Fall Fashion: Burgundy

Photo Courtesy of SheFinds

On vacation, I had plenty of time to dedicate to all the September issues of the fashion magazines - Vogue, InStyle, Elle, and Glamour were my favorites, and as Paris fashion week had come and gone, they all recapped the upcoming trends of fall.

A trend that was unanimously noted across all the big fashion books was "Burgundy" - a fancy name for maroon (a color name I absolutely despise).  Burgundy - like the wine - sounds luxurious, and fancy... and I do enjoy a good glass of wine...

Ok, getting back to the topic, burgundy was all over the Paris runways at Zach Posen, Herve Leger, Rachel Zoe, Alexander McQueen and Badgley Mischka - so you know it's legit.  It's actually a wonderful neutral, so to take on this trend with training wheels, start out substituting it where you'd normally wear brown - substitute a brown leather purse, brown leather belt or watch with burgundy.

To kick it up a notch, bring it into your makeup with dramatic dark lips or nails.  For a dramatic lip that won't pull a disappearing act an hour later, line the lips and fill them in with a maroon pencil, swipe lips with the burgundy lipstick, blot (the most important step here), and finish with a final coat of lipstick.  If you follow these steps, your lipstick will stay on for hours.  For less lip drama, use a burgundy gloss - the lasting power is minimal, but still fun.

To go all out burgundy, grab a solid dress with a classic feminine fit.  Nothing low cut, or too tight, since demure, ladylike silhouettes were another trend that popped.  If you go the dress route, make sure it nips in at the waist, and grazes the knees.

A few of my favorite (and reasonably priced) Burgundy pieces:

1.  Miss Selfridge Safron Burgundy Thin Heel $75

2.  La Mer Burgundy Leather Wrap Watch $96

3.  Burgundy Lip (photo courtesty of Elle); Chanel Rouge Coco in Rouge Noir

4.  Burgundy Pleat Dress, Dorthey Perkins $59

5.  Yves Saint Laurent 'Contemporary Amazon' La Laque Couture Nail Lacquer $25