Style Prompt
A straight guy's perspective on women's fashion
Tag Archives: winter
Burberry Prorsum AW 2011/12 – Winter Colors
Posted by on June 11, 2011
Every time winter starts to come around I think back about that scene in the September issue – the one where Anna Wintour berates Yves Saint Laurent Head Designer Stefano Pilati for lacking color in the winter collection, then scoffs at his excuse that navy and dark green were what she was referring to. Luckily for us, it seems that this upcoming winter will have a moderate array of colors for those dark and dreary months. Behold, the Burberry Prorsum Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection:
Blacks, navy, brown, etc. all have their place on winter racks – they are the tried and true staples of winter fashion. The problem with a look composed entirely of these winter staples is that it causes you to blend in against the backdrop, something to be avoided at all costs. Thus the issue then becomes finding those colors that are both acceptable for the lighting conditions and the surrounding environment. That is the reason why I feel like the colors used here by Burberry are so striking; they’ve used bright colors that, although uncommon, will do well when the sun’s light is longer and at it’s least vibrant.
The other piece I appreciate is how the trademark Burberry print in the handbags is less the primary focal point and more of design element. When the designer print is the primary focus, it distracts from the overall look by calling out it’s brand rather than working itself into an outfit. The quality of the materials and design of the bag should supersede any print from a particular designer. By using similar colors and styling found in the central piece, the coat, Burberry uses their bag to add the finishing touch creating a polished and timeless look.
H&M Look Book AW 2011/12
Posted by on May 31, 2011
Here’s a peek at the H&M lookbook for next season.
I like the use of the colored leggings that match the colors of this skirt. The light colored coat also does well to create contrast in the outfit.
This look here is fairly similar to above. These looks wouldn’t work near as well without these colored leggings that help the eye fall across the whole look rather than pausing on the skirt. The good part about the outfit below is that you can grab whatever color from the skirt and use it in your blouse. As I’ve explained before, using a color that is in your face near your face does wonders.
I don’t like how oversized the coat is here but it feels almost necessary due to the oversized sweater. Whereas the previous two looks are obviously more for the fall, the colors used in this outfit will work great for those winter days. I don’t know if I would have pulled these three colors out of thin air… After looking at the sweater and tights, however, the olive coat gives a much better balance than a standard black coat would. Although it might be hard to find, a navy coat would be great in this situation also.
White after Labor Day?
Posted by on December 9, 2010
My largest point of jealousy during winter is that females are allowed a free pass to wear cream, off-white and ivory. Aside from my obvious passion for the red and black houndstooth coat this time of year, I would say that the cream wool coat would be my second favorite item. I love the way off-white stands out and would certainly own a cream colored sweater if I could find one in men’s.
Last week I saw a girl wearing a white sweater and until that point it had never really occurred to me why the “don’t wear white after Labor Day,” rule existed. I noticed that my eye kept coming back to the sweater because something was off about it. The problem seemed to be that that the generic white was contrasting too much with the long light of winter. Places that get a lot of sun during the winter months, like Florida, obviously won’t have this problem and therefore white would be more acceptable. For ladies in the northern part of the US, however, please leave the white in your closet during winter.
Red houndstooth
Posted by on December 3, 2010
The houndstooth patterned wool coat came back quite heavy a few years ago but the one I seldom saw was the red and black checks as opposed to the standard black and white. Winter here tends to be so gray and colorless that a pop of red color is very catching to the eye.
I tried looking for a good coat to give you an example but the best I can do for now is give you an image of a red houndstooth scarf from Amazon. If you feel risky I suppose you could dye a standard colored coat red though I don’t know if I would feel comfortable doing so…
