Volume overload
March 21st, 2008There’s a lot to like about the ongoing voluminous trend, but I continue to see voluminous pieces worn and advertised in unflattering combinations. It’s the retail industry’s responsibility to inform and educate consumers about new trends and how to wear them. The latter is severely lacking.
It’s imperative that you wear only one voluminous piece at a time (volume on volume does not work). Keep it sleek and fitted on top if you wear volume on the bottom and vice versa. This season’s resurgence of the wide-legged pant alongside swingy tops and trapeze jackets is interesting. These items are not meant to be worn together and yet it’s happening on mannequins in stores and on models online.
The model in the blue Rachel Pally outfit looks awful. Add a row of pompoms to the front of this outfit and she’s Bozo the clown. The pants should have been paired with a streamlined top, and the top would look better with a pair of straight or skinny jeans. I don’t like the wide-legged jumpsuit on the model on the right either, but at least the top part of her outfit is sleek which complements its voluminous bottom.
I’m surprised that the blue Rachel Pally outfit has made Oprah’s list of favourite things. Not so stylish.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:00 am
Oh dear, please turn down the volume on both of those outfits. I agree with you, Angie, that these evoke our dear friend Bozo. You add the pom poms, I’ll add a pair of colorful crocs and we’ll have the perfect clown ensemble.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:08 am
Uggh! You are 100% right, it looks simply ghastly.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I have to disagree with you Angie: I don’t think those pants should be paired with ANYTHING. They look ridiculous. I like wideleg pants on taller ladies, but you would have to be about 9 feet tall before that much volume could work. They don’t seem to fit anywhere. Wideleg pants look their best when they fit a bit more closely around the hip and thigh area. These look dumpy and comical in how exaggerated they are. I can see some potential in them as effortless floor sweepers, though.
Wow, you haven’t posted anything so worthy of my scorn, other than perhaps those silly heelless shoes!
March 21st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
And I love your passion Maya! These pants aren’t my cup of tea either. My intention was not to condone the style, but rather to prove a point. For the most part, extra wide legged pants tend to look a little silly. For dramatic purposes they could work on someone very tall, but not in an unstructured knit such as these.
In Nordstrom’s defense, they post the outfit parts separately too. Have a look. You’ll see that they already look better.
http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/29.....rchresults
March 21st, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I remember seeing that outfit on Oprah and thinking, “Oh, no! Lot’s of people will be wearing that now!”
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I think the pants are interesting, but I’m totally with you on the volume-on-volume thing. Layering volume on top of volume will only make your silhouette bulky a la The Teletubbies, even worse when the outfit is all one color, as above.
If you are going to do volume, limit it to one voluminous “drama” piece, and keep the rest simple; it’s chic because it not only emphasizes the drama piece but also because there aren’t a pile of drama pieces competing with one another.
(Oh the drama.)
March 27th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Well not to be rude but Oprah is constantly gaining and losing weight. Of course she would love volume. I’m noticing a lot of people wearing volume who maybe shouldn’t. Overall it seems like a trend that only a select few understand. Most of the mainstream public isn’t keeping up with the watershed stuff and does not have a clue what is going on. I won’t say who, since that would be too rude. (hint hint, they all watch Oprah)
April 1st, 2008 at 7:28 am
I’ve seen pants like this in Spiegel’s catalogue frequently over the past couple of months, and repeatedly thought that a woman would have to be at least 6 foot tall to pull off the look. On me, at a petite 5′2”, they would look ridiculous. They have always been paired with fitted tops though. Add a swing top (especially in the same color) to the huge wide legged pants and it looks positively laughable even on the model. It’s a shame that stores are displaying clothes in this way; no wonder the general public is so confused.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:28 am
[…] An abundance of wide-legged pants. Most of the silhouettes are too wide and clown-like. What’s worse is that wide-legged pants are selling alongside voluminous tunics which encourages them to be worn together. This is not a good look. […]