Style in a New York minute!

Hi guys,
Style-wise, I think I'll always be a London girl. I love the eclectic, undone, mismatched style of the London girl. I love the anything-goes attitude. But as I get older I appreciate the stereotypical New York style more and more. Nails are never chipped, hair is always blow dried, outfits are simple, chic, and perfectly coordinated. It's a grown up style I'd love to emulate, but I'm just too untidy to even try.

As New York Fashion Week has just started (and in just over a week London Fashion Week will start, when I will be singing the praises of all things London again) I thought now would be the perfect time to sing the praises of New York style. Starting with my three favourite New York designers:
Left to right: Alexander Wang, Diane Von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs. Even on the catwalk styles are simple and chic: no animal headdresses or dresses made from human hair here!

The good news is, thanks to some of my favourite discount websites, these designers (and more of their New York friends) are more accessible than ever. Here are some of my favourite and affordable pieces that you can buy right now:
Diane von Furstenberg printed silk dress, £189, The Outnet
Calvin Klein red silk dress, £129, TKMaxx
Marc Jacobs pom pom dress, £174, The Outnet

I'm a sucker for a well fitting dress, and that DvF one is really calling out to me: it's such a gorgeous pattern! I think that's the key to getting this look right: pick one key stylish dress, add simple coordinating accessories, slick hair and make up, and you're ready to go!

What do you think of New York style? Do you love the coordination of it? Or are you just a scruffy London girl at heart?

Love Tor xx

Latest on Fabfrocks and Family: Limited edition Peter Rabbit collection at babyGap
Latest on Fabfrocks at Home: Emma Bridgewater at TKMaxx for Comic Relief

New York Fashion Week: Some Marc Jacobs love

Hi guys,

Whilst i'm busying myself with London Fashion Week, I thought i'd post a review of my favourite show from New York Fashion Week: London Fashion Week show reviews should start tomorrow!

As always, I loved the Marc Jacobs show: it's such an important one, because the man has so much influence. So many of the trends we've all been wearing for the past couple of years have been defined by him.

I loved all of the leather: the midi length leather skirts, the oversized leather tees If soft leather is going to be in vogue again next autumn/winter then count me in! I'm a polka dot addict, so I loved all the polka dot details. The soft polka dot handbag was an especial favourite: what I wouldn't give to have a collection of Marc Jacobs handbags at my disposal! How wearable this collection would be, I don't know: the leather and rubber skirts which looked so great with their high shine were so tight they would be incredibly difficult to walk in; you would be making a real fashion commitment if you decided to give it a go!

One trend I can't see taking off is the little hats that topped off the majority of the outfits. With their high gloss nubs, they made some of the browner outfits look like acorns: not a good look! These vinyl berets were made by Stephen Jones: very dominatrix, which completed the severe look of the whole show. I really loved it, but on the whole I only covet the softer more wearable pieces, like the polka dot sweater for example : the more extreme pieces looked great on the catwalk, but they're not for me!

Love, Tor xx

Photos from Style.com

New York Fashion Week: Opinions so far

I have been so busy preparing for London Fashion Week (only two days to go!) that I haven't really given New York my full attention. In fact i've only skimmed over most of the ranges and only had the chance to watch one (Rodarte) live streamed. However a couple of shows have stood out for all of the right (and some of the wrong) reasons.

Betsey Johnson always makes me feel a frisson of excitement and I wasn't let down this season; a not very modest retrospective of her many years in fashion. I was never a massive fan of the gun print but there were still some stand out styles; the cinched in corset waists were a success proving yet again that Queen Betsey knows how to dress curves. The styles I most enjoyed though were the more modest bohemian looks, and I really want a bird hat; DIY here I come! Do I also sense that cowboy boots might make a comeback?

Marc Jacobs was very grey. Grey was, for me the overriding feeling about the collection. But I don't mean that in a bad way; I enjoy the nuances you get with shades of grey that can't be achieved with shades of black. I loved the lowered hem lines (Marc, my ugly knees thank you!) and find many of the pieces extremely wearable (I would love one of the grey sweaters) but didn't get the serene dream-like feeling others have mentioned, probably because I didn't watch the show, I just saw the images afterwards.

Rodarte was dreamy. By that I suppose I mean dream-like, rather than the way a teenage girl would describe a pop star! Layers and nudes and watercolour florals floated down the catwalk like images from a beautiful hazy dream. This felt like a bloggers collection: by that i suppose I mean that when I watched the show I could immediately think of half a dozen bloggers that were going to fall in love with it.

Oh, and with Betsey's hay, Rodarte's confetti and Marcs cardboard, what happened to the traditional white catwalk!?

What have you thought about New York fashion week so far? Have there been any collections that have really stood out for you?

Love, Tor

All images from http://www.style.com/

What I learnt from New York fashion week....

...Is that I want to dress myself head to toe in the new Marc by Marc Jacobs collection.


You can see this collage bigger here.

I used to love clashing fuschia with orange in my late teens and once said those would be the colours my wedding dress would be (I also toyed with orange and lime green, remember when that was all the rage? Those are also the colours of my parents bathroom.)
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The African inspired fabrics are reminiscent of the Gadofka collection I fell in love with months ago, only, well, the only way I can think to put it is more marc; Africa in downtown New York and nowhere near a Savannha (unless that's a bar in New York that I don't know about - how great it would be to be making a witty cultural reference like a "cool person" and not even knowing!) The clashing patterns and the 5 million trends all at once feel of the collection is perfect for me: I can never make my mind up and often throw all the trends I like all together. (today i'm wearing a peasant dress with DMs and a tan belt!) The collection is perfect. Sigh! I am also a big fan of the bunny bow, and will be attempting to replicate this look using my giant yellow Johnny loves Rosie bow. If only i'd gotten the fuscia one too! I have a lovely thick length of black fabric and I can see some bunny-bow experimentation happening in a living room near here (ie mine!) soon! I can see aspiring Etsy millionaires doing exactly the same thing, and I bet we will see an abundance of these things on the highstreet in Spring - you heard it here first!
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Other things I learned from New York fashion week: That lady gaga is almost certainly certifiably insane, that Dazed and Confused seem to throw the best parties, and that we all have to talk about Rodarte. As much as we possibly can. You can all start now...

Later aligators (I really do have that Christopher Kane @topshop aligator dress on my mind don't I?)
Love Tor x

Oh Betsey, Betsey, all I want is you.....

You can all yawn and turn away before I even start if you want to, but, for the oooh around a millionth time on this blog, I love Betsey Johnson! She's fun and crazy, she doesn't take fashion or herself too seriously, and yet again she's managed to create a collection I wish I was brave enough to wear every piece of.

When I read that there wasn't going to be a Betsey Johnson 'runway show' this season my heart sank and I filled with panic. Had the recession hit Ms J too? Would she like to come and live in my spare room, borrow my sewing machine, have me make her cupcakes? Marry her for visa purposes and then live in a run down cottage together for the rest of our lives? Luckily for her this was not the case. Don't worry, i'll get over it! I realised it was just another typical (if there can be such a thing) Betsey quirk; a small crowd invited to "Betsey Crockers Kitchen" in her showroom to showcase the new collection. According to Susie Bubble it was full of tasty treats! Oh how I wish I had been there!

Sadly I wasn't; i'm just not damn cool enough! But instead i've sated myself by looking at these pictures over and over again:-

Things on my wish list? The floral harem pants, the 80's style stripey leggings (a big post on the resurgence of all 80s trends this season will follow shortly)the dog t shirt, naturally, knitted pastel stripey shorts, and something made of monkey fur. Its looking like anyone who's anyone will be wearing oversized monkey fur next season; once is a quirk and twice is a trend my friends!

Oh and this has given me a great DIY idea; I stole the jacket from my boyfriends old suit and regularly sport it when slouchy around town at the weekends. All I have to do is cover the lapels in sequins, ala image 3, and I am bang on a Betsey trend! Something tells me a trip to the haberdashery is in order asap....

And if you need another reason to agree with my about my Betsey obsession (agree with me dammit, i'm sweating with the exertion of loving this woman so much!) I have one; Betsey was amongst the designers to dress "real life" barbie models this week at a show to celebrate the 50th anniversary of everyones favourite doll.

Oh Betsey! A lime green cupcake dress for a ditsy blonde?!

I''ll take it!!

Love Tor xx