In these first days of 2015, resolve to have a stylish new year. Designers have already done most of the deep thinking, looking ahead by looking back to the 1970s, the indulgent decade that dominated the spring runways. The jewelry will be bigger, the platforms higher, the denim more statement-making. And there’s more suede in the shops than at a Topanga Canyon love-in. It’s time to get started. Happy New Year!
The Soft Sway of Suede
Come spring, black leather will take a back seat to softer suedes. A suede skirt could be the first investment you consider for the new year. Many are flattering, often in A-line shapes, and versatile, in ’70s shades like rust (see Gucci’s spring runway look, shown here). Styled fresh with a boxy pullover, or pretty with a silk blouse, they’ll give 21st-century meaning to hippie chic.
After a few seasons of chatter about the return of flats and single-sole pumps, some formidable fashion labels — Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein and Tom Ford, among them — have put their full support behind very high platform sandals. You could wear this pair from the Italian footwear company L’Autre Chose now, with socks, as a funky lift under kick-flare trousers. Come summertime, they’ll be right on-trend with flowing dresses and fringe.
Each piece in Hillary Justin’s Bliss and Mischief line of embroidered denim starts with artwork — mostly cactus and floral motifs with a bit of kitsch — hand-drawn and stamped with wax onto vintage Levi’s. Craftspeople in Los Angeles do the embroidery. The mellow one-of-a-kind jeans and denim shirts are undeniably upbeat. “I mean, it’s hard to be in a bad mood when you have embroidered roses on your knees,” Ms. Justin said. She has also collaborated with the SoCal casual line NSF on a men’s and women’s capsule collection for Barneys New York, in stores early this year.
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Bliss and Mischief embroidered denim shirt, $368, and jeans, $598, at blissandmischief.com.
Single earrings and mismatched studs were again on the runway as designers graduated to off-kilter styles in danglier varieties. Oscar de la Renta, Nina Ricci and Louis Vuitton were among the labels showing earrings that were askew in color, size and shape. They work as an accent for a minimalist ensemble or as a modern touch for the free-spirited looks of the season. So pull back your hair and show off a subtly mismatched pair like this one from the Italian jewelry label Silvia Rossi.
On every man's road to dressing better, there are quite a few things he learns about style.
In a recent thread on Reddit's male fashion subreddit, /r/malefashionadvice, men shared the worst misconceptions they had about fashion and style.
Keep reading to make sure you don't make the same mistakes.
1. "Skinny guys should wear boot cut [pants] to make their legs look wider." -macadocious
This could not be further from the truth. Boot cut is the most unflattering of all pant cuts for skinnier dudes. It won't make your legs look any bigger, but the flare in the bottom of the leg will make you look sloppier than a straight or skinny cut pant.
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2. "Shirts were supposed to be baggy in the shoulders and chest." -utilitym0nster
Shirts aren't supposed to be baggy. They're supposed to fit! A good rule of thumb is to get a shirt that fits as close to your body as you can while you retain free range of movement in your arms.
3. "I thought that wearing the right clothes would automatically mean that I'd dress better." - Poizar
A common misconception is that dressing up is the equivalent to dressing better. In fact, the two are completely unrelated and a man in sharp casualwear will look better than a man in a sloppy suit every time.
Additionally, you should always be mindful to dress appropriately for the situation at hand.
4. "I thought showing off you have money to buy "high fashion" mall brands meant I was fashionable and looked good." -PSIKevin
Many "prestigious" mall brands are perceived as "quality," while they actually sell completely overpriced poor-quality garments covered with gaudy branding. Labels like Abercrombie and Fitch and Armani Exchange are two of the biggest offenders.
Learning which brands to avoid and which brands are worth their price is a crucial step on the road to dressing better.
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5. "Shorts are dumb and should only be worn by boys under the age of 12 or sportsmen." -themanifoldcuriosity
Most men are now aware that shorts are perfectly fine to wear in the warmer months, and even acceptable in some more casual office environments.
Just avoid the dreaded cargo short.
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
6. "Cargo shorts were cool because of everything you could fit in the pockets." -Adjustify
Again, cargo shorts are generally looked upon today as extremely passé and dated. Avoid these at all costs.
7. "Only construction workers and goths wear boots." -GDDesu
There is a wide variety of boots available, from brouged dress boots to vintage reproduction work books. There's a boot for every kind of man: not just black Dr. Martens and Timberlands.
9. "I thought square-toed shoes were cool." -TummyDrums
Square-toed shoes haven't been acceptable for a while now, and men are urged to stay away from them. They are clunky, awkward, and distracting, with a completely unflattering profile.
10. "I used to color coordinate my shoes with my shirt to make sure they were the same color." -Yeaga
While it can be a strategic style decision to make your shoes and shirt match, it is pretty much completely unnecessary.
In fact for most outfits, this would look pretty ridiculous. It can work well for some street style outfits based around specific kinds of sneakers, however, but maybe wait to try this look until you get your fashion sea legs.
11. "I always thought the belt had to match shoes no matter what you were wearing." -WhoopItIsThere
Matching your belt and shoes is a good rule of thumb for the dressiest of occasions, but that's really the only time. It's not necessary for business suits or any level of dress lower than that.
12. "Black shoes went with everything." -KlausFenrir
Black shoes don't go with everything. For many colors of suits and other outfits, it would be very "fashion forward" to opt for black footwear.
If you want a shoe that goes with everything, buy a nice medium brown brogue.
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13. "Pocket squares have to match your tie." -vim_all_day
Contrary to what you see news and sports anchors wearing on TV, pocket squares do not have to match your tie. In fact, they probably shouldn't.
If anything, your pocket square can match the color of your shirt, but even then it's not necessary. Feel free to branch out with your pocket square.
Business Insider / Matt Johnston
14. "I believed black suits to be the most versatile and best color of suit to buy." -Rerrgon
Actually, the most versatile color of suit is navy or charcoal. These are the first two colors men should buy suits in when they're starting to build their wardrobe.
Black suits are only suitable on occasions like weddings and funerals, and sometimes for the office. Use your black suit sparingly.
Coco Rocha says soda once saved a Balenciaga show from being canceled when the catwalk was too slippery.
Rocha recalled a show during which she fell on her face for rehearsals, and “after me, the second girl also fell, and the third and the fourth . . . Every single girl slipped and fell on the very slippery runway.”
Organizers considered canceling, but “someone came up with the genius idea to wash the entire floor with Coca-Cola to make it more sticky.”
A cut-out shift dress with transparent panels inspired by a daily Hong Kong ritual took top honours at the Seeing the Possibilities Fashion Show, an event aimed at the city's ethnic minority teenagers.
Fifteen-year-old Sanjila Gurung from Sir Ellis Kadoorie Secondary School won with her design titled "Dim Sum Dress".
The show was organised by Kely Support Group - a local non-governmental organisation for youth aged between 14 and 24. Its 15 participants were required to tell a Hong Kong story through their designs, and Sanjila says the dim sum basket was a huge source of inspiration.
"The top neck of the dress is the cover of a dim sum basket," Sanjila says. "The middle part is made with a crisscross method and represents the basket which holds the dim sum. The bottom part is the dim sum made from a plain white cloth. The inspiration for the dress comes from walking to the KCR every morning when I see people enjoying their dim sum breakfast. I chose dim sum as the theme of my dress as it is symbolic of the food culture in Hong Kong," she says.
Sanjila Gurung's "Dim Sum Dress" took top honours at the Seeing the Possibilities Fashion Show
"This is my first dress and my friend Aakriti helped me to create it. Linking the concept of food and fashion was not an easy task, but I love trying new things and challenging myself."
Kely spokeswoman Victoria Wong says the theme of the show was "My Hong Kong", so "every piece created was inspired by these teens' experience in the city".
Amandeep Kaur, 16, says she looked to the city's skyscrapers for inspiration. "The jagged city skyline with gems used as lights of the buildings was the thinking behind my design."
Meanwhile, Aakriti Thapa, 16, adopted a green approach. "This dress is about the city's pollution with the colours - whites and greys - reflecting the city's clean air and dirty air."
The Seeing the Possibilities mentorship programme has helped different communities of disadvantaged Hong Kong youth realise their own potential and build essential life skills through fashion design and event-planning training.
Guest judge at the show was Hong Kong fashion photographer Aanchal Wadhwani, who praised the programme for inspiring Nepalese, Filipino, Indian and Pakistani youth. Hong Kong fashion writer Divia Harilela was another judge.
Wong says the next fashion show is likely to be held in December 2015. "This is not an annual thing - it very much depends on funding - although we have been fortunate enough to have one every year for the past four years," says Wong.
My question is prompted by this card sent to us by family friend Anita Gibney. Those three stockings in the picture above were a reminder of how it used to be when I was young.
I love Christmas to this day - I would still enjoy hanging up my stocking only it isn't the done thing for guys of my age to do so.
I was 14 the last time I had my stocking filled. Filled with ashes, to my dismay. A sign that I was growing up. I wonder who put them there?
But getting back to the original question, I have to say, to my dismay, that the current Santa generation have stockings only for wearing.
The point is that you can't squeeze a laptop, or a computer game, into a stocking and children today aren't impressed by an apple and an orange down in the toe.
I used to keep that fruit for weeks just because of the Father Christmas connection.
While I'm on the subject of Yule, let me tell you that the sight and smell of blue paint brings memories of Christmas past tumbling back.
As compensation for no longer being allowed to hang up my stocking, I was promoted to my father's assistant when he was making toys for my sisters.
One year, he built a dolls' cot and painted it blue. Blue paint and Christmas have gone together ever since for me.
And I still believe in Santa.
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Time to make the Waterfront glitter
The elegant glitter ball that was presented to television presenter Caroline Flack for winning Strictly reminds me of a similar ball that used to hang from the ceiling of the old Floral Hall, a Mecca of ballroom into the 1970s before falling into disrepair.
The Floral glitter ball then went missing for years and surfaced to be spun again at a play in the Arts Theatre.
That was the last I saw of it, before it vanished into a prop store somewhere.
Wouldn't it be nice if the Ulster Orchestra tracked it down again and had it hanging all aglow in the Waterfront in time for one of their traditional evenings of gentle music and song?
To make the evening complete they could invite 32-year-old Caroline and her dance partner, Pasha Kovalev, to perform a few routines in front of the musicians. Caroline, who judge Len Goodman said put her soul into her dance, would help the orchestra to pack the Waterfront in the New Year.
Pasha, by the way, is the boyfriend of Countdown's Rachel Riley, with whom he danced in last year's Strictly without much success.
But, back to my main point - where is the Floral Hall glitter ball hiding?
How Gerald forged a job and a new life passion
When the forge is glowing and the anvil ready for action, blacksmith Gerald Monaghan just loves shoeing a horse. Or even a donkey.
And today the horseshoes he shapes are for hooves at the Ulster Folk and Transport museum, where he has his smithy. And its proving to be a lucky one as Gerald has been made a Journeyman by the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths in London.
The certificate accompanying the accolade explains the Worshipful Company was impressed by Gerald, especially since he took up shoeing only four years ago.
"And he is self-taught," points out Kathryn Kirk at the museum. "His is a natural talent and his workshops are always a sell-out."
Mark Irvine, head of operations at the Folk Park, adds: "Gerald enriches the museum - especially at his daily forge demonstrations. Never mind the horseshoes - the pokers he fashions are always in demand, too."
Gerald, who arrived at the museum in 1996 as a guide, says: "I'm one of those fortunate people who love going to work every day, especially when I became a blacksmith - a trade I have always admired. When I first stood at the furnace back in 2010, I didn't envisage blacksmithing becoming such a big part of my work, but it's a traditional skill I'm delighted to be keeping alive."
Shame on the seasonal scoundrel
Here's a bit of a story about a Christmas rogue.
A 40-something stranger wandered into the hall of a church in east Belfast where a group of women were busy at a craft session.
After he told a minister he was starving, was out of work and generally having a rough time at Christmas with no money, he was made a present of a tenner and a parcel of edibles from a food bank at the church.
But after the stranger departed, one of the craft class ladies discovered that her handbag was missing and her purse, which contained a goodly sum.
Later the bag and purse - minus the money - turned up in a garden.
Here's the ironic bit: the rogue stranger didn't need the grub either.
You see, the food bag which was unopened had been discarded, too.
Quatro tribute to old friend Chris
Delightful Suzie Quatro, who will be at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, in May, has been reminding me that it will be 40 years come January since she and Chris Brown recorded my favourite song, Stumblin' In, which is a kind of love piece with a difference.
Sadly, Chris lost his life in a road accident some time ago and Suzie lost a good friend with whom she was always singing duets.
So when she is at the Waterfront on May 29, Suzie will be paying tribute to Chris, who was particularly popular in Northern Ireland.
Wonder who the lady will get to duet with her?
How about Peter Corry, a hometown boy who is a fan.
'Hopalong' roamed the dry docks
My stories about all those nicknames that used to be a tradition in the H&W shipyard went down a treat with readers.
So here's another one about a plater called Cassidy, who loved to be addressed as Hopalong because he was a huge fan of cowboy film star Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd).
Shipyard Hopalong used to tell his mates in the yard that he had a pony in a field near Glenavy called Topper. You've guessed it - Topper was the name of film star Hopalong's trusty steed.
Cassidy the plater claimed to have seen all of his hero's films - mostly produced in the 1950s and 1960s. Two that went down well in Belfast were Range War and Silver on the Sage.
Trying to save the world today can take on many forms. For Javier Goyeneche, a 44-year-old Spanish entrepreneur, it happens to involve trash — discarded tires, leftover coffee grounds, even old fishing nets from the sea. He's not just recycling them; he's using them to make a fashion statement.
Goyeneche is challenging the world of sustainable fashion with ECOALF, a Madrid-based brand that's exploring new ground in scooping up the detritus of the industrial world and converting it into something people will pay good money for — backpacks, coats and swimwear. The company — named after Goyeneche's first son, Alfredo — was only a concept five years ago, but today, two years after its first line hit the stores, the brand has had an early boost from limited-edition products for some high-profile partners and friends, like Apple, Barneys and the queen of eco-friendly high living, Gwyneth Paltrow. Recently, the company has worked with Will.i.am to develop the first line of outdoor accessories for his new company, Ekocycle, which, in partnership with Coca-Cola, aims to give plastic bottles a second life.
Speaking quickly as he paces about his office — a large, white, minimalist space that serves as shop, showroom and headquarters — Goyeneche contends that junk really can be made into some beautiful fabrics. And when he talks this way, it's easy to get caught up in his excitement. He's a fit and handsome guy, handsome in a very Spanish way, with thick, wavy hair and a charming smile.
The son of an engineer and a professional golfer, he says he never imagined becoming a fashion entrepreneur. Instead, he grew up wanting to be "a million different things." Unable to focus on one, he studied business management and at age 24 created his first brand of accessories, called Fun&Basics, which he recently sold to focus solely on ECOALF.
Unifi makes Repreve, a thread that comes from plastic waste bottles and leftover polyester scraps, at its Yadkinville, N.C., facility.
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It's a tough time for business in Spain, where the euro crisis has led to a drop in retail sales, but ECOALF is focusing on stronger foreign markets, with most customers in the U.S., Japan and Northern Europe. Spain's just 10 percent of sales. Turnover has doubled in the last year, Goyeneche says. Still, it's relatively small, with $4.2 million in sales expected this year and 21 full-time employees.
Goyeneche didn't invent the idea of recycled fashion materials. Companies like Patagonia have been recycling polyester from bottles since the '90s. Marks & Spencer recently introduced a coat made from recycled wool, and H&M is using recycled cotton in some jeans. So what's so special about ECOALF? While most recycled fabrics commercialized today contain 15 or 20 percent recycled materials, Goyeneche's clothes use 80 to 100 percent.
Of all the materials he uses, the most interesting have got to be old fishing nets. For Goyeneche, they're a fashion treasure because they're often more than a mile long, and made of high-quality nylon that fishermen need to change out every two to three years. Now instead of being dumped into the ocean, the nets are collected by ECOALF; for every half pound of fishing nets collected, the brand produces roughly a yard of fabric. So far, the company has recycled a remarkable 24 tons of fishing nets, along with 24 million plastic bottles. "ECOALF is one of the very few [sustainable fashion] brands which are, style-wise, very mass-market compatible. This is a very big advantage," says German fashion designer Magdalena Schaffrin.
Worker Charles Lee sorts through clothes at Mac Recycling near Baltimore. Textile recycling is a huge international business, and a small facility like Mac ships about 80 tons of clothes each week to buyers around the world.
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The Global Afterlife Of Your Donated Clothes
But the company's products don't come cheap; $250 for a coat and $105 for a pair of shoes are not quite mass-market affordable. And that's likely to be ECOALF's major challenge as it grows. Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen, director of the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Copenhagen Business School, says that most consumers look first at quality, price and convenience, where ECOALF has to compete to be mainstream. "Then sustainability can be an important differentiator," he says.
Staying fresh in the fast-paced world of fashion is also an expensive challenge. "It's difficult to be innovating all the time. A fabric you used last season will probably not be useful the next," says Goyeneche, adding that his company spends up to 17 percent of its income on research and development, a factor keeping prices high. But back to his fishing net fashion: Some 3,000 Spanish trawl fishermen plan to provide the company with trash from nets — instead of throwing it back — so the company can recycle the plastics from bottles and bags and turn them into string. Goyeneche's biggest dream is to turn one of the huge Pacific Ocean trash vortexes into fashionable backpacks and minimalist coats.
"Of course, it's not the easiest or cheapest way to do things," he says. Or likely the most profitable.
Suzanne's face is familiar to her blog followers, not in the same way as a TV star's might be, the connection is much more intimate, it is like meeting an old friend.
Suzanne is more than just another famous face, she is a close companion to those who tune in to avoid looking like a Las Vegas show girl on a Saturday night out, as could otherwise occur were it not for her expert words and online video tutorials. Suzanne is aware and intensely protective of her loyal following.
"It has built slowly," she tells me. "I think for anything to become successful, it has to be built organically and slowly. If you jump in head first it would either go to your head or it could feel like it is a short term thing and easy come, easy go, but if you take your time it will be a success long-term."
Suzanne Jackson pictured with Joanne Kiernan
Companies in Ireland were, at first, slow to recognise the power of the blogosphere. But with So Sue Me attracting over 1.1 million readers a month, 147,000 Facebook fans and over 80,000 Instagram followers, Suzanne explains with a smile, that these days 'everyone wants a piece of the pie.'
Suzanne is discerning, however, about those she will deal with.
"If the company wasn't right for me or my blog I wouldn't look at them and I still today turn down loads of companies, at least five a week. I can't work with them if it doesn't fit in with my blog," Suzanne says.
"It has to be me and it has to be real, otherwise there is no point. I'm going to feel fake talking about it and readers will see that straight away because they know me now, a lot of them are following me from the beginning so they know my personality, they know who I am and they will be able to tell if I am talking crap!"
Suzanne Jackson has thousands of followers on her So Sue Me blog
"They all want to work with So Sue Me now because they know that I have a very loyal and influential following there, but I am very protective of that."
Suzanne has come a long way since being made redundant from a job in Human Resources five years ago. Not only has she managed to carve out a career for herself as a full time blogger, but So Sue Me is now Ireland's biggest and most popular blog.
However, she is keen to point out that her work is not all glitz and glamour.
"Blogging has become the big thing now," she explains. "Four or five years ago everyone wanted to be a model, but everyone wants to be a blogger now because they think that it is easy and they think they can earn money this way and that it is a glamorous job. It is none of those things. It is hard to earn money as a blogger. Where you earn your money is in attending events after you have built up a following. You shouldn't be earning money straight away from your blog because then you are not credible, then you are in it for the money and that's when you are going to fail."
Beauty Blogger Suzanne Jackson launches her 2nd book 'SoSueMe What Happened Next' with her sisters Katie and Carla Jackson
"My readers are nearly five years with me now and they know that I would turn down a million euro tomorrow, I swear to God, if the product wasn't right," Suzanne gasps.
"I think people think I shop and buy Louboutins all day long and it is actually nothing like that. Yes there are days when it is glamorous, but nine times out of ten it is hard work, sitting in my pyjamas talking to clients, blogging and looking after the business side of things," Suzanne smiles.
Rising above a sea of online hopefuls, So Sue Me has managed to stick out for all the right reasons and Suzanne is fast becoming a blogger and celebrity, with a similar reputation and following to many of the world's growing contingent of top international bloggers who are now taking over the front rows in all of the big fashion weeks.
"It's been a huge journey and very much an uphill climb," Suzanne smiles at the thought. "When I first started So Sue Me I was nobody, nobody knew who I was I had no profile, so I literally built it from nothing and now it is crazy, I am booked for all these events because they need a famous face, which is so weird. I am just a normal girl. So I think why aren't they booking Rosanna Davison? But So Sue Me has grown such a huge following."
Fashion blogger Suzanne Jackson launched her 'So Sue Me' style bible book with boyfriend Dylan O'Connor
"I went to New York Fashion week in October and I documented my whole trip. It was out of this wide world. I never thought I would be sitting front row at New York Fashion Week with the world's leading bloggers. It was insane," Suzanne adds. "Seeing Kendall Jenner on the runway for Marc Jacobs and being in a room with all of these huge celebrities and talking to them like normal was just surreal."
Suzanne is a firm believer in the power of positive thinking and the Law of Attraction.
"The book The Secret was huge for me and I read another book recently The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, which is about how your thoughts attract things to you. Everything you put out there you get back, so if you think negatively all of the time then you are going to attract negativity," Suzanne tells me.
Suzanne Jackson signs her book 'So Sue Me'
"You can train your thoughts to be positive and work towards your goals, it sounds so corny and American, but it is so true. I have been thinking like that the last four of five years and it has worked for me."
"I always wanted to work for myself," she adds. "I always wanted to be my own boss and I always knew for some weird reason, in the back of my head it would work out and I would be happy because I wouldn't let myself stay in a job if I wasn't happy and that was kind of how I came to this path.
"If I had stayed in my job working as a beautician, then I wouldn't have gone into HR and then I wouldn't have been made redundant, ended up building my blog. So you have to listen to your gut instinct."
Suzanne is equally as interested in inner beauty as she is in outer beauty. She laughs off a recent poll which voted her as Ireland's Sexiest Woman.
"That was crazy," she giggles. "Georgia Salpa was in there and Nadia Forde and all of these gorgeous women who usually top the polls, but they voted me in! It was mental. My boyfriend says they should see you in the mornings!"
"I am a confident person, but that has only come with time," Suzanne explains. "I wouldn't have been this confident when I was 21 or 22."
Beauty Blogger Suzanne Jackson launches her 2nd book 'SoSueMe What Happened Next'
Suzanne will often tell her followers about her personal experiences outside of the fashion and beauty sphere.
"People often say So Sue Me is perfect, I am not, I have cellulite on my legs, I wish I had bigger boobs and bigger lips, all of these things, but no one is perfect," she says. "I am trying to get girls at a younger age to let them know that it is okay to feel perfect."
Turning 30 has altered Suzanne's outlook on life, she is more confident, relaxed and at peace with who she is.
"It definitely has made me feel excited because I know the road I am on. I feel secure in my relationship now too. I was cheated on a lot in the past.
"I went out with a guy who told me I was everything and was ripping me off with someone else for months, but now I am with my boyfriend Dylan and he wouldn't look left or right, he just sees me in a room of 100 women and that is empowering as well."
Suzanne feels privileged to be a role model to many of her younger followers.
"I wanted to let people know that it is okay that in your twenties if you don't know where you are going in life or you don't know what you are doing. I'm only finding my feet now," Suzanne says. I wanted to let people know a couple of life lessons that I have learned along the way," she adds.
Suzanne's second book, So Sue Me: What Happened Next... which she dedicates to 'anyone with a dream, an idea, or a plan to build something from nothing' is out now.
