After being lucky enough to sit front row each night at the designer series of the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week 2010, I was able to witness, first hand, where Australian Spring style is heading.
After writing accounts of my experience each night, I felt it was necessary to sum up the key ideas and trends for the upcoming season and how to best style yourself to follow the amazing designs featured throughout the week.
The tips I have put together are simple and easily attainable to becoming a fashion force of your own this spring.
Colours
To get your colours on tack this season, it’s all about toning down the shades and getting neutral. Think soft nudes, and splashes of flirty pastels layered with pure whites, greys and blacks. These shades are ultra-feminine so ensure that you stick to looser, draping cuts that accentuate your womanly curves and glide over any body bumps.
To ensure that these colours do not wash you out (which is easy if you have pale skin tone), style them with whites and blacks, this will give form a sort of canvas between your skin and the pastel colours.
For evening wear, style your nude shades with a strong smoky eye to draw the attention of onlookers up to your face. Pairing these dresses and outfits with chucky, heavy accessories helps to harden up you look.
This can also be done by adding a touch of leather as it adds sex appeal and a touch of intrigue into your personality beyond the (think crop leather jackets, skirts or even a funky cuff bracelet).
Casual wear
For casual wear this season, opt for loose style dresses and a-line skirts that are cinched at the waist. Spring is all about flirty, fun fashion so get creative with your spring wear and don’t button yourself up too tight.
Delve into fine, print cottons in soft pinks and light blues or simply pair plain cotton separates with striking silk prints.
Fabrics
This upcoming season, the fabrics are all about simplicity and beautiful prints. Don’t go for bold, overwhelming designs; instead opt for understated elegance-it speaks volumes.
Either pick a plain fabric with interesting draping, pleating or twisting, or pick a patterned fabric stitched simply so that it best showcases the unique quality and appeal of the print.
Menswear
For our luscious men (perhaps it’s Melbourne’s fascination with wearing black), but your colour palette this season is quite limited. Grey, white and black are still the basis of your wardrobe this spring with hints of soft ‘early’ tones-greens, blues and berry.
If you are not as comfortable styling with these tones, try adding small glimpses of them to your normal outfits such as a small hint of a berry tank under a black blazer.
Dressing up
For more dressy occasions, 1950’s ‘dapper dressing’ is back in a big way!
Also, from a personal perspective as a luscious lady may I also add, that there is nothing quite as attractive as a man in a beautifully tailored suit.
Keep leg lines slim, jackets single breasted and buttoned at the waist. When suiting up, work the black/white classic silhouette, black suit, with a crisp white shirt buttoned up and a thin black tie.
Casual menswear
In casual wear, slouch singlets and cowel drape neck-lines were a strong focus of the fashion week as well as accessorising with scarves (no men, scarves are not limited to winter months).
Long thin scarves draped around the neck and left to hang down to the legs to give the body a longer line and trendy edge to simple jeans and t-shirt.
If the idea of ‘scarving-up’ intimidates you, try taking baby-steps with a longer necklace around your neck-the look is both fashionable and masculine.
In the end, I found that the season’s styling was based around comfort (which is a welcome relief after a long winter of pastas and cheese!) Keep styles loose and draped around your body yet still tailored to your body in key areas.
By doing this you will highlight small parts of your body (such as a delicate waist) while keeping not being drowned in the popular trends.
Choose prints that are simple yet striking and in softer shades of neutral tones and pastels that highlight your femininity. You can add touches of detail to your outfits this season by choosing slight hints of intrigue through leather and beaded embellishments. This will also help to lift softer tones and brighten up simple outfits.
From all the season’s highlights, be sure to use them as a base to create your own signature look. If you follow what you see on the catwalk, be sure to select elements that compliment your size, shape and style.
Use these designs as inspiration and have fun playing with new ways of styling yourself for spring!
