FASHIONOSOPHY

THOSE DESIGNER ORIGINS

It's that special time of the year again when sale is on at Netaporter with lots of luscious items and some relatively tempting prices. So as I was browsing hoping to track down a bargain, I discovered those Miu Miu Purple satin T-bar sandals with gold glitter heel and panels and some huge rignestones. I stop for one second to think. Hmm..don't those rhinestones look very familiar? So those were the origins of my "Happy Feet" shoes. Still once again the high street has saved my little pockets with a refined and improved version of the 80s-disco-vibe (and not so much my taste) Miu Miu ones. God bless!

 

HAPPY FEET!

I must have got my shoe epiphany some years ago when I discovered the amazing impact a pair of shoes can have on your appearance, your mood and most importantly your confidence and self-esteem. It's not just an epiphany but rather a shoe fetish. I 've got dozens and dozens of pairs of shoes yet my lust never seems to subside and my collection is constantly enriched. And it just so happens that out of the plethora of shoe choices I have, I always go for the most unusual, off-the-beaten-track items - a quite good thing though as not a lot of buyers are likely to go for the same pair and I won't end up with the same shoes as half the population.

Sometimes I am so amazed at what the high street produces, quality and design-wise. A selective eye one the high street can grab items with true design merits, items that are true gems. And a true jem I got! My new shoe addition is something to sum up all the latest trends, yet a pair I can foresee myself getting a lot wear out of even when the current season flees and the route opens up for the new seasons to come. I got some satin, the stack hills and the beloved embellishment, some king-size gems. The shoes were also quite reasonably priced and even though they are a potentially bad investment as satin on the feet would means extra-extra care, I love them so much I can't even think of taking them back. My friend and fellow-shopper cringed, but I was madly in love. In fact, I intend to prance around the city in them as much as possible looking totally effortless and cool.

SARAH JESSICA PARKER: GET BITTEN

To say that I 'm a fan of "Sex and the City" is a bit of an understatement. Utterly passionate would rather be the word (or words). My SATC passion was brought to life seven years ago, when HBO started broadcasting the legendary series . Everything took me aback: the well-written script, the clever dialogues, the leading ladies, and most importantly the styling. Those wacky outfits! Even now, I never seem to get bored of it. I have watched all six seasons more times than I can count with the same enthusiasm as the first time, always scrutinizing outfits and observing styles. Yes, Sex and the City was for many years THE / MY trend setter and of course leading actress Sarah Jessica Parker aka Carrie Bradshaw THE / MY style icon.

Amost two years after the curtains fell down for the legendary series, SJP's thought she would utilize her fashion icon status and the hype surrounding her name, and follow the footsteps of many other celebs. So as "it is every woman's inalienable right to have a pulled together stylish confident wardrobe with money left over to live" she is telling us to Get Bitten. Quite catchy really. As it seems, Sarah Jessica has been bitten by the designer bug and BITTEN is her first apparel line sold exclusively at Steve & Barry's stores around the US. The concept behind the collection was for Sarah Jessica to create, along with a team of Steve & Barry's designers, a collection of high quality, affordable sportswear for women of all ages and sizes and so every piece in the line is priced at $19.98 and less because according to Sarah Jessica "Fashion is not a luxury, it's a right."

Now, I am not one to generalize but from what I 've seen from similar ventures, celebrities are primarily selling an image rather than creating original fashion for buyers. And it is safe to say that as with many other celebrity clothing ranges the collection looks like another one to pass off. Designer-wise the collection doesn't do it for me. I just do not bite it! It is merely a bunch of plain basics, colourless, odourless and tasteless. Things get slightly interesting with the SJP promotional photoshoot and the clever styling of the pictures but once you check out the items you realise there's no point in spending your money or energy on acquiring a BITTEN piece. I was really hoping to see some creative pulse from Sarah Jessica. Let's be fair though, unlike other celebrity lines prices are kept very low. Lowly low in fact which is rather encouraging for customers so had I been in the US and by chance walking near by a Steve and Barry shop I might have popped in for a plain tank. I can not make any judgements quality-wise as clothes won't be available over here, but how much quality would you seek from a classic t-shirt anyway? Perhaps the problem is that I identify Carrie Bradshaw within Sarah Jessica. But let's not forget Carrie Bradshaw's cool outfits were put together by that Patricia Field, Sex and the City's mad stylist. Anyhow, I am very curious to see how it's perceived by US buyers and after spending the last 10 minutes blagging about it all I think I 'll have to bite my tongue for a while.

RACING UP THE MEGAPIXELS SCALE

Just to illustrate how mobile phone pictures don't do CAM designs (or any design by that chance) any justice, here's the latest CAM shopping window, straight out from a 7 megapixel camera. Haroulla, who lives up to her name by making her customers tres "happy", has done it again with this fabulous, shiny, silver-grey, draped dress and thank god this time I had my camera lurking around in my car to take a decent picture. For those wondering how come I haven't put my claws on it, especially since my unfortunate dress hunt a while ago, you should know that I tried to do so but to my dismay the dress was custom made for another lucky customer. Empty-handed I end up once again.

And some blurry, 1.3 megapixel pictures from CAM. It's the 1.3 VS the 7 megapixel race and despite the obvious winner it seems like I 'll just never learn.

DIY TURBAN

I just had to make a post about this! Almost every blog in the entire blogsphere discussed the Prada turban at some point, the style qualities it infused to outfits and its wearability. The turban was featured practically in every magazine around and international high street shops like TopShop got their own colourful Prada knock offs. The trend even got to late-started Cyprus as our very own vintage shop Flashback got those satin colourful turbans that were also featured in local fashion magazines. Wearing the turban can be rather tricky and only the very brave have caught up with the trend. Diana from So Fash'on makes her own proposal on how to make a very wearable diy turban-style headwear out of a pair of black panties and a black sock! The result seems quite interesting really and because the head is not entirely covered I don't thik it necessarily makes you think of its designer origins and would not cause any weird looks from on-lookers, even here. It also seems quite easy to make minus the knicker-scissors interaction by making a wide headband and tying a knot with some extra piece of fabric. Thus, I would add up to the idea by proposing turbans in clolourful lace and satin.

STYLE DIARY GOES ON SALE

I first discovered Style Diary about a year ago and since then I have been so totally hooked. Style Diary brought the street fashion experience to a whole new level, allowing users to organize their own personal diary of outfits and of course to us, the rest of the surfers, to enjoy creativity and original style from all over the world. Having already declared my love for the fashion of "the real people", I must say that out of the pages of Style Diary came some of my biggest style inspirations.

Style Diary's founder Patricia thought it would be a good idea to utilize its popularity to raise money for charity, and does what most girls her age would dread doing: getting rid of all of her beloved wardobe for charity. She is actually auctioning off on Ebay almost every fashion piece she has collected over the years, with proceeds going to The Joyful Child Foundation, a foundation created in the memory of in memory of Samantha Runnion, a beautiful five year old who was kidnapped, raped and murdered. The proceeds of the Style Diary wardrobe auction will contribute into a bigger effort to start conversations about how technology could be developed to help find missing children and track predators.

You can make your own contribution by taking a look at what’s on auction and judging from Patricia's own style diary of outfits there's going to be some really nice stuff, both high street and designer, to snag. Some of the items have already been listed on Ebay and there's a lot more to come, and while bids might be starting rather high we should all keep in mind that it's all for a good cause. So just click on this Ebay link and start bidding!

GIMME MORE OF THAT HISTORY CLASS

History had never really been a top-rated for me. In fact, it managed to fill those old and very far-away school days of mine with more boredom than any student can take. Thrice a week I would either switch into the lethargic, out-of-this-world mode or fully expose my chatterbox qualities with my fellow classmates. But then, had history classes been infused with a more intriguing dimension they would have certainly transformed my physical reactions. Get some fashion coming and fast.

"A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th Century: From the Catwalk to the Sidewalk" looks at fashion from a historical point of view and aims to examine it within its social, cultural and artistic context. According to Elle UK, "it is an enthralling study of fashion's evolution within the 20th Century, from fairy tale's based on glass slippers to t-shirts being used to campaign against wars". The book explores the interplay between commerce and culture, technology and aesthetics, popular culture and pastiche, and fashion and anti-fashion. Anti-fashion! Hm..that sound intriguing enough for me to buy. It's probably time for a new addition to my library, and that's a history class I definitely won't be missing.

DRESS HUNT: THE PERFECT WEDDING OUTFIT

When arranging a shopping raid, I never set out on a carefully planned venture to find specific items for my wardrobe. Strategic shopping through estimating needs and investing accordingly has its benefits but it never works for me that way. Everytime I set out to find something specific it just never happens, while things are more likely to fall on my feet at the most unexpected time and places. I mostly make impulsive purchases. Plain and simply I fall in love and buy garments, but often end up with a closet filled to the brim with things I can not easily put together into an outfit. This time though, I had to get into the groove and go on a dress hunt to find a decent wedding outfit. So anchors away and the journey begins!

Dragging myself around the city in 40 degrees celcius with heat melting me away was not my idea of fun. Ok, I probably need some sun-roasting to gain a little bit of colour and exit the milky-white skin palette, but minus the swimming pool the experience just seems unfortunate. I can be a very impatient and picky buyer, so I had a very specific list of "no no's" when setting out for my dress search. I was thinking some sort of a lightweight, grecian-draped, floaty, silk-chiffon number or perhaps something in the latest smock / trapeze / sack dress shapes a bit more refined perhaps with some crystal embellishment or beautiful detailing. Something reasonably priced yet with designer qualities. Since my regular high street did not offer many options for some posh dress-up situation, I thought I 'd check out some of the local shops for eveningwear even though I was a bit sceptic about it all. And I did not stand corrected. I was in fact very baffled at the evening-dress stock and just to illustrate I 'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

Almost every single shop seemed to follow the same concept and to say that I saw a lot of what I had imagined would be a lie. Along came lots of lame and shiny tafetta dresses in bulky shapes, cheap looking satin and wedding cake frills, heavy embellishments, zillions of beads and sequins and unnecessary excessiveness that made me want to tuck my money right away.

Looking like a bit like Tyra Banks and Nadja Bjorlin at the 59th Annual Daytime Emmy awards is not really my thing (now I am being mean!), so I think I might have to follow my initial shopping instincts and leave the dress hunt to a bit of luck. And if nothing comes along the way within the next two weeks I can always settle for some old rusty piece from my wardrobe that despite being already worn-a-plenty it will at least satisfy my aesthetics and taste

DOING IT BURDA-STYLE

For amateurs like me who have a lot of inspiration yet zero designing and sewing experience, Burdastyle really comes in handy. With a constantly growing pattern database for several types of garments, things look very promising in this little webpage. Some of the actual clothes may look a bit outdated or conservative but they can easily be modified to suit different tastes and styles.

I have already utilized the very simple idea of making a sleep mask. It was actually supposed to be a fun gift, a frilly quite girly one made out of bright fabrics mixed together with satin details, to a male friend leaving for the UK to complete his PhD degree. Shame I did not take photos of this, it was quite funny really and made us both laugh. And now all my friends want one so I promised I would put more masks together using colour and material combinations based upon their characters and personalities. As for the rest of the suggested designs, I will probably be trying a customized edition of the Ellinor blouse and one of the pretty dresses very very soon.

SHOPPING DETOX

Strangely enough, I am trying to get a bit of a shopping-detox at the moment. So I caught myself digging for fabrics at my favourite discount shop, hoping to get into some sort of constructive DIY activity to cover my consumer needs. Still, I get the impression that for once again I have ended up with meters of fabrics that I won't be using, at least for a while, but I seem to get this thrill, the thrill of shopping - even though at a smaller, less body-shivering degree - by the idea that I will be making something to wear.

Still my first real design project, that was actually a customizing one, did not go so well. I got this old white linen top of mine and thought I would change the bust and sew some satin fabric in a different design to make it longer and looser for that oversized look. Apparently, linen and satin do not work so well together and the project was marked a failure. So now I have got all these bags overflowing with fabrics yet no sewing projects on the pipeline. Fanny, my teacher says that's how she started, collecting fabrics, and that I should do loads of designing practice before I actually cut up things so this is quite encouraging. Hm..maybe on second thoughts I should sew back the linen top and add a satin flower detail right in the middle..Let the weekend come for more DIY activity.

LIGHTS, CAM(ERA), ACTION

"Sexy" is the word that gets thrown around a lot when people talk about my style and presence, one thing I certainly can not relate to at the moment when I sweat for more than two hours on a daily basis at the gum and don't even get bothered to fix my hair properly the next morning (I have got very lazy lately). But sexy is all about being comfortable in your own skin, and not necessarily, and mistakenly, be revealing or super-groomed, so there may be the possibility I could have something there! Still, if I had to play up to the sexy role properly, I would do it by choosing to wear CAM.

It just makes me salivate with lust everytime I talk about this shop, and I even catch myself driving around the city in the very late hours of the night just to check out what's on display on the window and plan my purchases. Haroulla (which would mean "happiness" in greek), the shop's designer, studied fashion design in Milan and despite my being so insistent on interviewing her for the blog this was unattainable. Still, I got some useful information on her work. What's really interesting is that she works with no patterns and thus makes garments that are unique and one-of-a-kind. She 's got extremely good taste and it seems like when things dont work out for normal people, she just puts a nifty touch and there it goes, bang, everything looks miraculously well put together.

I have been taking pictures of the shop for a while for the blog and now I believe I have a good selection to display, so enjoy the sexiness and glamour of CAM. And there we go..lights, CAMera, action!

 

THE UNLUCKY EBAY PURCHASE (THAT SORT OF TURNED LUCKY)

Slam shoes and thick stack hills have totally changed my life. They somehow make legs much more slender, are far easier to walk in, and they seem to add a certain twist to an outfit. My passion for pointed stilletos has since then somehow diminished and I have never looked back. And when I spotted a certain distressed gold leather pair on ebay, I was so thrilled and determined to pay whatever spicy price just to be the lucky winner of that secondhand (but only worn-twice) pair. And when a Tiny Dancer decides to fight she gives it all, so after a wicked battle I won.

The shoes arrived about a week and a half later only to turn my enthusiasm into great disappointment. Apparently the person who sold them to me had sprayed them with gold paint, probably to hide marks or dirt. I just couldn't believe I had given all this money and paid more than their retail price plus shipping for that. After a series of messages with the seller I was given a full refund and got to keep the shoes for free as a way of an apology. That was something, and to me the most decent way to tackle the incident. So now I 've got a free pair of slams that don't really look that bad, and I have already been getting a lot of wear out of them. So maybe ebay purchases are a risk to take, but when things go wrong they sometimes turn lucky too.

Ps: The following pictures are not of the pair I won but of another similar pair I tracked down on ebay.

STELLA MCCARTNEY FOR TARGET: THAT DON'T IMPRESS ME MUCH

It all began when Karl Lagerfeld designed a capsule collection for H&M, at least that was the first one of the gang to hit my eyes, and concentrate so much anticipation and interest from the public. When launched, the collection sold out within half an hour, whilst ruthless shoppers jostled to snag limited edition Karl Lagerfeld garments. Everyone wanted a piece of the designer-mastermind minus a few zeros, which meant an affordable fashion-fix for customers and a complete triumph for H&M.

The success sparked up several other designer-highstreet ventures. Next year saw Stella McCartney on the H&M racks, with another sold-out-in-a complete-frenzy collection.

And for the year 2006 Viktor and Rolf gave it a go  and put the H&M tag on their creations with another sold out collection.

Topshop took it's own turn hooking up with more upbeat and upcoming designers like Celia Birtwell, Emma Cook, Marios Schwab, Laura Lees and Christopher Kane giving an alternative route to designer fashion. Since then, collaborations like these seem to have become the new trend (and probably the easiest way for designers to increase their bank balances at the blink of an eye). They now seem to be practically everywere and even more are constantly springing-up: Giles Deacon for New Look, Yovovits - Hawk / Zyhair Murad for Mango, the Designers at Debenhams, Luella Bartley / Paul and Joe for Target, Thakoon, Sophia Kokosalaki / Vivienne Westwood for Nine West, Doo Ri / Thakoon / Rodarte for Gap, just a few I can roughly list. Even celebrities are now entering the high street collaboration mode, with Madonna and Kylie designing lines for H&M, Kelly Brooke and Lily Allen for New Look, as well as the most recent and talked-about Kate Moss for Topshop venture.

So, what is it with all the designer collaborations? It seems like when we have spent our money on one, another is springing up. And in the end what exactly are we buying in terms of original design? Is this the focus of each designer-highstreet collection? Are we buying the quality of designer apparel or are we buying just a name, just "the brand"?

And then, I open up ebay and do a bit of searching and there it is, another one that I had not read nor heard of: Stella McCartney for Target. Stella McCartney seems to be the collaboration favourite indeed. She was voted by the H&M customers in 2005 as the one they 'd most like to get to design a collection for the high steet brand, and has also forged a strong team-up with Adidas for the past couple of years, designing sportswear that I must say are some of the most stylish sportswear gear around. But now another collaboration with giant Aussie Target stores? How did I miss that??

After a brief look at the 42-piece capsule collection, I couldn't help but experience a bit of a deja vu. Supposedly taking inspiration from her own unique signature style (this concept reminds me of another similar venture, well guessed, the H&M one), the collection featured some of Stella's staples: a taffeta trench coat, wool cashmere cardigans, silk camisoles, satin wrap-around dresses, shirts and beaded tunic tops, skinny jeans and tailored suits. As you can easily tell, it is not just the concept but also the actual garments that seem to be similar to her 2005 H&M high-street debut. While I was quite thrilled with the H&M garments 2 years ago, this time around the collection looks rather colourless and boring really, nothing that a shopper would not find in other major retailers and not a single garment in some sort of a challenging design. Been there done that! Sadly, for me, it's basically a "malfunctioned" repetition of the H&M collection yet at a much lower design - standard, too much like what she churned out in two years ago.

Still, fashion-hungry customers, some of whom had queued for more than two and a half hours before the doors of their local Target shops opened, rushed in and stripped racks bare of McCartney items within 10 minutes of opening time. Scenes of utter chaos were described as shoppers were taking clothes off mannequins, stripping off in front of male shoppers in the rush to try on the new range and snap up an item before someone else, and even ripping garments out of each other's hands! Ebay prices also rocketed and Stella McCartney had secured another hit under her belt. So this probably means we may catch her on another such venture? Time will tell, and until then God have mercy on our pockets.

 

OUT FOR COFFEE

I went out for coffee with some friends tonight and thought I 'd seek for my inner angel so I opted for lots of white, which I think contrasts well with my dark hair and fair skin (soon to get really sun-roasted dark!). So I got my white jeans and a white t-shirt with a lovely blue-orientated print from Zara's new collection, and as I like hidden complexities I put the final touches to the outfit with my huge battered-leather gold pumps, a motorcycle cream-beige jacket, two strands of pearls and my wine-red digital DKNY watch, just to give a subtle yet powerful effect to my appearance.

 

THE ODDNESS OF FASHION

As a dresser I 'm not one to say that my style is particularly daring, innovative or experimentive. I often play it on the safe side to avoid any scornful sniffs from the surroundings, as people in small places are rather conservative and less open to new ideas and trends. I quite like edgy outfits and odd combinations of garments and colours but a little bit of the weird looks I could probably get, the potential mocking commentary my outfits could spark, and the reactions of disapprovement around me would break my spirit and smash my self-esteem, so I often wander in safer fashion routes.

Thus, while I admire the personal style choices of people like Susie from StyleBubble and Agatha from Stylebytes, I am not usually one to upturn the conventions.

While riffling through the collection around my local Zara branch quite a while ago (actually that was probably a couple of months ago) I thought I would try and wear a black organza ruffled skirt with a beaded flower on the waist as a short dress.

Still, when I walked out of the fitting room, the shop assistant exclaimed in a funny way trying to suppress a giggle "well..you know..that's a skirt"! She must have thought I looked a state and while I felt sligthly awkward I somehow managed to give a very confident "I know" reply that ceased her. She was probably expecting an embarrassing reaction of realization of my little "fashion-mistake", but my positive and rather confident reply erased her hint of laughter.

That sparked some philosophical thoughts about style. What is it with people being so close-minded with clothes and fashion? Obviously that is not the case for many countries around the world where people are using fashion and style to express their feelings and identity but for Cyprus, I can't really say there is much space for experimantation. It is such a small place, the fashion market is so limited and most women follow the same dress code erasing any diversity in terms of style. I am just so angry at the creation of unfulfillable aspirations and pointless dress-code criteria, the creation of homogeneity and fear of being different. I have always admired people that were comfortable in their own skin and dared to be different by putting on something unusual just because they liked it and felt reflected them. I wish I would have the guts to walk out without leaving negative criticism and comments like this break my spirit.

Ever since, I felt that justice was granted after spotting pictures with different versions of tiered layered dresses that resembled my Zara "dress". Apparently designer houses, such as Gucci and Giambatista Valli, and I share the same taste, meaning that they have brought out their very similar versions of that layered organza skirt / dress, hehe! And a few months later justice was granted once again as Zara got it's own layered designer-inspired dress. You can track down, and wear without fear but loads of confidence, this lovely yellow number at your local Zara branch or online at ebay shop "It's how you wear it"!

 

I' M SO BAGGING IT!

I found this lovely supersized bag that I really had to blog about at my fashion-teacher's shop. It's literally amazing! It is handmade by a girl back in Greece and it's actually an army bag made from really hard faded khaki canvas that has been cut and customized into this beautiful, beautiful design. Awwww.., it's so cute! I particularly love the brightly coloured flower details and the ribbon-wrapped handle. I 've reserved it for a couple of days as I am on a quite tight budget at the moment, but I can't stop thinking about it. It will definitely make my work/beach/shopping/out for coffee/travel-abroad-and-throw-in-hand-luggage days more colourful and stylish.

BIBA-LICIOUS!

Not to be mistaken with 1970s-and-recently-Bella Freud-reincarnated label, Barbara Christofi's Biba is certainly living up to its playful "tiny-cute" name! What I am talking about is the presentation of the summer 2007 collection, for which I had to rearrage everything on my agenda, just to get a Biba-licious taste of Barbara's designs right this afternoon.

Barbara, a Central Saint Martins' graduate, who also counts many years of work experience abroad, may see a blend of sculpture and fashion while focusing upon shape and movement in her creations, but what I also saw today was charm and pure magic. In fact the whole venue and especially the clothes reminded me of some kind of a fairy place, which of course would mean one thing: me like it a-plenty! The collection, composed mainly of skirts and dresses in black and white with a touch of yellow, pink and purple in beautiful details, chiffon bits and paint-splattered interesting prints.

   

What I particularly liked was that the gaments were exhibited by living models who would walk around and try things on. That way buyers could actually get an idea of how everything fitted and sat on the body. It's one thing seeing a garment on the hanger and another thing seeing it on an actual person really.

Time to get Biba-tagged! Here I am getting my own Biba-licious experience. As expected, I had to try things on, and I was quite intrigued by this transparent, light-weight, fairy pink, sort of paint-splattered skirt, and a lovely sack-style dress with organza details. The dress comes in two colours that triggered a dilemma: should I have the black or the white one? A very tough decision to make as despite the similar design each has its own character. Which one would you prefer?

Interesting fact: 1970s Biba and our very own Biba do not only share the same name. Apparently both labels were founded by two Barbaras as well, Barbara Hulanicki for vintage Biba and Barbara Christofi for the Greek edition! Just a coincidence? Or maybe could that be a sign for another huge "Biba" success?? Let's wait and see!

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

What people normally do at weekends is rest and recharge for the working days to come, yet I always appear to be the exception to the rule. It seems like new things are constantly emerging, new ventures and new projects that leave me with zero free time, and fewer calories from trying to respond to them properly (good for me!). This Sunday was a very busy day once again, meaning I had to work really hard to keep up with my designing classes. So for about seven hours I got designing and trying to make head and tail of the messy jumble of letters in my notebook and figure out how to design skirt patterns. Granny, who is actually a tailor, gave a big helping hand but we still had our disagreements as our concepts of fashion appear to be at a totally different wavelength. Still, her contribution is highly appreciated and without her I would have probably done nothing more than mumble in despair!

Actually this is quite new, I have been taking design classes along with two teenagers who will be taking it further at a more professional level. I am taught by the very sweet Fanny, a fashionable italian who was landed on the island for love (apparently, love is contributing to fashion) and now runs her own very successful workshop/boutique. So what am I doing among proper fashion students? Maybe satisfying another caprice of mine or just being impulsive as I normally am, but I truly and honestly can't wait to wear something that will be totally created by me. Ever since I started these classes, daydreams of myself wearing my can't-find-in-the-mere-mortal-shops beautiful garments have increased dramatically, justified I must say as I will finally be able to make images reality, I hope!

BEEN THERE DONE THAT

The new collection by Natar / Yastrobnik got me very excited, but when browsing an online vintage boutique I came across a dress in a very similar design, almost identical really. I am not sure who copied who or what kind of past reference they used, but I can't hide I was slightly disappointed on seeing this. Another proof of designers running out of ideas and turning to the past or even each other for inspiration.

Once, when I was walking around Portobello Market with my camera taking a video of the little stands and the people browsing for treasures I was greeted by a woman, a designer actually, who informed me that video recordings were not allowed. After we solved the misunderstanding we got chatting a bit and she explained that major high street retailers like TopShop have their people come over and steal ideas from local independent designers, so after a while you get them in the shops with a TopShop tag. Something in the melancholic tone of her voice and facial expression mad me feel kinda sad. Just some randon thoughts.

As for the particular "controversial" dress, I do give Natar / Yastrobnik the credit of adding a special element to it with the fabric choice and the metallic fuscia colour though, something to balance out my disappointment.

THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS

This post comes a little delayed but so be it. I wore this dress when out clubbing last Friday night. I absolutely love dancing (hence the nickname - tinydancer) yet for some inexplicable reason I don't seem to be able to move my body properly in a dress. I feel completely disorientated!

Still, I felt like really dressing up for the night so I had to wear this, even though it could have cost me a night's dance. The black jersey bubble dress was matched with a vintage pearl necklace, a raid from my grandmother's wardrobe, a pair of metalic silver-green peep-toe shoes, and my newly purchased and loved-a-plently red digital DKNY watch to funk it up. I really can't tell what happened this time though, because despite the dress I could not sit my butt still for one second. This eventually happened though after I felt terrible pains in my knees on the very late hours of the night. Must have been the dancing!