It’s not often that a close friend confesses you look green and the observation is taken as a compliment. The least flattering of adjectives, more often than not, accompanies an ill, ashen, or Shrek-like individual. But a new reputation is acquiring Kermit’s lamented ailment. Suddenly, it’s pretty easy being green!
Whereas fashion is as much a reflection of the current social climate as it is a statement of personal taste, the eco-friendly emerald hue combines the two opportunities afforded by the fashion industry—cool clothes and widespread influence. While some celebrities choose to shout out their concerns with obvious graphics, there is a lot to be said about a subtle message too.
Avid humanitarian Katherine Heigl, we salute your capacity to evoke concern for our surroundings even when off duty, even when not trying. For Heigl, effortlessness seems to lie in both beauty and compassion. The red-carpet threads from the presidential designer Naeem Khan combine more than just style and ethics though. Here we have discovered the cohesion of three elements circulating the current celebrity style network all in one (no, not earth, wind, and water). I mean one shoulder, exaggerated sleeves, and integrated sparkle. If too many cooks have been said to spoil a meal, I think we’ve found the sole exception.
Tips for going green in your style:
A tank top is the perfect way to plant a little green into your wardrobe without going totally string bean. The Madison Marcus Tryst top marries a luscious shade of jade with a feux pocket of silver embellishments. Another similar option is the Cascade Convertible by Maiya with matte texture detailing.
Swimwear always offers the opportunity for electric colors. Maybe it’s because when submerged in a pool, everything is less abrasive (and lighter). Celebrity bathing suit brand Vix models a simplistic turquoise bikini with symmetrical metallic rivets on each separate.
Finally, green bling might imbue a look with life, but choosing a hemp crafted, actually eco-aware tree of life collection like that from Orka Mesica allows you to wear your cause on your sleeve—or at least your wrist.
Chaser LA, the celebriTee: a Megan Fox, Audrina Patridge, and Kate Beckinsale Must Have
Kate Beckinsale, Audrina Patridge, and Megan Fox are brunettes on a tee spree
Tees, tees they’re good for your heart. The most you wear the more you…well, you know the rest. Thankfully, the verb I’m thinking here is more concerned with the upper half of the body.
But really, they are good for your heart. A naturally active and breathable material, one hundred percent cotton will always be a determinant of physical activity. How many girls can say they were more inclined to walk at a brisk pace due to their five-inch spiked Louboutins? Call me crazy, but I’m way more likely to brave a triathlon in a Chaser LA creation that exposes the bands that would have blared on my iPod anyway.
The tee that keeps on giving transports us from the couch to a Hollywood event when tucked into a tight skirt; from Starbucks and Pinkberry, to maybe even the gym to work on our own Megan Foxy bodies (it’s never too early to start the dreaded spring break regiment.) Where’s the best arena to wear your stylish slub cottons? I’m thinking Madison Square Garden, Thursday night, Phish (there’s Wednesday night too).
Call me crazy, I know that vintage tees can often be best found in local vintage shops, but there’s nothing like a little luxe-leisure either, and who does casual cool the bester than the West(er)? The good news: the true hippies in the crowd won’t know your t-shirt costs more than their ticket. The better news: anyone who knows anything will be jealous of the grunge-glam graphics, ranging in a festival of musicians who have impacted their audiences just as the esteemed t-shirt brand has, from Blondie (Kate Beckinsale) to Prince (Audrina Patridge), from Van Halen to the Stones.
I’m a bit biased. I’ve always been a fan of the dancing bears, which is why the cropped off the shoulder fleece is a must have for me. But then again, Bowie’s raglan burnout poses the chance to be a fashion rebel, rebel. Which show will you be attending tonight?
- Vampires are out, vixens are in.
Among the original gangster’s latest roles, Angelina Jolie has taken on a new character—that of humanitarian and mom. She’s come a long way since the days of Billy Bob’s blood and psychiatric wards. Yet young Hollywood tends to construe romanticized versions of even their own internal celebrity icons. To say that modern day bombshell Megan Fox isn’t one of Jolie’s current followers is as ludicrous as denying Octomom’s Angelinaplasty, complete with overgrown onyx hair and lips more blown up than a moon bounce.
This recycled profile is proof that vixen will always be vogue even when New Moon is out of theaters and the Twilight saga has returned to the grave (oops, wrong frightening phantom). Every cinematic trend meets its doomsday, and if garlic could ward off this crazy cult-like film sooner, I’d grow and roast the cloves myself.
I was always more into movie costumes anyway. At the very least, we’ve extracted a modern day Mrs. Dracula to walk the blood-red carpet in fabrics so tight, I’m sucking in just fantasizing about them and shapes so pointy I’m covering my jugular with both hands. The Creeper Jacket by Veda mimics the angular detailing near the neckline in a more approachable manner, while singer Leona Lewis models the style as a dominatrix in disDress.
Beware, danger ahead. While they might call her Stacy, the most curvaceous Black Eyed Pea is a stunner in an all over be-studded couture gown. Considering her regimented leg workout (she recently confessed to having hubby Josh Duhamel build a set of stairs for her daily lunges) she deserves a slit cut high enough for all the world to admire the end result. We can’t all have a personal staircase, stair master, or Josh Duhamel for that matter, but a suggestive cut-out, form fitting LBD lunges for the same effect. With the Madonna dress by Jen’s Pirate Booty, the famously petite part of the female figure is highlighted—peek-a-boo, I see a waist.
Lady-like leathers and silver-studs transcend night attire alone. While its capacity doesn’t exceed the second letter in the alphabet, bags, belts, and biker coats have been infiltrated. So even when the red carpet is being dry cleaned, you can carry a touch of tough daily.
Fergie wears Marc Jacobs collection to the Teen Choice Awards
Since the return of the romper (for shame, Ashley Tisdale), very little in the fashion world has truly put my Hanky Pankies in a ruffle. And then Marc Jacobs jolted the industry entirely, reviving eye-popping neon additions and an amalgam of avant-garde textures, transferring his pension for visually bright, urbane pieces to his introductory line of Louis Vuitton monogrammed luxuries. If the upper east were to ever join forces with the west village, this rags meets riches rendezvous might best be materialistically interpreted by a Marc Jacobs original.
While vamp might have been vogue for the past season in an attempt to be Robert Pattinson-chic, there’s no harm in letting the bat out of the cave, if only to catch a glimpse of daylight represented by livelier shades more reminiscent of a field of flowers than a vile of blood. Angelina, your time is up.
Marc Jacobs has long encouraged through his designs to kick “normal” up a notch by transforming a typical item from banal to bold. A white crew neck tee? Think pink, with AKA New York. Leopard print scarf? Think pink, with Tolani. Sumptuous silk tank? Think pink, with Madison Marcus. Imbuing past preferences with a youthful bubblegum hue has the same effect as that show on TLC that makes haggard, borderline ogre-ish women look ten years younger. A Chanel tweed coat will always be a must-have essential, but Marc Jacobs Collection’s new interpretation of Coco-esque outerwear with explosive colors woven throughout (featured in this month’s In Style), melts away decades and transports the archaic entity to right now.
October might be long gone, but the mantra think pink is one to ponder come December when sprucing up the old wardrobe.
Rebecca Minkoff Clutch
Victoria Beckham infuses her own collection with spicy silks and posh patterns
When JLo showed up to the Golden Globes in Donatella’s diaphanous emerald shower curtains, critics began to talk. When Janet flashed some national nip during the Super Bowl halftime show, hell nearly froze over from such widespread shock caused by an ostensible wardrobe malfunction. But when Spice Girl turned designer Victoria Beckham crafts a luxe potato sack that’s been put through the dryer a few too many times, drool begins to form a small pool on the ground below.
The strapless dress with delicate silk draping is the most coveted burlap bag this side of Idaho. An otherwise shapeless frock, when worn by a generally shapeless (though Madonna-worthy muscular), body creates a reverse effect, creating a curvy silhouette with endless panache. It seems that two wrongs can make a right—a very, very right. Across generations, this feminine look has been emulated in long tie dyes as Alessandra Amrbosio proves in Gypsy 05, short florals as Lindsay Lohan ponders in Pencey, and even plain paneled silks like the Alice + Olivia halter seen on Khloe Kardashian.
But the trophy goes to the inventor of the must-have look of now. Bravo, V. Becks, for your capacity to flaunt a watercolor canvas of silk more artfully than Georgia O’Keefe, to prove that a tiny little nothing worn by a tiny little nothing can be unequivocally stunning, and to make women everywhere suddenly crave forbidden starches.
Charlize Theron's Dior: couture that almost outshines her kindness (but not quite)
I was recently awed by In Style’s list of Hollywood female powerhouses who are quickly approaching a birthday with forty-one candles aglow (keeping in mind, always an extra for good luck). It seems that as I have grown, the women whom I once revered and who demand attention just by being, well, pretty, are becoming a wrinkle in time (but without the ghastly skin creases, thank you Botox.)
It has been proffered that forty is the new thirty. Does that make twenty the new ten? I certainly hope not, because that awkward stage of my identity was defined by oversized flannels (older brother’s hand-me-downs by my demand), high top basketball sneakers (the days when physical activity meant the playground, not monotonous movements on a robotic machine), and oval glasses that compete with Harry Potter’s signature specs. Though since the wizard series didn’t yet exist, perhaps it was my profound influence that stylized J.K. Rowlings’ cash character.
As the acclaimed magazine explained, it’s not that the big four-oh is overtaking the biddies of the industry. Women are simply evolving, becoming more radiant as sand slips through the hourglass. That fact doesn’t detract from the refreshing air that surrounds Tinseltown’s tots.
Men have been doing it for centuries, getting reputedly handsomer with age as does Oscar de la Renta haute-couture. George Clooney started the revolution, Brad Pitt is confirming it, but now, it’s the Charlize Therons who are putting young Hollywood to shame. Vintage is the new youth.
Radiance. It’s the word I want to embody come New Years in skin and style. With so many Oscar worthy roles that portray the exact opposite of the luminous adjective, Charlize Theron has certainly morphed from beast to beauty cyclically over the course of her career. In moments such as this, it’s a matter of material. A dress with a natural shimmer, like the black and gold one shoulder body hugger by Torn by Ronny Kobo instantly reflects upon a flawless complexion. Retro chic even in flats, Charlize Theron’s renovation of an old Hollywood allure proves that a shimmer can carry you into tomorrow and well into that now enticing decade, no matter how near or far it may be.
Blake Lively is femme in feathers and floral!
In re-reading my ranting, I’ve come to realize that Blake Lively has adopted a reputation on Celebrity Must Have of being somewhat of a tomboy. This is obviously a misleading accusation. I can only justify this false perception by my own jealousy; she happens to pull off a blazer more suavely than Robert Pattinson. I wouldn’t be all that shocked if she were to show up on the red carpet in Armani pinstripes and still commanded attention.
For now, without further a due, I introduce Miss Lively’s lovelier side. As with her menswear inspired concoctions (a tribute to her ambiguous name?) Blake continues to draw masterfully upon a single strategy and molds it into her individual, youthful look. In this case, we travel back in time to an age of fearless flappers who sought to sexy-up their look while thriving in a sea of otherwise modest individuals.
Prohibition what? The fringed Madison Marcus “swanky” skirt achieves the same effect as Miss Lively’s feathered frock and also hides nothing: there’s a whole lot of layer and a whole lot of leg. Her couture mini flaunts a retro base with an updated top. Even when going for separates, offset the lower frills with a tee that only subtly screams look at me. The embellished silk organza tank from Haute Hippie parallels Blake’s balanced ensemble but works off the red carpet too with jeans when the spotlight is off.
I’d be suspect of anyone of my gender who didn’t lust over the featured dress or those perfectly blonde ringlets. Some aspirations are simply unattainable (at least without a wig). But when it comes to investment pieces (which our 1920’s ancestors knew something about,) we can at least take a cue from the girl with all the gossip. You can have the look and wear it multiple occasions too.
Katy Perry reinvents retro with A-lines and bows
There’s something calming and nostalgic about the tunes that frequent airwaves this time of the year. Nothing like a little auld lang syne to bring in a whole new decade that’s sure to innovate the fashion world as we have come to know it. But for now, while we’re still grappling with the immensity of our recent history, we may also pay homage to the styles of then that have guided us to now.
No rising star serves as a better reminder of a decade long forgotten than Katy Perry, traveling back to an era where style was defined by refinement. Think mid-twentieth century. Holly House Wife would surely be proud, though perhaps not of Ms. Perry’s promiscuous demeanor (if only in her lyrics).
Her darling cocktail dress is a trifecta of fifties glam, mastering all the style ABC’s that render a piece reserved yet retro-chic: A-line, Bow, Cut high. But don’t feel the need to capture all three rudiments at once (though dare if you like). With a return to modesty, it’s perfectly acceptable to integrate each detail separately in an attempt to modernize the vintage ideas.
And now for a little alphabet lesson of our own:
A: The Alice + Olivia ballerina dress combines a high cut neckline, exposed shoulders, and A-line waist, yet omits the froufrou bow. The effect is comparable though—a polished cocktail dress with a throwback allure.
B: It’s the Bow that scratches your itch, so opt for the ordinary little black dress with the ironic big black bow by Tt Collection—a clever way to toy with a girly detail in an I can do anything you can do better kind of way.
C: See how femininity is making a comeback? But gentility doesn’t mask the masculine inspirations of 2009. Pencey and Alice + Olivia meld haute with him, offering relaxed fit tees and a sneak-a-tank beater with flouncy bows and prissy pearl embellishments.
While you can’t wear your man’s clothes forever, use these key must-haves to transition to the feminine frame that’s circling back around.
Spotted: Blake Lively mixing pleasures with blazers and leather.
Fashion is so often about the associations it can conjure during those initial critical seconds of observation (and brutal judgments). And brutal, I certainly am. The confines of my inner conscious are about as critical as Howard Stern on air or as Blair Waldorf seeking vengeance. But I’m really pleasant in person…
Certain style statements are simply begging to be stared at through squinty eyes; to turn heads in both good and bad ways; and to evoke perhaps a slight gasp of disapproval (or approval, for you glass half full folk). Among the red lights most commonly blaring in the public fashion arena are streetwalker heels, too-mini skirts, and latex-y leather. And thanks to a wild season of style experimentation, they’re all currently accepted.
Leave it to Blake Lively to make me a convert. Forgive me rabbi for I have sinned; for combining blazers and leather I do covet.
She’s an icon for her versatility on set and off, if not for her cunning language skills, as she wears the initials that happen to also stand for her name. Approximately thirty yards of material more covered up than her well-received, incarnadine Versace stunner at this year’s Emmy awards, even Blake Lively’s modesty makes me want to pass out. She’s just that brilliant.
Lustful…meet business-chic. Business-chic…meet lustful. Pairing a sophisticated cuff sleeved blazer like the Alice and Olivia threads, over bottom flaunting bottoms such as the zipped Young, Fabulous, and Broke leather pants, proves that two can still tango despite irreconcilable differences. Now all you need is a “Oh, how’d that little ol’ thing get that way?” popped collar to capture Blake’s style, and to make the look even more Lively.
Suri Cruise inspires the anchor tee!
So a stranger told me today, while hiking a trail on the outskirts of The Big Apple, that I look like Suri Cruise. Yes, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter. The three year old.
Initially, I stared in disbelief at this fellow adventurer. Not only was my resemblance to a toddler more intriguing than the 1,300 foot summit, but I struggled to grasp how I had just been compared with a being who would barely reach the top of my new knee-high Jeffrey Campbell boots. Violated, perplexed, mildly offended; I suddenly found myself trapped in a glass case of emotion. And then the aha! moment struck. If I had to be associated with any pre-schooler, I’d definitely choose Suri Cruise. She is, after all, utterly adorable. And she does wear heels more often than I do, thus potentially rendering her a tad more adult anyway.
If the classiest tot in Tinseltown insists that it’s anchors we need, then away I go, to the nearest boutique with an abundance of Wildfox Couture. Formerly known as White Horse, the fashion house is the brand to rely on for 100% ultra soft cottons seen on 100% of the celebrity population, from Ashley Tisdale to Alessandra Ambrosio. While Suri’s look might just pique our cruise-wear cravings, it’s Wildfox that delivers the simple yet clever graphic appliqué on a cropped raglan to satisfy our hunger.
I do realize that I have preached previously that anchors, navy, and stripes belong as far away from the beach as an Eskimo, but this resort season, I’m making an exception for the celebrity must have addiction I can’t seem to shake. Thank you, Suri Cruise, for your kind expertise, and of course, your good looks.
I had thought that age was a hierarchical determinant when physically comparing two like individuals. Apparently fame outweighs vintage. Anyway, I guess Suri would be pretty damn confused if a stranger were to say that she, in fact, looks like Stacy A.
