Pretty in Pastel

Despite the up-and-down weather that Americans have been experiencing, spring is undoubtedly around the corner. A brief chill does not excuse the fact that trees are flowering and the calendar dictates that it is indeed springtime. Although the climate can be an inconvenience to those of us who enthusiastically fling on lightweight sundresses and open-toed shoes, there are more practical ways to celebrate spring without ignoring the temperature completely.
One of the easiest ways to compose a springlike outfit is with the use of pastels. I don't often abide by trends, and I generally abstain from writing trend-focused posts on Girl Loves Color, but today marks an exception. I've been particularly interested in pastels for some time now, seeing as we've experienced the lengthy stay of brights. Pastels are a wonderful way to incorporate the soft femininity of the spring shows and often an easier way to wear color rather than having to worry about the trouble of styling brights.

The spring shows presented a beautiful variety of takes on pastels, incorporated both into structured silhouettes and more relaxed fits. From classic high fashion brands to more contemporary lines, pastels were popular everywhere.

Left: Louis Vuitton

Right: 3.1 Phillip Lim

Left: Valentino

Right: Givenchy

Left: Chanel

Right: Hussein Chalayan

Left: Jason Wu

Right: Erdem

All images from style.com

I'm sure most will agree that pastels are easier to wear than brights, not specifically in terms of styling but rather they are simply less intimidating. However, these hues can be quite tricky to incorporate into outfits, despite their lesser intensity. I've put together two outfits centered around pastels in order to give you some inspiration.

Mango denim jacket, Topshop knit tank top, Jigsaw linen scarf, Current/Elliott pastel jeans, Sam Edelman wedges, Assad Mounser bracelet.

Pastel jeans are a great way to hop on the colored denim bandwagon. There are plenty of options available now, but I chose a yellow version for my example. Another plus to pastel jeans is that it makes doing double denim ridiculously easy. I've added a classic denim jacket for slight contrast against the sweetness of the pastel. White pairs easily with pastels, but a knit texture is more interesting. Lastly, a scarf and jewelry within the same color realm as the jeans add bright color and strappy wedges ground the look.

Burberry trench coat, American Vintage t-shirt, Antik Batik pants, Alexander McQueen bangle, Oasis wrap bracelet, Oscar de la Renta booties.
Outfits created using polyvore.com

Pastels are a gateway to creating an outfit around a single hue. Combining different shades of the same color is consistently chic. In my example, I've used green. A classic tan trench coat is perfect for spring weather and in combination with neutral accessories allows the focus to be on the green pieces. Lace-up booties add ruggedness to a sophisticated outfit but don't feel too undone. Simple bracelets add to the effortlessness without imposing on the streamlined effect of the uninterrupted green garb.

Although my heart undeniably belongs to bright colors and prints, I have discovered an admiration for the soft delicacy of pastels. I'm hoping to see a lot of these hues on the street and in upcoming designer collections. 

xoxo

Lazy Days

I've been quite unorganized recently, caught up in my own little world. Needless to say I've been MIA for  some time now, but I do hope to get back into the swing of things within the next week or so. I'm not really blaming this on anyone but myself. The weather has been perking me up considerably and in doing so has succeeded in distracting me from the things I probably should be doing. One of the bad things about being on break is that literally everything contains the possibility of completely obliterating your not-very-well-planned-out plan for the day.
It's this has got me thinking about the whole theory of laziness. In our modern world there is always so much to do (we've got our best friends cell phone and computer to thank for that) that it seems reasonably to assume that laziness should be in decline. After all, if we have nothing at home for dinner it just takes a few clicks to fix that problem. But maybe we have the opposite problem: we can get things done so effortlessly that tasks that require a reasonable amount of work seem so much more difficult.
Fashion, strangely enough, seems to be headed in a similar direction. If you've been paying even the slightest attention to the latest magazine issues or fashion news websites, you may have noticed the sudden arrival of two very strange trends: pajamas and wet hair. If you don't know much about either of these trends, they are quite self-explanatory. The former involves ready-to-wear clothing inspired by pajamas that look exactly like something one would sleep in. The latter consists of hair that is made with whatever means possible to have that fresh just-out-of-the-shower-look.
I very rarely criticize fashion trends. There are certainly trends that I don't care for in the slightest, but everyone has his/her own taste, which I do respect. At a time like this, my opinion doesn't even matter. I always considered fashion - the art of dressing specifically - as the mechanism of putting oneself together in a way that promotes self-confidence and one's distinct personality. If I see a woman walking down the street in a "pajama" top with "wet" hair, I'm simply going to think to myself, This woman is a mess. It's  blindly following a trend without considering the message that it sends.
Therefore I believe that it is time to inject a bit of sophistication back into our spring style. There are infinitely many different kinds of looks in the fashion world, but now it is time to revel in the feminine grace of the spring fashions. This season is about being put-together, so fold your pajamas and put them back on the bed and take some time to style your hair after a shower, because spring is one of the most joyful seasons.

I've selected some inspiration both for me and for you to help us find the motivation we need to keep things classy throughout the season. Of course, take a cue from Girl Loves Color and do so with some brights. There's nothing like a little bit of color to inspire one to dress to impress.

Images found via Tumblr

I do not own any of the photographs in this post

I hope you've been newly inspired to put together some wonderful outfits for the coming days. The weather is becoming truly gorgeous, so go outside and show off your fantastic self. Please do remember to add a dash of color for my sake and for yours.

I hope my lengthy contemplative section has somewhat compensated for the days I've been missing from the blogging world. I'd love for you to shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment on this post with your opinions about my musings. Fashion-related discussions always intrigue me.

xoxo

Live Free, Ride Hard

It feels a bit strange to transition into posting regular content after an entire month of fashion shows. In a way, the excitement has died down now that Fall 2012 Fashion Month has ended. But actually it's quite an exciting time in the world of fashion. Perhaps your experience differs from mine, but it seems that the world's young talent is on the rise. And it's not just fashion. The consumer base is tiring of the big guns, hungry for something fresh and exciting. It's not about the big names anymore as much as the next big thing. It seems that our world has become so fast-paced, constantly changing with every second that goes by, so much so that we're always looking forward rather than concentrating on the present. This means that the names of today don't have as much of an opportunity to bask in their glory, because tomorrow they'll be old news. Going back to fashion: there will always be the die-hards who remain loyal to the last big It label (e.g. Alexander Wang). There will always be the classic brands that remain in our hearts (e.g. Chanel). But the majority of us always have our eyes on those whom we have labeled as 'emerging'. And this has been a major shift from the past, when we reveled in our awe of the current star. Now those under-the-radar brands are on our radars, because everyone is so desperate to discover what's next, to be able to say that they were the one who knew about it first. It's the same thing with everything else in our culture, but it is particularly prevalent in today's fashion world.
Along these lines, runway shows don't seem as big of a deal anymore. One used to have to wait months before the looks were released to the public; now, it's a matter of opening up the Internet and going to a website like Style.com to view pictures from a show minutes after its end or even watching a live stream. This is why those emerging designers and whatnot are such a big deal. It's because they're hard to find. We know where to find everything else, so there's no excitement in it anymore. It's the discovery that we love, the feeling of stumbling upon something thrillingly new that few know about.

If you're an avid reader of Girl Loves Color, you may have realized that ever since the beginning of this blog I have celebrated the lesser-known. In this respect, I am mostly referring to fashion labels, but I feel similarly about other cultural categories such as music, art, and destinations (i.e. the miniature restaurant on that side street that is barely even noticeable, that boutique in the middle of absolutely nowhere). This is not so much because I am obsessed with being the one to discover the next big thing - although that's always a good feeling - but because I find that the lesser-known have more freedom. There is a pressure to do something great in order to get noticed by those who will enjoy it, but there is also a creative liberty that cannot be found with the famous.

Now, we finally arrive to the title of my post: Live Free, Ride Hard. This is the name of the Spring/Summer 2012 lookbook of contemporary, London-based shoe label Miista, founded and designed by Laura Villasenin. The designers are hip yet wearable, combining interesting details to create a unique shoe that doesn't scare away the unadventurous. This post isn't really about the shoes, though; it's about the lookbook and what it signifies.
The S/S'12 Miista lookbook feels like a Mexican fiesta. Each image is wildly colorful and pushes the boundaries of what a lookbook is supposed to be. It's absolutely insane, and ever since I first stumbled upon this set of images, I have not been able to forget them.
Live Free, Ride Hard. It's the perfect mantra for such a lookbook and something to live by.
Live Free: Spend each moment of your life as if you are completely free. There are no limits, there are no rules.
Ride Hard: When you put your mind to something or when you have a goal, make your best effort. Work at it: just attack it.
To me, the Miista lookbook means so much more than a set of pictures advertising the new season's line of shoes. It's a message that needs to be spread. These photographs capture the wildness of its designated focus, but inside each image and inside each model is a sense of innate strength.
Returning to my preliminary words, this lookbook proves why emerging designers are vital to our community. They contain a powerful creativity that is practically extinct in so much else, and they carry with it these underlying meanings. Because our world is so caught up in technology and in moving quickly that we forget to stop for a second and consider what people are really trying to tell us.

Images from miista.com

View the Miista lookbook in its entirety here.

xoxo

Colorful Highlights at Paris Fashion Week

Fashion Month has come to a close. These four weeks of each season seem to both last a very long time and go by quickly.
Paris Fashion Week's Fall 2012 season built on Spring 2012's trend of pure, unadulterated femininity. This season's woman maintained her femininity, but the clothes felt more powerful. These looks are not for the girly-girl, but rather for the woman, who is sophisticated - she knows what she wants and how to get it. This customer is not so much the cliche female at the top of her game living in a male-dominated world, rather the more tasteful lady who is unafraid of experimentation: she is bold and daring, fun and saucy. Spring 2012's girl has grown up.
Though fashions always look to the past for inspiration, these shows seemed to look more towards the future. Looks comprised of classic silhouettes re-imagined and newer silhouettes defined. Alexis Mabille presented a gorgeous wrap coat in the perfect shade of lipstick red and Phoebe Philo at Celine showed a stunning azure blue coat that took minimalist structure to the max. Balenciaga and Chalayan played on futuristic elements, the former with accentuated silhouettes and sheer details in unexpected places and the latter with sleek design and perfectly executed shapes. Stella McCartney presented the loveliest royal blue trousers that will sure to make a huge impact when they are taken to the streets and Lanvin created the epitome of feminine ferocity.

Left: Akris

Right: Alexis Mabille

Left: Balenciaga

Right: Cacharel

Left: Carven

Right: Celine

Left: Chalayan

Right: Chanel

Left: Dries Van Noten

Right: Giambattista Valli

Left: Haider Ackermann

Right: Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

Left: Kenzo

Right: Lanvin

Left: Stella McCartney

Right: Yohji Yamamoto

All images from style.com

It will be interesting to see the evolution in between spring and fall this year - seeing how fashion grows up. At this point, we shall look to the street, because though we all love the runway, that's where fashion is headed.

What did you think of Paris Fashion Week and Fashion Month as a whole? What were your favorite collections of the Fall 2012 season? Let me know with a comment.

xoxo

Manish Arora Fall 2012

One could describe Manish Arora's designs as the results of a mind overflowing with creative insanity. Known for his couture-like creations, Arora epitomizes the artistic side of fashion with his fall 2012 collection. Certainly these looks, some of which feature abstract prints of androgynous yellow faces - in one example, said depiction is crying tears of flower petals - are reminiscent of the Outsider Art world. These are not just clothes, rather they are a metaphor for the evolution of the counterculture. The most blatant representation of this progression is the advancement of the graffitied background framing each look, which goes from soft to an ultimately bold depiction of street art. The latter is the inspiration for Arora's collection, which plays with print and texture to create a balance of whimsical and sophisticated. The influence is omnipresent if one looks closely: a bright print that feels Aztec-with-a-twist has edges that are blurred, as if made with spray paint. The final set of dresses are almost too true to the street art theme, featuring prints in a variety of colors that look like enlarged images of graffiti itself. The true artistic talent in what Manish Arora has presented is not really in the clothing itself, but rather what it means. It shows support and alliance with the artists fighting against the rapids of the mainstream, focusing on the freedom of creative passion, no matter to which insane direction it may lead.

Images from style.com

You can view the entire Manish Arora Fall 2012 collection here.

xoxo