the always classic black & white...

what i love most about this fabulous classic combination...is just how much you can do with it...and while i realize that the pic below...may make some of you run for the hills...it is an extreme example of how fun...and vibrant black & white can be...

while this classic look has been around for a good long while...it isn't going anywhere...and this might just be the year to add some new black & white pieces to enhance your wardrobe...when looking for pieces...think texture...as these classic colors always look rich when you mix different textures within the same outfit...think shiny, dull, shimmery and /or nubby...consider materials such as lace, tulle, leather, transparent, or gauze...

black & white prints can make a big statement or a tiny one...all based on the size of the prints you choose...so go ahead...go classic with some black & white...

photo source

fashion funnies: it's all about the fabric content...

=)



make it a fabulous weekend!

what fabric is that?

fabric...in the beginning, there were animal skins tossed over cro-magnon shoulders...or maybe an insouciant fig leaf tied just so...now we have fibers whose names sound more like the contents of a test tube than something you'd want against your skin...

fabric is important...

fabric determines the warmth, comfort, cut, and, along with workmanship, the price of a garment...more than color or style...fabric can tell you what time of day a piece of clothing is to be worn...or in what season...or even what activity you will be engaged in while wearing it...

we use fabrics to send signals...

a worsted wool suit, with its strong, crisp lines...says you're in control...a soft angora sweater telegraphs a more sensual message...

fabrics is also one of the main factors in determining whether your clothes will travel as well as you do...when wearing a wrinkle-resistant wool or synthetic in a jersey or crepe, you'll disembark from the plane looking pressed and ready...in delicate silk or linen, you may end up looking like a pile of laundry...and with a seasonless fabric...a tropical wool or matte jersey...you can travel around the world...

so do you texturize?

texture...think of it as the subtlest form of patterning...it is what gives clothing its richness and visual depth...


though you may be dressed in black from head to toe...the ribbing on your turtleneck...which sets it apart from the tight weave of your wool gabardine suit...which is in turn complemented by the plushness of your alpaca overcoat and the dull shine of your leather handbag...that is texture at work...


experiment with opposites: the sheen of satin with the earthier roughness of wool; luxurious velvet with basic denim; sheer voile with cotton broadcloth...


playing with contrasting textures can help fudge colors that don't quite match...and combining items of different textures is a way to vary the seasonality and mood of your wardrobe without having to buy a lot of extras...

and if you are like me...and can't do the "all black" look...add a pop of color...for me it is either a bright colored handbag...or shoes...

so do you texturize??

some designer texture facts:
miyake - born in 1938, japanese designer issey miyake has been called a sculptor whose medium is fabric...his radical experimentation with pleated, wrinkled, and folded cloth...as well as with basket-woven straw, ikat weaves, and paper fabric...has yielded designs that seem ancient, contemporary, and futuristic...using historically japanese shapes and exotic combinations of materials...miyake subjects his fabrics to punishing treatments in order to bring out well-worn textures and richness...

fortuny - mariano fortuny was born into a prolifically artistic family in granada in 1871...exceeding even his accomplished relatives, fortuny went on to become a staggeringly creative designer and inventor, perhaps most famous for the pleated silk fabric that now bears his name....each of his silk dresses required three to four times their width in material and were stored by gathering up the pleats and tying the dress into a tight ball...making it ideal for travel...the pleats were formed by crimping wet silk between heated porcelain rods, a process which held one of his twenty patents...fortuny died in 1949, but his fashion influence lived on in the collections of such designers as balenciaga and more recently mary mcfadden, karl lagerfeld, and issey miyake...