Your guide to Autumn/Winter fashion this 2016 starts here, with my top 3, affordable, runway inspired trends! Packing for university was almost as stressful as applying for university. To add to the stress, it seems that, as the days go by, it’s getting colder and colder and summer feels like a distant memory. However, with winter fast approaching, I must admit that I’m excited for cosy jumpers, high necklines, long sleeves and wearing tights once again! (We all know what that means… we can avoid the laborious task of shaving our legs!) I always find autumnal colours much more wearable than the gaudy, bright colours summer often tempts me to wear and I find it incredibly exciting to update my wardrobe with the key AW16 trends. So if you are in need of some inspiration – look no further!
1. VELVET
I’m so excited that velvet has made a reappearance. Crushed velvet is so luxurious and soft (and therefore perfect for winter.) Velvet pieces can be seen on the catwalks of Gucci, Prada and Valentino.
I browsed many shops and searched online for my personal favourite velvet pieces and Missguided stood out by a mile. They have an impressive collection of velvet dresses, t shirts and even trousers. Here are my personal favourites:
The Velvet Tee – MissGuided – £15
Pink is very wearable as it suits almost every skin tone. The strappy detailing at the front of the T shirt transforms it from being something quite plain and makes the T-shirt more exciting overall.
Wear with:
This can easily be dressed up with a leather, A line skirt or culottes. Alternatively, it can be thrown on with a pair of jeans and a bomber jacket for a day time, model off-duty, chic look.
High neck bodycon dress with flower detailing – MissGuided – £30
Although this one may seem a little pricey now the student life is upon us, with UNIDAYS student discount, 20% off everything, it suddenly seems more and more tempting. With the on-trend high neck and long sleeves, this dress allows you to stay warm and still look incredible!
Black is effortlessly chic and will never go out of fashion. With the extra pop of colour and the flower detailing this dress is quite simply stunning and a necessity for this season!
Grey cowl neck pleated shift dress, £25
I think this is a stunning and unique piece. The cowl neckline makes the dress rather risqué while maintaining a sophisticated edge due to the luxuriousness of the velvet. I love the addition of the curved hemline as it makes the piece look more expensive and adds that little extra detail.
This dress is a perfect addition to your wardrobe this season, it’s slinky, on trend and quite simply fabulous!
2. PUFFER JACKETS
Puffer jackets are all over the catwalks this season. We have seen such jackets on the catwalks of Balenciaga, Stella McCartney and Acne. Although I am, of course, excited about the other trends we are seeing this season it’s nice to finally have a practical item of clothing which is also fashionable! I’ve needed a nice coat for quite a while now and I think it might be the time to invest in one. I’ve had a browse and these are my personal favourites:
Pimkie Short Padded Coat With Zip Pockets – ASOS – £25.99
Red is a very bold colour and a bright red coat, understandably, is not to everyone’s taste. However, this particular coat is incredibly wearable due to its short length and overall fitted shape. It will not only keep you warm but also add a pop of colour to your outfit (which is needed at this time of year if you’re anything like me and your go-to colour scheme is all black). This coat looks really expensive too, and for this price plus another 10% off with student discount it would be rude not to buy it!
Short Quilted Bubble Coat – BooHoo – £45
This coat looks a lot more expensive than it actually is due to the gold hardware, fur and the black detailing. Looking at it, you definitely wouldn’t guess that this coat actually came from boohoo.com (who also offer 20% student discount) over a high end brand. I love the fact that this coat is fitted again and is short in the body which gives the impression of elongating your legs.
The nude colour goes with a lot of outfits, however if you aren’t over keen on the nude this coat is also sold in black!
3. SEQUINS AND GLITTER
This has to be my favourite trend of the season! We can see glitter and sparkles on the catwalks of Ashish in their impressive Crayola themed show, Dolce and Gabbana and Gucci. I love anything that sparkles – and with Christmas around the corner (yes, we are talking about the C word in September!) you can be certain that anything scattered with sequins will carry you through until January. If you can’t wear sparkles at Christmas and New Year when can you wear them?
As soon as I saw the sparkles and sequins on the catwalk I knew I would be making a few Motel Rocks orders, because nobody does sparkle better than Motel Rocks. I am in love with everything they sell, their clothing is edgy yet has a girly flare due to the open back and strappy detailing. Motel Rocks is a little bit on the pricey side, but they do 25% off for students and the quality of their products is undeniable. Here are my favourite picks:
Finn Slip Dress in Black Opal Sequin – Motel – £49
This dress is incredible and to make it even better it’s also available in 5 other colours! It’s very dressy and also ‘a bit out there’ but you can’t deny the fact that this dress has the wow factor with its plunging neckline and open back.
Wear with:
Personally, I would pair this with a mesh long sleeved top underneath.
Sequin Reversible Shift Dress – Stradivarius – £29.99
This dress is from a shop called Stradivarius which I only discovered a month or so ago. I adore this shop – and this dress too! I think this dress is effortlessly beautiful. The colour is an entrancing gold colour which means practically any make up look will go with this dress.
Wear with:
It could be paired with biker boots for an edgy look. Alternatively, strappy heels and a clutch would make for an elegant and feminine look!
I hope that my picks have given you some inspiration and that you have as much fun as I have updating your wardrobe this season!
Edited by: Amy Hawthorne
Sources:
http://www.stradivarius.com/gb/clothing/dresses/sequinned-reversible-dre…
https://www.missguided.co.uk/high-neck-flower-detail-velvet-bodycon-dres…
https://www.missguided.co.uk/crushed-velvet-cross-front-t-shirt-pink
https://www.missguided.co.uk/pleated-velvet-cowl-shift-dress-grey
http://www.motelrocks.com/products/Finn-Slip-Dress-in-Black-Opal-Sequin-…
http://www.asos.com/pimkie/pimkie-short-padded-coat-with-zip-pockets/prd…