Each week I will feature a fashionable item in the blog. If you think yours could fit this style, please add a photo to the photo pool in flickr.
GilBea's Fashion & Handmade Flickr Group
If you are a new fashion designer, spotted a new trend, want to submit your own look, or need help with some new clothes you got, drop me a line!
I will get back to you as soon as posible, and probably you will appear in the blog if you want to =)
Cobalt Blue is a color all designers have used in different collections, and even though it looks more like a winter color, it is also used in many summer collections! Made famous in the 80s, it is now back!
Why? Well, in my opinion, cobalt blue is a color that looks good on ANYONE! Blondes, brunettes, redheads, etc! Yup. Don't believe me? try it on! Start with a small touch like a brooch, a silk scarf on the neck, a headband. Then build up from there, combine a cobalt blue shirt with your clothes. Or maybe a coat, why not? It will brighten those fall and winter days.
But beware! It looks good on anyone, but not with any other color! Use black, grey, white, silver for a more sophisticated look. Other people recommend to combine with yellow or brights like red, pink and green. For me that is too much color, but it all depends on you :)
You can also range from electric cobalt blue to softer tones, but I rather do the medium tones or deeper ones.
And of course I have picked a small selection of cobalt blue clothes and accessories for you!
Ok... so headbands might not be in the sytlebook for this spring BUT! I just got a haircut and I can barely make a ponytail so... for the first time in my life (not including when I was a kid lol) I am going to wear a headband! Of course, I don't have any, so I turned my head to Etsy to see if I could find any I liked. I am all for thin headbands that are not too obvious lol - no fascinators (at least not until I get used to wearing headbands).
Headbands and hair pins, the things I am gonna need most these days (and probably for a long time cause I love this new haircut lol)!
Gloves! But not any kind of gloves... fetiche gloves are, as usual, leather gloves. This time, the extra long version with short sleeved tops, the more classic ones and the casual look ones, all of them are fashionable this season! I know Spring is here and the cold is leaving.. but until it is really gone, why not wear a pair of super soft and lovely leather gloves? =)
And here is a small selection that I found in Etsy:
I hope you like them! I haven't worn gloves all this winter, only once or twice lol Not beacuse it wasn't cold, but because I kept forgetting them!!
Also, I have open dates for Giveaways from next week on if anyone is interested! If anyone wants to giveaway an item or gift certificate, please contact me (email at the bottom of left column)
I'm back with much more fashion for you guys! And I think you will love this one. Or at least I will =) I have always loved to wear all kind of bracelets, specially cuffs. In fact, I have tons of them (ehem, and even more earrings!!) and love to wear them in spring & summer. But don't worry, you can also wear them in fall & winter. Just wear them over the sleeves of your turtle neck shirts. Fantastic look!
So what is in this season for bracelets? Basically: Rocker Cuffs. Big leather bracelets/cuffs with buckles, and metal. They are cool because they can be worn anywhere and with almost any trend or look. (well, probably they wouldn't match too well with a formal suit lol)
Do you wear this kind of cuffs? I do! Believe me, they can make any outfit stand out. I really recommend them for the jeans and tshirt girls out there. ;)
Yes, you heard right. One of the trends for this winter is going back to peplum wasists shapes. Now, I didn't have a clue what this 'waist' shape was before I saw this trend. But I realize now this is not a new trend at all.. it sounds... familiar! lol I just didn't know they were called "Peplum waists"
So, what can we do to achieve this look and still wear handmade? I found a few iems that would work well in this category:
So, what do you think? will you be wearing this trend? ;)
On a side note, I just finished my first silk obi belt! Made of my own hand painted silk, sewn by me! (lol I'm a total beginner at sewing so I am super happy with the outcome of this first attempt) So, what do you think? I love the reddish/orangeish overall color, perfect to combine with a black/grey/brownish dress/shirt. I think it adds a super fashionable touch to the outfit hehe It will be soon availabe inmy etsy shop for around $45. Do you think it is well priced?
One of my favourite colors of the season is plum. I haven't checked the pantone colors for autmn winter 08 lately, so I can't remember if it is a color that should be in fashion this season, all I know is it is everywhere in the shops! And I'm so happy about that, it will be really sad to see it go.
In honor of Plum color I am bringing you today a selection of fantastic items I found in that range. Yay!
Whaaaa? yeah, you heard right. Sequins are back. I hope they won't stay long though!
Sequins are fun... but c'mon... a full sequin dress??? Well, seems some famous designers decided it is cool for this season =) Haven't seen any in the shops yet. I don't think they will make it haha For me sequins are cool, but they should stay out of the clothes lol
So here is what I found in Etsy, there were some pretty cool sequin dresses, if you are in a disco mode hehe
This time it seems fashion and me walk different paths (lol, as usual).
I got myself this super cool and fabulous (you can tell I love it!) coat yesterday at Mango:
Even though I saw on some fashion magazines that the "in" thing in coats this winter is to wear a bright colored one, the shops only have dark colored (grey, black, brown) or white (cream, etc) coats. Also some plaid ones too. But that's it. I don't want a colorful coat (I already have one green one for a couple years ago), but I found funny how they are fashionable but not buyable. :D
If you feel you need a bright coat, see what I found at Etsy:
Well well! After taking a look at the fashion magazines I got last week, it seems there are tons of trends for this fall / winter season.
Today I want to start with one that will be very easy to achieve: leather skirts! I bet you have one at home, somewhere, hidden at the back of the closet. Or you can probably get one for fairly cheap in a thrift store =) That's the good thing about comeback fashion trends haha
But, if you want to purchase them on Etsy, what can you find? Here I have a selection of leather skirts I found: Sellers, from left to right, top to bottom, are (link to the item): tialeyvintage, LuvLeeDayz, PertVintage, ObladiObladaVintage, LuvLeeDayz, emeraldvintage, valerieann, thecovetedshoppe, ObladiObladaVintage I suppose the important thing about leather skirts is what to wear them with. First of all, try any color! Not just black. The latest trend is to wear them in any color. Wear tank tops, sweaters, tshirts.. almost anything! For the shoes choose boots or ankle boots.
Do you like this trend? Will you be wearing it? I probably won't. I'm not much of a fan of skirts or dresses, even less in fall. From September to June I only wear pants hahaha =)
I know a while ago I talked about white clothes in general. But yesterday I went shopping downtown and most of the new collection is either for late summer or fall (who wants to buy fall clothes and sweaters in a 30 Celsius degree day???) aaaaand all the shops had in the new collection white shirts/blouses. Yes, with a hippie style.
This summer I realized how nice they are and how they can make anyone look pretty :) And now that they are more popular, I have to say I am starting to like them.
So here I have a small selection of white shirts/blouses I found in Etsy. That's the first two rows. Then the third row are feather dresses! Refinnej commented on Rihanna's get the look post that she wishes somebody in Etsy would make a dress like the one worn by Rihanna in the photo and I found a couple similar ones! :) Hope you like them hehe
Hope you liked this trend! Will you be wearing it? I already eyed some white shirts I saw in the mall (sorry for not buying handmade this time!!), so maybe soon they are mine mwuahaha!
Everyday I get in my mail the latest post of the fashion blog New Found Lust by eatsleepcraft. I start my day with that fashion bit and I love it!
So a few weeks ago I read one of her posts about the ruffles trend and loved it so much I had to make my own version of it offering you all the ruffle Etsy items I could find =)
I have never been a big fan of ruffles because I always thought it was too girly, but some of these items look really cool! The trick is to not wear a dress full of ruffles... Nothing with too many ruffles! Or you will look like this:
I hope you liked them too! Are you going to add some ruffles to your wardrobe this summer? Or to your collection? Let me know what do you think.
Thanks Estefania for writing such an awesome blog! =)
And I had totally forgotten to announce it to the public (she already knows), the winner of the orange felt cake is twocheeseplease! Congratulations! Currently I have another giveaway in this blog, a fantastic pendant. Please check it out!
First of all, I hope you like the new blog design =)
New blog, new name, new everything!
But I still keep working on fashion trends applied to the handmade world... so today I'm writing about Maxi Dresses.
Ok, I have never dared buy a maxi dress. First of all because being a tall and not very thin girl, well, I thought it made me look even bigger if you know what I mean.
But I have to say it looks really cute. Really really cute for summer evenings =) So I might try this year get one, and I'll tell you how it went hehe
What to wear with a maxi dress? Well, you wanna go the boho/hippy/beach style with these, so try to grab a pair of flat sandals in whatever color you like. If the dress is a bit more formal then get some heels, you know ;)
So, wanna look like a hollywood star in a maxi dress but cheaper and handmade? Here are my Etsy picks for this trend:
These are some of the dresses I found in Etsy, but believe me, there are many many more.. so if you like this style, you know where to look now ;)
Did you like this trend? Will you be wearing it this summer? Or creating some maxi dresses to sell? If so please let me know! ;)
Also please post any comments you might have about the new design of the blog. Do you like it better? Hate it? Something you would change / improve? Please let me know :)
Soon will be placing some ads on the sides, what do you think about this? You think it should remain an ad free blog? Or you don't mind? Help me decide =)
Next post: Get the look of Gwen Stefani the Handmade way!
Yesterday I realized I have covered almost all approaches to fashion for this summer season: clothing, accessories, makeup, shoes, .... But, oh no! I forgot perfumes!
Let's be serious here, I may leave the house with crappy clothes and snickers, with no make up on, with horrible hair, no jewelry,... but neva EVA without perfume on. Serious!
My favourite perfumes are Pink Sugar by Aquolina and Kenzo Amour. =) I'm a sweet girl hehe
I used Pink Sugar for a long time, I discovered it when I was living in the US. When I came back to Spain nobody could resist to its fragrance! hehe Everybody loved it :)
Then I fell in love with Kenzo Amour when it came out and haven't stopped using it! I'm not one of those girls that has tons of different perfumes. I stick to one, and hate those that are too heavy or floral. I love the Green / Red apple by DKNY. So you get what I like.
So I thought I could as well find out what are the trends in fragrances for summer. And here they are:
Citrus combined with floral notes.
Sweet and edible. Fragrances are starting to incorporate creamy vanilla notes and chocolate-like scents into floral fragrances.
Less fresh, ozone scents, more sweet, subtle florals.
This ideas are directly taken from the website Bottled Up Emotions - check the article to read the full review.
And of course, I went to Etsy to hunt for summer perfumes! Here are my picks:
Please note that I only looked for perfumes, not soap, bath foam, gel, shampoo or anything like that. I am an addict to anything bath/shower related, and if I had gone looking for those products I would have emptied my credit card! So I stopped myself from doing that and focused on perfumes.
I know that buying a perfume without having smelled it is very hard. However, seems this shops are doing pretty well and their customers are very happy! =)
There is a bit of everything: vanilla with floral, citrus of all kinds, sweet: chocolate, cookies, pink sugar,.. I am very tempted to buy some of these...!
Enjoy!
Did you like this post? Do you like any of these scents? Would you ever buy a perfume online? What is your favourite scent? What is your favourite commercial perfume?
Next time: ahh who knows! Anything you would like to see in this blog?
Hi people! Sorry for taking so long to post again. But here I am back again with one more summer trend for you: Ombre items :)
I've seen some clothes like these in the shops in the mall, and some of them are quite nice. So I tried to look for something similar in Etsy. First of all I discovered the search had changed a little, but after a couple seconds realized I can still search in all the types of items. And here they are!
As you can see there were not that many of them. Seems this trend didn't really make it to Etsy.
Anyways, I hope you liked the items I pickes. Do you like this trend? Is it something you will be wearing or adding to your etsy shop?
For now I think I totally run out of trends to talk about, so if you have any new ideas, something you would like to know about, please let me know ;) Or if you have any clothes/accessories you don't know what to wear with, let me know and I will try to find something that suits you in Etsy. Thanks!
On a total self promotion point, wanted to announce some new silk handfans being added to my shop:
Hello again people! Yes, I know it's been at least 1 week since my last post... lazy is my middle name. But here I am again, bringing you the latest trends in makeup :) Since I run out of trends for clothing and accessories I remembered that well, I do put makeup on sometimes, so why not research a little on what's hot?
Let's take a look at trends in each category:
Skin: matte and uncolored or glowy (great for summer looks if you are tanned)
Blush: pink :)
Lips: any shade of pink to almost white / bright red
Eyes: gold with smokey eyes, silver (icy eyes), pink/violet, deep colors like green, coral, blue, yellow.
Overall I'd say pink is the color for makeup this summer: blush, eyes, lips.
I did a small hunt in Etsy to bring you the handmade products we can use to achieve this looks, and here is what I found:
If you are the kind of girl that doesn't use heavy makeup I think you won't really care about makeup trends, but on what makes you look best. I'm one of those girls. When I go to work I only use a bit of concealer (aarrgghh dark circles!), and sometimes a bit of mascara. If I go party at night then I wear some eyeshadow, mascara, sometimes eyeliner, blush, ya know, the whole kit. For me what is most important is what kind of eyeshadow to wear to make my eyes nicer. Eyeshadow color depends on your eye color, and blending in etc depends on the shape of your eye/face.
I found some kits for different eye colors in Etsy, I really like their colors:
And if you want to get the whole star look, I found this super awesome videos on youtube that describes step by step how to achieve different looks from videoclips or famous girls: amy winehouse look, leona lewis bleeding love, britney spears I'm a slave for you, and a big etc
I have to say for me it's a little difficult to understand her because of the accent lol but I'm sure for native English speakers will be easier ;)
Hope you enjoyed this makeup review and that it helped you a little, maybe? Tell me if you liked it, what is your favourite makeup/look, what you think looks better depending on the eye color, and, very important if you know, how to make the dark circles under the eyes go away???? (or at least be less visible... mine are sort of a genetic thing so no way to get rid of them I suppose)
Next time: I don't know yet! Need new and fresh ideas ;)
Believe me, I always hate when summer gets closer and I realize I have no nice swimwear (aka: all my bikinis are old and falling apart) because for me it's so hard to find a bikini that fits right. And I always panic deciding 2 months before I need to loose weight! Which never happens, by the way. I end up eating more because of the stress of dieting! lol Anyways, I swear this year this won't happen, after all I only go to the beach 5 or 6 days in the whole summer! haha So why worry :D
What does the fashion world say it's fashionable to wear in the beach this year?
Asymmetric designs, geometric and African prints, tankinis, small bikinis and cut-away swimsuits
More or less what we have seen in the regular spring trends but applied to swimwear. Get some animal print bikini or a white or neon cut-away swimsuit! =)
But definitely it's sooo difficult to buy a bikini, specially those that are just in one size, top and bottom can't be mixed!! In top parts I'd be an S or M, bottom an L. So that won't work for me. And I don't wear full swimsuits anymore because, well, I don't want a white tummy =)
If you have the same problem as me, why not get a custom made bikini/swimsuit at Etsy? These are my picks:
You can tell I like missbrache ah? hehe I really think missbrache and Harajaku are the best swimwear shops I have found in Etsy. Do you have any other favourites? please please let me know! :)
Personally, I'm not a big fan of tankinis, and I kind of hate cut-away swimsuits (what's the point of having a white stripe in your tummy?). This last ones are very fashionable and chic, but I'm not going to any Puff Daddy party in the Hamptons this year so no thanks. :)
Well, I hope you liked this trend review! What kind of swimsuit do you wear? Will you change style this summer?
I did a little research again and found a couple videos about what kind of swimsuit to wear depending on your body type. These ones looked really helpful: How to pick a suwimsuit for your body type
Yesterday I posted in the Etsy forums about the babydoll dresses. Most people said they like them and their favourite outfit is a babydoll dress with fitted jeans + sandals, or boots over the jeans, or with leggings. So there you go! Also, to show people that you have a waist, wear a belt or scarf around your waist. Good luck with the look, I'm gonna try it too! =)
I saw a lot of babydoll dresses last summer in the shops in my city. But it seems that this year the are out of fashion! (Or that's what designers say because I still see them in the shops!)
So this post is for those of you that bought a babydoll dress and like me, care little about what fashion says and you are going to wear them again this summer. :) After all, it cost money, and I can't just use it only one year!
I've always asked myself this question: What to wear with a babydoll dress??? Most look kinda shapeless and all that, always thought they weren't very flattering to my figure. I'm more fan of babydoll tops than dresses, but I still think they are pretty nice and wish I could wear one and feel pretty! ;)
And I did my research, finding this awesome video where it explains what type of babydoll dress fits you better depending on your body type.
After this video maybe I have tempted you with getting a handmade babydoll dress! HA! See my Etsy picks and see if you like any of these:
Yeah, a lot of Etsy babydoll items!! Seems like this is still a strong trend in Etsy ;) And you? Is this for you? Are you gonna wear something like this?
That was all for today. Next post will be about.... SWIMWEAR! :) If you have any ideas for another post let me know, I'm running out of trends! lol
As I found in the internet, seems that white clothes are not only for babies and brides. White clothes, as we all know are a summer classic.
Wear a white dress to a summer party, to take a coffe in that cool outdoors cafe and see thesunset, to the beach, etc. Specially to the beach! The hippiest the dress, the better ;) Find that loose white dress to wear over a bikini and a pair of simple flip flops.
In case you are not wearing this to the beach, I would recommend a nice grey / brown bolero and nice sandals. Nothing too formal, you know. Something that makes you look cool and like you didn't take too much time in you outfit. However, if you enter with a white dress anywhere, you are sure to get many looks ;)
You can find white clothes in any store. But if you want the handmade version, here are my Etsy picks for you:
Hope you have enjoyed this new trend review! I really like having a small white dress for going to the beach (although I only go 3 or 4 times a year! LOL!)
Is this your trend? Are you going to wear any of these?
You probably are as puzzled as me! Modern Gladiator? What does that mean? I really don't know what they expect with this trend, seriously.
Obviously, this is something we are probably not going to wear out in the streets. But we can add a little gladiator touch to our outfit ;) Say a motorbike/rockstar leather jacket, a fringed bag, or gladiator sandals (I've heard they are the shoe of the season!)
Don't abuse of this style, or you will end up looking like MadMax! =)
So here is the handmade version of things you can add to your wardrobe to get a little of this look:
What can I say about this trend? I have always been a fan of rockstar / motorbike leather jackets. They give a "I'm a bad girl" vibe :D However, the rest of items, they are not for me!
This was the last season trend to review. I hope you liked reading them as much as I liked writing them! So I thought, what can I do next? I really liked writing about fashion. Surfing the net I found an article on the must have clothing items of this spring / summer. Not like a general idea, but more like specific items or prints. After reading it, decided I could start writing about that too! :) The fun is not over yet!
Please, if you would like to see a review on a particular clothing / jewelry / accessories item please add a comment about it and I'll see what I can do.
Next post will be: White clothes for summer (not only brides and babies can wear this color!)
Wow! Almost completed the fashion series by now. But I have to say I am really liking this item hunting in etsy, so I will need an excuse to keep doing it! :)
Today: Puffy sleeves! Oh yeah baby. You never thought this would be back, did you? Well, we have for all tastes here, from super huge ones to regular ones. Seems big designers, as always, are for the extreme ones.
I like better the regular ones. In fact I think a little puffy sleeve looks really good. And you?
As the Fashion Tribes article says, a blouse or jacket with puff sleeves is very feminine, and will work well with a full skirt, high waisted trousers or a pencil skirt. Because of the shape, making your shoulders look wider, it automatically makes your waist look thinner, so their advice is to use a belt to maximize that effect. They also tell us that earrings and necklaces don't mix very well with this, so if you really like wearing some jewelry, try some big bracelets or bangles. Oh and don't forget the heels! =)
For the handmade version, here is what I found in Etsy:
Stay tuned for next and last trend: Modern Gladiator - HUH???
Next fashion trend will be the last. So please, if you have any ideas or suggestions about what should I talk about in my next fashion post, please tell me!! =) Leave a comment!