Changing Your Clothes

Shopping, Sewing, Upcycling, Repairing: Make the most of your clothes!


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Fall 2013: Vogue’s Guide to Fashion

Yin and yang. Hard and soft. Masculine and feminine. For fall 2013, fashion is all about the contrasts.

Vogue Magazine’s supersized slideshow (it’s 140 slides) is your guide to the most influential trends, designers, and collections of Fall 2013. In addition to showing iconic looks from their 12 favorite collections of the season, Vogue has compiled examples of an amazing range of trends. Menswear Materials, The New Blue, Velvet, and Touch of Fur cover fabric, color, and texture directions; Forties Glamour, Sweaters & Skirts, The Bike Jacket, Discreet Chic, and Rock Star Style are key trends in ensemble dressing; and Wardrobe of Coats, Modern Evening, and At-Home Dressing all speak to the integration of fashion and lifestyle.

Just in case you don’t have time for all 140 slides, here’s a greatly-condensed version, complete with some of my favorite picks from each category. (You can jump directly to any category by clicking on its photo.)

Menswear materials

Menswear materials: Michael Kors. This is one of the most flattering takes on the peplum trend I’ve seen so far, and the skirt length is proportionally perfect.  (Click on the picture to go directly to this section of Vogue’s slideshow.)

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Practical vs. Extravagant: The Great Debate

Last week, when I was trying to plan a special holiday outfit, toying with various pieces of fabrics and patterns, I found myself in a familiar place of indecision. I had put together a selection of more or less coordinated fabrics from my over-abundant stash: I started with a gorgeous sequinned fabric with cutouts and a fabulous pointy border, which I thought would be most appropriate for a skirt, but this would necessitate some sort of lining. I came up with a tie-dyed georgette which looked wonderful under the sequins, but which was semi-sheer, so I found a bright coral satin for the undermost layer of what was now a 3-layer skirt.

(Those of you with sharp eyes and memories may recognize this satin from my recent post about making a skirt from a custom-fitted muslin; the satin lines that skirt. Good thing I like this stuff— even after making this second skirt, I still have a lot left over!)

Finally, I added a coral stretch velvet to make a simple top (with all that going on in the skirt, the top really needs to be simple). Here are the four fabrics:

Fabrics for dancing outfit

Fabrics for my dancing outfit: The sequinned beauty with the tie-dyed georgette underneath and showing through the cutouts in the sequinned piece, and the satin underneath both (you can see a little of this by itself in the lower right corner). In the upper left corner is the stretch velvet.

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