Nicole Miller and Isaac Mizrahi:

 

The use of such interesting fabrics, cuts, and color combinations might just persuade me.  So I have to ask: are you the kind of girl who wears black or brown?  And if like me, you’re pretty opposed to the whole idea, do you think fall’s excellent offerings will make you change your mind?

Lily Donaldson is one of my favorite models at the moment. Seeing as how she has landed campaigns for such labels as Burberry, Dolce & Gabana, Dior and Jil Sander, walked in countless runway shows, and been nominated for Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2005- it’s apparent I am not alone in this opinion. Alber Elbaz of Lanvin even counts this lucky girl as one of his muses! Everything I read about her paints her as very down to earth, well as down to earth as you can seem while talking about your adventures with best friends Irina Lazareanu and Gemma Ward. I am always impressed with her personal style- favoring either separates in black, white and grey or simple jeans, casual button downs and flats, her look is ‘put together yet effortless’.

Not lucky enough to have Lily on speed dial to raid her closet? This Alvin Valley blazer, Earnest Sewn mini, James Perse button- down, and Minnie Rose cashmere sweater are some some pieces you might find in there: