DO THE DUNGA: DUNGAREES ARE THE ONE THING TO BUY THIS SUMMER...

Posted by Bethan Holt, Junior Fashion Editor at Large

By "Summer", I am of course referring to the months of May/ June/July/ August when it may or may not be warm and sunny but it damn well should be. Therefore, an ideal thing to buy is an item which will work when temperatures hobble into the 20s but can equally be tweaked for chillier, rainy days. Obviously, said item will also be the kind of thing which drags everything else in your wardrobe into a feeling of "nowness". What could possibly tick all these boxes? The previously humble dungaree, of course.

House of Holland SS13 (via style.com)

Humble I say because dungarees have always been the kind of thing which tend to slot into a less revered side of fashion history. They've never really had a high fashion moment but are the territory of 70s feminists, factory workers, artists, pregnant women and Dexy's Midnight Runners. There is rumour that the reason that dungarees are back on the scene is because of feminism's revival. In The Times this weekend, Janice Turner wrote, "So is this the right moment for Spare Rib to return? After all, dungarees are back in fashion: Keira Knightley, Rihanna and Alexa Chung make them almost look fetching". It's true to say that there's a general vibe of easiness about fashion at the moment- sweatshirts, trainers, tees all feel so much more right than heels and body-con, but whether this is fashion's direct reaction to Everyday Sexism, Vagenda and Caitlin Moran, I'm not so sure. Isn't it just the whole "what goes around, comes around" and because Alexa Chung was obviosuly going to get into them sooner or later, hving lredy done pinafore dresses and playsuits.

On the catwalk, it was the 90s inspired collections whose dungarees shouted loudest. Phillip Lim's SS13 was all about grunge- shirts tied around the waist, cropped tops and a quite awesome pair of pink suede "bib and brace" which are at the top of my most-wanted list. Then there were Henry Holland's acid rave tie-dyed dungarees which could just as easily have been inspired by the madly rainbow bright ones my friends and I used to wear when we were on summer holidays, aged 8.

The very best thing about dungarees is that once you've found the right ones for you, they are super easy to wear and a fashion statement packaged into one neat purchase. I don't need to the bla, bla, bla about good with heels, trainers, crop tops, silky shirts etc, do I?

SOME LOVELY DUNGAREES...

Carven, £530.57

3.1 Phillip Lim at Brown, £1,255

Topshop £55

Uniqlo £39

Warehouse £48

THE NEW SKINNY JEANS?

Posted by Bethan Holt, Junior Fashion Editor at Large

It is commonly accepted fashion lore that skinny jeans are so very ingrained into what we wear now that it will be a very long time before they look properly unfashionable. Even if they're not quite at the edge of edginess, so many men and women, no matter what they do, where they live or what their situation is, have at least one pair of skinnies in their wardrobe.

For quite some time, there's been a quiet skinny rebellion in the form of baggy, distressed, turned up boyfriend jeans. However, since Christmas it seems to me like that look has gathered pace. It's got to the point where I don't feel like every pair of jeans I see are of the figure hugging variety. A sure sign that there's an appetite for something baggier is that Topshop have introduced their Mom and Lacey styles to sit alongside the vast quantities of skinny Baxters and Leighs, of which 1.2million pairs were sold last year.Maybe it's just our post-Christmas tubbiness leading us to ditch the skinnies, or perhaps there's a bigger shift at play.

Some recent StreetPeeper shots of beautiful girls in boyfriend jeans

Obviously it does have a lot to do with the general resurgence in the popularity of 90s street wear. Phillip Lim's grunge inspired SS13 collection included a patchwork version of the boyfriend jean which I've already seen a recreation of in Zara, naturally. An acid washed jean often goes hand in had with a slogan tee or hi-tops. But I've also seen them worn with heels and heaps of jewellery, or quite simply with a tailored jacket. When I met up with Stella McCartney recently, she was wearing loose (not strictly baggy), turned up jeans with a cream silk blouse, a gold-buttoned navy blazer and mega high, chunky tan heels.

3.1 Phillip Lim SS13 (image via catwalking.com)

One version of baggy which caught my eye last week were Vintage Reserve Boyfriends by Joe's Jeans. The version I saw in the showroom were lilac washed with artfully placed little rips which, crucially, weren 't so big that they looked like they could quickly become far too holey. Joe's have done a similar thing to a few other brands by taking advantage of their incredible archives and reissuing some original 70s designs. The label is huge in the US but still quite new to the UK, where Liberty and Shopbop are the stockists to head to. The Joe's version tapers in at the ankle so that we don't lose too much of the tight silhouette we're used to with skinnies but they are certainly a thousand times more forgiving. Is it too soon to christen to jean of the teenies? And is that what we're calling this decade?

Joe's Jeans, starting at £111, from a selection in store at Liberty and online at Shopbop

PLAYING PRE-FALL DRESSING UP

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

It's nearly time to snuggle into your Christmas jumper and be done with proper fashion for a week or so, but before that we mustn't forget that the next round of collections- Pre-Fall 2013- is trickling in slowly, giving us a little taster of how we might be looking a year from now. In traditional FEAL fashion, I've got out the Big Head to demonstrate how I might possibly look in some of my favourite looks so far...

1. GUCCI

Checks and tartan are looking strong for next Autumn. Gucci's woollen dress has a strong, pulled together silhouette with a hint of kilt, the perfect balance of chic and traditional.

2. 3.1 PHILLIP LIM

This is quite possibly the archetypal example of what a Pre-Fall (or Resort) collection is all about; it would be quite perfect to put on this entire look, walk out of the studio door and go live life, rucksack slung over shoulder.  You'd be wearing key, hard-working wardrobe pieces with a fashionable but not slavish hint at trends. Winter Turquoise is looking like a big thing, following on from the Celine coat of AW12. 

3. PROENZA SCHOULER #1 and #2

As a simple styling concept, Proenza's concoction feels bang on- take a monochrome colour block sweater, add statement skirt and simple heels. Done. It feels like a wearable, day to day move on from the final looks in Raf Simons' first Dior collection- the black jumper with iridescent ballgown skirts. I couldn't decide between the artsy blue optical skirt or the burnished gold so I stuck my head on both. 

4. ALEXANDER WANG

Will we be seeing grey marl sweats on the Balenciaga catwalk? Possibly not, but Wang's Pre-fall draped luxe sport get-up seems rather fabulous to me although not sure I'd wear the whole look all together. The easy but versatile sweatshirt would be top of my list. 

5. THEYSKENS' THEORY

Oh dear, I'm going to make another Dior reference, but don't you think this sheeny dress coat is a little bit like those updated Bar jackets which Simons did? It's glitzier and comes with what looks a bit of a nasty belt however it fits perfectly into the idea of wearing a jacket as a dress which is really sexy in a Roxie Hart kinda way. 

6. CHANEL

I really ought to have picked my tartan choice from Chanel's Paris -Edinbourg collection, however I by far prefer Lagerfeld's interpretations of Elizabeth I attire, all virginal white gowns with ruffs at the neck. If only I had the photoshop skills to transport the intricate plaits which Sam McKnight created for the occassion onto my own 'do. 

KA-POW AW12 TREND PART 1: COMIC BOOK FASHION FOR WONDER WOMEN

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Most of you reading will be familiar with terms like "having it all" and being a "super woman" which are used unsparingly across the media to describe how females in the 21st century could/should live our lives. No matter whether it is article in a women's magazine advising readers how to fit having a gazillion children around training for ironman triathlons and running a business or a scaremongering piece in a certain daily newspaper warning of all the awful things which happen to society when women work, there has never been more debate around the merits of living up to Helen Gurley Brown's ambition of women "having it all". Inevitably, fashion has picked up on this notion with an ever growing cohort of designers aiming their collections at women who are occupying roles both at home and in a work environment- see Lauren Cochrane's insightful piece in today's Guardian.

Frank Miller's neo-noir Sin City (image from wikipedia.com)

Pencil skirts and perfect black trousers are all very well, but we can flip this on its head and make everything that little bit more FUN. That's because alongside the office appropriate dresses and mid heels which are the absolute practical investment this season, there is a bit of cartoon wonder woman wit being introduced into the equation by the likes of Nicholas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga and Phillip Lim. Through his AW12 and pre-fall collections, Lim has become the poster boy for comparing the wonder women we all want to be (with a little help from our clothes) with the comic super heroine who's right up there with Batman and Superman . Lim told Style.com that "Everyone wants garments to be superheroes. This 'fill in the blank' should save your day, your week, your year."Thus, he gave us fabulous black/white tailored slacks and a completely chic, wear-everyday tweed coat but also threw "ka-pow" knits and accessories inspired by Sin City and V for Vendetta into the mix to make his own cocktail of literal comic book heroism and metaphorical wardrobe wonders.

3.1 Phillip Lim clutch at Matches press day. Now you can buy it £345

3.1 Phillip Lim Kapow sweater £390 at Matches

Mr Lim mixes up his superhero comics with his his superhero clothes for pre-fall '12 (image from style.com)

Lim has taken his comic book fixation a step further for Vogue's Fashion Night Out. He's teamed up with Jan Duursema, a comic book artist with a speciality in Star Wars, and comic strip writer John Ostrander to produce Kill The Night which touches on all those issues of multi-dimensional lives but in a properley super heroine kind of way. It is described by Lim's people as a "A story of duality and metamorphosis, day and night, black and white, love and betrayal. Things are not what they seem. Look again."

Ghesquiere's concept for Balenciaga AW12 made the brand a corporation with models transformed into IT workers and Vice Presidents. While the idea was grounded in the reality of modern office life, the notion of something a little more cosmic entered the collection via a series of highly covetable sweatshirts with slogans like "Join a weird trip" emblazoned on the front alongside sci-fi imagery of skyscrapers and far off galaxies- a landscape which a be-caped superhero could fly into at any moment.

Balenciaga AW12 (catwalking.com)

While being a 'have it all' woman might be made out to be a pretty stressful role in life, I love that Lim and Ghesquiere are turning this on its head and imbuing us with a sense of wonder woman can-do attitude. This is by no means fashion's first foray into comic book fun. I've been doing some delving around and speaking to an absolute expert on the subject so tomorrow there will be a second installment with full on geeking out on fashion's relationship with cartoon superheroes.

You can sign up to receive a copy of Phillip Lim's Kill the Night at his website