Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Donna Karan, Autumn / Winter RTW 2009. Picture: Style.com/p>

In On the Street | Fashion Barometer, Bill Cunningham wondered about the impact of the financial crisis on world fashion – what kind of silhouettes and hemlines would we witness in the upcoming season/s that would reflect the times?

I think women these days, more than previous years, would be more conscious about what they’re choosing to buy. Michael Kors, commenting in the New York Times Multimedia said that, “…right now, even the most extravagant woman is putting on her smart cap…my customer is more pragmatic than she has been” He noticed black being sold in his Florida stores where normally, he wouldn’t sell black in Florida because “she thinks she can wear it more than once, she’s afraid of buying something that is a quick toss”. He also noted that women these days would prefer purchasing pieces that can be put together and re-ensembled easily with what they already have in their wardrobes because if it’s expensive, the customer these days thinks about it, tries it on and is smarter about her purchases. Continue reading “Recession fashion, relaxed drapes in lean lines” →

My current muse – these Chloé horn cone heel booties.

I wasn’t particularly attracted to these horn cone heeled designs on Chloé shoes when they first came out for the autumn / winter collection. I thought them clumsy looking from the side profile and utterly unflattering to the silhouette. But as with everything else, what items that appear in the designer houses filter out and become naturalized / normalized after awhile; new shapes and designs become more attractive. Today, I find that the shape of the horn cone heel from Chloé has grown on me.

Turn the shoe around and the heel looks elegantly sleek from behind! The design blew me over and won my heart hands down. It’s details like these, with a combination of old and new in design that attract my attention. The shape of the heels from the side are frontier pushing yet the back of the heel keeps a traditional point of view on what’s sleek, elegant and complementary to the female silhouette.
Continue reading “Chloé’s horn cone heel” →

I witnessed the post Christmas and New Year’s fire sales around the city come and go without finding anything worthwhile to purchase. I was actually looking for a gift to a friend when I came across, quite unexpectedly, this red scarf on the last days of the H&M post Christmas and New Year’s fire sale.

And what luck! This red scarf was a bargain at one H&M outlet and about 600 m away at another H&M outlet, the same scarf was not for sale and thus, twice the price. As my girl friend once said, it pays to look around when shopping. It was the scarf’s two toned reds set adjacent to each other and the fringed detail that attracted me to this piece of accessory. Continue reading “Red scarf on Valentine’s Day” →