Trends

Summer 2014 trends: booties are back

 in Shoes / Trends  tagged boots / spring 2014 / street style trends / summer 2014 by

Product Details: Click on the image you like above for details.

One of the biggest trends in shoes for the summer 2014 season is the bootie. That’s right! Warm weather booties are back; so if you have a pair from a past season, pull them out of your closet and add them back into rotation!

Booties did not dominate the runways in New York, London, Paris or Milan for the spring/summer 2014 season, rather, they have enjoyed continued popularity on the streets. The open-toe, summer bootie has enjoyed popularity for a few years on the streets. For spring and summer 2014, the open toe bootie is flying off of store shelves and onto fashionable feet on the streets. 

The spring/summer bootie has not really changed much over the past few years. The shoe style still offers an open toe and may or may not feature a slingback or ankle strap with exposed heel. The color palette has remained unchanged over the seasons. Popular hues continue to be neutrals, black and white. We are still seeing color blocked black/white open toe booties for spring and summer too!

The fabrications on open toe booties for spring and summer 2014 offer a wide variety. In addition to traditional leather we are seeing suede (normally a cool weather fabric), faux leathers, laser cut fabrications and PVC.

Being that the open toe bootie has not changed much for the spring/summer 2014 season from past years, it is an easy trend to wear if you have worn it in a recent season. I love being able to shop my closet instead of spending money, don’t you!?

Open toe booties are being shown with the hottest trends from the spring and summer 2014 runways. Open toe booties can be worn with boyfriends jeans, midi-skirts or dresses, scuba skirts, a-line skirts, pencil skirts, and the seasons’ newest short length; the Bermuda short. Although open toe booties usually hit at the ankle, the silhouette is very “of-the-moment,” so wearing them with shorts, skirts and jeans looks modern and perfect for the spring and summer 2014 seasons.

If you find booties and ankle straps are not flattering on your leg, try a light color such as beige, pastel pink or light tan. These hues should not cut off your leg and allow them to look elongated; allowing you to rock this trend! Love that!

If you have the perfect pair of open toe booties in your closet, you are all set! If not, here are a few fabulous open toe booties for the summer 2014 season I found around the web. I hope you love them! Happy shopping, and stay fabulous 😉

Handbag trends 2014: the inside-out handbag

 in Handbags / Trends  tagged bucket bag / drawstring bag / fall 2014 / mansur gavriel / spring 2014 / summer 2014 / totes by

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Photo: Mansur Gavriel red and black drawstring bucket bag. Online here and here. Tote version online here.

A few seasons ago, Saint Laurent and Valentino introduced reversible tote bags. These beautiful handbags reminded us of high-quality garments which look just as amazing inside as they do on the outside.  There is nothing like looking inside of a handbag and seeing just as much beauty inside as outside.

This brings us to the current trend in handbags which is exemplified by the current “IT” bag by Mansur Gavriel. Instead of a reversible handbag, Mansur Gavriel stayed true to the fashion industry mantra of making a piece beautiful inside and out. In doing this, they created a line of tote bags and drawstring bucket bags which have fabulous colors inside, and finished seams inside, without fabric lining. The color on the inside of the handbag peeks out from the top of the bag creating additional interest in the piece from casual onlookers, while keeping the handbag owners’ interest. Love that!

Mansur Gavriel’s popularity did not go unnoticed in the fashion industry. Aside from becoming the most sought-after handbag of the decade, which is next to impossible to get your hands on, iconic designers such as Prada have followed suit and created bi-color handbags for the summer 2014 season; and into the fall 2014 season.

That’s right! Mansur Gavriel’s drawstring bucket made a quiet trend explode; a trend which goes beyond the drawstring bucket bag silhouette. This new trend offers one color on the inside and another color on the outside. They have reinvented the basic black or tan handbag; giving handbag fans everywhere something fresh to cheer about!

As we move from spring 2014, into the hot summer months, and the new fall season, be on the lookout for more designers and brands creating bi-color handbags which offer inside-out interest. This is the beginning of the trend . . .

Bi-color handbags from around the web:

Casual printed sweatpants

 in General Fashion / Trends  tagged bcbg / casual fashion / casual style / chanel / gap / outfits / spring 2014 / sweatpants / twisted silver by

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Photos: Earrings: John Hardy / Lipstick: c/o Laura Mercier “Temptation” / Top: Gap / Necklace: c/o Twisted Silver (use code INSIDERS for 15% off) / Pants: BCBG (also in grey here) / Handbag: Chanel (also love SAVE or SPLURGE) / Nail Polish: Chanel Sky Line (similar here) / Bracelets: Tory Burch, Beau Bijou (similar here) / Shoes: SIXTYSEVEN / Toe Nail Polish: c/o Dolce & Gabbana “Petal“

I love wearing pants on casual days, but I don’t always want to wear jeans. Therefore, I love the current “sweatpants” or “track pant” trend from the New York runways right now. Although these pants are classified as sweatpants or track pants, they are nothing like what a typical, sporting pair of sweatpants would normally look or feel like.

The current sweatpants on the market are made from the same fabrications found on trousers and slim pants. The construction of the pants is loose, but not too loose, with an elastic waistband and elastic around the ankles. This gives the pants drape and makes them extremely comfortable around the waist. I have decided these are the perfect pants to wear to a buffet! 😉

Hopefully the “sweatpants” trend continues into 2015. They did appear on the fall/winter 2014/2015 runways in New York, so that is a good sign that we will continue to see the style into next year. Fingers crossed they appear on the spring/summer 2015 runways too!

Have you tried out the current sweatpants trend? What do you think of them?