Trendy Horror?

When we think of movies as fashion inspiration, titles like The Devil Wears Prada, or 27 Dresses, or I am Love come to mind. Rarely does one equate a horror flick with couture trends. And then you get a movie like Fruit Chan's "Dumplings", a surprisingly fashion-forward movie. The clothing worn by the two lead women in this 2004 film has elements one might recognize from the Autumn 2011/Spring 2012 catwalks. Mixed prints? Check. Colour blocking? Check. Wedges and platform shoes? Check. Asian influence? Androgynous silhouettes? Done and done. Since, because of the disturbing content of the movie, we can't exactly recommend it to anyone but horror aficionados, we'll leave you with a few stills to illustrate our point. 

    

Source: meinte-film.blogspot.ca

Trend: Florals

Source: shopbop.com

Spring is synonymous with blooming, beautiful flowers...in your garden, and in your wardrobe. Pack on some flower power, and stay super trendy this season!

Trend: Bright shoes

Sirens Storefront, Metropolis at Metrotown, BC

Nine West Storefront, Metropolis at Metrotown, BC

The bright colours that we spoke about in our last post are exploding all over our favourite accessories. Subtlety is passe this season!

Colours of Spring

While we're currently waiting with bated breath to see if the weather will finally make up its mind, the stores are already flaunting their brand new offerings for Spring. We've seen what the runways have to offer for the season, and if you want to catch up on what happened on the catwalks, you can hop onto M's blog here.

On LWIS, though, for now, we're primarily interested in colour. Pantone's report for the trending colours of the season are in, and we've got the skinny for you.

Lady Hues

From L to R: Nanette Leopore, Ella Moss, ADAM by Adam Lippes and Tracy Reese

From L to R: Barbara Tfank, Pamella Roland, Cynthia Steffe, NAHM, Adrienne Vittadini and Rafael Cennamo

From warm tones such as tangerine, sunny yellow, and cabaret pink, to cool tones such as deep maritime and bright cockatoo blue to soft pastels, such as lilac, lavender and margerita green, to earthy neutrals such as starfish brown and driftwood grey, this year's palette has an eclectic range of tones and shades, and promises to be a year of bold statements.






Man tones

From L to R: Hyden Yoo, Tommy Hilfiger, and Bill Blass

Do not be fooled by the muted palette on the picture; it was just that sketches were unavailable for the rest of the shades. 
Menswear too, sees a lot of variety this season. They share the deep blue and fresh tangerine and sunny yellow with the women, but in place of the deep pink, the menfolk will be wearing a richer wine red. There are two fresh colours in the mid-range: grass green and ocean blue.  Amongst neutrals, khaki sees a revival, and then there's starfish brown and a deep brown-grey shade called tradewinds. 














Light or dark, bright or subdued, the colour charts this year allow for a lot of flexibility. What will you pick?

....and that's a wrap!

With the 84th Annual Academy Awards, we bid adieu to a year of on-screen accolades. This is the big daddy of all the award shows, the one we've been counting down to.

Before we get down to the red carpet, we'd like to take a moment to bid adieu to one of our founding members, M, who's decided to focus on his own path for now. You can take a look at his red carpet picks here. Keep watching this blog for new members very soon, as we expand towards our ultimate vision for LWIS.

With that out of the way, here are S' favourite looks from the red carpet.

Emma Stone in Giambattista Valli

 

What's not to love about Emma Stone? She's smart, quirky, and a total fox. From TV to the big screen, she brings a refreshing no-bullshit confidence to all her roles, and she's not afraid to make fun of herself.

We're totally miffed at her very obvious Oscar snub, considering practically everyone who was not Emma Stone got a nomination. Nonetheless, she's been a total winner on the red carpet this year, with each appearance outdoing the previous one.

Stylist Petra Flannery has hit just the right notes in her picks for this titian-haired beauty, picking flowing Grecian style gowns that flatter her figure, in colours that complement her porcelain skin. For the Academy Awards show, Emma sported a rose-coloured Giambattista Valli gown, which is an updated take on the fire-engine red Balenciaga dress worn by Nicole Kidman at the Oscars in 2007.

Michelle Williams in Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs

This year's awards were pretty much a celebration of classical Hollywood, with Hugo and The Artist racking up an impressive number of awards. This was reflected in the clothing, hair and make-up for many a starlet. 

Michelle Williams has been working with New York stylist and former Vogue editor Kate Young of the Magnet Agency for her looks this awards season, and sporting a lot of bright colour. 

The trend culminated tonight in this sweet, fresh tangerine Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs number. The starlet stuck to her Marilyn theme with Old-Hollywood glam in her make-up.

Jessica Chastain in Alexander McQueen

One of the popular trends for this year's Oscars was strapless, with many actresses choosing to bare their shoulders in some glam gowns.

Jessica Chastain, who has been working with stylist Elizabeth Stewart this awards season, has so far stuck to form-fitting gowns in solid colours, sliding up and down the colour spectrum.

The Tree of Life actress broke this trend at the Academy Awards by opting for a bespoke black floor-length Alexander McQueen gown embellished in some serious gold wowza. As if this regal confection wasn't opulent enough, she topped it off with some $2 million worth of jewelry. Those yellow diamond earrings are to die for.  

Viola Davis in Vera Wang

Although Meryl Streep's Best Actress win upset the many who were rooting for Viola Davis for her performance in The Help, this lady is a winner on the red carpet.

While there's some love-hate debate going on with her choice of the emerald green Vera Wang gown for the night, you've gotta admit, the colour looks good on her. Whether you love or dislike the dress, this daring lady, who cites her mom as her hair stylist, made the right call in leaving her wigs at home and wearing her actual crop of curls.

Milla Jovovich in Elie Saab

That knowing smile. That smouldering stare. If Hollywood is loving its sexy sirens right now, they've certainly found a winner in Milla Jovovich.

The Academy Awards debutante made the apt choice of a white gown, and how. This silver white one-shouldered Elie Saab number, with its detailed beading has just the right amount of sparkle and bling. The 1940's wavy hair, and the bright red lips complete the picture of glamour. 

This awards season has been one big roller-coaster ride, but we're walking away with a couple of key trends for the rest of the year. In no particular order:

* Grecian silhouettes and fabrics

* Red lips

* Winged liner

* Loose waves

*Pastels 

* Nudes

*Shimmer

* Colour blocking

Grammy Awards Red Carpet

We've been covering all the film award shows, but don't forget it's more than just film in the awards season. Today's post is strictly about the red carpet for the Grammy Awards and the celebs who graced us with their fabulous presence. Here are our favorite looks from the evening.
images shared from stylebistro.com

S&M's pick

Taylor Swift in Zuhair Murad

S' pick

Rihanna in Armani (although S wasn't too crazy about the hair)

M's pick

Katy Perry in Elie Saab couture gown

S&M's pick

Kelly Rowland in Alberta Ferretti

S' pick

Paris Hilton in Basil Soda

M's pick

Julianne Hough in Kaufman Franco (smartly avoiding accessories)

S&M's pick

Joyce Di Donato

S' pick

Mika Newton

 M's pick

Miranda Lambert in Pavoni

Up next, naturally, is the biggest show of them all: the Academy Awards. Expect nothing but the best on the red carpet at the Oscars.

Lonely Hearts in Style

Valentine's Day is fine and dandy for the lucky in love. For others, it can be a depressing experience, with the media going all out with the romantic messages. This is particularly true for the newly-single. A couple of stylish Youtubers try to use fashion to beat the break-up blues. We're bringing your our favourites.

Chriselle Lim is a fashion wardrobe stylist and a fashion blogger (like our M). In this clip, she talks about using colour in clothing to uplift the mood, and also to present a confident face to the world outside.

Michelle Phan is a make-up instructor and spokesperson for Lancome. She's brought us a sugar-sweet make-up tutorial to ease the bitterness of a broken heart.