From left: Alberta Ferretti, Marchesa, Mary Katrantzou, Dolce&Gabbana, Giambattista Valli, Christian Dior

Flowers. Flowers in every shape, color and form. Flowers on skirts, shirts, pants, shoes, bags, hats and more. Just in case you are still wondering:  yes, one of the biggest trends this season is, indeed, floral.

There must be something about flowers in spring that really inspires designers because this trend has been going on for quite a wile now – one of the best Miranda Priestly quotes in the 2006 movie “The Devil Wears Prada” is “Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking” - and it seems like it’s here to stay. I have to admit though that, while the flower/spring combo might not be groundbreaking, it certainly does make for a great and fun trend that can be interpreted in more ways than one. Designers like Alberta Ferretti, Marchesa and Oscar de la Renta presented us with the most exquisite, romantic and charming floral dresses that ever were, making their woman look like an ethereal nymph while Mary Katrantzou, Mulberry and Collette Dinnigan were ready toshake things up with their colorful and almost cartoony take on this trend.

Marni

And if designers like Dolce&Gabbana, Giambattista Valli, Monique Lhuillier and Marni were all for the pop-up effect making it impossible for us not to notice the incredibly realistic flowers applied to their creations, others chose a more subtle way to show their appreciation for the mode. Christian Dior, Michael Van Der Ham, Preen and Stella McCartney proved to us that bigger is not necessarily better by using small patterns that gave the clothes an almost pointillist effect only in reverse: the more you got close the more you understood what you were looking at!
Miranda Priestly might not be impressed with florals for spring, but I bet she would be impressed with these interpretations of the everlasting trend…I know I am.

“I really love these pants but I don’t know how they will fit!”

How many times have you found yourself thinking this while trying to buy on-line? Well, I did… many times! While buying on-line can be great for accessories, bags and shoes it can become tricky when sizes are involved. You can never be 100% sure that what you are buying will fit you just like it fits the model in the picture (unless you have a model-like body… in that case just consider yourself extremely lucky!) and more times than not you end up not buying anything all together in fear that what you bought will not fit you. Well, ladies fear no more because an Australian on-line store has come to our rescue changing the rules of on-line buying! The website, called Sizeable (www.sizeable.com.au), presents six different models all with different sizes and bodytipes from which you can choose from to know exactly how the clothes you are buying will fit you. For the moment, the newborn website doesn’t offer a wide variety of clothes, but I’m sure that in no time it will become one of the best on-line stores. I’m ready to start buying… what about you?

From left: Alexander Wang, Christopher Kane, JC de Castelbajac, Christian Dior, Kenzo, Rebecca Minkoff

Once upon a time wearing clothes that had labels or other writings on was ok, fashionable even, then, somewhere between my eleventh birthday and the movie “The Devil Wears Prada”, the fashion wind blew in another direction and this trend was soon forgotten. In the years that followed some like Moschino, Dolce&Gabbana, Maison Martin Margiela and Dsquare, tried to bring it back, but they all failed miserably  until one day, one of the brightest designers in the fashion kingdom, Alexander Wang, got everyone dangerously excited for his labeled T-shirts. Designers like Raf Simons, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Christopher Kane were quick to follow in his footsteps and from that glorious September day finding a simple, plain, white T-shirt became close to impossible while numbers, pictures, quotes and labels flourished on every possible fashion item. The trend, in fact, hasn’t limited itself to T-shirts, hoodies and dresses but has also taken over bags, hats and every other kind of accessory. While a quote here or there is always needed, I remember what it was like when logos where all the rage back in the days and I can assure you that it ended up not being so pretty. To those of you who are already in despair I can only say that my twenty-first birthday is not that far away and that there have been rumors about a possible sequel of “The Devil Wears Prada” movie; who knows, maybe the fashion wind will soon blow in another direction…