TRENDS What you need to know

Trend spotting! I like to walk the streets of Manhattan, for me there is no better way than city walking to find about what is up and coming and Trending! What are artsy people actually wearing? I find my biggest inspiration are people ;-) from new designers which might not be very well known...yet, and Art Exhibits. And of course I participate in New York Fashion Week every year, so it keeps me so in tune with what is happening in the Fashion World! But you know what? I still prefer to do Street-Style walks, and capture as much as I can with my camara! "Normal" people are so much more inspiring!

But you might not be so lucky, yet, but thanks to blogs and online magazines you can also search for trends on the internet!

So we have finally Trends! We have arrived at the last key of The 5 Keys to Dressing Well! What a journey!

Hopefully you have answered many of the questions I posted for you, and that has helped you to identify your own unique style. You also should have by now, more of an idea of the colors that best suit your own personal coloring!, what your body shape is, and also what lines and cutting flatter it.

You might now be at the Closet Clearing stage, and that is quite arduous, I know! You need to invest a lot of time to clear up your closet, but it is totally worth it! Not only you will have more physical space for new items in your closet, but emotionally and mentally you will feel lighter, as you let go of those things that don't flatter your body, are too old, too torn, or don't suit your current lifestyle!

You should also be learning to invest your hard-earned money in pieces that you will wear many many times, because you now know how to shop, and won't be taken by any new fad that comes along!

So you are now ready to learn about TRENDS. Lots of "things" seem to be trending at the same time nowadays, so how do you know which trends to "follow"? if any at all...

I suggest you check out fashion magazines like Vogue UK, Elle, Harpers Bazaar and the online magazines like Style and Refinery29, these are all very good options to browse through monthly. There are also plenty of blogs that give you up to date, real street-style insider info. Also do an online search for your local area and see if there are any blogs worth following in your town, the chances are you share the same "dress codes" seasonal weather and lifestyle, so it can help you stay current.

If you are one lucky girl and live in a big urban city like Paris, New York :-), London, Rome, Milan, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, just walk the streets and you will have plenty of inspiration!

A few ideas that are now trending for Summer

• polka dot denim

• carry all backpacks 

• flower printed pants/jeans

• buttoned up blouses

• bra tops

• denim vests

More on how to differentiate trends from fads...coming tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Chinese American Designers: an Exhibition

Front Row: Chinese American Designers
by our Guest Writer: Gigi K.

Jason Wu: Photo Courtesy of David Shankbone

New York City’s Chinatown is the largest and also one of the oldest enclaves of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Located in the borough of Manhattan, it borders the Lower East Side to the east and Little Italy to its north. And that is just Manhattan, there are other seven Chinatown neighborhoods
in New York City; if we consider the New York Metropolitan Area, it holds the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia.

Designers like Vera Wang, Phillip Lim, Derek Lam, Alexander Wang, among others; have helped through their shared cultural heritage in the construction of a Chinese American fashion identity, which celebrates, collaborates, and displays the best of both worlds, and yet has truly an American sense of style.

It is no coincidence then, that Chinese American Designers are making it big in the Fashion World. And it
is no coincidence either that they chose New York as their home base.

This is precisely the objective of Front Row, the ongoing exhibition at the Museum of Chinese in
America. This exhibition guest-curated by fellow Chinese American designer Mary Ping features the
unique visions of sixteen Chinese American designers and their own unique relationships with New York City.
The story of those designers that emerged in the 1980s, Vera Wang, Anna Sui, Vivienne Tam, and
Yeohlee Teng, is told to me as I walk and appreciate each unique design from a close up look, and then as I step away and grasp the overall social and cultural context, in which they were created. They were the emerging designers of the time, those that helped transform New York City from a garment district into a fashion capital that now hosts one of the biggest bi-yearly events of the global fashion scene, the New York Fashion Week.
Stories such as Anna Sui’s, which started her brand with just $300, as she told Newsweek “it was not a good business plan” she said “ I always had to do extra design jobs just to keep my company going for the first ten years” and now her brand is not just based on apparel, shoes and bags but a it sells a whole range of cosmetics and perfumes, and there is even an Anna Sui Barbie doll!

Vera Wang Dress: Photo Museum of Chinese in America

The exhibit also took me through personal reflections and inspired me as I was exposed to so many
different, yet congruent artistic visions. The origins of designers such as Phillip Lim, Derek Lam, and
Jason Wu, the development of their signature styles and their embracing of their own entrepreneurial
spirit.

Jason Wu who was born in Taipei, Taiwan, moved as a boy to Canada and later studied at the Parsons
New School of Design in New York. He launched his prêt-a porter line with his own savings, and with only 27 years old was already dressing the First Lady Michelle Obama for the first Obama Presidential Inauguration in 2009, and we know how it went on from then.

Be prepared to see lots of red, and black and white on this fashion retrospective, that celebrates those Chinese American Designers that through their own diverse aesthetics have helped transform not only the New York Fashion scene, but the fashion scene around the globe.

Front Row is a perfect mix of cultural heritage and modern style, and is ongoing until the 29th of September at the Museum of Chinese in America at 215 Centre Street, New York City.

Shoe Obsessed?

Prada

Louboutin

"An intimate extension of the body, shoes convey a wealth of information about an individual's sexuality, social status, and aesthetic sensibility. High-heeled shoes, in particular seem to embody our complex feelings about sexuality, gender and power" Valerie Steele, director and chief curator, The Museum FIT

 

Aperlai

Pierre Hardy

Alexander McQueen

Azzedine Alaia

Giuseppe Zanotti

Manolo Blahnik

I love high-heeled shoes, I just love the way they lift you up, from your calfs up till your bum, and make everything look so perky and cute, and elegant, and sophisticated (if you wear the right pair, that is)....but I only wear them for special occasions.

In shoes I look for beauty in design and comfort for my feet and spine. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that I care a lot about my posture and what the consequences of wearing high-heels daily will do to my future body as a whole...but that is no reason why a girl like me cannot enjoy now the pleasures of wearing and looking Hot in heels like these!!!

I just loved the exhibition called "Shoe Obession" that is ongoing @ The Museum FIT at 27th and 7th Avenue. Definitely some of those shoes in the Exhibit Collection are not meant to be worn at all....or are they?! You should go and take a look, it is on until the end of April, from noon till 8 pm.

Maybe you are one of those girls that wears them daily, and I salute you! You will love these! What do you think?! I would definitely wear the Aperlai's, Manolo Blahnik's (yes this time I would!), and Louboutin's...How about you? Which ones would you actually wear?