As some of us gear up for this fall's much-hyped return to reality, there might be some anxiety surrounding deteriorated water-cooler-small-talk skills and having to control your grimaces and frowns without the shield of a mask. But one thing we're not pressed about? Our wardrobes.
From our sartorial meditations during the past year-plus, successfully and consistently flexing on our estranged colleagues/schoolmates/random pedestrians boils down to two main elements: classic, never-fail Levi's jeans combined with a few "Oh, remember me?" pieces, such as a plaid Zoom-worthy collar blouse and slick outerwear in the shade of a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar. Together, these parts make up an effective, easily maintainable, and not-too-try-hard whole. Ahead, keep clicking to see exactly what denim and apparel essentials we're picking up to outfit ourselves for an unforgettable re-entry into "normal" life.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
Ahead of its September 3 premiere at the Venice Film Festival, film production company NEON released a teaser poster for Spencer, the forthcoming Princess Diana biopic. The poster shows Kristen Stewart as Diana, slumped over with her back to the camera, wearing a voluminous off-white gown with gold embroidery. Around her neck hangs a single string of pearls. Between the size of her dress and the elegant style of jewelry, Stewart’s look brings to mind a number of similar ensembles from Diana’s fashion archives.
First, there was Diana’s wedding dress by Elizabeth and David Emanuel — which featured a 25-foot train, puffy sleeves, and an excess of taffeta — that she wore to wed Prince Charles in 1981. That same year, the people’s princess wore an off-the-shoulder, belted gown by Bellville Sassoon to London’s V&A Museum. Then there was the white-and-gold Emanuel dress that Diana wore on a number of occasions in the late ‘80s, including a dinner at the German Embassy in London in 1986 and the premiere of the James Bond film The Living Daylights in London in 1987.
The film poster for Spencer features Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana in a white dress, leaning over and presumably weeping into the large skirt of her dress. The dress evokes several real life Diana dresses but doesn’t seem to copy any particular one. #princessdiana#spencerpic.twitter.com/nsR9SHfN7i
Despite striking similarities, the dress featured in the poster — designed by Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran, most famous for creating that green dress from Atonement and the costumes for Greta Gerwig’s Little Women — is not a recreation. According to a publicist for NEON, Durran, instead, took inspiration from various sources for Stewart’s costumes. This approach mimics director Pablo LarraÃn’s for the film, as noted in his Venice Film Festival statement: “Building the character of Diana, we didn’t just want to create a replicated image of her, but use cinema and its tools to create an internal world that [struck] the right balance between the mystery and fragility of her character.”
Fall is just around the corner, which means your wardrobe will soon be experiencing the ol’ classic switcheroo. Knitted sweaters will be swapped in for tank tops, mini skirts will be in hibernation in favor of loose pants, and toe-covered shoes will reign while sandals rest. Since we're folks who spend our days scouring the interwebs for cool stuff to recommend, you can be certain that the Refinery29 shopping team is already eyeing the autumnal gems we want to buy for ourselves. Curious to know what’s on our stylish editors’ minds, I went straight to Slack to ask, “What are the items on your ultimate fall fashion wishlist?” The responses did not disappoint, and, in fact, revealed a lot about what the vibe may be for the months ahead. As you’ll see, we’re edging towards earth-toned clothing, we’re bringing denim back, and we’re building our looks around mix-&-match capsule pieces (hello, Everlane). Want to shop like our editors this fall? Scroll on for our hand-picked faves ahead.
At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. All product details reflect the price and availability at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
// Show numbers on the images in page, set to false before publish to turn them off const toolsOn = false; // Should dots be onclick for all views? const clickOn = false; // Setup Annotation Content, the first spot is 0, second spot is 1 etc. let content = new Array ( "
")}} function countDots() { let annos = document.querySelectorAll(".anno-dot"); let count = annos.length; let n = document.createElement("DIV"); n.setAttribute("class", "dotCount"); if (toolsOn == false) { n.style.display = "none"; } let w = document.getElementsByClassName("body"); w[0].appendChild(n); n.innerHTML = "
Setup CSS for " + count + " dots & pops
"; } // Setup Annotations, do not alter var grabnav, elem = new Array(), mobilebuy = new Array(), closebutton = new Array(), init = !1, previous = 100, mobile = !1, desktop = !0; function assembleArray(n, e) { return [document.getElementById("anno-tip" + n), document.getElementById("anno-dot" + n + "-hint"), e]; } function tipOn(n) { var e = n[0], i = n[1], t = n[2]; 0 == init && (initAnnotations(), (init = !0)), 1 == mobile ? (showPop(e, t, !0), window.innerWidth < 768 && hideGlobalNav()) : window.innerWidth < 768 ? (showPop(e, t, !0), hideGlobalNav()) : (showPop(e, t, !1), showHint(i)); } function tipOff(n) { var e = n[0], i = n[1], t = n[2]; 1 == mobile ? (hidePop(e, t, !0), window.innerWidth < 768 && showGlobalNav()) : window.innerWidth 540 && mobileExtraOn(n); } function closeTip(n) { tipOff(assembleArray(n, "0")), window.innerWidth > 540 && mobileExtraOff(n); } function showTip(n) { 1 == desktop && window.innerWidth > 720 && tipOn(assembleArray(n, "-15%")); } function hideTip(n) { 1 == desktop && window.innerWidth > 720 && tipOff(assembleArray(n, "0")); } function mobileExtraOn(n) { (mobilebuy[n].style.display = "block"), (closebutton[n].style.display = "block"); } function mobileExtraOff(n) { (mobilebuy[n].style.display = "none"), (closebutton[n].style.display = "none"); } function initAnnotations() { document.getElementsByClassName("global-header")[0].setAttribute("id", "tmp-global-header"), (grabnav = document.getElementById("tmp-global-header")), (mobilebuy = document.getElementsByClassName("anno-mobile-buy")), (closebutton = document.getElementsByClassName("anno-tip-close")); } function showGlobalNav() { grabnav.style.display = "block"; } function hideGlobalNav() { grabnav.style.display = "none"; } navigator.userAgent.match(/Android|BlackBerry|iPhone|iPad|iPod|Opera Mini|IEMobile/i) && ((mobile = !0), (desktop = !1)); function setupAnnotation(t, e) { let n = document.querySelectorAll(".section-image .img-container"), o = document.createElement("DIV"), l = ["an" + e]; n[t].classList.add("anno-layers"), n[t].setAttribute("id", l), n[t].appendChild(o), (o.innerHTML = content[e]), (content[e] = void 0), 0 == e; } function setAnnoDelays(t) { let e = ["#an" + t + " .anno-dot"], n = document.querySelectorAll(e); for (let e = 0; e < n.length; e++) { let n = ["#an" + t + " .anno-dot"], o = ["anno-dot-delay" + e]; document.querySelectorAll(n)[e].classList.add(o); } } function setClick(t, e) { let n = ["openTip(" + e + ")"]; t.setAttribute("onclick", n); } function setRollover(t, e) { let n = ["showTip(" + e + ")"], o = ["hideTip(" + e + ")"]; t.setAttribute("onmouseenter", n), t.setAttribute("onmouseleave", o); } function activateAnnotations() { let t = document.querySelectorAll(".anno-dot"); for (let e = 0; e 760 && 0 == clickOn ? setRollover(t[e], e) : setClick(t[e], e); } } function setupPopups() { let t = document.querySelectorAll(".anno-tip"); let tc = document.querySelectorAll(".anno-tip-close"); let ti = document.querySelectorAll(".anno-tip-image"); for (let e = 0; e < t.length; e++) { let tid = ["anno-tip" + e]; t[e].setAttribute("id", tid); let tcid = ["closeTip(" + e + ")"]; tc[e].setAttribute("onclick", tcid); let tiid = ["anno-tip" + e + "_img"]; ti[e].setAttribute("id", tiid); if (clickOn == true) { tc[e].style.display = "block"; } } activateAnnotations(); } function setup() { // Annotations, set number based on image tag using the tag images function // first variable is image location // second variable is the content array position setupAnnotation(0,0); setupAnnotation(1,1); setupAnnotation(2,2); // Setup the popups setupPopups(); // Add delay to dot pulses setAnnoDelays(0); setAnnoDelays(1); setAnnoDelays(2); // Number the images, turn off for publish tagImages(); // How many dots to css countDots(); } /* Preload */ function ready(e){(document.attachEvent?"complete"===document.readyState:"loading"!==document.readyState)?e():document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",e)}document.onmouseleave=function(){window.isReady=!1},window.addEventListener("resize",function(){window.isReady=!1}),window.isReady=void 0!==window.isReady&&window.isReady,ready(function(){var e=setInterval(function(){window.imagesLoaded&&(imagesLoaded("#tmp-load",{background:!0},function(){window.isReady=!1,clearInterval(e)}),clearInterval(e))},100);if(!1!==window.isReady)return;window.isReady=!0;const t=setTimeout(function(){clearTimeout(t),setup()},300)});
It's hard to believe that not so long ago, jeans were amongst the most casual trousers you could wear in polite society. But after 28 years (approximately) of four-way stretch — or no leg casings at all — the thought of rigid denim on the daily again might make you preemptively picture a cat clawing out of a shark costume.
No fear, though — as the wheel of fashion circles turns, so, too, can our attitudes and sartorial habits around hard pants. But if the issue is the trousers themselves and their perceived discomfort/difficult-to-get-right-ness, Old Navy's BODEQUALITY initiative has addressed many of our most pressing complaints by conducting body scans of 389 women to give their jeans a bang-on fit, reengineering every single pair to feel and look good — in sizes 0–30.
With on-point updates based on real customers' feedback, these new and improved styles give just about everyone the freedom of choice to get back in the saddle. Keep scrolling to see some of the revamped cuts and to learn more about why these are the jeans you'll actually be happy to wriggle into, again and again.
Give It To Me Straight
Ever do up your button fly with ease in the morning, then feel like there's a boa constrictor hugging your midriff by the afternoon? News flash: Our bodies change throughout the day, so Old Navy's designers factored that in with a little more give in the waist. In response to customer feedback, the brand also made sure their slimmer cuts stayed fitted down to the ankle, avoiding the "why do my straight jeans fit so wide" problem that can plague larger sizes.
Low Exposure
When's the last time you could drop it this low 1) without creating a canyon between your derriere and the waistband, 2) without revealing more than you meant to, and 3) without requiring assistance to get upright again? Hover over the buttons on the image to read up on how Old Navy finally fixed that annoying gap for women with small waists and curvier bottoms (hallelujah).
Back It Up
We'd be lying if we said we didn't have thoughts about where the pockets sit on our jeans, mostly because it can make or break the back view. Here, you can see that the design department has figured out prime placement, because you (and your bum) deserve it.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
The tulle, the ruffles, the fairytale etherealness of couture brides… All of those vibes are now available to shop for brides everywhere, thanks to French couturier Giambattista Valli’s first bridal capsule collection, aimed at shoppers who can’t drop $100,000 on a one-time dress. On Wednesday, the Parisian house announced the upcoming release of the new line, aptly titled “Love.”
Embedded with the house’s DNA of contemporary elegance, the collection features 17 made-to-order pieces, including bridal gowns, mini dresses, and a suit, as well as pieces appropriate for guests and bridesmaids in white, ivory, and pastel pink. From off-the-shoulder sleeves and ruffles to pantsuits, the selection is on-trend for brides in 2021, who are gravitating toward non-traditional silhouettes and casual looks. And it all comes with shoes and pearl clutches for both brides and their wedding parties to accessorize with on the joyous occasion.
Although Giambattista Valli has been a staple of the couture bridal world for decades, this marks the first time the designer is branching out to serve brides with a tighter (though still significant) budget, with pieces selling for anywhere from $3,000 to $29,000, according to WWD. While the average price of wedding gowns in 2019 reached $1,600, Valli’s pricing is on par with similar designer bridal offerings like Vera Wang, Marchesa, and Monique Lhuillier. Prior to this announcement, the house has made wedding gowns for celebrities like Jessica Biel and Charlotte Casiraghi.
After building a couture institution for decades, Valli has attempted to step outside of his box for the past few years, collaborating with brands like H&M. In 2019, the designer’s collaboration with the Swedish retail giant included tulle gowns, floral frocks, and leather pieces, retailing from $17.99 to $649.
Starting September 9, brides will have a chance to attend the house’s first bridal trunk show at Bloomingdale’s in New York City, followed by upcoming in-person trunk shows at Capitol in Charlotte, North Carolina (September 16), and Brentwood, California (September 23), as well as at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas (October 14).
If you’re planning on injecting a bit of French je nais sais quois to your wedding (and have the budget to do so!), this collection will surely bring a memorable touch to your “I do.”
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?