Back from London Fashion Week

I'm back from a week of fun and hard work in London.

I went there last Monday to experience the goings-on during LFW (and to go nuts in Topshop, Shu Uemura, Zara etc.) and I just got back. I stayed with my stylist friend, Lina from Moscow, who I met at the styling course I took at CSM, and we had a lot of fun.

During the week I was so lucky as to be invited to the Storm Model party at Dover Street's Mahiki where I partied alongside Janice Dickenson, and I ended the night dancing at Luxx in Mayfair. GREAT night!!

I also got a press pass to enter the LFW exhibition where I could talk to designers, see shows, and take pictures of cool fashionistas. Around Somerset House, where the exhibition and a lot of the shows were held, I ran into Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist), Alexandra Shulman (Editor in Chief of UK Vogue), Hilary Alexander (The Daily Telegraph's fashion director), among many others.

Stay tuned for pictures of fashionistas, celebs and more!


Me after seeing the Paul Smith showroom.
I'm wearing: Jacket from Topshop, dress from H&M, scarf from Louis Vuitton, wayfarers from Ray Ban, bag from Miu Miu, denim leggins from Only, ballerina flats from Lanvin, and bracelet from Topshop.



Sadie Frost outside the Longchamp on New Bond Street



McCollough and Hernandez go ladylike – but stay true to the Proenza spirit

You probably already know a lot of the SS11 styles and tendencies from looking at Style.com, blogs, etc. so I won't bore you with showing you pictures from all of them. At some point I will make lists of must-know tendencies from the four major fashion weeks, but right now, I want you to take a look at one of my favourite SS11 collections from NYFW. Proenza Schouler once again proved that no matter what their inspiration is, colour wise, time period wise, or muse wise, they ALWAYS make collections that are wearable and amazing (and that I wanna wear!). They're just so freakin' talented!! And they style their collections so well.

The first half of the collection was ladylike and Chanel inspired. The second half was somewhat Marni inspired, but they still stayed completely true to the Proenza spirit, using strong yellow, orange, red, blue, and green, and mixing in the sporty elements that was also seen in their SS11 "surf" collection.

Notice the sheer fabrics (I want'em!), the visible lingerie (I want'em more!), the pointy black snakeskin pumps (I WANT WANT WANT'em! - marry me, Darren Spaziani (P.S.'s accessories designer)), and, of course, Abbey Lee's new, blonde 'do, that's simply devine.

Watch, absorb. enjoy.

Photo and video credits: TFS, Style.com

Style icon: Elisa Sednaoui

While reading the September issue of British Vogue, I came across model/actress Elisa Sednaoui and her incredible, minimalistic style. She was born in Rome, raised in Egypt and France, and now lives in New York, and from her personal style you can see that she's been around. She wears a lot of black and short dresses/skirts, and she loves Louboutins (Christian is her godfather!!). All of her clothes are amazingly picked out and she styles the pieces REALLY well! Check out the pictures and videos below and notice her shoe collection, her smile, and this season's leather pieces.

Want to know more? Read this interview by Vogue it.

Above: Photos from British Vogue, in which Elisa combined pieces picked out by Vogue with her own clothes. I especially love the thigh-high Louboutin python boots in the top, middle picture and the LBD by Lisa-Marie Fernandez at the bottom - both Elisa's own pieces.

Interview done by Vogue Italia.


Modelinia's 'In her Closet'.

Photo credits: The Fashion Spot, Vogue it, Modelinia.

Oh, to be smart and pretty

Admitted. I have a thing for nice-looking books. I mean, I love reading books, no doubt about that, but just buying them gives me a weird form of satisfaction. I don't know if it's because I hope that I will become insanely smart after having read the book, or if it's just knowing that it will look good on my bookshelf at home, but no matter what I just LOVE'em!

And these bad boys are a sight for sore eyes! The covers are designed by Penguin Books' senior cover designer, Coralie Bickford-Smith, for Penguin Classics. I only have 12 of the 20 she's designed in the 'Clothbound Series' 1 and 2, but I'm trying to find the rest in bookshops and online.

Bickford-Smith has also designed the covers of two new books in the Clothbound Series (Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings' and Dante's 'Inferno') and many other series of books. Check out the pretty 'Miscellaneous' series and much more on this link.

Left to right: Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre', Jane Austen's 'Emma', Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist', D.H. Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice', Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Cranford', Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights', Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Ubervilles', Dickens' 'Great Expectations', Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island', Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility', and Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'.

It's THAT time of the year

Get ready for some serious trend-spotting during the next four weeks, since it's THAT time of the year.
New York Fashion Week (or Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week) kicked off yesterday (Sept. 9) and will run until Sept. 16th.
Sept. 17-22 London will host their fashion week (during which I will be in London taking street style photos and trying to capture some great moments).
Sept. 22-28 is Milan Fashion Week, and finally
Sept. 29- Oct. 7 Paris will be the hôtesse of Paris Fashion Week - during some of which I will also find time to take street style photos (lensing Carine Roitfeld is my highest goal of the trip) in between eating macarons, buying shoes, and trying to get into shows.

So make sure you have the following: a pen and a paper (or it can be done electronically, but I prefer the old-fashioned way) to write down trends and must-haves for SS11. Plus hours and hours of free time to spend on Style.com, the Sartorialist, and, of course, Net-a-Nanna (if you're not one of the few lucky ones who actually get to see these shows live) to find these trends and get inspiration for your future wardrobe.

Good luck, and have fun!

Carey Mulligan - Grace Coddington style

Grace Coddington's spreads always amaze me, and this one of Carey Mulligan for the October 2010 US Vogue is no exception. 'The Talented Miss Mulligan' is shot by Peter Lindbergh.

Photo credit: TFS

Single Ladies, Sara Bareilles version

Listen to Sara Bareilles' version of Beyoncé's Single Ladies

Another collaboration to hit shops in November

This November a Gap and House of Valentino collaboration will hit stores in Italy, Paris (Colette), and London (Gap’s Oxford Street flagship and Dover Street Market). Valentino’s creative directors, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, will design a capsule collection of womenswear based on Gap’s iconic pieces, Gap announced today.

I was already saving up for Lanvin’s H&M collaboration, so I might as well start putting aside money for this too (and for a trip to either Italy, London or Paris).

Is it too optimistic to hope they make ruffled jackets similar to this one but at high-street prices?

Photo credit: Style.com

Two great movie directors' fashion commercials

Watch Bleu de Chanel's new commercial directed by Martin Scorsese starring French actor, Gaspard Ulliel, and Danish singer, Amalie Bruun.



Or watch Sophia Coppola's Miss Dior Chérie commercial featuring Maryna Linchuk. Music by Brigitte Bardot.

I love the styling of the Dior pieces both the long and the short dress. See the picture underneath of Cameron Diaz and Lily Cole wearing the long, tiered dress.

Photo credit: InStyle.com

It’s FINALLY mine!!! (loud evil laugh)

About 6 months ago I found out that my favourite photographer, Mr. Peruvian photo-god himself, was to make a coffee table book filled with photos of his long time gal pal Miss British model/style-goddess HERself (talk about bulletproof plan, huh?), which immediately made me jump around like crazy (we’re talking Tom Cruise style, guys). Subsequently though, I learned that the book was going to cost around 472 dollars. Buuuuut… I figured that I would love the book so much and for so long that it would be worth it to pay that much money for a book – plus the advantage of the fact that the book is limited edition (1500 copies) so I could sell it if I needed the money later on (which I would never do, but it helps my argument).

So I e-mailed Taschen in Denmark (Copenhagen) and reserved one, went there to pay for half of it, then waited an entire summer, and then, in late August, I finally got it! It’s MIIIINE! I have book number 1126 out of the 1500 copies and Mario has signed it. Check out the photos underneath.

Btw, coinciding with the book was or is an exhibition called ‘Kate Who?’ showing pictures of Kate taken by Mario Testino at Phillips de Pury & Company in London. See this link for more.

Me smiling happily with the book.

Me kissing the book (I wasn’t kidding about the Tom Cruise thing).

The cover

The oversized cotton shirt is from H&M (bought in Denmark), the jeans are from J Brand (bought at Saks in Boston), and the bangle is borrowed from a friend (bought in Denmark).