Month: February 2014

Spring Style: The Deirdre Dress is Back!

One of our favorite styles of dress – the Deirdre – is back just in time for spring, and we just had to share it with you! With three gorgeous new floral prints to choose from, its the perfectly fresh update for your wardrobe. Whether you’re meeting the girls for a bite to eat in town, taking a stroll with an ice cream by the beach, or hitting the dance floor for a shimmy, this cute and comfortable dress can take you everywhere this spring summer season!

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Vintage Inspired Spring Style

With its mandarin style collar and adorable puffed sleeves, we think this dress has a 1940’s vintage vibe, but is kept thoroughly modern with its shorter length A line skirt and popping bright colours. With so much styling potential, you could make this dress extra pretty by adding a cardigan, sling back wedges and matching flowers in your hair. Alternatively, dress it down and grunge it up with some thick tights, boots and a denim jacket. Play around with your spring style with the Deirdre dress, because this dress is definitely made for fun! Available here.

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Hairspiration! 5 Vintage Hairstyles To Try Today.

Finally, winter is slowly fading away, and we don’t always have to hide our hair under a hat or umbrella. A great way to celebrate this is to play around and experiment with some new hairstyles. There is no better place to look to for some inspiration than the vintage hairstyles of the past.

We particularly love the hairstyles of the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s (less so the back combed and bouffant disasters of the 80’s and 90’s – what were we thinking?) which are still as popular today as they were then. These hairstyles are the perfect finishing touch to your favorite vintage outfit, or alternatively, can add a vintage twist to a more contemporary look. Some of them may look complicated or difficult to achieve, but a modern approach to vintage inspired hairstyling allows for looser and relaxed versions of these gorgeous styles, so don’t worry about it being too perfect. We’ve picked our 5 favorite vintage hairstyles and paired them with their more modern interpretations. With a little bit of faking and pinning, they can be adapted to so many types and length of hair. So, grab your hairspray and bobby pins ladies, and let’s give a new hairstyle a go today!

Soft Waves With a Side Parting

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The Big and Beautiful Beehive

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Victory Rolls For The Win!

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The Always Elegant Chignon

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Classy Curls

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If you want to find out more about how to get these hairstyles for yourself, we suggest heading over to YouTube where you can find a wealth of easy to follow tutorials. We particularly like the YouTube channel of “Cherry Dollface”, which you should check out here for lots of vintage hairstyle tutorials. Which one would you like to try? Have fun!
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London Fashion Week 2014 Trends: Fabulous Floral!

We can’t get enough of floral!

We’re very fond of a gorgeous floral frock here at Carousel. It’s the trend that always comes back into fashion every spring/summer season. As the sun starts to peak out from behind the clouds, and the real flowers poke their heads up from beneath the soil, our thoughts turn to warmer days and spending more time outside. Slipping on an outfit that is inspired by nature is one of the best ways to induce happy spring feelings, even if the weather is still not the best. With the explosion of floral prints on the runway at the recent London Fashion Week, floral has again been confirmed as a wardrobe essential! As proved on the London runway, floral prints don’t always have to be dainty. They can be big, bright, and bold, or even mixed with other patterns for a look that makes an impact. Don’t be afraid to stand out!

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Vintage inspired florals on the Clements Ribeiro runway at London Fashion Week 2014

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Gorgeous and bold florals on the John Rocha runway, London Fashion Week 2014

Get the look at Carousel

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Take a leaf out of London Fashion Weeks book with this bold and graphic floral print dress (above). It’s the perfect mix of tough and pretty, ideal for the transition from winter to spring. Get it here.

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A vintage rose pattern gets a contemporary update with bright and unexpected colours.. With its flattering neckline and pleated skirt, this dress ticks all of the boxes, and is a spring wardrobe must have! Get it here.

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With an entire bouquet of colourful flowers floating and gathering around this dress, it’s as fresh as a spring breeze. Ideal for any special occasion! Get it here.

Keep your eyes peeled as we add more floral styles to our new arrivals section over the coming months!

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10 Vintage Fashion Photographers That We Love

We love vintage fashion photography! It’s not just because of the amazing vintage style on display in the photos. These photographs are as fresh, influential, and innovative now as they were over 50 years ago – and some of them are even older than that! Masters of their craft and full of creativity, the photographers who made these images create a world around each outfit and add new layers of meaning. Making both the clothes and a lifestyle even more desirable, these photographers influenced fashion and taste as much as the designers of the time did. We made a shortlist of our favorites, and wanted to share with you 10 vintage fashion photographers. These photographers have created some of the most magical and iconic fashion images of the last century.

Nina Leen

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John Rawlings

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Richard Avedon

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Louise Dahl Wolfe

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Lillian Bassman

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Mark Shaw

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Erwin Blumenfeld

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Karen Radkai

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Horst P Horst

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Cecil Beaton

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Irving Penn

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Who is your favorite? Let us know!

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Mod Style Inspiration: The Mod Couple Portraits of Carlotta Cardana

Modern Mod Style Inspiration

At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that Carlotta Cardanas portraits of mod couples are straight out of 1960′s England. In fact, these photographs were only taken in the last three years! This blurring of time is part of why we adore this project. Cardana has taken so much care to place these couples in surroundings that mirror their mod style, and evoke the time and place that mod originated. The surroundings become a part of their style as much as their clothes are. Cardanas photography style – the square format of the photos, the colour palette used, the lighting, all capture a retro vibe perfectly.

Speaking of retro vibes, who can ignore the amazing vintage style inspiration that these couples are? Their dedication to mod style, and also each other, is admirable. It’s so sweet how the couples complement and reinforce each others style. Do you think you could dress like this with your partner? Could you be as committed to a style and subculture as much as these couples are?

We picked out some of our favorites photographs below, but head over to Carlottas website (here) to see the rest of the project and more of her incredible work.

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To get your own vintage inspired style, head to our website m2.ilovecarousel.com now.

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3 Date Ideas – And What To Wear On Them!

Fresh Spring Date Ideas

No two couples are the same, so no two dates should be either. Since it’s almost Valentines day, we’ve been thinking about some of our favorite date ideas that are a little different to the usual fancy restaurant or cinema – and some inspiration for what to wear on them. Of course, these date ideas are not only suited to loved up couples. If you’re single, grab your best gal pal, sister, mother, or work colleague, and get out there and have some fun together!

A Heart Warming Nature Walk

Wrap up warm and head to the hills (or your local park)! A walk in the fresh, chilly spring air, surrounded by nature, is the perfect way to get your blood pumping, and gives you and your date a brilliant chance to talk and share stories. You could bring along a mini picnic of warm soup in a flask for extra heart warming goodness. Best of all, it’s completely free! You’ll need a warm and comfortable outfit, but it should also make you feel gorgeous. Layer this richly textured, inspired by nature dress under a parka jacket and a cosy scarf. Add thick tights, a slouchy hat, and comfortable boots, and you’re ready to get back to nature.

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A Loud and Live Music Gig

What better way to get up close and personal with your date then shimmying to the beat together in front of a live band? Bound to turn up the heat and get pulses racing, the music might be too loud for conversation, but this is a great way to loosen up and become relaxed in each others company. We’d wear this gorgeous graphic floral print dress under a denim or leather jacket, for that perfect mix of tough and pretty that really gives you an edge.

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Become A Tourist In Your Hometown

Grab your camera, a map, and a date, and head out into your hometown to visit places that are usually the haunt of tourists. Wandering around museums and exhibitions is the perfect way to explore the interests and tastes of your date, and will give you plenty to talk about. Don’t forget to take lots of photos of each other on your adventures! By rediscovering and exploring your hometown, you might also start to see it through fresh eyes to boot. This cute and laid back printed dress is perfect for the urban explorer.

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Have you ever been on a date like any these? Do you have any unique date ideas?

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