Category Archives: Blog
6 Ways to Tie a Scarf
Method 1: Shawl Tie
1. Drape the scarf gracefully around your shoulders, letting it have gentle folds that accentuate its pattern.
2. Gather one end in each hand, holding loosely.
3. With your right hand, gently fold the right end crossing over the left end, bringing through and around the back (just as the first part of tying a pair of shoelaces.) Let it drape over the front.
4. (Optional – complete a gentle knot – take the right end and gently cross over the left end again, bringing it up and through the circle between the first part of the tie and the left end, making a simple flat knot.)
Method 2: Modified Ascot
1. Using both hands, gather softly together the fabric of a long rectangular scarf so that it becomes long and narrow with soft folds along its length.
2. Place the middle of the long scarf at the front of your neck and gently wind each end once around your neck to create a sort of turtleneck collar.
3. Bring the ends to the front, and using… Read More
Perspectives from a First-Time Model
When I was first asked to model for the TRUU designs first anniversary party and fashion show, I was a little surprised. Me? Model? I’m not exactly the modeling type. I’m not tall and lithe, with high cheek bones, a strong jaw or any of those other qualities that I associate with traditional models. Instead, I am of average height with tremendously wide hips and a little extra something here and there. I’m not exactly giving Heidi Klum a run for her money. But that’s okay – more than okay. I am me, a me I am very comfortable with, a me that I love. So despite my surprise, I happily agreed to join the fashion show and display my wide hips and my little extra something.
The first thing I noticed when I met with the other models was how different we all were. Each and every one of us was unique and differently shaped. Some of us were tall and thin, others shorter, curvier, some with delicate shoulders, others with strong shoulders, some with long limbs, others with shorter limbs, some of us high-waisted, others short-waisted. There were only 7 of us, but we had managed to represent… Read More
What Women Want: So much to spend and so little fashion for boomers to buy
Read our article written by Louise featured on the Pasadena Weekly website.
Why should retailers care about the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964? Well, buying power for one. Boomers have $2 trillion in annual buying power — more than seven times Generation X and Generation Y combined. A large portion of that goes toward apparel and boomer women spend 13 percent more than the national average on clothes. So, who’s designing for us? It seems almost no one is.
Most high-street boutiques are geared toward women in their 20s and 30s, the serious designers are designing with catwalk models in mind, and the “woman” sections are usually oversized, frumpy and dreary.
What is fashion over 50? We knew the answer when we created TRUUdesigns and decided to provide a place that cares about all women having great design. We specifically focused on providing a fashion house/design resource for women to have great clothes, distinctive design and a chance to express their own sense of style.
Fashion over 50 means appreciating beautiful fabrics, the right cut, the designer vision, and more importantly, having the confidence to know what works for us.
We no longer agonize… Read More
Fashion Follows Film, Part 2.
Ah, the 1950s. Films during this decade are rife with iconic fashion moments, many still copied or referenced today. What works, works.
Take James Dean’s red jacket from Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Who can deny that he set the world on fire with his smart-cool, detached look? Film director Nicholas Ray and costumer Moss Mabry apparently decided that a red jacket would help Dean’s character stand out–which ultimately led them to shoot in color versus black and white. And that jacket’s popularity endures. The hit series Madmen has revived new interest in Dean’s look, head to toe: The pompadour hairstyle (you know–with the sides combed up and back); classic, straight-legged, cuffed blue jeans; a white t-shirt (we’ll skip the ciggies rolled up in the sleeve); plain work boots with a good size heel; and of course, the jacket’s popped collar.
Equally iconic Kate Hepburn continued to wow her fans in 1952‘s Pat and Mike, a comedy about a feisty, independent athlete and her domineering manager (played by Spencer Tracy). In both her personal and professional life, Hepburn repeatedly defied convention by dressing like a man, with her high-waisted trousers, pantsuits, men’s shirts and… Read More
Fashion Follows Film, Part 1.
Today’s fashions seem most popular when they allow us to embrace remnants of the past. With each new season, we seem to be witnessing re-ups from the best of fashion’s greatest moments. And most of these can be incorporated into a style that is uniquely yours–that is, if you have the time and inclination. (And not incidentally, that’s what TRUUdesigns is all about.)
This post begins a side journey to those way-back times, when most of us depended on two specific industries to dictate clothing trends. The obvious first? The fashion industry itself, of course. But a powerful second often influenced the first: Flickering images cast through flexible celluloid strips coated with a photosensitive gelatin emulsion.
…Huh? That’s right: The film industry. Because our real lives (well, in those days) seemed never as exciting–or glamorous–as those on the silver screen, we gladly mimicked our favorite movie idols’ on-screen characters by reproducing their hairstyles, makeup, and of course–those amazing costumes.
So let’s take a peek into how fashion followed film. Join me for the next couple of blog posts, and we’ll pick some classic movies that rocked the fashion world from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. And if… Read More