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Runway Report: Diane Von Furstenberg Fall 2008

Full disclosure: I have always loved Diane Von Furstenberg. Her ability to design for a woman's body is unparalleled, in my opinion. Plus, she's not fucking around. She doesn't design clothes that can't be worn on the street. But they're also the best of anything that goes down the runway, kicking even Gareth Pugh's ass. That's right, I did just make that comparison.

So, it's no surprise that I'm head over heels for Diane's Fall 2008 ready-to-wear line. In fact, when I was going through the looks for this entry, I ended up pulling pictures of almost everything that went down the runway. Usually I'm able to find at least a few looks that really make me cringe, but this season blew me away. I love the 40s influence. It's no surprise that the body conscious belting and layering is my favorite feature, what with my inability to leave the house without a belt on.

So, here we have almost all her looks from the fall:

Photos from Elle.com

I could wear her separates every day, I'm pretty sure. Just look how classy and put-together looking they are. What sorority girl doesn't crave to look polished and chic like that? I know I sure as hell do. And the formal dresses? I'm not sure what I would do with them, but I'm sure I could work something out.

My way:

Sweater: Route 66 at Kmart
Blouse, Shoes: Charlotte Russe
Skirt, Jewelry: Forever 21
Bag: Fred Flare

Links à la Mode

Another great week in the blogging world!

This week we’ve got Beyonce in Gareth Pugh on Respectfully Yours, Perez in Levis on Petite Bourgeois, the CDG for H&M lowdown on Fashion Pulse Daily… the mystical fashion 8ball reveals the future of lace on Mademoiselle Robot. For the men we disucss man jewels on The Sunday Best, Amsterdam Fashion Week (its’ goood) on The Live and Times of a Problem Child, Mens’ Vintage on The Poste Office… and sooo much more, check it out.

If you’ve missed this weeks round, no worries, there is always next week, you can sign up in the forums by clicking here. Links à la Mode keep getting better and better, the more you participate the better everyone gets.

Links à la Mode : November 13th

• 39thandbroadway - A rant regarding overused and annoying industry terms overused in the fashion business
• A Few Goody GumDrops - A Few Goody Gumdrops can’t decide if the latest Pierre Hardy is a pet or a shoe!
• Add Bubbles To Taste - How To Shop: A Sale!
• Capitola Girl Jewelry Blog - A couture-inspired jewelry collection from a San Francisco artist that is filled with fanciful fun–and made out of LEGOs.
• Diary of a Style Addict - sharing beauty secrets by giving away a free copy of Cosmopolitan’s new book
• Dirty Laundry - The elusive and other-worldly effect of unraveling a t-shirt and why t-shirt deconstruction is amazing.
• Dogmom’s Dish - Five Fab Books For Your Favorite Fashionista Be a haute holiday heroine with these picks!
• Dress Me Up Dollie - Mini loves plaid. A lot!
• eye4style - eye4style reports back on the fab LuckyShops event in NYC - Botkier, Foley & Corinna, Rebecca Minkoff and more…
• fashion in my eyes - Sex on Legs
• Fashion Pulse Daily - We’ll be at the stampede, getting trampled for fashion at one of the 8 locations carrying Comme des Garcons for H&M — stay tuned for our updates!
• Flights of Fab Fashion Fancy - See Tina Fey’s working girl style- recreated by USA TODAY’S “Celeb Style” at Ann Taylor in Manhattan!
• Hello, Lover… Shoe Daydreams - Because most bloggers aren’t traditional media outlets,companies should learn a new, more personal way to approach them.
• Independent Fashion Bloggers - How to Social Networks to Scout Content
• Iole in fashion - Fur…
• Little Black Book - Canine Couture:is it the right way to go or has it gone too far?
• Mademoiselle Robot - This week the Mademoiselle Robot ball answers questions about blogging. If you have questions, come & ask!
• Or False Glitter - Sister style swap: what happens when you mix two sisters with two very different styles?
• Petite Bourgeoisie - Perez Hilton for Levi…
• PR COUTURE - Fashion PR Interview: Tierra Wilson on Social Media Optimization Tips and Life as Full-Time Fashion Techie
• respectfully yours - beyonce in gareth pugh, britney in rodarte: universe has a sense of humor.
• Shopping and Info - Shopping and Info wants you to check out the one shoulder dress Leighton Meester wore at the Lucky Shops event plus more great one shoulder dress options.
• Style Discovery - Have you ever wondered if you needed to buy Photoshop? Songy gives you (fashion bloggers) the answer you’ve been looking for. Picasa 3 is here to help and it’s of course free!
• Style Tabloid - Take a look at Gossip Girl’s Jenny Humphrey’s past looks that we love (a lot more than her style now).
• The Bare Skinny - Be cute simple & chic! Fashion cues from Audrey Hepburn
• THE COVETED - Defeating Envy: When Coveting Goes Too Far
• The Life and Times of a Problem Child - Going through some of the most captivating menswear at Amsterdam Fashion Week…
• The Poste Office - Discovers Vintage Menswear… Cotton Love
• The Sunday Best - A brief look at the perils involved with men wearing jewelry who are not pirates.
• Your Style Star - Clutch Worthy Clutches

Want to share the love? IFB members can go to the forums here. Not a member? If your blog qualifies, you can sign up here!

Runway Report: Stella McCartney Fall 08

So here we go again, another back-logged runway report. Ah well, this is the way it goes.

Stella McCartney Fall '08:

I don't think Stella gets enough press. Her collection isn't completely cohesive, so I understand she gets marked down on her report card (ie press coverage--just go with it!). But, I love her work with jackets. As a native Oregonian, the jacket is a (practically year-round) staple in my wardrobe. So new shapes and creative work within a black-and-white palate are really exciting to me. I do love brightly colored jackets (I don't own a black/navy/brown/gray coat), but they aren't exactly the most practical ones. Black and white really goes with a lot more.

Plus, the overall monochromatic structured look is really appealing to me. And to switch things up entirely, Stella also shows us that she can do unstructured colored pieces that are just as texturally interesting as her structured ones.








Can't we all relate to that?







And for you, try this:

Stella McCartney 1 by synapse2synapse

Jacket, Old Navy; Dress, Buckle; Clutch, Target; everything else, Forever 21!

Weekend Update?

So today would be the day when I tell you about and post a collage of everything I did this weekend, but honestly...what I did during the day was boring and what I did at night was top secret. SO I'll give you a recipe I used recently with delicious results!



Devil's Food Cake:

(From Better Homes and Gardens' NEW Cook Book)

3 Eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups cold water

1. Allow eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, grease a fluted cake pan and lightly flour it. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter on high for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla, beat until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating until thoroughly combined after each. Alternately add flour mixture and water do the butter mixture, beating on low after each addition until combined.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes. A toothpick (or butter knife) should come out clean when inserted.
4. Enjoy your delicious, moist cake.

Inspiration Saturday: Plaid

Here we are, on a lovely Saturday afternoon and I don't have anything new to tell you. I just wanted to express my deep undying love for the farmer chic.

Farmer chic? You heard it here. Button-down plaid shirts+jeans=farmer chic. In my book, anyway. A few weeks ago, I picked up two plaid button downs at Gap, thinking they were comfy and would be a nice addition to the wardrobe. I was so right. Unfortunately, I've been wearing them constantly ever since! Somewhat embarrassing, right? Yes. Oh well.



Shirts, Gap; pants and camis, Torrid; accessories, Forever 21; shoes, Charlotte Russe.

For you, I have a few suggestions:


plaid by synapse2synapse
A lot of these items are from Forever 21. Those that aren't are: The shoes, which are Wet Seal; the pink coat, which is Dorothy Perkins; the blue button down, which is from Lou Lou; and the black and white dress, but I'm not really sure where that's from since the website is in a language I can't read!

You will note an absence of plaid pants. I love plaid a lot, but I will tell you that plaid pants have a tendency to look incredibly tacky. Just a thought.

Return of the Runway Report!

Alright, so due to moving, school starting and the untimely loss of my camera cord, I've been M.I.A. from the blogging world for a couple of months. But, I'm back! I recently discovered that my printer has an SD card reader and am also trying to be more organized with my school work so I'll have time to play. Ha.

I have a back log of runway shows I want to share with you, so please bear with me as I re-hash F/W 2008 styles until January. I know that everybody's already done with SS 2009, so what the hell am I doing a season and a half late? I don't rightly know, but this is what I have and this is what's still inspiring to me. I do what I want!

This week, I'm going to show you Iceberg's RTW F/W 2008 line. I'm not 100% certain what I was thinking when I put this down in my "to review" list, but I do know what I'm thinking now: I want to watch Iceberg more. It's so...weird. There are so many cool designs in it, like this exposed zipper coat:



But then there are some things that are just atrocious.



I mean, really? Green faux fur? I almost threw up when I saw that.

The rest of the collection runs the full gamut of awful-to-inspiring. However, I'm very fond of their simple dresses and this fabulous coat!











Photos courtesy of Elle.com

Now, to create a similar look, try this:


Iceberg FW '08 by synapse2synapse

First, try a jacket with a good amount of architectural detail. Layer it over a black-and-white dress, top with a waist-cinching belt. Finish it all off with black opaque tights and boots!

For the key look (based off my favorite, the green jacket), find another jacket with a lot of visual interest. Don't let your other clothes compete with it, just wear skinny black jeans and fierce boots!

The last outfit is based around the dress. Find one that's loosely draped, then pair it with black leggings or tights and of course the signature boots!

The monochromatic palette I put together isn't entirely representative of the whole collection, but I feel it really captures the essence. Black and white allows the architectural and volumetric details Iceberg worked with to really shine through. Take it all with a grain of salt, I suppose!