Uniqlo is reviving more items from its Jil Sander collaboration, Yahoo Style launches a new podcast, and other news from the fashion trenches this week.

• Uniqlo is reviving more items from its design collaboration with Jil Sander for Spring/Summer 2015.
• These 27 US cities are getting a Nordstrom Rack store this year.
• The pearl-embellished Calvin Klein gown that Lupita Nyong’o wore to the Academy Awards on Sunday was stolen from her hotel room this week.
• Swedish brand Filippa K has launched three sustainability initiatives: garments made from 100% sustainable materials, customers donating old clothes that will then be reused, and a lease concept that allows customers to rent items for special occasions.
• Yahoo Style brings out a new podcast today, Unbuttoned: “Strong opinions and ideas, irreverence and fun, and style through a pop culture lens.”

Fun Fashion Fact

Did you know that the Gary Harvey “eco-couture” gown Livia Firth wore to the 2011 Academy Awards was upcycled from eleven vintage dresses. Each dress hailed from the 1930s, the era in which her husband’s Oscar-winning film, The King’s Speech, was based.

Wearing a soft and pretty palette is one way to introduce Spring into your style. Try combining light blue and lemon (a pale yellow) with cognac footwear. Faded denim works well as the light blue component of the outfit. If neither light blue nor lemon are your cup of tea as a clothing item, wear the colours in accessories like scarves and a bag. 

There are countless ways to wear the colour palette, both with solids and neutrals. Here are three renditions to get you started. I’ve used cognac footwear in all three cases. 

Faded Jeans & Lemon Top

This is the easiest outfit formula of the three. Combine a lemon pullover, blouse, shirt or tee with faded blue denim jeans. Finish off the look with cognac footwear and tan outerwear. The cognac belt is optional. I’ve added a light blue backpack for an extra pop of pastel, but a tan, ink, white or cognac bag works well too. I’ve also replaced faded denim with a soft railroad stripe for Team ‘80s. 

Denim Skirt, Lemon Scarf & Light Blue Bag

This is the option to sport if you like the idea of lemon and light blue, but do not want to commit to them in a clothing item. Combine a white top and denim pencil skirt with tall or short cognac boots. Finish off the look with a lemon and blue scarf, light blue bag, and tan outerwear. Ink outerwear is another way to go. 

Ink Pants, Light Blue Top & Lemon Topper 

This is a dressier rendition of the palette. Combine ink blue trousers with a light blue blouse, shirt or pullover, and top with a lemon blazer, cardigan, trapeze jacket or coat. For a little more fun, I combined a pinstripe shirt with pinstripe trousers. Add cognac loafers, pumps or booties, and ink or tan outerwear. Add a tan or cognac bag (and optional belt in the same shade of brown). Finish off the look with jewellery, eyewear and watch as desired. I added a chunky pearl necklace to amp up the pretty because the combination can look a little masculine, especially when you’re wearing a men’s style shirt. 

Feel free to substitute cognac with taupe or tan, and the lemon with a brighter citron. Wear blue jeans instead of a denim skirt. And a subtle snakeskin bag in tan works well too, as does a false plain.

The Telegraph reports that pearls are making a comeback. This time around it’s all about pearl jewellery with sleek and simple lines.

With A Fresh Take on Pearl Jewelry, InStyle shows us more key pieces to nail the look.

While searching for a new pair of simple pearl stud earrings, I’ve found several online stores that are doing interesting pearls right now: Net-a-Porter, Shopbop, ASOS, Misaki.

Fab Links from Our Members

Deb found a great PDF from Oregon State University that has visuals and descriptions of clothing parts.

UmmLila didn’t think she was ever going to have a style moniker but now she is tempted by “flâneur“.

Recently Marlene has been shocked at the tone of comments about “older” celebrities that attempt to conform to society’s standards of how they should look. So she found The Taboo That Still Surrounds The Aging Woman an interesting read.

Angie directs us to Sally’s post on the subject of age-appropriate dressing. Sally believes that you should trust your gut because there are no hard and fast rules.

Gardenchick thought this article about gray hair becoming the hallmark of coolness fit right into our forum discussions about going grey versus colouring one’s hair.

Ingunn likes the concept of a gender neutral shoe line, and thinks it is very well executed in this example.

Season 3 of Netflix’s House of Cards starts this week, and Ann in New England came across this great analysis of main character Claire Underwood’s powerful style.

These outfits reminded Joy of white-out looks. She wants to wear the second one with the light grey trousers.

Annagybe always thought that bags and shoes are the most lucrative for design houses, but according to this article outerwear, pants, and travel-inspired items now hold the most commercial promise.

I feel for those living in places where the Winter has been particularly harsh in recent years. Below freezing temperatures, snowfall after snowfall, bitterly icy commutes, and far too much driveway shoveling. Not to mention the dangers of the extreme weather and the inconvenience of services and power outages. Much less important, but still top of mind because personal style is a passion of mine, is how I would continue to have fun with fashion if I wasn’t living in mild Seattle and had to contend with the deep freeze.

Here are some ideas that come to mind. Many of them involve spending money, so in practice I would have to prioritize these ideas and reduce my style budget in other places to accommodate the purchases. But for fun, I’m not going to worry about that aspect for now.

1. A capsule of puffer coats

I find heavyweight puffer coats much warmer than even the thickest of wool coats, which means that I would wear a puffer all Winter long. That means I’d need a few of them to combat the boredom of wearing the same coat for four months at a time. I already have a black puffer, so I’d add one in white, and perhaps others in colours. 

2. A capsule of weatherproof boots

I’m assuming that my life would be urban and city-centered. So I wouldn’t need a collection of snow boots for deep snow, but rather a collection of fashionable styles in different neutrals. I would look at brands like Aquatalia, La Canadienne, Blondo, and the white duck boots from L.L. Bean. Impractical in white I know, but I would want them anyway. 

3. More chunky warm knitwear across many colours 

I already have a large knitwear collection, but I’d need heavier and warmer knitwear. I’d make sure that colour — both bright and pastel — was adequately represented. 

4. Scarves and hats

I tend to wear scarves and hats for practical reasons and not decorative ones. They really do help to keep you warm. So out of practical necessity I’d build a capsule of woolly scarves in happy colours to complement my puffer coats. I’d also find a few more insulating hats that work on my relatively tiny head. 

5. More make-up variety

Changing up the colour of your lipstick, which I wear daily, is one way to subtly change the look of an outfit. I wear two shades of lipstick regularly at the moment. I expect that I’d add a few more shades to my beauty routine to increase my daily outfit variety. Perhaps I’d throw in a little finger nail polish too. 

6. Alternative pairs of brightly coloured specs

This would be a very expensive exercise, but worth it because I wear specs daily. I have enjoyed my bright apple green specs more than any other pair, so any additional pairs would be brightly coloured too. Three extra pairs — in white, blue and pink — would be ideal. But that would be a tall order for my budget.

7. A more dramatic hairstyle

Maybe I’d become a redhead or brunette with blue streaks in Winter. Who knows, but I think a little more hair drama would really help to create outfit excitement in the depths of Winter. 

I’d also expect to have an extensive collection of thermal undies and knee-high socks, swap out my snow boots for fashionable footwear if I worked in an office, wear tapered wool trousers in patterns and colours, and drink even more piping hot tea than I already do. 

Of course, I’m not speaking from experience. So I’m very interested to hear from those who are experiencing the deep freeze. How do you express your personal style and stay content with your fashion during the harsh winter months?