Fashion Blur - Latest Clothing Trends, News and Views

If the latest series of Strictly Come Dancing has got your enthusiasm up for perhaps giving ballroom dancing a shot - here are some essential elements of the strictly look:
The BBC itself won't reveal who designs the outfits for the shows, only that "Most of the outfits are created by a team working across different locations" - therefore, we thought that we would try and outline how to get the strictly look:

1) The Dress

Obviously, the style of dress worn is directly affected by the type of dance.For Ballroom, the ladies wear a long, flowing dress and men usually a suit with a three quarter length jacket. For Latin dances, such as the Salsa or Tango, ladies dresses should either be shorter cut or have a high cut at one side.

2) The Headpiece

For the more glamourous dances a Tiara is usually worn - however, a hairband co-ordinated with the rest of the outfit is fine for other dances.

3) The Shoes
 
Heels are required for the ladies of the dance - however, they must be both flexible and comfortable as you're going to be contorting your feet in an unusual manner.

4) The Jewelery

Accessories can make or break any outfit, and dancing clothes are no different. Classy bracelets and necklaces are crucial elements.

We are lucky to have so many styles of shoes now, that when any girl or woman walks into a shoe store, they get lost in the world of shoes, make them heels, flats, boots, you name it, they are all still glamorous!

Speaking out of experience, when I walk into a shoe store, and look at all the beautiful and sexy footwear I nearly fall in love with most of them and then I go and try them on, out of woman nature, I tend to go for heels because they look so fabulous on shelves, with the light shining onto it giving it a classy touch and then I go on to observe its heel which I come to the conclusion of it not being that high, but of course once I try it on and realize that the ‘not so high heels’ are in fact increasing my height by a few inches, the ‘still conscious’ part of my brain tells me the well known truth of ‘you won’t be able to walk in them’.

At this stage, I got to feel its wrap around my foot and how it gives me the feeling of a real lady, I am totally and unconditionally in love with them and not tend to care whether I could walk in them or not because it totally blew me away. And yet again I commit that unwitting sin of placing it on the counter desk telling myself that I will keep it safe in my closet until the day I learn how to walk in them (which I secretly know will be in a blue moon).

This is not just me being “shoesaholic” since I’m quite confident in saying that this happens to you too! I tend to wonder why fashion designers design shoes which are truly enchanting but make it impossible to walk in, where they could design the same style of shoes but with a reasonable height of heel which allows us to feel safe walking in them and not wait until the moment we meet the ground face-to-face.

to prove my point about highheels, here are some examples of (some quite painful) but funny high heel disasters:

The pace of application development for smartphones such as the iPhone and Blackberry (and Android) continues apace, and now the fashion industry has its own set of Apps that enable you to follow the latest trends on the catwalk and beyond.

We've been a bit text-heavy recently, so we thought that we would shut up for a bit and post some generally cool and interesting fashion-related videos. First though, lets have a tribute to Michael............

Trendshaper is a very occassional series where we look at some of the hottest fashion trends of the day, and ponder whether it is a good or a bad thing. This week, Maxi Dresses!

Maxi Dresses have been one of the most popular fashion garments for a couple of years now. Sadly, there are still some of us out there who misjudge the Maxi Dress. Just because the dress is long and loose doesn't mean that it will suit everyone. Like buying a pair of skinny jeans, you have to consider your body shape when it comes to choosing a Maxi Dress. See here for some great advice on choosing a Maxi Dress.

We broadly welcome the Maxi Dress, however, we know of fellow fashion-lovers who wouldn't touch them with a bargepole "too long" they say "what if it rains!" "too hippy" "everyone's wearing them!" "i can't get one to fit me!" are amongst some of the common complaints we come across.





Over to you, where do you stand on the Maxi? Do you own one or more? What's your favourite maxi dress? or Are you not a fan of Maxi Dresses? Why Not!? - Please let the Trendshaper know!

Entering its third year Glasgow Fashion Week is becoming an increasingly interesting event. In their own words Glasgow Fashion Week aims to provide 'a young and directional alternative to the world more traditional fashion week'.
With this in mind any aspiring designers out there can apply to have their collections showcased (download the PDF here).

Scotland and Glasgow in particular has a growing reputation in the Fashion world - with many top designer stores already firmly established in the City Centre, and a burgeoning Graduate scene.

Will we be keeping an eye on this years events with great interest.

Glasgow Fashion Week takes place between the 11th and 14th of November this year.

Buying jeans online is never the most assuring of experiences - especially if, like me, jeans are the most difficult item of clothing to buy - principally because of the myriad of variations and styles that are available out there. Even a pair of straight-leg jeans from one manufacturer with a 28 waist and 20 leg could vastly differ from the other. This makes online jeans buying a bit of a risk, unless you know exactly what type of pair that you want to buy and have either owned or tried them on previously.Ive been stung a few times in the past.

What i would like to see:

• A guide indicating which body type a particular pair of jeans might be appropriate
• An honest appraisal of waist and leg sizes, and whether there is any 'give' in the material

These two simple steps would take some of the risk from the online jeans buying process. If anyone has any other ideas what the internet clothes retailers could do to help that would be greatly appreciated!.........

Accessories have became almost as important as 'top-line' fashion items, and used correctly they can be a great compliment to your look. It has to be said however, that some of the biggest fashion disasters that we've ever sen have mostly involved accessories. Its worth bearing this in mind when it comes to accessories.

Here at Fashion Blur we have a few accessories that we can't live without.

• Hats - you simply can't beat a good Trilby.
• Jewellery - On this occassion we would say be as bright and bold as possible! We like big chunky necklaces, and elaborate earrings!
• Belts - belts are probably one of the underrated fashion items, they can be used subtly to transform an entire look. We like big buckles at the moment.
• Tights - Whether its patterened, coloured, plain, ripped or black - you can never have too many tights.
• Bags - Recently, we've been raiding our fave cheap fashion retailer Peacocks for their ladies handbags. They are good quality and affordable - the ideal mix.

That's a quick summary of our accessories thoughts, we would welcome yours!

There's little doubt that online clothes shopping has come a long way in the last five years. We can still remember the bad old days of grainy images (sometimes no images at all!), lack of information, stock issues - the list goes on.......

However, as if to illusrate the upturn in quality of the online experience web design site Smashing Magazine has recently published a post - 'Showcase of Beautiful Fashion Websites'. There are some excellent examples of the vast improvement in the clothes shopping experience online, we highly recommend that if you have even a passing interest in fashion, that you read the post.

Some of our favourite clothes websites are included in the list.........

Bazaar - One of the most famous fashion mags - great fun website to boot........

The Sak

Sites we like that aren't on the list, include:

Hermes - Great, quirky design on tghe Hermes site, a pleasure to view.

Joseph Cartright Photography - some truly stunning imagery from this master fashion photographer.

Bontoni Shoes - Classic Italian shoemaker, this site gives a great impression of the heritage and quality associated with this brand. Lovely.

Are there any fashion websites that you love that aren't included in the Smashing Magazine list?

Let us know your thoughts.........