Come Sail with Me

This year fashion designers are serving up a hot new modern twist on an old favourite for their Spring 2012 collections, the classic nautical-sailor look.  This seaside fashion trend raises its head every year with this years collections being bigger then ever.

The variation this year on one of the oldest and most iconic fashion trends takes you on a nautical yacht ride through the French Riviera with designers such as YSL designer Stefano Pilati and others turning out a-jet-setter vibe adding embellishments of gold buttons, sailor jackets, anchor motif detailing, and defined collars to their collections.

Sourced: http://blog.myfdb.com

This ready to wear look was first brought to us by the magnificently talented Coco Chanel in the 1930s inspired by her love affair with the Duke of Westminster, Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, who was a renowned yachting enthusiast.  Chanel began dressing similar to the sailors by wearing side-legged sailor pants, striped boat neck sweaters and flat boating shoes making the look her own.

Other fashion icons following in her footsteps include the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Katherine Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy Onassis popularising the preppy nautical look between the rich and wealthy.

The key to joining the nautical trend without going overboard is by keeping it simple. That means wearing only one nautical themed piece at a time. Take inspiration from Coco Chanel and stick to a simple colour palette of monochrome or blue and white.

Add nautical-inspired splashes of colour using red and yellow with skinny jeans or solid coloured shorts will add a feminine, nautical touch to your outfits making you look boat ready.

This classic trend will never go out of style, so keep these ideas in mind each year for that perfect classic summer look.

What trend do you love right now? Tell us about it!

Bianca Jagger made historic fashion waves by sporting a white Yves Saint Laurent blazer at her high-profile 1970’s wedding to Rolling Stones musician Mick Jagger.  Little did she know that whilst her outfit of choice caused much controversy at the time, it would change the direction of women’s fashion transitioning between masculine and feminine style.

This year’s designers are influenced by the glamorous tailoring and feminine sex-appeal of the uber-flattering pant suit.  This androgynous style reflects a sense of power mixed with a hint of femininity and makes men go gaga.  Think of the steamy, pulse racing alley sex scene in the 1986 movie “9 ½ Weeks”, where Kim Basinger sports a men’s suit whilst seducing Mickey Rouke at a men’s only club.

 

It was Yves St. Laurent who brought the fashion world to its knees by pairing the suit jacket with pants down the runway in 1962 and a variation of the suit has appeared on the YSL catwalk every season from then on.

Sexy screen sirens such as Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn, Diane Keaton and Angelina Jolie have been big fans of this menswear look in the past and more recently, the Olsens representing The Row suit at the CFDA Awards in New York and the lovely Mila Kunis in a Boca Negra suit attending the Cosmopolitan Magazine’s Fun Fearless Males of 2011 Awards.

So, if you’re in the mood to try this menswear inspired style, which allows you to emphasise your body shape and bring out its best assets, stay feminine by avoiding pieces that resemble a shapeless male suit.  Keep it feminine with the highest heels you can get your hands (draw inspiration from Christian Lauboutin Pigalle heels 2011 collection), add a style staple leopard print clutch and a well cut fitted jacket nipped in at the waist.  A good rule to follow is, if the jacket is loose, the pants should be fitted and vice versa.

2011 Spring/Summer Fashion Trends

A key characteristic of popular trends is that they occur in 20 year cycles. The Milestone years to pay attention to this year will be the 70s, 50s, and 1930s.

But for the 2011 Spring/Summer collections displayed, it’s the 1970s that are due for a reinterpretation. The fully-fledged 1970s glam vibe championed by Tom Ford in the 1990s is finally back!  Think of the rock hard parting 1970s rock stars and Studio 54 regulars such as the gold dust women like Bianca Jagger, Diane von Furstenberg, Diana Ross and Stevie Nicks.

For women in the 1970s, hip hugger jeans, pantsuits and hot-pants were worn with chunky platform shoes.  Rachel Zoe has perfected the 70s look —part hippy chick, part disco. Rachel uses bold prints, earth tones and cultural styles which were very popular in the 1970s.  Rachel shows her love for 70s fashion by wearing everything from the wooden platform shoes through to carrying the boho hippy bag.

Portman’s ambassador Abbey Lee Kershaw for the upcoming Autumn Winter 2011 campaign also shows her sporting a 70s luxurious vibe wearing beautiful prints that evoke the bohemian glamour we all think of when we read or hear about the era.

Key designers to draw 70s inspiration from are Yves Saint Laurent, Zandra Rhodes, Jean Muir, DVF (wrap dress), Karl Lagerfeld for Chloe, Cacharel, Halston, Geoffrey Beene and the Gucci by Gucci 2008 advertisement directed by David Lynch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2QFZ-Njmjo&feature=fvst