Accessories at FWTT

Sooo in between the countless face masks (both medical and man- i mean, masquerade), the shutter shades, the pallet stick headpieces, the foot ribbon-shoe representations, the hats and the headwraps, Fashion Week TT did yield some truly innovative accessories (if you looked close enough).

Personally, I thought the most stunning element in Peter Elias' collection were the vibrantly coloured multi-layered woven and beaded necklaces that he paired his pieces with. They seem to me to be a fresh take on the embellished sequin and diamante embellished neckline tops and dresses that have become staples of our wardrobes.

These necklaces make such a statement that they would be perfect to dress up a wife-beater skinny jeans uniform when you not feeling to put together an "outfit" but still want all eyes on you.

Elaborate corset and waist belts, still so popular were also adopted by the fashion week designers, becoming re-imagined in bright colours, or ethnic prints. I know I don't need to provide suggestions on how to wear a wide belt, however, I do need to say that if the belt is particularly attention grabbing (metallic, large buckles etc.) to take good stock of the other accessories you are wearing and edit down if necessary so as not to draw attention away from your fabulous waist adornment. I saw a pic today of a girl in (no lie) a black sequined waistcoat, shiny gold waist belt and magenta snakeskin shoulder bag, along with varied jewelry! Don't be this girl!!

I put together a little slideshow showcasing some of the handmade jewelry and accessories from the shows. Enjoy!




All pics courtesy Triniscene

TT Trendspotting: White

(Oh yes...I still have more to talk about!)

We have come to view bright vibrant colours as synonymous with a Caribbean lifestyle. However, many designers used white silhouettes to illustrate their point of view at TT Fashion Week. While some designers used white palettes to showcase colourful accessories, others, like Kimya Glasgow, used the absence of colour to frame their entire collection.

I have always been a believer that this non-hue (which showed up on the runways in casual wear, swimwear, menswear and evening wear) is flattering to every skintone, attracting light and highlighting our gorgeous Caribbean features. My personal favourites were the following look from Kimya Glasgow and the white dress from The Cloth above.




Check out the rest in the slideshow below.




All pictures courtesy Triniscene.

TT Trendspotting: Jumpsuits

Ok, if you hadn't yet noticed...I love a jumpsuit. I know they aren't for everybody, but I own many in a variety of shapes, lengths, colours and styles. I even have a home clothes jumpsuit! So you can imagine my EXCITEMENT at seeing how pervasive jumpsuits of all shapes, lengths, colours and styles were in the TT designers fashion week collections. Some, like St. Vincent designer Kimya Glasgow's impeccable white strapless romper above, were actually much cuter and much more flattering than a lot of those that I have seen in the States! I saw not one dhoti pants jumpsuit (however, to be clear, there were many dhoti pants!). Others were a little questionable in cut and fit (for example, the odd bunching at the crotch of the Zadd & Eastman multicolour balloon romper...hmmm reverse cameltoe is never a look....)

Here they are!


All pics courtesy Triniscene

SUTS True Shopping Story: Denim in Distress

I have never been a fan of spending money on new clothes that look like they have been passed down through a family for generations or like they were the victim of a freak washing machine disaster. I despise shirts in stores like Abercrombie and Hollister with their "fashionable" holes in the collar and fraying hemlines and their obscene prices. I have never worn a pair of ripped jeans...until yesterday.

You must have noticed by now that the hottest denim trend is light denim destroyed in one of a variety of ways, be it rips in the knees, paint splatters, bleaching, or sometimes, oddly enough, tie dyeing. the style has been seen on a range of celebrities (e.g. Lala and bff Kim Kardashian) Unfortunately, some designers seem to get a little too happy with the razor blade and we end up with what I like to call fringe jeans which are about 2/3 less than a full pair of jeans in my consideration. See Taylor Momsen:

Anyway, I digress.

Now this is a very trendy trend. By that I mean the shelf life is very short and as such should be bought at a low low price despite what the good people at Balmain seem to think. So in order to try my hand at this trend I ventured to one of my favourite disposable clothing establishments. I was excited to find denim in a wide range of distress. Like the examples below, the jeans ranged from mildly-stuck-in-an-elevator-for-7-minutes-distressed (read a darker wash denim with minimal small holes in the thigh) to utter-oh-my-god-why-did-these-oxygen-masks-jus-drop-down-in-the-middle-of-my-transatlantic-flight-distress (read light acid wash denim complete with ripping throughout, bleaching and paint splatters). I opted for moderate distress, a very light denim wash with horizontal rips in the thigh and knee.

I should have known things were not going to go well when the first thing I proceeded to do was insert mih big toe straight into one of the holes in the jeans as I tried them on.

After I finished laughing at myself, I surveyed myself in the mirror. Hmm, not bad. Unfortunately my work blouse was kinda killin the funkiness so I headed back to the racks to find a top to try the jeans on with.

Steups. Why could I not find a damn ting?

Red flags started going off in my head. Obviously if out of all the cute trendy tops on the sales floor I could find nothing to pair the jeans with, when faced with the options in my much more limited cloest there would be even less. I am notorious for my impluse buys which end up languishing in the bottom of my 'new clothes bag' for months (sometimes years as was the fate of the moss green glittery crochet halter top) never having any partner to be paired with because it really doesn't fit in with my personal style, no matter how cute it looked on the mannequin. I didn't want this to happen to the skinny distressed jeans.

I liked them. I didn't love them. So I left them.

I may revisit them in future, who knows. However I don't want to discourage you from trying these funky jeans. Look through these options (I tried to arrange them in order of distress and devastation). Which do you prefer?



Tidbits:
1. Review of the MSquared collection!

2. Kanye praises paparazzi photojournalism!

3. Ghetto clip of a hot video.

Platformers - more than meets the eye!

I'm so excited to introduce to you guest blogger Socialite who just had to put in her two cents about her favourite shoe trend. Enjoy!

SO!

Let’s talk about these fab platforms that are out and about the place with a vengeance. Yeahhhhh Yeahhhhh we’ve heard the warnings from the back doctors n such, but lets face it they rock our worlds and beyond.

Seriously have you seen a woman’s calves in these things, FIERCE! Think about it (I mean even VS did with their flippy flop work out shoe thingie) these things give you an unbelievable leg workout; it’s like going to the gym without a gym AND in amazing shoes… We all win!

pics courtesy www.theybf.com

Amazing with skirts and the UBER fab skinny jeans (**Cough… white is the new colour of choice** cough), these shoes make me smile

Note from StepUp: I have compiled a lookbook of the hottest, sexiest, insanely expensive platforms for you to peruse. If you have a SERIOUS shoe fetish, this may be NSFW lol.(Notice Beyonce's look above will set you back a cool $928 USD and that's just starting at the feet! Eva Diva not backward herself with her $878.95 Zanottis! I hope she ask for her 5 cents change!) However to my Trini friends who think I am not able to do my 6 times table, fear not! Madame Socialite tells me that if you look very hard, you can find very funky fashionable platforms in Trinidad, specifically in establishment's that have the owner's pic in each store (hint, hint).

And if you hurry, you can make it there before their 50% off sale is over.

That's all I'm sayin! :)

TIDBITS:

1. Yeah, we want an answer to this question TOO, Fashion Industry.

2. Beyonce: "I don't know if I'm fashion obsessed." I get all my shit for free!

Hmmm.....

Sooo...I see genie/harem/Hammer/dhoti pants are still around. I thought we had decided that crotches of pants were never to reach the knee again (and by we I mean me and fashion of course...)

To me harem pants are like that really unattractive dude from primary school that you and your friends used to laugh at. And then 20 years later he turns up again and lo and behold....he's still unattractive. But you have changed in that you have shed making shallow value judgments against people... and so you start seeing him more and more and every time you look at him you start seeing the personality shining through beyond the grease on his face, and finally you find yourself in a quasi-relationship with him. But now you're worried that you're friends haven't stopped making shallow value judgments and so you limit your time within him to "alone time at home" or in reallly dark restaurants because....bottom line....yuh shame!

Then, inevitably he leaves you for some gorgeous woman who is not ashamed to be seen with him and you get really really jealous.


This is what genie pants are like to me. I thought even in the 90's when MC Hammer was the biggest thing he still looked a fool in them pants. However now, I look at them and they look soooo comfy! So I buy a pair but can't yet bring myself to wear them outside the house. They languish at the bottom of the cupboard and are inevitably donated to charity.


Then I see Angie Harmon looking like this in a look straight off the opening of Ralph Lauren's Spring 2009 fashion show and I think...she doesn't look ridiculous at all! Not only does she look totally comfortable and like all her girl parts are getting quite enough air, she also looks like she just came back from some exotic vacation an happened to pick up items from this outfit at a souk in Marrakech or at the Grand Bazaar in Turkey. I am insanely jealous! The only thing I ever pick up in a Bazaar is a hamper of Grace foods won at the Bingo stall (true story!).

Maybe I will step out of my box and try some Hammer pants sometime in the near future....


However, I would like to request that they are never EVER worn by men ever again....


Photo: Donato Sardella / WireImage


ALSO: No, tell us how you really feel about Cassie! LOL!