Surprise, Surprise

I'm usually pretty on the ball with fall fashion- fur, boots, dark tones (just look at my fall fashion post)- it generally stays consistent from year to year. But this fall/winter I've seen some trends that have really surprised me, but after much consideration and a lot of exposure to them, I decided I really love.

Bright Blue

This never struck me as a fall colour. I mean, fall is all about the warm tones, wouldn't you feel cold in a bright blue in November? But after seeing it styled in store window after store window and street style after street style, I just couldn't resist.

I like to warm up the blue by adding some earth tones to the look, like this look from the Paul Smith F/W 2013 runway. Another way to make the blue look more for fall, pair it with something that couldn't be more autumn; a fur or shearling vest (this one's from Michael Kors). Also, an accessory, purse, or shoe (like these Nine West ones) in the colour is also great.

 

Floral

As much as I love spring and summer, when October and November roll around, I'm really looking forward to the hot chocolate, sitting around the fire, watching Christmas movies season. That's why when I first saw floral showing up in stores after labour day I had mixed feelings. But it's just so hard to not love this trend; if you love it in April, why not love it in October too?

Style it for fall by adding a knit cardigan, fur, or velvet pant with it (velvet is soo in this fall too).

I like this H&M dress with this heavy knit cardigan with fur trim, from Topshop. The contrasting materials lend the outfit an extra something. I also loved this floral Zara blouse with these J. Crew velvet green trousers.

Props to the visual merchandiser at Club Monaco and blogger A Keene Sense of Style for incorporating both of these trends!

Toronto Fashion Week

I’m so lucky to be living in Toronto; it’s one of my favourite cities with always so much going on, you’ll never be bored or out of ideas. I’m also lucky that Toronto is the location of World Mastercard Fashion Week, and that I was able to go see a few shows this year. My life has been crazy these past few months (which is also the reason I haven’t posted in a long while), with school, work, and my internship. So it was a nice little break to sit back and be able to watch some great fashion shows.

I wish I could’ve been fortunate to be down at the tents more than one day during fashion week, but I was only able to attend the Caitlin Power and Rudsak shows on Thursday night.

Caitlin Power

The feel I got from Caitlin Power’s S/S 2014 collection was very businesswoman-esque; tailored and geometric. However, the not-too-long skirts and deep Vs kept the collection flirty and feminine too. The colours Caitlin mostly used were black and white, but the colours she wanted to show off for spring and summer of 2014 were definitely red and chartreuse (more green as opposed to yellow, though).

These were some of my favourite looks from Caitlin. Pictures from photographer Michael Ho.

 

 

 

Rudsak

If camo was the trend for fall, Rudsak’s trend for S/S 14 was snakeskin. There were a lot of neutrals and earth tones, which is great for spring, when nature is making its debut for the year. There was also a lot of leather, and I’m really glad to see it’ll follow through from fall to spring. White is one of my favourite trends and colours for spring and summer, since I don’t get to wear too much of it in the fall and winter (I’m not one to follow the “don’t wear white after labour day” rule, but living in the great white north, my winter whites tend to get ruined and salt-stained). I was glad to see some all white outfits and lots of white bottoms (pants, shorts, skirts).

These are some of my favourite looks from the Rudsak show. Pictures also from Michael Ho.

 

 

 

 

What were your favourite shows from Toronto fashion week? Let me know in the comments!

Transitions

To me fall is all about transitions. We’re transitioning from warmer to cooler weather and from summer to back-to-school. And if you’ve just graduated, like me, you’re transitioning from one point in your life to another. So since this is a fashion and style blog, I thought I’d make a post about transitioning your summer fashion to fall. Just because I have my fall wardrobe ready and raring to go, I know most people like to hold on to their summer styles for as long as they can, before it’s absolutely necessary to bundle up.

A good way to wear your summer brights and neons into the fall is to pair them with a darker colour, either a neutral or a paler shade of the same colour as the statement piece.

You could pair this neon pink blouse from Style Says Shop with these khaki green cargo pants from H&M. I also love this look because the trousers give the outfit an edgier, more masculine feel while the blouse makes it feel more feminine. Alternatively, pair the blouse with pale pink trousers, like these from Gap. The cords also give the outfit more of a fall feel. Throw a black blazer on top of either outfit to complete the look.

Another way to style a bright colour for the autumn would be to wear it in a shoe or accessory, like a statement necklace. The rest of the outfit can be warmer colours or neutrals. The picture below is from Liliaki’s blog, and the necklace is styled perfectly for autumn (snake skin is very in for fall 2013).

As mentioned in my previous post, fall must haves, you can wear shorts in the fall, in fabrics like tweed or leather, by layering them over thick tights. But if you want to transition some of your summer shorts in lighter fabrics into the early autumn, just pair them with a thinner nylon in a translucent shade.

You probably don’t want to do floral or lace, since it might look too contrasted with the nylons, so a black or beige in a light summer material would be perfect. Even denim looks great with this look, including short overalls, like these ones from House of Fraser.