| Plunging neckline: the new take for fall 2011 There are inherent risks with a plunging neckline, but I don't think I need to spell out what they are. Suffice to say some are dangers of an aesthetic nature, where as others can concern a girl's modesty. The plunging neckline is not for everyone. But there are ways to wear it that, for the willing, give it a sultry update as a fashion for fall 2011, and most certainly as an ongoing trend in spring 2012. After the break we'll take you through examples of the statement cut for the coming seasons, including a look at who's designing it and how they've done it. And as always, you can keep up with all the latest trends and information on how to style them by subscribing to Fashionising.com's newsletter. 
At Gucci A/W '11
Picture Gallery Preview Click To View Full Gallery Click to read 'Plunging neckline: the new take for fall 2011' Makeup inspiration for your hair colour Jack H Liu's shoot Primary Colors arrived at a perfect time. Perfect because it's about hair colour, a topic I have on my mind. After some contemplation I just last embarked on an all-out hair colour metamorphosis (remember that mantra - just change it?) and I'm still getting used to my new red locks. Liu's shoot features beauty looks for three primary hair colours - red, brown and blonde - supplying perfect inspiration for matching your makeup to your hair colour (and also for changing your hair colour, if you're up to it). 
Picture Gallery Preview Click To View Full Gallery Click to read 'Makeup inspiration for your hair colour' Dior: Galliano is gone, so is the drama It didn't take long for the aftershock of John Galliano's departure from Dior to be felt. In fact, those waves have rippled their way through the fashion house's resort 2012 collection in the form of a offering that entirely lacks the vintage drama Galliano used to bring to the brand. Even at first glance, it's clear that Galliano's influence no longer forms the base matter of the concept or the clothing. This, of course, raises two possibilities. The first is that Dior is passing through a purgatorial phase, potentially even an identity crisis, and without a Creative Director at the helm they're effectively in a holding pattern. The other possibility, and one that feeds into the multitude of theories that surround Galliano's hasty sacking, is that this is where the fashion house's owners had wanted to take the aesthetic anyway: to something more commercial, something less expressive. If that were the case, then the resort 2012 collection is not an expression of a holding pattern, but a glimpse into the House of Dior's future. 
Picture Gallery Preview Click To View Full Gallery Click to read 'Dior: Galliano is gone, so is the drama' Lily Cole models weird and wonderful lingerie Like a steadfast paper doll Lily Cole models 37 of the most unique, unusual and utterly intriguing sets of lingerie you've ever laid eyes on. One set turns her into a mechanical object covered in cogs. Another plates her in mirrored shards that seem to transform her into a living cyborg. Other are hinged or feathered or peplumed or frilled, made from sailor's knots of rope or soft netting or starkly architectural shapes. Such is the creativity the Triumph Inspiration Award musters up and such are the creative wonders a panel of judges - including Lily Cole herself, photographer Ellen Von Unwerth, Helena Christensen and others - will have to choose between come final time. The Triumph award gives out a cash prize as well as commercial realisation of the winning design, so for the talented winner (luck has little to do with it) it's a brilliant opportunity to get a design produced. 
Picture Gallery Preview Click To View Full Gallery Click to read 'Lily Cole models weird and wonderful lingerie' The sexy side of lederhosen One might imagine that milkmaid braids would be pushed completely overboard into costume territory when paired with elements of lederhosen and dirndls and folkish embroidery. But it must be handed to Sissy Vian and Camilla Akrans, who styled and photographed this shoot respectively: Aline Weber may look a little Heidi, but we don't expect to find her herding goats. Instead there's actually some practical styling inspiration for both hair and clothing, from the strict black and white ensembles to leather harnesses and braces to soft fur trimmings. 
Picture Gallery Preview Click To View Full Gallery Click to read 'The sexy side of lederhosen' Amazing shoes from the 1930s Booties perched atop two square bridge-like platforms. A heel that protrudes from the gaping mouth of a ram's head like a downspout from a gargoyle. Or a shoe that creeps up the foot in fan-like folds, as if foreshadowing the existence of the Sydney Opera House. One might imagine that I'm describing part of Lady Gaga's footwear collection but these shoe concepts are not only from far before her time, they're far ahead of their own. Created by French designer Steven Arpad in around 1939, some for the House of Balenciaga, these shoes are at times whimsical, at times bazaar. Though avant garde for their day, many of the architectural and artistic shapes are now regularly seen on runways and on the street, and there's many a pair of Arpad's that sits well on trend today. 
Picture Gallery Preview Click To View Full Gallery Click to read 'Amazing shoes from the 1930s' Burnt colours: statement hues for now They're the colours for now and they're the colours for next season. And between now and then, just about every label and retailer will offer something up in a burnt shade of colour that sits somewhere between red and yellow. That means that this is a burnt colour trend is inclusive of orange, a burnt hue that Acne have picked up on. 
Click to read 'Burnt colours: statement hues for now' Fashion Trend Inspiration Fashionising.com not only brings you all the latest fashion trends, we constantly bring you inspiration on how they can be worn and styled too. Here's the most recent inspiration: Current Fashion Sales If you'd like to advertise a fashion sale follow the link. Featured Editorial Recent Reviews One way to do summer shorts They're not flip flops, but I suspect that Tom Ford would still hate this look. And he would't be the only one: somewhere along the line men's shorts have become something of a divisive issue - there's a camp of people who utterly deride their very existence, who will argue until they're blue in the face that men simply should not wear shorts. I'm certainly not one of them. As the mercury heads north, so do the hems of my trousers until they eventually peak, along with summer, somewhere along my thighs. How then to dress shorts up as the temperature swells? By pairing them with a summer blazer and preferably a shirt. While for most that will mean something in a cotton, you can always opt for something in a linen and revel in the cloth's crumpled appeal. 
Click to read 'One way to do summer shorts' Reflections of Alexander McQueen The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is currently holding a retrospective of British fashion designer Alexander McQueen. The lines of people waiting to get in to see the exhibition, Savage Beauty, far exceeds those for any other the Met has hosted, with hundreds constantly on line, and waiting time running to 30 minutes on weekends. And although the McQueen exhibition is free (with cover donation into the Met itself) on any other day, in July the special Monday tours will go up from $25 to $50 per person - an extraordinary amount for a museum exhibit. Such sustained excitement about a fashion designer might seem a little bizarre. Fashion floats across our horizon every day, especially in big cities like New York. But McQueen was more than fashion. And the Met has done everything to make this more than an exhibit. The rooms holding the retrospective have been outfitted to reflect McQueen's often extraordinary fashion shows: holograms, video installation, large, Gothic mirrors, black walls, and a wallpaper of sketch-like drawings of skulls, roses, and dolls. The effect is slightly eerie; rather like stepping into a painting by the recently deceased surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, or perhaps into a dark fairy tale. 
Click to read 'Reflections of Alexander McQueen' Givenchy resort: digital delights When one thinks resort wear, first thoughts tend to circle around whites, brights and pastels in lightweight or diaphanous fabrics mixed in with swim pieces and open toed footgear. You know, the sort of thing one might expect to wear on a fantasy trip to St. Tropez, the Hamptons or even Palm Springs. What one doesn't expect, however, is a collection so sublime that it could easily be mistaken for a Magnum Opus, if one weren't familiar with Riccardo Tisci, that is. Well guess what, Givenchy does just that. With assemblage of pieces that are more dazzling than many designers' autumn / winter collections, the resort 2012 collection is a stunningly cohesive blend of expertly cut digitally manipulated prints, slim cut solids and sculptural knits that are bold, au courant, and innovatively intricate. While it may be true that within the 6 years Riccardo Tisci has graced the helm of the Givenchy house, each collection has possessed a bit of a stunner factor, what makes this collection stand out is the brazen approach to a superlative amalgamation of couture and urban culture. This time, the Givenchy resort 2012 collection itself is the ultimate fantasy trip. 
Picture Gallery Preview Click To View Full Gallery Click to read 'Givenchy resort: digital delights' Valentino: gowns of understated perfection The jumpsuit in general is a thing to approach with a degree of caution; if purchasing one for a carefully curated wardrobe you should look to a piece that's versatile enough to get plenty of wear out of, but classic enough to transcend its features as an evolving trend. For resort 2012 Valentino, under Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, offers them in block colours and wide leg silhouettes, their one knock out feature a plunging V neckline or cutaway back, making them pieces that are certain to serve you into spring 2012. Jumpsuits aside Valentino's resort collection can't help but stray back to that at which the brand excels: the dress. And excel they do. There are divine knee length numbers that are effortless in cut, but at times intricate in detail, that give off a sixties vibe when paired with low ponytails and Jean Shrimpton-like long legs. And then there are floor-length varieties that capture the same essence only with an extra injection of sheer prettiness, soft in colour like much-loved faded memories, inordinately elegant but essentially youthful. And much of that youthfulness comes down to the effortless flat sandals that accompany every one. 
Picture Gallery Preview Click To View Full Gallery Click to read 'Valentino: gowns of understated perfection' Beguiling bits and pieces There's something romantic about a photograph that's been stuck to the wall with tape for longer than anyone can remember, dog-eared and torn and a fixture that's become part of a room, imprinted with something so loved or at least so accepted that its subject matter outlives the raggedy paper it's printed on. Though it's pages are dark and almost look as if they've been left and forgotten, that's what Michael Donovan's Bits and Pieces shoot calls to mind. The overall effect, the images like faded memories held together with black tape, almost outshines everything else about the shoot. I say almost - because underneath the scrap paper effect is Donovan's striking photography and styling by Katie Burnett that's dusted with edgy accessories, like leather harnesses that are unmistakably Zana Bayne pieces. 
Picture Gallery Preview Click To View Full Gallery Click to read 'Beguiling bits and pieces' | 
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