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I may reside in Los Angeles during the school year, but San Diego is and always will be home. It's a truly beautiful city and no matter how busy I get or how crazy life in LA is, I can always count on San Diego to give me peace and serenity in the form of glorious rays of sunshine and fabulous shopping.
If San Diego is my home, then Fashion Valley is my oasis. So many favorite memories of the gorgeous mall, so many great purchases made. It's because of Fashion Valley that I didn't realize indoor malls actually existed until middle school, and it was there that I cultivated my own personal style. In a sense I grew up there - I transitioned from Roxy-wearing elementary schooler to sassy Abercrombie middle schooler (oh, those were dark days) to full-fledged fashionista, all with the help of Fashion Valley. I really owe a lot to the place and whenever I make a trek home you know that I'll be stopping by.
So imagine my excitement when a representative of Curator PR (who oversees public relations for Fashion Valley) gave me the awesome news that Fashion Valley was introducing a few new stores this year (as if I needed more reasons to go!).
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| Looks from Free People's March 2014 Catalog |
Among the new additions: Free People and AllSaints, both brands that you know I love! This will be the first standalone AllSaints store in San Diego or Orange Counties and you can be sure that it's going to look beautiful.
PINK of Victoria's Secret is also getting it's own standalone store, which will allow the preexisting Victoria's Secret to expand, and workout mavens beware, because lululemon is finally coming to Fashion Valley. Maybe if I get a pair of "wunder unders" I'll actually be motivated to work out? Who knows.
Anyways, I am totally stoked for all these new additions to my favorite hometown mall. AllSaints opened this past weekend and the rest of the stores are set to open within the year, so get your credit cards ready and I'll see you there!
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| Looks from AllSaints Spring 2014 |
As contradictory as it may seem, I've been noticing camouflage prints more and more (get it, because camouflage is supposed to make you more invisible). There was once a time when I was all about the camouflage - I distinctly remember this awful gray sweater I would wear, and I'm sure I had an assortment of pink *girly* camo products as well. Naturally I overdid it, and then proceeded to boycott the print at all costs. It was a remnant of my poor tween fashion choices - and the poor fashion choices of the early 2000s in general - and I was probably fatigued (oh, puns) by the amount of times I saw camo (mostly the unflattering digitized desert kind) in my heavily military hometown.
The way I saw it, camouflage in its normal form was too practical to be fashionable. When I was younger, at least, the only way to make the print "girlier" was to tinge it pink, but I quickly saw how cheesy that was.
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| 1. Valentino | 2. Valentino | 3. J. Crew | 4. Prism | 5. Valentino | 6. Madewell |
Nowadays I'm coming back around to the idea of incorporating the military print back into everyday wear. Army and navy influences have always been there in fashion, and with the recent popularity of the army green jacket, I'm not all too surprised to see camo come back in style.
The key to camo's present success has not been "girly-ing it up" with pink hues and rhinestones. No, today's woman is more natural and desires to keep her appropriated garment pieces more authentic. Instead the print has been applied to feminine pieces - swimsuits, classic pumps, form fitting T-shirts and skinny jeans - and accessorized with airy silks and ladylike extras to give that perfect feminine/masculine balance.
I am absolutely honored to have one of my blog posts featured amongst so many other talented bloggers in this week's Links à la Mode, the weekly round-up of fashion blog posts created by members of the Independent Fashion Bloggers network.
If you haven't checked it out already, make sure you read my advice on what to wear when you go shopping, and be sure to read some of the other fabulous posts from fellow fashion bloggers!
Stylegiest
This week in fashion has been bittersweet. First we lost a very talented woman, L'Wren Scott. Then the end of a particularly brutal Winter, Spring has officially begun. It's the changing of the guard, endings and beginnings, reminding us that nothing is forever. We have several links that challenge both old ideas (racism, sexism, both) and how to bring in the new (setting our Spring budget, getting to the gym, improving our diets) and even a nicely written post sympathizing with Fashion Blogger's significant others -- they have it so hard putting up with us!
Links à la Mode: March 20th
- Adored in Armor: Flappers Hear Them Roar
- Cat Eyes & Skinny Jeans: Ciaté Mini Mani Month Set Review
- Confessions of a Style Cookie: At the Chanel Marché
- FASHSTASH: Cultural Appropriation or Appreciation?
- Fish Monkey's Writing: Women's History and Diversity in Fashion
- Lara Lizard: Become a Model, But Pay First!
- Les Assorties: A Scent From Another Era
- Madame Ostrich: Her Name is L'Wren Scott
- Ms. Fabulous: How to Become a Stylist to the Stars
- Rhinestone Religion: 5 Quick Tips for Incredible Workout Motivation
- Romeo Style: Fashion Spring Proofing
- Saturn Satori: Fit and Beautiful: Eat Like a Model
- Style Context: Five Petite Wardrobe Myths
- The Creative Bent: 10 Problems with Dating a Fashion Blogger
- The Curatorial: Stop Racism: Walter Van Beirendonk's Paris Presentation
- The Fashion Barbie: What to Wear While Shopping
- The Walrus Room: Quick Tips for Dressing Like The Young Witches of AHS
- Trendsurvivor: The Must Have New Jeans & How to Wear Them
- We Are Ready Made: Are We Going to Miss The Sweatshirts?
- What Pixies Wear: Blue Coat Trend in Fashion
SPONSOR: East Dane Seea, Jed Marne, Michael Michael Kors, Ferragamo Sandals, YSL, SH Athletics, Ben Minkoff, Faherty, Venroy, Jimmy Choo
Want to be featured in Links à la Mode?
Want to be featured in Links à la Mode?
1. Read the clarified rules and submit your links on this page: Links à la Mode.
2. If your link was selected and you need this week’s code, visit this page: Links à la Mode Code.
As I've previously commented upon, the Mulleavy sisters (the designing duo behind Rodarte) have always been inspired by film, and this season it seems that the force was totally with them. They had dresses emblazoned with the Death Star, alien planets from a galaxy far far away, and some of the original trilogy's main characters. I'm pretty sure I said something along the lines of "These are the best outfits to wear to ComicCon if you are a nerd but also quite fashionable and not into cosplaying" ... or something like that.
Rodarte, however, rarely establishes a trend. The brand often feels like a fairytale, existing in its own world and influencing itself but not really other fashion houses. I loved the influence of Star Wars but I didn't feel like it would be an inspiration anywhere else.
And yet the Rodarte show stuck with me. I kept spying Star Wars influences everywhere I went. Dark starry prints on a dress at Fendi. Futuristic utilitarian suits at Andrew Gn and Maxime Simoens conjured up images of more fashionable storm troopers. Reed Krakoff had one look that perfectly resembled a genderbent version of Han Solo.
When Preen featured not one but two looks with Darth Vader's iconic helmet screened onto the fabric, I knew this wasn't a coincidence. It seemed Rodarte was indeed on to something when they dedicated their fall presentation to Luke Skywalker & Co.
Maybe the fashion world is just as excited as the rest of us are for the new era of Star Wars movies that is coming to us soon, thanks to Disney and J.J. Abrams. Maybe fashion designers are more nerdy than their cool all-black ensembles make them out to be.
Whatever the case may be, I am totally digging the Star Wars influence of the fall 2014 runways. Are you?
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