Winter Fashion Trends: Plaid & Checkered Wool Jackets

FIRST, A RANT
Ah, I had a nice 3 day weekend...and I spent TOO MUCH time online shopping and pinterest-ing. I've also thought a lot about how I want to do future fashion posts on this blog. I started off wanting to be like other Asian fashion blogs, notably Eiffel in Seoul, identifying name brand pieces, comparing their styling versus the original runway styling, yay-ing or nay-ing...but after 2 days of trying to figure out what the heck people were wearing without (1) a good enough reading fluency in Korean or Chinese nor (2) an adequate knowledge/time ability to keep up with ALL the fashion shows (fall/winter, spring/summer, coutoure <- I still botch the spelling of couture collections, ready to wear collections, resort collections...o...m...g...). So, I quickly scratched that idea. So, then I thought maybe I could just write fashion trend posts without all the fashion id'ing, which I did on my last post (all white outfits), but that was very time consuming not just in putting it together but also in researching it beforehand. I realized in retrospect that my focus was too broad and my ambitions too large. The perfectionist in me peeking out again.

White to Keep Warm & Cool, a Fashion Color for All Seasons

When the temperature drops low and the days get shorter, we tend to reach for our autumn and winter colors - brown, orange, red, black. However, this fall-winter season, white is the new black for me. Don't get me wrong, it's super easy to throw on an all-black outfit and look classy and put-together any day, but there's something different about an all-white outfit. White reflects light and seems to make our faces glow. White also makes it easier to see little details in the fabric that black just sometimes drowns out. Black might seem appropriate for the winter, but if you're trying to beat the gloominess not only in color but in mood, then white is the perfect remedy for these cold, dark days. If you're going to go for a monochromatic look, white is the way to go this season - it just seems to give you that extra sparkle and glow.

I've also included summer looks, because I don't think I'm going to do another post just on all-white outfits for the summer. White looks great under the bright sunshine of spring and summer, too. It's funny, because while it seems to fight the cold in the dead of winter, white double hustles by also giving a cooling effect in warmer weather - both on the eyes and in reality.

Tang Wei, Sunmi, and Yoona: Three favorite magazine photo shoots, Sep-Oct 2014

There were some stunning magazine photo spreads from September and October, and I wanted to share three of my favorites featuring Tang Wei in Elle Korea's September 2014 issue, Sunmi for bnt in October, and Yoona in W Korea also for their September 2014 issue. It was a tough decision just picking out my top three.

Autumn horror: Stuart Vever's Apollo sweater from COACH's RTW F/W 2014 Collection

I love autumn. I love the bright reds, oranges, and yellows that repaint the world. I love the crisp refreshing feeling you get when the cold air hits your face in the morning...making it feel luxurious to snuggle up in warm sweaters, sip on hot cider, and...watch horror movies??

Well, it seems like - unwittingly or not - our Asian celebrities are snuggling up in what is turning out to be a favorite this season - the Apollo crewneck sweater from Coach RTW F/W 2014 collection, which also happens to be the heritage brand's first ever ready-to-wear campaign as well as the debut collection for new executive creative director Stuart Vevers at Coach. Interestingly, his collection was inspired by the horror classic The Shining. Most of the pieces are styled after Shelley Duvall's character, Wendy Torrance, in the film; what Vever imagined would fill up the rest of her wardrobe on her stay in that hotel. However, the Apollo rocket sweater departs from that as it's inspired by the blue sweater worn by Danny in the film.

Many celebrities have donned this sweater including A Pink's Naeun, actress Kim Hyo-jin (Mary Stayed Out All Night), and Angelababy at various Coach events all in early September 2014; SNSD's Seohyun also wore the piece for Instyle Korea's September 2014 issue.