street style trends

New York Fashion Week street style handbags

 in General Fashion / Handbags / Trends  tagged chanel / chloe / cult gaia / fall 2017 / givenchy / gucci / jw anderson / mark cross / new york fashion week / street style trends by

New York Fashion Week street style handbags from the spring 2018 shows held in September 2017

new york fashion week street style handbags

photo: a fashion week guest sits front row with her Cult Gaia Ark bag at the spring 2018 NYFW shows

While spring 2018 was being sent down the runways at New York Fashion Week in September 2017, guests attending the shows carried the hottest handbags for the fall 2017 season. While I wasn’t able to capture an extensive gallery of photos showing the handbags being carried at fashion week, I did observe which bags made it onto the arms of the fashionable set, and which ones were glaring absent.

There were many types of IT bags carried by guests of New York Fashion Week. Some of the bags were classic IT bags such as the Chanel Boy bag, and the Givenchy Antigona (new to the classic category), while others were up and comers such as the Cult Gaia Ark bag, and the Mark Cross Benchley bag.

New York Fashion Week street style handbags are what dictate the IT bags of the new season.

Gucci had a huge moment last year, and it seems that moment is starting to fade. While the Gucci Marmont was the IT bag for last spring and summer, it was no-where to be found this season at fashion week. The Gucci bag showing staying power in the IT bag arena is the Gucci Dionysus.

New York Fashion Week street style handbags: shop Gucci Dionysus bags:

JW Anderson has found IT bag status with his Pierce bag. The Pierce bag emerged last season on the streets of New York Fashion Week, and it showed up again this season. For fall 2017, the fashion week set preferred the JW Anderson Pierce bag in neutrals hues and red. It seems Pierce bag fans want their investment to have staying power; proving the bag will be around for several seasons to come.

New York Fashion Week street style handbags: shop JW Anderson Pierce bags:

Mark Cross is having a moment! The Mark Cross Grace bag has been around for eons; but this is the first time it was so dominant on the streets of fashion week. The Grace bag was spotted in several colors; both seasonal and neutral. In addition to Mark Cross’s iconic Grace bag, his up-and-coming Benchley bag was also splashed all over the fashion week streets. The Benchley was also spotted in both seasonal, and neural hues. Mark Cross is the handbag designer to watch for fall. He just rocketed from classic luxury to the world of IT bags.

New York Fashion Week street style handbags: shop Mark Cross bags:

Chanel is always a mainstay at fashion week, but the resurgence of the Boy bag took me by surprise. While the classic flap and 2.55 are always spotted at fashion week, season after season, the Boy bag went from IT bag status a few years ago, to “just another designer bag” status. This season, it seems to be making a comeback. Instead of the fashion set carrying it in bright colors, patent, patterns, and the like; the Chanel Boy bag was carried mostly in classic black, with a few neutral hues thrown in around town. This proves the staying power of the Boy bag.

New York Fashion Week street style handbags: shop pre-loved Chanel Boy bags:

Isn’t summer over? Of course it is in the fashion world. But, that didn’t stop guests of New York Fashion Week from carrying circle bags, and straw circle bags in general. Circle bags were a hot summer trend, and it appears the non-traditional handbag silhouette is staying hot for the fall season. There wasn’t one circle bag in general which stood from the crowd, but circle bags were spotted throughout fashion week paired with fall trends.

New York Fashion Week street style handbags: shop straw circle bags:

Playing off the straw bag phenomena, the Cult Gaia Ark bag, which was the IT bag of summer 2017, was also seen all over the streets of New York Fashion Week. This is a handbag trend which seems to be jumping seasons. If straw can be worn after labor day, why not bamboo?

New York Fashion Week street style handbags: shop the Cult Gaia Ark bag:

The Givenchy Antigona was a popular, classic IT bag this season at fashion week. When I was in line for the shows, there always seemed to be someone next to me carrying one. I pointed out being “twins” to a couple of ladies, but they didn’t seem to think it was as cute as I thought it was that we were standing next to each other with the same bag. Oh well, not everyone thinks matching is fun. haha

I could go on for days about my love of the Givechy Antigona bag, but I don’t want to bore you.  Just know this, if you need a workhorse bag which is extremely durable, and comfortable, and which also has IT bag status; the Givenchy Antigona is what you need to invest in.

New York Fashion Week street style handbags: shop Givechy Antigona bags:

Can all the #ChloeGirls have a moment? Both the Chloe Faye, and the Chloe Nile, were present at New York Fashion Week. While a few Drew’s were sprinkled around, the Faye, medium size to be exact, and the Nile, in all sizes, were the Chloe bags of the moment.

New York Fashion Week street style handbags: shop Chloe Faye, and Chloe Nile bags:

There you have it! My apologies for not having a more visual post, but you can see what some of these IT bags look like from the shopping widgets below each description. Next season I will be at fashion week longer and will have some spare time to stand outside the shows and get photos for you. These are my observations from inside the shows, and standing in line for the shows, waiting for doors to open.

New York Fashion Week street style handbags are what launch bags into the IT bag arena. These are the bags to covet, and own, for the fall 2017 season and beyond. Which current IT bag is your favorite?

Top 5 fall 2017 trends

 in General Fashion / Handbags / Shoes / Trends  tagged fall 2017 / runway trends / street style trends by

fall 2017 trends fashion style runways street

The fall 2017 season is here! Well, not technically, according to the weather, and the calendar, but in the retail world it is in full swing! This means when we go to the store, instead of being greeted by beach attire, we are being greeted by faux fur, wool coats, and a whole lot of velvet!

The autumn 2017 season is bringing us a lot of fall 2017 trends which have made it from the runways to the streets. The fall 2017 trends from the runways were almost on track with what buyers decided they wanted to wear on the streets.

There are so many fall 2017 trends to sort through, I decided to narrow it down for you, and chat about the five most important trends of the season. At the end of this post, I recap all of the important trends of the season in long sentence. (hopefully none of my former English teachers or professors are reading this. haha)

Without further ado, the top 5 fall 2017 trends to hit the streets from the runways are:

Fall 2017 Trends: Shades of Red

tadashi shoji fall 2017 nyfw

Shades of red dominated the runways for the fall 2017 season. This was arguably the most recognizable trend throughout fashion week. So, it is no surprise that red is already proving to be the most important of all the fall 2017 color trends. While shades of pink, yellow, purple, green, black, and white are part of the fall 2017 color wheel, red is the must-have color of the season. You can rock red on clothing, shoes, hats, handbags, lipstick, or nail polish. It does not matter how do you do red, just be sure you are doing red.

Shop shades of red for fall 2017:

Fall 2017 Trends: Hobos and Satchels

Designers have gone gaga for the hobo, and the classic satchel this season. While the satchel has been an important trend in handbags over the past few years, the hobo bag has been dormant. We have seen the rise of the hobo quietly in the background lately, but it has not been until fall 2017 that this large, soft handbag style can claim IT bag status.

As for scale, handbags are getting bigger. You can hang onto your mini bags from the past few seasons to use for convenience, but when it comes to carrying the IT bag of the season, bigger is better. Look for large, soft hobos,  as well as medium to large satchels or totes this fall season.

Shop hobos and satchels for fall 2017:

Fall 2017 Trends: Soft Fabrics

nicholas k fall 2017 nyfw

The soft fabric trend of fall 2016 has returned for more in the fall 2017 season. Look for soft velvet, lace, satin; and anything that can flow. The softer, the better!

Shop soft fabrics for fall 2017:

Fall 2017 Trends: The Return of the Power Suit

Now, when you think of the “Power Suit” an image of a 1980s pantsuit perfect for working on Wall Street may come to mind. Well, this is a new millennium, and the “Power Suit” is anything but Wall Street. Suiting for fall 2017 may take on many forms. We are seeing pajama style suits, leisure suits, structured suits, and unstructured suits. The idea is to have the jacket and pants match; by match I mean made from the same exact fabric. A blue print blazer paired with solid blue pants will not do; both pieces need to be made from the same fabric. Get ready for a season of matchy-matchy! (only in suiting, don’t match your bag and shoes-still not cool)

Shop suiting for fall 2017:

Fall 2017 Trends: Statement Jackets and Coats

The days of the classic black coat are loooooooong gone. Seriously, who owns a basic black coat anymore? Fall 2017, is all about the statement coat. You can wear a potato sack underneath if you want to; no-one will care. It’s all about the coat, or jacket.

For fall 2017, look for faux fur, multi-colored coats/jackets, 1970s chevrons, texture, brocade, embroidery; the works! If your coat blends into the crowd, it isn’t a statement coat. Look for the loudest jacket or coat on the rack and buy it. The crazier the better! You need to sparkle and shine this season in your outerwear.

Shop statement coats and jackets for fall 2017:

Of course, when it comes to the fall 2017 fashion trends which have hit the streets from the runways, there are always more then five. In addition to these top five trends, look for Metallic touches and fabrics, the rise of silver over rose gold, 1990s influences, 1970s influences, brocade, embroidery, all-black, all-white, track pants worn with pumps, mules/slides, and luxurious combat boots.

What are your favorite fall 2017 trends to hit the streets from the runways?

San Francisco street style through the years

 in Bay Area Fashion / General Fashion  tagged casual style / fall 2017 / givenchy / modcloth / outfits / sheila fajl / street style trends by

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wearing: large gold hoop earrings / Chanel lipstick / green western style shirt / dark rinse girlfriend jeans / black leather watch / Chanel fall nail polish / Givenchy handbag / fall suede booties

Last week I attended a How to Macrame class in San Francisco. Dawn from Fashion Should Be Fun and I carpooled up to the city together and snapped these photos of our outfits before heading into the class. I knew the event would be filled with San Francisco bloggers, so I wanted to make sure I was wearing the latest and greatest.

If you had asked me twenty years ago how to dress in San Francisco, I would have told you that San Francisco street style is on the dressy side-no jeans, no sweats, no leggings. If you ask me today what San Francisco street style looks like, I will tell you it is uber casual. Ninety percent of the people walking around in the city are wearing jeans, leggings, and casual ensembles. How and why did this change in style happen?

There are a lot of factors which have contributed over the years to the change in San Francisco street style. My Mom will tell you that people wore their very best to go downtown in the 1950s and 1960s. Women wore heels, gloves, and hats. Men would wear suits and scuff-free loafers. People used to take pride in how they dressed; especially when heading to downtown San Francisco.

The 1970s were still dressed up; but the overall style in the 70’s was more casual with the advent of sport coats for men, and pant suits for women. The wrap dress was also popular; and it gave off a more casual vibe then popular dresses from previous decades.

In the 1980s and 1990s, companies in downtown San Francisco still required men and women to wear suits to work. When people came into the city from the suburbs, they still dressed up and adhered to the no-denim, no casual clothing fashion rule. It was at the dawn of the new millennium when everything changed; and it changed fast.

The dot-boom brought in new start up companies to the Bay Area, and in San Francisco proper. These tech and internet companies were run by many GenX-ers and Baby Boomers who wanted to create something new; and not work for “the man” like their parents did.

Our start-up culture in San Francisco was focused on work, work, and work. These new companies did not have a dress code; allowing workers to wear casual clothing, jeans, and show off piercings, colorful hairdo’s; and essentially express themselves through their clothing.

My job moved from the East Bay to downtown San Francisco in 1998. I wore a suit to work everyday. If I wore a pantsuit with a shirt that did not have a collar, I was told my clothing was too casual. No joke. Then, in 2000, something changed. The start-up culture took over San Francisco street style, and changed the way we dressed for work; as well as heading downtown for dinner, shopping, and in general.

All of a sudden, start-up culture took over, and only the finance, insurance, and consulting workers were still walking down the street wearing suits. Montgomery street, which used to be a sea of suits, suddenly became a sea of jeans. People were not just wearing jeans, they were wearing old sneakers, ratty backpacks, and old sweatshirts. And no, they were not homeless; these were highly paid workers from the new tech and Internet start-ups which had popped up South of Market and downtown. These workers changed the fashion of the city. Suits were no longer “chic” or “cool.” They were stuffy, old school, and considered something from our parents generation.

Since it was the dot-boom, I left my conservative, old school job on Montgomery street and joined a start-up in 2000. I cannot tell you how difficult it was for me to switch to wearing jeans at work. I felt grubby. I felt. . . under-dressed and inappropriate. Jeans were always something I loved on the weekends, or when I was not anywhere near downtown. They were something I would never wear if I went downtown to shop or eat out. Jeans were off-duty clothing; they were casual. To wear jeans downtown felt wrong; almost obscene.

I did the dot-com thing, and the wearing jeans downtown thing, for a little over one year until the dot-com I worked for was about to dot-bomb; then I went back to an old school company down the Peninsula and went back to a no-denim dress code. It felt better; I have to admit!

The street style in San Francisco never reverted back to what it once was. The streets of San Francisco remained casual, and continued to grow more casual as time went on in the new millennium. I still question myself when I choose to wear a denim outfit in San Francisco, but when I arrive in the city, I blend in.

I lived in San Francisco for ten years. In those ten years, I watched San Francisco street style go from refined and dressy, to casual and sometimes sloppy. When I was growing up, San Francisco was the center of fashion for the Bay Area. As an adult, I feel like the suburbs dress up more then the city. It is a strange turn of events. It will be interesting to see if a new industry pops up soon, changing the city style landscape back to dressier times; or if the casual culture of the tech industry dominates for generations to come.

Shop my casual San Francisco street style look:

What are your thoughts on San Francisco street style throughout the years? What have you observed?

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy

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