BOUTIQUE | What is a Fashion Boutique ?

         Fashion Boutique for Women

To answer the question what is a fashion boutique?

Womens Fashion Boutique SovaCollection has emulated the style and fashion from the meaning coined from the French word “Boutique” (shop), which represents the small business shop that curates the products of fashion stylish designer clothing and handmade jewellery created and showcased to offer a touch of unusual pieces of quality made Jewellery and exudes the passion of something different in the fashion market place..

Our passion is part of the past designers fashion mind set, to innovate and emancipate the freedom of abstract art in fashion designing. Just as the shops of the 1960’s did in London, Carnaby Street and Kings Road, which were the centre piece of  media attention that witnessed the transition of a new fashion generation era of fashionable stores of our time. 

The Boutique is the fashion Mecca for new ideas, just as the fashion stylist movement for progressive ideas was started by Mary Quant who defined targeting marketing products such as the famous mini skirt, hot pants and thigh length boots, which she dominated in the Independent sector of fashion.

With Boutiques you culture the freedom of graduate young fashion designers to create avant-garde pieces to challenge mainstream fashion. Boutiques that are the platform for innovation and creativity,

Otherwise assimilated retail high street mainstream fashion tends to stifle young talented fashion designers from being imaginative and creative in thought and ideas for the next big thing.

The sixties symbolised liberalism and freedom of expression. We need to carry this tradition on and to help keep nurture individual innovation that Mary Quant and many other boutique styles in fashion created.

Boutique shops are positioned in the Independent sector market place, they specializes in small quantity one of garments, hand-made items; accessory crafted unique products, art crafted produced unusual T-shirts, stickers, and other Fashion Accessories.

Retail High Street Clothing stores are marketed differently to Fashion Boutiques, Retail stores are larger and their volume of stock are mass produced, compared to a Fashion Boutique that intentionally set-up their Boutique shops differently from mainstream high street shops, to create a unique niche in the market.

There shops are distinct in size and the clothes line and accessories they sell are special edition (one-off) designed and the volume of stock invariably limited due to the designer creativity being either from a collection or a one off line fashion line.

Either way for the shopper, this is the store to find clothing that is not on the high street, or part of the mainstream trend. It’s an Aladdin’s cave full of unusual styles for the discerning wearer to evolve a new style trend and to stand out from the crowd.

A Boutique displays prized garments that have been fashioned by the designer with the intention to convert those shoppers seeking the next big thing, with the benefit to the customer having the full attention from either the designer who created those beautiful pieces of art.

Although Fashion Boutiques are on the decline on the high street, just as the 60’s wave of Boutiques graced the streets of London, the few Boutiques that are out there still survives on the Independent Market, not competing against the big high street retailers, but by providing a clear market niche of what the customers want and provides a close relationship with customers.

Survival in the current market is positively assured, testament to this are seen in this news article I came across Independent Retailers (By Sean Hargrave).

The Dressy Androgynous look

Power Dressing - Androgynous Fashion Look 2007 - 2008

These days we're getting lazy with our work-wear. There isn't that many occasions which require we wear a full tailored suit with crisp shirt anymore. Most jobs today only require we look smart, which no longer means formal - a pair of black trousers and a neat top will usually suffice for the boardroom and some of us may get away with donning smart jeans or even (shock horror) a pair of flats to the office.
We've well and truly pushed the boundaries in the workplace, asserting our rights to wear skirts of all lengths, colourful tops and pretty shoes - but whatever happened to power dressing? With city slicking ladies leading the trend for fashionable work-wear, suits have quite simply become dull and promptly ditched in favour of more glamorous work-wear.
But a new kind of power dressing has emerged in recent months providing a stylish alternative to the classic work suit. The androgynous look has been keeping ultra-feminine fashion in check on the catwalk, seeing a trend towards nipped tailoring and bold, brash statement dressing - changing the way we dress for the office forever.

Whilst following all the current trends in the office is fun and fashionable, it also breaks the boundaries between work and play and like it or not, unless you work in the fashion industry, your boss will appreciate the smart and serious look rather than the ultra glam girl persona you may lead out of hours!

Power dressing may sound scary but it isn't if you carefully balance your look. Sometimes you might want to look fierce in front of colleagues and at others you might want to appear part of the crowd, so why not match your look to your work mood and start making big impressions through your clothes now that's power dressing.

Whether you've tried to win over a stubborn client or wanting to impress the rest of your colleagues with your ideas, the key is to choose clothes that ooze confidence. Feel confident as well as look it by choosing slimming styles that you feel comfortable wearing. Power dressing demands a fearless attitude which you'll never convincingly achieve if you don't like what you see in the mirror in the morning.

Choose trousers if you're unsure of baring your legs and leave the killer stilettos at home if you fear toppling over in the boardroom. Combine subtle pinstripe, slim leg trousers with pointed heels for a feminine, slimming look. Always wear high heels but opt for a chunkier heel rather than a stiletto for stability and a perfect, confident walk.
Pick jackets and blazers that are nipped in at the waist to create flattering curves and choose bold colours to wear underneath- weak pastel shades are the power dresser's major fashion faux pas; beige is anything but brave - choose an ambitious red or empowering orange.

If you're not sure about colour, embrace monochrome which is big business this season. Experiment with tailoring that features white lining and pinstripes, or simply add chic to a black suit with a thin white belt or bright crisp shirt.
Never wear anything too detailed or patterned when power dressing (you want to be bold - don't let your clothes steal the show). Choose straight, classic tailoring, smart, high-waist pencil skirts or trousers and find a style that you feel most confident and comfortable in.
Always keep accessories to a minimum choosing silver jewellery for subtle sparkle and a subtle leather tote or handbag to finish your confident, empowering and fashionably fierce look.

 

The Dressy Androgynous look

 

The androgynous look is a fun way to dress for work if your dress code forbids denim. You won't need to go all out to pull the look off as single elements of the trend will be just as effective.

 

 

Definition of Androgynous as used in fashion

As a 'look' of a female resembling a male. Popularized by actress Diane Keaton in the 1970's movie Annie Hall, and copied as fashion apparel. Kate Bosworth and Amanda Peet recently went androgynous at New York Fashion Week.

 

 

 

Celebrities & Fashion

Kate Bosworth and Amanda Peet embraced the menswear inspired fashion trend at the Rag Bone Runway Show in Bryant Park yesterday.

We love hearing all of our favourite celebrity fashionistas weigh in on the spring 2008 designs, and Kate had nothing but praise for Rag Bone's new line, saying, "I loved it! The clothes were easy to wear, effortless, chic".

Each piece you could match with something else [you own]. It was great." We all know how great Kate is at mixing and matching outfits. 

 

Fashion Update - Overview

We at SovaCollection have noticed the shift in trends since the 80's that during the period of time fashion has been the fundamental time portal into the culture, popular art and the feeling of that given age. Whether you liked what was popular in mainstream at that time, it still left its mark forever embedded in people's memories.
Fashion as a whole is a "personal mode of expression", which was denoted by the hysteria of that time shown by the media, or by music that was popular at that time. We saw this as far back in the eighties, where the mode of feeling was innovative and experimental.

 

Fashion Boutique

Fashion Boutique of the 60's

British Fashion, 2nd March 1967





Carnaby Street, London 23rd May 1964

Mary Quant was one of the first designers to open up to the world her ideas on a hanger in the fashion industry when she opened up her boutique Bazaar in 1955 on London Kings Road. The sixties symbolised liberalism and freedom of expression. Fashion designers were now experimenting and breaking the classical mould of the use of material now trying various textiles to achieve innovating shapes, patterns, colours and most of all the imagination to think outside the box. Below are a number of Fashion designers that helped to shaped and influence the fashion styles you see in the high street. There are so many not mentioned but the designers below give a broad spectrum of innovation that is still evolving through our present designers and new designers that are emerging worldwide. Fashion has reached to globally thanks to the media and TV portal, and with this we are privileged to know more designers that have been inspirational of the 21^st century. With this insight we know have a global event of fashion shows from Europe, United States, Banana Republic to the United Kingdom. We have models that are now reaching epic proportions and all because of the power of the press. You know not only have the catwalk queen for best model; you have face of the year, movies, endorsements, advertisements, shopping mall shows and sponsorship deals. The life of the model is in healthy hands. But unfortunately life on the high street for the Boutique has almost lost its very meaning, the same boutiques that today’s fashion shops have based themselves upon.

The Boutique represented the specialization of elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewelry, one-of-a-kind but more generally speaking. Instead the majority of these elite shops have succumbed to the mass market selling of generic catwalk copies. This was a place that you could measure yourself in a stylish sense of the latest trend. We have the talented designers the ideas, but not the high street portal to showcase the styles in fashion that everyone benchmarked them with, the Boutique. We want our place of distinction back; we don’t want to find these fashion pieces of art clustered in the store of mass market production on the high street in well known stores that are selling them in the very same style of a boutique. They just pepper dust designers work of art all about the shop floor and make out as though they were produced by themselves. The next time you browse around the shop store, notice how many fashion designer names there are, you will be surprised.

Counterculture
Although distinct countercultural undercurrents have existed in many societies from time to time, here the term "counterculture" refers to a more significant, visible phenomenon that reaches critical mass, flowers and persists for a period of time. A countercultural movement expresses the ethos, aspirations, and dreams of a specific population during an era.

As with any counter culture revolution, it normally flowers with the youth and eventually blossoms to the social mainstream with such innovative effect. The coming counter culture evolution is something in society that was simmering in the background detected but not given any credence.

We are talking about a change that was once voluntary in the concept of thought amongst people but is now becoming more apparent with the media coverage around the world of events and scientific updates warning of the planets decline attributed by the worlds over use of consumerism and manufacturing. We have the atmosphere ozone damage, climate changes, mineral resources shortages, energy resources declining, textile materials diminishing.

Ecology movement

The global ecology movement is based upon environmental protection, and is one of several new social movements that emerged at the end of the sixties. As a values-driven social movement, it should be distinguished from the pre-existing science of ecology.

Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their natural environment. The environment of an organism includes physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local abiotic factors such as insolation (sunlight), climate, and geology, and biotic ecosystem, which includes other organisms that share its habitat.

The word "ecology" is often used more loosely in such terms as social ecology and deep ecology and in common parlance as a synonym for the natural environment or environmentalism. Likewise "ecologic" or "ecological" is often taken in the sense of environmentally friendly.

The term ecology or oekologie was coined by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866, when he defined it as "the comprehensive science of the relationship of the organism to the environment. Haeckel did not elaborate on the concept, and the first significant textbook on the subject (together with the first university course) was written by the Danish botanist, Eugenius Warming. For this early work, Warming is often identified as the founder of ecology.

This is going to the way forward in the fashion industry as it will come to a point when resources will diminish so bad, the only course will be to embrace the new age of organic textiles.

Future cultural mainstream fashion

 

Clothes and textiles - Organic textiles

Replacing cotton with organic textiles is slowly being marketed by the likes of UK Soil Association. Other Clothing items can be manufactured:-

It's not just cotton – organic leather jackets and sheepskin rugs are available, and you can even knit your own jumpers using organic wool. Find suppliers in the Organic Directory.

The Soil Association has formed an organic directory that lists a category of textiles and companies certified by them.

Fashion Designer Bio’s

 

Prue Acton

Born 1943 – Australia (Benalla, Victoria) Fashion Designer Prue a central figure in the Australian fashion industry for thirty years, established a fashion design in the 1963 in Flinders lane, Melbourne. Acton's repertoire of styles and design elements have included: 'gangster' pants suit; the baby vamp; the mini skirt; pintucked baby doll; the cat suit; the romantic look; capes; leatherwear; hardware (chains, brass buttons, studs); the pants dress; culottes; battle jackets; peasant style; cut-outs, the wet look; the maxi; the tunic top; the coat dress; fun faux fur; the midi; delta style; poncho; the layered look; bib and braces; gaucho; animal prints; little knitted tops; cropped jackets; Beardsley-influenced prints; the tartar look; the tapestry look; mix and match; pinafore pants; hotpants; brickie knickers; patchwork suede’s.

Ossie Clark

Ossie Clark was a fashion designer who was famous for outrageous designs for the rich and famous mainly in the 1970’s but started as a leading figure in the Swinging Sixties in London. Ossie is now famous for his vintage designs, the contemporary fashion era being characterised by past influences and a retro feel.

Today, Ossie Clark vintage clothing is highly collectible where many of his dresses fetch hundreds of pounds and he is the celebrity’s choice when it comes to wearing vintage fashion.

Mary Quant

Mary Quant was one of the designers who took acclamation for the creation of the miniskirt and hot pants. Born to Welsh parents, Quant studied at Goldsmiths College before taking a job with a couture milliner. She is also famous for her outstanding work on pop art in fashion. In the modern climate Mary Quant no longer designs clothes but her unique style is instantly recognisable by vintage enthusiasts throughout the world because of the unique “daisy” insignia that adorns her range of clothing.

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood is a fashion designer famous for introducing modern punk and new wave fashions into the high street during the 1970s. She is associated with the Sex Pistols through Malcolm McLaren and their popular boutique on Kings Road, Chelsea during the 1970s which had a wide range of loud, erotic and punk fashion and of course some stunning platform shoe. Now a political activists she still designs for a more mainstream audience and her brand is readily available via her chain of boutiques - but you can still see her unique style which is why vintage lovers’ crave for her originals.

Biba - Barbara Hulanick

Biba was an inspirational and popular fashion boutique in the 1960s and 1970s. Under founder Barbara Hulanicki the brand of Biba revolutionised consumer fashion by lowering prices so that trend followers could afford the latest cutting designs of the era. In 1975 Biba went under but the Art Deco influenced fashion house was re-introduced in May, 2006 but it is the early pieces of vintage clothes that fetch hundreds of pounds at auction today.

Jean Varon (John Bates)

 

John Bates is perhaps the most under rated of all the important British fashion designers. Working in the golden age of the “boutiques” in the 60s John Bates designed under another name - Jean Varon and under this label Bates contributed a wide range of youthful designs to the 60s and 70s fashion picture. Bates is best known for designing black leather costumes for Diana Rigg in the role of Emma Peel in the British TV series The Avengers.

Pierre Cardin

Pierre Cardin was born on July 7, 1922, near Venice, Italy, to the parents of French origin. His father was a wine maker and was preparing his son to take over the family trade.

Young Cardin was fond of ballet and theatre, he was dreaming of an acting career, and was also fascinated with the beauty of costumes and stage designs. In 1936, at the age of 14, he started as a tailor's assistant. In 1945 Cardin moved to Paris, France. There he studied architecture and worked with Paquin, then with Schiaparelli. In 1945 Cardin met Jean Cocteau and Christian Berard with whom he made numerous costumes and masks for several films, such as 'Beauty and the Beast' (1946). In 1947 he began to work for 'Christian Dior'. In 1950 Cardin created his own fashion house on Rue Richepanse in Paris.

Andre Courrèges

Courrèges, André, 1923–, French fashion designer whose designs were especially popular and influential during the 1960s. He worked for the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga from 1950 to 1961, when he opened his own house. Often using white, Courréges created space-age, unisex styles and is known for dresses and trouser suits featuring straight, flat lines and sheer tops that sometimes sported cut-outs.

He is often credited with the invention of the miniskirt, which he frequently paired with shiny white boots. He later experimented with such looks as “gladiator” and ethnic outfits.

Foal & Tuffin

Marion Foal

Sally Tuffin

After graduating from Walthamstow Art School, friends Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin studied at the Royal College of Art under Janey Ironside, then head of the diploma course in fashion design. Determined not to make 'elderly clothes' for an established manufacturer, they set up their own business in 1961. Under the Foale and Tuffin label they created a range of bright, fun dresses, skirts and tops, which they sold through department stores and their shop in Carnaby Street. They were among the first to experiment with making women's trousers into flattering, sexy garments.Sally Tuffin is now a ceramicist, and Marion Foale designs knitwear

Emilio Pucci

Emilio Pucci (Marchese Emilio Pucci di Barsento), 1914-92, Italian fashion designer. After establishing showrooms in Florence, Capri, and Rome, he began his signature look with elegant sportswear, especially ski outfits. He created his own multicoloured printed fabrics with geometric and organic patterns for use mainly on thin silk blouses and women's shirts. He used brilliant colours in silks, bulky knit sweaters, underclothes, scarves, and towels. His designs included accessories, perfumes, and objects Nina Ricci Couture house in 1950 became famous for his use of bold patterns, and brilliant colour. He became a member of the Italian parliament in 1965.

Nina Ricci

Italian by birth (born in Turin Italy, 1883) and French by upbringing (moved to France in 1900), Nina Ricci founded her company in 1932 when she was 49 years old. Together with her son Robert, they started in a one-room atelier wherein in 7 years, the business had expanded to occupy 3 buildings. Nina Ricci started as an apprentice dressmaker at 14 in Paris. When she was 18, she was already designing and selling her creations to other fashion houses. Her genius does not lie in making something revolutionary, but more on making the female form more feminine. Leaning on haute couture during that time, Nina Ricci is a master of draping and can make a dress very special to her wealthy client by adding something special in the detailing for the wearer that makes the dress her own. There is always ease of movement in her clothes, yet keeping its femininity. In short, it was the woman wearing it that made the clothes.

Paco Rabanne

Rabanedacuervo is a fashion designer who was born on 18 February 1934 in Saint Sebastian of the Basque Country of Spain. He fled Spain for France with his mother when the Spanish Civil War broke out. He originally had an architect's education but became known as the enfant terrible of French fashion world in the 1960s. Brief introduction on the history of fashion design and designers Fashion design is the art dedicated to the creation of wearing apparel and lifestyle.

Yves Saint Laurent

The Past and the Present Fashion Designer Yves Saint Laurent was born 1936 in Oran, Algeria. After winning first prize in the International Wool Secretariat contest for his asymmetrical cocktail dress in 1954, Saint Laurent went immediately to work for Christian Dior. Saint Laurent became Haute Couture designer when Dior died in 1957. He introduced the trapeze dress in his first collection for Dior in 1958. He was replaced by Mark Bohen in 1960, when he fulfilled his military obligations. Afterwards, he opened his own couture house, financed by Pierre Berge, in 1962. The Rive Gauche boutiques for women were established in 1966, and men's wear was added in 1974. His CEO is still Pierre Berge, volatile critic of the Chambre Syndicale. His muse has been Catherine Deneuve for many years. Saint Laurent frequently uses ethnic themes in his garments, as well as bright colours contrasted with black. His day clothes have a slightly masculine flavour, and his luxurious evening wear is tinged with fantasy. He is famous for "Le Smoking" tuxedo jacket, see-through blouses (1968), peasant blouses, bolero jackets, pantsuits, and smocks. Although a shy person, Saint Laurent believes he is the last true couturier. He maintains the highest standards of classic cut and tailoring, and he receives a standing ovation after every collection is presented.

Roger Vivier

Roger Vivier was a French fashion designer born in 1913, who specialized in shoes. He died in 1998. His best known creation was the Stiletto heel. He designed extravagant richly-decorated shoes that he described as sculptures. He is credited with the invention of the stiletto heel by using a thin rod of steel encased in wood or plastic to support the wearer's weight. He has been called the "Fragonard of the shoe" and his shoes "the Faberge of footwear" by critics.
Ava Gardner, Gloria Guinness, Queen Elizabeth II and The Beatles were all Vivier customers.

Carla Zampatti

Born in Italy, Carla settled with her family in Australia in 1950. In 1965, she produced her first small collection for Zampatti Pty Limited, followed two years later by a national launch, and in 1970, by the establishment of Carla Zampatti Limited, a label that was to become a by-word for beautiful clothes, which combine Australian creativity with Italian style. Over the years, she has continually expanded her retail network to create a chain of 30 Carla Zampatti boutiques and concept stores across Australia. Today her clothes are a distinctive part of the modern Australian lifestyle.

Bob Schulz

His ready-to-wear designs were all the rage in American stores, from Bloomingdale's and Bendel's in New York to Neiman Marcus of Dallas. In 1967, Women's Wear Daily described Schulz as looking like "a young Kirk Douglas – and his clothes look terribly right... typical of the new wave of London designers combining classic good tailoring with a young mood". In London, during the Swinging Sixties, Schulz’s designs were ubiquitous, always wearable and feminine and refreshingly free of gimmickry. He enjoyed a huge success in the UK with Young Jaeger, the line he pioneered and ran from 1959 until 1965, when he accepted an irresistible offer from the Milan store La Rinascente and moved to Italy for several years.

SovaCollection Fashion Boutique