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.

BLACK TEXTURES

I know, I know...I have been loving the waxy pants a lot lately, but what's wrong with creating new looks around your favorite piece? I have worn this ensemble to a couple evenings out lately and liked the waxed pant contrasted with a sheer top for a little impact. Different textures lend interest to an all black ensemble. Blouse Target, scarf H&M, chain edged sweater Forever 21, pants Zara, heels Nine West.

CHRISTIAN DIOR PRE-FALL 2012, PART I

Technically these are for next fall, but who says we can't look ahead and start working these trends now? I'm going to start belting everything and layering thin turtlenecks under boxy, '60's type jackets and tunics. And black tights! Black tights with all of it. Yay! All looks from the Christian Dior Pre-Fall 2012 collection.

BELTED COAT

Feel like your outerwear totally drowns out the look underneath? Rather than just throwing a coat over every outfit, why not incorporate the coat into your overall look? An easy way to do this is to belt your coat. We sported the look here, as well. Bazzar and NY Magazine noted the trend, and Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton highlighted belted coats in their Pre-Fall 2012 collections.

HOMAGE TO HANA

I was once walking through the exhibits at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in NYC when I happened upon one of the most stylish women I had ever seen. She was beautiful - stunning to say the least. And yet she was fully covered, head scarf and all.  I then noticed I was not the only one staring at her. She was radiating pure style to everyone who viewed her. Her wide leg trousers, Chanel looking blouse and trim-cut jacket looked like it came right off the runway (not to mention the way she tied her chiffon Hijab was absolutely beautiful and different from what you'd see or expect).  It was uttermost confidence, beauty and a sense of feminine virtue rolled into one beautiful whole. Although it was not Hana from Style Covered (whom we have secretly admired from afar for the way she works within her own moral codes of dress), this girl adhered to Hana's tastes and reminded us of a comment we once heard ... "modest or not, this girl has style." So although many of us have different moral codes that we subscribe to under differing titles of religiosity, or even the overlying ethic of modesty (if you click then scroll down to "modesty in dress" you'll see my favorite quote... "Most people consider the clothes that they are wearing to be modest. Otherwise, they would not wear the clothes. What is considered "modest" in this context will depend on the context when the clothes will be worn and can vary between religions, cultures, generations, occasions, and the persons who are present.) we still have respect for anyone that truly has innate style. 

So with that being said, here's a shout out to Hana and the beautiful things she's doing at her blog Style Covered and her newly started clothing line Maysaa. She's giving so many women more options in their specific moral codes of dress. Although we adhere to differing codes, we have great respect for what she's doing.  We can only hope to follow in her footsteps of creating style that enriches many varying degrees of modesty. 

Long story short, when I put this outfit on the other day I realized that whether Islamic, Jewish, Christian, or other - style can be beautiful and universal. Skirt, Ann Taylor; belt and bracelets, Forever 21; top, Zara; blazer, Zara.

P.S. in this same vein, isn't this Derek Lam dress Beautiful?