Designer ankle boots - new season trend
October 4th, 2009
Ankle boots are everywhere this season - they’re sexy, stylish, and super glamorous. Perfect for anyone who isn’t quite sure about wearing thigh boots, this season’s ankle boots will update an existing outfit instantly. Just drag on your old skinny jeans and tuck them into your ankle boots, or wear your ankle boots with a denim mini and some ’80s-style lace leggings, or for night time with a simple sharp-shouldered LBD, and you’re done, fashion-wise.
Which is good as you’ll need all that money you’re saving on unneccesary fashion purchases to pay for taxis to take you everywhere (I said ankle boots were sexy, stylish and glamorous, I didn’t say they were comfy).
Actually there are some flat ankle boots around - but really, when faced with a choice between some expensive but descreet designer flatties and a pair of towering red-lined Alexander McQueen ankle boots, which would you choose? So go high this season and stop whingeing about your bunions, no-one cares.
Visit Matches Fashion for fabulous designer ankle boots by Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Chloe, Brian Atwood, Belle by Sigerson Morrison, David Wyatt, Rupert Sanderson, Yves Saint Laurent and more - or check out our favourite designer ankle boots, below.
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Over the knee boots and thigh boots - new season trend
September 20th, 2009
Over the knee boots and thigh boots are this season’s biggest boot trend, so wear them with panache and be guaranteed new season fashion Brownie points (and probably a lot of stares in Waitrose).
Thigh high boots can be tricky to pull off - literally and figuratively. A flat black suede over the knee boot over your favourite skinny jeans would be a good way to ease yourself into this trend, though the coolest way to wear thigh boots - without bringing to mind the old Dolly Parton quote “it takes a lot of money to look this cheap” - is with a flirty pair of city shorts and black or coloured opaques.
Best designer bargain for over the knee boots? It has to be the Stella McCartney boots, below, for an amazingly reasonable £275 - that’s only £137.50 per boot! (Skint? Sarah’s money saving tip - buy a pair, split with a friend, and hop.)
Check out our favourite over the knee boots and thigh high boots from Rupert Sanderson, Chloe, Lanvin and Stella McCartney, below.
My name is Sarah and I am obsessed with 80s fashion
September 13th, 2009
Okay, I have admitted it now. But I don’t want a cure - oh no, not when there are tops like this metallic sequin zip front top from Dries Van Noten in the shops.
How 80s is it though, on a scale where 1 is a touch of new Romantic frilliness and 10 is an extra from Fame? Duh, an 11, I think. Metallic - tick. Blouson style with a thick waistband - tick. Sleeveless/cap sleeved - tick. It even has a zip front (tick, tick, tick, tick, tick).
This Dries Van Noten top is £1,075 - I’ve no idea what that is in 1980s money, but I imagine you could have probably bought a house with it. Still, it is sort of a bargain - buy it now, wear it for one season, then you can wear it and wear it and wear it again to really get your money’s worth (admittedly at 15-year intervals, each time the 1980s comes back into fashion. So it would help if you come from a family of rich, fashion-conscious nonogenarians).
You can if you like do what Browns Fashion suggest and wear with some on trend cropped satin trousers and those super-sexy black platform stillies. Personally I think all it needs is a pair of black ski pants, some silver lurex leg warmers and - of course - some rollerboots (come on, shoulder pads and day-glo are back, the rollerdisco can’t be far behind).
I am slightly confused on the colour - the Browns website says it is bronze, but it looks silver to me, sadly I don’t have a spare £1,075 to order it and find out.
Channel the eighties with a designer look for only 12 quid
September 5th, 2009
After years of being embarrassed by our teenage photos, and laughed at for our early initiation into fingerless gloves, shoulder pads and bubble perms, we children of the eighties are finally - finally - having the last laugh, sartorially speaking at least. As the 1980s are back, and we don’t mean ironically.
Or we would be having the last laugh if we had actually kept any of our original ’80s fashions. If you binned anything remotely ’80s glam when grunge appeared, you’ll have to join those youngsters (you know, anyone born after 1975) and form an orderly queue for a “re-imagined” homage to 80s designer chic.
But the good news is, you can start channelling the trend for only £12 thanks to designer website My Wardrobe - who are selling Jonathan Aston lace footless tights/leggings for only £12. Last seen on Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan, these black lace leggings will update your denim skirt or minidress with some A/W designer kudos in one go.
We tihnk these patterned black lace leggings are a fabulous way to add some on trend designer glam for a pittance - and far better than the money saving fashion tips we got in the ’80s recession (yes, we really were advised to use sanitary towels as shoulder pads. And no, we didn’t try it).
White is always a summer favourite - well, until you try to go anywhere and you realise just how grubby the UK is. But white does look gorgeous on a sunny day, especially against a pair of tanned legs or arms, and it’s great for lifting the spirits.
Browns Fashion have selected a gorgeous array of whites so you can choose what fits with your lifestyle. A brilliant white top may be best if you have to sit on mucky public transport each morning, and if head to toe white is just too much for you then break it up with an acid bright top or even a long neutral cardigan. And if you really can’t wear white clothes (that means anyone with children) then check out a fab pair of white shoes or a white bag (I appreciate that for anyone who got into fashion in the 1980s this opens up a whole new can of sartorial fashion worms).
So give white a go. You might have to lay off the Nutella when you wear it, and stick to white wine rather than red, and avoid any tomato-based sources, or curries with tumeric in them - but fashion has always demanded a few sacrifices… and at least if you can’t eat, you’ll be thin!
And if your heart sinks when you see another “White is back for summer!” article, fear not - as according to Browns, black is back for Autumn/Winter.
Visit Browns Fashion for a whole array of stunning white designer fashion, or see below for my favourites - from Christian Louboutin, Balenciaga, Dries van Noten, Fendi and Azzedine Alaia.
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How to wear cardigans - and where to buy them
May 23rd, 2009
I love cardigans. And I love Jess Cartner Morley in The Guardian, particularly as today she’s showing us on video how to wear cardigans (warning - it’s more complicated than you think), particuarly the Michelle Obama way (which means bright colours, belted).
If you thought cardigans were only for keeping out the chill on that post-pub walk home on a summer night, think again (that’s what boyfriends’ jackets are for, or a taxi).
So follow Jess’s advice with your cardigans and belt them, add some colour with them, stick a ruffled blouse underneath, and who knows, as well as looking on-trend and gorgeous you might also do a Michelle O and snaffle the next saviour of the world.
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Once you’ve watched Jess’s masterclass why not browse the Matches knitwear section here to stock up on cardigans - from Theory, Yves Saint Laurent, Diane von Furstenberg, Chloe and more.
Or check out my favourite, below.
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The Preen Power Dress couldn’t be more different from the cute Cath Kidston designs I blogged about earlier today. This designer Preen dress is distinctly hard edged and sexy - and takes bodycon to new levels.
The Preen Power Dress is available from Matches Fashion in different styles, in colour-of-the-season colbalt blue, purple or pink. It costs from £685 to £715. Sounds a lot, but just think of the cost per wear as you’ll be wearing this gorgeous Preen dress for seasons to come (as long as you don’t put any weight on, obviously. Still that is a small price to pay. If I wasn’t enormously pregnant I’d be starving myself into it as I type. Sadly my current version of Bodycon is a king sized duvet cover.)
Check out the Preen Power dresses at Matches Fashion now, but order quickly as they are selling out fast. Or see below for my two favourite versions. Move over Herve Leger, here comes the Preen Power dress…
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Gorgeous D&G Dolce&Gabbana T-bar shoes - and what to wear with them, courtesy of My Wardrobe
April 25th, 2009
Everyone has a favourite pair of dancing shoes - these sexy Carla T-bar shoes by D&G Dolce&Gabbana are sure to be your new faves, and they’ll go with anything from a seductive little black dress to a frothy pink number.
Online designer fashion boutique My Wardrobe have set up a whole page showing how to wear the T-bar - and these Carla T-bars in particular - with a range of designer outfits from slinky dresses to harem trousers to cute clutch bags. It’s a fantastic page if, like me, you spend ages trying to work out how to put together a perfect outfit or to partner your new designer fave with your existing wardrobe (I CAN do it, it just takes me hours so I either arrive looking late but fab, or on time but rubbish. My advice is, bring a book.)
Now the sunshine is finally here and you’re back into your designer bikini or swimsuit, don’t forget that cover-up. Grab yourself a funky kaftan from our selection, below, and you can channel some 1970s glamour too. And once the weather breaks (because it will) wear these kaftans with some funky jeans and chunky heels until summer comes back. These designer kaftans start at only £67.
The sun is out, and it’s actually warm (rather than the usual sunny-but-cold April day where we all dig out our sundresses and then spend the evening freezing outside some country pub, looking like a 1950s starlet but snarling at anyone who comes anywhere near “our” patio heater). So it’s time to find some new season summer clothes to update our wardrobes. After blogging about those fab nautical shorts from Nathan Jenden the other day, and the Chloe scalloped-edged shorts a few weeks ago, I’ve been looking for more on-trend shorts for you to update last year’s summer wardrobes. Check them out below.
