Our second favorite trend for the spring season comes together with a little help from the men and women in uniform. It’s no secret that the details on uniforms from the military tend to enthrall designers. They love taking little epaulettes, high collars, pockets, and more pockets seen usually in battle to transform them to the runway looks. And this season does no different. From day dresses, to a new type of “a little black dress,” and even ready to wear clothing, the high powered uniforms help influence the sultry sides of women while still maintaining a strong look. Here’s our favorites below, but for more you can visit, style.com.

Images from style.com

It’s Spring Trend Report Week! The clothes from fall runways are finally making their way into stores, and along with that the massive sweep of the trends. The first one we think worth recognizing is all the clean, bright whites that shouting for attention. If you ask most women, “what’s the rule on wearing white?” A fair amount will say the Memorial Day until Labor Day rule. But seasons starting earlier and lasting longer, the “white rule” we think can be extended. The best thing about whites: the clean slate to accessorize and match with it. Or better yet, a monochrome white outfit just calls for a calming, classic presence. See the few favs we snagged from the runway shots, and see more at style.com, and then better yet, do a load of whites, and see the so fresh, so clean style look effortless.

Michael Kors

Narciso Rodriguez

Ports 1961

Imagery from style.com

What is it about the cape that seems to evoke a bit of mystery or royalty to the wearer of this unique designed outer layer? Maybe it’s those cool plaid patterns you often see on the layer that seem to fall graciously over the shoulders and a big of the arms. . . or maybe it’s that cut the cloak/cape naturally uses to conceal hands, chest, and the entire upper torso area? Either way, the cape/cloak is experiencing a comeback and isn’t just for royalty anymore. It’s becoming one of those outerwear pieces you want to get your hands on (and underneath) right away. The cape/cloak tends to stop traffic, causing eyes and necks to turn to look at the cape shift and move with ease while at the same time boasting a bold pattern usually. The Sartorialist has a great few posts recently titled, “The Art of the Cape,” where he’s got shot some of the best capes around many towns. It’s hard to choose a favorite from the shots, but I must say I admire this woman’s cape possibly the best, if only because of the military collar that holds the whole (non) shape together:

I want one, I want one, and I want to hide away under one. . .

Image from The Sartorialist

Our love for jewelry goes deep at the Mini Mini Market, and we always on the hunt for some new designer that can make a piece of jewelry that sets our heart a fluttering. . . and the Italian designers, Made In Museum, have recently done so. Always wanting to take home the jewelry that they saw in the museums (um, who doesn’t? the Egyptian jewelry at the Met is alone to die for. . .?), the design team decided to make their own authentic and authorized reproductions of some of their favorite ancient pieces they were coveting. What unfolded were designs spanning across eras and eras. See the special historic pieces we’re carrying right now:

The Etruscan era is hard to get past, and we’re in love with these Bauletto earrings in sterling vermeil that are made from the ancient “lost wax” method and is treated with an antiquing process.

In the ancient Egyptian days, there seemed to probably be a lot of flies hanging around the desert and the people because if you look at the jewelry and the written language, flies even had their own hieroglyphic. 

The fly motif in general found in Ancient Egypt and adopted in Ancient Rome, was thought to be a good luck charm and have various meanings including prosperity and tenacity.

From the Venezia collection, this horse ring was inspired in part by one of the classical era bronze and gilded horses located in the museum in St. Mark’s Cathedral Church. This sterling vermeil ring has the cool side note of part of its proceeds are given to the Venice International Foundation to support their work in art restoration projects in the civic museums in Venice.

Where would the world be today without jeans? Seriously. Just think about it. What if this great pair of pants never came to fruition? What if we would all still running around in more skirts, dresses, or those heavy wool pants? Jeans are pretty THE staple in most  Americans wardrobe. It’s hard to imagine the percentage of people in this country who DON’T own a single pair of jeans. And well, we pretty much have Levi Strauss to thank for that. “Founded in 1853, Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, (Kingdom of Bavaria) to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers’ New York dry goods business. Although the company began producing denim overalls in the 1870s, modern jeans were not produced until the 1920s.” The jeans patent came to be from Jacob Davis, a tailor who bought many bolts of hemp from Levi, who came up with the idea for pocket rivets and the original button fly. Luckily, trends can spread fast, and so jeans quickly transcended past the cowboys’, lumberjacks’, and railroad workers’ realm.

Now we so many different styles of jeans it’s hard to keep up. But to keep it simple and straight, we’ve stocked 3 styles of Levi’s for the upcoming season. The most recent coveted: The Boyfriend. A low-rider skinny jean in grey. And if you can’t get enough of the skinny, we’ve a “super skinny” called the “Night Out.” The best part of Levi’s besides their classic appeal? The price. We’re selling all our styles for $50 or less. You can’t beat that for an American classic wardrobe staple. Need a spring jean revamp? You best turn your head to the American designs in this case, it’s something we can call our very own.

We cannot say it enough how floral patterns are in this spring. If you haven’t already started to see the flower beds sprout on clothing, you’ll start to notice it now and in a few short weeks. To make sure we’ve stocked the right kind of floral wear, we turned to JOYRICH Los Angeles. A brand that explores a unique blend of LA and Japanese style, and this season oozes and infuses 1990s styles with cuts and designs that make sense for a lady in this day and decade. We decided to go denim with JOYRICH and have in stock a purty lil’ floral denim jean jacket ($150) or if you’re already thinking bare leg weather, then we have the floral denim shorts seen below. With all-around pleating and the cute rolled up ends, the shorts (only $100!) are too cute to pass up and to get in the spring idea state of mind. Also, stop by the store to see the “Rosette Ribbon” shirt we have in stock from the brand. Either way, stop in and definitely stop to smell the rose (or the denim) this spring.

We often look back when we need style help or when we look for an influence in today’s designs and outfits seen across the streets. And who better to sever as an eminent style icon, than Frida Kahlo? Ms. Kahlo from the beginning dressed in her own outfits and claiming her own style along with her own walk (she walked with a limp from an early adolescent age) and her demeanor though is perhaps what comes through most in her style and specifically the colors she chose to wear. In the early 20-century, Frida walked to the beat of her own drum wearing her hair in a braid and full length skirts in the manner of the previous century. Often thought insane, surely laughed at, and snuffed at, Frida defined style simply because defied the everyday one. So no wonder we take from her and can still see magazine spreads in homage to this perserving surrealist painter. The most recent one? Vogue Germany has Lagerfeld shoot Claudia Schiffer in a nod to Kahlo’s style and expression. Not sure if Schiffer is the right one for the bill in this project, the meaning is still there. You could never look away from Frida or her style because she always walked with the attitude to dare one NOT to.  I dare you to not scroll down below. . .

Frida Kahlo’s own Vogue cover shot by Nickolas Muray.

Imagery of Claudia Schiffer from Wunderbuzz

Maybe you’ve heard by now but Alexa Chung-model-turned-MTV host-now turned-clothing designer, is making her designing debut with Madewell, the sister company to J.Crew. And I must admit, that the line has my fashion heart waiting in anticipation for fall when the RTW collection will be released. I love how Chung has brought a girly side to the brand, yet kept the essence of the company in the shoe styles and patterns (or lack there of). Seriously, I think we best be seeing this team-up a few more times. Take a gander below to see if the Brit IT girl has snagged a piece of your fashion heart like mine.

Loving the clogs with kelty detail! Love the velvet and its sap-color choice! Want, want!

Want the skinny jeans with high waist and double-front inseam and those wedge suede booties-OMG! Plus, the high-waisted shorts and anchor belt, please stop before I scream!

And didn’t think I would ever find velvet shorts attractive, but something about the blue shine and their velvet designs in this collection have me saying, yes please!!

Imagery from Mama’s A Rolling Stone

Winter layers, outfits, and the attempt to style anything in this often horrendous season for most across the country can be well, quite tricky to say the least. But some just know how to do it right, despite all the odds against them. Now, we must mention that many o’ outfits that look the darn cutest seem to come with the price tag of a cab. There’s just no way it would even be feasible to walk around in some of the heels and short dresses and skirts that photographers have captured without a lil’ help on the transportation side of things. But I must say the three photos below are my picks for my favorite winter garb I’ve seen despite a) the price tag on the actual outfit or b) how they made it to their destination. Both are irrelevant, what’s relevant is great choice of style for cold biting, blistering hard knockin’ season. And if you’re really into see some winter weathered gals, take a look over at Tommy Ton’s montage, puts a bright side to all the grey.

Image from Garance Dore.

Image from Refinery29.

Image from The Sartorialist.

Right now, all eyes and blogs have their recaps focusing on the NYC Fashion Week, but I’m thankful for Wunderbuzz giving recaps on the Copenhagen Fashion Week. There are other runways and shows that deserve just as much attention and recognition as NYC’s and there are just as many inspirational designers out there putting together inventive and conceptual shows. And it’s Louise Amstrup’s show that I wish I could have had the priviledge to see live. Her show titled, “The City of Lost Children”, and collection focused with colors and shades of grey, black, and blue. The combination of the fabric draping and the colors evokes the very pictures paired with the outfits (ingenious pairing by Wunderbuzz), and makes you think of how future cities will look or of the fabulous movie, Children of Men. I don’t think anything quite like this was seen during NYC’s Fashion Week, and probably will never see something this artistic because unfortunately without a big name, you can’t play big on the Big Apple’s runways. Such a shame because Amstrup deserves to. For more looks at Amstrup’s collection and show, see backstage pics on Wunderbuzz’s blog.

Images from Wunderbuzz