Down Under

One of the best things about being an Australian citizen is gaining access to Australian designers. There are two designers I love in particular: Marie Hatzis who designers the brand Hussy and Alannah Hill who has an eponymous line. The first has a serious edge and seriously innovative silhouettes and designs. Alannah Hill is super feminine and girly, think bows, fancy stockings and cute accents.

Here are some of their Winter 2010 looks:

Fashion Don’t: Look Silly While Flying... The Immense Importance of “High Flying" Style

When you glimpse through old photos it seems flying used to be a big deal. People put on their Sunday best to hop aboard the jet. Sure, flying is no longer restricted to the wealthy and glamour has certainly dropped, but how did flying attire plummet from utter chic to juicy valor sweat suits and UGGS?

While preparing for travel, I think comfy chic. You really never know who you’ll spot in the airport and I for one, will not be donning UGGS in front of a chance run in with my dream boss, celebrity crush, or influential person x y or z. And besides, when you look good, the kind gentleman in the row behind you will be that much more inclined to squeeze your overstuffed suitcase into the overhead bin for you.

Here, Will looks great! See it's not very hard.

Needless to say, we all are used to spotting extremely unfortunate outfits in the airport. But I was subjected to a new low a few days ago when returning home from Europe. While he didn’t look like a slob, per say, his outfit choice was really quite awful and frankly I would have rather seen him in valor suit rocking MUGGS (Man Uggs).

He selected a white short sleeve button down (it’s coming) and chose to only button the bottom button… exposing his rather large belly and natural “sweater.” Ah yes, his fat and chest hair was exposed and sitting next to me for 11 long hours. I know Europeans are rather open with their style (usually I applaud this) but this was just overwhelming. We’re not on a beach! We’re on a freezing international flight… It really baffles me how he wasn’t the least bit chilly. I suppose fashion is pain.

Of course I snapped some photos:

To make matters worse he will be meeting his girlfriend’s parents immediately upon our arrival and that was his outfit selection. Wonderful impression, I’m sure.

I am thinking I’ll make it my life mission to bring style back to flying. I will stop at nothing. Grass root movements, demonstrations, advertising campaigns—the works.

Check Out the Hook (While My DJ Revolves It)

Robert Van Winkle, you likely know him as Vanilla Ice (but his real name doesn’t get old) delivered a serious jam in the early 90’s. His career looked promising before his stint in jail but years later he’s set to rebound from the flop… He announced he will be hosting his own home improvement TV show called “The Vanilla Ice Project.” Each episode will be a room-by-room makeover of an entire house. Winkle will be calling all the shots.

I’m not sure I’ll appreciate his style (see photo) but I’m absolutely tuning in to the DIY network on October 14^th for the debut. I suppose it would be pretty cool to say Vanilla Ice designed your home, no?

Charlotte Wedding Photo Shoot

I spent my second day on the job this summer helping out at the Wedding fashion shoot. I was a newb so didn't get to do as much as I did at the fall shoot I blogged about earlier. But, I still had a wonderful time. Here are a few shots of my day; the photos look stunning in the current edition of Charlotte Wedding.

The Ethics of Fashion

If you stroll through the mall today, especially in inexpensive stores like Forever 21, I can guarantee that you’ll see knockoffs of expensive designer pieces. Some of these knockoffs look pretty darn close to the real thing, minus differences in fabric quality and detailing.

I absolutely support affordable fashion, as I for one don’t have thousands and thousands of dollars to drop on this fall’s “must have” designer pieces. In fact, H&M is one of my favorite places to shop when I can muster up the courage to fight the crowds. However, I can’t help but cringe when I realize that I’ve seen that $30 military jacket parade down the runway in a slight more chic form a few months before. When I pick up pieces like this, I realize a designer’s blood, sweat, and tears have been transformed into eerily similar mass produced jackets.

Where should we draw the line? Or do we even need to draw one? Should inexpensive stores be able to copy top designer’s work and provide fashion pieces for all price ranges? Or should an artist’s work remain absolutely their own as they created and executed it?

Just yesterday, Senator Charles E. Schumer introduced a bill to protect designers against being copied. The proposed bill is rather limited and will require designers to prove that their design is not only unique but also that it was copied exactly. It’s certainly a step in the right direction for parties attempting to prevent anyone from replicating top designers’ work but it seems to me that there will be a lot of wiggle room within the law if it passes.

The bill is up for voting this fall.

The Pant Dilemma

I don’t wear pants. Pretty much ever. I don’t have anything against them at all, I just find a skirt to be much more flattering on me. This fashion choice has its ups and downs. One serious down is feeling stuck to opt for stockings over the denim hanging untouched in my closet when the snow starts (and continues…) to fall. However, this autumn we’ll be seeing womanly (and more crucially, elongating and flattering) pants that might just simmer my strike against pants.

High-waisted pants with a long leg and slight flare are representative of the fall collections that will be filling stores: feminine and luxurious. Away from boyfriend blazers and other intense masculine influences, this season is all about celebrating the women’s body and her ability to look fancy and fabulous, even in the midst of the recession.

Here are some of these long leggy pants that I love. I might even hop to the stores and, heaven forbid, try some on.

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Sadly, my vacation has almost come to an end…