Animal Lite

1. Mr Kate Horn Necklace | 2. Balenciaga leather gloves | 3. Topshop camel sweater | 4. Koral Jeans | 5. D&G Animalier Eyeshadows | 6. Jil Sander Patent bag | 7. Guess watch | 8. Valentino ballerinas

Animal print will be big for the next season. You can either work it head-to-toe or clash it relentlessly with other prints. I myself will be going for the Lite version by mixing it with easy 90s basics and a touch of luxe.

 How will you wear your animals for the next season?

LFW: Sarah (Framboise Fashion)

There's one thing when people suddenly gather around a person and exclaim "oh, I love her blog so much" and actually being impressed by someone's aura. This happened when I spotted Sarah from FramboiseFashion.com on sunday: she was having the perfect straight-volumised blowdryed tresses and the most gorgeous pinky hued combination on.

Monday she sported the brick-jeans tomboy look and i? Her aura and her spontaneity! This radiates in each and every combination and the tomboy look with the opposite hair of her saturday-do proves that she has the enigma to make the camera turn to her.

Another Studsy DIY

As the studs trend seem to be going nowhere only to return with a force for this A/W season, I though it was nice to share an older DIY on a jeans gilet I wore during the Benicasim festival this year.

For this gilet I used  red cone-studs I found over here. As for applying the studs, I'd recommend one of those tools instead of your hands (or worse, teeth).

If you are still into this summer brightness of pastels and brights, I also found some over here

I-kat-ed

This must probably the most passive pic I ever put online, but I'm a lazy peoplewatcher if there are couches or hammocks around...I actually prefer the graffiti over myself in the photo, but the contrast of the black/white and the trousers were kinda cool, so don't mind me  being in that super pair of jeans

(new jeans ♥ AG: they actually stay tight and they don't give buildersbehind-booty that some skinnies can give).

I was wearing these AG Adriano Goldschmieds Ikat jeans this weekend on another short but invigorating visit to London. There was a LGTB festival, London Pride, going on so there were even more fashionable people to watch than usual: I saw a lot of pointed brogues in all kinds of colours on men. Women are looking fashionable too in Isabel Marant-like clothing, although I couldn't tell from most of them if they fancy other women just because they walk together or wear tomboy-chic, it has gotten more mainstream these days.

I am pro-love so everyone who likes another that doesn't fall in the hetero-normative structure should be able to show their affection. I mean, who cares if a man doesn't fancy women or a woman doesn't care for men, or a person just likes long legs whether they are hairy or shaved...Perhaps some women would prefer their collection of shoes over any man if they had to choose. After all, what is normal these days?

Pinocchia ft Bleached Denim Jacket

 

  A Modern Fairytale

 

 

 now Pinnocchia feels sexy...

and will shake her hair forever and ever and ever...

and nobody will ever see if Pinocchia lied about something or anything
 
Outfit: Denim Jacket: Topshop (similar here), Silver Skirt: Whyred top worn (& torn) as skirt (real skirts here), Denim & Raffia shoes: Topshop (not similar but raffia wedges here) . Embellished Collar: COS similar here, bra: Oysho (similar here), Bracelet: etsy.

Disclaimer: No real nosejobs have been performed before/during/after this shoot. Pinnocchia will share the nosy spotlight among women such as Cleopatra, Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Florence Welch and our common-day Billionaress Giselle Bünchen. 

Disclaimer 2: I've broken the "sophisticated women" rule by showing both cleavage AND legs. I don't dress up like that IRL but I needed to amp up the 'sexy' factor for the weird fairytale,

My inspiration:
Fashionhash post on blinding booties made me wanna wear silver skirts:

La Pinocchia by by Agnese Rossi(source: behance)

Spelled out...

Ph: Tripod . Suede (lasercut) Jacket Topshop, Skinnies: Topshop, Blouse: Acne, Wedges: Topshop

Outfit: same as above

I had this urban look in the beginning of this week before the heatwave struck Holland. It's somewhat less ladylike and is actually reminds me of last year's sporty vibe but it's a fun look for a day off. I kept the monochrome/sporty palette interesting and print-y (& SS 2012) by adding my Topshop lettered skinnies I got on sale this winter. I think you can DIY a jeans with your own lettering & doodling on jeans with a textile pen for a similar, but more personalised effect, eg like this Isabel Marant-lookalike here.

The black, suede, lasercut jacket is also Topshop from last year's summer collection. 2011 had a lot of back-detail jackets going on, "the fetish", whereas this year is all about "the lady"-> such contrast, good I'm not the only person schizo about fashion.

I got something with grammar and words: it probably has to do with having studied Literature at Uni. So, I got something slightly cheeky spelled out too...

Source: Sharkattack

I agree, good grammar is priceless and sophisticated but also easily available for everyone who knows the rules.

Paige Chello

I really want to continue the dodgy music theme and almost wanted to title this 'Chello, it is me you lookin' fo?' but I couldn't bare be that simple. Never mind I like Lionel Richie a lot, and his daughter's style too.

Talking about cult daughters brings me to cult jeans, which, right now is florals (pastel too, but florals take it up a nodge). I got myself the Paige Chello after serious fashion investigation, eg here. Of all the floral jeans out there I really liked the combination of florals & colours on the Chello the most.
 

 

red blouse: Red Herring @ Debenhams; Red bag with floral lining ♥: Créations Sac Mary @ Monshowroom; shoes: Shuh 

Paige isn't really cheap and you get the hassle with ordering them online (both at Revolveclothing & Shopbop). But the quality of the jeans is quite thick & sturdy so it will work for a winterjeans ánd will flatter legs that aren't stick-thin or overexcersized.

Some cheaper options are the Zara Floral jeans for 39.95 , which is quite a good & thick fabric which helps the not-too-perfect leggy ones among us (the 0.001 % who isn't either a model, anorexic or sportsaddict)

Damsel in a dressingroom

Or a flimsier fabrik is the one from NewLook, but that pattern is so lovely and it's quite cheap if you do not want to splurge too much on this trend.

cool dressing room wallpaper @ Newlook in Rotterdam

This weekend I will be 'body-fitting' them by wearing them a couple of times before washing them. The normal strategy for making jeans & skinnies really fitting for your body should be wearing them for a month without washing (or denimgeek talks about 6 months????) but that would be too bizarre for me.

Dear Diane

Diane von Furstenberg has been collaborating with one of my favourite jeans brands Current Elliot. I really like the video made by Gia Coppola, which isn't too much about fashion but still is...:



Ah, the writer's block: my last one was during writing my final thesis for university...

I really like some of the jeans DvF has been creating with Current Elliot.

I'm just not sure which one would flaunt my wardrobe. I know black/white is the safest option, but if I go for happy hawaiian florals, I should go for the happy mint, right?

Anyway, you get get them at shopbop who has this cute lookbook featuring other DvF items.

But they're still quite expensive for $250 which is a bit drastic for a jeans that might last 2 seasons, stylewise.

Beards of Steel

Wrangler's SS12 Blue Bell Campain is all about the manly bloke:

Something cliché about featuring the prototype of the manly man in a beard, doing blue-collar labour with cars, and riding bikes in the desert.

I think it's an refreshing antidote on the abundance of metrosexual men in commercials, Although don't be fooled that this type isn't vain: sometimes they spend more time on grooming their facial hair than the average metrosexual.

Tie Dye Marant

Isabel Marant Tie-dye jeans...

Wearing them:

I thought the from top down picture would give some variety...

It reminds me of one of those quartet cardgames that is quite Dutch. Kwartetten (translated by me:) is a cardgame where one tries to sample groups of 4 cards (quartets) with similar themes, eg food, fashion etc. I haven't played it for a while but I think you can swap with the other player, asking: "Do you have MlleWanderlust Marant 1?". But anyway I don't do enough fashion photography to bring about a large file.

About the jeans: I actually was in love with them and waited for 4 days before purchase. I made some pictures with them & realised they were not flattering on me. I sound like a broken record but I returned them to Zolamanola again.

Space Invaders

Jeans inspired by streetart that even have a glow-in-the-dark quality from Hudson Jeans
 

I really like them, however, they are charged $176 and add another $50 for shipping. Moreover, if you try to buy Hudson from another site than theirs, it will get complicated. I tried both Shopbob & Revolveclothing, which resulted in a clausule that they aren't allowed to be shipped outside the US.

Moreover, I have no clue about their sizing...I have never tried them before and knowing how fickle jeans can be in their sizing system I might order them too large or too small, without being able to return them easily (as they come from the US).

Still, I'm attracted to these Nico's...

My attempt to be cheap...

Sorry if the title raises high expectations but today it's about pants again.

I like some of the expensive cult-ones I ventured upon in 2011 but some are actually rather standard, if not worse than the cheapies...Both Current Elliot and J. Brand loose their shape after 1 day, leaving  my skinny jeans looking baggy.

So I went back to my cheap habit and bought some Motel Rocks...with a name like Motel, you cannot expect your pants to be expensive, right?

for anyone that likes to see the inside of my pants...

Not only cheap, but I even scored it on sale at Asos for a mere 19 pounds..


Polka dot pleasure...am I being really unfashion now?

Not quite, look at the next-season Current/Elliot range over here:

picture from Metier and she is not me

Beware, girl with hips on the next picture: (wearing the Motel Rocks, instagrammed)

Ok, I skipped the hip-part because sometimes it feels like 'look, I have a V' kind of picture...Which I have, but I believe 3 billion other women are with me on having a V, so I cannot face the fact that I really want to boast about having one...

Overal, they stay rather fitted for a longer period and I took the right size. They are not as jeans-y as the Current's, and yes, I like my Currents so I even will upgrade my polka-dotted habit into buying the Current's in the future.

But for now the cheapies will do just fine...

The Elfin

It's yellow, it's mellow and it's tight...so what is it?

It's my FAB  new purchase and I don't even look fat/chubby in it...

Ok, after my recent Proenza-mishap I reasoned I had some money left (huh?) for a new purchase. So this time I knew I needed something pastel coloured for the SS 2012 season.

Well, I got the girly reasoning going on that pastel-legs isn't really skinnifying, but I took the plunge anyway. My style-inspiration came from the incredibly gorgeous Flavya from fashioncoolture.com/br. I really seem dig the style and the aesthetics of Brazilian women:

The only thing about Current/Elliot's is that you have to get them really tight in order to have a perfect fit after a couple of moments. I can drop 3 sizes compared with a European Pepe jeans.
Now I need to work the look in the classic way that Flavya did above. It is good to know you can wear these in a colourful, quirky way with a funny hat, or go classic and sleekly Brazilian with a sharp clutch, cuffs and some killer heels

They are still on sale at mywardrobe.com for 80 euro and if you look good you can even get 10% off the sale with a discount. (I think SALE10 still works)

Novelty: Hydrating Jeans

Spotted in the Brazilian Elle, hydrating jeans from Planet Girls:

First of all, compliments to the pick of model. I already noticed the Brazilian Elle and Vogues have advertisements of women (not girls) in a stronger composition: fiercer stares and poses and often a body that gets some food in it.

I do not consider this girl plus-size at all, because her waist is so beautifully toned and fat-free, but, like me, the girl has some natural definition on her hips and I find that to be really stunning.

To the jeans...let me do a translation (but bear in mind that I only had 2 months of once a week classes in Portuguese so there might be some flaws):

"Jeans that Hydrates! PlanetGirls has taken care of profound hydratation with aloe vera in our new jeans. The Hydra Jeans line are quite beautiful, confortable, versatile and with lots of style. They contain hydrating monecules that wil make your skin supersmooth, (?) and gorgeous. 

Experiment! You will love it! 

• hydrates and improves the skintone
• stimulates the formation of collagene and elastine
• calms the nerve ends (something like that...nice, a calming jeans I need that)
• Improves and balancees the cellular regeneration
• stimulates the formation of new skincells"

I really would like to get my hands on a pair of jeans like that. Somehow 'inspired' by Current/Elliots leopard print so they really look trendy and beautiful as well. And I know if they look stunning on her kind of body that it will do favours for mine as well.

And hydrating jeans? BRILLIANT! My legs can be so dry so some extra moisturizing in the form of jeans would be welcome

PS: I found their blog, and they have a hydrating top in their collection as well, Lindísima!

designer crush: Isabel Marant #fashion

Brands are like a haircut: you can see lots of people fancying a brand and you want to try it on as well, only to see that it doesn't fit you.

My vote goes for Acne: I like or love it on other people because of their clean-cut directional image, but somehow it doesn't click with me. Somewhat strange, because I adore lots of clothes from COS and they have a similar aesthetic to Acne's

And sometimes the opposite, you really feel connected to a designer or brand. You either find your designer or it somewhat finds you.

the designer Herself: Isabel Marant

With Isabel Marant it started slow and cheap: I bought my first from her cheaper sibling of the Étoile line, and even from a previous collection from the Outnet. It is a brightly shouldered, almost fuchia jacket that is not too trend-fixed.

My second Isabel Marant was still from their ligne Étoile, only from the recent AW 2011 collection. Still relatively cheap, a sportish sweater that retails under €200.

Now it was time to venture on my real Marant from their grown-up line. Their boots, sweaters, jeans were luring me to buy them, even though I had to think of at least chilling out a €300 for them.

Until I saw her: Kelan!

Kelan is the jeans the girl on with the padded gilet, jeans blouse and fringed boots is wearing.

I was in dire need of a black jeans, after I realised my Primark version of €11 didn't fit the bill on the fashion front. Basically, Primark can make brilliant stuff that looks 10 times more expensive than they actually are, but this jeans wasn't a part of that selection: it looked like 11 euro jeans!

The fact that Kelan was high waisted instead of the contemporary bum slicing jeans these days that make curvy bums look like they have a dream of becoming construction worker one day, made my heart beat a bit faster.
 
Bliss, jeans that cradle the waist when winter arrives-> more warmth!

Remembering that net-a-porter gave me a discount of 50€ on every little purchase I wanted to make, made it more attractive. Soo, €185 minus €50 would be €135, which would be a reasonable price for a staple I am bound to like for some years to come.

My only doubt was that Isabel is a french designer and the largest size was 3 (?) that was described as L.

My fashion friends know that one L doesn't compare with another L. How L(arge) would it be? Would it be a French idea of Large (which is still tiny for a stout Dutch specimen such as I am) or an American image of large (which would be too large for a stout, but normal weight specimen such like I am).

To my amazement, 3 fits me perfectly on my first fitting. Actually, I can see myself going for a 2 when I really want to have a tighter effect, because it is a roomy kind of fit and not the skinny jeans that net-a-porter described her for.

Here is the label first...real pictures later...

My very first grown up Isabel Marant from the AW 2011 collection!

Incredibly black, sturdy like the catwalk picture suggest (the kind of cowgirl jeans) and actually not even too high-waisted, just confortably on the waist and not even a corset-like reach to the boobs.