2012 VANITY FAIR OSCAR PARTY - MODEST DRESSES

 Miley Cyrus in Roberto Cavalli

 Clair Danes in Valentino

 Elizabeth Banks in Chadwick Bell

 Elizabeth Olsen in Christian Dior

Georigina Chapman in Marchesa

Lily Collins in Monique Lhuillier

Some are saying that the annual Vanity Fair Oscar party had a better red carpet than the Oscars. We may be tempted to agree. There were definitely some very stunning dresses seen. For instance, don't you just love the Monique Lhuillier dress at the bottom? SO beautiful. We saw the Valentino gown Claire Danes is wearing in the pre-fall collection and thought it a little princessy. But seeing it actually worn is very nice (even though the top is obviously sheer...remember, we love linings). And it's sort of nice to see Miley wearing something more covered. What do you guys think? And we promise this is the last Oscar post....

THE PASHMINA SCARF

How do you tie a pashmina scarf? There are so many different ways that there is really no wrong way. Honestly, (and we know everyone says this) when we were touring in Paris we were really inspired by the imaginative and sophisticated ways Parisian women tied their scarves. So we went home and experimented. Now we just twist and tie away until we feel it looks good and finished. Generally, we found that we love our scarves to be pretty full and cozy. We don't know about you, but it makes us feel like we're wrapped up in a blanket. Scarves are and will always be a staple for colder weather, so they're definitely one of the layering pieces you don't want to leave home without.You can also check out others who can't leave home without them... Katherine Heigel here and Anna Wintour here. This look for us is really an everyday, casual one playing with hues of brown paired with navy and grey. Vintage navy blazer, Zara messenger clutch and sweater, and Nordstrom boots. 

OSCAR RED CARPET 2012 - MODEST DRESSES

 Gwyneth Paltrow in Tom Ford

Octavia Spencer in Tadashi Shoji

 Shailene Woodley in Valentino Couture

 Maya Rudolph in Johanna Johnson

 Louise Roe in Black Halo

Kelly Osbourne in Badgley Mischka

Gwyneth Paltrow definitely stole the red carpet in our opinion last night at the Oscars. Cream seemed to be the color of the night. We liked this quote from the fashion blogging world... "Amongst a sea of heavily embellished dresses that spanned the rainbow of colors, the always stunning Paltrow opted for the simplicity of TOM FORD." According to Isabel Wilkinson of The Daily Beast, Tom Ford deemed this gown his favorite of the upcoming Autumn/Winter 2012 Collection because it is “dead simple.” And this is exactly why we too loved it so much. The simplicity, yet sharp lines looked so refreshing on the red carpet. And didn't Octavia Spencer look so sweet in her Tadashi Shoji gown? How could you not love her refreshing attitude on the red carpet. The Valentino Couture worn by Shailene Woodley was definitely daring in it's simplicity as well. We figured we'd show you the almost fully covered dress and see your take on it. Also, although Kelly Osbourne's hair is obviously a bit difficult to get past, we saw this dress on the fall 2012 Badgley Mischka runway and thought the sleeves were nice. We really liked Guiliana Rancic's Tony Ward gown with gorgeous cap sleeves, but thought it just a wee low cut in front so we didn't post it (but you can check it out here). All in all, the gowns were definitely more understated this year. What are your thoughts on them?

OSCAR DRESSES 2012 PREDICTIONS- Will they wear it on the red carpet?

 Carolina Herrera

 

 Jenny Packham

 Jenny Packham

  Marchesa

 

 Michael Kors

 Oscar de la Renta

 Zac Posen

 Zac Posen

For the celebrities that want to be a little more covered up, here are our guesses in more "modest looks" for the Academy Awards tomorrow. For instance we could totally see our fellow Juilliard graduate and nominee Jessica Chastain in the blue Oscar de la Renta dress. Or maybe Rooney Mara or Michelle Williams in one of the Jenny Packham dresses. But it's hard to say which ones will make it to the actual red carpet. What are your guesses?

(Oh and pardon the red Marchesa roses dress. We had to put it up even though the top of the dress isn't terribly modest)

CLUB MONACO SPRING 2012 - LESSONS IN LAYERING

Ever wondered how to layer clothing well? These looks from Club Monaco for this season show exactly that - layering done perfectly. We'll definitely be taking a cue from these looks. Go ahead and view the whole collection here.

MODEST LOOKBOOK - Kate middleton's belted coat

No wonder Kate Middleton won Vogue's "10 best dressed" this week. She definitely has a very refined style. And  do you believe us yet? Belt your coats and jackets! This particular coat is from Hobbs if you'd like to buy it. Then again, it's probably sold out by now.

CAPES - FALL 2012

We've been seeing this particular fashion trend on and off for a couple of years now. But it seems for Fall 2012 capes have finally taken hold. There were many designers who used the cape as an alternative to coats and jackets. Although here I used mine in a more preppy way, if I had seen the way 3.1 Phillip Lim sent his version down the runway in his fall 2012 collection, I would've definitely rocked it out a bit more. You obviously have to be a bit more brave to wear a cape outside of a bigger city (as I am doing here). I'm not gonna lie, I felt a bit self conscious. But I'm gonna build up the confidence for fall. We told you up there that if you're brave you'll have lots of options in fashion! Well here's one that you're just now starting to see more of on the street.Cape is vintage, pants are H&M, white button down vintage, Aldo bag and Nine West pumps. 

MODEST LOOKBOOK - Erdem Pre-Fall 2012

Hey everyone! We decided to start what we're calling our "Modest Lookbook." Here you can view some of our favorite images of the week, including clothing that inspires us, fashion that fits within our aesthetics, designers that are doing beautiful things, and people in the spotlight that are dressing as we would dress. This week we figured we'd start with this beautiful look from the Erdem Pre-Fall 2012 line.  These are such simple concepts, but done in such a classic way. 

So, until next time! We hope you start to look forward to our Modest Lookbook!

RED JEANS & FUR COLLAR

Fur was everywhere at the Fall 2012 Fashion Week. There were fur coats, of course, but also fur vests, fur hats, and, my personal fave, fur collars. I'm working two trends here, the (faux) fur collar and bright pants, and am undecided if the combo is too much. Hmm, what do you think? Should I have gone with a neutral pant in this look? Sweater with faux fur collar and bag Zara, blazer and boots thrifted, jeans Fire from Nordstrom.

CHRISTIAN DIOR PRE-FALL 2012, PART II

Awesome more modest dresses, right? I want to wear the top two looks right now on stage. Fantastic. My mind is racing trying to figure out how to recreate that blue blouse/fabulous necklace/long black formal skirt look....All looks from the Christian Dior Pre-Fall collection.

BASIC WHITE SHIRT

I've had this white button down that literally looks like a men's shirt. When I picked it out my Thread Ethic cohort didn't think it was worth it since it looked a bit like a painters smock.  That was last year. This year I am absolutely loving the way it falls, length and all. This outfit is made up of VERY simple elements in black and white, but as we've seen with the Fashion Week this past week, simple silhouettes aren't going anywhere (3.1 Phillip Lim's Fall 2012 line is just one example).

MARC JACOBS FALL 2012 - a parody on street style?

                            We've gone from Spring RTW 2012 here,                                 To Fall RTW 2012 here.

The Spring RTW (ready to wear) line definitely looks more "ready to wear". The fall RTW line looks more like a "couture" example to us.

Funny, we were just tweeting about this. When we saw the Marc Jacobs Fall 2012 line that showed last night, we were a bit overwhelmed with the literal "mass" of clothing. Right when we saw the massive hats, scarves, skirts, crazy mixture of patterned socks and shoes our first thought was almost exactly what we tweeted last night; "why does it look like people are wearing their closets?"

The state of street style in the fashion world is all over the place at the moment. What happened to good, clean, tasteful clothing? We've tried finding images to pin in Pinterest to show what's going on there, but it's definitely proven difficult to do it in taste. Everyone is trying to out-do each other. People are running around like clowns. Marc Jacobs even said some of his muses were the likes of Anna Piaggi (who never steps out without a hat; an aspect definitely seen at the show) and Lynn Yaeger.

So is Marc's line sort of a "can't beat them, join them" type of homage?

We think Marc Jacob's fall 2012 line was a parody on the current state of style, notably street style. Esquire put up a blog a few days ago that puts the state of "street style" so well. We know we are pseudo-hypocrites in the writer's eyes since we're technically a street style blog. But we are trying to do this for different reasons than parading around in loud outfits. Standards in modesty make some women feel a bit confined in their fashion options. We're trying to open those options up and give people confidence to dress with taste. We will always love Marc Jacobs and give him the respect he deserves for his courage in strong design. This time we'll just take a step back to watch and see what will come of it.

GRAMMYS AND BAFTA 2012 - Dresses with sleeves

Carrie Underwood in Gomez Gracia

Paris Hilton in Basil Soda

Taylor Swift in Zuhair Muard

Adele in Armani

Katy Perry in Elie Saab

Fearne Cotton in Moschino

Emilia Fox in Luisa Beccaria

Christina Ricci in Givenchy

Jessica Brown-Findlay in Alessandra Rich

Tilda Swinton in Celine

And lastly, Milla Jojovich in Elie Saab. (Academy of motion picture arts and sciences awards)

(--->Thank you Cristina Bedwell for your facebook tip)

It was definitely a red carpet weekend! We were excited to see so many dresses with sleeves gracing the walkway. So many styles of sleeves were shown too; from cap, to three quarter, to long,  it's definitely fun to see so many options. And why is this? Because so many designers are putting out awesome clothing right now that fit right into our aesthetics. We definitely liked some better than others, but figured we'd let you see most the options.