Friday Free-For-All: Fall Fashion!

For today’s Friday Free-For-All, I’m tackling a subject near and dear to my heart: fashion.  I am an unabashed devotee of all things connected with the industry. Each month I eagerly devour my issue of Vogue, and I drool over the pretty photos on style.com on a regular basis.  As a starving grad student, however, all of this research is even more important, because I don’t have lots of money to throw at things that I won’t wear. As a result, I commonly do lots of research on the current trends and quite a bit of window-shopping before I charge into the store and plunk down my money.

Although summer has finally reached my perpetually foggy coastal town, in the rest of the northern hemisphere, the march towards autumn is well underway.  I’ve turned my attention to the fall trends, and found a lot to be excited about.

While there are a ton of awesome trends for the fall, but today we’ll look at my current favorite: color-blocking.  It’s not new by any stretch of the imagination (honestly, are there any completely original fashion trends?); really, I think it calls to mind the work of twentieth century artists, like Dutch painter Piet Mondrian.

"Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow" (1930)

When it comes to fashion, color-blocking refers to strategically placed contrasting yet complimentary colors, like this dress by French designer Yves Saint Laurent (inspired by Mondrian’s work above):

"Mondrian" Day Dress (1965) by Yves Saint Laurent

This fall, colors are bold and bright, going beyond the primary colors used above.  Here are some of my favorite looks:

From the Runway

Bottega Veneta, Fall 2011 via style.com

I love this swing coat and skirt combo from Bottega Veneta, partly because the combo of orange and fuchsia works really well here, but also because it channels the 1960’s Mad Men-esque vibe that’s really popular right now. I also want to figure out how to copy that model’s deconstructed beehive — one more thing to add to my to-do list. 😉

Giambattista Valli, Fall '11 via style.com

A simple combo here: bright pink shell with a gold skirt. I’m not too sold on that big bow (I don’t need anything else adding inches to my already-ample hips), but I like the overall look.

Narciso Rodriguez, Fall '11 via style.com

I really like this outfit from Narciso Rodriguez because it seems so much more wearable than some styles that are paraded down the runway.  The big blocks of black and white, popped with bright red and pink, work really well here.

Off the Rack

Michael Kors Colorblock Dress, via Neiman Marcus

Colorblock tee and red trousers, via J. Crew

Colorblock dress, via H&M

Accessories

The colorblocking trend also carries over to accessories like shoes:

Giuseppe Zanotti Crystallized Platforms, via Neiman Marcus

I’m a little in love with these shoes… however, at $1495, they won’t be making their way into my closet any time soon.

Charlotte Olympia, Striped Suede Pumps

I lovelovelove these, and will be scouring my local Nordstrom Rack/DSW for a low-priced, knock-off version of these. Platform pumps are definitely my favorite style of shoe at the moment.

"Bendie" by Jessica Simpson, via Nordstrom

The colors on these are so.much.fun.  I’ve actually got these shoes, though in black-and-white snakeskin print. With a 5.5″ heel and 1.5″ platform, they are shockingly comfortable. Well played, Jessica Simpson.

-oOo-

And that, in a handful of pictures, is color-blocking! Judging from photos from the Spring ’12 collections shown last week in New York City, colorblocking will continue to be strong well into next year.

Next week I’ll have a few more trendy things to share, including some things for the gents. 😀

For more reading:

Lucky Magazine, “Master the Color-block Trend“

The Curvy Fashionista, “What’s Haute Now: Colorblocking“

Glamour Magazine, “About Colorblocking“