Corporate Wear You Can Buy

Based on the corporate wear trend forecast for India this season, here are items you should buy, wear and flaunt:

For Him

Short-collared shirts

Formal shirts with short collars for a sharp office look. They are a lot more functional than other collar lengths and will stay popular over the next few seasons. Go for a short collar on a dressy white shirt (which you wear either with a tux or without) or a smart pastel (blue, grey, mauve) shirt under your favourite business suit.

Three-piece suits

Old-world three-piece suits in classic cuts for the boardroom and business trips are by far one of the strongest trends for men this winter. The waistcoat must be made with the same fabric as the jacket and trouser and should give you a structured and snug fit. Ensure its ‘dressy enough’ to be worn with a full-sleeve shirt, even without a jacket on top.
Slim ties

Broad ties are vintage. Update your tie rack with a collection of slim ties. While a black one is a must, keep a brown, blue, purple and red tie handy to mix and match with all your suits.

Textured & matt fabrics

No shinier, metallic and glossy fabrics for business and work wear. Trends favour a matt, dull look especially for jackets, trousers and three-piece suits. Soft fabrics and luxury wool blends will be the flavour this season. Texture is strong and so are small prints of tartan or multicolored checks.
Double breasted jackets

Six and eight (brass or silver) button jackets from the early ’80s have been reinvented to look shapelier. Since a double-breasted jacket can make one look broad and boxy, wear them only if you are tall or lean.

Short overcoats

The era of large ‘detective style’ overcoats is over. Invest in a good quality, short (knee-length or higher) one for peak winter or if you are traveling to cold places. Choose solids (in camel, grey, black or brown) over prints, as they are a lot more neutral and are less likely to be remembered, even when worn over and over again.

 

Baring All The Rise

Hemlines, trouser shapes and sleeve lengths change seasonally, but it takes a little longer for the exposure of a previously covered area to be adopted by the mainstream. Backless, hipster and plunge find themselves returning to trend far less frequently than easier to wear shapes. But there’s one reveal which has made it to rapid success: where did the midriff suddenly spring from?

The exposed midriff has a celebrity endorsement of the highest pedigree, having seen red carpet outings on Gwyneth Paltrow, Rooney Mara, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lopez and Solange Knowles. A mixed bunch, appealing to a broad assortment of customers. And then there’s Rihanna, who can’t keep her abs in for love nor money (and why would she?!): given her 85 million online followers, there’s a fair few eyeballs on her sartorial choices.

But from where did the trend stem? And once it’s taken away from the honed and toned A-list bods, does it actually sell to the masses? Are consumers willing to part with their cash and parade their ribcages? Examining the data, we expose more than a little flesh.

Look back a year ago to that stellar Stella McCartney collection from Autumn/Winter 2011/12, which graced a mind-boggling number of magazine covers and a-listers and you’ll spot the exposed midriffs of Kate Winslet, Kate Hudson and Jane Fonda amongst the acres of black and streamlined frocks. In the same season, cool kids Carven were up to flashing tricks with their twill tartan cutaway dress. Shown in February 2011, it didn’t take long for highstreet retailers to react; very quickly stomach-baring cutaways appeared on the bodycon dresses they were offering. So where are we now? What’s selling and to who?

Let’s first look at Rih Rih’s preferred flesh flasher: the bralet. A relatively new garment to the fashion scene, it’s easy to see consumers latching onto the terminology and their sentiment towards the piece grows. Sentiment towards the garment ran high following the September SS12 shows, but volume of chatter was still low. Fashion insiders were raving about what they’d seen at Dolce & Gabbana but the consuming public wasn’t yet onboard. When the high street versions arrived in March, volume of chatter soared and has continued building over the summer, with sales still benefitting.

Within the last six weeks there have been success stories across the high street. For Topshop, this comes in the form of their 18 studded bralet, sold out in four of six sizes in just over a month. Studding works; ASOS triumphed with their leather-look studded bralet by Hearts & Bows. At 24.99, the garment arrived online on the 3rd August and was out of stock of all five sizes a month later. Meanwhile New Look’s girlier Parisian floral bralet at 8 sold out completely in a month.

Fashion with animal prints

Animal print has always garnered attention and has been in fashion for a long time. It displays sophistication, style and versatility. Noticeably, this trend does not seem to fade and is still ruling the fashion world and other sectors. Animal prints are the rage of this season and finds its way in party wears, coats, skirts, handbags, lingerie, watches, accessories and even in home furnishing textiles.

Animal print clothing are garments which have patterns of the skin or fur of animals like leopard, cheetah, zebra, tiger, Giraffe, Striped Hyena, African wild dog or monkey. Animal prints have remained popular since ancient times and there are many reasons for it.

Firstly, it was expensive and considered extraordinary. If one goes back to the history, kings and higher class people have used rugs made from animal skin. They have displayed animal skin or animal head as medals, which is a symbol of royalty and high status. Coats made from unusual African fur were worn by members of royal families and elite class of people during olden times.

In the past few decades, celebrities and fashion designers have played a major role in bringing animal print into mainstream fashion. This evergreen trend is loved by all and the apparel market is flooded with variety of animal prints. Bengal tiger stripes and black and white Dalmatian spots were in fashion last year. However, leopard print is the classic flavor of this season and rules the current fashion scenario.

Animal print trend has been heating up the Autumn/Winter 2013-2014 shows. This season one can see many designers and brands like Roberto Cavalli, Diane Von Furstenberg, DKNY, coming up with their own fashionable versions to showcase their animal print collection. Burberry displayed amazing giraffe and leopard print collections whereas giraffe print ankle boots by Boden were loved by all at the Autumn/Winter 13 show.

The amazing feature about animal print is that it has been reinvented time and again, and comes up with a new trend every season. Animal prints can be worn anytime, irrespective of the season, weather or style. Moreover, many people think that animal prints can be worn by women alone, but the fashion world has offered animal print garments for men as well.

Animal print always garners attention therefore, it is important to pair it up perfectly to look right. The golden rule to remember while wearing animal print is never dress head to toe with this print. Here, the fashion trend is “less is more” so as to keep the look sophisticated and stylish.

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