Pitter patter I hear a lot of palettes waiting to be worn on your feet! We recieved over 2,000 entries in the Betabrand Striped Sock Design Contest! Here we are in the final round - 30 finalists have been determined with the highest LOVES. I can't believe only three will win?! The winning sock designs will be sold as a 3-pack and ready for the Winter holidays.

Voting ends Tuesday, September 27th at 5:00 pm Pacific. Only THREE entrants will win and you only get to vote once! Additionally, FIVE lucky voters will win a prize from the Betabrand product line! So get your bunz over there and make it count!

Also, Betabrand is giving everyone a discount code:

"StripeSaver" is good for 20% off until the end of the September.

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Here we are again COLOURlovers! Get your Color Caps on and start putting together some amazing palettes for some way cool, striped socks by Betabrand! Just think about it, this Winter you, your fellow COLOURlovers and the rest of the world could be wearing one of your palettes on their feet!

We were stoked to work with our friends at Betabrand on the COLOURlovers Plaid Flannel Shirt and we're even more stoked to get the chance to work with them again on these awesome socks!

Browse the Contest Gallery | Create a New Entry Now!

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The Striped Socks Contest ~ 3 Winners!

The contest will be open one week, from September 14th - 22nd at 12:00 AM PDT. The 30 most LOVED entries will then move on to further voting at Betabrand.com.

Each COLOURlovers member is LIMITED TO THREE (3) ENTRIES... The entry submission page will let you know how many you have left. P.S. There's no way to change your entries so choose wisely! :)

Entering the Striped Sock Contest:

You can either browse through the most wonderful palettes you've already created and enter one of those... or get freshly inspired to create a new perfect palette to hug some toes.

Use a Palette You Already Created:

You can easily submit a current palette in your collection by going to your palette's information page.

Notice on the RIGHT column there is a nifty pair of socks just chill'n out with your palette on them. Just click the button, "Enter Betabrand Sock Contest."

You can even edit your palette before submitting. *I changed one of my grey's to white (above).*

OR Create a New Palette - Live Preview:

Go to the Striped Socks Entry Page, and when it loads all you need to do is click one of those gray squares under the socks to start making your masterpiece. Each time you select a color the sock template will refresh with your new color to give you a live preview of what your finished product will look like. You can even drag the color squares (right-left) to rearrange the colors to get your stripes just perfect.

When you're done deciding on a palette and layout of your stripes. Fill out the title and remaining information (optional) and hit the CREATE ENTRY button.

And there you are! Give yourself a high-five and LOVE your design. We've provided additional social tools (twitter, Facebook, Google and StumbleUpon) to help you share your creation with your friends and boost your loves… remember that since the 30 most loved designs will move on to the finalist round over at Betabrand you'll want all the love you can get!

Don't forget we're all about the LOVE, so feel free to cruise around and love some of the other designs in The COLOURlovers Striped Socks Gallery.

3 Contest Winners Receive:

Winners will receive a $100 Betabrand gift card, their username on the sock packaging, five free sock three-packs and recognition on the Betabrand site in photos/videos (when able).

But you don't have to wait until the winners are announced to start building your COLOURlovers wardrobe. Betabrand is letting people pre-order both the CL Plaid Shirt & CL Striped Socks at a very nice discount… Click either of the links below.

COLOURlovers Striped Socks: $33 $25 Pre-Order Price

COLOURlovers Plaid Flanel: $80 $60 Pre-Order Price
 

pais·ley: noun  A distinctive intricate pattern of curved, feather-shaped figures based on a pine-cone design from India. For COLOURlovers, the Paisley is a lovely lace-like motif that can be produced in any measure of design and color scheme. Like fingerprints, not one is the same.

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When I look at the Paisley, I see amoebas, tadpoles and teardrops combined with floral genius.

How often do you see a Paisley? I think it's something we see so often, might pass it by in our every day lives. The history of the Paisley I found quite interesting! Where it came from, what the word Paisley  actually means, or why they call it a Paisley at all...

Fashion is always one season ahead, but now that Fall is really on its way, the things you've worn all Summer are starting to give way to the pressure of changing winds - literally!

Thankfully, one of the most noticeable Fall trends is suitable for sunny days and colder weather, too. A spectrum of yellows, oranges and tomatoey reds have been parading across the globe, whether by runway or street-style. But perhaps even more fun than the warm colors themselves are the variations on how to wear these statement pieces. Traversing casual to formal, these warm hued clothes have had their versatility proven. So would you dare to put on any of these pairs or are regular blue jeans more your speed?

1. Sabrina Meijer of AfterDRK 2. J. Crew bistro pants 3. Silvia Navarro on Chicisimo 4. Zara Man Fall 2011 5. Yigal Azrouël Fall 2011

Broken down by style: Amsterdam's Sabrina Meijer and Yigal Azrouël's Fall runway both channel chic European simplicity, but the outfits definitely don't lack impact: neutrals and black create a high-contrast, color-blocking effect when combined with saturated orange and amber trousers.

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Meanwhile, not everyone is content keeping it simple. Silvia Navarro uses a complementary color palette, mixing preppy blue hues with heavily saturated orange for a layered outfit that's anything but conventional. Fashion brand Zara styles a similarly layered look, but with subdued earth tones and cool neutrals to create a subtle complementary color combination.

As the Summer (for most of us) comes to a close and we seep in to Fall, we take a look back at the Mercedes Miami Swim Fashion Week back in July. Noticeable neon Indian inspired Tribal Trends are seeping in to the 2012 RTW ("Ready To Wear") collections.

"From Fierce animal prints to safari suiting, spring is swinging to a tribal beat..." - Vogue.com

 

COLOURlovers themselves seem to be trending amongst pattern and palette designs. Take a look for yourself...

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Mara Hoffman

Mara Hoffman collaged complex patterns and playful color combinations, using cooler hues like ostrich feather green and sky blue as a base to feature rays of fluorescent warmer oranges, yellows, and pinks. Showing a flair for Egyptian patterns and colors, Hoffman cites her husband Javier Piñón’s last collection O Babalon as an influence for her tribal trend.

Dinelia Brazil & Luli Fama

Dinelia Brazil and Luli Fama chanelled their respective Brazilian and Cuban heritages, using similar heavily saturated palettes to create a modern spin on tribal lineated patterns.

Red Carter

Heavily saturated eye-popping brights are set to bleed into the next season, after being mastered this spring by fashion veterans from Haider Ackermann to Jill Sander, and Rachel Roy.  Red Carter used blocks of electric blue, lime green and flaming coral to create strong futuristic swimwear bound to turn heads.

Aqua Di Lara

On the other end of the color saturation spectrum, soft watercolors and bleeding patterns created a rainbow connection. Aqua Di Lara stayed true to its feminine style by evoking galaxy gazing, with midnight blues as a backdrop for whirls of soft pinks, mellow yellows and dewy greens.

Softer pastel prints were also channeled by White Sands Australia in Australian bushland inspired colors of soft olive, sweet peach and pale wattle yellow.  L*Space, Caffe Swimwear and A.Che also proved that pretty pops of posies on a light canvas are eternally classic.

Regardless of your penchant for neon or pastels, next Summer is set to sizzle with these colorful new trends.

All photos courtesy of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Swim

Betabrand, an online-only clothing company that produces limited-edition batches of clothing and accessories, recently paired up with COLOURlovers in the contest, Color-A-Plaid Shirt Contest by Betabrand + COLOURlovers. The contest turned out to be a huge success with over 5,000 entries!

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To enter the contest, COLOURlovers simply had to color a pre-picked plaid pattern - Betabrand2, which had been created by one of our very own Lovers, sec9586. After coloring the pattern it produced a plaid shirt mockup of the finished product.

VOTE HERE AT BETABRAND

The contest is closed and nine finalists were chosen by the Betabrand design team. Voting on these nine selections will be open until NOON (12pm PST) Monday, August 22, 2011.

The Finalists

Betabrand chose the finalists not by the amount of LOVES each pattern/palette got. Simply because this would have been unfair. COLOURlovers had added the ability to LOVE the designs and share them for the fun of the contest.

"Our design team narrowed it down to 9 finalists not based on the number of loves on Colourlovers - because patterns that were created at the beginning of the contest would have an unfair advantage to those created toward the end. As for not picking a winner, but rather narrowing it down to 9, we decided to do that because we were so thrilled with the volume and quality of submissions that we wanted to keep the love going!" - Jared @ Betabrand

The nine finalists in no particular order...

Hipster Plaid by bcrider

cloud nine by martino

*colour hunter* by Sunny21327

Have you ever wanted to apply your color design abilities to a real-life product? Well here's your big opportunity! Rev up your color coordination skills and become the next palette designer for a plaid shirt offered through Betabrand! You'll get the unique opportunity to color a plaid pattern, see the design in action (applied to a template shirt) and the possibility of having your colors picked for print. How cool is that?!

Betabrand is an online-only clothing company based in San Francisco that produces unique designs in limited-edition batches every week. They make Cordarounds, Japants, DARPA hoodies, Farmer's Market backpacks, disco pants, and much, much more.

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Ready, Set, Contest Time!

We've had our very own, sec9586 create a pattern template for a new plaid flannel shirt that Betabrand plans to release in two versions for the 2011 holiday season. Betabrand has already chosen the colors for one version - the other is up to you!

How it works...

Easy, color the Betabrand plaid pattern template, Betabrand2.

Your colored pattern will automatically appear with the rest of the entries on the contest gallery page. You may color as many versions of the pattern template as you like.

If your colors are chosen...

The Betabrand design team will select one winner, who'll receive the following:

• - A real-life finished plaid flannel shirt;
• - Your COLOURlovers user name on the shirt label (for this 2011 production run - see above image);
• - $100 Betabrand Gift Card;
• - Recognition on the Betabrand web site and in all company communications; this includes photo of the winner in his/her winning shirt (optional).

The contest runs August 2nd - 11th (2011). Anyone who submits an entry will receive a coupon code for 20% OFF any Betabrand product - offer only valid during the contest timeline.

View the Contest Gallery

Color this plaid pattern template to enter (Betabrand2)

I think we can all agree that fashion lives in a pretty little bubble, untouched by the issues that we as its consumers must face on a daily basis.  But where there is art there is heart and the fashion industry is no exception.

Due to the disaster that recently devastated Japan, the country is in desperate need of assistance from the global community, and many designers and online retailers have joined forces with aid organizations such as the American Red Cross and the Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. Proceeds from sales of select items will go to these groups among others!

Threadless.com Rebuild Japan Tee's. 100% of net proceeds from the sale of this tee will go to the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami fund.

Threadless, well known for it's community-designed, community-picked (aka "scored") t-shirt designs, is partnering up with Steven Alan for a fun, Fall Pattern Design Challenge. We LOVE Threadless because they empower artists and create portholes of success, no matter who you are or where you are at in your art career/hobby. In turn, this produces a wide range of awesomely unique clothing for the rest of us to wear.

Spring is here and to usher in the warmer weather, feast your eyes on these lovely spring dresses. Some upcoming color trends that you can expect to see are uplifting and energizing colors like coral and magenta. You will also see some soft, pastel hues like lilac and sage and nautical colors like cobalt blue and aqua. The classic muted, subtle tones like black and white are almost always in style and this spring is no exception.

One of the biggest trends is the 50s and 60s silhouettes coming back. (Think Jackie Onassis Kennedy and full 50s prom skirts.) The 60s housewife look is definitely hitting the runway in sheath hourglass-shape dresses that cinch in the waist and hips. Other current trends to look out for include lace, crochet, macrame, asymmetrical necklines, and tail hems (that's when the back of the dress is longer than the front.)