Trending For Pre-Fall: Sunshine

Gooooooood morning, readers! It's Saturday, September 1st! The morning of! I'm using an excessive amount of exclamation points to mask how terrified I am that school and Fashion Week begin in five days! Ahhhhhhahahahaha!

The above information proves that this post is quite timely--the end of summer means the end of the pre-fall trend reports, because real fall is coming up. Twenty days, guys. I saved the cheerio cheeriest one for last, the one that calls back memories of dem lazii summah dayz: yellow. Sunshine. Is California really the Sunshine State? The world may never know.  

In December, I told you to make like a pack of Skittles and explore the rainbow; make like a hotdog and wear condiments...in essence, I advised you to dress like food. Sort of. The designers are not done with the most neglected member of the primary color family, it seems. I'm lovin' it (that was secretly a double McDonald's reference, since the "M" is also yellow). More power to the lemons and daffodils! 

I've always thought it was funny that everyone loves blondes and wants to be blonde--how often is it really that a blonde goes brunette in comparison to how many flaxen-haired fakers there are out there?--yet people think the color yellow itself is not too pleasing. "It makes me look sickly," someone may explain. "I can't wear colors that bright, they make me uncomfortable," says another. Bah humbug! Bypass these silly qualms and just hop into it! Find the shade that suits your skin tone best, the hue that tickles your fancy most, slap it on your body, and walk out the door! It's as simple as that! If your skin tone is an awkward shade of yellow like mine, stick to light, lemony tones that don't pull out that I'm-about-to-vomit color on your face. Yes, that is why people stayed a good few feet away from you last time you wore that mustard-colored shirt. If you have fair skin, vibrant and dark yellows are a good choice. I'd stay away from pale yellows just because they might wash you out a bit. If you have dark skin, mustardy hues and deep yellows are poifect. 

[Photos via style.com.]

Primary (lessons in) yellow:

                          Diane von Furstenberg                                                   Oscar de la Renta

          

                                     Erdem                                                               Oscar de la Renta

          

Lighten up!

                               Alexander Wang                                                    Diane von Furstenberg

          

                                Alice + Olivia                                                              Balenciaga 

          

                                      Erdem                                                         Moschino Cheap and Chic

          

Goldilocks wants her hair back:

                                Nicole Miller                                                                     Chanel

          

                          Diane von Furstenberg                                             Moschino Cheap and Chic 

          

Yeah! Pre-fall is done! Other things that are done: my internship at Lyn Devon. It was an awesome two weeks in which a learned a great deal about many things. There will be more to come on that in Monday's Chictopia article, so keep your eyes peeled. That reminds me--bananas! They are yellow as well! I digress. Internship. Right. On my last day yesterday, I was putting address stickers on envelopes for the invitations to the Spring 2013 trunk show. I felt like I was in a live episode of "Dora the Explorer;" all of the people I'd delivered garments to throughout the ten days had their names on the sticker sheets. Everything was coming full circle. It's like that part of the episode where all of their friends from the past twenty minutes come back for their party on the top of the hill, except I had never met these people and we were not, in fact, partying on top of a hill. 

FashionWeekFashionWeekFashionWeek so much to do, so little time. What iz sleep? Wut iz exercise? Hah! Theez do not exist. 

Enjoy your freedom while you still have it! Please! 

Follow this blog

Chictopia/Huffington Post/Facebook/Bloglovin/Twitter

Trending For Pre-Fall: Diaphanous Details

Look at me! I know how to use a thesaurus! 

Hopefully, dear readers, you recall the last time I talked about sheer clothing, back in January. Wait, what?! January? Gee, time's fun when you're having flies! I hate when these trends overlap each season, because what am I to say? It's been three months (if you count from the spring/summer season to pre-fall). Nothing has changed. Well, a few things have changed. Overall, women are beginning to dress more demurely: hemlines are lowering, necklines are rising...just how I like it. I'm a Puritan, remember? Transparent fabric-wise, this means fewer nip-slips and more peek-a-boo arms. Mmm. Tasteful. 

Everyone loves a sheer top nowadays. Lots of people have decided to wear them so that everyone can see their undergarments through the fabric, and I can't say I approve. Maybe it's because part of my brain is indisputably wired similarly to that of an elderly woman, but something about the roots of the word "undergarment" leads me to believe they're not supposed to be entirely visible. Hint hint males who insist upon flashing their boxers to the entire world and subsequently waddle in lieu of walking hint hint. 

Take some tips from the pre-fall collections, because heaven knows our society needs a little cleaning up.  We're looking for ladies, not tramps. 

[Photos via style.com.]

Armed and ready: 

                               Alberta Ferretti                                                           Alexander Wang

          

         

                            T by Alexander Wang                                                Alexander McQueen

          

                                Alice + Olivia                                                            3.1 Phillip Lim 

          

                                Alberta Ferretti                                                       T by Alexander Wang

          

I see London, I see France: 

                               Alberta Ferretti                                                         Alexander McQueen

          

3.1 Phillip Lim

On an unrelated note, I just re-read part of a post I did on my first day of high school. Instead of getting all nostalgic, I was kind of repulsed at (I like to use the verb "repugged"--variant spelling is "repugg'd--which is the verb form of repugnant) how long my hair was, how different my style is, and how much better my writing has gotten, if I do say so myself. But to play my own devil's advocate (but why?) I was painfully unsophisticated for the longest time. 

I've been running around for several days interning at Lyn Devon, so the speed at which my mind is moving at the moment is directly proportional to the amount of work I'm doing during the day. So that means very slow. That's why I haven't given much fashion advice regarding these trends. I'm counting on Fashion Week to get those juices flowing and gears turning again. As of right now, I'm planning on attending seven shows, but that number is apt to change. I'll keep ya posted. 

In other news, three of my favorite people are in a commercial about a thing I love: Darren Criss, Karlie Kloss, and Arizona Muse are all in an ad about Fashion's Night Out. I'm more than in love. 

Have a jolly week! And kiddies, enjoy summer while you can. School is...gulp...creeping up on us. 

Follow this blog

Chictopia/Huffington Post/Facebook/Bloglovin/Twitter

Trending For Pre-Fall: Not Turquoise, Not Lapis...Cerulean

The title of this post is a reference to what is possibly my favorite monologue of all time. If I were auditioning for something, I would use that. Screw Shakespeare (luh dat bitch)! If you're like, "What is happening. What is cerulean. It sounds like crustacean. And isn't lapis the French word for 'rabbit?'" then you need to do two things: 1) leave  2) go watch The Devil Wears Prada. 

If you've been reading this blog since last summer, you may remember when I saw this film last and had slight epiphanic reactions to it. This masterpiece, the epitome of cinematic genius (IMDb has no idea what they're talking about, it deserves more than 6.7 stars), is relevant today for more than one reason. First of all, today's trend is about--you guessed it!--blue. Secondly, since I started my internship at Lyn Devon on Monday, I've felt a lot like Andy and Emily; running all around the city delivering garments and picking up items from the warehouse and doing odd jobs here and there...it's madness. Maybe you've heard this before and scoffed, but you better believe it now because I am telling you fo' rill: interns are the hardest working ones there. I'm serious. We're the ones that do inventory and move stock from venue to venue and make sure our clients have their clothing in a timely and organized fashion for free. Essentially, it's slave labor. But educational slave labor. 

Now for the trendy stuff. Blue is slowly trickling back into the fashion world multitudinously (see the blue mascara at Stella McCartney), but it's been gathering steam with every new season. Whatever shade it is, blue is going to look good on you 96.5453% (note: that statistic is entirely false) of the time. When you're a toddler, blue is usually associated with boys, and pink with girls. The gender barriers are falling down--although the foundations are still there--and lines are being crossed that were left untouched for years. Men wearing pink, women wearing blue...the latter is not such a shocker, but let's pretend. 

How does one wear blue? See for yourself. 

Photos via style.com.

Turquoise: 

                              Alberta Ferretti                                                                DSquared²

          

                               Narciso Rodriguez                                            Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti 

          

Lapis: 

                               Emporio Armani                                                    T by Alexander Wang

          

   
                            T by Alexander Wang                                                         Acne

          

Cerulean: 

                                 Issey Miyake                                                         Opening Ceremony

          

Issey Miyake

If you're one of those "I don't wear color" crackheads (jokes, jokes), blue is the perfect gateway drug pigment. Start with dark hues in the navy and lapis family and slowly work your way up to more vibrant shades such as cerulean, cobalt, and turquoise. Or if you'd like to work your way down from white, jump on the pastel bandwagon and begin by incorporating sky, powder, and baby blues into your wardrobe. 

I am dead tired and can't feel my feet, but I'm being immersed in fashion, which is absolutely wonderful. I'm a dreadfully fast learner when it comes to menial tasks (yet painfully slow when it comes to historical facts), so I'll be a pro when I do my next internship, whatever that may be. Come at me. I'm ready.

P.S. Bird is the word, so spread it! ...As in spread the word about this site if you feel so inclined. A surprising amount of my readers came from my personal Facebook account, and now that that's gone, I need your help, my lovelies, to tell people to come and enjoy the fruits of my endless labor. 

The weekend is soon, school is soon, Fashion Week is soon. I can't tell if I'm excited or terrified of all three or not. 

 Follow this blog

Chictopia/Huffington Post/Facebook/Bloglovin/Twitter