Arbiter Elegantiae: Oscar de la Renta

Showing posts with label Oscar de la Renta. Show all posts

30.3.11

Fashion Forecast: Atlas Shrugged

Okay, so the Atlas Shrugged reference doesn't perfectly reflect the halter top trend, but I couldn't resist using it. If you're not familiar with the allusion, Atlas was a Greek hero or god or something who wound up with the unenviable task of holding up the world. I believe at one point Hercules (or Herakles if you prefer the Greek) had to take over this job in his seven... or maybe it was twelve? ordeals. You can tell I paid close attention in Greek and Roman Myth. Anyway, Atlas Shrugged was a novel written by Ayn Rand during the Cold War, which was essentially a really long rant about how great capitalism is and in defense of property rights. Believe it or not, the Iron Man comic drew heavily upon Atlas Shrugged for some of its material. Cracked has done an interesting article on it. I liked it because it suggested the shoulders, and as you'll know by now Spring 2011 is all over shoulders.

Again and again designers were showing this rather different look. In some cases they featured genuine halter tops, which fasten at the neck and not at the back, and in other cases they seemed to take a tank top design and cut further away from the shoulder area, accentuating that feature. It's a little hard to put into words but the pictures speak for themselves. I think it's a pretty cool idea as shoulders can be very sexy. However, this style does present a little bit of a challenge when it comes to your bra straps, and I'm not even sure it's something bustier ladies like myself can pull off, but I suppose that remains to be seen. Pictures, as per usual, are all from www.style.com.

Calvin Klein

Celine

Christian Siriano

Derek Lam - one of my favourite items from Spring. This dress is Bohemian and elegant; perfect for a Summer soiree.

Gucci

Helmut Lang

Lanvin

Marc Jacobs

Oscar de la Renta

Prabal Garung

Rodarte

Stella McCartney

Versace

Yves Saint Laurent

23.3.11

Fashion Forecast: Still in Style

All right, so some of you may be wondering what trends from last season are still wearable. Both leopard print and lace have been extremely popular trends over the last year or so, and I can assure you that they're going to stay for at least one more season. Dolce and Gabbana, Blumarine, Givenchy, and Burberry Prorsum all featured leopard print prominently, while lace appeared often in 3.1 Phillip Lim, BCBG Max Azria, D&G, Dolce and Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta, and Valentino. So don't send them to Goodwill just yet!

Blumarine

Burberry Prorsum

Dolce and Gabbana

Givenchy

3.1 Phillip Lim

BCBG Max Azria

D&G

Dolce and Gabbana

Oscar de la Renta

Valentino

9.3.11

Fashion Forecast: Blossoming

So I thought I would take a break from chronicling the colours of Spring 2011, and instead feature one of the omnipresent prints: florals. Florals are a Spring tradition in fashion-world, and this season saw them reinterpreted. The small prints of last year were - for the most part - replaced by a style reminiscent of a botanical encyclopedia. Carolina Herrera, Dries van Noten and Dolce and Gabbana followed this form, while the florals from Alberta Ferretti could have come from a Renaissance painting. Alice + Olivia and Oscar de la Renta both chose a Betty Draper style '60s floral pattern, while Donna Karan and D&G were more evocative of the '70s. All photos from http://www.style.com/.

Carolina Herrera

Dries Van Noten

Dolce and Gabbana

Alberta Ferretti

Alice + Olivia

Oscar de la Renta

D&G

Reem Acra

Donna Karan

Fashion Forecast: the Yellow Pages

Before I get to actually discussing fashion, I'm just going to throw it out there that coming up with titles for these posts is at least half the fun. Anyway, continuing the tradition of brights for Spring 2011 is yellow. Yellow (to me) seems to look best on tan, olive, and darker skin tones. As a thoroughly pale person myself, I tend to gravitate towards pale daffodil shades rather than the ochres and sunflower yellows. Designers this season favoured the most intense yellows they could find, so if you can pull it off then by all means go for it! Yellow played a role in the designs of BCBG Max Azria, Michael Kors, Nina Ricci, Oscar de la Renta, Prabal Garung, Stella McCartney, Tory Burch, Victoria Beckham and others. All photos from http://www.style.com/.

BCBG Max Azria

Michael Kors

Nina Ricci

Oscar de la Renta

Prabal Garung

Stella McCartney

Tory Burch

Victoria Beckham

Fashion Forecast: A Clockwork Orange

Alongside scarlet and turquoise was a noticeable amount of orange. Textures and shades varied slightly, but for the most part designers chose to feature a vivid tangerine colour. On that note, my original title for this post was Tangerine Dream, but about a hundred different fashion blogs beat me to the punch, so I had to settle for my second favourite A Clockwork Orange, whose connotations are decidedly creepier. Sigh. Orange was featured in the shows of Elie Saab, Diane von Furstenberg, Hermes, Oscar de la Renta, Prabal Garung, Reem Acra and many others. In my experience orange can be an unforgiving colour for certain skin-tones, so I definitely advise shopping around for a shade that flatters you. If you completely hate orange, then luckily this season has a wide selection of other colours to choose from. All photos from http://www.style.com/.