Musical discovery of the day: Speedy Ortiz

Nicole Kidman is Jimmy Choo`s new foxy lady

Apparently the easiest and fastest way to boost an older celebrity`s "hotness" status is a well shot advertising campaign. Just look at Nicole Kidman with her fiery bob (a refreshing change from the usual flowing locks, brushed back from forehead) in this snaps and video from Jimmy Choo`s brand new campaign! While the shoes and bags are latest collections, the look is timeless - classic and sexy, and Nicole looks as seductive as ever...

The Denim Rebel: Mom jeans: hot or not?

Check out the post on my other blog The Denim Rebel - a few thoughts on now popular mom jeans!
The Denim Rebel: Mom jeans: hot or not?: Not so long ago, I remember watching movies or music videos from the 90`s, thinking: "Thank god these shapeless high-wasted jeans a...

Model Spotlight: Many faces of Cara Delevingne

Currently ranking 17th in the world`s top 50 models, 20-year-old Miss Cara could be seen everywhere this past year - all the major catwalks, including one for Victoria`s Secret; covers of Vogue, Interview, I-D and Love Magazine; campaigns for Mulberry, Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry, DKNY, Chanel, Zara and H&M. And add to that all her street style photos - looks like photographers can`t get enough of her! And how could they? Just look at this face, or, more like, all these faces! Any pro model can strike an elegant pose, but crazily grimacing at the camera, and managing to look cute all the while - takes a true teen spirit, a healthy amount of self irony and some truly incredible mimic abilities. No wonder she was named the model of the year at British Fashion Awards 2012!

Backstage At Oscar De La Renta Spring Summer 2013 Nyfw 

Photo by Yvan Rodic

Photo by The Ray & the Ro

Craziest shades 2013

"I wear my sunglasses at night..." - this song has been playing in my mind since the weekend, and indeed, I often wear my shades for late night parties - it`s a great trick to keep the sharp look no matter how wild the nights gets (the true party monsters will understand). Of course, like all normal people I primarily wear my sunglasses to protect my eyes from the sun, but surely there are much more uses for them. In general sunglasses are great to hide behind, be it in the morning, when you sneak out for some fresh croissants or go shopping on a weekend afternoon, without bothering to fix up your face. In general I prefer classic glasses (wayfarers and aviators are my regular choice), but at times I feel like something quirky and original. Luckily this season there is no shortage of really crazy and amazing shades.

Prada

Dolce & Gabbana

Karen Walker

Anna Sui

DSquared 

Dress like male film characters! (reblogged)

I couldn`t resist reblogging this post made up of polyvore looks that imitate styles of iconic movie/comic book heroes: Han Solo, Iron Man, Spock and more!

Tendencias en Moda y Geeks.: Moda al estilo de famosos personajes de la cultura...: Ja-vy y Rockymtnrain nos muestran en Polyvore todas las combinaciones posibles de ropa para que podamos convertirnos en personajes famosos...

Are you getting enough?

Professor Green together with Miles Kane released an anti-consumerist rant with a very fitting video. OK, let`s confess, we are all sinners (shoppers) here, but when shopping constitutes your main reason for living - it`s quite a different story. Moderation is always the key, and whenever you`re taken over by a shopping frenzy, remember the words of great Tyler Durden a.k.a. Chuck Palahniuk: "The things you own end up owning you."

The Denim Rebel: Festival Denim - Coachella 2013

The Denim Rebel: Festival Denim - Coachella 2013: Some super cool summer festivals already behind us but many more to go! Get inspired for your upcoming festival looks with those rocking s...

The Denim Rebel: Denim nails? Yes Please!

The Denim Rebel: Denim nails? Yes Please!: For those of you who haven`t heard of this yet, I bring you the good news - denim effect manicure courtesy of Nails Inc. Finally someone...

Get your Grunge on!

I have mixed feelings whenever a street-born rebellious style such as grunge is picked up by mainstream fashion. On the one hand it defeats the whole purpose, by handing a style that was born out of pure emotion, freedom, refusal  to play by the rules, in essence a middle finger shown to the whole consumerist society, over to that same society - the usual yuppies and fashion victims, who wear whatever designers and magazines, and now also bloggers, deem chic and trendy. And let`s be fair, all the popular bloggers and fashion journalists I`ve read easily change from stilettos into sneakers - as long as the god of fashion commands them so, and would only praise Kurt Cobain for his fashion contributions, while counting days till the next album of Lady Gaga. There are no big ideas and no commitments behind their fashion choices.

So why should they be allowed to parade around dressed as punks and rockers? Well, there is at least one reason - it allows the rest of us, rockers and grungers at heart to wear these same clothes without looking like crazed teenagers, homeless or somehow dangerous elements. We can blend in, yet remain ourselves, true to the spirit. So let those designer kids play, in the end we`ll have much more fun than them with those same outfits.

And to sum it up, let`s recall what grunge is all about! In a sense it`s a combination of elements that cannot be combined, of wearing the unwearable. It`s a bit rock-n-roll, bit hippy, bit teenage rebel and every bit whatever you feel like wearing at a given moment in time.

 Nevertheless it has some ultimate elements: checkered shirts and ripped jeans (and any other ripped garments for that matter), band tees and sweatshirts, chunky boots and army jackets, light floral dresses and frilly skirts, hats and boyfriend beanies. And of course a pair goggle shades and wild messy hairstyle will suit perfectly to complete just about any grunge ensemble. Just take it all and mix, shake it well, and see what happens... Set your teen spirit free (if you`ve still got it in you anyway)!

Freaks and Troopers

Recently re-watching "Freaks and Geeks" (and yes I do believe it to be one of the best TV-shows ever and one to be most unjustly cancelled so early on), I realized that the main character Lindsay Weir`s look became significantly cooler than it was when I watched the show for the first time few years back. Why, she`s a clean-cut modern day fashionista! Her father`s old military jacket that hangs loose around her skinny shape and makes her look all freaky is one of the hottest must-haves of the season and apparently the next one too.

Who knew that the military trend that got hot several years ago wouldn't die as suddenly as it returned, but instead would grow far and wide until it blew out  of proportion. Khaki and camouflage-colored thick shirts and jackets dominate then stores, along with tops, pants, dresses and bags - all paying tribute to the military fashion. All that put together makes a gal look like a new recruit in an ill-fitted army suit, or, in worst case - a hobo.

As much as I`m a fan of tomboy style, I don`t believe that a hobo look is ever a good choice or has anything to do with good taste. And believe me, I tried. Seeing Lindsay Weir in the show inspired me to give the overhyped hobo jacket another chance. I went to my favorite stores and tried some of them on and result was the same - I just don't see it. But relax, I`m not really trying to kill the buzz for you - if you do enjoy the grunge army look, totally go for it. Just please, pair it with skinny jeans and converse, not baggy army pants and chunky boots with spikes - unless you`re indeed going to fight a war or joining a neighborhood gang. 

Though, I must confess, my rant about aggressive fashion trend with all those military outfits, spikes and leather has become too mainstream, and the true freaks (to which I do refer myself in some sense) can no longer wear any of that with pride. So I can`t help waiting for the day when the fashion world switches its focus to something else, and give all those cool attributes back to the wild kids.

Pajama party

Today is one of these autumn days that make you finally realize and feel in your bones – summer is over. It takes much longer to depart from Greece than some other places but it still inevitably succumbs to the conquering march of autumn. Just the other day you could still prance about in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, and today I was freezing while hanging the laundry out to dry on the balcony, wearing leggings, a denim shirt and socks. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy it in many ways – I love watching the turbulent skies, thick clouds floating across it and the dark red sunset. But I enjoy it even more when I don’t really need to go anywhere on such a day – like today. In that case the best thing to do is get cosy on the bed or on the sofa, wearing a soft and warm pajamas, heating my hands on a hot cup of coffee or tea, and thinking of cooking some hearty warm-up meal like a tomato cream soup or a stew of ochre and meat. So that’s pretty much what I did – minus the cooking, since it would have required a trip to a supermarket (lazy, lazy me).

Speaking of pajamas, I have lived without one all year in Greece – yes I will certainly miss its warm climate – but now that I’m moving, I will most certainly need one. And it so happens that just today I spied the October lookbook of nightwear by OYSHO – I’ve always admired this brand’s boxer-shorts for girls and other pieces for causal home wear. But never went further than buying some underwear and a top from them. So I guess now the time has come to pick out one of Oysho’s pajamas.

And to complete the perfectly cosy outfit – I might go with this pair of boot-slippers by H&M.

Emma Watson – a style icon in the making?

The decision to write this post came suddenly. Honestly, I was busy writing a long post on a very different topic, and then I saw this.

This pic from a cover shoot for November issue of ELLE UK just stopped me in my tracks. I simply had do (write) something about it. So here’s it is.

First of all I’d like to point out that I’m no model idolizer or even admirer. I guess I never believed that posing for photographs requires an exceptional talent and to admire people I require them to be exceptional at something. Like any fashion blogger I naturally do have my favorites, for instance Kate Moss and Freja Beha Erichsen, but I mostly like them for their personal style and the image they embody – that cool, confident, rock-n-roll, no-nonsense look.

Generally I tend to think of models as girls who were kind of spoilt by too much money and too much attention too early, and working in the kind of business that requires but little brainwork. I know there are exceptions, but most models I ever heard speak weren’t great at expressing themselves and I still remember reading an interview in Russian Vogue with a Russian model – then just breaking out, now a major superstar – and how plain stupid she sounded. That’s off topic however, I’m not here to discuss model intelligence. What I meant to say is that I just added another to a my very select list of favorite models. Not so much models really, but girls who, I believe, will have an impact on style and lifestyle of theur generation. I have been watching with interest Emma Watson’s photo shoots for the last year or so, and this most recent bunny-eared image was the final drop. I give up, I’m conquered!

Of course my judgment here may well be influenced by the fact that I know Emma to be much more than just a model. I did see all of the Harry Potter movies, though I wouldn’t call myself a full-blown fan (I’ve seriously enjoyed the last several books of the series however), and I’ve watched her grow. Her acting improved with age and every new film, and soon we'll see her first grownup performance in “One Week With Marilyn.” Plus Emma is well known to be a brainiac and very dedicated scholar – much like her famous character, and her intelligent interviews serve as evidence.

However Emma’s turn as a model have gotten serious just recently. One day she was just that cute clumsy teen from HP, and suddenly she was in the Burberry campaign. And then, to everyone’s surprise, she reinvented her style image in one blow by chopping off those pretty princess locks. Her brand new sexy-meets- tomboy look, along with many photo shoots that followed – much more daring and versatile than before, suddenly turned her into a valid presence in the fashion world.

Since then with every next shoot Emma seems to grow and become more and more convincingly model-like. I really tend to avoid loud and flash like “icon,” but if 2010’s were to have one, I’d rather it was someone smart, talented and multi-faceted like Emma. Anyway, just have a look at the images from various shoots in ELLE, VOGUE, i-D Magazine, CLASH, SEVENTEEN and others, and tell me she’s not the one to watch. And very closely too!

Fall must-have list

Apparently the hardest part of the moving (see previous post) is over and I’m currently somewhat caught in between two lives – the one I had in Greece and the one I will have in this new place where I’m headed in less than two weeks. Having given up my flat in Athens I’m now chilling out at a hospitable home of my friends, with my bags stashed in every corner of the room. In the meantime September came to an end but I still made but a few (very few) seasonal purchases. What can you do, moving sometimes involves unexpected expenses plus I already have too much to ship and carry with me as it is, so it only makes sense to do all the shopping in the new place. Also, I’m moving into a very different climate and wardrobe will have to be adjusted accordingly. Either way I have a pretty good idea regarding the things I certainly cannot do without this season – some of them I already own, others are to be obtained “ as soon as.”

1. Leather biker jacket

Looks like the studded black leather jacket which I got two years ago at Zara was a very smart investment indeed. Surely I wouldn’t mind having this one from Balmain as well, but, apart from being unaffordable to me, it’s also a bit too flashy while mine suits any occasion and goes with everything.

2. Mustard Yellow

Completely in love with mustard yellow this fall. And since I don’t own a single piece in this color yet, I need a splash of this in my life ASAP! A sweater or a cardigan for starters, probably tights too and maybe even a bag.

3. Leather pants

A definite must-have for a sleek rock-chick look that's so IN this season and has been a favorite of mine for years. Of course a pair of genuine leather pants of good quality (any other kind would inevitably stretch in all the wrong places and fast) would be pricy, but lucky for me H&M made a perfect alternative this fall - pants/treggings of faux leather with black elastane stripes running down the outer sides of legs. I wasted no time in getting my pair – I sense that H&M would quickly run out of them, at least in the popular sizes.

4. Long-sleeve shirts

Certainly shirts never go out of fashion, but with the whole androgyny trend now growing stronger every day, they really took center stage. To such an extent that even I, who never seemed to like myself in shirts before, gave in and added a denim number to my wardrobe still back in spring, and most recently a semi-silk champagne colored shirt that I snatched at Zara’s summer sale.

5. Kohl & Eyeliner

Sixties look is making a major comeback right now and what says “sixities” better than generously lined eyes and super long eyelashes? I’ve been an eyeliner fan for a while now, and with black kohl and black feltpen-eyeliner lying ready in my makeup bag, I’m anxious to experiment with even bolder lines this fall – at least for my evening look.

6. Lace boots

When moving to Greece I didn’t bother bringing more than a single pair of boots with me – it may have been a bit of an oversight, but I was already paying a lot for extra kilos in my luggage, and shoes are the heaviest part of the whole thing. So now that I’m going to live in a climate where boots are not just a fashion statement but also a necessity, I’m simply lusting over a pair of boots such as these. It’s practically urgent!

7. Boyfriend Jeans

I’ve been wearing ONLY skinny jeans for the past few years, always feeling that any other kind of pants made me look big. Well, I think now I’m finally ready to try on a grungier look, inspired by fall collections of Paul Smith and DSquared. Plus boyfriend jeans are a key element for cool urban layering that I’m so into this season.

8. Dramatic nail polish

The trend for bright, statement nails is clearly here to stay, however the neon shades that were so hot last spring/summer are now giving way to darker, deeper, more dramatic colors. Which means it’s time to expand my nail polish collection. Black appears to be the hit of the season, but I find it way too goth – dark blue, green and red is the way to go for me.