Ask An Expert: Hottest Trends In San Francisco This Spring
We caught up with Tiffany Rose Cummins and Claudia Castillo Ross to talk about the intersection of work, motherhood and volunteerism that describes the busy days of lots of San Francisco women. Not many, however, get it together so seamlessly and stylishly and with the most infectious sense of fun. Here's what's hot from the style notes they've collected for spring 2015 from San Francisco's East Bay to Manhattan's East Side to Paris' Left Bank.
Tiffany Rose Cummins and Claudia Castillo Ross
Cross Marketing Public Relations
210 Post St., Suite 1113
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 969-1575
www.RoseRoss.com
Tiffany Rose Cummins and Claudia Castillo Ross are experts in fashion and marketing. Following careers sprinkled with such names as Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Fox Entertainment and Sony Pictures, the business partners at Cross Marketing Public Relations represent Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Saks Fifth Avenue, Banana Republic and other top fashion names. Complementing active lives as busy entrepreneurs and mothers, they've recently founded RoseRoss, a luxury estate and vintage jewelry collection as the basis of a lifestyle look that spans generations while retaining a fresh, elegant approach.
Some are calling it the "Downton Abbey" effect, others have always been drawn to vintage. Whichever the case, vintage is the only trend that can achieve double duty: it's hot and it's everlasting at once. While vintage clothing becomes more delicate due to the passage of time, vintage jewelry just gets better. The same timelessness that appealed to 19th and 20th century women strikes a chord with contemporary women, so estate pieces that have withstood the test of time are hot. And, if one of grandmother's earrings is missing, no worries. Note that the estate earrings seen all over Fashion Week's runways were dangling on the models as mismatched ones. It's terribly on trend.
Comeback Kid: Leather Gloves
Say yes to the dress with the kid gloves. In a throwback, Amal Clooney shook up the Hollywood press and the New York Times fashion pages by wearing opera-length white gloves with her black gown at the Golden Globes. Tiffany and Claudia are fans. For much of the 20th century, gloves were "de rigeur." You saw them on Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," Grace Kelly accepting the Oscar in 1955 and Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Michael Jackson introduced the one-glove look in 1983 and Princess Diana shook the establishment when she rocked one red and one black glove with her tulle skirt strapless ball gown in 1986. Cell phone dexterity aside, give the gloves a go this spring, say our fashionistas.
Mixing It Up: Curate With Style
A spring trend that goes hand-in-hand with vintage jewelry is about mixing better designer and vintage accessories with your top picks from Forever 21, Gap, Zara and other mall favorites. Tiffany and Claudia admire Sarah Jessica Parker as an arbiter of the $5-tutu-with-T-shirt look. Try it with a black leather motorcycle jacket, either new or vintage. They also point to huge fashion bloggers (@Up Close and Stylish) who are having fun showing this trend while attracting more than one million Instagram followers, a bigger reach than the best-selling fashion magazines. It's all about choosing good accessories, showing an individual sense of (fun) style and looking in the back of your closet.
Related: Ask An Expert: Dressing For Work During The Summer Heat
Climate Dictates Fashion: Layering
If your mother said to wear white from Memorial Day to Labor Day only, forget it, say Tiffany and Claudia. "The weather is crazy; the rules are relaxed." Pull on cowboy boots with a pashmina in summer and slip on ballerina flats with white jeans in winter. For Bay Area folks, micro-climates and 30-degree diurnal shifts are a fact of life. Layering has always been -- and still is, more than ever -- the one key word in San Francisco fashion. Due to odd shifts in the jet stream and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, the rest of the nation is following our layering lead, in-between the polar vortex episodes, that is. Smart, not sloppy, layering is on trend...and always keep your sunglasses handy.
Fringe Benefits: Relaxed
"Fringe! Suede! Gingham!" say Tiffany and Claudia. All three are big for spring '15, separately, that is. Find your fringe on handbags and skirts. Seventies-style trench coats, perfect for San Francisco, and patchwork dresses are showing up in suede. Follow the yellow brick road to channel Judy Garland in a blue gingham dress with pinafore in "The Wizard of Oz" in 1939. Gingham hasn't been this on-trend since Brigitte Bardot wore a tablecloth-like cotton checkered dress for her wedding in 1959.
Related: Ask An Expert: 2014's Trends With Staying Power
Laurie Jo Miller Farr loves walkable cities. A tourism industry professional and transplanted New Yorker by way of half-a-lifetime in London, she's writing about the best of the bay and beyond for Yahoo, USA Today, eHow, and on Examiner.com.
