Top Ten Things We Saw in Fashion this Year Whether We Wanted To or Not by Jamie Campbell
Jamie Campbell is part of Baltimore's award-winning Shine Collective.
1. High Contrast.
This year married contrasting ideas and looks like leather moto jackets with brocade party dresses. Stiff plaids with slouchy urban gear. Bling with bold chains. Heavy fur or chunky knits over silk dresses & tops. Rugged boots with dresses (I'm resisting it- but Grunge returned). Experts were predicting a 'safe' year in fashion, so I love that the street peepers created their own friction by mixing the pretty and the tough. It sent a serious message to retailers that independent fashionistas never want to play it safe.
Alice Dellal in the uniform
Alexa Chung on WhoWhatWear.com
2. Hair Accessories.
Ren-fest style headbands, flapper style feather headdresses made the cut with It Girls this season. Thank god Nicole Richie ditched the pirate-style Axel Rose bandana for something a bit more refined and way cuter.
3. Preppy Punk.
If Adam Ant married Vivienne Westwood their baby would have totally worn the Anglomaniacal looks of plaid combined with exposed zippers, the slightly reinvented Dr. Martens and the ubiquitous Welly for slogging around Glastonbury. The masses were even rewarded the look in the form of Libertine for Target. Prep jackets mashed up with hard stripes and skulls met the definition and afforded Target shoppers a taste of the usually high end, one-of-a-kind label.
Glastonbury Gent from acontinuouslean.com
Dolce & Gabana, Winter 2008
Libertine for Target
4. Liquid Leggings.
It's Mary Kate's fault. She must have worn those leggings everyday as much as we saw them. Hers were probably real leather, but about a million girls emulated the look with a cheapie American Apparel laytex knockoff. This look mixed well with Preppy Punk (#4) as well the Bondage (#9) and took MK's Boho thing up a very tough and cool notch, but some ladies have taken it a bit too far. The full blown exposed legging circa Olivia Newton John/Grease Era is not recommended- I don't care how hot your bod is.
Nip/tuck's AnnaLynn McCord is a classic example of Leggings Gone Wrong. She looks like she had a martini while getting ready and forgot the rest of her outfit.
5. Booties.
The Liquid Leggings, the High Contrast nor the Bondage looks would have been complete without the bootie. This year's silhouette- either with legging or skinny jean needed the weight of a chunky shoe- the stiletto just doesn't feel right this season. I love the utility of the bootie. Looks like a boot feels like a sneaker- most have hidden platform toes and many showed a Cuban heel- both lending comfort and style.
Kristen Lee Satin Booties
Street photo from Chictopia.com
6. Highend Vintage.
Leave it to Rachel Zoe to take the 'thrift' out of thrift shopping. On one episode she dropped some serious coin on a cocktail ring and Birkin bag at the upscale L.A. vintage shop Decades. The best vintage website we've seen to date comes out of St. Louis. Marion Mercer just launched last month with a well-edited selection, but be prepared to pay the price for having someone else scour the ends of the earth for the perfect 'thrift' scores.
7. Celebrities as Fashion Designers.
The Olsen Twins did it best with The Row and Gwen Stefani proved to be more than just a flash in the fashion pan with her fourth production year of the ballsy L.A.M.B label, but we'll see if Kate Moss, Lauren Conrad, Sarah Jessica Parker, Beyonce, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore Sienna Miller, Victoria Beckham, Penelope Cruz (the list goes on) have the same stamina and vision it takes to carry/produce and move a label forward year after year. My money (as everyone else's) is on Moss.
Kate Moss for TopShop
8. Scarves.
Women were doing it, men were doing it. Every celeb in L.A. needed to have their neck inexplicably covered, and it seemed that the scarf- like the handbag and Starbucks venti latte- was growing in size as well. Bigger, fuller, more. Perhaps it's the Linus Effect. If a study was done this year of the political/economic effects on fashion trends- the analysis would state that grownups need their woobies now more than ever.
9. Bondage.
S&M creeped its way into the mainstream via chains, studding, spikes and straps on everything from belts to dresses to jewelry- and it was usually met with leather in some way (isn't it always?)
Three looks from oaknyc.com
10. Song that most inspired the looks- Rich Girls by The Virgins.
It was the song that The Strokes would have made if they weren't busy making music for Converse.
Rich Girls
The Virgins, "Rich Girls" video.
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Over the next several weeks, we will be regularly posting Year End Wrap Up lists from our friends, readers, and regular Shank contributors. So please stay tuned...
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