Fashion Goddess Rule #618 is: Respect the recession by wearing short dresses in 2011.
There once was a time when waltzing up and down Rodeo Drive with a ton of shopping bags in your hand was the ideal. Everyone envied Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.
The dream scenario was to be independently wealthy and to shop whenever you wanted and buy as much as you wanted. Ladies dropped thousands in shops every weekend and they bragged about it.
They actually collected fancy shopping bags from the expensive department stores and reused them – carrying clothing to the dry cleaners in a glossy Saks Fifth Avenue paper tote.
It was okay to advertise that you had money. And it was perfectly fine to admit how much your outfit cost. Today, however, it can be a source of embarrassment.
Today, many people are desperately out of work and wearing costly apparel is considered egotistical and insensitive. Now more than ever the “underdressed millionairess” is an iconic portrait. In 2011, casual dresses will be in style – designs that don’t boast luxury logos or pricey materials. Designer collections will be working in cottons and synthetics that don’t cost much to manufacture.
The trend will turn toward easy-to-wear, day to evening casualness – a cute dress that you can worn over jeans during the day and then wear with pumps and stockings at night.
The tailoring will still be sound but the designs themselves will be simplified. They will tend to follow a certain template with similar pieces with minor adjustments in various colors and patterns.
This will be especially true with dresses. Classic models will be the fashion. Tank, halter, spaghetti, and slip shapes will be used. A-line and pencil cuts will be popular.
In general, the ingenuity will be more in the colors and less in the outline. Colors and color combinations will really represent a designer’s vision. Because the fabrics alone will not be very exciting, this is how your eye will be captured.
And the patterns will certainly dazzle. They will pull inspiration from art, nature, and history. They will be literary and poetic, full of emotion and empathy.
There will be an air of nonchalance about them. They will give the sense that the wearer is charitable and laid-back. Even formal attire will be more relaxed and sporty looking.
Collections will appear under-designed with aspects that look almost accidental. Mismatched buttons made of wood or some other natural material. A frayed seam. And casually draped pieces of asymmetrical fabric.
Next year, companies will be even more focused on environmentally conscious branding. Their materials, manufacturing methods, and overall message will be conservation. And the clothing will represent this in every way.
In 2011, casual dresses will begin to pick-up all of these recession-prompted markers. And that’s a good thing. We will enter into an age of carefree glamour that women from all walks of life can access.