I like to keep myself as well informed as possible about fashion and style  and today instead of reading my usual copy of Vogue or Elle magazine, I have decided to read something a little morehistorical. Before you yawn and move onto reading something more interesting, please let me elaborate. I have been reading or should I say flicking through the pages and dipping into parts of the Little Dictionary of Fashion by Christian Dior (V&A publications). As I consider Christian Dior to be one of the greatest masters of style and ladies fashion, I couldn’t wait to read what he had to say on the matter.

 The book covered almost every aspect of fashion in an alphabetical format. What I really loved about it was the quaint and old fashioned way that Christian Dior described dressing ettiquette and the styles that should be applied when one gets dressed. It struck me as quite amusing at first but after a bit of thought, I decided that some of this ettiquette does translate into modern day fashion. We probably all break the rules quite often when it comes to fashion but Christian Dior obviously had a very good idea of what clothes flatter a women. So here are some quotes from the book.

“For a dinner part a short embrodiered dress may be very nice, but you must only wear embroidery on suitable occasions, otherwise it is pretentious”

 ”Tiny dots are most suitable for petite figures. Big coin dots are good for tall people. And if you are not-so-slim you need to choose lighter dots on a dark backround and not vice versa”

“The sweetest of all colours. Every woman should have something pink in her wardrobe. It is the colour of happiness and feminity.”

According to Christian Dior, this spots dress would be perfect for taller ladies.

Pictures from Elleuk.com

Spring Summer 09 is a long time to be thinking ahead, especially when we haven’t really got to spring summer 08. But in the fashion world, everything seems to happen way in advance, perhaps this is where the phrase fashion forward comes from. The first of the 2009 cruise collections are now out. These are the collections that come out before the main Spring Summer collections and seem to give a bit of a preview of what is to come. The 2009 cruise collection chows have already swung into action with Christian Dior and Oscar De La Renta. My post today is about the Christian Dior collection by John Galliano which I though was stunning and gorgeous in every way.

Colour was a key theme for the collection with bright fuschia pinks, lime greens, yellows and whites. Galliano managed to give the collection a bit of a sixties feel without it being full on swinging sixties. The collection featured ruffles and kaftans, Capri pants and sheer layers nothing really new, that we have not seeing this summer but he did it with the juiciest of colours finished off with large shimmering earrings and embellishment.

 It might not be 2009 yet. But you can still get this gorgeous and colourful look wearing these pink slim leg cropped trousers

Pictures from Style.com

Haute Couture is the ultimate in sartorial luxury. The most expensive and exclusive clothing available. Most of us mere mortals will never get to wear Haute Couture clothes. ’Haute Couture’ means high cut or tailored and describes made to measure clothes. In order to use the Haute Couture label, a fashion house  must have at least 20 staff on the premises and show at least 50 garments consisting of day and evening wear twice per year. Haute Couture  clothes are painstakingly hand crafted by highly skilled couturiers ensuring that the client gets a one off piece beautifully made of the highest quality fabrics. 

The Haute Couture fashion shows are lavish affairs with outrageously flamboyant clothes.  The fashion houses spend millions on them, but Haute Couture usually only makes up a small percentage of their sales. So what is the point of Haute Couture? For most of us it something to dream about. For the fashion houses, it is an advert for the clothes, giving the brand an exclusive and luxurious feel. One of my favourite couture collections for Spring/ Summer 08 is Christian Dior, purely for its eye-catching wow factor .

Only  a few thousand women in the world buy Haute Couture clothes. If you are not one of them this Pure Silk Aftershock Dress makes a great alternative.