Friday Fashion | Valentina Expressions

Stand On A Platform | Valentina Cirasola |Designer

16 Jan 2015 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #2015Colors, #2015DesignerShoes, #2015NewYorkRunway, #2015SpringShoes, #RedVoyageIntoColors

Welcome, it is Friday in Fashion! Are you tired of the ballerina shoes? Tired of being flat to the ground and no arch support? Tired of shoes that make short women look even shorter and large calves even larger?
Although ballerina shoes are very pretty and hip, they are not for everybody and especially they are not for women with puffy swollen feet spilling out of the shoes like a river in flood.

Here is the industry proposal of what we will see in the streets this coming spring and summer.

http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/09/best-flat-shoes-from-new-york-fashion-week.html

BURBERRY-SHOES-SPRING-SUMMER-2015

shoes: Calvin Klein

Source: IMAXTREE

Victoria Beckham Spring 2015

Shoes: Paul Smith

I like the comfortable look of 2015 shoes: chunky heels planted well to the ground, built on platforms, easy to wear, colorful and if it rains some of these shoes will help cross the high water.

Colors of men shoes are sexy this year! I am really curious to see how many men will wear the two tones, textured shoes.
Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. Born in Italy in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. To better help people in the world, she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Unbridled Luxury | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

02 Jan 2015 2 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #AspreyHandbags, #AspreyInteriors, #AspreyJewelry, #AspreyLondon, #AspreyLuxuryItems, #LondonBondSt, #LondonLuxury, London

Welcome to my 2015 Friday Fashion and everything stylish.
During the past holidays I left the Internet for a couple of weeks to detox from electromagnetism and got a chance to watch the world and T.V. One night on PBS there was a story on Asprey, a luxury store in central London on Bond St, the epitome of luxury goods that attracts the wealthiest people in the world, nobles and royals alike. All jewelry is made on the upstairs quarters where a hand full of artisans work on exceptional masterpieces that only the most fortunate people will wear. There, also they produce stunning gold or silver figurines that will embellish ice buckets and many other home décor objects silver salt and pepper figurines in the shapes of awls. The price is £7,000 British Pound each and they will make a stunning appearance on someone’s dining table in Houston, Texas, so it was said during the show.

The store doesn’t care to sell mass-produced luxury goods, there, everything is hand-made keeping an old fashion business alive in a modern world. Asprey became its activity producing elaborate dressing cases and not as a jewelry store, but during the course of the century jewelry became the most important part of the store trade, their clients come from all over the world to buy into the British luxury.

Asprey has occupied the same site on Bond St. for over 160 years spread over five Georgian townhouses. It was recently renovated for only £50 million, just a snip!!! However, the new open space and the glass ceiling make the store look grand, modern and inviting. This is a place where no price is showing in the windows. The old adage goes like this:
“If you have to ask how much something costs, you probably can’t afford it”.

In the T.V. story, something really struck me. It was the handbags private collection, made exclusively for Asprey in crocodile, with 18 Kt gold clasps encrusted with diamonds. The lowest price of the stunning handbags started at £33,000 and went up to £80,000. The price wasn’t necessary based on the size of the bag, a simple pavé bag could have been easily priced at £80,000.
Asprey’s clients buy exclusivity, knowing there is only one in the world of that particular item they want. That’s what the sense of luxury is all about.

A lot of planning went on behind the scenes. Asprey planned a month to sell all the handbags by inviting royals and wealthy people of the Middle East to a lavish tea. The store management was sure some of the powerful clients would have bought at least 3 or 4 bags each. However even Asprey sometimes can go through miscalculation of sales like many other stores. After two weeks into the private collection show, only a few women accepted the invitation and purchased a few handbags. Until one day a visiting Middle East Princess responded to the store’s invitation, requested the store to close the doors to the public and purchased 12 of the most beautiful handbags, I would say one for each month of the year.

The private collection was a great success and the store employees can rest assured their jobs will be still there one more year. It would be hard for the salespeople to come down from that high pedestal if the royals and wealthy didn’t shop there anymore.

Hey, if we have to dream, let’s dream big.
Happy 2015 all the way through and I wish many beautiful things will happen to you this year. Ciao.

Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

It’s my hope that through my writing and stories I am enriching your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style and inspiring you to live in beauty. I have loved my profession as a fashion/interior designer since 1990. I am here ready to offer consultations on-line if you need or in the traditional in-home consultations. Check out my latest book on colors ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors, available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

I Am A Fan Of Mysterious | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

12 Dec 2014 2 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #AnnaKarenina, #Flabellum, #HandFanCommunication, #HandFanLanguage, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #VenetianHandFan

I watched again Anna Karenina, a beautiful 2012 drama film directed by Joe Wright, adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s 1877 novel of the same name. I love everything in this film that takes place in some of the most lavish and detailed settings. It is a feast for the eyes for the most beautiful costumes, colors, atmosphere and the bold, epic, sensual story interpreted by Keira Knightley and Jude Law as the main protagonists. It was the historic period when women wore hand fans as necessary accessories to hide emotions behind it. In most of the scenes, I found intriguing the proper gestures hand fans demanded.

While I was watching the film, I thought there must be a meaning behind all this twirling of the hand fan and wondering why such not necessary item in today’s world has had a long history in many cultures.
In the Far East, the large “flabellum” fans were made of palm leaves or lotus leaves and even ostrich or peacock feathers. In India only royals used fans. In 5ht century Greek women used small fans to refresh their face, while in the Roman Empire fans became larger again to ventilate a person, until a new coquetry society custom of XVI century Europe dictated a new fashion and fans became one of the established women fashion accessory. Elegant women carried the fan secured to the wrist with a gold chain or a precious belt.

In this period came the pleated fan from the Orient in use still today. In Versailles under both kings Luis XIV and XV, fans were made of leather, silks, or elegant parchment paper, they were decorated with ivory, tortoise-shell, gold, and silver. This ostentatious elegance required a certain rigid comportment: women could open their fans only if the queen was in the room. Some of the fans became so advanced that even had a mechanism to signal the woman’s consent to a love rendezvous and the time of the appointment. (Click on each photo to view it larger).

(Found on http://www.museodellocchiale.it/index.php – Via Pinterest)

The fans I like the best are those made in the Venetian Cinquecento, true hand-painted works-of-art hiding a mirror in the center, like a sort of small mirrors attached to the inside pockets of an upscale modern purse. Since the Rococo period, hand fan has been part of women dressing up for ballroom dances, important events or going to the Opera and never thought I would have seen it in everyday life again until I went to Barcelona last May and discovered that even sitting at tapas bar a woman can have a fan in her hand. Perhaps it has to do with the Flamenco dance so traditional and popular in Spain, or too much sangria, which is absolutely great in those parts, but I tell you, women with a fan have an accomplice mysterious look even today. Needless to say, I bought myself a couple of beautiful hand-painted fans made locally in Spain.

In Anna Karenina’s film, there is a lot of body language in the theatre scene where Keira Knightley is communicating with her lover across the box through waving her fan hastily, unaware her husband is observing her from above through a binocular. I was curious to learn more about the meaning behind the fluttering. I researched a bit and in an article on European Fans in the XVIII century found that each situation and action can be expressed silently with a fan. Here I included only a few important and common ones:

“Yes.” Rest the fan on your right cheek.
“No.” Rest the fan on your left cheek.
“I wish to speak with you.” Close the fan.
“I desire your acquaintance.” Carry the fan in your left hand before your face.
“I am engaged.” Fan yourself very quickly.
“I am married.” Fan yourself slowly.
“Wait for me.” Open your fan wide.
“Follow me.” Carry the fan in your right hand before your face.
“We are being watched.” Half-opening the fan over the face.
“I love you.” Draw the fan across your cheek.
“Do you love me?” Present the fan closed.
“I belong to you.” Dropping the fan
“I love another.” Twirl your fan in your right hand.
“You are cruel.” Open and shut your fan several times in succession.
“I hate you!” Draw your fan through your left hand swiftly
“I see that you are looking at another woman.” Passing the fan from hand to hand.

Next time I go to the Opera, I will be more attentive to men with binoculars, maybe someone is observing my fan. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. Born in Italy in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. To better help people in the world, she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Fashion Is An Attitude | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

21 Nov 2014 4 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #AmericanFilms, #FashionAtStanford, #FashionIndustry, #FashionInFilms, #FilmIndustry, #FrancaSozzani, #ItalianFilms, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #VogueMagazine

Do you think everything we wear comes from fashion runways around the world? Not at all says Franca Sozzani, fashion editor in chief of Vogue Italia magazine who spoke at Stanford University last week. She believes the film industry is the first in line to pay attention to street fashion attitude by bringing it on the silver screen. People look at actors like heroes, take them as a point of interest, revere them and emulate whatever they do, thus the process of transferring fashion from the street to films, from films to runways and from there to the streets again is very easy.

Fashion is the mirror of the time people live in, it reflects all the political climates and economic difficulties a society faces or wealthy moments society accumulates; it reflects fears, culture upheaval, ethnic acceptance, or the positive attitude of a thriving society; it reflects frivolity and revolutionary thinking. Once all these social behaviors are accepted they will translate into expressions and expressions will translate in fashion for everyday wear as a new natural attitude, says Franca Sozzani.

A gallery of photos from the most famous films supported her speech. In the film The Wild One Marlon Brandon showed off his “bad” attitude by wearing a leather jacket and a white t-shirt riding a motorcycle, something never been done up to that moment and more than fifty years later we are still wearing it, even though is no longer synonymous of rebellion, but casual comfort. In Doctor Zhivago, Julie Christie brought out elegance with the turtleneck and the bearskin fur. In the films La Dolce Vita with Marcello Mastroianni, in Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow with Sofia Loren and in The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman everything was perfect and elegant.

However, there was a sense of rebellion in the air, wearing fewer clothes to expose more body became acceptable. After a manicured, well-cared elegance came the desire to be free from conventional constrictive fashion, in the film Barbarella with Jane Fonda we saw the nude-look for the first time. The women’s liberation movement influenced fashion designer Paco Rabanne who designed outfits in the style of metal armor. The film didn’t have much success but the nude-look did and continued in a few movies such as Cabaret with Liza Minnelli and Night Porter where women wore long gloves, a military hat and very little clothing on their bodies. Rejection of conventional dressing and societal changes brought us the Hippies Styles in the film Yellow Submarine with The Beatles. The famous band really revolutionized the ‘60s youth’s thinking and way of dressing. They brought the long hair for men, the man’s shoes with hills, colorful jackets and pants forcefully rejecting the traditional man’s suit, bolo hats, and shirt ties.

In the ‘80s we lived the frivolity of that decade. Women’s shoulders looked so much like football players altered with huge shoulder pads. High coiffed permed hair as high as the Empire State Building on top of loud colors outfits and purple eyeshadows distinguished high fashion girls, who also wore leather jackets and lace gloves. Films like Wall Street with Michael Douglas, American Beauty with Kevin Spacey and Working Girls portrayed the selfish greedy of that era and the self-celebration of vanity. Society was doing well in that decade, more was better, glitzy clothes and jewels were the rages until the Grunge Style abolished all that vanity. Elegance and style were lost once again, pants with holes and crotches down the knees marked the behavior of a society that was going towards sloppiness and little care for personal appearance.

In 2008, fashion designer Prada saved women from that careless dressing and returned to dress them with femininity and elegance in the film In The Mood For Love.

Franca Sozzani’s presentation was a skip and a jump between times, styles and changes of attitude. She emphasized that fashion cycles should be a know-how to help designers understand society’s needs better and not a repetition of what has been done through the years. At the question someone in the audience asked about her personal style, Franca Sozzani answered that when she goes to fashion shows and among the guests sees too many shoes of the moment, too many dresses of the moment, or too many of the same color in season, she wishes to dress vintage. This only tells me one thing: fashion is made for “victims” those people who need approval, who need to wear the latest fashion as it was the “uniform” of the day to feel right, without really caring if it fits their personality. Those people need to “fit in” and thanks to them the fashion industry will continue to stay alive.
Exalt one’s personality by wearing the right clothes even when not in fashion is an art and only a few can do it. “Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself” ~ Coco Chanel. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Italy In The Hands Of Fashion | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

24 Oct 2014 2 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #BiagiottiFashion, #BulgariFashion, #DiegoDellaValleFashion, #DieselJeans, #FendiFashion, #FerragamoFashion, #RenzoRosso

Italy is a small territory and a concentrate of beauty in every sense of the word. Among the arts we Italians have created through the centuries, we can say that since the Renaissance our mastery for beauty enabled us to train even the beauty of nature mixed with the elegant architecture into postcards that the entire world enjoys.

The Italian views are not the only things a visitor enjoys in Italy. Every corner, every niche, every stone has history and stories to tell. However, when “walking on gold” becomes a regular pavement the value of the heritage, patrimony, or even opportunity that “gold” creates is completely disregarded. The Italian government doesn’t realize the value of the nation’s treasure and doesn’t know how to make it work for them. The country is consumed with overstuffed bureaucracy, serious recession problems and other issues I don’t feel discussing here, as this post is about fashion and not politics. Luckily for the Italians, there are so many successful entrepreneurs in the fashion industry who have decided to help out and devolve a good chunk of their own money to save a lot of our monuments and historic sites from crumbling to death.

Benefactor designer Diego Della Valle (photo above) a prominent business person in the shoemaking business gave 35 million dollars of his own money to clean up inch-by-inch all the grime, pollution and dirt collected on the Coliseum’s travertine stones for centuries. The cleaning up is done by hands with small brushes and almost no technology, no chemical allowed, only purified water, elbow grease, three years of work and a lot of dedication from the workers.

Fendi, famous fashion house followed Della Valle’s example and offered $3.5 million to redo the plumbing of the famous Trevi fountain in Rome where 54 years ago Fellini filmed “La Dolce Vita” with Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg. This is where every tourist stands by the fountain and with a backward motion throws a coin in the water with the hope to come back to Rome.

The Biagiotti House proudly supported the restoration of the twin Baroque fountains in Piazza Farnese and Michelangelo’s grand staircase leading to Campidoglio Square. (Photo above: Biagiotti mother and daughter)

(Photo source: Author Sergio Calleja – Wikimedia)

Bulgari House is putting money to repair and restore the Spanish Steps in Rome where tourists stop to rest their feet and sit on the steps for hours.

Salvatore Ferragamo worked together with the Louvre on the restoration of Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece “The Virgin and Child With Saint Anne.”

The 400 years old Rialto Bridge in Venice will be restored with Renzo Rosso’s money, (photo above) a self-made man in the fashion industry known as the Giant of Diesel Jeans who became a multi-millionaire with all the fashion products he created to pair with his Diesel Jeans.

Italy is not a country is an emotion and Italian past glory must live and must be protected. Tourists enjoy Italy, the views, the historic sites, taste wines and indulge in good food, but wonder how do Italians manage to live the dolce vita with the chaos the nation is in. Well, with their hands tight, at least they choose to enjoy the best moments life offers. It is only with the help of fashion magnates that Italian future becomes our problem and our treasures can live for a few more centuries. We are very proud of these iconic people in the fashion industry. Ad Maiora! Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Copyright © 2014 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved
Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior. Born in Italy in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. To better help people in the world, she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Wrapped In Chain | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

03 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #Chanel2015SpringCollection, #ChanelChain, #ChanelDesigns, #ChanelJacket, #ClassicFashion, #KarlLagerfeld, #RedVoyageIntoColors

In my fashion Academy in Italy, I learned that a couture garment begins with pattern drafting (nothing but geometry and calculations), which is transferred on a muslin fabric, than the muslin is cut leaving generous seam allowances, set up multiple fittings until the muslin is perfect and finally cut the fabric with white gloves on to protect the fabric from oil of the skin. If the garment is of high quality, nothing needs to soil it. I enjoyed every minute in that Italian fashion school set in a four hundred years old building.

Handling high fashion garments taught me patience, to produce quality work, appreciation for anything custom-made and elegance. Exactly elegance! Wearing an expensive garment doesn’t make a person automatically elegant in manners and comportment. We were students, but we had to carry the flame of beauty, style and be the ambassadors of elegance in every aspect of life. With the teaching of garment design and construction, many other things went on: knowing how to sit properly, knowing how to walk, how to wear a stylish ensemble, how to respond to compliments, how to apply an elegant makeup, you name it, we learned it.

In my blog on Elegance, I wrote: “Elegance is not showy. Elegance is style, awareness, and moderation. Elegance is a balanced mix of good taste and precise choices. It translates in the right search for substance and attention to details. Elegance is sober and sobriety is elegant. Both are pleasing and comfortable, functional and beautiful”. http://goo.gl/syAQX6

voguepatterns.mccall.com

http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages

Gabrielle Chanel used to say that elegance meant being equally beautiful on the inside and the outside and that’s why her famous jacket fits so well. The silk lining quilted to the jacket conceals a fine chain that gives the jacket its impeccable silhouette. Hand sewn pockets and sleeves set in the armhole to gently follow the woman contour are carefully studied to avoid curling up, bunching up, or puckering. All seams have plenty fabric allowance to let out two or three sizes when weight gain occurs.

Chanel jacket is iconic and possesses a magic that fits each woman in all her differences. Chanel jacket is collectible and will always be fashionable through times and styles, it wears well with jeans or evening attire, from the office to an afternoon cocktail. Chanel jacket will never lose the aura of beauty and elegance, Coco intended. She also liked to show her bracelets thus she made many jackets with ¾ sleeves. Granted Chanel jacket is not for everyone. If you are the type of person who loves to accumulate clothes without rhyme or reason, Chanel jacket is not for you. This garment is expensive and requires a close study of your personal style, your lifestyle and your comportment to fit the price. You cannot have rings on nose and lips or body tattoos and wear a Chanel jacket.

Karl Lagerfeld has reinvented Chanel jacket since 1983. He is very creative in reinterpreting the past. The tweeds, the silk-wools and wool bouclé are still in his designs of the Chanel jacket even though often he brings out his own interpretation of this fantastic jacket that has attracted generations of women though hundred and more years. Have you seen the new very colorful Spring 2015 Chanel collection? Click here for the backstage view – http://goo.gl/chgbYV

Ciao,

Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

New Life To Crochet | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

20 Sep 2014 4 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #CrocehtFashion, #CrochetNecklace, #EtsyStore, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaExpressions, Crochet

Welcome to my Friday Fashion.
Crochet has picked up popularity and no longer looks like grandmother’s blanket of the ’60s or doilies of the ‘1800s. The techniques are the same with a new modern twist.

I am into crochet again, I had abandoned it for so many years, my life was evolving and playtime was limited. Now my life is still evolving in a new direction, I am into fashion again and I have combined it with my interior design business. I started crocheting again, it is a relaxing thing to do, allows me moments to think of life issues and I like the creations, which come out of my mind without a pattern, without plans and often I can’t repeat the same thing again. I can say I make one of a kind piece.

Colliers by ©Valentina Cirasola

I wear scarves from autumn to the end of spring and even in cooler summer evenings. I thought it would be nice to wear something that resembles a scarf, but it really is not. I call my new creations COLLIERS. The word refers to chunky and imposing jewelry, mine are made in clusters of yarn, fabrics, beads and various items as I fancy, their function is to keep the neck warm and to embellish the clothes. These photos represent some of my work. The rest of my creations is in my Etsy store, take a look, I would appreciate it https://www.etsy.com/shop/ValentinaExpressions
Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Cocktail at 5:00 PM | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

12 Sep 2014 2 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #2014CobaltBlue, #2014RoyalBlue, #2014SanJoseLittleItalyFundraising, #BlueCombinedWithBrown, #BlueSuedeShoes, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaCirasolaOnPinterest

Today my Friday Fashion talk will be about a fundraising’s fashion ensemble I will wear tomorrow. There will be a cocktail and wine tasting at 5:00 pm and dinner later in the evening. Volunteer students dressed in Patrician Roman costumes will greet guests coming in from the valet parking, Opera singers will fill the air with well-known arias during silent auctions and some guests will take a photo opportunity with some of our Roman handmaidens or male Roman soldiers.

The title of the fundraising “Sempre Avanti – Moving Forward”, inspired me, as the designer on the committee, to create the Roman Empire theme. In fact, the fundraising is dedicated to creating more funds for building the Italian Cultural Center in the future Little Italy of San José, CA. For the last four months, the committee worked on ideas and went through intense preparations. Tomorrow will time for all of us to enjoy the event, study what we can do better next time and collect as much money as possible. My fashion ensemble will not be in tune with the Roman theme, nor will anybody’s else cocktail dress. I had a blue tone in mind since the beginning of this fundraising organization and wanted to use it as a playful color. My seamstress worked on one of the outfits I designed and I worked on the other. Now, I have two choices of colors:

Ensemble A: Night blue and nuances of blue cobalt. It carries an asymmetrical, overlay, detachable piece, in aqua leopard print (click on the image to see my hand drawing) over midnight blue pants and a tank top. I can wear that piece interchangeably with a skirt or pants even for a different occasion. A wrap made out of the same leopard print will cover my shoulders if the temperature drops in the evening.
Ensemble B: Brown and nuances of blue cobalt. The construction of this piece has been made with two fabrics with different style polka dots: skirt body has blue tiny velvet polka dots over brown chiffon, bottom volants are champagne color velvet large polka dots over brown chiffon. A wrap made out of the same fabric of the volants will be my shoulder cover.
Accessories will be simple: a necklace with two large pendants on a long blue cord, cobalt blue silk long gloves, pochette, and suede shoes. What do you think?

(details)

As part of the decorating committee, I will be busy talking to people tomorrow at the event and enjoying myself, I hope someone will take a photo of me. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Blue Suede Shoes | Valentina Cirasola |Designer

29 Aug 2014 4 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #2014CobaltBlue, #2014FallColors, #2014RoyalBlue, #BlueSuedeShoes, #CocktailFashion, #ColorScheme, #RedVoyageIntoColors

It’s Friday Fashion!
Royal blue and Bright Cobalt Blue are in fashion this fall 2014. In a couple of weeks, I will attend a fundraiser gala and I don’t want to appear in the usual black. Instead, I will play with a brown and blue color scheme.
I know brown is not a color for the evening nor for a formal event. Never wear brown after 5:00 o’clock. However, I have designed my ensemble for cocktails and early evening events.
I chose a brown fabric chiffon with blue velvet dots. At the bottom I added a totally different fabric, still brown chiffon with larger velvet platinum color polka dots, which will make transparent volants from above the knees down and show some legs. Transparency at night is very sexy.
My top will be brown with spaghetti strings and a beaded décolletage. Blue suede shoes, a reproduction of XVII century French shoes, cobalt blue long satin gloves and a huge shawl made of the skirt’s volants will be my accessories. The skirt will be ready soon. Click on the image to see it larger.

I am very sure all the women at this fundraising event will be dressed in black as if they are going to a funeral and all the men will be in a black suit, white shirt and black tie looking more like undertakers than attendees to a happy event.
Why people think wearing black to a formal event is proper and elegant? First, black is a visual weight reducer, it makes people look 10-15% thinner. Second, black is very wearable, any skin type can wear black and third black is easy to accessorize.
However, I think the real reason is that customers are not given any other choice, except for the red color around the holidays. Fashion designers create all kinds of colors and combinations that never make it to the market. Store buyers play safe and stick to what sells the best every year: BLACK.

At the fundraising, I will not feel a fish out of the water. I am used to wearing my own creations day or night, it is not the first time I am wearing something out of the ordinary. As a designer, I have the freedom to say This Is Me, versus wearing something that has been imposed on me and perhaps my different way of seeing things will inspire others to do the same. Clothes we wear speak about who we are. Do you dare at the time when your dress up? Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. Born in Italy in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. To better help people in the world she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Flirtatious Clothes | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

15 Aug 2014 5 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #2014FallFashion, #2014FallPantoneColors, #CapriPants, #GiambattistaValliFashion, #ItalianFashion, #RedVoyageIntoColors

It’s Friday Fashion at Valentina’s design. Do you agree that if we don’t dress for work or to cover our bodies, clothes should be flirtatious? I think so. You should dress first for yourself to look good for YOU because you like who you are, the way you are, then you should dress to please others whose compliments will boost your self-esteem. If we dress well and combine clothes elegantly with whimsy, people will notice it. Believe it, doors will open!

Every season I follow various fashion designers, everyone has his/her own interpretation of each upcoming season and they are fun to watch. For the next Fall 2014, I choose the line of an Italian designer Giambattista Valli. I find it very fresh, whimsical and wearable. The story of the scarf on the models’ head is the designer’s fantasy. He envisioned hard-partying women who the next morning wakes up with a huge headache for drinking too much the night before, takes the white napkins wrapped around a champagne bottle laying in the bucket and ties it around her head to go for a walk in the garden. All right, the story is pretty, but we don’t have to wrap our head in a kitchen napkin to go out the door, as you see the models in the slideshow. I imagine most of us have a different life than a fashion show.

I love the soft line for a whimsical look, the vertical stripes for elongating the figure and the transparency for flirting. I love the short pants underneath some of the transparent floral dresses with a cute jacket over it. I think the cascading flowers over the legs gives that effect of “now you see it and now you don’t” that is really sexy. My favorite is the Capri striped pants with the long skirt wrapped around and open in the front. It is smashing, a bit retro 1950s and I will do it.

If you like this look and without taking anything away from the designer, can you make adaptations to some of your clothes to achieve this look? If you have a long skirt, can you lift a corner of the skirt up to a certain point, pin a large brooch and expose part of your leg? Go ahead be flirtatious with clothes, it is in our nature and I can help you with that. Ciao,
Valentina
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Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. Born in Italy in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. To better help people in the world she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
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