Femme / Fatale

Gosh, my friends are fashionable! Isabella (a subconscious trend forecaster, hardy ha) mixed a simple mens button-up (my nickname for collared shirts) with a striped knit sweater and textured knit vest for a more tom-boyish side to corporate dressing one chilly day in Brisbane. Whilst her look reminded me of the exhausted “blazer” trend, it rang bells in terms of crossovers in roleplaying.
With the turn of the century came Australia’s first female Prime Minister and the U.S.A’s first female presidential candidate Hilary Clinton. These powerful femmes must be influencing women worldwide because U.S. Census Bureau has recorded 51.4 percent of American managerial and professional positions to be held by women (Hymowitz, 2012). The “stay at home dad” movement has rapidly increased as women become the breadwinner – traditional family roles have been reversed (Poulter, 2010). Media campaigns such as Dsquared²’s spring/summer 2011 tapped into the femme/fatale trend with the use of androgynous model Andrej Pejic (WGSN 2012) as did fashion house Hermes at Paris fashion week 2012. Designer Christophe Lemaire opened with knits and baggy leather pants tucked into boots – à la Aladdin. The Fall ready to wear collection moved hazily between mens- and womenswear. The “look of a big coat over a generously sized suit and sweater, all of them in the most meditative shade of gray” really echoed this androgynous theme (Blanks, 2012). On a final note, this masculine attitude has been really vibrant on the streets, with layering of button-ups (oh I do approve!), knits, sweaters, jackets, and blazers appearing on street-style blogs – my favourite being Tommy Ton for Style.com (2012). So take your pick of pattern and colour, but definitively get behind this thriving fashion trend.

(Lucy Kelly, 2012)


Crediting other’s brain juice:

Hymowitz, Carol. 2012. “Behind Every Great Woman” Accessed March 22, 2012. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/behind-every-great-woman-01042012.html

Poulter, Sarah. 2010. “Ten times more stay-at-home dads than 10 years ago” Accessed March 23, 2012. http://www.aviva.co.uk/media-centre/story/6344/ten-times-more-stay-at-home-dads-than-10-years-ago/

WGSN. 2012. “A/W 12/13 Season Analysis” Accessed March 25, 2012. http://www.wgsn.com/content/report/Catwalk_Shows/Seasonal_Analysis/AW12-13/WOMENSWEAR/aw12_13_w_seasonal_analysis/the_key_looks.html

Blanks, Tim. 2012. “Hermès” Accessed March 25, 2012. http://www.style.com/fashionshows/review/F2012RTW-HERMES

Condé Nast. 2012. “Tommy Town” Accessed March 21, 2012. http://www.style.com/trendsshopping/stylenotes/020912_Tommy_Ton_F2012RTW/

Photo of Isabella D'Arcy is my own. Taken: Paddington, Queensland, on March 25, 2012.