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When it comes to winter wear, there’s more to fashion than sweaters, leggings, tights, handbags, and pashminas. Although many women heavily accessorize during the spring and summer months, the argument can be made that fashion jewelry is even more important during the winter. After all, in the absence of accessories, the dark colors of the fashion season can make you look and feel drab. Add some compelling bracelets, necklace sets, and earrings, however, and you’ll begin to shine.

Fashion Jewelry Trends

Just as you add pieces to your wardrobe each season, you should also change out your fashion jewelry. When selecting your pieces, here are some trends to watch:

Bracelets: When it comes to bracelets, beading is key this season. Look for dangling bracelets with semi-precious stones, glass beads, acrylic beads, and even seashells. Stretch bracelets work for virtually every wrist, while the fashion forward are opting for multi-stranded beaded stretch bracelets. Black, red, and dark green dominate the scene, with crystals adding sparkle to more formal occasions.

Pendant Sets: Silver adds a wintry glint to the season’s pendant sets, with animal jewelry taking the lead. African elephant pendants, horse pendants, and even frog pendants can add elegance or whimsy to your fashion statement. This year, holiday ensembles are being accented with snowflake pendant and earring sets.

Brooches: The story this season is animal jewelry. Brooches have come back with a bang, and are epitomized by teddy bears, kitties, poodles, and butterflies. Other whimsical implementations, such as angels, ladybugs, and cherries, are also setting trends.

Watches: Long gone are the days when a woman had a single watch. Today, watches are viewed first as a fashion accessory first, and second as a timepiece. Cuff watches are setting the tone, but beyond that, you’re only limited by your imagination. Look for crocodile cuff watches, round or square wood cuff watches, and shell cuff watches.

Jewelry as Gifts

There’s little doubt that jewelry is always appropriate as a gift. For example, teacher gifts could include a gold teacher brooch depicting a coffee mug with pencils, a school-themed slide magnetic bracelet, or a teacher’s prayer stretch bracelet. Similarly, a set of two fleur-de-lis bracelets would make wonderful gifts for a mother and daughter.

For those on your gift list who are spiritual or religious, fashion jewelry can tastefully reflect their deeply held beliefs. A multi-strand necklace with a cross would be a perfect gift, as would a cross-shaped charm and earring set.

Finding Bargain Prices

As anyone who has shopped for fashion jewelry and other accessories knows, keeping up with trends can be expensive. That’s why savvy shoppers go online to buy fashion jewelry. Because e-tailers don’t have the same overhead expenses as brick-and-mortar retailers, they can happily pass those savings on to you.

When you shop online for jewelry, make sure to select a company that has a commitment to both setting and reflecting fashion jewelry trends. The company should also offer a distinctive collection of rings, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, while offering value prices.

This winter, don’t settle for drab. Let your wardrobe sparkle with fabulous fashion jewelry!

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Fashion Jewelry Trends or Majon’s Jewelry directory

If you look back through recent years, you could probably identify one defining hair style for women that summed up a particular decade. A very quick synopsis of the history of hair over the past four decades might go something like this; Twiggy’s bob defined the Sixties, the flowing locks of the Flower Power era was the over-riding influence for the Seventies, the mullet (and other strange apparitions) in the Eighties and that “Rachel from Friends” cut for the Nineties.

However in the ‘Noughties’ it seems as if a more eclectic taste has hit the Brits, and for Spring 2008 particularly it seems that there is no one defining style. In fact, anything goes. This could be because more than ever before, celebrity hairstyles will influence the rest of the nation’s hair, and celebrities tend to change their locks on a regular basis in order to constantly update their image.

This trend for a chameleon-like image for celebrities began with Linda Evangelista, who only seemed to really become one of the original super models after dramatically shearing off her locks and going brunette in the late 1980s. The organisers of the big catwalk shows promptly dropped her, but within months she was appearing on the covers of all the influential magazines.

For this year, the bob is still on trend – but it is not just one type of bob. Victoria Beckham’s “Pob” could quite arguably have been the style of Autumn 2007 and may continue into 2008 but now will experience competition from the “Kob” – Kylie’s softer, more feminine version. So, the bob is back in force – from razor sharp bobs to soft sculpted bobs – there’s a style to suit every image and every face shape.

There are just some people who can never lose their flowing tresses, so if long hair is your thing but you still want to be en vogue, just add curls for a romantic feel. In addition, a big hit for this season is the sophisticated ‘up-do’ – perfect for long hair. They were on the catwalks everywhere as well as being seen on the red carpets of many a glittering celebrity bash – people everywhere are taking a note of the hairstyles as well as the dresses at the award ceremonies these days. If you’re thinking of an up-do then plaits and french pleats are two of the hot looks for Spring – a la Kate Hudson at the BAFTAs.

And finally, whether your look is sharp and edgy or soft and feminine, fringes are also a key look for this season, whether its blunt bangs or a soft sweeping side-parted fringe.

Whichever shape or cut you have, it seems there is no doubt that you will need your versatile straighteners to the ready – primping, preening, straightening, curling – it’s all going on this Spring. Just make sure you don’t spend so long on your hair that you miss the party!

Victoria Cochrane is a freelance writer for both online and print media. She lives with her husband and son, and enjoys travelling when not writing.

The temperatures are starting to drop all across the country and flakes of snow are beginning to fall from the sky. Do you know what that means? Well, it means that it is time to start thinking of revising your winter wardrobe for the season. Look, I’m know that it’s difficult to think about fashionable accessories or whether or not you look good as you’re freezing your tail off. However, if you get the chance to do it, go for it and stand out from the crowd.

It’s easy to expand your existing wardrobe while looking cool and warm at the same time. Just remember that being well dressed and looking is not hard to accomplish. All it takes is knowing the basic principles of men’s fashion combined with knowing how to stay warm. Here are some of the top fashion pieces for the winter, and ways to work them into your everyday life:

• I don’t care what kind type of fashion style you claim to have you should have at least one really nice and really expensive jacket or overcoat. Find one that is made from either wool or down if you plan on staying nice and warm during the cold winter months. Go for the more formal look by picking a longer one with a nice collar and buttons.
• I know you already have a suit for those formal occasions in life, but the one you already have was probably made with the spring and summer months in mind. You need to buy yourself a winter suit. Modern 3-button cut woolen suits work great in gray, black or navy colors and show versatility for the occasion.
• Invest in a good pair of khakis made from wool or jeans with a thicker fabric free of holes and tears. You want to keep your legs nice and warm and these two options will do just that.
• You are going to want something to wear over your casual or dressy shirts when it it is cold outside. A nice warm blazer or tweed sport jacket can do all that plus are rather comfortable too. Another good look is a snug vest worn over in knits and other casual shirts in neutral colors such as and reds, browns and greens. Complete the look with a zip-front knit over shirts and hooded sweatshirts.
• Since it is the winter and cold outside, it is important that you layer your clothing to keep you warm. To do this you’ll need shirts and sweaters that can be layered over each other. For example, a nice cashmere sweater can be worn underneath button downs and sport jackets as long as it is thin enough. Buy yourself a trendy long sleeve shirt in a polo or button down to go with a pair of jeans or dress khakis. If you need to wear a suit, then opt for something dressier and formal than a casual one.
• During the wintertime you need at least one good pair of boots. The most important thing to keep warm in the snow are your feet. Looking good while staying warm is not an easy task but with some black or brown suede boots you won’t have any issues. They can be worn in business and casual settings. Make sure they are treated to repel water or they’ll end up ruined before you know it.

Rocawear defines the lifestyle for today’s young hip consumer and provides the efficient business acumen to retail partners necessary to be successful. As the ad campaign tag-line goes……WE RUN THE STRIP. Check us out at http://www.rocawear.com.

Men may like to labour under the illusion that the world is their oyster but the truth is; this is a woman’s world. Generally, married men seem less confused about who figuratively wears the trousers, but today this reality extends way beyond the confines of ruling the roost. Instead of changing the system, outspoken females have long been encouraging women to rewrite the rules, the feminine way.

Shifts in the fabric of society are making this rewrite possible and depending upon how women respond we will either witness a spiritual EVE-olution as has never been seen before or, alternatively, we will see a return to the Dark Ages where religion totally dominated the world.

As it stands staunch conservatives, like George Dubya, are using devious means to trash the rights women have gained and whereas previously women’s libbers were laughed-off, this extreme reaction shows that the boys are currently running scared.

There are five major shifts that have caused this social metamorphosis.
The first is an ‘accidental’ global switch to a matriarchal society. By definition a matriarchal society is one where a woman heads the family and the cultural values are passed through the female line.

In families today men are absent due to divorce, work pressure or simply because they are emotionally unavailable and by leaving parenting to the mother, women are passing on their female legacy to both their boys and girls.

Secondly, technology has so radically altered the work environment that employees no longer spend every moment of their working day being office-bound. Now networking is a key tool for success and with the addition of more flexible working hours, trends like outsourcing, contracting and the home-office are a boon for working mothers.

Allied to this is the ever-increasing female economic clout. Supporting this third shift, Tom Peters claims (in Re-Imagine) that the amount of money controlled by females in corporate US makes American women the largest single economy in the world. It’s also well known that women influence the purchase of 80% of all consumer goods and, as the existing global system only values matters to do with money, this shows how much the power of women is growing.

The blurring of male and female roles is the fourth catalyst. Today we have male fashion models and female engineers and with femininity being redefined to include the part of corporate tycoon, men too are questioning the advantages of the old-fashioned macho role.

The fifth change benefits neither men nor women but nevertheless contributes to the feminisation of the world. Derivatives of petrochemicals such as plastics, fertilisers and pesticides produce an oestrogen mimicking substance that is causing girls to menstruate as early as 8 or 9 years old. As these xeno-oestrogens interfere with testosterone they are reducing the size of boys’ penises and are contributing to increasing male infertility. While this is wholly undesirable, it’s ironic that the biggest current crisis within the patriarchal system is oil, the very substance causing the hormonal feminisation of the world’s population.

So if women continue to behave as if their physical body is the only power they have, while they dwindle their energy on lo-cal diets or distract themselves with false finger-nails, tucks and implants, powerful conservatives are regressing the world to a time where women’s voices could be silenced once more.

On the other hand, if females heal themselves from the scam of the learnt habit of self-sacrifice, they can take full advantage of these shifts. Rules can be written to recreate society around the value of wisdom instead of absolute power, peace as opposed to violence, cooperation instead of winner-takes-all, truth rather than political spin, abundance in favour of scarcity, loving values rather than abusive manipulation and real justice rather than man-made law.

Sweden, Norway and South Africa are the three leading nations promoting women’s rights. Each of these countries can be an incubator for more humane forms of social organisation. Sure there are huge challenges ahead but the real stumbling block for women is the limitation of not wanting to break the rules of being a good, obedient and dependent little girl. But it’s worth remembering that good girls go nowhere, only gutsy women – who break the rules – win.

Stephanie Vermeulen runs seminars on Applied Emotional Intelligence and Women’s Issues in business and public forums as well as being an inspiring speaker, writer and personal coach. Her books, ‘Kill the Princess: Why Women Still Aren’t Free from the Quest for a Fairytale Life’ & ‘EQ: Emotional Intelligence for Everyone’ are available from leading bookstores and online from Amazon.com and Kalahari.net. She can be contacted via her website http://www.eqsa.co.za