It’s fun to look back on the year and take a stand on what was best and worst in your fashion and style world. Between us there are sure to be many differences in opinion, but there may also be a few similarities. It will be fun to compare our answers and I’ll go first.
General
Best Fashion Trends: Midis, sleeved dresses, low heels and bright colours.
Worst Fashion Trends: Leg shortening cropped trousers, especially for Autumn and Winter. It’s an extremely hard look to pull off with panache.
Most Fun Fashion Trend: The revival of the glam ’70’s, and the ongoing nostalgic silhouettes from the ’80s.
Best Shoe Style of the Year: Booties! The right bootie can be worn with virtually everything, often making an outfit look even better.
Most over-killed items in retail stores: Cardigans, batwings, sky scraping platforms, cowl necklines, sleeveless garments, plunging necklines and short hemlines.
Most over-killed colours in retail stores: Black, grey and beige.
Best “new” Colour: Ink blue.
Most Stylish Celebrities: Cate Blanchett, Gwen Stefani, Carolina Herrera, Ellen Degeneres, Vera Wang and Kate Moss continue to walk on water in my style world. But youngster Emma Watson has been added to the list.
Best Customer Service: Zappos and Nordstrom, with a special shout out to the Nordstrom Concierge and valet parking staff at the downtown Seattle Norstrom Flagship. You make shopping with my clients a whole lot easier.
Most Frustrating In Store Service: Macy’s, where it is so hard to find someone to check you out. I still take almost all of my clients there because their range and discounts are worth the shopping frustration.
Stores with the best colours: J.Crew, Zara and Reiss.
Store with the worst layout: Forever 21. I am clearly NOT their target market.
Stores with the most affordable, best fitting basics: Ann Taylor and Banana Republic.
Store with the most disappointing quality: Ann Taylor Loft.
Most inspirational outfit in the blogosphere: The first photo of Michelle Jank in this post by The Sartorialist. She is wearing a black lace midi with two-toned ballet flats. I will recreate this outfit one day.
Personal
Best YLF Moment: The video created by our forum members to celebrate YLF’s 5 year Anniversary. KILLER doesn’t even come close to describing its heartfelt sentiment.
Best Fashion Industry Moment: Spending the day at the Karen Kane head office in CA learning about what it takes to successfully design and manufacture clothing in the US. The fact that the very impressive Karen herself spent the day with us was sublime. Meeting and working with her wonderful family, and in particular eldest son Michael, was the cherry on top.
My favourite outfits: A bright and simple ensemble because the colours make my heart sing. An edgier combination, because I have grown to adore ink blue and my booties are so very comfortable. This classic black, white and red pairing with pearls because it’s a signature look. Last but not least, a nostalgic skirt combination that makes me think fondly of my late Mum.
The outfit that took me most out of my comfort zone: My bikini moment.
My biggest style surprises: Switching to Team Gold, falling in love with trouser silhouettes, wearing nude lipstick, and leaving off most accessories.
My most fun wardrobe purchases: Trousers with suspenders, two toned Docs, and an awfully shaggy vest.
My most cheerful wardrobe purchases: A tomato red knee-length coat and a short yellow peacoat.
My most special wardrobe purchases: Two Ann Fontaine shirts that hubby Greg helped me choose, which makes them all the more meaningful.
My favourite shoes: Two toned ballet flats.
My favourite jeans: How can they be anything but my infamous jodhpur jeans.
My favourite dress: Pink Midi.
The Worst idea I had for my own style: Growing out my hair when I am absolutely not ready to do that yet.
The Best Moment at NY Fashion Week: Having dinner with top NY Fashion Stylist and author, Kendall Far, who has become a friend.
Our Best Media Moment: YLF is covered in The Seattle Times.
Our Best Addition to YLF: Inge!
Our Worst Moment: Losing our incomparable Blog Star Jasmine, who was an integral part of the YLF family.
My Best All Round Moments of 2011: Working and having fun with my inspirational soulmate Greg, while Rosie keeps us company and Jasmine is safe in our hearts.
Over to you, ladies. Feel free to comment on my answers, and if you have a moment, chime in with the “best and worst” of your fashion and style world for 2011.
