The Perfect Fall Outfit

Color Blocking – No Matchie-Matchie Here!

This season is all about color blocking. That’s just a fancy way of saying stick with two or three bold colors and stack them. For example, as you see in the picture of me below, I’m wearing a white tank top, burnt orange skirt and aqua earrings. Umm, aqua? That’s right. These three colors don’t seem to go together, but they do. When you ‘color block’, it draws the eye up and down the entire length of the outfit, making you seem slimmer and taller (and I need all the help I can get in the vertically-challenged arena!) It would seem more natural to match the earrings to my skirt, but in actuality it chops those sections of the body and the eye can’t easily glide up and down your frame. So, stay away from matching colors and go for something a little more unexpected. I do have burnt orange earrings I could have easily worn with this outfit, but I think this gives it a more updated look and it gives an old outfit a new twist. If you stop and think about your accessories (that maybe you haven’t worn in a while), I think it will give you a fresh look this fall by mixing some colors that you wouldn’t usually pair. Fall is here and with that means more layers, so you have more of a chance to pair some interesting color palettes together!

Side Note: If you don’t think you would even know where to start, stay within the same color family and wear different shades of the same color together. 

Elie Saab – Does He Ever Get It Wrong?

I mean, damn. This guy is a genius when it comes to designing clothes for women’s bodies. He seems to get it right every time. His Spring 2013 collection is just….too good. This could be a problem (although, I don’t see this happening): he is setting himself up to the expectation that he will always produce a winning collection. What happens when he gives a lackluster performance one season? The fashion industry, as we all know, is very unforgiving. Again, I am a huge fan, so I find it hard to believe that he could ever fall from the ranks of Fashion-Iconism (if that’s even a word).  Elie Saab has dressed movie and music stars for years and from this newest collection, we can see why.

So, back to the collection…there are three words to describe this latest collection: Lace, Lines and Beading. I would wear every single piece in this collection because not only is he able to incorporate the latest styles (i.e. flowy yet structured button down shirts) but he also keeps true to his signature style of body-conscious dresses and long lines that highlight a woman’s curves in just the right places. He highlights these with his beaded and lace dresses that outline softly with a change in the fabric the lines giving the garments depth and dimension, while his black and white items are very bold yet still feminine in their patterns and cut. The color-splashed garments have black lines that outline a woman’s body as she moves, meaning it would look good on any body type and in any situation - whether a woman is standing or walking down the street, this would flatter any figure. He uses bold colors (blues, reds) yet they do not overpower the actual garment, adding just the right pop to offset the seemingly tame construct. And back to the beautiful beaded dresses that will catch the eye of anyone…the short hemlines offset the high necklines. Even the black and cream garments have a complexity in the style unlike anything you’ve seen before. Really, you just have to look at the whole collection to really understand the true genius of this man. Check out a few pics below. 

Bohemian Chic…In Jeans?

Damn right it can be done! I found two girls that happened to have the same idea on the same day (the fact that they’re cousins had nothing to do with it J). So even though summer is over, the weather is still warm enough (at least here in LA) to wear something like this throughout the year. These girls hit the nail on the head when it comes to 1. Color and 2. Style.

Let me start with Color. Ok, so I know what you’re thinking….”these girls are gorgeous; they can pull off these light, skinny jeans, but if I wear those, I’ll look like I have mom jeans on!” Not necessarily. Light-colored jeans right now are very in and you don’t have to wear the skinny kind – you can find the type that works best for your body type (body type and jean fit is a whole other blog post that I will for sure get to). But I’m sure you also noticed that the color scheme is very similar; this is also very ‘in’ right now – wearing the same color all in one outfit, but in differing degrees of that same color. Looking at this example, the top and pants look good together because they’re both very light colors that are part of the same color family; varying degress of white could also work well with these jeans.

Next, is Style. Although this is what I call ‘Bohemian Chic”, you can change the accessories (shoes are considered accessories to me) and get a whole different ‘feel’ (or style) with just a few simple changes.  For instance, you can change the style altogether to “Rocker Chic” and wear this in the winter by adding a leather jacket and some high-heeled booties, or rock it out like the girls are doing here, with simple accessories and add some knee-high boots and a scarf. Either way, you rock it the way you want to and at the same time keeping up with what’s hot now without having to break the bank.