creating modern elegance
It was a blessing in disguise that Milan was booked out for the furniture fair, Salone Mobile, two weeks ago. It meant I stayed an hour outside Milan in Bergamo. I love observing the way Italian women in smaller towns translate fashion items into their own style language. After a delightful first coffee with a view of Citta Alta, the old city on the hill, I strolled down via Borgo Palazzo to my bed and breakfast, The Poets Corner (angolo del poeta). The B&B name alone, transported me to a place of romantic peace and beauty...and nailed the booking. It was a quiet stroll, mid-afternoon with all the shops closed for lunch. Then this modern , elegant woman appeared.
The harmony of every item created a whole that made her visible, modern and elegant. When I asked for a photo to post it on my blog she said "sure, why not" but seemed most surprised...after all she had just thrown a few pieces together! Why does she look so amazing? What works here is
1. COLOR: she has fully accepted her colouring. The beige grey of her pullover repeats her beautiful pixie cut hair. The rust checks in the dress are picked up by her bag and harmonise with her skin tone. And tonally repeated in her lip stick and sunglasses.
2. TEXTURE: she has thick hair and skin so can carry much visual weight. We see how the visual weight of the sweater and croc print bag match repeat her hair and skin weight. The smooth fabric of the dress matches the smoothness of her skin.
3. SHAPE: as curvier woman she has chosen beautiful boots that balance the fuller dress and weight of her sweater. She has innately known that a fuller dress works best in a smaller print so she shines and not the fabric design. Brava!
In the second outfit we see the same principles at work. In order to not overwhelm the beautiful asymmetrical shape of the dress, she has chosen shoes with the same visual weight to balance and a similar shade of blue to stay tonal. doing so has created an overall look of fresh simplicity inspite of the complex cut. The weight of the asymmetry is on the right of the dress and so is her hairdo. Again this beautiful woman was so surprised I would want a photo..she has just casually thrown on her outfit. But we see how she instinctively created harmony and highlighted her beauty.
In Milan I attended Lii Edelkoort's seminar Enlighment , forecasting winter 2019/ 2020. Lii forecasts volume in clothing to counter balance the cold smooth industrial high tech world. Suggesting that roomier items express our desire to be softly surrounded and protected by clothing. Whatever shape you are, and whatever the shape of the clothing you choose, the most important factor is you. Your strengths, your beauty, your own wonderful self highlighted. If you want to incorporate more volume into your look, but struggle how to do so effectively drop me a line and let's chat.
