How do you spice up a simple, gorgeous dress like this?

Anytime you’re trying to decide how to accessorize a simple outfit, you should look at the piece with a critical eye.  What’s the length?  Are there any outstanding details you want to shine through?  What color is it?  Where are the seams?

Let’s analyze this sassy lil’ number. 

-          It probably hits right below the knee.  That means you’ll need a heel.  You don’t want to pair a longer skirt with a flat because it will make the legs look too stumpy.

-          It has a twisted neckline.  That means you should wear your hair up to show it off!  You don’t want your hair and the details of the dress to compete for attention – you want them to get along like old sorority sisters (the nice kind!).

-          It has a lovely empire seam.  That means NO BELT!  There’s nothing worse than a seam poking out above or below a belt.

-          It is a beautiful cocoa color.  That means GOLD!  The soft brown color would look fabulous with gold accessories because the colors fall into the same family of warmth and color.

Now we’ve narrowed it down to what we’ll need.  Gold accessories, sexy heels, and a natural and unfussy updo. 

I would suggest a gold menswear watch (Michael Kors has some lovely, affordable pieces) and a couple of gold bracelets from J.Crew.  J.Crew offers gorgeous designs for relatively cheap prices!  Because the dress is simple, feel free to pile on a few bracelets with luxe details, like ribbons, gemstones, or links. 

Next, I would suggest putting your hair in rollers to achieve a soft, casual wave.  Tie your hair up in a low chignon or bun and leave a few pieces in front for movement.

Lastly, the shoe.  With this dress, a gorgeous metallic peep-toe pump or strappy heeled sandal would do the trick.  Now go on with your bad self and enjoy the party!

Top 5 Best Dressed: Emmys
By Stacie Caplan

    •    Eva Longoria Parker - Although she wasn’t nominated, Eva made it to the best-dressed list again. Going for a classy look, Eva wore a black strapless Robert Rodriguez gown. Her coral chandelier earrings brought some fire to her ensemble.

    •    Claire Danes - Winner for best actress in a miniseries or movie, Claire Danes truly shined in her Armani Prive Swarovski crystal and sequin beaded gown. She looked perfectly elegant the entire night.

    •    Lea Michelle - Lea Michelle is not only talented, but is also beautiful. She wore a navy blue strapless Oscar de la Renta gown with ruffles on the bottom. Her outfit was perfectly styled with Lorraine Schwartz jewelry, dark nails, and wavy-beach hair.

    •    Sofia Vergara- Getting hit on isn’t uncommon for Sofia Vergara. Last night she wore a beautiful pale yellow Carolina Herrera gown, which drew a lot of positive attention. Although she didn’t win for best supporting actress in a comedy for Modern Family, she stole the night with her beautiful gown, gold jewelry and bouncy curls.

    •    January Jones - Going for something a little out of the ordinary, January wore a blue strapless, ruffled Versace gown. To complete her look, she wore Cartier jewelry, black pumps, and had dark nails. She didn’t win for best actress in a drama, but Mad Men did well, winning best drama series.

The Fashism iPhone app is now available in the iTunes store!

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alicetiara:

1990s fashion part V: Makeup

(This mostly covers white girl makeup b/c that’s what I remember. Comments appreciated!)

For the most part, in the early 1990s, makeup was pretty plain. Check out the 1990s supermodel photo above. Kind of a nice, natural look. Maybe some brown eyeliner. Natural brows (remember Donna in 90210?). Blush was still carrying over from the 1980s. I remember the “clear mascara” trend (stupidest thing ever) which was supposed to separate and define your lashes although it didn’t actually do anything. Watch a movie like Sliver with Sharon Stone and you see the epitome of this extremely plain, extremely boring look.

The mid-1990s saw a huge popularity in dark red matte lipstick and dark red nails. Chanel Vamp was a dark red-black shade that sold $1 million worth in the first year it was available, 1994. Sassy magazine swore up and down this was due to the Twin Peaks influence on fashion, which popularized this sort of femme fatale, retro look. A great deal of early 1990s makeup harkened back to classic movie stars, with dark brows, heavy red lipstick, and winged eyeliner.

Drew Barrymore epitomizes the “mallternative” look of 1994-1996: heavily tweezed eyebrows, thrift store leopard coat, tattoos, maybe an eyebrow piercing, liquid eyeliner, and thick dark red matte lipstick. Lack of eyeshadow morphed into light eyeshadow (like a white or light blue shimmer). Skin is buffed and kept very pale - as a pale girl I loved this trend! Lots of matte face powder. Not a gloss to be seen, no tans. Wan and rebellious. 

In the mid-1990s the raver look popularized such classy makeup as light blue nailpolish (“Sky” by Hard Candy was THYE shade in 1996), body glitter, eye glitter, hair glitter, and just dumping glitter over your head (I would advise against this approach unless you want glitter all over your apartment).

Courtney Love popularized a punk, smeared makeup look, although she only wore that for a few years before she got a lot of plastic surgery and went “Hollywood.” Note the dark red lipstick though!

90s FTW!

It’s Time for Fummer
By: Stacie Caplan

Fummer: the transition period between summer and fall.  Although some people are eagerly waiting for fall merchandise to explode into stores, myself being one, others try to hold onto summer for as long as possible, even if that means freezing in flip flops and shorts.
Deciding what to wear at the end of August until mid-September may be difficult because it’s fall yet the weather is still mild. An easy way to survive this short period is to combine both your summer and fall wardrobe. Here are some outfit ideas that will keep you warm or cold, and of course fashionable:
 
Look 1: Pair jeans with a striped top, scarf and comfortable flats for a casual everyday look.


Look 2: It’s all about military this fall. Pair a skirt with a cargo shirt and clogs for a girly-tough look.


Looks 3: Look like a hotter version of your boyfriend in high-waisted shorts, oxford shoes, a satchel, and an oversized button-up top.


Look 4: Lengthen your body with an easy-to-wear maxi dress. Paired with animal-printed sandals, a jean jacket and hat, this look is great for Labor Day weekend or your first day of school.

Weird heels.  What planet are they from?  How do we wear them?  Do they work?

For several seasons now, some of the biggest design houses out there (hello, Louis Vuitton, I’m talking to you, big boy!) have been sending funky, colorful, and just plain WEIRD heels down the runway!

While it is true that we must all be slightly more conservative here in the real world with our fashion choices (unless your name is Daphne Guinness!), that doesn’t mean we can’t dip our pens in the crazy ink!

Here we have a pair of sassy red snakeskin, tribal-inspired heels paired with skinny jeans.  And you know what?  It WORKS.  There is no reason you sexy sisters out there can’t try this daring style!  At long as you keep the rest of your outfit simple and let these wonderfully weird heels steal the spotlight, you can go on with your bad self!

Try this:

Wear your funky heels with dark skinny jeans and a clean white t-shirt.  Grab a classic bag and enjoy! 

-whatwhatwahtareyoudoing

The First Impression

There’s a fine line between cute and tacky, being noticed but not being stared at, looking good and staying classy, and making sure the outfit you choose is fabulous, whilst still looking effortless.

If you’re unsure about what you are going to wear to start the new school year with a bang, here are a few suggestions:

- You’ll do well to look smart and polished. The first day of term is inevitably a time for forming first impressions, and you’re unlikely to make a good one dressed in sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt. Make sure your clothes are ironed and in good condition so you don’t look like you overslept and ran to school!

 - Be comfortable. If you wear something you don’t feel like yourself in, you will look uncomfortable and you won’t be able to enjoy your day. If you feel uneasy wearing a skirt, for example, wear jeans: stick to your classic style for today – experimenting with fashion is great but you want to have fun on your first day back without wondering if you made a fashion blunder.

 - Of course you want to look attractive; who doesn’t?! But please don’t confuse attractive and trashy. Miniskirts or low-cut strappy shirts are probably not appropriate at school – you’re young and beautiful – so play up your best assets while still being modest. Trust me, you will still be noticed!

 - Pick your perfect bag. Your school bag will probably be used every day this year, so you’ll want it to be practical (big enough to fit all of your books!), good-quality, comfortable (it may be fine in the store but think about how it will feel when it’s full) and able to match most of your clothes. If you buy a neutral bag you can always change it up with pins or scarves – a plain bag doesn’t have to be a boring bag!

 - Most of all, you want to be yourself when you walk into school on the first day. If you’re wearing clothes that you love and feel confident in, your confidence will show and you’ll be sure to turn heads.

I had a play around on Polyvore to create this back-to-school look, which I would wear if I was heading back for a new term. What are you going to wear for your first day back? Post your looks on Fashism, and all the best for a new term and a new year!

-Ellle_Croft

nadiathinks:

DVF wedges $199 from $345 on Gilt’s sky high wedge sale, going on now.

I am impressed with how many under $100 and under $50 options there are available. Of course, I absolutely love these.

Shoes like this are the reason I am sitting with my foot in a cast right now.

Fashion 101:Waistlines, Or “If You Like It Then You Should Have Put a Belt On It”

“Put a belt on it.”

That is the one phrase I see every single day on Fashism. The belt, it would seem, is the silver bullet of fashion advice. As humans, we are naturally curious about the waist to hip ratio. Research shows that our health, our attractiveness and even our intelligence are all positively correlated to this magic WHR number. So it is only natural that we humans want to define and even embellish our waistlines. Yet, so much of popular fashion is designed to obscure the natural waist. Baby doll dresses, trapeze dresses, drop waists, Empires—all of these cuts are deemed by many to be flattering to certain body types. But are they? I am going to go out on a limb and say that, for the most part women, no matter what their size shape, should dress for the natural waist. But before I cast other all these styles aside, let’s go through the 6 most common waistlines.

Click for Slideshow