2ND BEIJING FILM FESTIVAL

Zhang Ziyi in Alessandra Rich

Fan Bingbing in Tadashi Shoji

Crystal Liu

The 2nd annual Beijing film Festival held this past week was quite a stir in the Chinese media. It was a chance for that country to see all of its stars in one place...a red carpet the size of a football field. And of course the women looked stunning. We've been fans of Zhang Ziyi for quite some time now, so it was awesome to see her do away with the glitz of the night and go ultra cool in her Alessandra Rich dress. And then there was Fan Bingbing. Her red carpet looks have been pretty awesome as you can see here, here and here. But she really hit it out of the park with her 20's glamour Tadashi Shoji look. (By the way Tadashi Shoji is doing some awesome things right now for the modest dressing crowd, and it's not out of this world in affordability.) We like her style best out of  all the young Chinese actresses. Also, the west's fashion world is definitely taking note.
Lastly, Crystal Liu (or Liu Yifei) changed her dress twice for the film festival and this is her second look. We've looked everywhere for the maker of the dress but can't find any info on it (that is, in english). It looks slightly Elie Saab-ish, from his Spring couture line, but not quite. In any case we thought she looked rather nice. I think we may be seeing more from these women in the future as Chinese film continues to make huge strides. By the way, James Cameron and other heavy hitters from the west were there that night and many news articles after the event spoke about how China is like the American film industry in the 20's, in the sense that so much is happening, so fast. It's just exploding onto the scene right now. James Cameron told press that many Chinese cities are just about to get their first movie theaters, and they'll be full 3-d theaters! Kind of a crazy thought there.

PAIRING TEXTURES - Denim and Tulle

We love when different textures are paired together. There's something kind of nice about the rough against the sweet, like when you see leather paired with chiffon, or in this case, denim paired with tulle. And do you know when we started seeing this specific denim and tulle combo? On the runways of 2010 (back where the denim trend was taking off. You can see the look here. You can also see a shot from backstage at D&G here).We feel bringing in an element of texture is what makes some outfits more interesting. A lot of us don't very often think of texture as being an element in dressing, and I must admit we hadn't either.  Sometimes you just go off the instinct of  'oh this could use a fur element' or 'this could use a tweed' 'or maybe leather would help this.' For instance, one of us is dying to pair a long chiffon dress of hers with a leather jacket soon. We'll let you know how it turns out. By the way, we loved this picture from Vogue China (Feb. 2012) that kind of illustrates the juxtaposition of denim paired with something more formal. So we say go for it! Start pairing rough and sweet (kinda like the sour patch kids commercials....:) 

(P.S. don't you think sometimes nature has it right all along? The bird pictured was definitely an inspiration for this color combo.)

ZINA FROM FASHION VIBE - Blog Highlight

So we've been watching Zina from Spain for a while now (at her blog Fashionvibe-blog.blogspot.com), and we had to show you all what she's been up to. We know we can't show you everything from her blog because it's all amazing, but we can show you some of her most recent looks. What we love about her style is her perfect blend of class and edge. She can't really be labelled to have a specific style, like "preppy," or "rocker," or "traditional," because really she's all of those. So keep up the awesome styling Zina, and you, like us should keep an eye out for her....

THE DUCHESS - "African Cats" Premiere

Kate Middleton stepped out in a Matthew Williamson pre-fall 2012 dress on Wednesday night for the London premiere of Disney's "African Cats" (a documentary done in 2011 which is now being released in theaters to help promote the charity work Disney is doing for wildlife protection in Africa). It's funny how all growing up it was William that was always in the spot light, but now he steps out with his wife and he's very much in the background to everyone getting a glimpse of what Kate is doing or wearing. Don't get us wrong, we've always loved William's poise and eloquence with the media, but now it's definitely a power couple who step out together. We love these guys.

WHAT WE WORE - Clinton Kelly at Macy's City Creek

Since Desirae couldn't be there this past Saturday, we had Alison (Melody's sis-in-law) fill in in her absence. And would you ever believe that this girl has 3 kids? Yeah, tell us about it. And look how effortlessly cool she is. By the way, I would've been tempted to put heels with this look, but she definitely doesn't need them... she's 5'9" without them.  I had to wear heels just to keep up with her! Man, sometimes it's hard being a part of an extended family where all of the girls are almost 6'....

MODEST PROM AND EVENING WEAR - Ready to Buy

$100-200 range

ABS by Allen Schwartz (bloomindales)

Max & Cleo (bloomingdales)

$200 - 500 range

Tadashi Shoji

Badgley Mischka 

(it seems like the portrait collar could give a bit more coverage if needed)

Tadashi Shoji (bloomindales)

Tadashi Shoji

$500 - 700 range

Tadashi Shoji

Robert Rodriguez

David Meister

Badgley Mischka

David Meister

Aidan Mattox

Aidan Mattox

St.John

Rikki Freemen

David Meister

David Meister

Alice + Olivia

Badgley Mischka

Tadashi Shoji

Tadashi Shoji

Tadashi Shoji

Kay Unger

Kay Unger

Tadashi Shoji

Badgley Mischka

Here are some extremely classy gowns we found while browsing Neiman Marcus online (with the exception of a few looks from Bloomingdales). We were happy to find so many options ready to buy, where in years past we'd be lucky if there were one or two that were a bit more covered. OK, so you're going to hate us, but for some reason the top red chiffon dress was on Neiman Marcus while we were creating this post and was listed on sale for $124. One of us was soooo tempted to buy it! But then when we finished, it was gone! We wonder if it sold out so fast that they took it off.  Anyway we still included it since deals pop up everywhere when you'd least expect, and when they do, it doesn't matter if you have nothing to wear it to in the moment, you'll want it in a pinch when you need it and can't find anything. Sadly, we've learned that the hard way. There are some things (notably a Zara dress) we wish we hadn't passed up since we're always looking for things to wear on stage. Also there are plenty of cocktail dresses that have a bit more coverage up right now. Seriously ladies, if you're looking to find a dress for the holidays or weddings or anything, we would say you should keep an eye on the formal wear at Neiman's right now.
   Lastly, some may wonder why we even care about trying to find dresses that cover or fall under the category of "modest". It may seem 'holier than thou' to some. But truly, when your beliefs have a part in dictating what you wear, you, like us, are very relieved to see and find that you don't have to make a shrug or tailor sleeves onto a dress to adhere to that standard. You're relieved that a dress exists that you can just wear - no sweaters, no jackets, no shrugs, no sewn in panels; just a nice high-fashion looking dress. And believe us, that's important.