Celebrity Style – What I Learned From Oscar Fashion

A night when the most extravagant and elegant dressed walk the streets of Hollywood, newspapers, bloggers, and fashion critics alike are all covering best and worst dressed, but so what? What can we learn from this year’s Oscar fashions? How can you make a night so impractical become practical? Here are a few things I learned from watching the hoop-la this weekend.

1) Sometimes less is more. Meryl Streep took my breath away even though she had no glitz, no ruffles, just simple classic draping that beautifully hugged her body. The simplicity amongst the crowd was striking, yet classic. It was a bold statement made at a usually ornate event. For your next event consider one simple statement piece whether it be draping, color, print, or fabric.

2) Don’t Go To The Jersey Shore To Tan. Sarah Jessica Parker was quite proud of her Chanel dress, but I cant say that I was proud of her orange skin. Looking way over-baked with big hair, I was completely distracted from the dress. If you want sun-kissed glowing skin and need to fake bake, try to do it at least 4 to 5 days in advance not 45 minutes before show time.

3) When in Doubt Metallic It Out. Metallics are a great way to get a

luxurious feel without a lot of effort. Both Kate Winselt and Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock pulled off metallics fabulously at the awards on Sunday. The fabric sheen radiates glamour and makes it very simple to not have to add any other accessories. A metallic shoe, blouse, or dress is a quick and easy way to glam up  your look in a one-stop shop.

4) Be Comfortable & Look It. Charlize Theron in vintage Dior looked like the dress was cutting off circulation at her waist. Normally she is always radiant, but she looked uneasy and not as confident in the ill-fitted couture. When you feel uncomfortable it shows. Make sure that your pants, dresses, and

blouses are a nice fit. You shouldn’t have any muffin tops, panty lines, or constant pulling on the clothing. If you have to re-adjust your outfit every 3 minutes, you may want to consider a new look.

5) Different can be good, but in moderation. Vera Farmiga had a vibrant Marchesa dress. The shape and waves caught my eye and were a breath of fresh silhouette air among the ball gowns and straight a-line cuts. For some body types, this many waves would not be flattering. So if you are using ornate details make sure to use them in moderation for your body shape.

Demi Moore had a fabulous choice of ruffled layers on the bottom half of her gown with vertical ribbon layers on top. Its all about how the details

compliment your body. Don’t be afraid to branch out and try different shapes or styles, but make sure its not too over-the-top or too much for your frame to handle.

So, that’s a wrap. Did you find any lessons from celebrity looks from the Oscars? Please tell!

Ten Minutes with Lisa and Dan Soltis of LAS Jewelry

If you like your vintage  demure and dainty, then you might want to skip this post. If you’re in the market, however, for a boldly sculptural vintage remix—think a handcast crow’s skull charm and grandma’s favorite brooch—then you’ll love LAS Jewelry. Beautifully patinated butterfly wings, distressed leather rosettes, punk studs, vintage rhinestones, and drapey chains all take on new life as look-at-me pieces thanks to husband-and-wife designers Lisa and Dan Soltis.  Here’s more from the redux masters . . .

Oligoville: In five words or less, LAS Jewelry is. . .

Lisa & Dan: Detailed, corroded, layered, stitched, statement.

Oligoville: How would you describe your ideal customer?

Lisa & Dan: Someone who wants to make statement, who has an appreciation and excitement for our work and wants to have a piece of that process.

Oligoville: How’d you end up as designers?

Lisa & Dan: Both of us have always been artists and have had a number of careers in artistic fields. Inevitably we ended up with the desire to make a career out of our own work and felt that jewelry was a medium where we could combine both our 2-d and 3-d talents.

Oligoville: How/when did you launch your brand?

Lisa & Dan: 2009 was definitely a poignant year. We had been toying around with the jewelry for a couple of years before that, and decided to make a proper go of it.

Oligoville: What attracted you to working with vintage materials?

Lisa & Dan: Our love of old things, and our belief that they should be given new life. In addition, of course, the green aspect and using materials that don’t have to be newly manufactured always makes the earth, and us, happy.

Oligoville: Who and/or what inspires you?

Lisa & Dan: Scientific illustration and anatomy books; prints from India, Africa, and Mexico; desert plants and creatures; the L.A. architecture and color palette, which is a scheme of washed out pastels with pops of bright hues; our childhood toys and backyard explorations; our friends, family, and faith.

Oligoville: What’s 24 hours like in your life?

Lisa & Dan: Working at home in our loft, multi-tasking, and prioritizing a number of projects. Dan will be sculpting a new wax while Lisa, will be hand sewing a leather creation. We’re also snacking several times a day and maybe a walk with our puppy is mixed in there somewhere.

Oligoville: What’s in your closet? What are you wearing right now?

Dan: Vintage tees and button downs, worn out jeans, leather boots. Right now I have on a 1980s tee with an eagle screen print and jeans.

Lisa: It kind of looks like a costume house: prints, sequins, lots of vintage. Right now I’m wearing Earl jeans, an oversized 1980s printed cotton button up, and a vintage rainbow suede belt.

Oligoville: What’s in your bag right now?

Dan: In my french army man bag I have a sketchbook, shades, extra pens, emergency change.

Lisa: A vintage eel skin wallet from an estate sale, African print make-up bag, mini leather journal, micron pens.

Oligoville: Tell us about some unexpected setbacks you have faced since starting your business and what you learned.

Lisa & Dan: Facing our daily and dire need for wisdom—in both business and creativity. We’ve learned the hard way from looking at this from an artist’s point of view rather than from a business perspective. It’s insanely challenging to keep up with organization, updates of many kinds, idea development, and financial balance and intelligence, all to create things we love, to make art. We are constantly learning to edit, time manage, and to work effectively as a team.

Oligoville: What has been the most rewarding part of your career?

Lisa & Dan: Gaining recognition from doing what we believe we are meant to do.

Oligoville: Tell us where you expect to see your business in the next five years.

Lisa & Dan: We have a list of stores/retailers where we’d love to see LAS. We’d also love to have a steady flow of sales online, a solid fan base/following, and a definite voice in the fashion world.

Oligoville: Any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Lisa & Dan: Keep going, creating, and acting on at least 90% of your ideas. There are bound to be some amazing things in the mix if you do so. Travel if you have the means and document everything you see. Keep insane journals and sketchbooks, inspiration walls, etc. Keep yourself grounded business-wise and get someone to manage that area for you if you can’t do it yourself!

Oligoville: What’s on your playlist right now?

Lisa & Dan: Rush 2112, the Raconteurs, MGMT, Miles Davis, Allison Krauss, Zeppelin….

Oligoville: Last words?

Lisa & Dan: Thank you.

FASHION BY THE RULES: MILAN FALL 2010

Keeping on trend for the season, Milan designers turned toward their individual histories in order to move into the future. It was a sort of homecoming for most. Rather than try to examine each of the collections, I thought it would be best to single out the few who really did it best.

CAVALLI and BLUMARINE stuck to their mantras of more are better and delivered eye popping collections that included every conceivable animal pattern and then some. The key here is that they are keeping their ladies happy, giving them what they want and hopefully even gaining a few new fans for the season.

ARMANI and MOSCHINO did what they did best. Mr. Armani used his tailoring expertise to deliver a collection that his stalwart clients will want and Moschino mined back to the days when Franco was alive and made this season a paean to his memory. There were no tricks in these collections, just salable wearable clothes.

GUCCI and PUCCI seemed to be on their way toward garnering new audiences for these two hall of fame names. Gucci returned to the concept of wearable clothes, well certainly more wearable than they have been in recent years. Pucci has continued to reinvent itself as the hot girl line with clothes that scream sexy and in your face looks.

MISSONI and DOLCE&GABBANA returned to their respective heritage with collections that featured the recognizable patterns and colorations of the past (Missoni) and then with an in your face presentation of sartorial wonders that forced you to remember the roots of Dolce&Gabbana.

While there was not a lot of stepping out on a limb during the showings, there were palpable trends that continued to shop up in almost every collection. Fur was plentiful, suits and more pantsuits than usual, the toning down of flash, a renewed focus on wearable and I think fashion that would be akin to comfort food.

Please remember to find comprehensive coverage of all the shows at http://jeffybruce.blogspot.com/ and for more photos at style.com

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