As a prelude to our upcoming fashion stories from the trade shows last week including top trends from Project, Pool, S.L.A.T.E., and Magic, here are some core trends as revealed not only from our own sense of fashion directions, but as told by a handful of our top core stylists and fashionista friends.

First up are Russian fur hats. When Katie Kay from SkinGraftDesigns gave us a heads-up on this one, we had to listen. Katie is known for not only being a trendsetter in her own right (see picture below), but also for spotting the latest in what’s to become quite fashionable. On the very first day of Pool she said, “Watch for Russian fur hats -I’ve seen 2 in less than 3 hours.” Sure enough, walking right towards us down the aisle was a Russian fur hat fashion-player, who also had considerable style with his scarf and dark glasses.

We spotted another Russian fur hat on a lovely gal over at S.L.A.T.E. indicating yes indeed, the Ling Fei fur hats from China have been replaced in terms of bleeding-edge with the Russian version. Like both wearers told us, you can find them at thrift stores for less than $50. We anticipate this will be a bigger hit come winter 09-10.

Other core news are black and white striped Reeboks from Japan. In this picture, the gal who was from Japan said of course this was the only place to get such stylish footwear but thinks it may hit the USA market soon. Black and white stripes were hot in many categories, ranging from fitted baseball caps from Akomplice, to T-shirt graphics and button-downs.

Finally, vintage Justin boots -the riding boots version with fringe and laces -paired with jodhpurs from SkinGraftDesign. This picture is of Katie from SkinGraftDesign and she has an entire collection of these boots. The cool thing about the Justin lace-ups in vintage are that they represent true, authentic Americana as a work/riding boot, which is incredibly timeless and fashion-forward, yet come in some outstanding colors like turquoise pictured here. The real trick however, is that you can find them on eBay at prices hovering around $20-30 which is an absolute find.


Katie Kay from SkinGraftDesign

Stay tuned for more show fashion finds in the next 2 weeks.