FASHION Magazine

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FLORALS
Bursting bouquets of oversize buds are ready for the picking.

TRIBAL
Layer bold, graphic patterns and subtle wooden accents for a global traveller feel.

FEMININITY
Wicker, gingham and eyelet are the perfect ingredients for sweet afternoons spent in the sun.

BRIGHTS
Take a graphic approach and opt for thick blocks of bright, saturated colour.

SPORTY
Gear up for the summer in mesh, metallics, drawstrings and stripes.

The race is on to find this season’s most sleek, athletic-inspired pieces. “Sport was touched on in almost every collection,” says Nicholas Mellamphy, creative director of The Room at the Bay. He points to Anthony Vaccarello’s use of tech fabrics and utility details, Antonio Berardi’s strong colour and stripe detailing, Yves Saint Laurent’s “sporty but elegant” eveningwear jumpsuits and J. Mendel’s play on the old-school sports jersey. The question is: Can sporty wear be made office-appropriate? Mellamphy laces up to give us a pep talk.

4 tips on how to wear sport utility »
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Keep it light and airy in your twenties. Sport bright yellow in your sixties. Give the colour wheel a spin! This season, it’s time to try a brand-new hue no matter which age bracket you fall under.

Jump to age:
20s SUGAR RUSH | 30s SCARLET FEVER | 40s VEGGIE PATCH
50s BLUE CRUSH | 60s FRESH CITRUS | 70s CLEAN SLATE

From H&M’s latest and greatest eco offering, to our favourite eco beauty buys, we’re giving you all the intel you’ll need to keep stylish for spring, summer and beyond.

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There’s been a serious push towards sustainable fashion of late and with good reason. Gorgeous wears that are kind to the environment? That’s like double the reason to go shopping!

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Now, longtime environmental advocate H&M (they’ve been the world’s largest buyer of organic cotton since 2010) is taking its environmental quest one step further with the Conscious Collection. The new knockout sustainable fashion line of everything from shorts to blouses to cocktail dresses and gowns (gowns!) is made from a whole slew of earth-conscious fabrics, including chemical-free organic cotton, a totally renewable cellulose-silk called Tencel and recycled polyester made from PET plastic bottles.

The tea-with-the-Queen-worthy collection is chock-full of sugary sweet pastels, romantic florals and the nipped-in waists we saw all over the Spring 2012 runways. These ultra-flattering dresses are perfect for the summer wedding, the prom or even the classic night out on the town. And though it might be a bit of a bold choice for a wedding dress, one particular off-white gown with a decadent tiered skirt has us in a decidedly matrimonial kind of mood. Still need another stamp of approval? Actress/goddess Michelle Williams wore one of the Conscious gowns to the BAFTA Awards earlier this year. Can we get an amen?

Whether it’s through Stella McCartney’s tireless battles to bring eco-awareness to the forefront, or with H&M’s bringing it to an affordable price range, we’ve learned that fashion really should not come at the price of being at odds with the earth. And since we know you’d love to do both, we’ve made it a cinch with this foolproof eco-friendly guide that hits all the marks with the hottest trends for spring.

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Spring’s retro-chic day dresses, head scarves and pleated skirts usher in a new wave of ladylike polish. Check out our May issue photo shoot taken on the tropical Miami streets.

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Should your hair match your heels? Yes, if they are colour-blocked in the season’s brights. But what goes in-between? Architectural angles with chunks of light and dark.

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The faux-leather top gives this pleated dress an edgy flair. ($42, mikkatmarket.com)

The post Daily steal: Faux-leather pleated dress, $42 appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

By David Livingstone

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Louis Vuitton show for Spring 2012 opened with the tinkling of a music box and the rising of a scrim to reveal a carousel carrying girls in pale dresses on cream-coloured ponies. It might have seemed a saccharine set-up, but such a response could just be a bad case of not getting it. The news of the season is gentle news. That’s what Marc Jacobs got so right at Louis Vuitton. All the white and those whitened pastels—a key colour trend, favoured by both traditionalists such as Ralph Lauren and more experimental types such as Christopher Kane and Hussein Chalayan—might have appeared to be borrowed from a bag of miniature marshmallows. But the candied palette was not there simply to satisfy a sweet tooth. It also appeals to a Bluetooth appetite when dished out in fabrics that are marvels of modern technology—things like foam organza, silk cellophane and laser-cut leatherette. For the theory-minded, it’s tempting to conclude from the fact that we live in times when you see toddlers dressed in skull patterns and infants swaddled in camo-print blankets that it’s only logical their moms should start playing with pink and baby blue.

Photorealism, watercolours, freehand sketches, and computer-engineered florals bring originality and emotion to spring’s most eye-catching designs.

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The holiday season calls for a mix of show-stopping shimmer and shine—and a whole lot of texture.

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