10 Great Winter Fashion Trends This Season

It's that time of the year again with snowflakes falling, yuletide cheer and Christmas shopping, hot cups of coco and cozy warm fireplace with sizzling embers of coal crackling away. But what's heating up the fashion scene this winter, a closer look reveals some interesting insights on the latest winter fashions.



This seasons winter colours

True to the season, soft snowy white shades seem to be a good choice for clothes that blend in with the winter theme. Another popular colour to helps produce a sharp contrast is Black and various shades of bright black; while dull and muted greys give a nice warm and fuzzy touch and hues of rich red right through to mellow maroon are reflective of the season.

For women, earthy colours ranging from the deep shades of olive, maroon, brown, deep blue's to chocolate brown are colours set to form the trend. While for men, muted shades of pink, lavender, brick red, grey, deep shades of purple and black are what’s going to be setting the stage for fashion.

Hair
Choosing the right hair style to go with the fashion and season can be a daunting task. You don't want to be seen in last year's styles and certainly not something that’s not the hottest rage at the moment. So if you're trying to figure out the hairdo that's the pick of the season by stylists and fashion models;  it's time to let you in on that little secret, apparently for women wearing your hair in the all so classic 'Bob Cut' seems to be the favoured trend this season.

Men on the other to make the cut will have to aim to get their hair into the bushy straight yet carefully dishevelled look that gets tucked away into the tops of their mufflers.

Hats

If you like hats you're in luck, this season hoods, hats and caps are the rage. Large knitted beanies or those furry oversized Moroccan hats all in this winter. The styles in vogue are hats that are either huge and puffy or tiny and pointed. Fur lined hoods blended into the garment are also turning heads this winter.

Coats

This season coats come with a nice thick mantle like look that feature tousled sleeves and funnelled collars. Other patterns included coats with widely placed collars and a rich furry texture.

Fabrics

The prevailing tendencies for fabrics this season are fabrics that are over-worked with several different effects across their surfaces. The fabrics are very solid or concrete with a sort of untamed natural feel blended with soft lustres. Prints around the winter theme are almost subtle while the focus in on rich exterior of the fabric.

Lightweight wool or reworked cottons are the base for designs that will debut this winter.

Effects

Complementing the feel and textures of fabrics the designs around these effects that are set to make the stage this winter, range from, long pleats, to subtle wrinkles and clearly visible overstitches, to the blistered and tangled effects.

Cashmere worked in with regular wool and mohair is blended to give the fabrics a light yet visibly textured look. While some of the other fabrics are roughly cut to give a thatched heavily threaded effect. Most knits are made with heavily emphasised gages to draw out the raw protective feel against the winter chill.

Denim is one of those fabrics that will probably be around forever, this winter, the theme is a slight gleam in the denim with an oxidised look. In fact this seasons going to have you seeing a lot of ultra cool effects.

Scarves

This season, trade in your old winter muffler for those large woollen scarves that can be draped over your shoulders like a stole. Embodied with various prints on dulled wool the scarf lends a casual yet protective loo to the wearer be it a man or a woman.

Footwear

Ankle length shoes in shades of silver and grey are this winters winner. They shriek elegance and comfort in a very casual sort of way. For women transparent slippers laced with silver give an almost Cinderella effect.

Jewellery

Jewellery designs highlighting the winter season are marvellous add ons’ silver snowflake pendants and large broaches like a sprig of holly or mistletoe make some really eye catching accessories. Chunky silver bracelets and large but light earrings that dangle add to the effect.

So, make sure you watch out for these lovely trends that are bound to take the country by storm. And honestly, you really do not have to own expensive designer wear to make a statement. Even your local stores will stock up on some of these new designs. This winter season ensure you treat yourself to some of these trendy fashions and go paint the town red!

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'It' bags are the classic cars of the fashion set

Handbags are the new shoes, the must have "it" accessory that has all the fashion-istas clamouring for the latest offering from popular designers. It's also a market that has more in common with the male-dominated world of classic cars than you'd realise.

Few of you will have missed the fuss a couple of months ago when Sainsbury's sold 20,000 "I'm not a plastic bag" Anya Hind-march totes for [pound]5 each. Within hours those same unbleached cotton bags were selling for in excess of [pound]150 on eBay. "Every girl has a handbag," says Christie's specialist Monica Turcich, "and every girl wants one. Women now want the 'it' bag and the one nobody else is carrying. They've always been popular and they are the section of our 20th-century fashion sales for which we get the most phone calls, but now they are doing particularly well because everyone wants handbags, whereas 10 years ago there weren't the 'it' bags like we have today, simply the classics."
Like cars, most of the more recent designer handbags which sell through dealers and auction houses make significantly less than their original retail price, losing value the second the initial purchase has taken place. That is good news for both collector investors and handbag enthusiasts, but there are some exceptions to the rule.

Last March Christie's sold a red Hermes crocodile skin Kelly bag for [pound]10,800, this had only been purchased in 1994 and was originally a bespoke product. The Kelly bag is the "holy grail" of the classic handbag world according to Turcich. "Chloe and other more contemporary bags are more driven by what's popular now, but for Hermes and Chanel's quilted bag, these are classics which never go out of style and are always useable." Kelly bags can be bought for [pound]600 and can often be sold on for [pound]1,000- [pound]2,000, which isn't bad for a bag which might have been bought back in the 1960s.

There's no doubt that most handbags are being bought to be used, it's not an investment market in the same way as many other collectables such as paul smith,Abercrombie and Fitch,dsquared etc, but again there are parallels to the car market. By buying a classic bag and looking after it, you are unlikely to lose money, rather see a steady gain with the added return of enjoying using it.

Hindmarch's "I'm not a plastic bag" bags are unlikely to make it to "classic" status, they are after all mass-produced cotton totes, but other handbags from her range might well do so. So far Christie's has-n't sold any Hindmarch bags, but Turcich says she wouldn't be surprised if they start turning up at auction soon and she wouldn't turn them away. "Kylie Minogue was pictured carrying a Chloe bracelet bag around a few years ago which sparked a fashion and now we are selling the same thing at auction."

There is a pristine one in the next auction which is estimated at [pound]800 to [pound]1,000 along with another Chloe handbag in the same lot. "I think Chloe has started the 'it' bag scene" adds Turcich, "I don't know how long it will take for them to become classics of their own, but I'm sure these will hold their value in five or 10 years' time. People just don't seem to have paid attention to the fact that handbags have become the new shoes in the last few years, there is now an appreciation of the design that goes into them. There are shoe designers that are artists and so too with handbags."

It's not always about big names, a few weeks ago Ms Minogue was at the shop of Tony Durante, a handbag dealer at Alfie's in London, and purchased a white raffia bag with a horse's head on the front for around [pound]200. Brightly coloured raffia bags are in at the moment because it's summer. Durante says that Kylie loved this particular bag because it was unusual. Buying it from a vintage fashion dealer she's unlikely to bump into another celebrity carrying one. Durante says that his customers are looking for this "unusualness" factor.

If you do want to retain the value in your handbag then you should go for one that is in excellent condition, is a good design and beautiful. Some "it" bags will undoubtedly go down in value as fashions change, but the classics should stay steady.

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