Gail Carriger Talks Spring 2012 Fashion Trends #3 ~ Prints

One of the things to do for Spring 2012 is to mix prints. I'm not quite able to get behind this particular branch of the trend. (Although I might try it while in England just to be experimental.) Perhaps it reminds me of the 80s too much. Perhaps it is the fact that you need to buy prints in the same color family to pull this off well and I just don't invest in prints that often. However, I am getting rather taken with all the pretty flower prints I'm seeing everywhere.

So my thought on flower prints is to pick one statement print you really like and roll with it. Something light with clear colors for spring. If you don't want to bee too gilry there are some pretty cool abstract and stylized pieces out there.

This skirt has a peplum too, very on trend. I tend to be wary of overly bold prints, like the one above because (particularly with The Rack) I want to be careful about how the prints cover, point out, and emphasize body parts.

Here's a relatively subtle one. I like bolder prints if they lean a little Asian, as the one above does, or decidedly retro, which the smaller prints will do.

Here are some lovely retro ways to wear this season's prints.

Left is a funky street retro 60s look; right is the lovely Tuppence Ha'penny by Charlotte

 Here are some of my favorites from Spring 2012.

And here are some blasts from the past . . .

 1922 Wiener Werkstätte The Metropolitan Museum of Art & Emilio Pucci, 1970s  1stdibs.com

mark shaw model in studio of marc chagall (1950s?)

Recently spotted in magazine, awfully familiar looking, no?

Don't want to do your print as a full dress? There are some great ways to accessorize with print these days. Also I do love the partial print, jsut at the hem or neckline. Like an embellishment they will act to draw attention to a particular area.

Or you could accessorize with cake!

And, of course, I could let you go without choosing something for one of my characters to wear. Here we have a gown for Sophronia, the main character in the Finishing School books.

1850 Dressing Gown The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Book Outfits ~ In the Pink with Soulless by Gail Carriger

Just for fun, Fashionable reader, I've decided to start up with some outfits to match my book covers. Why not?

Soulless formal . . .

1930's style pink gown from Hubba Hubba in Burbanck, black cloche hat from Marshalls, jet bead tassel necklace from Dark Garden, black leather gloves from T.K. Maxx in Germany, vintage beaded clutch gifted from a friend, Irregular Choice wedge heals from Oxford Street in London, and H&M blazer.

Soulless casual . . .

H&M knit pale pink top, grey skinny jeans from Ross, typewriter key earrings from a steampunk convention, cuff band from an import shop in downtown Santa Cruz, vintage black handbag from Moon Zoom, the same wedge heals as above.

A range of vintage outfit options . . .

1893 and 1897 by Liberty & Co. of London, one of the greatest promoters of the Aesthetic Dress movement

1880s Ballgown

Downton Abby

1929 Jean Patou hat via The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

1940s right is from Timeless Vixen Vintage

1950s  Timeless Vixen Vintage

 Mad Men

1960s  1stdibs.com; 1960s Cocktail Dress  Vintageous

1960s Marc Bohan for Dior, Augusta Auctions; 1961 Hubert de Givenchy The Metropolitan Museum of Art

And some modern takes on the color . . .

Evan-Rachel-Wood-Preen; Herve Leger

McQueen-Resee

Then & Now ~ Old Gol

Then . . .

1836 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Now . . .

March 2012 Hunger Games Premier

That is all.

Gail Carriger Talks Hats with Netting

I kind of love netting on a hat. I've no logical explanation for this, I just do. It's the veiled mystery, or something. Anyway, they've been showing up on the Fall runways. Jill sander put a netted beenie up on hers. Which, honestly, is a little too peculiar even for me. But I adore a vintage or retro hat with a bit of netting for style. I get used to the slight obstruction to my vision pretty quickly. But then I spent the 80s with that deep side part hair over one eye look, so . . .

1938 via The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I have only two netted hats in my collection, and one can be worn with or without the netting. I do have the netting to add to some of the other hats, but this is strangely difficult to do, much harder than one would think.

In the "Tarantula" hat. It's made of three prongs of brown fur and a velvet bow, and looks a little like part of a fuzzy spider perched on ones head, with netting. I love it, of course. It's a vintage find from Decades of Fashion on Height Street in San Francisco. They aren't cheap. I think I paid about $40 for this tiny thing.

I do sort of love the idea of a tiny follie of a hat with netting coming off of it. Or even, no hat at all.

Of course it is more common to have a larger follie, one that perches forward with the net coming off of it. Netting shows up on vintage hats of all different shapes and sizes. Here are some 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s examples.

And lastly, one for Prudence to wear . . .

Riding Hat 1905 The Metropolitan Museum of Art