Fall Fashion Preview from...Autumn in Australia Part 1

My favorite of Melbourne, AU's "trending of the classic trench coat"- absolute perfection!

Variations on the trench coat theme: kacki coat-top/blouse and also a black jacket top.

Tan and I "strike a pose" before we burst out laughing- investment bankers are tres' hip!

With my sister-in-law Angela & another financial-realm professional also sportin' a trench coat.

Just move me right on into this boutique: timeless elegant preppy stylin' indeed!

What a wonderful time it was to be in Australia this month during their autumn season and be able to peek into the fall fashion trending that will soon be hitting our stores and boutiques here in America.

To say that the classic trench coat and various versions of it is a "fashion must" this 2010 autumn season is an understatement! Trench coats were literally everywhere but especially so within the fast-paced banking and investment section of the city of Melbourne and no, not just sighted on men. Women were trench-coated galore' and I absolutely loved seeing all the variations on a theme these great looking Preppies down-under enacted. Very savvy, very stylish and very inspiring!

I had packed my own trench coat to be my main jacket for this latest journeying to Australia and then picked up on its dark brown tortoise buttons for my main complementing wardrobing color. Hence, I was primarily decked out in kacki and chocolate brown. I travel-light whenever I head to Australia to visit family and friends since inevitably I bring back with me AU wine, art and some of their equally-wonderful all natural skin care products. My suitcase and roll-aboard carryon is always half-full and quite light on the way there and then of course much heavier and quite full on the way back.

Also noticed around the elegant city of Melbourne were animal prints especially cheetah; tall leather and suede boots of every color and styling; chunky layering of big cuff and bangle bracelets; neat hair and almost nude makeup aside from an occasional smoky eye or classic red lipstick; lots of stiletto pumps but also a surprising number of plain flats; scarves on both men and women which were knotted, twisted or wrapped along the front of the neckline and finally... more deep plum, classic purple and shots of lavender than I've seen in literal ages! (another blog post coming up will feature this "purple-ing trending")

What I didn't see much of during the day, evening or the weekends I was there are some of the latest fashion things being touted now such as maxi-length dresses and skirts; various 1980's retro styling; unusual haircuts or heavily-layered n' wavy hairdo's; huge statement necklaces; the new-clog or any Sex and The City 2 Moroccan/Middle Eastern-inspired wear n' jewelry despite going out on the town then to the theaters with a bevvy of very dressed-up women the night this movie premiered in Melbourne. In the movie theaters of this city, the women were dressed up indeed and also had Cosmopolitans, wine, champagne and other fun stuff in-hand to imbibe in since these theaters are upscale digs. Just loved that! I had wine and gourmet goodies to enjoy while watching a movie on the big screen instead of popcorn, a coke and the inevitable pack of something like Twizzlers... what a delightful experience I enjoyed with,, for once, being beyond-Twizzlers!

Maybe it's the elegantly classic lifestyling within the downtown of Melbourne itself that has (aside from the obviously "artsy/alternative" kinds of folks) most of its citizens looking so tailored and nicely verging on Preppy. Like a wondrous combination of Grace Kelley, Audrey Hepburn and Katherine Hepburns roaming around with a Cary Grant lookalike sighting as well. But then again, I also noticed this in Paris earlier this spring and from what I quickly got to see in Amsterdam as well. Maybe, rather, we're simply learning how to dress well, flattering and more appropriately in this 21st Century as we look back at the drastic fashion changes that the 20th Century wrought with each new decade and see much of this as comically costume-like. Fashion also can only go-retro so much until it begins to loose its innate sense of style freshness. Then again, there has always been a thin, tightrope-walking line existing between the foibles of fashion and the savvy of style.

There's no doubt that citified Melbournians are holding up their end of being fashionably stylish and what fun it was to get a peek into the coming autumn trends distilled for wearability with such fresh interpretation and panache'!