Monsieur Fashion's blog

Do you wear knitwear?

As far as mens clothes are concerned, knitwear is not unlike denim in that it never goes out of fashion. It may change in appearance and colour, but it's in everyone's wardrobe.

Sometimes knitwear is along the lines of your clean cut, preppyish v-neck lambswool sweater, sometimes it's a bit more on the Farmer Barleymow baggy jumper side. 

At the moment though, what we have is a bit of the preppy stuff here and there, seen especially on those who favour the indie hipster look, while on the other hand the main trend in knitwear is for good quality chunky knits that are almost a New Romantic revival vibe, almost a seafaring type of look too. very cool.

Mens clothes in 2011 looks to be just as dynamic an area creatively as it was in 2010. And as long as knitwear doesn't go down the Alan Partridge route (even ironically) I'll be happy with that.

SS '11 - a classic clothing year?

SS '11 might seem a long way off what with all the snow we've just had, but before you know it the shops will be full of the new season's gear, in much the same way as the year's first easter egg has already been spotted on the shelves, it's only a matter of time til the shelves heave with t-shirts and shorts.

Summer Season 2011 will hopefully not be too affected by the VAT rise, and all the tales of economic woe on the news every night. Luckily for the clothing industry though, clothes can't be downloaded instantly from the internet, so the demand will always be there. However, with budgets tight it looks like the main shifters of summer gear are going to be the value retailers rather than the expensive stuff.

Are you looking forward to the summer? And what will you be wearing this year?

 

 

Stylish Fashion Accessories

Fashion Accessories

 

 

As we are all aware winter is here and that means only one thing for the ladies, shopping! It’s time to get in with the new and out with the old as they say and gives them the chance to fill up their wardrobes with some winter fashion.

 

Now I know that its things like big jackets that keep us warm but accessories play just as a big apart with the likes of hats, scarves a must. I was shopping around when I came across the set of ear muffs pictured.

 

At £5 they have got to be labelled as a steal and would go with all styles of fashion. I will definitely be putting them in the other half’s stalking this year!

UK fashion 2010

With the continuing tough economic conditions, 2010 turned out to be a surprisingly good year for UK style. But style has of course always met adversity head on and won. The best part of the new style is that you no longer have to pay to hundred and fifty quid for a jumper just because it's in style or (to use the new parlance for the new style) 'on trend' - the style is the important thing now, not the cache of some italian design house logo on the garment.

One area where this is most noticeable is in clothes for young people. With things being the way they are right now, very few young people would have the cash or, more importantly, the will to spend hundreds of pounds on one item. 

Peacocks clothes is one retailer whose intelligent pricing has really seen it make a name for itself. By stocking an ever-changing selection of on-trend clothes at good prices they have shown that fashion can really shine, even in a recession. Their work with Pearl Lowe and daughter Daisy adds something else to the mix - bringing the brand some extra star quality.

Affordability and good design are the future. 

Snow joke. What clothes do you wear in the winter

 

Winter is one thing, but the recent Siberian style weather in the UK has meant that a lot of style rules have temporarily changed. A lot of wellies, a lot of trackie bottoms, bobbly hats, all that kind of thing.

Can this really be the same country where just six months ago a short sleeved t-shirt and a pair of shorts would have been warm enough?

Time to rock the Siberian military look for the foreseeable.

 

 

 

High fashion, high heels, high street - high sales.

Interesting story in the Guardian yesterday, followed up in today's Mail, saying that high heeld shoes are making a storming comeback with sales increasing markedly of late.

The Daily Mail picks up the story of this high heels sales sensation toady, attributing some of the success to the style being favoured by superstars like Cheryl Cole and the global megastar Lady Gaga. A spokeswoman for Peacocks clothes is quoted in the Daily Mail article, detailing the reasons for the bestselling high heeled shoe boot’s place as range bestseller: “Customers are attracted to a shoe boot’s dual purpose. You can wear them for Christmas and beyond, as they look just as great with a party dress as they do with jeans and a jumper in January.” So the versatility of the style may be central to its brilliant sales performance.

With all these high heels being worn, it's a wonder that the national average height hasn't increased by a few inches. 

 

NYC Fashion Week

... an alternative view:

 

Which winter boots?

There's a lot to choose from out there right now in the world of winter boots. If you go online the choice is almost endless. And let's face it, who wants to leave the comfort of the indoors on cold days when it seems to start getting dark about 1pm?

I'm liking these womens boots - dunno about you but it's good to have a change from wearing black all the time on your feet.

there was a report in yesterdays paper that people are miserable when the clocks change - maybe a bit of retail therapy is what we need.

Peacocks, Daisy Lowe in UK media

Leading UK value fashion shop Peacocks continues to enjoy popularity in the nation's media with some great feature inclusions in the past few days and even a prime spot on national television.

Last week saw the much anticipated launch - at London’s glitzy Connaught Hotel - of the new Pearl Lowe Christmas Collection For Peacocks. This beautiful collection effortlessly made its mark on the Twittersphere as  the social microblogging site filled up with complimentary tweets about Lowe’s new collection.

The UK edition of Glamour magazine covered the stunning launch of the new pearl Lowe collection, as well as featuring range model Daisy Lowe in the ‘Do’ section of their popular Dos and Don’ts regular celebrity style feature, with Daily Lowe modelling the collection’s beautiful bow dress. The bow dress – sure to be a hit with fashionistas in the UK and beyond – also earned a mention in Cosmopolitan, its cut and monochrome design being described as iconic.

OK! Magazine’s online offering also featured the Pearl Lowe for Peacocks Christmas Collection in its fashion section, revealing its favourite dresses from the range, with the bow dress showing alongside the stylish black (and very lovely) lace dress and more.

And last week on  ITV’s This Morning show, Abbey Clancy presented a feature talking through the new season colour camel, with peacocks winter brogues shown as the perfect match for a pair of turn up camel trousers.

Peacocks adds new lines to its range constantly, so there’s always something sure to catch the eye of fashion editors, fashionistas and casual buyers alike.

Where did all the ties go?

Time was when you'd walk through the city and most of the time people wore ties, well the blokes did anyway - and even some of the women.

But there's been a seismic change in tie world over the past few years. Someone, somwehere decided it was time to relax the office dress code a bit, and the open necked shirt became the norm.

I was never keen on wearing a tie as it seemed like a pointless waste of two minutes every morning getting the the thing tied in such a way that it looked reasonably smart. The other tie hassle was that you had to be careful when eating soup as you could accidentally get soup down it even when eating carefully.

Strangely though, it seems as if tie sales are holding steady as people smarten themselves up to optimise their career chances in the downturn.  Maybe they just remove them before venturing out into the street for fear of looking uncool.