Fashion 101 : Sequins vs Paillettes

So New Years 2012 saw many hot blinging outfits featuring many fancy sparkles. The funny thing is we all just referred to these as sequins or a nice "shiny top". Well there is a huge difference to a top with large sparkly round discs and a top with fine detailed shimmery circles. Here is the low down...

Such a fun summer dress for a great evening shindig. Image source.

Paillettes (pronounced pail-lette) is a slightly larger than a sequin disc. They are usually used to trim items such as shoes and dresses. Although many times they have been used for whole tops and are then placed one above the other and not layered. Paillettes are used in small portions of a garment as a feature.

Stunning sequin embellished new years dresses. Image source.

Sequins are much smaller (as we all know when we lose a billion at a time). These little gems are sewn very intricately in garments and are used for much larger coverage of items such as dress tops, skirts and even accessories. You can buy an entire garment covered with sequins for a more understated yet very "wow" look.