I am loving the seventies trend for Autumn 08 which was seen on the catwalk at Stella McCartney, Jaeger and Bottega Veneta. The key items to get for this seasons seventies look is the full and swingy shaped knits and skirts. Colours were Autumnal and rusts, oranges and yellows combined for that earthy warm feel that was around so much in the seventies. Etro also  showed inspiration from the relaxed seventies Bohemian that was so popular for the pring and Summer. The key to this look is layering with brown leather, sheepskin and maxi dresses cinched in at the waist with a belt, being key components. The paisly prints at Dolce and Gabbanna also had a very seventies feel about them.

This tunic style top in organic cotton is a great way to wear this seasons seventies trend with ties at the hem and neckline you can adjust how gathered it is to suit you.

Yet again we are forced to look into the future of fashion with New York fashion week. It all seems like such a long time to wait until Spring 09 for such gorgeous collections. Particularly so for the Erin Fetherstone collection that showed at the Mercedes Benz New York Fashion  Week on Friday.

The collection was almost entirely in sugary sweet pastels. Some of the clothes were almost certainly inspired by 1970’s sportswear but overall the collection had Erins usual romantic and feminine qualities with chiffon and shimmering sequins at every turn and rainbow ombre and tie dye patterns. The gowns were delectable and could quite easily have come from a fairytale  with huge ruffles and tiers. They made me feel quite hungry as they reminded me of meringues, cupcakes and other delicious confections.

I love the shape of this dress / coat. It so elegant, I think it would be perfect as a wedding dress.

This dress has interesting shape with layers of ruffles. Perhaps not the most wearable item in the collection but gorgeous anyway.

This dress is so light and airy it is almost not there. The beautiful rainbow colours give it a dream like feel.

This seventies sportswear inspired outfit will be great for holidays.

I love the colours and asymetrical ruffles on this dress.

pictures from Style.com

If you have a sweet tooth and can’t wait until Spring 09 for some sugary pastel clothes try this Organic Cotton Dress by French Label Ideo

If you are suffering from the effects of the credit crunch or struggling with the size of household bills and cost of living you will probably be finding that there is not much money left to buy new clothes. But panic not! I love buying expensive designer clothes as much as anyone, but when stagflation hits don’t let it get you down you can still look stylish.

Style is not really about what you wear it is about how you wear it and spending lots of money on expensive clothes is not the only way to look stylish. In fact quite often I find that most stylish clothes that I own were probably bought when I did not have much money to spend so took a lot longer considering what to buy. The result - less impulse buys, more well fitting, carefully considered clothes that make me look and feel great.

So it really is true. You don’t have to spend loads of money to look great and in many cases  those that do spend loads of money on clothes, don’t look at all great. You only have to look at Go Fug Yourself for the proof.

For some great Credit Crunch Style try shopping online and don’t forget to compare prices to get the best deal. My favourite bargain is a tailor made shirt fitted to your body measurements.

I have arrived back home after two weeks in sunny Tenerife to rain, rain and more rain. No change really fromn when I left to go on holiday but feels even more miserable in contrast to the gorgeous hot weather I have enjoyed for the last two weeks.

Of course my thoughts are now firmly focused on the practicalities of the getting out and about in torrential rain and of course managing to look stylish with it. There are three essentials that come to mind when planning for such severe weather conditions. They are the rain coat, a good pair of boots and a neat umbrella to fit in my handbag and take with me everywhere. Here is my wet weather wish list.

If you want a neutral rain coat that will go with just about anything and is bound to be in fashion year after year, you should opt for a classic style trench coat.

This Design Go Travel Umbrella looks business like in blue and will go with most outfits. It is also really small and compact to fit into a handbag.

These Dr Marten Boots strike just the right balance between practicality and style. Great for keeping your feet and ankles dry and look great with trousers.

I love dresses and I often blog about them. What I love about the dress is the way it is feminine and looks like you have made a bit of an effort and yet it is amazingly versatile and you can find all sorts of  dresses for different occassions. It is easy to dress a day time dress  up for an evening out and an evening dress can be dressed down by layering it over a pair of trousers. I think the return of the dress is a rebellion against casual and scruffy dressing and an uprising against the uniform like wearing of jeans.

From vintage tea dresses to body con dresses to black lace evening dresses, there are so many types of dress to choose from, making it easy to choose something that reflects the occassion, your style, mood, colouring and body shape. Here are some of my favourite dresses. 

For casual daytime, this cotton dress is so easy to wear and looks great with a pair of coloured opaque tights.

This Boudoir by Dissaya chiffon dress is perfect for a night it is understated by elegant. 

picture from www.mariotestino.us

I love reading Vogue and other fashion magazines. What makes them so special is the clever way that they photograph the lovely designer clothes. Peruvian born Mario Testino is one of the best known fashion snappers. He is recognised for his talent of photographing couture clothes and for his ad campaigns for major brands like Burberry and Versace aswell as his portraits of many famous people. In addition to Vogue, his photos appear in many other publications including Vanity Fair and Harpers Bazaar. What I really love about Mario’s fashion pictures are the bright exotic colours that bring the picture to life. He manages to capture something very beautiful about both the clothes and the models that he photographs.

Testino’s work is admired by many and widely considered art. His poularity with glossy magazine editors  and the big fashion labels is his ability to sell clothes with his photography.

 If you fancy having a go at taking some really professional photographs it is important to have the right equipment. I like the Canon EOS 450D SLR Digital Camera. A light weight camera for the serious photographer with 12.2 megapixels.

If

picture from www.simoneshailes.com

If this summer is anything to go by we could well be in for a cold autumn. In fact I think autumn has started already. Yesterday, the hubby even put the heating on because it was so cold. This prompted me to think about what I would be needing in the way of knitwear this autumn/ winter to keep me really toasty warm. When it comes to knitwear for Autumn Winter 08, I just couldn’t post without mentioning Simone Shailes.

Simone shot into the limelight following her Autumn Winter 08 knitwear graduation collection. Simone graduated form Central St Martins College in February 2008 with a distiction for her MA in Fashion (knitwear). Whilst completing her MA she 2007 Chloé Scholarship and more recently the L’Oreal Professionnel Fashion Design award at the London Fashion Week show. Simones knits are huge and chunky with lots of loped pieces of knit. The texture that she has managed to create with the knits are both interesting and stylish.

 Unfortunately, My budget won’t stretch to one of Simone’s lovely cardis but I can afford this lovely warm maxi cardi.

This season one of the many styles of trousers that is popping up all over the place is  the Harem style. This is the sort of trousers that are loose and and tigher round the ankle. The thing about these trousers that seems to scare everyone off is the dropped crotch. But actually they are amazingly flattering, if something of an aquired taste. Yes they are some what reminiscent of MC Hammer but then whats so wrong with Hammer?

I think Harem pants are going to just be one of those things that you either love or you hate. I have loved them for the summer with sandals and they are great holiday wear but I am sort of struggling to think whether will move into my Autumn and Winter wardrobe with ease.

If you love harem pants, then this bright and colourful pair by Hussein Chalayan will be perfect.

I’m loving Roksanda Illinic’s Autumn / Winter 08 collection. According to Vogue, Roksanda gained inspiration for this collection from a trip to Brazil. She was inspired by the modernist architecture of Oscar Niemeyer and the colour scheme of the collection is taken form the pallette of pinks and grrens seen in the lush vegetation and tropical flowers of Brazil.

I love the huge puffed sleeves on this outfit with the stiff material giving an almost paper like effect.

This dress again has an amazing silhoutte with square angular corners this defintely look a bit architectural.

The green in this dress looks amazing  with the black under dress and pink shoes. The dress has a softer silhoutte much more botanical.

This is dress is completely original with an over skirt that could easily have been designer by a  structural engineer. I love the shape, I love the colour, I love the sheen of the material.

This skirt is my   favourite shade of pink and is half architectural and half tropical flower.

pictures from elleuk.com

This is a great dress in the colours of Brazilian tropical flowers.

I have posted about grunge and how it takes me back to my youth, well Autumn and Winter is all about reminiscing for me as there is another trend which takes me even further back in my youth and that is the goth trend. Of course it is not just a copy of the classic goth look that has been around for ages, it has  a different feel about it, softer and more delicate with lots of chiffon and lace. It is also more glamorous than we have known it before with and glossy accessories.

At Rodate, it was a kind of Fairy goth mother look with dainty details and a short floaty skirt.

At Yves St Laurent- It was a power Goth look with strong tailored lines and a blunt bob haircut.

At Luella the look was defintely a witch goth with crimped hair and thick ribbons.

At Alexander McQueen - it was a historical goth look with an embroidered Elizabethan inspired dress.

pictures from www.style.com

For a  great casual goth look, I love this A line skirt in organic wool.