LAFW went by in a blur and I preferred to edit podcasts than schelp back and forth numerous times a day across town at $4.00 a gallon for gas. Luckily Marie Bargas sniffed out the most interesting fashion show to attend and we love the looks of this line because it actually works with most women’s body types– curves and all while giving it a sizzling style. Here’s Marie’s spin on this event!
Even before the top tv shows Mad Men and Pan Am brought vintage fashion back on the fashion radar to stay, there was already a groundswell of interest in vintage fashion from women across America who were online scouring Ebay and Etsy for vintage fashions that flattered their figures.
Likewise, vintage inspired retro fashion and hairstyles have continued to grace Hollywood’s red carpets as stylists including Jessica Paster and Rachel Zoe have fitted today’s stars into yesterdays fashion with great success adding enough “vintage vixens” to high society to give even the iconic Dita Von Teese a run for her money.
For the average woman the return to her “grandmother’s closet” was a predictable reaction to haute couture fashions designed for women who are painfully thin or built like boys that trounce down the runways season after season. After all, some of us were lucky to have grandmothers who were very, very stylish.
Alicia Estrada with models at LAFW for “Stop Staring” collection!
This season’s runway from Alicia Estrada’s “Stop Staring” Collection was a welcome sight to vintage fashionistas like myself who are tired of searching the net, vintage stores and fashionable flea markets for something old that looks new enough to be worn out for an evening on the town or a morning at a café with a Chihuahua snoring distractedly on my lap. Thankfully, Estrada’s Stop Staring comes out fresh and new every season with an emphasis on classic Hollywood glamour and style that have become my own signature fashion addiction alongside other “must-haves” topped by ecigarettes, chocolates and Coco Mademoiselle perfume. N’cest pas?
Nick Carpenter and Bridget Maquandt
So, as I waited impatiently for the runway music to start a quick glance around the room confirmed that a voluptuous Bridget Marquandt was cuddled up and cozy with Nick Carpenter. And blonde bombshells Jessica Hall, Jasmine Dustin and Katerina Van Derham were placed here and there like decorative golden flowers.
We all floated in our personal spaces of chatty, happy banter in anticipation of some miraculous event like “Venus Rising from the Ocean” that was about to occur before us on a runway that was more like an altar to style. We were not disappointed.
Venus rose from the runway and she was chic and sleek in black and white a la film noir. As the first black and white creation floated down the runway I had a flashback to a tempestuous Lana Turner in a white dress on the beach in Postman Always Rings Twice and then I remembered why I like Alicia Estrada so much. She gets me. Oh she really gets me.
Vintage fashion is designed for real women with curves and that is a welcome relief to every woman who isn’t a size 2-4. Unlike “plus size” clothes that carry the stigma of being clothes for women who are “not the right size,” vintage fashion is fashionable period because it comes from an era when a woman’s curves were glorified and admired. Look at any picture of Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor in a bathing suit and tell me that I’m wrong.
As Estrada told me herself, “I think vintage inspired fashion is so hot because the dresses of these eras (1940s and 1950s) were so flattering and beautiful on all shapes and sizes. You don’t have to be a size 0 to look beautiful. So many people have told me over and over, “When I wear Stop Staring!, people really can’t stop staring”
We are treated to a colorful parade of beautiful pin-striped suits, jump suits, two-piece ensembles, house coats and day-to-dinner classics awash in an Art Deco palette here and there with classic sets in black and white. Sexy swimwear in tangerines, pinks and shades of green whetted our appetites for posh resort getaways and cruises in search of millionaire a la Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
It was no surprise that her signature bombshell fitted, sexy vixen dresses brought the house down and sent fingers clicking anxiously on smart phones up and down the front row. Estrada’s dresses are not made for big women or small women, they’re made for real women who love being girly, flirty, sexy and stylish while being comfortable in their own skins. The edge is that a woman who consistently wears vintage inspired clothing is a star in her own movie–and men love stars don’t they?
Don’t be fooled into thinking that Estrada caters to a tiny niche market. On the contrary, at Downtown Disney’s own Island Charters boutique, Alicia Estrada’s Stop Staring! is the only collection of women’s dresses that the store carries because it sells very well and has outsold every other designer.
Pin-up Fashion has definitely come of age and it’s about time. And all we can say is, “Gentlemen, start your engines.” (wink)
Thanks to Marie Bargas for this great piece and to Alicia Estrada for making curves sexy and in demand again.
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
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Love this, so clever and well written, had to eat it all up, Yum!