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Need It Now: Irving & Fine

Need It Now: Irving & Fine

Romanian peasants, Ottoman pashas, and the maharani of Jaipur are just some of the exotic references behind the Gypset-inspired line, Irving & Fine. “I hope our website reflects us,” says Lisa Fine, one half of the label she started five years ago with Carolina Irving. “It’s for a girl who goes everywhere and anywhere with the same clothes that are seasonless and can be dressy or casual.” Indeed fans will be thrilled to know that their entire collection, which until now has been hard to track down, is available online and includes their latest addition—caftans. Fashioned in sumptuous silks, they are influenced by Bandhani tie-dyes they discovered while visiting villages in India. As for their incredible palette, Irving explains, “we definitely look East, to the beautiful spice colors, saturated but not harsh.” Not surprisingly, perhaps, their pieces lend themselves perfectly to stylish nomads around the globe and are just the thing to pack for that last-minute winter getaway. As for what’s next? “Expect more caftans with gold block prints in shades of pinks, oranges and lavenders,” says Fine.

Runway to Win: 23 Designers Create Exclusive Pieces to Support President Obama’s 2012 Reelection Campaign

Runway to Win: 23 Designers Create Exclusive Pieces to Support President Obama’s 2012 Reelection Campaign

Four years after the success of Runway to Change, designers and the fashion community are putting their considerable talents back to work to support President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign by creating exclusive, limited-edition merchandise—including everything from nail polish to tote bags to T-shirts—and donating the full proceeds to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fund-raising committee authorized by Obama for America and the Democratic National Committee. The pieces (which are all available to view and pre-order online starting today at runwaytowin.com) come from an impressive list of more than 23 designers, including Vera Wang, Marc Jacobs, and Tory Burch, and are sure to catch the eye of everyone ranging from the fashionable First Lady to someone who wants to find an easy, stylish way to show their support.

“We had such a fantastic response to the Runway to Change event in 2008,” said Meaghan Burdick, marketing and merchandise director for the Obama campaign. “When we re-approached the designers who supported the initiative last time, they signed off on making another collection right away.”

Along with selling the items online, Runway to Win is throwing a fund-raising event in New York City, hosted by Scarlett Johansson and Anna Wintour, that will celebrate the civic-minded collaborations and fete the designers who volunteered their time to the project.

he participating designers drew upon considerable inspiration. “The flag is one of my favorite images to design with because of everything that it stands for, everything that it represents, and everything that it reminds you to believe and dream in,” said designer Rachel Roy, who created an American flag T-shirt to show her support. “If you don’t dream, and if you don’t have the freedom of speech to express those dreams, then what are we here for?”

For more information, go to runwaytowin.com

Quilting: A Stitch in Time

Quilting: A Stitch in Time

“I like the way quilted silk catches the light,” muses designer Corrado De Biase. “Also ‘cozy’ clothes make you feel comfortable and protected.” Roll together those tactile fascinations—along with Zandra Rhodes’s punkish sensibility and a blanket hand-embroidered by De Biase’s grandmother—and it explains why the Italian native has embellished his acid-bright spring collection with an alluring update on the outdoorsy sewing method.

Quilting notched up style points last summer, when after Alexa Chung and Poppy Delevingne dusted off their Barbour jackets’ stuffy connotations by pairing them with hot pants and colorful jeans, stylish girls across the U.K. clamored to copy them. Back at home, Proenza Schouler’s pre-fall collection, which referenced Himalayan sleeping bags, featured jackets and miniskirts with diamond-shaped stitching, an insulating technique as old as the hills that inspired them.

Looking Ahead: 10 Standout Trends from the Spring Collections

Looking Ahead: 10 Standout Trends from the Spring CollectionsNow that the confetti has settled and 2012 is upon us, the new season is suddenly, tantalizingly right around the corner—at least from a fashion perspective. To help you prepare properly, we have distilled the spring collections to the ten strongest style points. From the power of a pulled-together skirt suit to the perpetually flattering silhouette provided by a peplum, we have compiled all the latest ways to express a very modern take on femininity. The best part? It’s all $500—or less.

Fall into Spring: Trends with Staying Power

Fall into Spring: Trends with Staying Power

The calendar, that ruthless dictator, confirms that the last week of winter 2011 is upon us—but when it comes to wardrobe planning (ok, wardrobe fantasizing, wardrobe dreaming) it’s already spring 2012. Though warm weather is months away, you can’t help but wonder—which of the things you crave so desperately at this very moment, which sartorial ideas, so sprightly, so engaging, will fire your imagination when the frost has melted off the pumpkin?

The good news is that the notion of seasonal dressing has become more and more antiquated—except for an overcoat and a swimsuit, pretty much everything we own works all year round. But in dreams begin responsibilities: Just because you are wearing the same sorts of things much of the year doesn’t mean that certain ideas (we are too polite to mention exactly which ones) won’t die on the vine long before March tiptoes in like a baby sheep.

In times like these, when even the most casual purchase is not as casual as it once was, you want to make sure that whatever you buy has not only legs but wings, so you can soar into the next season.

And so we bring you, from shorts to spots, trousers to tailleurs, Vogue.com’s roster of styles that will remain au courant even as the days grown longer.

The Baseball Jacket Renewed

The Baseball Jacket Renewed

“It’s all about the Pink Ladies and being in the cool gang!” says Vogue Fashion Writer Chioma Nnadi of the link between Grease, the updated versions that are High School Musical and Glee, and the pull of fall’s burgeoning baseball-jacket trend. Features Assistant Katherine Bernard couldn’t agree more: “It’s Friday Night Lights!” she says of the contemporary TV reference. “I love the idea of a remote town where sports culture is everything—I want to channel their style!” First spotted on Alexander Wang’s spring 2010 runway show, and available in stores from Club Monaco to Proenza Schouler (left), the varsity basic is gaining momentum as a staple for next spring too—thanks to Chloë Sevigny’s pairing them with floral dresses for her resort 2011 collaboration with Opening Ceremony. It’s the dress-it-down flip side of fall’s prevalent fifties trend, captured so elegantly at Louis Vuitton and Prada. Whether thrown over one of those fit-and-flare dresses, or paired with Wang’s more downbeat slouchy pants, the fact remains: Baseball jackets are strictly for the cool kids. Some of Vogue’s editors, recommend the season’s top picks here.