Past Work...Part Ten: FLORALS.

An ASOS piece on florals...

A Floral Tribute....
started

June 11, 2009 1:59 PM
So, from wayyyy back in the 80's when Laura Ashley dresses were all the rage, flowers on fabric have always been hot to trot. I personally love some of the tragic vintage 80's style prints, maybe just in small doses...I have a couple of very cute vintage suntops that look adorable with more up to date pieces, such as high waisted skirts or the peg leg boyfriend jean, which, btw, I am LOVING right now...also have my eye on the amazing "track pant" jeans (number 10 on the ASOS divine denim list. They're fierce.)So flowers have bloomed on fashions and fabrics for years but I think, personally, this season's prints have been the strongest we've seen for some time. I particularly like the oversized, 'digital' flower prints that are almost like photo's printed onto fabric-I recently bought a dress in this style of print and bought it ONLY because I was in LOVE with the print...has anyone else ever done that?!?After the purchase, I did have a bit of a crisis of confidence...i'm a bit of a die hard 'neutral' fan and tend to find colour very difficult to wear if it isn't muted...so to be faced with a dress, albeit gorgeous, in colours ranging from hot orange to bright pink, well, I had a little fashion wobble. Could I pull it off? Would I look like a giant tea cosy? or, even worse, like something that the worst of the 80's had just thrown up on? DILEMMA!But I thought, for a while, and after raiding my overfilled closet(s)! came up with a feasible solution!! (or one that I, at least, would feel comfortable in!!)The dress is strapless, so I thought it would look quite funky with a plain tee underneath it. I went for a grey one (staple!) but I think white or black would work just as well. I chose a slightly looser fitting one, as the dress was quite fitted and I didn't want to feel too 'structured', I think sometimes mixing more formal clothes with something quite casual can look quite edgy and really different from the 'look' generally associated with some types of garment. I added a thick studded waist belt, black opaque tights, and killer heels.( I would have added boots, a la Alexa Chung, if mine weren't being held hostage at the cobblers right about now.) Personally I think that with pretty florals, you need to balance them out with something less girlie to stop it all becoming a bit twee. But thats just my opinion! I chucked a sleeveless cardi over the lot and went on my merry way, feeling floral fabulous!I also thought you could wear the dress in the day with a tee or even a long sleeve underneath-I saw a girl wearing a striped top under a floral dress and thought it worked really well, considering i'd never think to put those two items together. With ballet pumps or gladiators, and a denim jacket, this would make a really nice day look, as well as making the dress work harder for it's money! I don't know about you, but i'm sick of 'saving for best,' in these hard times, I just can't afford to do that! So anything that can make evening clothes double up as daywear, works for me. If, like me, you find full on floralness is just too much, you can always dip a toe in the trend by adding a scarf, or even a floral bag, or jewellery-there are loads of rings, necklaces and earrings around at the moment i've noticed. Or, of course, channel every fashionistas fave, Miss Carrie Bradshaw, with an oversized floral corsage on your lapel-most good haberdasheries sell silk flowers so you could buy a few different ones and make-up a bunch! I'm also loving the smaller, intricate floral prints as well-Liberty style, more vintage looking-these look aces with jeans or harem trousers, or even boys chino's (rolled up at the ankle, plus lethal looking platform courts=hot hot hot!) So I guess whichever way you look at them, florals are blooming!