Holiday Fashion

This holiday season textures are in. Specifically, lace, velvet, brocade, beads, sequins and furs. According to December's issue of Vogue magazine, "The new formal party dress drips with drop-dead lace -- and looks best with big-time jewels." This is very exciting news but at the same time can be quite confusing. How does one mix all these textures and not look like a cheap motel room? The key style tip to remember here is that your ultimate goal is to maintain your own personal GLAMOUR. >From slim-fitting just below the knee to a length closer to empire, this season's dresses borrow from victorian and vintage themes. Jewelry is big here, and though your insticts are telling you to tone down the super fab lace dress with simple jewelry, the trend is the opposite. Instead, think of using jewelry to emphasize your outfit. If wearing a dress is not your thing, and you'd rather be in a skirt or pants, consider velvet as your main texture. The fuzzy classic is easy to find at any clothing reatiler. Stick to simplicity with style because remember that your jewelry, combined with velvet's galor,is enough to make you shine. A lovely combination that can be customized is the velvet jacket, over a camisole or corset with a tiered skirt, slim brocade pants or fitting velvet trousers. In theory you already have your three basic outfits all in one! Ruffled tuxedo shirts or pintucked shirts can be swapped out for the camisole. Alternatively, if wearing those lovely velvet pants with a velvet jacket seems too much for your personal style, then consider swapping out the jacket and dressing up the camisole or tuxedo shirt with a crochet shrug or cashmere cardigan. Both are hot off the shelves this season. It is perfectly okay to forego the above advise and just wear jeans. The jeans that will make an impact now are slim fitting jeans. Either way, you can still wear that velvet jacket or shrug over a camisole. According to Issac Mizrahi on the Dec. 2, Good Morning America television show (ABC,) wearing a lot of jewelry over the top of a plain shirt is a good choice for gamorizing jeans to a cocktail party. Mizrahi recommends a lot of necklaces and all different colored beads saying, "... Let the fun and nighttime be in the bead, in the jewelry."