GUESS accessories get aquatic

Well I don’t know about you, but I have been practically swimming to work lately, and considering our basement flooded last week I may even have to think about investing in a rubber dinghy in order to be able to actually do my job. Or at least indulge in a snazzy pair of jelly shoes like the style Azealia Banks was seen sporting this week. Yes it’s fair to say it has been yet another less than impressive and rather rainy Summer, and I’m sure I speak on behalf of the entire British population when I say; wouldn’t it be nice to escape to a beautiful beach somewhere?

Luckily, one of the main themes emanating through from the summer 2012 catwalk shows was all things oceanic, from clothes through to accessories. Designers including Versace and even London Fashion Week woman of the moment Mary Katrantzou had both clearly sought their inspiration from the sea. The latest label to jump on this beachy bandwagon is the brand synonymous with denim, GUESS, who of course turned the big 3-0 this year. This season saw the launch of their exotic, extremely on trend and very fitting for the summer, GUESS Starfish collection. Created with very detailed enamel beads and even hand applied Austrian crystals in turquoise blue hues reminiscent of a beautiful Leonardo Dicaprio-in-the-The Beach-type ocean backdrop set against shimmering silver in sculptural and textured starfish shapes. Now available on the GUESS website, prices range from £45 – £175.

GUESS has been gaining far more notoriety on account of their accessories. Proving yet again this summer that they are about far more than just denim after being chosen as the exclusive watch brand to gift an array of A-List artists who performed at the Capital FM Summertime Ball earlier this month such as Katy Perry, Rihanna and Jessie J. More on their watch collections in my previous post from when I attended their press day - GUESS who is celebrating their 30th birthday?

The eternal feminine: Valentino Spring/Summer 2012

I was such a big fan of Valentino‘s Autumn/Winter 2011 collection that the other day I was considering doing something that only die-hard fashion obsessives do: watch a live video of the Spring/Summer 2012 show in Paris. In the end, I didn’t have time, but when I got around to catching up on what I’d missed, I was not disappointed.

The hems might have gone up and down, and the pops of bright pastel throughout the show might have been thoroughly modern, but the billowy sleeves, intricate embellishment, high neck lines and elegantly nipped in waists were very late Edwardian. It reminded me of the costumes of Downton Abbey, when fashion teetered on the brink of the loose waistlines of the 1920s and it was all about masterful drapery.

The barely-there sandals made it look like the models were walking barefoot, ready to run through a field on a summer’s day with their hair in elegantly dishevelled crowns of plaits (and we know how I feel about those). The lace, the sheer, flowing fabrics – it was all so pretty and just very… well, sweet. As Lisa Armstrong put it, it was full of old school charm. What I love so much about the Valentino dresses is that they look like pieces of unselfconscious art, effortless in their understated beauty. They look like the kind of dresses you would want to pass down to your children and to their children, for each generation to tenderly unwrap from the tissue paper and wear to Gatsby-esque parties, where “men and girls [come and go] like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars,” and the band plays “yellow cocktail music” as the “lights grow brighter [and] the earth lurches away from the sun.”

Whether it’s just shy of the 1920s, or full blown Charleston-dancing, flapper style dropped waistline, there’s no doubt that the big trend for women’s silhouettes this year is a loose and yet feminine shape. These soft fabrics suggest, but never give it all away.