Women! : What shoes are you buying this winter?

Yes folks, its poll time again! This time, we are genuinely interested to discover your opinions on what women’s shoes you are planning to buy this winter season. This is mainly to give us some ideas as to what to so ourselves – the choice is a little overwhelming!

Thanks very much for taking the time to fill out our poll!

Winter is Fast Approaching – Get your Coats

Yes, Winter is just around the corner and with the arrival of cold, late mornings and nights you’ll need a warm comfortable winter jacket for 2009! There is as usual hundreds of different brand names and jacket styles to choose from. Here we are going to select a few that we think are the most stylish and best value for money come this winter 2009.

Budget coat options

As expected, Peacocks have some great women’s coats in their winter range. They have a variety of designs on offer, our favourites include  Parka, Swing coat and Duffle Coats to name a few -  prices range from a very sensible £20.

Grey Button-Up Coat

- Peacocks Grey Button-Up Coat

There are also a selection of affordable jackets with some style over at Essentially Girl.
Women’s Puffer Jackets
The Women’s Puffer Jackets are a great buy for a comfortable, warm winter jacket. They can be more expensive, with prices ranging from £30 to £700 – depending what type of puffer jacket you are after – this Ralph Lauren example at Frasers is very smart.

Gap Boucle Jacket

The Gap Boucle Jacket is an excellent choice for a winter jacket. The Boucle Jacket has a “soft nubby wool,” as Gap describes it, and will definitely add some texture to any outfit. The Gap Boucle Jacket is a excellent price for the jacket your buying at $88 must be seen as a bargain compared to other winter jackets that are no where near as good.

Ruffle Front Military Jacket

The Ruffle Front Military Jacket is available in a variety of colours and with a little bit longer length than the other jackets pointed out, this jacket includes a display of ruffles down the front. This is a great winter jacket that can be worn for nights out on the town or either business related so either way you can’t lose.

These are just a few of our options for Winter Outerwear – if you have any suggestions on What to Wear this Winter they would be greatly appreciated.

Today sees the launch of the 25th London Fashion Week. This year marks the return of some big names to the schedule, including Burberry.

Sky News has a nice analysis of the mood of this years events:

Elle Magazine has produced 25 different covers of thier magazine to mark this occassion – you can see them all here.

If anyone out there is going along to any of the events please give us a shout with what you thought of it!

In response to our last post that dresses seem to be bouncing back big time this Autumn/Winter season, we thought that it would be useful to analyse one of the most popular styles at the moment, and produce this handy maxi dresses online guide!

What exactly IS a Maxi Dress?

Obviously ‘Maxi’ is an abbreviation for ‘Maximum’ which in the case of Maxi Dresses seems to stand for ‘Maximum Comfort’ and ‘Maximum Style’ (and possibly ‘Maximum Length’). The essential elements of the Maxi Dress are a long body, with no shoulders or sleeves (although there are variations) – materials used are often light and airy which gives them a flowing and elegant quality which is perfect for lounging about in the summer sun.

Why are Maxi Dresses so popular?

Partially on the back of some high-profile celebrity endorsments from the like of Jessica Alba, Maxi Dresses began to filter in volumes onto High Street shelves in late 2007. They quickly gained a foothold as they are comfortable and relaxing to wear, as well as being a very adaptable garment that can be worn with a variety of different footwear types, and complementary tops (Jackets and Cardigans).

How do we wear Maxi Dresses then?

There is definitely a degree of care that must be taken when choosing your Maxi Dress – there is some potential for a Fashion Slip-Up if the dress is either too-big (Tent-Factor) or Too Small (tightness loses the Maxi effect). Here’s a few tips…

1. Locate a dress which has a fitted style around the chest region – this will mean that the dress shapes itself to your body, rather than loosely hang off – not recommended
2. If you have a slightly larger body-type than average, try not to buy a Maxi that has a great volume or is fabric-rich, they can look rather bulky and unflattering
3. Unless you are really looking for a hippy-grunge-style then don’t pair your dress with an oversized coat or long sweater

There seems to be a percieved notion that because you may have a shorter frame then you can’t get away with wearing a Maxi Dress, this isn’t actually the case – you just have to construct the outfit with a bit more care! For instance, its probably not the best idea to buy a Maxi that is too long and why not couple your dress with a chunky heel, which will give you the little boost required – trust us it can be done and looks great.

Show us some examples then!

Without any futher ado, here’s some Maxi Dresses that we are big fans of at the moment

Tiana B Maxi Dress

Juicy Couture - Pink Maxi Dress

TopShop Pattern Maxi

Maxi Dress from Peacocks

Smart Maxi from Warehouse

We hope that you found this little post useful, please let us know if you have any tips on Maxi Dresses – and show us some of your favourites as well!

Ok, we don’t want to alarm anyone unduly but we are heading pretty fast into the end of August, meaning that Autumn is just around the corner. Indeed, many of the top fashion retailers have had their Autum/Winter 2009 line-up ready for several months, including Dororthy Perkins.

It seems that everyone from Susan Boyle to Harry Potter Starlet Emma Watson is set to influence high street fashion for this season – it also seems like womens dresses are going to feature prominently this season.

What do you think will be the most popular fashion item this winter?

Look im a guy – ive got no right at all really to comment on Maternity Fashion, it’s designed for a specific need. However, recently ive been quite taken aback by some of the Maternity Wear that is popping up on the high street shelves (i have a few mates who are currently preggers).

When did maternity go grunge?

I was browsing through Peacocks the other day and spotted a few of their maternity tops. They are probably the most pertinent example of the materna-grunge asthetic that seems to be all the rage these days – its all slogans, plaid and paisley patterns – im was half expecting Courtney Love and Kim Deal to be the poster girls for their range. Perhaps all the designers that they have are products of the early 90s glory days of grunge.

Plaid Maternity Shirt - 1993 style

Slogans as well

Paisley patterns - grunge favourite

Im not criticising you understand, i actually think its pretty cool – just so far removed from some of the rather unflattering outfits my mother sported in her time carrying myself and my brother – poor woman on so many levels!

Have you any more examples of the controversial maternity fashion? Let us know!…………

No doubt by now you will have read several hundred posts on this very topic – every blogger worth their salt out there is trying to point you in the right direction of what to wear this summer. Never been shy of jumping on a bandwagon when it comes rolling past, we thought that we would chip in with what we feel are the clothes to wear this summer.

So, without any further ado, here are our top five fashions of the summer 2009………….men, we’ll do you next!

1 – Printed Leggings – these have been a divisive fashion item for a number of years, but since M.I.A started producing them for her own clothing line, they have suddenly became very cool again. Mix and match with care however.

Aztec Leggings - £10 from Peacocks

2 – One-shouldered rules! – Very sexy look if done right, Tops and Dresses with one shoulder are really beginning to come into their own on the high street. Great for summer as they can be used in a variety of scenarios that may arise. Think simple and elegant and you can’t go far wrong, like this from Oasis……

Oasis one shoulder - £35

3 – Transparent Layers – Think of Chiffon and you may have flashbacks of old pictures of your mum in the 1970s – however, this is the 21st century and things have moved on (a bit). Transparent layers are a great, subtle way of enhancing your look.

Aim for this with Chiffon

4 – Denim Skirts – This has been a controversial choice here at WCTW – but the majority prevailed and the denim skirt makes it in the list. Choose with care however.

Denim Skirts are in - we said so

5 – Short Leather Jackets - a great compliment to any look. We like this from Promod, think Uma in Kill Bill Volume 2 and you’re on the right lines.

Promod short leather jacket - £99

Thats our five fashion essentials of summer 2009 -  whats great about these choices is that you can make an outfit by combining each element.

If there are any other essential items that you feel should be included then please let us know – all comments are welcome!

With the unique London fashion Week looming tickets are getting even more popular than the new Chloe handbag that no doubt will be on show, All the latest collections from the biggest and the newest designers in the world will be descending on the Capital for which will be one of the best fashion shows yet held in the city, no doubt there will be all the baggage that will come with it like diva tantrums (would not want any other way) and broken heals on the cat walk  – but one thing we can guarantee is that it will be full of high octane glamour and unique collections.

With this years Braehead Fashion show being a huge success we will be hoping to see these 4 beauty’s again next year as they were the pick of the bunch, they looked absolutely awesome  as they glided down the cat walk in there stylish and very nice ladies clothes.

Style guru Mark Heyes brought some small screen style back home as the 3 day fashion event took place in front of a large and exited crowd .

The Houston man – who has shot to fame as on-screen stylist and presenter for GMTV’s LK Today programme – spent three days at the Renfrew shopping centre telling local fashionistas what to wear this autumn and winter season.

He told the Paisley Daily Express: “This autumn and winter red is the new black. We’ve all heard about the classic little black dress – well this year we have the little red dress, which is going to be all the rage during the party season.

“This year you should look out for Gothic trends and tartan is very much in the frame again this winter.

“The Braehead fashion event was brilliant and the best thing for me was that anything you saw on the stage and catwalk, you could go and buy in the fashion stores at Braehead.”

Braehead’s marketing manager, Lydia Young, said: “Our fashion shows were a huge success and as well as being entertaining, they gave shoppers valuable advice on how to look good this autumn and winter.”

Everywhere I go the high street is laden with shops with a ’sale’ on.  However most of the clothes that are at the special knock down prices are not this seasons clothes they may even be last years clothes. And the big ‘50% Off’ discount poster in lurid pink and black is just designed to get you in the door and look at everything else. I wish there was some honesty about this whole thing.

Times are tough for lots of people: money is tight, unemployment’s rising, the Labour party are spending our money on god knows what today, the Tories are too busy trying to score points, companies are going down the pan and along the high street companies are doing their best to get us through the doors. but most of the time its crap that’s discounted. Give me value, give me quality and give me honesty and you’ve got a loyal returning customer and an advocate of your brand. Give me crap customer service, misleading offers (legally they’re not misleading but personally they often feel that way), last seasons cast offs which no one wanted then let alone now and you’ve got an enemy who’ll spend their money elsewhere.

Here are some deals for you can use to try and beat the credit crunch.

H & M – 20% off in store purchases – Click ‘n’ print an online voucher

For all those fashionistas wanting to pick up a trendy bargain sign up to the H & M newsletter and you can get 20% off one purchase in store. To sign up, go the Hennes website and look out for the 20% off banner on the bottom right hand side of the front page (it rotates with other offers). Simply fill in your details and the voucher will be emailed to you which can be printed off and taken into the store with you.

American Apparel – 10% off online purchases – Click ‘n’ print an online voucher

Sign up to the American Apparel newsletter and receive a 10% off voucher code to use online. Just visit the site and sign up and you’ll then receive an email with your 10% off code. You can even up that discount to 15% by giving them some more information about yourself, just click on ‘Tell us more’ on your confirmation email, add your full address when prompted and you’ll get a 15% off code sent via email to use online.

Burton – 10% off online purchases – Sign up and get an online code

Sign up to the newsletter of men’s retailer Burton and receive 10% off your next purchase – your boyfriend may really appreciate the savings and take you out for dinner with it!Sign up you will immediately be sent a code that entitles you to 10% off your Burton online purchase. This voucher is only available online so you would have to pay the £3.95 charge for a standard 3-5 day delivery, and is valid for approximately two weeks from the date of registration.

Wallis – 10% off online and free delivery – Sign up and get an online code

The website of woman’s high street store Wallis is offering 10% off and free delivery (usually £4) when you sign up to its online newsletter. Simply fill in your details online and it will show you a code that you can enter straight away to get your 10% off on purchases of £30 or more. The discount doesn’t include delivery charges or gift cards and can only be used once per customer.

Aldo – 10% off lovely shoes, bags and accessories – Click ‘n’ print an online voucher

For fancy shoe lovers out there sign up on line to Aldo’s newsletter and receive a voucher for 10% off purchases made in store or online. Print off the voucher and use it in your local store or use the code printed on the voucher to shop with your discount online. The voucher is valid until 31 January 09, and the 10% discount applies to regularly priced merchandise only.

Other stores are have sales on just now:

1. Peacocks Sale – Cheap Clothes just got cheaper (i know that sounds like a tag line from an eighties marketing campaign but I’ve left it in for humour value alone!)
2. I know its not clothing but Urban Retro have a Sale on posters – I love these especially the prints from Ben the Illustrator

Sayonara