Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2010 Ready To Wear

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It was a collection reminiscent of the Godfather! Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana went back to their roots and recreated an updated version of their lacy lingerie-like dresses. Corseted models swayed down the runway in dresses made of fringed lace, mesh, crochet knits, tulle, and rose-patterned satin. The collection brought back a touch of romantic nostalgia!

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1. (Left) Fringed lace tunic $2,406 at luisaviaroma.com; lace shorts $1,025 at luisaviaroma.com
2. (Middle) No shopping information
3. (Right) Lace viscose fringe dress $2,923 at luisaviaroma.com

(Photos from style.com - click the picture for a larger image)

No shopping information

(Photos from style.com - click the picture for a larger image)

1. (Left) Lace viscose bustier dress with asymmetrical skirt $1,650 at Neiman Marcus; lace shorts $995 at Neiman Marcus; black lace bodysuit $1,195 at Neiman Marcus
2. (Right) No shopping information

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No shopping information

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1. (Left) Multi-charm necklace $1,924 at luisaviaroma.com
2. (Middle) Black crystal multi-charm bracelet $714 at luisaviaroma.com
3. (Right) No shopping information

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1. (Left and Middle) No shopping information
2. (Right) Combo-print floral silk spandex dress $1,995 at Neiman Marcus

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1. (Left) Flora-print silk with lace trim dress $3,353 at luisaviaroma.com
2. (Right) No shopping information

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1. (Left) Flora-print silk gorgette t-shirt $682 at luisaviaroma.com
2. (Middle and Right) No shopping information

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No shopping information

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The sexy dresses were intermixed with a few fitted masculine suits, as seen here.

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(Left) Stretch wool striped jacket is $1,373 at luisaviaroma.com. Some suits are available from Saks Fifth Avenue.

More pieces from the collection are available from luisaviaroma.com.

Jan 29, 2010

M Missoni Spring/Summer 2010

(Photos from m-missoni.com - click the picture for a larger image)

It's worthwhile to take a look at the M Missioni collection for Spring/Summer 2010. This year, the silhouettes are younger and more hip. The tops and shorts are the best pieces in the collection.

(Photos from m-missoni.com - click the picture for a larger image)

1. (Left) The one-shoulder cutout-sleeve knit top is $655 at luisaviaroma.com. There is a dress version of this knit for $832.
2. (Right) The one-shoulder knit top is $441 at luisaviaroma.com.

(Photos from m-missoni.com - click the picture for a larger image)

1. (Left) The thin gauze halter top is $420 at luisaviaroma.com.
2. (Right) Strapless silk satin and knit ruffles dress is $840 at luisaviaroma.com. This dress is worn over a mesh long-sleeves top in the picture.

(Photos from m-missoni.com - click the picture for a larger image)

• (Second from the left) The printed silk crepe jumpsuit is $1092 at luisaviaroma.com.

Other pieces from this collection can be found at:

• luisaviaroma.com
• Neiman Marcus
• Saks Fifth Avenue

Jan 26, 2010

Booties or Sandals for Spring/Summer 2010

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There is such a mix of interesting footwear in the Spring 2010 Ready To Wear collections! Mostly, the shoes were sandals or booties. If you are trying to decide what shoes to get for your summer wardrobe, read on.

For Spring 2010 Ready To Wear, the "hip" designers went with casual and chunky footwear. Even delicate dressy outfits were paired with dark clunky booties or sandals. If you are an avant-garde dresser, try these edgy looks from Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Balmain, and Givenchy.

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Some sandals look like booties and vice versa. You will see them arbitrarily classified in either categories when shopping online! Well, it really doesn't matter what they are called so long as you have a pair, right? Here are some examples of these sandal-booties from Dolce & Gabbana, Chloé, Gianfranco Ferré, and Gucci.

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For Spring 2010 Ready To Wear, Prada, Haider Ackermann, Fendi, and Marc Jacobs showed different styles of sandals - some were casual and some had dressier looks. It seems that you can wear all of them with any outfit so you only need to decide which look is for you.

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Booties have moved from being a winter staple into a summer staple. Some summertime booties are made of lighter materials, like the ones from Nina Ricci and Dolce & Gabbana (see picture below) and some of them have spring pastel colors. However, in some extreme cases, designers put winter booties on their Spring 2010 Ready To Wear models; see the Louis Vuitton booties below. If you decide to go for the winter-booties look for the summer, you'll need a pair of outstanding booties! Please don't you pull out your winter UGGs and wear them with your summer frock!

(Photos from style.com - click the picture for a larger image)

If you have winter booties for the summer wardrobe, then, how about knee-high boots? Yes, there were some of that too in the Spring 2010 Ready To Wear shows. Take a look at these boots from runways of Dsquared2, Versace, Gareth Pugh, and D & G.

(Photos from style.com - click the picture for a larger image)

What? Sandals over socks on the Spring 2010 Ready To Wear runways? Yes, we had that too. Some models wore thick socks and some wore fine hosiery. In some cases, the socks made the sandals look like boots! (If thick socks are worn, do you need a larger size sandal?) Here are some sandals-with-socks looks from Burberry Prorsum, Christian Dior, and Dolce & Gabbana. The Alexander Wang model was probably wearing leg warmers with her sandal-booties.

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Many Spring/Summer 2010 sandals (or shoes) have ankle cuffs or long wrap-around straps. The strappy shoes look great with short shorts and minis. If you plan to get some shoes for the summer, get a pair that has ankle straps. Here are some examples of shoes or sandals with ankle straps from Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Balmain, and Fendi.

(Photos from style.com - click the picture for a larger image)

More notes on shoes in Spring 2010 Ready To Wear collections...

• Prada went with more traditional-looking shoes. The Prada shoes were see-through so they made the models' legs look really long!
• Chanel went with clogs for its Spring/Summer 2010 look. Sometimes, hosiery with criss-cross patterns were worn to give an impression of lace-up clogs.
• Alexander McQueen had the most unusual footwear, which looked like booties (not sure how comfortable they are though).
• Like Bottega Veneta, many shoes in the Spring 2010 Ready To Wear collections had wedge heels.

See these shoe examples in the following picture.

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The prices for summer shoes vary but there is such a big selection. For example, you don't need to spend big bucks to get a pair of really nice sandals; but you do have to make sure that you won't be getting blisters from wearing them. Here are some websites to shop for your summer shoes.

• luisaviaroma.com
• Barneys New York
• Net-A-Porter
• Neiman Marcus
• Saks Fifth Avenue
• Bloomingdale's
• Macy's
• Outnet.com
• Jimmy Choo (new arrival, sale)

Read my other post on How to wear booties.

Jan 23, 2010

Spetacular Chanel Paris-Shanghai Show (Dec 3,'09)

This was the eighth Métiers D'Art collection from Chanel. Chanel displayed its tour de force in Shanghai, using the crafts of its six Parisian ateliers:

• Desrues for ornamentation, such as buttons, (costume jewelry) bracelets, necklaces, belts and brooches, jewelled evening bags, etc.
• House of Lesage for embroidery, working with sequins, rhinestones and beads
• Goosens, expert goldsmith and silversmith, for fantasy jewelry
• Maison Lemarié for feathers and flowers
• Massaro for shoes
• Maison Michel for millinery (making hats)

News release from Chanel said:

The collection brings together the expert skill of the Parisian artisans and the Chanel ateliers: "The strength of the collection results from its refinement. You need ot have a close look and almost feel the fabric to understand how it was made and to appreciate the know-how." Karl Largerfeld.

Eight hundred guests attended the extravaganza, which was held on a custom-built boat in Shanghai. Over thirty models walked down a long runway set against the Pudong skyline. Sixty-nine gloriously crafted outfits with elaborate accessories celebrated Coco Chanel's dream trip to China.

Here is a selection of the looks (with blown-up details) from the Chanel Paris-Shanghai show on Dec 3, 2009 (click on the pictures for larger images).

(Photos from chanel.com - click on the picture for a larger image)

Keep an eye on Chanel news to see the availability of this collection in the Chanel boutiques!