Trend. Such a powerful word nowadays. Everyone uses it. There’s a trend overload in all aspects of life.
Now, let me get this out of the way: I don’t dislike the word trend (or real trends themselves). In fact, I quite like it, as helps give you guidance to easily update your wardrobe, but sometimes I do think it is overused to mis-sell stuff.
Now that I am posting the Dani’s Little Book of Fashion articles, I am limiting my “what I am wearing” posts to one a month.
The posts differ a bit in the sense the book of fashion is one particular look, taking trends or occasions and breaking it down in wearable chunks.
What I’m wearing brings my daily ensembles – what I wear to work and to events. Instead of the sporadic round-up of outfits, I will be sharing a selection of my favourites of the month to provide a bit of an insight on my style and hopefully a little bit of inspiration.
I love this flowery suit from Matalan. It’s a bit sports luxe and the flowers make it perfect for the season – it looks great in the office too. It is gorgeous and the price is fab – the jacket is £20 and the sports trousers £15. I teamed with a nude colour vest top from New Look, nude court shoes from Christian Louboutin, necklace from Primark and rings from Forever 21, H&M and Primark.
Wow, it’s been a long time since a post an outfit entry. Laziness. No other excuse. Oh, wait, there is… I always get so fed up with the winter that towards the end I cannot be bothered with the outfits anymore… it’s half not making an effort and the other half not finding them interesting anymore.
But as the new season begins (to try) to come… well…. fresh outfits are fun.
Here are some from the last few weeks (maybe months!):
Flowery trouser from H&M, black cape from Boohoo, black shoes from Christian Louboutin, handbag from Kate Spade.
The sun is teasing us – it is actually making appearances but the super chill in the air means my body is still in a wintery mood.
However, my mind is saying GO! to spring!
My autumn/winter 12-13 moodboard
There have been loads of talks about transitioning into the colder season – guess what, I am still transitioning into summer – but it looks like I will be on a 12 months transition, the temperature doesn’t get any better and I am just changing the collections leaving some previous season legacy behind! Sad times! Still a month or so of hope, maybe I will be wearing pretty dresses and sandals till September.
Every year, I follow the fashion weeks across the globe, and something always jumps to my attention (I feel in love with LV SS12 collection so much that much of my current wardrobe is inspired by it!); but by the time you actually get to wear the trends, you kinda forgot about them… but the fashion mags and the high street won’t let you forget. Or me.
Some trends are right up my street; others, I pass, thank you, and that is the beauty of it – making what is “in” your own, picking and choosing – and why not mixing – moulding the trends to suit your own personal style.
I will be slowly leaving my pastels behind and looking out for some trends I will be adopting.
Soooo pleased that the “womanly” trend is being dragged into the next season, thanks Lanvin and Calvin Klein – I just love the nipped waists, curve skimming shapes, part femme-fatale, part innocent, part dominatrix! Sharp, fierce, elegant, and red lipped.
I see this burst of femininity, an ode to the female shape, much as retro inspired wear, so will definitely embrace more!
Glad I can still wear some leather skirts I bought last season I didn’t get to very much. A leather biker jacket is number one on my wish list.
Goth, as seen in Chanel, JP Gaultier and may other – I love lace. And fishnets. Lots of black, my favoured going out shade, I count on studs and spikes to keep going for a while. That mix of religion and rebellion. Heavy eyes. Dark lips. Hang on to my skulls, get crosses. Really want an above the knuckle cross ring. Cute.
I love dressing very feminine but with an edge, a bit of a rough edge – so accessories following the goth trend will give me just that when thrown in with a pretty pencil skirt or a dress and sexy sky scrapping heels.
Exaggeration. HUGE necklaces. I mean, seriously. Haven’t been into necklaces very much lately, but something tells me this will change… courtesy of Miu Miu and Prabal Gurung.
Embroidery, appliqués, crystals, jewels. May be altogether. A tribute to Baroque – all very decadent, lavish and a lot of gold. Think fabrics with flower prints with texture that could be on sofa. Love it.
Some crazy everything goes… well, I like mixing styles sometimes, so add big sunglasses and I am possibly in. I don’t like print clash myself, but admire those who manage to do it well.
Of course, counting on (faux) fur for the season, and to me, leopard print is never a no no.
As colours go, I am paying attention to berry shades: from lighter to darker, red to blue based; deep reds brighter than last autumn’s hero, the burgundy and purples; earthy tones: browns, tans and taupes, greens, not jade as last winter’s; more bottle or forest green. Black of course, dark greys with a blue tinge and silver.
Have seen some sporty items I could wear, even though I am not massive on the trend – H&M is full of them – really thick “lycra-ish” fabrics, sports bralets oh so cute. Not sure I am leaning towards them beacuse of the Olympics fever, as long as they are girly, I am in. We shall see.
Peplums seem to be the shape of the moment, but I have been wearing it for the past three years, so not that excited; still, a feminine, flattering shape.
Opposed to last autumn’s colour blocking, I think this one will be more about texture; and I am loving it.
Glad to see red lips still on (are they ever out? Not for me!). Geometric liners, not so sure I can pull that one off, but will give it a go. Sculpted cheeks (love it, make you look great on pictures!).
Hair? I am thinking sleek hair – down straight on in ponytails.
I am inspired. However, I will ride this “summer that never came” vibe for a while longer. I still have hope to make my pastels worth their money!
I am absolutely loving the metallic eye trend for this coming warm season. I had noticed foiled hair and eyes in some shows, but the wearable look really excites me! I came across this picture gallery on Vogue which gives a great round up and plenty of inspiration. What I really like too are the double liners – on the lash line and crease!
I have always been a great fan of metallics, favouring those to mattes whenever possible; even when doing dramatic black smokey eyes and using matte eye shadow, I make sure I apply a metallic MAC paint underneath, not only to fix it, but also to give it a bit of sparkle!
Quite similar to MAC’s Metal-X cream shadows are the Supracolour metallics, 
from Charles H Fox I bought late last year, in gold, copper and silver, banking on the trend, for only £6. They are creamy and super metal, as eye shadow, with even application and great cover. I would set it with my MAC prep+prime transparent finishing powder. It also looks fab as a liner, but I just don’t recommend wearing it too near the tear duct, as I felt that, due to its consistency, they blocked mine a little bit and it was quite uncomfortable. However, I promise I will wear a totally metallic lid very soon and will post!
I am very proud of myself for finally dabbling into the colder colours for my nails – I am wearing green this week.
I am truly loving this colour, and it made me realise my problem might not be with cold, but light colours on my nails – I failed to keep the pastel green, and never got close to the pastel blue, even though I quite like it. I only just managed to keep the lilac for a week. As long as they are cold and dark, I think I will be ok. I cannot wait to buy some cobalt and midnight blues!
Keeping up with the A/W 11-12 jewel colours trend, I really feel as if my nails have been jewelled – it is like having 10 little gems on my fingertips!
Bongo Beats, from Collection 2000’s Hot Looks Fast Dry range, is a lovely metallic jade green nail polish which has very subtle gold underlying pigments and has quickly became a favourite of mine.
I have only recently branched out into really inexpensive nail varnish, as I am petrified of chips, so this one might still disappoint me – poor duration has caused me to fall out of love with many – so far, so good, though. And at £1,79 (and an amazing £2 for two bottles!), there isn’t, so far, a bad thing I can say about it!
Minaj's rainbow dip-dye
Lavoisier’s conservation of mass law tells us that in nature nothing is wasted, nothing is created, everything is transformed. I really like that – even though the principle is really used for chemistry and mechanics, I do believe things are cyclical, and fashion is no different.
One example, of many, is platform shoes. I have worn platforms twice in my lifetime – not when they became hugely popular for the first time, in the 60’s and 70’s, but when they had a brief revival in the mid 90’s and recently and for the past two years they have been everywhere. And the trends keep coming back to haunt or delight us, albeit with a modern twist but recycled nevertheless.
Anyway… I saw the dip-dye hair trend on Vogue recently, and even though it is something I will never consider (I am too much a colour coordination freak to do that), I thought it was worth a mention.
It is transformed from the past – what we see today, an almost polished look, with well treated and well coloured locks is reminiscent of the bold colours grunge girls wore back in the 90’s.
Niki Minaj’s is my favourite, just because it is a different twist on the trend, and I think it suits her. If to be tried at home, I suppose colourful hair inserts could do the trick. If you think this one is definitely for you and are feeling brave enough, here is a tutorial on how to dip-dye your hair.
I am also not that keen on the ombre hair seen in the same Vogue gallery (super overgrown roots, giving the hair that lighter colour at the tip). I like my highlights retouched, thank you very much.
Cyndi Lauper shows her true colours!
Funnily enough, over the weekend, as I watched old video clips on obscure music channels quite late at night, I saw the ever fabulous Cyndi Lauper singing True Colors, back in 1986. Of course, her hair colour has always been flamboyant to say the least, and here she also has a second colour on the bottom layer of her hair, but you can see the orange dip-dye-esque colour there.
It does, however, work for some (certainly worked for Cyndi), and in my opinion, worked better when it was part of a lifestyle.
Would you venture?
So Many Lovely Things 