Balmain Spring 2013: Dissected

Coming back from the dead, black and white emerges to make its debut in Balmain's spring and summer line for 2013! 

This Balmain collection is a puzzle constructed by trends from the past and present. The pants in this line are loose fitting and extremely high waisted which brings back the trend from the 70's and 80's, but he added a sexy modern look to them by changing the material from denim to black leather.  



In other 2013 ready-to-wear looks Balmain added black and white stripes, and created a bleached out look as well. Many of the looks have cuffs at the bottom of each pant leg to add "oomph" to the look. Many of the looks are accompanied by a cutoff shirt. Most of them are a solid white, but some are both black and white. In look one, the model is wearing a black and white weaved halfie top with padded shoulders...which is coming back from the 80's! Coming from the neckline on each side, down each arm is a peek-a-boo beaded opening that gives the top a 'stitches' look that has a little bit of a dark edge to it while still being mod. She is wearing very heavy silver, but simple earrings. And to complete the look, she is wearing simple black wedges.

In comparison to the rest, look two is unique, but similar. Starting at the toes, She is wearing the same wedges as the model in look number one...black goes with everything!

The pants she is wearing are a black leather, super high-rise fashion statement (with pockets)! Instead of wearing a cutoff/halfie top, she is wearing a black overcoat with a silk collar and nothing underneath...risqué! to tie it all together, she is flaunting a black and white futuristic belt around the waist. To top off the outfit, she struts the same heavy oval earrings as the model in look one.

Look three, we see a gorgeous black jacket over the rest of her bleach white outfit. Her pants are a unique loose-fitting pant with a khaki style and cuffs at the bottom. To complete the pants, Balmain introduced a black and white 80's punk-style belt. The model is wearing a skin-tight short top with two-inch-thick parallel straps and a pair of the same heavy oval earrings to match. 

Juliana Schurig, Look V

Saving my favorite for last, is strutted down the runway by Juliana Schurig. Starting at her toes...she is wearing gorgeous black heels with a black plaid inspired design. Her pants are a black-metallic leather texture, but are loose fitting at the same time.

Complimenting the 70's, they are whoa! high rise and tied together at the top by a fantastic black and white striped leather-but-shiny belt.

Her top is a gathered ribbon-like white halter top that is cut off abruptly just at the top of the ribcage while revealing the collar-bone. To complete this puzzle, she is wearing the same heavy silver ovals from her ears.

This collection is a beautiful collection all pieced together in cohesiveness, but with classy unity from the past and future. 





http://www.wickedthrift.com

Spring / Summer 2013: Helmut Lang

I love black sheer fabric and leather bits so it's safe to say Helmut Lang is my favorite designer. Sheer anything is a motif in his clothing as well as shiny black leather. Its chic-ly badass and completely wonderful.
Back in September we saw his spring line at New York Fashion Week. Fruity-citrus colors gave a little pop to his usual chic-somber color collection as well as gorgeous asian inspired floral print and the use of color-blocking. The color-blocking was my favorite because he added sheer panels or "blocks" into the mix. It made you look twice at it and it was strikingly feminine. His use of asian florals would have been subtle in most designers collections but here he made them really stand out. The mix of them with the pale-pastel color pallet he used makes them pop in all the right ways. It wasn't too much, it was just enough boldness to balance out the delicate sheers and hard leathers of his collection.
Out of these ten looks, if I had to choose my favorites they would be (left to right) look numbers 1, 3, 4, 6, and 9. The first look just gives me a laid back yet professional feel when I look at it. And it's gray. And I absolutely love wearing that color. The third look is eye catching, sexy, and figure flattering. I love the color-blocking, its almost futuristic, and the black lines really cinch in your waist for a va-va-voom silhouette. Look four is delicate and bold. I love how he took a normal day to day short, flirty cocktail dress and sewed a choppy sheer hem to it. It adds length and sophistication without dumbing down the sex-appeal this dress gives off. The sixth look is something I would wear day to day. A pencil cropped pant and a tank with a badass leather jacket. I love that the tank is sheer. Its sexy and fashion forward and adds a little more 'bad-girl' feel being mixed with the leather jacket. The cropped pant really softens this look. It makes the tank look less "sleezy" and more chic. Last but certainly not least is look nine. This drop waist color block dress is so cool and interesting. The dress stops right above the knee and without the sheer panel at the bottom this dress would look matronly. That sheer panel gives a little leg and a whole lotta sexiness.

~Lyza (the slouchy beanie)

Spring Trend 2013: Classy Black & White

1) Bebe, 2) Louis Vuitton, 3) Matthew Williamson, 4) Prada

Opposites attract! The 'new' trend of Black and White has come back to raid closets around the globe. Designers everywhere are exemplifying its original unity in new,  hot, trendy ways.

In Louis Vuitton's spring line for 2013, the house added a 20's flare with a tile-style checker design.

Bebe also adopted the black and white fad. Cora Keegan (model number one) is wearing a Beetlejuice inspired jacket with thick black and white, vertical stripes. Underneath she is showing off a white button-up with a black collar complimented by black high-waisted pants to match. Stripes are the new neutral!

Interning at Wicked Thrift on Cape Cod, I found a long, flowy tie-dye jumpsuit (pictured below) with pockets for only $20 (sz. s/m). To go with it, I stumbled upon a bodacious vintage boating hat for $25 (also from Wicked Thrift).

My favorite part of this trendy portrait was the fringed vintage black and white bag from the 1960's Russian Revolution era ($25). The design on this jumpsuit is similar to Matthew Williamson's sexy spring/summer 2013 line, but he also incorporates other vibrant colors.

Look number two (from Wicked Thrift) is a knit black and white 1980's sweater for $12 (sz. s/m). Over that, I exhibited a long, black, silky pea coat with white piping for $16...100% silk! To complete the outfit, I discovered dark grey, skinny trousers for $12 (sz. 4). This outfit is similar to (Marissa) Webb's 2013 debut collection of black and white tops, paired with black and white pants.

Prepare to be slammed with oodles of black and white this spring and summer!

~ Alex



Spring 2013 Trend: Lace

Wicked Thrift, possibly the coolest thrift store on earth, has tons of lovely lace pieces, as modeled here, by yours truly (below).

Lace has always been a popular romantic fabric. It's classy but sexy at the same time. It gives cute little peeps of skin, but doesn't go overboard. Lace can be sophisticated in black, or fun and flirty in color.

So, it's only natural that we're seeing a lot of lace on the spring runways. Temperly (London) used the classic fifties silhouette and delicate blue-lavender lace for a lively, fresh look, whereas Elie Saab used strips of black lace for a more dramatic feel.

Marchesa introduced a white gown with a sugar-sweet pink lace overlay, and Versace went with a more modern approach and added nude lace to the hem and bodice of  a black tunic-dress, and paired it with strappy heels.

I found (at Wicked Thrift, right) a cute little brown Scott Mcclintock party dress ($40, sz. 6) and layered a delicate sheer black lace jacket over it ($14, sz. M). Also, there's a totally rad cropped black lace jacket with structured shoulders ($16, sz. 6) and it goes great with this tribal ruffled tank top ($12, sz. XL) and black clutch ($6). I'm wearing my own combat boots and jeans, just in case any of you were wondering. Oh yeah, and my ring.

The lace jackets (shown right) have a similar feel to Elie Saab's black lace dress, which I mentioned earlier, and the Scott Mcclintock dress plays with the same warm colors as the Versace tunic.

Come by and try on some of these fabulous pieces!
                                                 ~Ariel