Frockadvisor: baggy fashion and oversized sunnies

Is it just me is fashion getting baggy?

It really doesn’t seem so long ago since the woman in the Hervé Léger dress and Louboutins was the best-dressed one in the room. Then we took time to assess and decided that the dress was a little too tight, a little too short and the shoes a little too high. Bodycon woman was usurped by New Bodycon woman in a Victoria Beckham sheath dress and Stella McCartney shoes. In comparison this woman looked sophisticated and low key. The dress skimmed rather than stuck to her form and the shoes were free from platform sole. Frockadvisor hopes that the inherent elegance and classical references of this look will find style endurance, and always have a place.

Yet something disruptive is rumbling down the tracks. First we deified the female form, then we gently encased it and now, fashion wants to turn its back on it altogether. Prepare to see oversize like we’ve never dared before. We’re talking about an all-encompassing blocky silhouette, comprised of unyielding neoprenes and voluminous Bedouin blankets teamed with full-length skirts and block-like shoes.

Fashion has worryingly shunned the notion of balance (volume on the bottom half – form-defining on the top and vice versa) and has decided to throw caution to the wind. Sounds like a fabulous world right? Your own personal tent, with a full imprimatur to elasticate that waistband and go for glory. We would advise caution – the fashion pack aren’t camouflaging themselves, they’re showing off! They’re proving that they are so controlled and beautiful that even in a small marquee they can look willowy and desirable. If you think this look is about allowing your body to recede from the spotlight, it’s not for you.

By all means play with volume, it adds a great sense of drama and looks current without too much effort. But choose one piece carefully and wear it with confidence. Leave the full effect for tribesmen and fashion week fanatics.

Of course there is a chance I’ve pea

ked too early, but I’m ready to invest in my new season sunglasses, what do I want?

If everything stayed the same, no one would covet or buy anything. Luckily, and not by accident, fashion’s slender goalposts keep moving. After perfume, sunglasses are probably most people’s entry point to luxury. You can sport Gucci or Yves Saint Laurent without re-mortgaging (again) and elevate that Zara blazer to a higher state of consciousness. But in a world where emblazoned logos are simply the domain of the foolish, what and where are the new status glasses? Strong unapologetic shapes remain highly covetable but they are now strongly graphic, full circle lenses, oversized (again) cats-eye and sharply rectangular. Henry Ford’s sentiment, “Any colour as long as it’s black” does not apply, as everything from pastel through to neon-brights are acceptable.

The surprise hit is the re-emergence of mirrored lenses, from the classic aviator through to more innovative applications. It’s worth saying that before one man, Donal McNally Jr, realised his vision of designer eyewear through Optica, it really was impossible to find international designer face furniture in Ireland. Now the landscape is very different, but he retains one of the most interesting and inspiring curations, hunted down from as far away as Japan. Two other haunts for fabulous finds are the quirky Molloy and Dowling, 18b Kildare Street and the wonderful Grants, hidden on Wellington Quay in Temple Bar. Both are emporia for vintage finds and new old (this is old but unworn stock for those that don’t know). If you are a loser, by which we mean, the thoughts of investing in eyewear are always chastened by the reality of probable loss, any number of cheap alternatives abound, be warned though, that high street look won’t feel any more special.

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