As Christmas draws nearer and festive party dressing makes the agenda, watch
out for the
glimmer of gold with brocade. This
brocade look is in every range no matter what your age.
The golden brocade dress, to the left, is youthful especially, when teamed with the unusual, such as thick dark tights and gold platform shoes.
Left is a young women's dress by River Island, Jacquard Brocade Mini Shift Dress - bow detail at £59.99. This is a jacquard brocade dress in soft gold that is cut in a 60’s shift shape and finished with a simple bow for a
romantic ethereal feel.
At River Island, accessories continue to play an important fashion role and
reflect the overall mood of the season. The shoe collection features
metallic wedges and stacked leather court shoes. You may also consider patent cutwork shoes and round
toe ankle boots with chain and animal print trims.
At Dorothy Perkins,
young women's fashion takes its inspiration from the 1960s and 1980s with hints of
C17th romanticism in a collection that ticks all the trend boxes this
season. You can see that the youthful look is achieved with a beret.
For the festive season, Dorothy Perkins have subtle metallic evening wear with both vintage inspired jacquards and shimmering Lurex.
Left - Image courtesy of Dorothy Perkins - Deep Gold Brocade Dress £50/€80. Cream and brown striped beanie £8/€12.
This
gold brocade dress is one of the
prettiest high street
brocade dresses that I have seen whilst viewing PR images this season.
You can see lots more gold tone colours and styles on the
gold tone accessory page.
Sweater
dresses are a big look this fall 2006. This simple long sleeved 60's straight
knit shift, in silver grey and from Dorothy
Perkins has a Lurex thread running through it. Silver Lurex mini dress
£25/€40. Leopard print envelope bag £8/€12.
It is perfect for
relaxed festive winter evenings and could look great showing plenty of leg
just as the model does. Or, it could be
teamed with leggings and worn like a tunic or gain a more kooky twist with any
type of boots.
Slinky
and shimmering, this straight empire line shift right from French Connection can be worn belted as
show here or unbelted if you prefer. Silver fully sequinned dress from
French Connection is £150. Fabulous and a classic to add the party wardrobe!
Team it with classy jewellery and a brocade or a black velvet cropped jacket, feather shrug or cape.
To make this French Connection liquid silver dress right more versatile over Christmas, you could wear it 60's style as a
pinafore dress over a black polo neck cashmere or skinny rib sweater.
Use
the layering technique to add warmth through a festive day like Christmas
Eve. Wearing boots with the silver dress would add a different dimension. You can play the glitz up or down. Play it down with opaque or lace
tights.
Make sure you have some footless leggings, so you can play dress-up at home to work out some fresh new looks for fall. Or get some three quarter leggings like these from Marks and Spencer.
Footless tights and footless leggings will have different
wearing qualities so make sure you understand the difference between these
when you shop. Price reflects the thickness, quality, depth of dye,
laddering, comfort factors, extensibility of the fabric and wearing
elasticity. Footless tights can be priced around £2- £5,
footless leggings are more likely to cost £10 to £20. Check the
quality of samples the shop displays. Leggings should fit like a
second skin and not be prone to bagging.
These
inexpensive
silver shoes right are from Matalan.
These fashion shoes would team
well with many silver grey outfits. Metallic block heel shoe at £14.
Different shoes can make the appearance of an outfit look quite altered and present an opportunity to reflect
your personality.
»
These gold ballet flats below are from Marks and Spencer and would look good
teamed with brocades too. The silver peep toe ballet flat is also very
girly. You can buy any of these three shoes from the picture links.
No female over 16 is too young to own a little black dress.
Younger girls and women can opt for little black evening dresses
like these mini dresses, which can be teamed with opaque tights
or leggings or just show lots of leg.
LBDs
- we all need several, so start collecting now!
Choose from trapeze styles with added hemline flare or
empire lines. These styles have child like baby doll elements and
being shorter very much suit the young.
Always take every opportunity to wear these 'baby doll' styles when you are young, as all too soon the stage will come when you simply cannot get away with this look. Woe is me!
There are so many shoe styles on offer, from the gold platforms from
River Island
seen at the top of the page, to these high black ankle strap shoes from Matalan.
You will be spoilt for choice and will be able to totally
indulge whatever personal style preference for footwear you have.
The black shoes from Matalan have a real vintage feel to them and would
create a totally different look to that of the ballerina shoes.
Yes, you can wear any combination
of skinny jeans and trousers, but autumn occasions are just that - occasions that offer you a chance to dress up a little
more than usual.
As an alternative to jeans and trousers, wear a classic velvet coat like this Matalan version on the left. As a result you will
have a luxury, but low cost evening look.
Velvet offers romantic looks that can move from day to evening with ease. This rich midnight blue velvet dress from Boden would suit many girls and women. It's a real party frock.
You could give it a quirkier edge by pushing the skirt out with a visible
net petticoat.
Midnight blue is one of the best colours for velvet,
as it retains a richness lost on pastel velvets which are horribly
fattening.
Brown shades are one the colours trends of autumn 2006 with earthy natural
tones being important. This velvet V-neck evening dress is from
John Lewis.
Learn how to
care for velvet and how to press it without damaging the pile.
With the proper care you can keep your velvet party dress looking in good
shape for years.
If a dress is not for you, then seek out a skirt with an embellished hemline.
This skirt with a folkloric decorated hem from
Boden may be an option.
Boden have teamed their skirt with
matching ballerina flats. In UK we see ballerina flats in every shoe shop
and people skipping around town in them.
Or you may prefer more of a clubbing look that follows a trend not yet worn
by everyone. Bubble skirts are just coming into mainstream fashion and
you can now find them quite easily on the high street.
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