How to Wear Futuristic Fashion

Designers appear to be on another planet this season! From what Sarah Burton described as a ‘beautiful future’ on vogue.co.uk when referring to McQueen’s AW12 collection, other designers such as Mary Katrantzou, Hakaan and Versace seemed to follow suit with metallic silver and white hitting the catwalks on Chanel sprites, Balenciaga Blade Runner-esque models, icy alien women, she-bots and cybermodels.

Fantasy has certainly come alive on the runways for autumn/winter 2012 and thank goodness after the last few years of financial difficulty the UK has experience – everyone is ready for froth, frills, feathers and utter space age fantasy.

No matter what age, shape, height you are – everyone needs a bit of indulgent fantasy in their life this autumn, so here is your My Style Companion guide to key wardrobe pieces and how to wear them this season. Let yourself drift away….

Foiled Again

Futuristic foil has come in to its own in autumn winter 2012, so for a futuristic update to your LBD, why not try silver! Zara, Voluminous Silver Dress, £49.99 - Finish off the look with space-age metallic shoes – try this season’s must-have item – the spike heel, which in a beautiful metallic colour, can be worn with everything from jeans to dresses to add extra impact. These Jimmy Choo Abel stilettos in silver finish, £335 tick a lot of boxes

An Office Fantasy

With over the top metallics, it’s hard to see how this trend could work for the office. Work-wear has indulged in the trend too and gone all futuristic with designers putting new spins on classic smart patterns such as dogstooth with clever techniques, making the overall look futuristic. Even this shimmering panel on the front of a pencil skirt from Karen Millen, £110 is enough to do the futuristic femme fatal version of Mad Men. The key to keeping this look classy for work is to not overdo it. Like in the photo styled below, keep the rest of the look crisp and clean with block colour to ensure that you work the look, and it doesn’t work you.

Far Out Shapes too Far Out?

If you’re worried about trying more futuristic shapes when it comes to your clothes, but like the idea of metallics, look for softer fabrics and more classic shapes that make clever use of materials and embellishments. This will help you to achieve the look, but enable you to get maximum price per wear as the garment won’t date as quickly as more ‘far out’ shapes and styles. This Storm Grey Dress from Mint Velvet, £229 is a beautiful choice for women in their 40s and 50s – classy and elegant.

Off-Duty – it’s the Future

If you love metallics (like me) and just can’t get enough of them, you may want to add more metallic pieces in to your day to day wardrobe to wear with jeans, leather skirts (another aw12 key trend) blazers, silk sports-luxe pants or high-waisted shorts. That’s were the metallic tee comes in to its’ own. Super versatile but really stylish – this is the t-shirt to buy when you’re feeling uninspired by your basic tops (which are really so basic, that they have become boring). The metallic colour is subtle enough for daily wear, but with that little hint of extra-terrestrial wow. Try this Warehouse Metallic Knitted Tee, £28 for autumn 2012.

The Future’s Gold

If you have great legs then a pair of metallic jeans will be the way forward for you this season, and a key wardrobe piece to update your style easily. The great thing about a metallic jean is that it’s just as versatile as any normal jean – just with a little more rock ‘n’ roll!! You can either go out and out rock chic glam with a high shine gold pair, such as Dorothy Perkins gold coated super skinny jeans, £35 or achieve the look more subtly with French Connections Lilly Cropped Jean, £90. Both pairs can be worn at the weekend with a slouchy tee and boyfriend cardigan or drape jacket; or dressed up with a glam pair of heels and a tuxedo jacket for a night of painting the town red (or some metallic shade!) Beware though, these jeans are not the most flattering if you don’t have slim legs as the shine makes them look larger.

Still stuck on what to wear for AW12?

Then why not book in for a personal shopping experience with My Style Companion?

We’ll show you the ropes on how to use the high-street to achieve the look you want. What you learn won’t just help you for aw12 but for EVERY season moving forward.