Category: Fashion

As a stylist Vivienne Westwood has remained peerless for decades. From co-founder of the punk style to Dame of The British Empire, its been a long road out of Tintwistle to the international fashion arena and back again. She managed to tuck some big names under her belt during her travels too, like Wedgwood. And a few best designers of the year awards as well.

Vivienne doesnt waste her breath giving lip service to originality and individuality, she lives and breathes them. Just a glance at her credentials will reveal this to be true and allay any doubt of her ability to stay ahead of the pack. At sixty six her mind remains young and vibrant in spite of her aging body. And she doesnt wear knickers even when accepting her DBE, now how original is that?

Vivienne Isabel Swire was born in Glossopdale, Derbyshire, on 8 April 1941. Her mother had been a weaver in the local cotton mills and her father came from a family of shoemakers. Her parents ran a sub post office in Tintwistle before moving to north-west London in the 1950s

She left grammar school at 16 and briefly attended Harrow Art College, studying fashion and silversmithing, but left after one term.

Vivienne always enjoyed ‘cutting a dash’. As a teenager in the 1950s, she customised her school uniform to emulate the fashionable pencil skirt and made many of her own clothes, including a long, fitted ‘New Look’ dress. She made sleeveless shifts, with a single seam and darts, from exactly one yard of fabric.

In 1965 she met Malcolm McLaren together they went on to become one of the most creative partnerships in history, similar to the Tommy Nutter, Sexton coalition. Westwood and McLaren revolutionised fashion, and the impact is still felt today. Their working relationship, which lasted from 1970 until 1983, launched Punk, the style was later epitomised by The Sex Pistols.

Punk clothes were never cheap, but the Punks improvised their own gear and the look spread rapidly. It provoked open hostility and is still potent today. Westwood viewed it as ‘a heroic attempt to confront the older generation’, but inevitably it was absorbed and disarmed by the mainstream. Westwood, then in her early forties, turned her attention to subverting the Establishment from within.

Now Vivienne has an impressive range of silk ties, theyre as cool and refreshing as a sea breeze on a hot stuffy summers day. Theres her tongue tie, displaying a large print of an open mouth with full, rounded lips, framing a wet tongue: tongue tied get it? And then theres her oops tie, with what appears to be stains near the tip of the blade. Now chaps how many times at the dinner table have you stained your tie and then said oops? Far from being categorised as garish novelties, they are works of art. Perhaps other designers will take head and stop flogging dead horses.

A return to punk style would be fruitless, theres no gain in reliving the past and revivals are often short lived, but we can learn from the past without patronising it. Designers often extract elements of past styles and modernise them, Vivienne is a master in this field. Westwood worked historical factors into her collection by using 17th-18th century original cutting principles and modernising them.

The first major retrospective of her work was shown in 2004-2005 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the National Gallery of Australia. The exhibition is made up of around 145 complete outfits, grouped into the themes which have dominated her work from the early 1970s to the present day and were drawn from her own personal archive and the V&A’s extensive collection. They range from early Punk garments to glamorous ‘historical’ evening gowns. The retrospective is touring the world and is set to continue until 2008.

Westwood accepted a DBE in the 2006 New Year’s Honours List “for services to fashion”, She has won the award for British Designer of the Year three times. In December 2003, she and the Wedgwood pottery company launched a series of tea sets featuring her designs, testimony to her versatility and maturity and the respect she has garnered, a far cry from Punk.

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There are two schools of thought on the qualities needed to become a fashion designer. One school of thought believes that an eye for fashion is inborn and God gifted and cannot be acquired through practice and perseverance. The other school of thought on the other hand believes that it is hard work and perseverance that can make a fashion designer out of a kid.

However, a look at the successful fashion designers of the world would confirm that it is a blend of talent and hard work that can make a successful fashion designer out of a kid.

So what are the qualities that make a successful fashion designer? Let us take a look at the principles and qualities:

First, a natural flair for design is a must, be it a design for men or design for women fashion. An aspiring fashion designer must have the basic acumen for mens fashion or women fashion. The fashion designer must be able to, on the top of the head, decide a design for any category whatsoever.

Second, an aspiring fashion designer needs to have a formal training. A diploma or a degree in a fashion institute of repute will just do fine. The fashion designer will be adequately trained on the various aspects of the business of fashion designing which are so critical. This will go on to make a complete fashion designer.

Third, an aspiring fashion designer must have an ideal blend of knowledge with the theoretical aspects of fashion design as well as the practical aspects of fashion design. Hence, the fashion designer will design fashion with a blend of theoretical knowledge and its ideal practical application. Such a combination goes on to make for a good fashion designer.

Fourth, an aspiring fashion designer must be good at making basic sketches. A basic sketch gives a good idea of how the design will finally like. Hence, a good fashion designer must be able to visualize in mind how the design will look like in the end and draw a sketch accordingly.

Fifth, good visualization skills for a fashion designer are a must. A good fashion designer must also have an eye for details. While designing the most intricate of the designs, an eye for detail is a critical quality that a fashion designer must possess. A good visualization serves as an inspiration and sets the objective for the final design.

Hence, a fashion designer must be equally good at mens fashion and women fashion. This profession is however, not a bed of roses, with high competition and a high failure and rejection rates, it is always a steep climb.

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A blast from the past, cropped tops add flirty texture and shape to any outfit. Pair short crop tops with longer tanks or long sleeves, or show a little hip. Vintage patterns, sheer fabrics and flirty florals can help you pull off the low-effort feminine look.

Next we’ll jump to peasant blouses. Peasant blouses add a sweet, sensual touch to any outfit. Delicate lacey knits and smocked patterned tops add flow to any look and make a great layering piece. Some peasant tops also come off the shoulder simply amplifying your sugar and spice.

Third on our list are sheer blouses. Translucency can be a beautiful thing. Sheer blouses can be used as a more intimate layer over a bandeau or under a jacket. Sheer tops add depth, dimension, and fluidity to any outfit and can be paired with relaxed denim, a skirt, or patterned shorts.

Off the shoulder tops are not just a garment from the 80s. Off the shoulder tops add a little softness to any look with delicate ruffles, vintage patterns, and finely detailed fabrics. Stitched into vintage cuts with free flowing fabrics, shoppers will find new off the shoulder sweaters girly and super sweet for the fall.

Next on our list for the fall are cotton tunics. Cotton tunics can be warm & fun for those chillier evenings & come in so many colors, textures, and patterns its impossible to name them all. Varying necklines, fabric textures, knits, cuts, and colors, these tunics are must haves for the fall. Flowing, airy fabrics are perfect for warm weather and can be layered as the autumn air grows colder. Whether your style is flirty, edgy, earthy, or anywhere in between, cotton tunics provide the flexibility to match several styles.

Tunic sweaters are the final item on our fall 2011 list. Tunic sweaters are a must have as the weather gets colder. Shoppers will find that tunic sweaters come in a variety of romantic knits, lower necklines, chic silhouettes, and sweet sleeve lengths. Tunic sweaters can be paired with leggings and boots, or worn as a dress, cinched in with a boho belt and dressed up with platforms. Long tunic sweaters create a cute relaxed silhouette that says effortless yet sweet and sexy.

With all of the new fashions created every season, it’s hard to keep up with all of the changing styles. The above guide should push anyone with fashion questions for this fall in the right direction. Whether you’re short or tall, a double zero or a 14, peasant blouses, sheer blouses, cotton tunics & tunics sweaters are just some of the ideas to make this season comfortable & fashionable.

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As testimonies to an age old occupation which is still fashionable, horse riding boots have a history of their own to tell. Riding footwear has been first developed for men and an entire masculine hierarchy was mirrored by these items of mens wear.

Commoners had horses as working aids, and would rarely use those to ride. Noblemen however needed riding boots to show their superior social status clearly, while still needing them to be flexible, tall, thick and insulating. The pleasure or parade riders from noblemens courts wore different boots when they were hunting or waging war.

The traditional material of which such footwear was made from was leather. Hunting took riders through dust and thorny bushes and sometimes into swamps. Hunting for food, not for pleasure, meant having to ride for long hours through difficult circumstances and in all seasons. Such footwear has become significantly taller than the knee, and laced at the back of the feet. If the boot itself was shorter, it was worn with chaps and gaiters.

Warfare used to be another activity in close connection to riding. Army riders were noblemen mostly, and their boots were a question of status as well. But wars meant having to ride at various paces with little other things to do sometimes for months. Cavalry forces had to wear uniforms, which meant that special footwear which was at the same time classy and universally easy to wear needed to be designed. The rounded or moderately sharp front design suits most kinds of toe shapes and the more or less precious finishing of the leather involved, as well as the best or less good quality leather used was made to do the rest.

So, although being a typical mens wear item that has gradually translated into the female world afterward, riding boots have always been an object of rigorous functionality standards and social concepts easy to be afterward translated in fashion. Alongside its rather stern look, fashion designers who have been attracted to this challenging footwear have added a lot of subtle elegance to it. Ladies riding boots should not at all be expected to be unisex and the exquisitely different lines of boots that top online specialized stores like BP Country supply are the best proof to that. You must remember that in the last two decades riding boots have in their turn influenced urban fashion design and browsing such collections will have you understand why.

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