Country Road AW 2013 inspired by Isabel Marant

Notice any similarities?

The BOUCLE JACKET:

Country Road AW 2013 $299

Country Road AW 2013 $199

Isabel Marant SS 2010

Isabel Marant SS 2009

Isabel Marant in Isabel Marant AW 2009

The lumberjack shirt: 

Country Road AW 2013 "buffalo" shirt, $99

Isabel Marant SS 2011

The western dress:

Country Road AW 2013 $149

Isabel Marant AW 2009/2010

Isabel Marant AW 2009/2010

Isabel Marant AW 2009/2010

The fringed poncho & peasant top:

Country Road AW 2013 peasant top $99, poncho $179

Isabel Marant SS 2012

Isabel Marant SS 2013

The fur bolero:

Country Road AW 2013 $299

Isabel Marant AW 2012

Isabel Marant AW 2009

The peacoat:

Country Road AW 2013 military coat $349

Isabel Marant AW 2012

The diamond knit sweater:

Country Road sweater $99

Isabel Marant AW 2011

The trim shirt:

Country Road trim shirt $ 129

Isabel Marant SS 2013

The football tee:

Country Road AW 2013 football tee $50

Isabel Marant SS 2012

The wedge sneaker:

Country Road Leandra sneaker, $100

Isabel Marant wedge sneaker

Today's Style Choice: Which style is more YOU?

Warning: This post contains images from the AW 2013 collections. For you southern hemisphere girls, that NEXT winter. The fast fashion retailers like Zara & Topshop are already manufacturing "inspired" versions based on these collections. In the mean time, shop your closet & see if you have anything similar. Whatever you do, hang onto it - now is not the time to sell it on ebay.


Back to the post.....


I have been posting a daily style choice on my Facebook page, for over a month now and I am thrilled with the comments and reader interaction I am receiving from it.


My intentions with the daily style choice were originally three fold.


Intention #1. To make you aware of the different styles (or looks) that clothing and accessories can invoke. Eg: Boho, dramatic, romantic, natural, ecclectic etc.


Intention #2. To make you more aware of your own preferred style. In fact, in most cases, women have a mixture of two preferred styles.


Intention #3. By being more aware of what is your style preference & what ISN'T your style preference, you will make wiser shopping decisions. 


Wiser shopping decisions mean your purchases will sit within your preferred style preference and will co-ordinate with each other and save you money in the long term.


If there is anything else you want from the daily style choice, please let me know.


However, as per usual though, I am still thinking of ways to make the daily style choice better, or more useful for you!

What I have noticed sometimes is that alot of readers love to notice the detail of the photos and reject photos which dont have every element to their liking even though the overall style projection of the photo may in fact be "their thing". 


So for example, if I compare a green boho maxi with a more tailored red dress, someone who hates red but is tailored & structured will pick the green boho dress over the red structured dress. In reality though, their wardrobe isnt boho at all. So in that case, I failed in my intention #2 and I may well have confused the reader with respect to intention #3. Fail, Val, fail!

So - I have a new plan going forward.


Instead of comparing one photo with another, I will try to show you a number of garments in each style choice. That way the emphasis will be on the overall style of the photos, rather than small details in any one garment.


Here is the first comparison under the new plan.

Autumn Winter 2013

This is Autumn Winter 2013 for French design house Nina Ricci (top) and Belgium designer Dries Van Noten (bottom).


Nina Ricci's collection has a romantic nostalgic slant, almost like something from granny's attic.


Dries Van Noten has a dramatic and exotic collection with large prints & strong contrasting colours.

Which of these styles would be closer to the contents of your wardrobe?

Sheike inspired by Stella McCartney

Sheike is an Australian high street chain which does affordable & on trend fashion aimed at 15-35 year olds.

Currently in their windows, is the following black dress....

Now look closely at dress # 1 from the Stella McCartney AW 2011 collection

and dress # 4 from the Stella McCartney SS 2012 collection.....

The Sheike dress seems to be a combination of the two.....take the left body side of the spotted winter dress and the right body side of the summer dress, VOILA - you get the Sheike dress.

Sheike is calling this dress the Revenge dress. Its $140 and made in a black ponte (68% poly, 25% rayon, 7% spandex).

Notice that Sheike hasnt extended the sheer panel all the way down to the hem - a commercial decision no doubt, after all high street is a bit less risque than high end!

It's high street after all - I should be used to this "inspired by" concept by now......sigh.....

Alice McCall inspired by Stella McCartney - again & again

A bit disappointed at another case of "inspired by" and a bad one at that (IMO).

Have a look at a couple of the Alice McCall looks at the recent Mercedes Benz Australian Fashion Week for SS 2012/2013.

 

 
My verdict (apart from the Heidi from the mountain top hair), is "quite lovely" and as far as I can recall, pretty original.

Now look at the next two looks:

 

 

Do you notice some similarities with the following:

Stella McCartney SS 2012

and some of the detail.....

& look at Stella McCartney AW 2011

& some famous girls wearing it...

IMO, the Alice McCall versions have been too closely "inspired by" the Stella collections.....in particular, zoom in on -

1. the dotted mesh

2. the mesh

3. the curly lace joining the opaque to the mesh

The whole thing is just too close for comfort IMO.

What do you think?

Before reaching any harsh conclusions (who me?), I decided to do some more sleuthing.....

take a look at Alice McCall SS 2011/2012...

 

Now take a look at Stella McCartney SS2011

Alice has taken the embroidery from Stella & used it for other items too. She has also done a poet's blouse with the embroidery which looks like a Stella poet's blouse from about four years ago - but I wont go there on grounds my blood pressure is starting to rise...hahaha

I'd lay money that the Alice version doesnt have a scalloped back on the basis that it would have cost too much....notice also the Alice version isnt scalloped on the hem - again, probably cost driven - but the Stella original is gorgeous & worth every cent.

Here is Naomi Watts wearing it at the Stella SS 2011 launch......

Do you think this sort of "inspired by" is acceptable for an Australian designer who has been in the game for over 10 years?

PS: FYI - I have another post immediately following of a high street chain that has been inspired by the Stella McCartney AW 2011 collection above.....