Neons And Vibrant Colours

This past year saw the occasional odd colours trot down the runways, like Chanel’s jade green nail colour, Proenza Schouler’s pastel hair streaks and Rodarte’s grey lipstick, but this year promises to be even more exciting.  It’s all about shine and vibrancy.  Neons are a great hit and can be incorporated into outfits for any season if done right and in a subtle way.  Red lips are an all-time classic and seeing a great big comeback this year, possibly due to spirits recovering from the infamous economic downturn.  Whatever the reason, this year is all about big, bright colour.  Even if you’re dressed head to toe in black, paint your lips and nails a vibrant tomato red and see an instant uplift.

Military Jackets

The craze started by Balmain in the Fall 2009 ready-to-wear collection and snowballed from there.  It is still going strong this year.  Military jackets, flak jackets and bold-shouldered jackets are still great items to have in your closet.  It’s no longer just your typical “boyfriend” jacket look that you can go for; it’s so much more than that.  Sure, it mixes the masculine and the feminine and defies gender boundaries in fashion, but it’s all about the feminine side and accentuating it, rather than just bringing a piece of menswear into women’s.  These pieces are among the most versatile things you can own.  Dressed up or down, with a t-shirt or a dress shirt, a dress pant or jean shorts, with heels or flats, this is an item you will rarely take off and one that is perfect year-round.

Hats

Toppers aren’t as huge as they used to be, but that’s all about to change.  Even if it isn’t a hat, designers have gone big when it comes to headbands and headscarves.  Headbands have all kinds of weird attachments, while headscarves come in all sorts of weird patterns to draw attention.  Hats, however, are a real art.  Milliners aren’t available now as they were in the early 1900s, but this is not to say that the art is completely dead.  Hats are still being made for great designers and collections like Vivienne Westwood and Lanvin (Jeanne Lanvin even started out as an apprentice milliner in 1889).  Hats are great to shield you from the cold in winter and from the sun in the summer.  A great hat is not only great for 2010, but also something that will never go out of style.  Stop short of going for a sombrero or a top hat, but perhaps try on a cloche hat for a little 1920s glamour.

Far From It

These are just some of the things being reintroduced to the fashion scene this year, but certainly not all.  Heels of all sorts are being reinvented, while vintage items need no retouching so they are a great way to go to infuse the old with the new.