TUTORIALS

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Doll's Eye View: London Trends Fall 2015

Usually London has a tendency to be all over the place, but for Fall 2015, there were lots of great ideas as well as legitimate clothes that I could actually imagine being worn! It would appear that the raw creativity was, at last, tempered into "real world" looks.

Fur Babies
Okay, so with the Polar Vortex and Artic deep freezes putting the chill on northern hemisphere cities, it's logical that fur continues to be a "major force" in the top fashion capitals, London included. With many styles looking very "summery" it makes sense that you could actually wear them in the dead of winter with a fuzzy coat tossed over the shoulders. But how about a fur dress! Yes, you'd have to be stick thin to pull this off without resembling a bear. But we're not talking about clothes for you. It's all about what your dolls will wear and we know....they have the figure for such a decadent look!
 

Anna wears a faux fur dress cut from the same material I used for coats. I used the pattern for a strapless sheath dress without the darts. Cut extra wide seam allowance and be sure to fit to the doll.

 Coat Check
Let's also not forget that these are trends slated for next Fall Winter and as such, we really need to take a peak at coats. Here there are three trends: great big over coats, fit and flare dress coats and slim silhouettes that stop just above the knee.
 
Mod Squad
In January, we saw this flash back to 1960's Carnaby Street in menswear. The same trend carries through to womenswear. Think about color-blocked shift dresses, fit and flare coats and dresses and kicky little pant suits with waist length jackets and visor caps!
 
 Leather Weather
Cool weather calls for transition clothes cut from leather. The message here is: Simple silhouettes cut from slabs of black leather. What's new is the mix of leather and woven fabrics.

Fringe Benefits
As we saw in New York, fringed edges will be a hot trend for next fall. We love it because of the added movement it gives, an otherwise static style or silhouette. Note here how popular the poncho is! And also note the color palette. In France we called them "colored blacks".....deep, dark tones. One more thing....fringed looks aren't limited to leathers, suede or vinyl look alikes. Cotton moleskin fabric is a great substitute for suede. In this modern era where frayed edges abound, feel free to experiment with other types of densely woven fabrics as well.

Piccadilly Circus
Busy black and white patterns make for interesting urban wear. The key to mixing patterns and prints is to stay in the same color palette. And just for diversity, consider adding a knit (cut & sew if you can't hand knit, like me) to give your look an added 3-D edge. When working with such busy patterns, be sure to keep choose simple patterns!
 
 Linear Equation
The look is long and slim with interesting details, be it a drape, the addition of leather or hardware.  Particularly interesting here are the straight legged trousers. Though we're still seeing skinny jeans on the catwalks, silhouettes are loosening up and as a result, look for more ease and a variety of different shapes and volumes. Here, all of our monochromatic looks are in black, a major color for Fall.
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Arsenic & New Lace
Surprisingly, lace is another hot item for Fall wardrobes. Instead of the thin, spider web variety, look for thick, crocheted laces for winter eveningwear.

Boudoir Babes
Sexy, sensual and straight out of your lingerie drawer, the slip dress, satin robe, or little tops with swirls of sheer fabric is what some dolls are wearing under those great big furry coats! (Note: after Fashion Month is all over, I'll do a tutorial on how to create a slip dress for dolly!)

 
Coming up next:  The Best of Italy. The girls strut their stuff down the catwalks of Milan.


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14 comments:

  1. I love these fashion reports! They are a treasure trove of ideas. For instance, I adore that leopard print coat, and now I want to find some leopard print craft felt to play around with. Or maybe some nice Ultrasuede, since they make a gorgeous embossed metallic version for beading.

    Also, arsenic and new lace made me grin, since Arsenic and Old Lace was one inspiration behind the short story I wrote for Halloween. Sewing was another inspiration. :)

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    1. Sarah, when I first started collecting fashion dolls, I decided to make clothes for them. At first, all I did was to stare and try to figure out what to make. That's when I started following fashion trends again, and that provided me endless ideas! I almost made a version of that coat you like using leopard printed vinyl I bought at a local crafts store!!! Big hugs!

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  2. Thanks for sharing this news. I LOVE deep, dark colors and fringe so I'll look for budget verions of these.

    I'm following several of your boards on Pinterest; I'm there, too!

    The photo titled "Boudoir Babes" has me puzzled. The second from the left model is wearing boots. Who wears boots in a boudoir ... oh! My face is red. Bite my hand for typing that.

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    1. LOL!!!! Though you can't see her feet, I did NOT put red boots on my Barbie who's wearing the dolly version of the Holly Fulton slip dress!!! The dark colors are such a good alternative to black---a color, which admittedly I tend to overuse (both in my own wardrobe as well as those of my dolls). I luv, luv, luv fringe and was tempted to reproduce one of those looks, but couldn't get to a fabric store.
      Thanks for your follow on Pinterest.

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  3. This report had a lot of outfits that I liked! : D
    Fringe Benefits looks nice and Holly Fulton's clothes too! Best wishes for Milano! <3

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    1. This has been a really good season with plenty of great looking clothes....which is not always the case. The difficulty has been choosing which outfits to feature. The Milano report will be up in a couple days with more gorgeous clothes. Big hugs.

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  4. I kind of want to make the fur dress just to show people that there's a reason Barbie has her exaggerated figure.

    I love the fashion updates -- I've been going through last fall's post on spring lines for ideas (at least to ponder, even if my sewing skills aren't there yet).

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    1. I will tell you a big secret.....when I was 16 years old and making my own clothes for parties, I made myself a fur skirt to match a little lamb jacket my mother gave me. I was only about 80 pounds so I didn't look like bear. That's why I chose the FR doll with that hourglass figure because I knew she could pull it off!!!

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  5. Hi April, I agree with you, this year's London fashions are very interesting. As usual I am amazed by your creations. I look forward for the tutorial for the slip dress, I can't figure out how you did it in 1/6 scale!!!
    Kisses Billa

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  6. Thank you, Billa. I saw more slip dresses in Milan, so that gives me the perfect excuse to do a dedicated tutorial. One of the patterns I will feature is super simple. Big hugs!!

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  7. Hi April, the fashions are really awesome! The ones you made are as always super too! Looking forward to the slip dress tutorial, my mini models would love to wear these :-). Big hugs!

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    1. Thank you, Linda. Good to hear from you. There have been some really nice clothes this time around. As far as the slip dress, I've got a pattern simple enough to fit nearly any doll. Big hugs.

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  8. Hello from Spain: very coolphotographer. Great top models. Nice pictures. Fabulous looks.Keep in touch

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  9. Thank you Marta. Since most photographers at these events are men, I decided to give this "job" to one of the boy dolls. He's actually dressed the way most of them dress as well! I'll see you soon..

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