WWW Tips August
We loathe this time of year, work-wise at least. It always feels like a) all the celebrities and trendsetters are vacationing in far flung (read: paparazzi free) locales, b) it’s so freaking hot outside, no one’s wearing fall clothes yet, and c) we’re totally tired of spring’s styles. Fortunately there are a few ladies who can pull us out of our doldrums and even manage to remind us why we love fashion. In this month’s Tips, Peaches Geldof, Nicole Richie, and Rachel Bilson save us from our summer blues and show us a few smart outfit ideas.
1. Wear jewel tone accessories with neutral clothes
The WhoWhatWear.com office always celebrates the unexpected, so we were thrilled when we spotted a picture of Peaches Geldof wearing a bright blueberry beret with her otherwise neutral outfit. Seen here strolling in her North London neighborhood, Geldof wore a peachy nude vintage dress with a pair of Topshop Mandy Classic Ballet Shoes ($50), gray Topshop blazer, Long Silver Necklace ($9.90) from H&M, and D&G’s Micol Envelope Clutch ($645, 877.70.DGUSA) with double zip closure. Much like Alexa Chung’s Mulberry bag-plus-vintage-guitar-strap, Peaches customized her bag and added a strap to make it longer. Of course, the key to her whole look is the royal blue beret, which Geldof picked up from Just B Just in Germany. We found a simple and very similar version in almost the same hue ($6.95), but also enjoy the bright enthusiasm of Urban Outfitter’s V Pointelle Beret ($24) in Dandelion Yellow.
2. Dress up your denim shorts with a hot pair of ankle boots
Normally you think of jean cutoffs as either beach garb or something for the weekend, but, as Nicole Richie recently showed us, with the right accessories you can transform them into a chic outfit. Seen here en route to lunch in West Hollywood, Richie upped the style ante by pairing her Siwy Camilla Shorts ($152) with a vintage scarf, Chanel glasses, and, as the piece de résistance, a chunky pair of Balenciaga ankle boots. While Richie’s exact boots are from Fall 07, there are scores of similarly shaped shoes in stores now. Two of our favorites include Pura Lopez’s Platform Ankle Bootie ($375)
($375.95) and the slightly dressier Report Signature Clinton Ankle Bootie
($225) in black patent leather.
3. Mix the proportions of baggy pants and tops with snug blazers
There are many tips that can be absorbed from Rachel Bilson’s style as a whole, but today we’re just going to focus on one well-assembled look. Bilson, seen here strolling in Los Feliz, deftly mixed a vintage pair of Levi’s and 3.1 Phillip Lim’s voluminous Swing Tank ($175, at Barneys) with a more body-conscious white blazer. (And a sweet pair of Chloe’s Tamaris Aviators ($275) too!) If you’d like to emulate this look, obviously you can check your local thrift store or vintage boutique for a bleached out pair of 501s. Additionally, the Beverly Hills Levi’s store (310.246.9044) has a selection of vintage jeans like Bilson’s, ranging in price from $70-500, so that's another option. There are quite a number of excellent white blazers on sale now—we like the Elizabeth and James Elizabeth III ($149)—but of course you can use one of your darker fall jackets instead. As for tops, we found a few flowy shapes from you to choose from, including Mayle’s Itati Camisole Top ($470), Topshop’s Animal Print Racer Back ($50), J. Crew’s Serengeti Tank
($98) and Forever 21’s Tribal Bubble Top ($17.80).
Photo of Peaches Geldof, Splash News. Photo of Nicole Richie, X17. Photo of Rachel Bilson, Pacific Coast News.
1. Wear jewel tone accessories with neutral clothes
The WhoWhatWear.com office always celebrates the unexpected, so we were thrilled when we spotted a picture of Peaches Geldof wearing a bright blueberry beret with her otherwise neutral outfit. Seen here strolling in her North London neighborhood, Geldof wore a peachy nude vintage dress with a pair of Topshop Mandy Classic Ballet Shoes ($50), gray Topshop blazer, Long Silver Necklace ($9.90) from H&M, and D&G’s Micol Envelope Clutch ($645, 877.70.DGUSA) with double zip closure. Much like Alexa Chung’s Mulberry bag-plus-vintage-guitar-strap, Peaches customized her bag and added a strap to make it longer. Of course, the key to her whole look is the royal blue beret, which Geldof picked up from Just B Just in Germany. We found a simple and very similar version in almost the same hue ($6.95), but also enjoy the bright enthusiasm of Urban Outfitter’s V Pointelle Beret ($24) in Dandelion Yellow.
2. Dress up your denim shorts with a hot pair of ankle boots
Normally you think of jean cutoffs as either beach garb or something for the weekend, but, as Nicole Richie recently showed us, with the right accessories you can transform them into a chic outfit. Seen here en route to lunch in West Hollywood, Richie upped the style ante by pairing her Siwy Camilla Shorts ($152) with a vintage scarf, Chanel glasses, and, as the piece de résistance, a chunky pair of Balenciaga ankle boots. While Richie’s exact boots are from Fall 07, there are scores of similarly shaped shoes in stores now. Two of our favorites include Pura Lopez’s Platform Ankle Bootie ($375)
3. Mix the proportions of baggy pants and tops with snug blazers
There are many tips that can be absorbed from Rachel Bilson’s style as a whole, but today we’re just going to focus on one well-assembled look. Bilson, seen here strolling in Los Feliz, deftly mixed a vintage pair of Levi’s and 3.1 Phillip Lim’s voluminous Swing Tank ($175, at Barneys) with a more body-conscious white blazer. (And a sweet pair of Chloe’s Tamaris Aviators ($275) too!) If you’d like to emulate this look, obviously you can check your local thrift store or vintage boutique for a bleached out pair of 501s. Additionally, the Beverly Hills Levi’s store (310.246.9044) has a selection of vintage jeans like Bilson’s, ranging in price from $70-500, so that's another option. There are quite a number of excellent white blazers on sale now—we like the Elizabeth and James Elizabeth III ($149)—but of course you can use one of your darker fall jackets instead. As for tops, we found a few flowy shapes from you to choose from, including Mayle’s Itati Camisole Top ($470), Topshop’s Animal Print Racer Back ($50), J. Crew’s Serengeti Tank
Photo of Peaches Geldof, Splash News. Photo of Nicole Richie, X17. Photo of Rachel Bilson, Pacific Coast News.
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26 post(s)
Nicole Richie is one of my favorites, because she almost always gets it right. The shorts/boots thing may not look great on everyone, but she looks cool, but effortless. She's even got me thinking about trying a denim skirt/motorcycle-like jacket/ short-heeled ankle boot thing.... I'll see how it goes.
Posted by: Amelia | 2008-08-22 10:53:59
Best outfit by far to Peaches. While I usually love Rachel's choice of clothing, this one looks downright 'bleh'. It doesn't mesh well at all. Nicole's outfit is pretty average. Don't know about those boots though. Shorts may be a bit short for the outfit. Post quite disappointing to be honest.
Posted by: gypsyrose | 2008-08-22 06:10:31
Peaches looks alright but I've seen that look before and the tip really is not a tip at all... it's kind of second nature to pair neutral tones with colour. Well done on at first adamantly opposing and scorning the shorts-and-ankleboots trend and now somehow endorsing it in spite of the trend not actually looking that nice. and Finally Rachel looks great as usual but from the waist down she just looks kind of sloppy.
Posted by: gracie | 2008-08-19 22:19:36
OUCH! Nicole's ankle boots look like they would hurt her tootsies. They would be cool with jeans though. Christina
Posted by: real style real | 2008-08-19 11:38:57
best look goes to rachel and yes peaches dress like this all the time, but i dont think that she is being silly wearing that beret. It's freezing here!
Posted by: Amy | 2008-08-19 06:05:48
these looks are utterly hideous, wwwd your bad taste comes second only to the large foot in your mouth, as documented by previous posts. i dress better in my worst nighmare. yukkk.
Posted by: sarah | 2008-08-19 03:36:24
I would have liked Rachel's look a bit more if her jeans had been hemmed and she wore something nicer than flip flops on her feet - those two things to me ruined what could have been a cool outfit.
Posted by: Louise C | 2008-08-19 01:35:00
Anonymous and echo - bravo for calling them out for being hypocrites regarding the ankle boot/shorts combo! I'd love to hear what they have to say for themselves regarding this error, but, since they never respond to any of their readers comments, I'm sure we won't get an answer.
Posted by: BUSTED | 2008-08-18 19:33:57
you mentioned in a past post: "Never (ever, ever, ever) wear ankle boots with shorts unless you want us to come and hunt you down and publicly shame you (hopefully you’re not into that)." http://www.whowhatwear.com/website/full_article.php?id=194 and now you are making it a tip??
Posted by: eko | 2008-08-18 18:39:13
tips is hands down my least favorite story.
Posted by: hermione | 2008-08-18 18:09:22
I find it very ironic, how Who What Wear, just a year ago, said "2) Never (ever, ever, ever) wear ankle boots with shorts unless you want us to come and hunt you down and publicly shame you (hopefully you’re not into that)."
Posted by: Anonymous | 2008-08-18 17:48:59
I love Nicole's boots! a surefire way to fastforward into Fall while still keeping cool in this dreadful heat... http://luvvy-luvvy.blogspot.com/
Posted by: LuVvy | 2008-08-18 17:36:52
karla of karla's closet did a great version of boyfriend jeans and a loose top with a fitted blazer. i actually liked her version better than bilson's b/c she added a sexy pair of strappy heels. just wanted to give her kudos. check it out: http://karlascloset.blogspot.com/2008/08/8-8-8.html
Posted by: jebrew | 2008-08-18 12:47:15
very bored and uninspired.
Posted by: la de da | 2008-08-18 11:39:14
I just hate the bottoms of Rachel's jeans. Other than that, I like her look a lot. www.shinylittlethings.com
Posted by: Julie | 2008-08-18 11:20:36
how are these tips? it just seems like common sense.
Posted by: bryanna | 2008-08-18 11:02:58
i think nicole richie looks best out of them all. peaches just looks like she's trying to pull off a mary kate olsen look and failed at it
Posted by: alice | 2008-08-18 10:48:56
Wearing a beret in August is just too silly. I love Nicole, but her legs look like they're about to snap in half in those boots. The girl she was walking with in this picutre (not shown here) looked better. Rachel looks effortless and cute.
Posted by: Llew | 2008-08-18 10:23:47
Love the blue beret! Ritchie looks like she has been reading Fashion Toast (note: not a negative comment). And while I agree that one must balance a baggy bottom with a fitted top, the blazer is not pulling Bilson's look together as well as it might.
Posted by: MEP | 2008-08-18 10:11:58
*my blog* > fashionchalet.blogspot.com < I love pairing ankle boots with shorts and fitted blazers always work with most looks, which I really like.
Posted by: Fashion Chalet | 2008-08-18 09:58:49
Rachel looks very sloppy...Peaches is cute I guess LOVE NICOLE
Posted by: Jes | 2008-08-18 09:12:34
Love Nicole's necklace !!!
Posted by: Natallya | 2008-08-18 08:38:44
I really like Peaches' outfit. Nicole looks same-y.. I would try Rachel's look but I don't own any baggy pants. o_o
Posted by: Amy | 2008-08-18 08:32:50
I've seen Peache's outfit a thousand times, its boring. Nicole Richie, all though I do love her, is pretty boring, she wears that all the time. Rachel Bilson looks boring as usual. And since when are you're high school Levi's vintage?
Posted by: serena | 2008-08-18 07:22:29
i think all three ladies look great.. i'm a bit over animal print but besides that they all look wonderful
Posted by: hannah Ralph | 2008-08-18 07:03:16
I love all the looks
Posted by: couture lover | 2008-08-18 03:24:01