Although on the East Coast it's still arctic, I'm daydreaming about this spring's fashions and the look that's resonating for me is the tailored coat and gilet. Designed to be worn as part of the overall outfit, at Givenchy it's downright rocker-chick sexy. The workmanship is practically haute couture with highly detailed black and white latticed jackets and elaborate embroidery of whipstitching and filigree. Dior's court coats and gilets were shown with silk quilted Bermuda shorts for a somewhat informal effect, but with no less attention to beautiful embroidery details. Dior referenced an 18th-century court coat, as Style.com eloquently expressed, "evoked the historicism of Christian Dior's original Bar silhouette.
Continuing with my White Series for January, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Perpaolo Piccioli the designers for Valentino created an enchanting series of white lace dresses for Spring ready-to-wear 2015. The collection was based on the long gone tradition of the Grand Tour, where the British Aristocracy and the very wealthy would travel to France and Italy in pursuit of improving their culture. The designers used the Grand Tour as their inspiration, creating a collection that was poetic, graceful and beautiful. The detail and intricate workmanship of lace was quite astonishing.
It's January 2015 and time to start afresh, make new resolutions and promise to commit to improve whatever we deem lacking in ourselves and/or our lives. Nothing says fresh new start quite like white. In this and the following posts are some of the inspired turns white has taken for January. This morning I read in the Times that two high fashion retails stores, The Webster, Miami Beach and Le Bon Marche Rive Gauche, Paris have launched a designer collaboration series all white collection. As Hilary Moss explains, it's a Bon Marche tradition since January 1873, when the store's owner Aristide Boucicaut stocked a selection of snow-hued garments to fill his shelves following the holiday shopping season.
It's January 2015, I'm in New York expecting a snowstorm and thinking about a winter escape, which for me means the Caribbean. I've done my fair share of island-hopping through the years and two of my favorite islands are Barbados and Virgin Gorda. Sandy Lane on Barbados is an ultra luxe, no expense spared hotel resort, catering to your every need in lush surroundings. Amenities include a world class golf course and spa. An extensive recent interior design renovation by Nina Campbell has restored the hotel to its former glory and if you want to splurge and indulge this hotel will not disappoint.
