coutorture --

Fall 08 Trends Via Oscar de la Renta: Plum

coutorture — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:10:38 -0800

Oscar de la Renta was one of many designers to show plum in their Fall 2008 collection. Albeit, Oscar's plum was just a little bit richer, just a little bit more, well, plum than the others. Or maybe that's just our crush on the designer who insists, season after season, on celebrating the ever-popular concept of the 'powerful woman'. Oscar's plum appeared in the form of a trim cashmere knit sweater, high waisted wide leg trousers, and two fabulous floral print frocks. Below, two galleries, our editorial of the Oscar de la Renta Fall 08 plums, and, you know, everyone else's.

More: The Only Oscar We Care About.

More: Plum for A/W 08

Five Key Fall Trends: Winter's Summer

coutorture — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:34:14 -0700

This past Spring we thought we'd never survive the floral madness. When Spring 08 was editorialized with every kind of floral pun and relative aesthetic concept ('English Garden', 'In Full Bloom') the editors could conjure, we thought by the time the clothing delivered, we'd be too worn out to participate.

What happened though, was that Fall 08 shows started percolating in our subconscious early leaving the bright, summer florals relatively little much mind-space. Yes, we wore floral this summer but it didn't feel over saturated, at least not given its build up. That said, the Fall 08 floral trends didn't irk us as much as we would have thought. In fact, the brooding, romantic, more dense florals that we see this season are even more interesting and dynamic than those which we saw for spring. It feels, despite all of the floral chit chat in 2008, decidedly fresh.

For our Fall's Top Five: Past & Present photo shoot our stylist, Liz Baca, pulled a vintage Yves Saint Laurent dress from Rock It Retro and an Erdem frock, with a floral print that was inspired by scenes from a moving train (we'll be covering the Erdem show this Spring, we are big fans). Below, check out some of our favorite 'winter's summer' trend pieces and, below that, our previous roundup of the florals we saw in the fall shows. We don't want to make you tired of it--but we just can't help ourselves.

Calm Uptown, Party Downtown

coutorture — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:02:40 -0700

We are major Marni fans here at Coutorture so it stands to reason we love their signature print skirts. Long, short, bubble, a-line, circle or mini; all are equally appealing to us. But the trouble with wearing a busy skirt is keeping the rest of your styling reasonable. One of the classic tricks is to wear the most basic shirt possible and allow your skirt to take center stage. The more downtown version is obviously to go straight with a tee-shirt and to find a nice cheap colorful skirt. The idea had been percolating in our head after seeing a model on a go-see with a basic white tee-shirt and a very bright floral skirt she rescued from Urban Outfitters. And then community partner High Fashion Girl decided that this combination aesthetic was her summer uniform. Apparently this has been on many a hip young fashionistas mind. We have a few low cost busy skirts and inexpensive t-shirts to help set the mood for you.

Smelly Blog Shoutout: Floral Perfume For Spring

coutorture — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:08:51 -0700

Our network partner, Smelly Blog, might have a playful name but she takes perfume very seriously. Right now she is running a series of reports called, 'Spring Essentials' where she covers everything from spring cleaning (and the smelly products involved) to the most common fragrances for the season. In her post on Florals, she uses the natural environment as a basis for articulating her favorite springtime scents. She writes, ' Light white floral notes such as jasmine, orange blossom and mimosa reign my spring fantasies, but it may be different for you depending on your own favourite florals and the particular blooms that inspire your environment.'. Check out our spread below with some her favorite Jasmine, Orange Blossom, and Mimosa scents and, for more, her post on florals here.

Click for more Shoutouts

That's Chic Shoutout: Spring Trend Overdose

coutorture — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:33:11 -0700

Our network partner, That's Chic, gave Spring the ol' collage technique. Presenting the trends on a splurge versus steal basis, and driving the point home with fashionistas in the periphery, we think, is a nice way to present what's up-and-coming. Here's our contribution to her acute sense of style, a 5-garment spread of our take on the trends. Now, put on some Sly and The Family Stone and pay close attention to that leather skirt by Marni, Cheap Monday V-trench Coat, and Ksubi Super Skinny Zip Jeans in Uzi Blue Vein.

Trend Report: Looking At The Summer Through Rose Colored Glasses

coutorture — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:22:04 -0800

In addition to the boom of floral prints expected for Spring, we'll be seeing a lot of rose-colored frocks. Red is a classic color, and appears every season, but the most common shades this season are rose and poppy colored. So it seems, florals are back in more ways than one. Click through our gallery with rose and poppy colored garments from Carolina Herrera, Rebecca Taylor,Three As Four, Temperley, and Tracey Reese. To drive the point home, we've even included a few red floral prints.