From Brokeback Mountain to Jeans

After talking about the Spring and Summer 2006 fashion trend for several times, we would like to switch to the all time fashion - Jeans. This topic is originated from the thought of the award winning film "Brokeback Mountain" by Ang Lee with a story talking about two cowboys' life in the US. From the time being, jeans has been the major dressing style with the feature of custom fit and durability which was especially suitable for wild life. Jeans has become a symbol of cowboys with the character of freedom and wildness. However, jeans nowadays has evolved into a new style of fashion with a variety of design styles such as flare cut and straight cut in fiting styles, classic fit and low-rise in dressing styles and various color choices such as black, white, sky blue and navy blue etc. Apart from styles, various elements have been added to jeans design to make them more dressable for women such as nice looking embroideries and beads. With such modifications, jeans has become a major fashion selections for ladies with good body shapes. However, one should remember that there is one major difference between jeans and other fashion which is you should admire jeans from behind instead of from the front as the major attraction is from behind, right? This is why most of the jeans designers put their major designs at the back of the jeans.

Fashion Trend - Spring and Summer 2006 (Golden 80's)

The 80's is an age of return from the extreme rebellion against tradition in the 60's & 70's . Mini skirts and bikini were no longer the major attractions in fashion and more conversative elements such as one shoulder, drainpipe and one-piece swimsuit were once against brought back in fashion trends. This trend is also back for Spring and Summer fashion 2006. Fashion designers adopt these elements into their latest design. With the 80's concept, they of course will not omit the bling-bling brought about by the riches in the 80's. We use bling-bling here for a more appropriate description though bling-bling is a late 90's term. Bling-bling is a hip hop slang term which refers to expensive jewelry and other accoutrements, and also to an entire lifestyle built around excess spending and ostentation. "Bling-bling" was popularized as a slang term within hip-hop after the success of "Bling Bling", a 1999 hit hip-hop song by The B.G., featuring his Cash Money Records labelmates Juvenile, Lil' Wayne, Turk, Baby, and Mannie Fresh. The key element of this year's bling-bling is metallic color with either golden or silvery color used in all kinds of fashion clothes and accessories such as dresses, skirts, handbags and shoes etc. Maybe such fashion style is also originated from the high rising prices of gold and silver lately. Please be reminded that these metals were also very expensive in the 80's. Therefore, I would rather say fashion is also a reflection of social phenomenons at times.

Fashion Trend - Spring and Summer 2006 (Sweet Dandy)

The "Sweet Dandy" trend is something about dressing in a neutral way. One joke about this trend is that a girl gets up in the morning but can't find any of her clothes around. As she needs to go anyway, she simply picks up the clothes of her boyfriend and goes out. Then she finds that she's at the front of Spring and Summer 2006 fashion trend. Ha! Ha! That's really the way of dressing for "Sweet Dandy". Boy style jackets, shirt with ties and other trendy boy style dressing come to the world of women's fashion. However, please remember the "Sweet" in front of "Dandy" which means to be dressed like a cute boy but not a cowboy. If you don't know what to do, go out in the street and get more ideas from the boys you like. By the way, Valentine's Day is coming and you have absolutely excuse to dress exactly like your boyfriend this year because this is the latest fashion trend and the most important because you love him!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fashion Trend - Spring and Summer 2006 (Hi Dolly)

"Hi Dolly" is another fashion trend that you should be aware of this Spring and Summer. If you are a fans of dolly toys when you are still young, you should be very happy this year as the way of dressing for those dolls would be exactly the way you should be. If you don't know what dolly clothes are, you should go immediately to your nearby toy shop to have a look. Pure white, puffy sleeves, cotton lace & eyelets and empire line would be the key features for these kind of dressing. Pure white means that your whole dressing should be with white color only and the highlights and decorations should also be in white color. To avoid a boring white, cotton see-through lace could be added at the trim to give a lovely outlooking or you may choose clothes made out of lace fabric. Puffy sleeves can also be a good choice to cover the unwanted fat to be seen at your upper arms. However, you should be very careful in dressing the white color dolly clothes to avoid getting any embarassing dirty on it. Furthermore, a typical and good "Hi Dolly" dressing look should also be accompanied with dolly hair styles, long curl eyelashes and related make-up. So go and get those neccessary accessories for a great and lovely dolly look for this spring and summer.

By the way, 29th January 2006 is the starting date of the upcoming Chinese New Year - Year of the Dog. We would like to wish you a Happy Chinese New Year and Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Fashion Trend - Spring and Summer 2006 (Kimono)

One of the Fashion Trends of Spring and Summer 2006 is quite obvious which is brought about by the influence of popular movie "Memories of A Geisha". This film illustrated the life of the ancient Japanese society. The ancient Japanese culture was greatly affected by Chinese culture as mentioned in our previous blog. The design of Kimonos is rather conservative and without too many styles. However, they adopted very colorful, finely printed and high quality fabrics such as silk to generate elegant outlooks. Therefore, you may find the dressings of actresses in the movie "Memories of A Geisha" to be very eyecatching. However, fashion trend is not just a copy thing but crossover. Key elements of ancient kimonos such as simply wrap design, oriental prints (Janpanese embroideries and large colorful flowers) and obi are adopted by modern fashion designers in their fashion design for Spring and Summer 2006. Some of the bulky elements such as wide sleeves are modified to accommodate modern uses. These modifications have given new life to kimonos and make them more dressable for a modern and beautiful outlook. So don't wait in getting one to catch up with the coming trends and don't forget to dress in it to watch the fantastic film "Memories of A Geisha".

Fashion Trend - Spring and Summer 2006 (Con't)

Here is the answer for the previous post :

Trends (Features)

Hi Dolly (Puffy sleeves, Pure white, Cotton lace & eyelets, Empire line)
Sweet Dandy (Shirt & tie combo, Boyfriend jacket, Trilby, Braces)
Couture Dance (Volumious, Latino ruffles, Tulip skirt, Floor sweeping)
Golden 80's (One shoulder, Drainpipe, One-piece swimsuit, Bling Bling)
Go Geisha (Kimono, Simply wrap, Oriental print, Obi)

If you can get all these correct, congratulations. You must be a master of fashion.

We will further explain the details of each trend at later posts. Just add the RSS Feed to your news reader to keep up with our latest posting.

Happy New Year!

Fashion Trend - Spring and Summer 2006

Before we talk about the fashion trends of Spring and Summer 2006, we would like to play an interesting game first. There are 5 key trends for the coming Spring and Summer and we will provide the names of key features below. If you can group them into 5 trends and give the name, you must have a great knowledge in terms of fashion.




(Hint : each trend should have 4 key features)

1. Puffy sleeves
2. Latino ruffles
3. Pure white
4. Trilby
5. Kimono
6. Braces
7. Floor sweeping
8. Empire line
9. Cotton lace & eyelets
10. Drain pipe
11. Oriental print
12. Simply wrap
13. One shoulder
14. Shirt & tie combo
15. Boyfriend jacket
16. Volumious
17. Tulip skirt
18. One-piece swimsuit
19. Obi
20. Bling Bling

See if you can do it! :P

What If Santa Clause Follow the Latest Fashion Trend?

Traditionally, Santa Clause will dress in his standard red and white uniform to go to everyone's house to distribute Christmas gift. In everybody's mind, the uniform represents Christmas and Santa Clause. However, if we hold a Santa Clause fashion design competition to design a new uniform for Santa Clause and let Santa Clause follow the latest fashion trend, what would be the winning uniform? Let's have an imagination to predict the outcome. From the view of fashion trend this year, the trendy color is black and the fur / faux fur is the original wild color. So it is quite natural to imagine that the red color should be changing to black and the white fur collor and trimming should be change to original wild color. A black coat with wild color fur trim? It's really trendy but shall we still call him "Santa Clause"? Will you welcome him to come into your home? I think most of the people will answer "No way...!". Why? Because the uniform is a part of Santa Clause and Santa Clause is a part of Christmas. The most important is Santa Clause is where the Christmas joy comes from!!!

PS :
The latest posting date of items from our boutique to different countries in order to receive before Christmas is as follows:

Australia : 12th December 2005
Canada : 3rd December 2005
France : 14th December 2005
United Kingdom : 13th December 2005
United States : 9th December 2005

For cut off date of other countries, please email us before purchase. Thanks!

Dress for Christmas

Christmas is coming... How to dress for the parties is quite an annoying topic for ladies? To follow the tradition : dress like Santa Clause or like an angel? To follow the lastest fashion trend : dress like a Russian princess or like a Victorian queen? So many ideas flowing around to make you crazy. Here are some suggestions to make you look elegant and attractive for all these precious moments :

1. Color : Black is the all time favourite and the hottest picks from fashion designers this year. However, all black may cause you to be lost in the party crowd. Some shiny rhinestones or beads decorations mounted in the black would be prefect for drawing the attentions around.

2. Fur / Faux Fur : To dress with elegance, fur or faux fur decorations should not be omitted. Fur / faux fur trim collar or clothes trimming would be great to give an elegant effect. T0 be more, a fur / faux fur shawl or cape covering the inner evening gown is an all time favourite for popular movie stars and it is also an excellent dressing for every lady.

3. Sexy : A little bit of sexy in dressing would be like the addition of delicious dressing to a ready-to-serve dish. Don't waste the attractions brought to you by the God. A deep-V inner wear or see-through lace top would show your attactive body shape to everyone.

What else? Let's think more for Christmas later...

Fashion is general; Style is individual

"Fashion is general; style is individual. Some people have it. Some haven't" These words came from the first chief editor of "Vogue" fashion magazine, Edna Woolman Chase which truly reflect the real meaning of personal fashion style. Many ladies try all their efforts to follow the latest fashion trend from world famous fashion brands.However, many of them may find that even they wear the designs from top fashion designers, they cannot draw much attention from other people. Such cases often happen to popular movie stars. This may be due to "style is individual". Everybody has her own style which is unique. Blindly follow the latest fashion trend but ignore the harmony of fashion and individual style will lead to a mismatching effect. Therefore, to dress best is to identify your own style first and pick fashion which can best fit your style. This is the key to have an attractive outlook. Remember "simple" does not mean lack of taste. This is also why we have the boutique name "CM Style Fashion". Style always comes before Fashion...

General Features of Chinese Style Clothes

The modern Chinese style clothes are mostly originated from the ancient Chinese royal clothing as the royal clothing is considered as the best for the time being. The general features of these clothing are listed as below :
1. Fabric
In the past, the high class clothes were mostly manufactured from silk or silk blend fabric. General cotton fabric was only used by ordinary people. Therefore, the silky material would be considered as good Chinese clothing and most of the modern Chinese style clothes adopt them as major selection.
2. Embroidery
Chinese people like the idea of lucky. The images on clothing should be lucky symbols such as dragon (for men), phoenix (for women), flowers or some other Chinese lucky symbols. These images would be embroided on fabric with traditional skills. The major color of threads used would be golden, yellow or red.
3. Color
The generally prefered color is yellow and red color series. Yellow was the royal color in the past which represents superior and power. Red is the general lucky color for Chinese poeple. Therefore these colors are more preferable for Chinese style clothes. However, in modern design, the most favourite color nowadays ie black is also a popular selection by Chinese style fashion designers.

Cultural Background of Oriental Style Fashion (Con't)

In the previous blog, we talked about the background of ancient Chinese style clothes. These kinds of style of Chinese clothes have been lasted for a long time over the Chinese history with minor modifications in fabric and styles. The general idea was just to make them more elegant but not revolutionizing the dressing styles. However, after the invasion and rule of Manchu from the northern part of China ie the Qing Dynasty (1644~1911), the Chinese style clothes has been changed a lot due to the mixture of different cultures. Manchu was established in the northern grassland of China and the ladies have been grown to be stronger and took up some of the responsibilities of men such as herding sheep and cows. Their dressing styles are more casual and open. The mixture of two kinds of dressing styles during the rule of Manchu over China then laid the foundation of the modern well known Chinese dressing : cheongsam / close-fitting woman's gown.

Cultural Background of Oriental Style Fashion

After discussing the western style clothes for several times, we would like to shift our focus to oriental style clothes. There are two countries which have strong impacts on oriental culture in the history of Asia. One is India and the other is China. From the clothes point of view, it seems that the influence of China is more important than India as India has more influence on the religious side. The countries around China eg Korea and Japan have a very similiar culture as China and their clothing styles in the ancient times are very similiar to the Chinese styles. For the long time, the Chinese people live in a very conservative environment and the ladies dress in clothes with fabric wrapping around most of the body. Even the elbows should not be exposed. This style may be originated from the general concept that women should stay at home and handle the family issues while men should go out to gain a living and fight for their country. Therefore, women should learn more cultural knowledge such as music and drawing to entertain their husbands instead of their body shapes.

Fashion for Work

For modern ladies, much of the time is spent in the office and this is a place where they need to show their best in order to get the best out of work. Therefore, fashion for work is really an important topic in women's dressing nowadays. The way of dressing is not only affecting the image from other people's eyes but also a kind of feel up for own confidence and comfort. This year, fashion for work goes back for the classic "HLINE". The "HLINE" style is originated from the giant in fashion - Christian Dior in Fall 1954. The "HLINE" design no longer goes for the direction of emphasizing the curve of ladies' chest and bottom but replacing them with simple straight line cutting. Such change enables women to have a dressing with comfort and free them from sexy tightness. This kind of style is back in this Fall and the most favourite color should be black and white. Have a try for such dressing which may make you the center of attention in the office!

p.s. Our own design shawl is selling quite well and thanks for the ladies who have a similar fashion favourites as us. Hope you will draw every attentions in your precious occassions with our shawl.

Fashion - A Dreaming Industry to Work In?

In the past, fashion seemed to be a very beautiful and easy industry to us as we saw famous fashion designers working with beautiful models in fashion shows and highly respected by movie stars and ladies around. After each show, they were all warmly greeted by their audience. Everyday, fashion designers can work creatively to design whole new clothes to lead the trend and working in the industry seems to be riding on the latest trend. What a wonderful thing! When thinking of starting a new business, most of the girls will select fashion as their top choices. It may be the common dream of many girls. However, after working in the industry for a while, we have tasted the bitterness of it. For example, creating a popular and trendy design fashion is not easy and there are many factors laid behind to the success. From selection of fabric and materials, creating the right design, managing stocks and production to final marketing and sales, all require high level of professionalism, market senses and the ambition to success. We are now more respected to those successful giants in the fashion industry such as LVMH and GAP etc. Creating a successful brand in the fashion industry is really not easy! But whatever the hard work we need, fashion is still our dreaming industry as we are working to make people dress more beautifully!

Faux Fur Shawl - A New Design from CM Style Boutique

In our previous blog, we have mentioned that we were developing a new design faux fur shawl. The design objective of the shawl is to provide a gorgeous design outwear that can be worn in different precious occassions. We have come up with a design that both side can be used. One side is pure color faux fur and the other side is a silk blend fabric with traditional oriental flower patterns. A traditional pattern design fabric clip has been mounted on the flower pattern side for a matching of oriental tone. The shawl comes with the three most poplular colors this year ie Black, White and Burgundy. It is our first brand new design and should be a good matching with any lastest design inner wears to give an elegant outlook for any ladies. These shawls will be available in eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/cmstylefashion?refid=store) Please take a look at the burgundy shawl in the attached photos.

Velvet - The Element of High Class Fashion

One of the most poplular fabric this Fall should be velvet. Velvet has been widely used for a long time by the noble class in Europe and it has been treated as one of the basic elements of high class and noble fashion. Its soft texture, elegant outlook and wide range of applications also made it the essential choice of modern fashion designers. Of course, a mix and match with other materials such as lace, silk, beads and sequins would be the trend for recent years. A well matched velvet top will surely well present the feminine and elegant character of a lady in her precious moments.
Here, we would like to provide 3 tips in maintaining velvet garments :
1. Velvet garments should be hanged in the closet instead of packed to avoid uneven surface of velvet.
2.Wash with gentle alkaline detergent by lightly pressing into the water. Drip dry and avoid direct sunlight.
3. Avoid direct iron. Using steam iron at a distance of 2~3cm will give an excellent effect.

Ways to Dress in Russian Styles

We have talked a lot about the fashion trend going for Russian styles this fall. However, how to dress in the Russian styles would be more interesting. As the Russian styles involve the mix of different elements, we would like to suggest some for reference here:

1. Russia is a country consists of many different nations. Many of them are closely related to agriculture and nature. Therefore, their clothing designs consist of folkloric elements such as simple flower patterns. But these decorations should not be to fancy.

2. Extremely cold weather has driven the Russian styles to be furry like. Fur jackets, fur shawls and even little fur decorations over bags and hats are popular in every fashion show.

3. Years of instability in the Russian history has made Russian women stronger and these have been reflected in their ways of dressing. Military like styles such as Napoleon collar and shoulder strap mounted on long jackets give a solid feel out of feminine.

4. The arts of royal embroidery, brocade and beads attachement have been developed rapidly in Russia history accompanied by the extreme status of Russian Imperial. How can we missing them when dressing like a Russian.

Another Trendy Style - Victorian

The word "Victorian" may have climbed on the top 10 search key terms for fashion in Fall 2005. Apart from the revival of "Russian Styles" from their gorgeous ages, "Victorian Styles" are also back from their times through the hands of fashion designers this Fall. The typical promoter brands should be Rochas and YSL. Their designs are all filled with Victorian elements such as turtlenecks, lace and ruffles. Beautiful and grand outlooks were brought to us by two marvelous and great Queens from Great Britain. One of them powered its kindom and showed its strength to the world and the other empowered the dressing styles of women's clothing. People at the time focused on creating the best fabric and producing the best fashion for ladies. Though the styles are rather conservative to enclose most parts of the body, the clothing is really a classic and unforgetable masterpiece in fashion industry. Nowaday, Victorian clothing is one of the most valuable to collect and we believe every lady dressing in Victorian style clothing would be delighted with their attractive outlook. Up to now, we really feel that we need to know more about the European history in order to fill up the contents of those classic designs brought to us by respected fashion designers.

Russian Dressing from "Anna Karenina"?

In our blog about fashion trends in Fall 2005, we talked about "Russian Dressing" will be one of the key trend. Just read an essay from Cosmopolitan suggesting that this Russian Dressing trend may be originated from Oprah Winfrey who recommended the famous Russian novel "Anna Karenina" last year and generated an enormous impact to the western society. The book sold nearly 1 million copies in a single week. Such Russian enthusiasm may have influenced fashion designers in their 2005 design to incorporate the classic Russian elements in their lastest design. To us, it is not surprising that classic Russian styles come to the trend as we believe fashion is also a cyclic industry just like economy. Trendy elements repeat themselves after certain years. For example, after years of vivid color design, fashion designers go back to the basic black and white and maybe after some years, vivid color design will be back again. As Russia actually has a great influence in western culture and played a key role in some moments of European history, people adopted Russian fashion into the modern design would not be surprising especially the Russian styles are broadly thought to be gorgeous, elegant and high class with some royal feelings. So maybe we need to thank Anna Karenina bringing us back to the enclosure of Russian royal pieces.
By the way, do you really know what Russian styles are?