Fashion Trend - Autumn and Winter 2006 (Couture)

For quite a long time in fashion industry, couture and ready-to-wear are two different sectors of business. Ready-to-wear goes for the general customers with a design to be more daily use and the price is also lying within the medium range such that the products can be sold at a large quantity. Therefore, the design of ready-to-wear would not be too exaggerated and more general fabrics will be adopted in the manufacturing. Couture goes for the higher end of the fashion industry with the use of high grade fabric and the design should be more stressed on the curves and shapes of customers to give an elegant effect. Gown design elements such as low cut, puffy sleeves, ruffles and laces, see-through fabric and other high grade fabrics are usually the elements of couture. However, the two sectors get much closer in design with ready-to-wear goes closer towards the couture end this year. This could be a good news to the office ladies as they can be of greater chances to try on the clothes more similiar to those dressed by celebrities to participate in some important functions. Famous brands which go for this direction include Balenciaga, Fendi, Yves Saint Laurent, Miu Miu and Chanel.

Fashion Trend - Autumn and Winter 2006 (Conservative)

For quite a while, sexy has been one of the most popular words used by fashion designers. Even in the fiercely blowing cold winds in winter, you can still see pop stars dressed in the sexy fashions designed by famous fashion designers to attract the attention of media. Off shoulder, low-cut etc are all the keywords representing sexy and above all, they are just synonyms of exposing yourself as much as possible. However, for this year, sexy dressing is out and conservative fashion like those have been popular in the 50's is back again. Fashion trend is always shifting from one extreme to the other and now it is conservative back again. Anyway, this is actually a good news for most of the ladies. Why? You don't have to expose yourself in the cold winds any more and you don't have to be in great body shape in order to show sexy. All you have to do is to follow the lastest fashion trend this year to cover yourself as much as possible. Above the sweater, you may dress in a small jacket to give a sense of layer or dress in clothes with different gray and black layers. This should be fantastic. Brands with fashion collections go in this direction includes Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Emilio Pucci, Atsuro Tayama etc. Therefore, being conservative is also a way of following the latest fashion trend.

Fashion Trend - Autumn and Winter 2006 (Cape and Poncho)

Cape and poncho are always one of the hot categories in ladies's outerwear collections for fall and winter time as they are suitable for ladies regardless of their body shapes and both offer a flexible way of dressing. You should maintain certain stocks in your wardrobe such that you would not be left alone when fashion designers turn to them once again. Fashion trends always repeat themselves after certain number of years with a bit new ideas in presentation but the main theme will not be too much different. The modern design of cape and poncho were introduced to the modern ladies fashion in around 50's of last century. Around those years, fashion designers from Paris tried the new short cape design which offered a more flexible and free dressing look. Such designs were suprisingly popular that more designs have been evolved from the original idea. Nowadays, short capes were offered in various material such as fur, faux fur, acrylic etc in different colours and patterns. As an alternative design to cape, poncho offers even more varieties such as turtleneck, buttoned or sweater types and many of the designs give different ways of dressing styles for different occassions. Just use your imagination for more and better looks with your ponchos!

Fashion Trend - Autumn and Winter 2006 (Go Checkers)

Checkers have been a classic pattern in fashion design. The best to present and being recognized is Burberry. It becomes so popular that it also launched another line - the Blue Label in Japan with a main tone of dark blue and black checkers. Many Japanese girls have gone crazy with this brand design. Nowadays, the checkers design in fashion has grown to a large varieties such as small or big checkers, checkers in horizonal or tilted arrangements and checkers in various color tones. In general, checkers give an impression of formal and classic. This year, the checkers have been back from various brands such as Balenciaga, Sportmax, Dsquared2 and Bottega Veneta etc. However, the checkers do not go small but bigger ones just like the classic tartan. To be more clear, the brown color tartan will be the most up to trend design in this A/W no matter it is used in skirts, dresses or jackets. But please remember, fashion trend is just a trend and you need to bear in mind your own body shapes. Large checkers dressing will be more presentable in larger size bodies. Good Luck!

Fashion Trend - Autumn and Winter 2006 (Ladies and Gentlemen)

One of the trends for this Autumn and Winter 2006 is Ladies and Gentlemen which means you can dress in a more "man" outlook even though you are a lady. Those typical man's looks are shirts and trousers combinations, "Tuxedo" dressing, tough women dressing in the 80's or milliary look. Please remember this trend is rather different from last year's trend of boy's look. Last year the trend is rather boyish with some boy's typical dressing of boy's jacket, boy's school uniform etc. However, in this year, the trend is built around ladies and gentlemen and the look should be more mature and man. Anyway, this does not mean that you can simply dress in your husband or father's suit. More ladies elements should be added to give a softer and female impression. A ladies hair style, ladies boot or ladies shawl wrapping around can be an excellant matching with the "Ladies and Gentlemen" topics of this year. Such dressing is also very suitable for office ladies which shows the soft and hard sides of modern female executives.

Fashion Trend - Autumn and Winter 2006 (Summary)

For this autumn and winter, the fashion trends may somehow be quite familiar to you as some are just continuation of the trends in the previous years. Anyway, old ideas can be executed innovatively to give a fresh new look. We will list down the main points below and further explain in the coming blogs.

Autumn and Winter 2006 Fashion Trends :

1. Ladies and Gentlemen : Men's look on ladies bodies
2. Go Checkers : Checkers are back especially those from Scotish skirt
3. Gothic Punk : Gothic and Punk look will be back
4. Couture : Ready-to-wear goes for couture
5. Cape and Poncho : The trend is back from 2004
6. Fur : All time favourite for Winter but you may choose faux fur if you love animals.
7. Conservative : Cover youself as much as you could.

Fashion Trend - Autumn and Winter 2006 (Color)

Even though summer has not passed yet this year, the fashion industry has prepared the latest fashion collections for the coming autumn and winter. For this year, some trends are continuities of trends from spring and summer and some are the re-invention of all time favorites. Let's have a look at the fashion color trends first. The four favorite colors from fashion designers this year are black, grey, gold and the suprising red.

Black
Black color is an all time favorite from fashion designers for A/W fashion collections. For this year, it is also the central color accompanied by white, gold and brick red etc to create more tones. High class materials such as crocodile leather are used for presenting the classic and elegant black color.

Grey
This grey trend is not a dull grey or simple grey but a mix and match of different greys. Different scale of greys should be presented in different layers and by different materials.

Gold
A continunity of the 80's bling bling trend of this spring and summber. The gold color designs are led by Gucci by utilizing high class fabric materials such as silk, fur and leather. All kinds of gold are welcome.

Red
A surprising color for this A/W as the red should be a color for spring and summer. However, adding the red has added more eye catch elements for this A/W.

Fashion Power from the Southern Hemisphere - Sass & Bide

Sass & Bide is another famous fashion brand from Australia. The label was founded by Sarah-Jane Clarke (nickname "sass") and Heidi Middleton (nickname "bide") who also use their nicknames to form the brand name. Sass & Bide began life as a stall on London's Portobello Road with customized clothes and then rose to new fashion heights with their famous East Village Jean - a sexy hipster with a daring 2 inch zip. In 2000, the brand has been recognized by Harvey Nichols, the famous department store in London and was allowed to be sold within their counter. Now, their fashion collection has expanded from the innovative new shapes and detailing in denim to an extensive and luxurious fashion range which showcases twice a year at New York Fashion Week. With their design characteristics of quirky and sexy, the brand has attracted celebrity fans such as Gisele Bundchen, Mischa Barton, Kate Moss and Sarah Jessica Parker etc. In particular, Sarah Jessica Parker has chose to dress in Sass & Bide to feature in the popular drama "Sex and the City"!

Fashion Power from the Souther Hemisphere - Kit Willow

WILLOW is an international fashion brand from Australia. The founder and fashion designer is Kit Willow. Unlike KAREN WALKER which is a bit cutie boylish, WILLOW goes for a more feminine style. Kit Willow likes to strengthen the romantic shapes of women with tight and pleated design of fashion. She makes use of natural fibers and chiffon to create a lightening effect which accompanied with sequins and beads to give a feminine outlook. The brand was first introduced in 2003 at Mercedes Fashion Week Sydney with its contemporary lingerie with delicately jewelled straps and fashion and right now its design has expanded to a wide range of ladies fashion. However, her design is still full of lingerie elements to show up the sexy body shapes of ladies. In the past few years, this Australian fashion brand has swept across the world and is now available in many famous boutiques in major cities such as New York, London and Dubai etc. Many celebrities such as Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz, Kate Bosworth and Cate Blanchett have selected WILLOW as one of their favorite fashion collections.

Fashion Power from the Southern Hemisphere - Karen Walker

Traditionally, when people talking about fashion, they will mention the fashion from Europe especially from Paris which leads the fashion trend of the world. Later, fashion from US especially New York also generates significant influence in the fashion industry. Nowadays, fashion power from the Southern Hemisphere also shines along the fashion path. In the coming blogs, we will talk about some of the execellent fashion collections from the Southern Hemisphere :

KAREN WALKER (New Zealand)

A fashion brand named by its founder and fashion designer, Karen Walker who was born in New Zealand. Karen's collections are high casual with one foot in tailoring and the other in street wear. Mix and match of different extremes and pushing them together such as masculine and feminine, tailored and the street, luxury and casual are the major characteristics of Karen Walker's collection. Her fashion was described by UK's newspaper as "The kind of look that provided a means of appearing cool but not trying-too hard, cute but not saccharine, alternative but not self consciously so. The fact that these clothes appear to be so totally not 'fashion' is what makes them so now". Right now, this label has been carried in over 100 stores all over the world. Celebritites such as Jennifer Lopez, Kate Hudson, Claudia Schiffer and Madonna all favour her work.

The Da Vinci Code of Fashion

Lately the movie "The Da Vinci Code" has brought about great disccussions in many religious issues. If there are the Da Vinci Code of Fashion, what would they be?
The most famous painting of Da Vinci is Mona Lisa. This figure of a woman, dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated in a visionary, mountainous landscape, is a remarkable instance of Leonardo's sfumato technique of soft, heavily shaded modeling. The Mona Lisa's enigmatic expression, which seems both alluring and aloof, has given the portrait universal fame. The dressing of Mona Lisa is the typical fashion of their time which is conservative and bulky. They were mostly made with wool, silk and velvet with natural dyes. Darker colors were naturally adopted. At the time of drawing, Europe is undergoing the Renaissance ages, a term adopted from the French equivalent of the Italian word rinascita, meaning literally "rebirth," describes the radical and comprehensive changes that took place in European culture during the 15th and 16th centuries, bringing about the demise of the Middle Ages and embodying for the first time the values of the modern world. Maybe from the smile of Mona Lisa, we can decode the Da Vinci Code of Fashion which means a radical change of fashion design will be coming in the later time and women will have a greater freedom in expressing themselve in fashion styles and own personalities.

The Magic of Accessories

Whenever you think that the clothes you wear are not attractive enough or you would like to add more features or attractiveness to yourself, why don't you think of adding some accessories to your dressing. The beautiful style can just be added with simple accessories such as necklaces, bracelets, ear rings or hair accessories. In the past, ladies may tend to dress such accessories in a more formal party and they are usually composed of precious metals and stones such as gold, platinum and diamonds. However, the concepts have totally changed nowadays. When you attend the latest fashion shows in the world, fashion designers tend to add more simple accessories to the models' dressing in order to make their designs more presentable. The most popular ones are necklaces or bracelets with ethnic characteristics. This may be a continuity of the ethnic fashion trend which became popular in the past fall/winter fashion. The elements of the necklaces are normally composed of irregular beads or square in vivid colors and there may not be only one necklace but multiple quantities in different length and compositions to present the ethnic concepts. Therefore, whenever you feel boring with your own fashion, add more accessories which may generate a spark in your life.

Sizing of Low Rise Ladies Jeans

The popularity of low rise ladies jeans gives a good alternative to ladies who love jeans but want to be more sexy in presenting her good body shape and slim waist. However, it could be a headache to online fashion sellers. As different jeans manufacturers give their own sizing chart for low rise jeans based on the actural design of jeans, there are no common standards in the sizing of low rise jeans. Fashion designers tend to design their own low rise jeans at different waist level. Some may want them to be dressed near the bottom or some would like to be at higher waist levels. To correctly present the size of low rise jeans become a highly difficult task for online jeans sellers. In order to sell low rise jeans which we thought to be an excellent match with our selling tops, we have developed a detailed measurement chart with illustrations to present the actual measurements of the jeans on sale. Customers are suggested to compare the actual measurements presented with their own best fit low rise jeans such that they can be more clear in the idea whether the jeans will fit them or not. However, the measurements generally may vary a bit and the method still needs some common senses of the buyer to approximate the fitness. Anyway, this method has proved to be effective and we have successfully sold some beautiful low rise jeans to some ladies and they love their jeans a lot! Fantastic!

Sizing of Fashion Clothes

Sizing is one of the difficulties for selling fashion clothes online. As various countries adopt different sizing system for their people, it is very difficult to communicate effectively with customers in sizing. The LARGE size in asian countries may be equivalent to the MEDIUM or SMALL size in western countries. Even the sizes stated by different brands may also varies a bit due to different design and manufacturing requirements. Therefore we have developed our own measuring system by measuring the actual lengths of various parts of clothes and stated these information clearly with illustrations in our clothes listings. By comparing the measurements stated with their own well fitted clothes, customers can clearly know whether the clothes will fit them or not. This method has been proved to be effective for most of the time but there are still some discrepencies happend on and off as some of the customers may not have actually done the comparison. Therefore, a unified sizing system will be very useful and helpful for the developement of garment industry selling online. To make this happen, the governments of different countries should work more closely to tackle the trading barrier problems between countries such that people all around the world can enjoy the best design and fitted clothes in the world.

Key Designer Behind Fashion Brands

When we watch fashion shows, we are impressed by the fantastic designs offered by each fashion brand. These fashionable clothes have been powered by the chief designers who give the soul to them with colors, fabrics and designs. Just wonder whether people know the key designer behind each brand. If not, below is a useful list for some of the famous brands :

Brand Key Designer
Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs
Channel/Fendi Karl Lagerfeld
Gucci Frida Giannini
Dior John Galliano
Prada Miuccia Prada
Hermes Jean-Paul Gaultier
Balenciaga Nicolas Ghesquiere
YSL Stefano Pilati
Celine Ivana Omazic
Loewe Jose Enrique Ona Selfa
Givenchy Riccardo Tisci
Lanvin Alber Elbaz

Plain vs Print

"Plain vs Print" - a classic topic for fashion designers. In the past, people perceived "plain" to be more mature and "print" to be younger in image. Therefore, many of the girls around are going through a process of from plain to print. When girls are young, they tend to dress in more plain fashion with simple and casual design. Maybe this is the way that they cound be more mature in looking and they can show up with their young spirit even dressed in the plain way. However, when they are getting more mature, they tend to go for more prints in fashion especially floral patterns to generate a younger outlook. Many of the ladies may not have noticed this kind of evolution but I have observed many girls around to go through this process. Maybe this is a kind of psychological change from aging effect. However, in my opinion, "print" fashion will be more suitable for young girls for which clothes with prints can bring out the young spirit from internal. Among various print patterns, my favourite is floral prints which represent the spring - a season for all beings to start growth. Fabric such as chiffon and lace are the best matching wth the colorful floral prints. This is what the fashion designer brought about for this Spring. Don't waste your valuable young ages! Dress in prints, girls!

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".