THREAD ETHIC vs. J. CREW

It's always nice to see something styled on a site like J. Crew and realize that it looks very similar to an outfit you have also styled. These looks are from J. Crew's "looks we love"   for this summer. Our looks are from Spring and summer of last year. The floral skirt and denim shirt we posted about here, and the denim with stripes we posted here. Although the looks are not exactly the same, we liked to see that the elements are similar. We also have two more looks coming that are pretty similar to J. Crew's which were conceived of separately. We'll definitely fill you in on them as they come!

VERO MODA SPRING 2012 - Alexa Chung

 

We thought this was a lovely photo shoot that Alexa Chung did for the clothing company Vero Moda. We love their sense of style over there. It's cool, yet somehow simple and understated. But then again, put Alexa Chung in anything and that's what it would be. That must be why they chose her to be the face of their company...which is pretty dang smart if you ask us. If you're unfamiliar with the model Alexa Chung's style, you can see it here, here, here and here. Let's just say we kinda like her....

WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER

Kate Hudson in Jenny Packham

Eva Longoria in Marchesa

Kate Upton in Alexander McQueen

Charlize Theron in Emilio Pucci

Kerry Washington in Calvin Klein

Dakota Fanning in Prada (sans the keyhole)

It's always fun to see what everyone wears at the White House Correspondents dinner. Here are this year's more modest looks. It seems like longer sleeves are the thing at the moment. What do you all think of the looks?

ORANGE AND BLUE - Color Blocking

OK, so if you're going to be brave enough to try color blocking this season, we say to start out on the safer side and when you feel more comfortable, go bolder. We decided to go with pairing blue and orange here. We love the colors together. Actually one of our favorites is to pair navy and orange together, like Victoria Beckham did in her Spring collection here. We think the two colors seem to compliment each other well. And we're not the only ones that think so; we see the two paired together in interior design all of the time, like here and here.  And you know what, it's really not a terribly new thing, color-blocking. We decided to go for it last year when we were inspired by the Gucci 2011 teal and purple/blue color trends. So really, remember it's been a round a bit so you don't need to feel terribly self conscious. And lastly, these two colors reminded us of this fabulous Roksanda Ilincic dress we remember from last year. So cool.

(H&M top, Forever 21 zipper jeans, H&M clutch, and Forever 21 shoes. All, except shoes, are current and in stores.)

MODEST LOOKBOOK - Erdem Resort 2012

We don't even know what to say about this. It truly speaks for itself. Erdem is fast becoming a very favorite designer of ours as of late. There are other awesome looks from the resort line, but we felt this one needed its own space and its own post.  But we definitely feel you should view the rest here. Oh how beautiful....

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.