Helmut Lang designs a sweats collection for Uniqlo, Pantone picks its top colours for Spring, Whistles launches a menswear collection, and other news from the style trenches this week.

• This Fall, Selfridges celebrates Rick Owens with a 25-foot statue and “The World of Rick Owens” concept store. 
• Helmut Lang is collaborating with Uniqlo on a “sweats collection“. 
• On Wednesday, fitness models performed exercise routines to show the Athleta collection at New York Fashion Week. A refreshing concept.
• Neiman Marcus has plans to open a 250,000 square feet store in New York City in 2018.
• Aquamarine, scuba blue, lucite green, and classic blue. Pantone picks blues and greens as top colours for Spring.
• British brand Whistles has just launched its first menswear collection.
• Opening Ceremony has teamed up with Intel to design a luxury smart bracelet: meet MICA (My Intelligent Communication Accessory).

Fun Fashion Fact

Lesley Hornby assumed her iconic nickname Twiggy when she was 17 years old. But did you also know that British model Agyness Deyn’s real name is Laura Hollins, and that Eleanor Nancy Gow is better known under her famous moniker Elle Macpherson? 

The classic plaid shirt is a versatile piece that can be manipulated to look fashionable and modern based on its support act. There are many, many ways to wear a plaid shirt for Fall, and I’ve started the ball rolling here with two outfit formulas. The casual rendition on the left pairs a plaid shirt with denim. The rendition on the right dresses the shirt up with lace, leather and heels. 

Choose a fluid, long sleeved button-through plaid shirt in a colour combination that tickles your fancy. Scrunch or roll up the sleeves for extra structure (and to showcase your forearms for a little allure).

Here are the components of the two different vibes. 

Plaid Shirt with Jeans and Booties

The main components of the ensemble are simple, but it’s the finishing touches that take the look to the next level. Pair a plaid shirt with a pair of boyfriend jeans or straight leg jeans. Choose blue, black, grey or white denim. Tuck or partially tuck the shirt. Add casual booties and a matching belt. I’ve chosen cognac because the combination looks fresh, but any neutral pair of booties with a matching belt will pull the look together.

To dress up the combination, add metallic loafers or pumps in a neutral. Pick a belt that works with the footwear. For further bling, add a bib necklace or sequin camisole. Or layer the sequin camisole over an untucked plaid shirt to wear it as a vest. 

Plaid Shirt with Lace Skirt or Leather Leggings

Wear a dressy bottom, like a lace, sequin or jacquard skirt. Choose a dressier pair of trousers, like leather leggings or tuxedo pants, if skirts aren’t your thing. Tuck or partially tuck the plaid shirt into the skirts or tuxedo pants. Wear the shirt untucked over leather leggings. Wear booties, metallic loafers or pumps that work with the colour spectrum of the outfit. Add jewellery, eyewear and watch as desired. 

If you need a topper, choose a moto, blazer, trench coat, or short boxy jacket. A short wool coat works too. I bet you can shop your closet for this one. 

New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015 officially kicks off today, so we are sharing some links to put you in the runway mood:

• Mashable tells us how we can follow New York Fashion Week Online.
• Meet the 8 Bloggers Tumblr Is Sending to New York Fashion Week.
• DAZED has details about how much a show during NYFW costs.
• Racked also talks about the Staggering Economics Behind New York Fashion Week.
• 10 Models to Follow on Instagram During NYFW.
• Fashionista introduces us to 20 People, Places and Things to Watch During New York Fashion Week.
• 10 NYFW Events That Combine Art and Fashion.
• 60 Instagram Accounts to Follow During Fashion Week.
• The New York Times Guide: Whom and What to Know. And a NYT article about Lincoln Center losing a bit of luster.
• 12 Designers Making Their NYFW Debuts.
• Kevin Lyons’ Illustrated Guide to NYFW Etiquette. 

Fab Links from Our Members

Cocolion is in love with Winona Ryder in Rag & Bone’s Fall/Winter campaign video shot in Coney Island. Check out her fantastic short haircut too.

According to this WSJ article, “some experts say a ‘buy less but better’ movement is brewing“. Quietgirl adds that this seems almost like a motto here on YLF.

30 Ways to Dress Your Best. Caro thought this Esquire article contained fun and good advice.

Stain resistant white jeans from Joe’s Jeans’ collection called “Spotless” do not stay stain resistant forever but they mask stains over time for longer than regular white jeans. Angie wishes they had a pair of non-skinny jeans in their collection so that she could give them a whirl.

The German press reports that Chancellor Angela Merkel has been wearing the same fab silk tunic for eighteen years. Let’s hear it for Team Repeat, says MsMary.

Choose Connection Over Competition. Dianthus has thought about this often, and wonders if other women in a position to influence the lives of the next generation of girls have thought about it too.

Suz enjoyed Maria Popova’s review of Emily Spivack’s book Worn Stories. The author introduces her book as follows: “The clothes that protect us, that make us laugh, that serve as a uniform, that help us assert our identity or aspirations, that we wear to remember someone — in all of these are encoded the stories of our lives. We all have a memoir in miniature living in a garment we’ve worn.”

The climate has a big impact on our personal style. If it’s too hot we struggle to layer or cover up in the manner that makes us feel the most pulled together. If it’s too cold we’re in puffers and thermals that cover our fab outfits for months on end. Throw in hat head and the need to wear a particular style of bottom to pair with appropriate cold weather footwear, and our fashion choices diminish even further. 

For me, a relatively mild and dry four season climate seems most conducive to a fashionable look that offers variety. The perfect climate for my style would look something like this:

• A hot and dry Summer sans arctic air conditioning so that I can wear sleeved dresses with flat footwear and not feel cold. I am in the minority here since I am comforted by hot weather and enjoy the heat for three months a year. 
• A sunny and rainy Winter that is above freezing. I love to wear wool coats, turtlenecks and booties and would miss them if I lived in a climate where it was too hot to wear those items. I don’t mind if it snows once a Winter because snow is fun and pretty. But I would not enjoy dressing for a climate where it’s below freezing and snowy for most of Winter because that would limit my fashion choices. 
• A sunny Autumn that’s crisp and cool so that I can wear jackets and all styles of jeans and trousers.
• A sunny Spring that is warmer than Winter so that I can sport lighter toppers like trench coats and leather jackets to give my wool coats a rest.

Although our four season weather in Seattle is milder than on the East Coast and in the Midwest, it’s generally too cold and wet for my liking. This means that I have little opportunity to wear unlayered Summer clothes. My bottoms and footwear choices are more limited throughout the year because of the rain (I would love to wear my flares and bootcut trousers more frequently). And generally, I’m wrapping up a lot more throughout the year than I would like to because I run cold. That said, I’m grateful that we don’t have extremely cold and snowy Winters, that our Autumns are stunning, and that we had the hottest July and August on record this year. 

We all have a sweet spot. What’s the perfect climate for your style?