I’m a big fan of bracelet-length sleeves on coats and jackets, but they’re not much use when it’s freezing, so I’m currently on the lookout for a great pair of long gloves to wear with all of my bracelet-length outerwear. This pair from River Island is the first to catch my eye: the mix of patent and suede looks rather glamorous in this picture, but I can’t help but wonder if all that black patent might look a little too "Darth Vader" in person. Anyway, Look loves them (apparently), The Fashion Police loves them (they think), but do you love them?
"A beautiful mixture of fashion and warmth" says the Zappos website of these ‘Alpine’ shoes by Earth. I’ll give them the "warmth" bit, because with that fleecy lining it’s hard to see how they could avoid being warm, but "fashion"? On which planet would this be, Zappos? And I’m not sure I’d be throwing the word "beautiful" around with such gay abandon either, as these are surely a pair of Crocs, disguised as some kind of goatherd mountain wear? They’re also available in tan, but that’s not much better, I’m afraid…
No matter how hard I try and pretend it isn’t happening, there’s just no getting away from the fact that wide leg pants are going to be huge (literally) this winter. I hate them because I’m short, and they make me look even shorter, which is something I can really do without. I also think they have the power to make people look like cartoon characters, with huge legs and little bodies – and that’s not a power I want to try and mess with.
What about you, though? Will you be working the wide leg look this season, or will you be keeping it skinny or straight? (If you’re a fan of the look, the trousers pictured are by Topshop).
They may have been acceptable in the 80s, but they sure as hell aren’t acceptable now. They’re the five biggest fashion crimes of the 80s – which was itself just one long crime against fashion, from beginning to end. Anyone who was alive during the late 1980s will surely remember it as one of the worst-dressed decades ever – unless, of course, you’ve managed to repress the memory, in which case, good for you, and I wish I could. Here’s our round-up of the worst of 80s fashion.
1. Shell suits Perhaps the biggest fashion crime EVER, never mind just the 80s, the shell suit will go down in history as the sartorial equivalent of that dodgy one-night-stand you still can’t quite believe you let yourself in for. Why did people wear them? Why did no one ever take a long hard look in the mirror one day and say, "Hey! I look like a complete tool! The hell with this!" Well, maybe they did, who knows. Of all of the things there are to hate about shell suits (and there are lots of things to hate about shell suits) perhaps the most inexplicable was the fact that the gaudier and uglier they were, the more coveted they would become. We were a nation of lunatics, all competing to own the fugliest shellsuit in all the land. What happened to us?!
I’m currently on the hunt for a new winter coat. Seeing as I’m on a bit of a budget (for which read: "I have no money") it’s got to black, so that it’ll go with (almost) everything, and I’d quite like it to have some kind of stand-out detailing, like an oversized collar, say, because I love me some oversized collar. Actually, I’d quite like it to be this ‘Ruby’ jacket from Monsoon, come to think of it. I love the drama of the collar, but the simplicity of the rest of the piece means that it would work really hard for me all winter – and probably next winter, too.
The snag? It’s £95, which is a little more than I’d hoped to pay – only a little, though, so I’m keeping it on my "To Buy" list for now. What kind of coat will you be buying this winter?
I know I’ve said this before, but as "wacky" as they can be, Irregular Choice have odd (sometimes very odd) moments of pure genius when it comes to their footwear.
This is not one of those moments.
Actually, these sinister looking black ‘Wrap’ boots remind me of nothing so much as those table legs the Victorians used to put little "skirts" over, est they offend anyone’s delicate sensibilities. So, are these boots for the terribly modest or are they just boots for the terribly dressed? You tell me…
Indulge me for a moment here by assuming that you would actually buy a playsuit (or a pair of "jersey short-alls" as those crazy kids at American Apparel would have it) and that you would wear it. Now, I’m no expert on the whole dressing-like-a-toddler thing (actually, I kind of am, but… you know what I mean), but I’m going to take a wild guess and say that what you probably wouldn’t do is wear your playsuit with your nekkid boobies underneath it, your nipples cunningly concealed – but only just! – by the straps of the aforementioned playsuit, "glamour model" style. Would you? No, I didn’t think so.
Why, then, did American Apparel think that this would be a good way to advertise their short-alls? WHY? All I can say is: don’t try it at home, kids. Well, you know – you can try it at home – just don’t try it in public. The Fashion Police will know.
1. Shell suits
I know I’ve said this before, but as "wacky" as they can be, 
