Social Stylists » Shopbop

Knit It

SocialStylists — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:01:43 +0000

Used to be when someone talked about knits, we all yawned thinking oh yeah, another oversized sweater to hide the extra holiday pounds. Change that attitude because now knits are hip.

Jessica Simpson Knit Triangle Scarf

While the battle of the knits brews tomorrow when Althea Harper and (Meana) Irina Shabayeva face off over who did the better collection, there is more to knits this season than just what the gals at Project Runway cooked up for us. Think beyond the basic scarf or sweater. Knits are showing up everywhere this season – from the snood to sweater dresses to hats and gloves - everything comes is a knit form this year.

Shopbop Basic Knit Gloves

So what is the allure of knits this year?

Maybe its because knits give off the feeling of luxury even in the bargain price range. Wool knits don’t have to be expensive to feel it. Of course, you can always amp it up with cashmere.

Maybe it’s because the past few years have been ridiculously cold, and the warm knits are a must. After all, isn’t it so much nicer to see someone in a warm knit dress and tall flat boots in the winter than someone with bare legs and 4-inch heels that we are supposed to believe is completely immune to the elements?

Maybe it’s a backlash to all the poorly made items we’ve seen crop up in the past few years. Something about a knit just says there was care put in to making it. Think of Althea Harper’s tweet

Yes! I knit all those pieces!!xxRT @Sbsterling When Althea says I spent a lot of time knitting does she mean she knit those pieces herself?

Maybe it’s the relaxed attitude knits give off. Its hard to be stuffy without so much structure.

Whatever it is, we are loving knits this year.

And if you are reading this and wondered, “What’s a snood???” Check Nicky’s Rag Tales for the dish.

Waiting for sales to start?

SocialStylists — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:06:51 +0000

When the fall shopping season started, I read the articles that said shoppers shouldn’t expect the same deep discounts they found last year. I thought that was good, last year was excessive. Many retailers went out of business because of the steep markdowns. I felt guilty at some of the prices I paid.

But I also don’t want to be the one poor sap that pays full price when waiting a couple of weeks would get me the item I love at 30% cheaper.

Stuart Weitzman 50/50 OTK Boots

Now we are approaching the sale season. Stores are starting, or getting ready to start, their fall markdowns – many have already been doing “special” promotions here and there. But inventories are running thin. I know in my store, we are out of a few of the season’s most coveted pieces.

Then a hard lesson for myself – the one item that I had my heart set on for the season was a pair of Stuart Weitzman 50/50 over-the-knee boots. These boots are at Zappos, Shopbop, Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdales, etc. The problem for me is that every store is sold out of my size. Yes, if I were a size 5 ½ I could still get those lovelies. But as it stands now, I’m out of luck because I didn’t want to be the one that paid full price unnecessarily. My fault, I know. They were the subject of so much attention, I should have known better.

The truth in retail is that fashion pieces are bought early. Those of us that want the best items are going to have to pay full price. So if there is something that you love, you want, but you are waiting for it to go on sale, know that you risk losing it. There is a price for getting exactly what we want – and sometimes it’s full.

So maybe retail is on the comeback after all and that is worth losing my boots over.

Accessories Wardrobe Part III – Jewelry

SocialStylists — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:36:03 +0000

As we work towards that perfect accessories wardrobe that began with Can the US Ever Lead in Fashion, let’s talk accessory-jewelry for a bit. There is jewelry-jewelry and accessory-jewelry. I’m not trying to diminish that beautiful pair of diamond stud earrings you received as a gift, but let’s move forward to something that expresses our style.

How many of us really think of jewelry as part of our wardrobe? We see how celebrities use jewelry as accents (Kate Moss and her multiple strands of gold chains) but more often than not we tend to have just a few good pieces that we wear over and over again.

So how should we start buying without wasting money? Julie Liu is a Couture Jewelry designer in Chicago. When Julie helps clients to select or design a piece, she looks first at skin tone to get the colors right. If you look for items that complement your skin tone, those pieces will blend easily into your wardrobe. So if you look best in earth tones, skip the cool metallic and go for earthy pieces and vice versa.

Next, act like you are shopping for a new haircut. Look at your face shape. If it’s long, don’t go for drop pieces – stay with shorter, chunkier items. If you have a round face, go with pieces that have some length. It’s about balance.

Juicy Couture Sequin Bib Necklace from Shopbop.com

Begin with one great statement necklace to go with jeans or casual looks. (You probably already have at least one good jewelry piece to wear for formal occasions). I am in love with this metallic bib necklace from Juicy Couture. You can wear this with jeans to give it pop. You can also keep this in your bag at work and put it on when leaving the office to change your look for evening.

Then grab one accessory-jewelry piece that is “IT” for the season. Two main trends right now are the ribbon tie necklace and the cuff. I like the cuffs with leather and studs because it’s a fairly subtle way to work in the leather/stud trend. Another hot trend is anything in hammered metal (distressed is “in” – jeans, bomber jacket, jewelry, whatever).

Always shop the sale section – stores have to clear out the previous seasons jewelry because it doesn’t complement the colors they are carrying at the moment, not because the jewelry is out of style. Shopping the sales section is also the best way of getting comfortable at adding jewelry.

I’m making a decision today that for the next week, I will select a piece of jewelry to complement or accent what I am wearing each day. Even if (especially if) its just jeans and a t-shirt.

After posting this, I found a great blog post on www.Boticca.com – Jewelry that Defines Us.
Boticca is in the U.K., but the information is relevant anywhere.