Southwestern Vibes

The American Southwest has inspired artists and musicians for decades so is it really any surprise that the fashion industry has picked up the mantle and incorporated the unmistakable earthy boho style into their SS19 runways?

Iconic fashion houses and buzzworthy newcomers alike sent models down the S/S 19 runways clad in pieces that seemed straight out of a Georiga O’Keefe painting.

Ralph Lauren Collection’s 50th-anniversary event featured interwoven fringed knits cinched at the waist with concha belts. Coach 1941 included patchwork denim dresses accessorized with sand-colored suede booties. And of-the-moment label Brock Collection showed ruffled full-skirted separates in sunset hues.

The key to embracing those Southwestern Vibes is to choose pieces in a palette that is inspired by desert hues. That means, earthy and neutral hues- colors like caramel, terracotta, rust, clay, and layer them with lighter earthy colors such as sand, taupe and beige.

Dusty pink highlights work great together with the desert palette and you can add more interest to the palette with some pops of teal, purple, cyan blue, and turquoise, inspired also by natural elements of the landscapes such as sky and stones.

Include iconic Southwestern elements such as Navajo prints, western boots, serape weaving, macrame accents, embroidery, denim, cactus motifs, turquoise jewels and of course fringe!

It’s all about embracing the traveler, dreamer, wanderer aesthetic and balancing that within your own personal style whether that be minimalist, maximalist, edgy or feminine.

Click to SHOP some of my favorite Southwestern Inspired Finds:

Not Your Average Animal Prints

Zebra, leopard, cheetah, tiger, snake… these predators of the wild have been creeping, sneaking and slithering their way through the fashion trends for the past few seasons but for Spring 2019 they will stalk your closet in a whole new way!

The animal print trend continues into Spring 2019 with unexpected colorways (like lavender, hot pink, blues, oranges and yellow) and literal animal prints, i.e. clothing covered in pictures of all kinds of animals.

At Valentino we saw a gorgeous symmetrical design of two storks facing each other, FENDI delivered flocks of birds in spice colored hues and at Dolce & Gabbana (a brand that never shies away from animal prints) we had the unexpected showing of a stunning white gown emblazoned with farm animal prints, yes actual farm animals- everything from roosters to horses and cute little piggies. At Burberry we even saw some Dalmatian print!

When rockin’ animal prints this season make sure to look for fun imaginative color takes on the classic prints. Think purple zebra, blue leopard, orange snakeskin etc. When in doubt channel your inner child. Think “If my 4 year old was to color in this print with crayons what hue would they use”. Let your imagination take the lead and don’t shy away from playing with mixing prints!