Pink Rock Candy – Top fashion trends, news and shopping of 2010

Shop: Rachel Roy ‘Olya’ silk dress, $648 – theOutnet.com;ADAM v-neck wrap top, $55 – Bluefly.com; Robert Rodriguez belted jersey wrap dress,$396 – Shopbop.com

In high school I was reprimanded more often than not for wearing tops that showed a hair too much décolletage. I was young and shy (I still am) and thought the only way to get teen boys attention was showing off my two very perky friends. Though I might have been slightly right, we all know the mentality of a 16-year-old boy, but that didn’t help my confidence.

At 17, I graduated from high school and high-tailed it out of the little Midwestern town I’d lived in for years— and when I say high-tailed, I mean graduated on a Saturday and moved the next  Tuesday with my family. We settled on the East Coast, and I pretty much left every remnant of the girl I was, including the chest baring tops and need to please everyone.

For the last four years, I’ve generally covered up more and loved every bit of the process, the confidence, and the sexiness I’ve learned to exude without guys being able to look into the depths of my shirt. That is, until I found this amazing, wonderful, unbelievable, super perfect— I’m at a loss for superlatives— vintage Emauel Ungaro top at a local consignment store for, get this, $35, I KNOW!

The shirt had shoulder pads, which I promptly cutout, and is cut down to the belly button. The draped fabric making up the crossover leaves quite a bit to the imagination, but every now and then, it likes flash a bit of skin/bra  and say, “well,  hello there!” Though this shirt has the potential to show more skin than I did during my entire high school career, there’s something quite demure about it. Plus, now that I’m more aware of my body and internal sexiness— you know, the kind that attracts guys without making you feel sleazy— I’m dieing to get my hands on more tops and dresses with this sort of draped wrap.

From left to right: 3.1 Phillip Lim S/S 2010 – Style.com; ‘The Vanna Grey Dress’, $63 – Modcloth.com; Fendi Blouse, $960 – Net-A-Porter.com; 3.1 Phillip Lim Tiered Silk Mini Skirt, $550 – Net-A-Porter.com

I’ve grown up in a time of platform sneakers and boy-bashing tees, bell bottom jeans and cropped tops, and of late, shoulder pads and metal overload. The only thing I’ve yet to truly experience in my short lifetime is pretty sophistication. Sure, I had pretty as a baby with my itchy crinoline dresses and patent leather mary janes, and there is always some level of sophistication, but it’s never been trendy, and in 2010, I hope my cravings for what I lack will be satiated.

For spring, it seems the fashion industry is divided. The editors will quite obviously fill their magazines with the underwear as outwear trends seen all over the runway, while the rest of the world looks on in horror or at least confused amusement. New York Magazine’s The Cut Blog even describes spring’s look as “a lot of panty bottoms and feminine ruffles and bras we’re supposed to wear as tops. You know, conventional femininity of yore, skank gear [...]“, but I’m not exactly sure that’s what spring will be.

Sure, that may be what slinky models wore down the runway and what will be on display in a Vogue of your choice, but I’m not sure designers or editors, for that matter, are as incredibly out of touch as people are making them seem. I’m sure they realize the proletariat masses aren’t going to be seen wearing a boudoir style bra while walking down Broadway— unless it’s a work uniform of course.

I think… I hope… the boudoir movement is less about getting naked and more about how it feels to be naked, the sexiness and apprehension you feel when peeling off your clothes for another person, the delicateness of a woman’s body. We’ve experienced an eternity, at least in fashion years, of geometric silhouettes, skinny jeans, and sharp shoulders, but now it’s time to be pretty. It’s time to strip away all the armor and replace it with amour, to work with the natural, soft, feminine beauty, and this doesn’t mean every fabric worn should be sheer, garters should show, or actual shirts should disappear. It just means, the clothes created and worn should feel good against your skin and make you feel as if you’re baring it all without having to bare anything, all things I personally feel Phillip Lim, though a young designer, does quite well.

Lim’s spring 2010 collection is going to be my personal guide to nudity because not only are the designs pretty, something I’ve longed for, but they evoke a certain boudoir feel without actually going that extra mile and put panties on preview.