the it lists – fashion & trend blog

Love love love this velvet dress for the holidays.

Velvet instantly makes me think of a few things: Royalty, 1970s paintings on velvet canvas and of course, the holidays. This season, velvet is all the craze. Velvet holiday dresses, velvet leggings, velvet blazers, velvet accessories, in all colours of the rainbow.

Cynthia Steffe Cap-Sleeve Crushed Velvet Dress is on the top of my list. The silhouette is very fitting to another trend this season, Ruching. The cinched waist, creates beautiful drape lines and softly defines your waist, all the while, hiding holiday dinner tummies. Available in this rich, deep crimson, accented with angled exposed zipper pockets and an exposed back zipper (another ‘it” trend this season).

The runner up: Victoria Secrets’ Velvet One-Button Tuxedo Jacket. (It surprised me too!). Perfect fit for special occasions, like the work party, or a cas’ weekend brunch with the girls. And can easily be switched up, for an evening cocktail for a date.

My Velvet Haiku:

Velvet. My new love.
Timeless, perfect addition.
Don’t wear head to toe.

Do your friends always borrow from your closet? Then you’ll be fascinated by this stylish experiment which aims to explore the secret life of borrowed dresses.

The brainchild of Ivana Helsinki (Finnish line) designer, Paola Suhonen, is called “Dress-Go-Around.” 10 winners are each given a cotton shift from her new line, and each wears their dress for a month before passing it along to one of their finds for a month, and so on and on.

After one year, the dresses will be returned to the designer who will display her well-traveled designs in an exhibition.

Designers have recently looked into the past in to revive one of the most loved of fabrics – brocade. I’m pleasantly surprised at this heavy detail popping up in spring fashion. Velvet brocade is ultra rich looking!

Dolce & Gabbana is using the opulence of brocade for dresses to lush hand bags.

For a modern twist D&G are meshing brocade with tule and exotic animal skins. This is so fun because it’s both eccentric and fashion forward patchworked into one.  

Before you bloat on turkey – inspire yourself to skip the stuffing so that you can dazzle in that cute little dress you’re going to wear thru the Christmas party circuit. First you have to get the dress, right? – so start looking now!

One of my best purchases was a moss green chiffon number from Rampage. I spent $90 and I wore it to a ton of parties by just messing around with accessories. I’ve got a handful of cheaper stores that are 90% hoochie (or maybe I’m just too old to shop there) and 10% gold mine: Rampage, Heart Moon Stars, Hot Kiss, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe and Zara.

The trick to buying from cheaper stores: the material and detail in the right places. Chiffon, crepe, lace, and shiny can be more forgiving. Budget finds are often simple in the back and save the detail for the front, but if you’ve got an expensive pashmina shawl to wrap – does a plain back matter? (retorical question). Here are two perfect examples of great deals on little black dresses that you can add your luxe touches to:
 
Bonus: One more dress here. It’s not a dress, but here’s a cute top at Hot Kiss that falls into the 10% goldmine category! Scoop Neck Lace Top.

Knits seem softer, thicker, better than they used to be. It’s like they finally wised up and put the baby soft in with the durability (to not pill into cotton balls hanging off your elbows)…and how they drape. Bless fall for being the best season for soft jersey knits.

Here are some great knit "it’ picks: RACHEL PALLY – Scoop Bubble Dress. This one gets double points for being the first bubble dress I’ve seen that does not make you look like a circus act. This dress is so hip (easy to layer, pair with leggings, add a splash of red or black, long sleeves) and could easily become a classic. Get it here.

VELVET - Velvet Aveza Dress Velvet (the brand not the material) offers sensuous pieces that flatter without sacrificing feminine or fit. I’ve got some of velvet’s long tanks for layering up. They’re gorgeous, soft and great quality. This dress is a fabulous wardrobe staple. Get it here.

Also worth checking out is another Rachel Pally – in bungee.