Vintage
Shopping for a Christmas party dress – on a budget
The Christmas season brings with it a host of holiday parties, from office parties to parties thrown by family or friends. For those who may not have much money to spend on their party outfits, here are a few tips that may be helpful.
Bedazzle with sequins
Get a party dress with a sequined or glitzy finish Frock and Frill have a great selection of bedazzled dresses. You can also opt for a simple black dress and dress it up with sequined accessories. These items are not very costly.
Use what you have
Buy a few inexpensive tops with shiny or festive details and pair them with smart or elegant black trousers that you already own. You can add some shiny bracelets or earrings to add to the festive theme.
Don’t break the bank
Go for cheap costume jewellery and bags, since you will only use them a few times for a few parties and as such, quality is not so important.
Be thrifty
Lastly, shop for all of your items at thrift stores or flea markets. When shopping online, look for those sites offering deals, or search for discount coupons that are redeemable at those online stores.
Men’s style: dapper guys go Gatsby
The forthcoming remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic 1920s novel The Great Gatsby has had an enormous impact on this season’s style. Stay suave this summer with period detailing, or go all out with a head-to-toe vintage look. Forget Don Draper; Jay Gatsby is the new style icon for 2012, so get yourself some 1920s styling inspiration with these easy ideas:
-Suit up in style with a three-piece suit; the waistcoat in particular is a clincher when it comes to formal 1920s style.
-Make your trousers high-waisted and pleated if you dare, or turn up slacks for a more subtle nod to the look.
-Experiment with a shawl collar to stay ahead of the fashion pack, or try a tennis jumper for preppy style.
-Monogrammed shirts are heavily featured in Fitzgerald’s novel, and look likely to make an appearance in the film too. Don’t wait for your Christmas list to put in a request for yours; get shirts monogrammed now and stay on trend.
-Finally, don’t forget your hair. The slick side parting popularised by Mad Men translates well, or be brave and go for full pomade and retro-licked hair.
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Retro Designs for the 21st Century
Retro is officially in and the menswear industry has embraced the trend with gusto. Fashion houses have been creating retro designs with a 21st century twist over the last few seasons and men today have a fabulous choice of retro designs to choose from. They bring enhancement to clothing collections whatever your age and whether retro is new to you or you enjoyed the style first time round.
Currently in vogue are the exciting safari-style jacket and trousers. Fitted, wide-collared, button-down jackets with both diagonal and coin pockets bring the safari style firmly up to date and make it practical for men today. New safari jackets look great in muted jungle shades and can be teamed with twisted chinos for casual wear or straight-leg for a more formal style. Firetrap Clothing has a super range of safari wear for all ages.
Another popular retro look is the military-style wool double-breasted jacket. This jacket, which looked great first time round, has emerged virtually unchanged and remains popular in black, navy and grey.
Graphic t-shirts have not escaped the retro buzz either and are worn by children, teens, young adults and older who proudly wear the picture of their favourite superhero in bold primary colours or as a black and white sketch.
Retro ankle boots are also making a re-appearance on the fashion front. In the old days, ankle boots were most popular in tan brown, but today come in any colour you like, albeit predominantly tan brown.
Read MorePaisley Prints
Paisley prints, traditionally associated with class and style are currently seeing resurgence this autumn and winter. Paisley‘s popularity among designers has seen this pretty pink appear on everything from dresses to accessories like bags and scarves, making it one of the coolest looks of the season.
Distinctive Prints
The paisley print looks good and fits nicely this autumn and winter season with combinations like jeans, dressy pants, skinny jeans, leggings and even corduroy. Paisley prints are versatile enough to lend themselves to a variety of outfit styles. Drape a paisley scarf around a neutral shade dress and achieve instant style, or combine a paisley print dress with high-heeled sandals and a monochrome bag to get a super chic look. Paisley adds a generous dose of class to any wardrobe.
From colourful, florid to elegant coloured patterns, paisley stoles and scarves stand out with their patterns. Popular this season is the Kashmiri paisley print, most notably the pashmina paisley. Kashmiri paisley, also known as block print paisley, is especially popular because of its classic design. Candy-coloured Kashmiri paisley pants, teamed up with flat sandals and a simple cotton shirt are just what you need to create a relaxed, laidback look this season.
Paisley print shawls are also big this season, with bold prints in neutral colours creating a distinctive look. Designers have also experimented with women’s jackets. Especially popular is the reversible paisley printed jacket, available in a number of colours. Loose-fitting and stylishly cut, the paisley jacket is an ultra-cool combination of modern design and traditional prints and looks great with evening wear.
Paisley has also found its way into accessories like bags and ladies socks, making a pretty statement in both neutral shades and bolder colours like green and blue. This pretty print is a great alternative to bolder, louder prints. If you prefer something more subtle and classy, paisley is the way to go. For a Bohemian look, popular this season, slip on some bangles and Birkenstocks with a paisley dress. Go paisley this season and take advantage of the print’s classy, stylish look to enhance your wardrobe.
Paisley
Collectible T-Shirts
You can follow the evolution of T shirt printing as an art form by studying surviving examples from the past. Many vintage shirts are now sought after as collectibles; the 1948 presidential campaign shirt “Dew It with Dewey” is enshrined in the Smithsonian collection as an early specimen of the genre.
Early Disney shirts are highly popular, as are movie and TV promotional shirts, airbrushed surfing shirts and especially music industry creations for tours and albums. Ebay has listed a vintage T-shirt featuring the 1966 Beatles Butcher cover at $20,000 (around £12,500), while Woodstock original T-shirts occasionally turn up at prices ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 (£1,250 to £6,000 approximately).
If you can’t find, or afford, an original there are many reproduction or ‘retro’ T-shirts available. People have gone to great lengths to resurrect designs from the early classic shirts. The 1960s and 1970s were particularly fertile decades for peace art, psychedelia, and cartoon designs from masters such as Robert Crumb.
You can also recreate your own version too, by designing your own and using Adlogo to print them up, although if you’re looking to sell them you should not copy designs exactly as you could face prosecution over copywrite. However if it’s just for yourself then you shouldn’t encounter any problems
Alternatively, you may want to start collecting contemporary T-shirts, either to wear or to preserve for future profit. T-shirt printing today offers such a range of possibilities that you may have trouble focusing a collection. Do remember that a celebrity collectible is more valuable if autographed.
T-shirt text and images have encompassed the whole of popular culture for the last 50 years. Just as you can be sure that a T shirt exists somewhere for even the most obscure activity or philosophy, it’s almost guaranteed that someone somewhere is collecting T shirts on that theme.
Read MoreCats Eyes on the Catwalk
In keeping with the retro-look being seen on the catwalks this season, 50s and 60s inspired accessories are appearing in the high street shops, and leading the charge are cat’s eye sunglasses.
The popularity of this 50s and 60s fashion trend has probably been increased by recent films, and the hugely popular TV series Mad Men. For the real vintage look, go for an upswept plastic frame in a solid colour – white, sunshine yellow, red or blue – whatever accessorises your outfit best.
These retro glasses will certainly make a statement, but take care to choose a frame that suits the shape of your face. As a rule, a round face can take a sharper edge, or a frame that curves smoothly up towards the side of the face, while a square face looks better with round or diamond shapes. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, however, so try on lots of pairs before you buy.
Prada seems to be the leader in this field at the moment, having launched a range of cat’s eye sunglasses in their 2010 autumn collection, but other designers have been quick to introduce them into their spring shows.
If you need prescription glasses, the retro look will really help you make a fashion statement. Most good opticians have some great designer styles reminiscent of the 50s and 60s and, unless you pick a really outrageous pair, the look will accessorize most outfits.
If you want something a bit flashier for the evening, there are some great designs in dazzling colours in the original cat’s eye style or diamond shape available from a number of designers.
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