Shorts get a bad press. Despite a resurgence last year, lots of us still harbour deep-seated (or shallow-seated, depending on how high waisted you choose to go) fears about getting our pins out in a pair. Go too tight and you look like Daisy Duke, too long and you look like a lady explorer, too short and you’re veering into dangerous street-corner territory…
But done right, shorts will be a wardrobe winner this year. The spring/summer catwalks were a veritable leg parade, with everybody from Stella McCartney to Balmain showcasing shorts for all occasions. At Chloe they were high-waisted leather, at Marc by Marc Jacobs they were vintage-inspired satin hotpants, while Cynthia Rowley and Fendi both showed loose, tailored ‘tap pant’ styles reminiscent of a ’30s schoolboy on a boating holiday. There were city shorts, beachy shorts and countless knickerbocker styles to choose from.
On the high street, meanwhile, shorts are sneaking onto the radar by pretending to be skirts, in an array of cutsey prints and sorbet shades. For the most flattering approach, try teaming a high-waisted, mid-thigh pair with opaque tights, a simple vest, boyfriend blazer and chunky heels. We’re also gleefully welcoming back last summer’s staple, the playsuit. Opt for muted colours and fitted shapes for a look that’s more pin-up, less Playdays presenter.
Here’s a round-up of our favourites for your delectation. Go shorty…
It’s Friday! And not only does that mean the weekend, but also time for our Friday Fashion Fracas. We got a great response from last week’s Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston face off, with the majority of you voting for Jen’s style over Ange’s. But who will win this weeks Lady Gaga vs Madonna funky fashion fracas?
Yes, we know it may seem like an odd choice given Madge’s more sophisticated style nowadays. However she was a style icon in the 80s, and dare we say it, possibly the pioneer of raunch, leotards and leather.
So to get the fight going we’ll start with the 80s pop queen.
As we’ve already said, Madonna’s style now, does nothing to reflect her 80s outfits. Today she’ll be seen out in suits, leather jackets and jeans, which although are all lovely, aren’t very, well, exciting. However rewind 30 years and you’d hardly recognise the leather clad, skimpily dressed pop star.
Madge was one of the first to be risque with her stage and everyday outfits, and was rarely seen with more than a few clothes on. She introduced the Gaultier “conical cone” bra, which has slowly made its way back into our fashion radars as the underwear as outwear trend continues to go strong.
And although leotards are now more associated with Lady Gaga, Madge was wearing these, before the Queen of Quirkiness was even born, teaming them up with fishnets, studs and of course PVC. There have also been times in the past few years where Madge’s daring ulterior ego has come through. She wore a bright green headpiece with batwing skirt for an event in 2007, and her stage outfits are all still about bodysuits and stockings.
Worst outfit.
After a quiet couple of years, a newly-gothic Madonna decided to shock fans and the fashion police when she stepped out in a hideous yellow long satin frock in 1999 to help commemorate MTV‘s Top 100 Music videos.
What other’s say
“Club kid, raunchy sex flirt, geisha, school ma’am – what style hasn’t Madonna done? Always stylish, never boring, and above all, a true fashion feminist: Madonna, we salute you.” Handbag.com
Lady Gaga.
If we’re honest, we’re not actually sure where to begin here. Lady G is the epitome of 2000 outrageous fashion incorporating everything from PVC, leather studs and bralets into her “everyday style.” And she has a huge designer following with everyone from Armani, Viktor & Rolf and of course the late Alexander McQueen, queueing up to dress.
We’ve seen things we could never have even imagined from this singer, including coke cans in her hair for the Telephone video, a telephone on her head for her appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and lobsters, for, well, just a night out. We could go on all day listing these.
Miss G is also no stranger to leotards, bearing her body on and off stage very successfully. But are her outfits an “updated” wackier version of Madge’s style or is she unique in what she wears?
Worst outfit.
We’re a little bit torn between the white 3 tiered Armani Prive cape the star wore to the Grammies and the hideous gothic PVC frock she donned to perform at the 2009 Royal Variety show and to meet the Queen.
What others say
“We’re ignored this lady for as long as possible, not because she didn’t interest us or anything, but because we weren’t sure what to make of her individual style.
She’s quirky to say the least, after appearing in rubber outfits and origami style dresses quite recently and she also seems to have a fetish for wearing some outrageous false eyelashes too.” Female First.
Our verdict.
Both singers have revolutionised style to a great extent, but we think this Friday’s winner has got to be Madonna. The original style icon paved the way for unique and outrageous outfits venturing into territory others had only dreamed about.
Who do you think wins the fashion fracas? View the gallery below and then vote to let us know.
We’re getting very excited over here at ShinyStyle today, and it’s not just because it’s Friday.
It’s because the Sex And The City ladies are back (well three of them anyway).
Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis stepped out at last nights Warner Brothers Pictures’ Big Picture 2010 showfest to talk about the long awaited SATC2 film (see the trailer here), hitting cinemas in May.
While forth member Kim Cattrall was in London performing on stage, the three other lovlies showed off their frocks. Sarah Jessica Parker opted for a typical Carrieyellow asymmetric beaded dress, while Kristin went for on-trend florals. And Cynthia went for a simple, yet striking boatneck frock.
View the pictures in the gallery below and let us know who you think wore their dress best.
It’s that time of year again. Frocks, fancy hats and horses. Yes that’s right it’s the Cheltenham Festival.
We love this event, which gives us great insight into the world of dresses, hats and high shoes. There’s always frocks to be admired and of course avoided.
However one guest who shyed away from these styles was Royal Zara Phillips, who went for riding boots, jogpers and an off white summer mac. Now we know, it’s hardly fancy, but when you consider Zara is a serious rider, it makes sense. And we think she really rocked the look.
Do you agree? Let us know by leaving your comments below.
First there was Amy Winehouse‘s collection for Fred Perry and now Liam Gallagher has announced he too will be expanding his talents into the world of womenswear.
The Oasis singer is adding the line to his Pretty Green brand, which has so far been targeted just at men.
“A lot of girls are asking if we will be doing a range for them and the answer to that is yes, once we have got rid of all the lads’ stuff,” he said.
And it seems Mr Gallagher isn’t just doing this for the money – he’s actually quite sentimental about the range.
“Its success does surprise me considering I’ve got something to do with it – there are a lot of people who try to kill things before they even become alive,” he added.
With Sport Relief airing today many of us will have the urge to copy many of the celebrities taking part and get fit in one way or the other.
If, like us, you have problems with your running shoes and can’t quite find that perfect pair then why not follow in the footsteps of Natalia Vodianova , Victoria Beckham and Mel C and opt for tailor made running insoles.
Profeet is a company that offers competitive athletes (it designed the insoles for Natalia’s Paris Semi Marathon trainers) and those of us who enjoy hitting the park or running machine a bespoke insole moulding, handcrafting and fitting service.
It involves a full run analysis, recorded on camera and via a pressure pad. Through this process, Profeet can precisely deconstruct the body’s movement in order to hand mould and manufacture the insoles on site to you a comfortable running experience.
Hmmmm now there’s no excuse to do that early morning jog.
Is Sandra Bullock a style icon? If we’re honest it’s a question that we’ve been pondering for a while.
Now we don’t want to kick the actress when she’s down – the rumour circulating at the moment is that she’s pulled out of the UK premier of The Blind Side, amid claims her husband Jesse James cheated on her with a tattoo model – however we think it’s something that needs to be decided.
There’s no denying Sandra is a casual girl at heart, she told Instyle Magazine: “I feel sexiest when the person I love wakes up next to me and looks at me with love even if my hair looks like the dogs have been chewing on it.”
Glamour also described the actress as “our patron saint of laid-back style.”
And we have to agree Sandy pulls off the casual look really well. We think her jeans and black top combo, which she wore to her ceremony for her Hollywood walk of fame, was classic, yet chic.
So we’ve opted to have a her style on various red carpets.
We’re sure you’ll agree the actress shone at this year’s Oscars in a vintage fabric silver frock, which we think was more than enough to earn her a fashion award.
And it seems this shade worked for her when she wore a grey Grecian style frock to the premier of Premonition in 2007.
However, grey tones haven’t always worked to Sandra’s advantage. At the German premier of The Proposal, the actress went for a very unflattering kimono style frock, which she teamed up with court shoes in the same colour, making her look more frump than fabulous.
And the frump theme carries on with her navy “grandma” style dress, complete with capped sleeves, which she wore to the Venice Film festival premier of “Infamous.”
We can’t deny she didn’t look lovely in her red ethnic style frock at the 9th Annual costume designers Guild awards in 2007, but yet again it seems this shade let her down in 2009 when she wore, what looks like a red silk top and black skirt, with some horrible flat shoes (or flippers?).
So what’s our verdict? Well as we’ve said before she pulls off the casual look well, but red red carpet style sometimes gets confused with her nan’s dress up box. For that reason we’ve decided to give her a not too bad 7 out of ten.
But now we want you to tell us what you think. Is Sandy a style queen or a fashion faux pas?
View the gallery and then vote below to let us know.
Hands up who queued from 7:30 for the new H! by Henry Holland range when it hit Debenham’s stores yesterday.
And another show of hands for who get their Bagazine clutches signed by the designer.
We’d like to be smug here and put both our hands up, after all you know we queue for any designer/highstreet collaboration, but we had to unfortunately miss this one.
So we want to hear from you about your experiences and what you bought after waiting for so long.
In the meantime for those who missed it, let us give you a reminder of the collection, modelled by Pixie Geldof, just incase you want to sneak down to Debenhams on your lunch-break (or elevenses).
It includes womenswear, swimwear, jewellery and accessories, as well as silk-screened clutches featuring the designer’s face and fake cover lines.
The collection is available in 64 stores throughout the country now. But we have a feeling it’s not going to hang around past the weekend.
The sun’s been shining all week, and after the dismal few months many of us are embracing it by dusting out those spring tops, and re-stocking our wardrobes with the latest spring trends (sorry credit card).
One essential item for this season is of course sunglasses. And although we know many of you are thinking it’s a tad early, we’ve seen a good few ladies already sporting these to shield their eyes from the rays.
This season’s sunnies are all about aviator styles, pinks and of course florals. Go with one of these styles to fit in with the trends, or opt for a classic designer pair, think Chanel, Vivienne Westwood or Madonna’s latest range for D&G, that will keep you going throughout the next few years.
We’ve put together a gallery of sunnies to help you out, but remember, it’s not cool to wear these when you’re on the tube, in a club or anywhere else there’s no sun. Unless of course you’re a hip-hop star or rapper in training.
We heart H&M. It’s cheap(ish), kooky, and collaborates with top designers, most recently Jimmy Choo and Sonia Rykiel, creating cheaper ranges for us to get our eager paws on.
But just when we thought the store had done all it could to get us in it’s good books, it’s gone that step further, announcing a range of ethical ventures.
First up is it’s collection of floral and feminine fashion made from sustainable materials including organic and fair trade cotton. However, we hope this collection doesn’t backfire like it’s last ones where the chain was accused of using contaminated cotton for it’s organic ranges.
Ann-Sofie Johansson, Head of Design at H&M said: “We are extremely proud of our Garden Collection for women, which has organic and recycled materials in every single garment.
“The mix of floral prints and khaki classics works brilliantly for day to evening wear.”
Continuing the ethical traill the store will also launch its first ever range of skin care with certified organic ingredients. The range of everyday essentials includes shower gel, body scrub, body lotion, hand cream and lip balm, all of which are based on natural, organic ingredients and certified by Ecocert – Europe’s biggest certification body for organic and natural cosmetics.
We think a little bit of ethical spending may be in order here.
Wow, we have to admit, we have a major lady crush on Demi Moore.
The actress, whose been one to watch in the style stakes for many years now (who can forget that cute pixie crop she sported in Ghost, which was coveted by many woman, and copied by the braver ones amongst us) has just landed onto the April cover of Harpers Bazaar looking as young and fresh faced as ever.
And Demi fans won’t be disappointed, because the mag has also secured an interview with the star where she talks about the first time she met Ashton and why she prefers being called a puma over a cougar.
“Cougar has become so distasteful. I really hate that expression.” She said recently that when it comes to her relationship, she’d prefer to be called a puma. “It has a sweeter quality, more elegant. And then somebody said to me, ‘Pumas are only for people in their 30s.’”
On the first night she met Ashton: “I knew it had the potential to be something special right away. It was like meeting somebody that I’ve just known where you just recognise one another.
“It was so disproportionate, the level of emotion we were experiencing to the time we had spent together. But when you don’t know someone, you can’t just jump and say, ‘I love you.’ ‘Nice to meet you, I love you!’ Yeah. No. We used to end our calls or emails with ‘And everything we don’t say.’ It just seemed too much, too soon.”
On Alexander McQueen: “McQueen was a genius. I was always thrilled to wear his clothes because they were more than fashion; they were truly works of art.”
We’re big fans of Kristen Stewart over here at ShinyStyle. Her choice of eveningwear is kooky – we loved the white sequined Chanel dress she wore to the Baftas and the navy taffeta frock she donned for this year’s Oscars – but we adore her daytime look, which is right up our street. The Twighlight actress opts for jeans, t-shirts and casual jackets, while still looking cool in Converse trainers.
She also opts for leggings, which of course we all know are still a big fashion over here (although we hope with the summer months approaching this trend will begin to fade out).
So imagine how pleased we were when we found out we could get the exact grey boyfriend style tee the star was snapped wearing on her way to American talk show Regis & Kelly where she was promoting her new film The Runaways.
It’s called Milla and it’s by American company Market. You can buy it here for a bargain $33.
Team up with PVC leggings and trainers a la Kristen, and don’t forget to add that statement scowl.
It seems ShinyStyle has taken on a child friendly theme today, but this time we’re not really sure what to think of the rumours that Katie Price (Aka Jordan) is launching a make-up range for kids.
The model, mum and author (although that’s debatable) announced plans to launch the range on her ITV2 reality show, What Katie did next, and said the range would be inspired by her two-year-old daughter Princess.
“Obviously the story would be she nicks my make-up all the time, it’s not safe for her to use a lady’s mascara… edible lipstick, little case with wipes to take your make-up off – you can get a nice case for make-up wipes, lipsticks, blushers and mascara and nail varnishes,” she said.
There’s no doubting that Katie is a good mum and if we’re honest we all dressed up and played with make-up when we were little (does anyone else remember the Tinkerbell range?) However, we’re not sure Jordan’s idea is meant to be for the home. She’s been blasted in the press for taking out Princess with lipstick and fake eyelashes.
Do you think a range like this could encourage young girls to grow up to fast? Let us know what you think by leaving your comments and voting in the box below.
As our regular readers know by now, we love a good charity story over here at ShinyStyle. So you can imagine how excited we are to hear about a collaboration between our fave highstreet store Topshop and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
The highstreet store and charity are launching a limited edition jersey vest to raise funds for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer in 2010.
The top with the motif “Love to Love” in both black and white will retail at £16, with £5 going to the charity.
The vest hits stores on 29th March, with that, and Stella McCartney’s new range for Gap Kids launching on the same day we’ll be begging our bank for a new overdraft.
We don’t usually talk about children’s clothing here on ShinyStyle, unless of course they go up to an age 18 which we can just about squeeze into.
However when it’s Stella McCartney designing for GapKids we think it definitely deserves a mention, and by the looks of it the sizes are just about big enough to get into.
The Brit designer was joined by her model friends including Kate Moss and Laura Bailey who bought their children along to the sneak preview yesterday.
We’re already in love with the denim shirts and military style jackets. The collection goes on sale on 29 March, and of course we’ll be there ready and waiting. If the clothes don’t fit us at least our nieces and nephews will get treated.
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From:Golden Globe awards 2012 best hair and make up