à la mode: Vision Quest

As I have been chanting all this summer, this 2012 season has been about how bright one can be and how one can transcend in to the future—so one can imagine how disheartened I was when a few days ago a few co-workers of mine said they wouldn’t dare try to emulate the looks in the spread, “Vision Quest”, from the March 2012 issue of US Vogue. I was absolutely dumb-founded when I heard this proclamation! They told me they couldn’t image putting so many patterns and colors together, sans the fact that colors have been amplified tenfold already. In my fashion, this spread sums up fashion this season, in a nutshell. The vibrantly delicious colors, the eclectic mix of modernist patterns, the sharp cuts of fabric and attention to geometric details: what more says, “I am strong and I don’t play,” so easily for women? Imagine: having woken up on the wrong side of the bed, you are walking down the hallways at work, totally engulfed in your own thoughts, then, voila! That woman from the holiday parties you always attend floats from around the next corner in either of the two beautiful rain forest inspired dresses designed by Peter Piloto (LEFT; Fourth Row). The beaded details of the skirt underneath that aquatic unsymmetrical train would be such a vision that you are forced to break from your train of thought and admire the beauty that had unsuspectingly graced your drab morning day. That type of impression would be a great one if your viewer happened to be upper management. Or think: You have a travel meeting. Your boss will be expecting you to impress in front of the rest of the panel. Without even needing to say a word, half of your job will already be done once you step up confident (or nervous) in your monochromatic Gucci look (LEFT; Third Row) having caught their attention from just sitting in front of them as they wait for your turn to present, wondering to themselves, “What will she have to present?” Austere, yet graceful will you stand in front of your audience, rest assured that half the battle is already won with everyone’s undivided attention waiting for smart words from a smartly dressed woman. In my fashion, these looks would make life a breeze, for the impression made by the beauty of these fabrics, and your own smart mix of patterns, will hold anyone’s attention as you affirm your worth in your position self-assured, and working to forward your career.