Wear Your Invisible Crown’s Spring 2013 Faves: Part II

 

       In line with our recent post “A Study in Contrast,” we enthusiastically introduce Dries Van Noten’s Spring 2013 collection. This collection married two very different stylistic genres—Kurt Cobain grunginess and frou-frou florals—in order to create unpredictable beauty. More than any other Spring 2013 collection, Dries Van Noten’s perfectly embodies “A Study in Contrast.”

       This Belgian-born designer, known for his humility and innovation, generally thrives on idiosyncratic taste and style “that reroutes us from the ordinary.” This season he fashioned plaid, which is usually associated as boyish, into airy chiffon and taffeta. Van Noten continued to investigate “masculine + feminine” intrigue by pairing plaid with floral appliqué skirts. He also styled plaid skirts with leopard print clutches. “The more clashing there is, the more I like it!” said Van Noten.

 

 

Scroll down to see how YOU can easily adapt the nonchalant elegance that defines Dries Van Noten Spring 2013.

A Study in Contrasts

Photo via The Sartorialist

       A week has passed since Purim and I’m still contemplating it. I was going to dress like a gypsy. I wished to embody that free-spirited woman; fresh from the fight and raw with restlessness. I envisioned my dark hair gloriously unrestrained, bangles creating music with every moment, a folkloric patterned skirt sweeping the floor. Yet, waking up on Purim morning, I rubbed my sleepy eyes and mumbled “nah—not in the mood.”

      What to do? What to do? I initiated an invasion of my mother’s vintage-laden closet. There was a psychedelic top from the 70s, a few flannel shirts from the 90s, and wait a minute—what’s this? I excitedly eyed a hat perched on my mother’s shelf.

It was a round straw hat with a dainty veil attached. Made in England! Very Duchess Catherine. Very “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

I swooned at the hat’s effeminate beauty. All I needed was a quintessentially British suit and I would be all set.

“Ma, do you have a tailored, ladylike suit? I need it for my costume.”

“No, I don’t” she said perusing her closet.  

“Hey! What about this one?”  She pointed at a mustard-yellow power suit with shoulder pads the size of my face.

This monstrosity? I balked. If I were to wear this outfit, then I would look like the hypothetical love child of Princess Diana and Superman.