Texture

LBD

The little black dress or "LBD" has been around for ages and is considered one of the chicest pieces that one can possess.  It is a very versatile wardrobe essential and one that can easily transition from day to night. Belt it and pair with a simple yet chic tote and low sandals during the day for relaxed elegance. At night, turn the look completely around by simply stacking up on skinny rings, using a dramatic shade of lipstick and adding a stylish  pair of sandals.

1. Thierry Larsy Sunglasses 2. SevenSeven dress 3. Oscar de la Renta earrings 4. Chanel lipstick 5. Reed Krakoff tote 6. Bottega Veneta belt 7. Skinny rings from various designers 8. Loren Barake "Lily" shoulder bag 9. Lanvin sandals 10. Sophia Webster sandals

Pops of Color

The ONE Hundred..items 5 - 9

YaY so we�ve finally made it to the next letter in Nina Garcia�s �The ONE Hundred� ... �B�. I will be taking through items 5 to 9, & first up is number 5 on the list, Ballet Flats.




#5 Ballet Flats

The first image that pops in my head when I hear the words �ballet flats� is a picture of a woman looking absolutely chic in a men�s white shirt, black cigarette leg pants, and her simple black ballet flats. C�est chic non? For me it simply screams effortless glamour. Agree?

According to Nina Garcia, if you are looking to buy a great high-end pair, try Chanel or Lanvin. And if you�re like me, and can�t afford that, try H&M, Tory Burch, J.Crew, or GAP.

This is another item that I already own, so it can be checked off my list. How about you?

Love these simple black Chanel ballet flats.

#6 Bangles

I�ll admit, I almost never wear bangles. It�s just one of those things I do actually own, but never wear. But if Nina Garcia says I should be accessorising with more than just earrings & necklaces, well then I�m going to be starting very soon. I actually think I could work it quite nicely. Whether it be fun, colourful & plastic; or a pile of gold wrist armour; or even the cool ethnic styles, I�ll find the style that suits me best. Or maybe I�ll just play around I find a few different styles to suit the different looks I put together.

Do you wear bangles? And more importantly, can you cross this off your list?

Hermes enamel bangles. Love!

#7 Belts

According to Nina, the belt is the most over-looked accessory. And I have to agree. We simply don�t appreciate what a belt can do for most looks. A belt can make you look slimmer; accentuate your womanly curves; or even add a bit of drama or bling to an outfit.

I don�t own many belts, and I certainly do not own a variety of styles, but I recently realised that I have to invest in a few more. Nina suggests buying a belt from designer brands, especially if you can�t necessarily afford to purchase a garment from them. I think that�s a fabulous idea. I want a Chanel belt like now.

Love the white vs brown on this Tory Burch belt.

#8 Bikini

In case you didn�t know, swimwear is something I am absolutely passionate about. I see myself as a fabulous swimwear designer in the next 5-10 years. So this particular item is super exciting for me.

So, Nina Garcia�s #1 tip for wearing a bikini is CONFIDENCE. And I couldn�t agree more. I love going to the beach & seeing all types of women wearing their bikinis proudly. Nina�s tips for purchasing your bathing suit is to stick to solid colours like black, white, navy, grey, chocolate brown etc. �Leave the patterns & crazy colours to the 15 year olds� hahaha. I think this is true, but I also think that if you are under 30, there�s nothing wrong with following the swimwear trends. But at the same time, if you want a swimsuit you can wear every summer, well then a solid colour, simple style bikini is your best option. I love Mara Hoffman for printed swimwear. She has such a unique way of putting her patterns together, and her design style is amazing. Another swimwear designer I admire is Rosa Cha. I love love love her work.

Most women own a bikini but do you? I certainly own a few, so this is another item I can tick off my list.

I love Mara Hoffman's printed bikinis.

Rosa Cha really knows how to make women look fabulous!

#9 Blackberry

This item is something I am quite vocal about. I HATE BLACKBERRY PHONES. Like seriously!!! I think what I don�t like is the concept of notifications & bbm etc. I don�t really enjoy communicating with people like that. And to make it worse, most of the people I know own a Blackberry, and have experienced numerous problems with them.

Nina�s FUN FACT regarding Blackberry: In 2006 the term CRACKBERRY became so popular that it made it into Webster�s Dictionary. Lol Crackberry!!! Hehehe

So, even though Nina Garcia says I have to have this item... I will not. I simply cannot bring myself to conform.

I really hope that you are enjoying my thoughts on Nina Garcia's THE ONE HUNDRED. I understand that we may not all agree, but it is always fun to hear what someone else has to say. Please be sure to catch my next installment of this series of posts.

Kisses***

Pre Fall 2012: Red Orange

A notorious trend at the Pre Fall shows was without a doubt: Red-Orange. Designers went mad for the look and sent at least two models down the runway donning the the colors. Let's wait for the other shows and see who else adopts the trend. Do you love it yet?

Look of the Day: Jessica Hart

I like how simple yet chic this look is. Pair black silk pants with a white button up shirt, red pumps, purple clutch.... and you're good to go.

Top: Theyskens' Theory. Pants: Phillip Lim. Shoes: Topshop. Clutch: YSL. Lipstick: Chanel. Earrings: Annina Vogel. Ring: Kara Ross

Brett's Top 7: June 2011

The other day I was browsing my favourite blogs, as i usually do. And I came across a great idea from my blogger friend from Singapore, Veena. On her blog Seven-Inch-Stilettos she had a list of her Top 10 things for that day/week/month, and I thought wow, that's a cool idea. Why not try it too.

I decided to opt for a monthly post on my Top 7 things for that particular month. I chose 7 because my boyfriend thinks its the best number ever. lol. And yes, this is the first of many more posts like these to come :)

This is the Top 7 list I will follow each month.
1. New Obsession
2. Fashion/Clothing Brand
3. Style Icon
4. Fashion Blog
5. Lust Item
6. Music Video
7. iPhone/iPod Touch APP

So, are we interested? I think this is going to be fun :) ENJOY!

1. New OBSESSION: IT GIRL Game on Facebook.

I'm not joking when that I stay up until like 4AM playing this game. I'm actually playing right now as I'm blogging. If that's not obsession then I don't know what is!

  
 2. Fashion/Clothing Brand: Chanel

If you know me, or follow this blog, you will know that I love love love the House of Chanel. I have loved this brand since I can remember, and so I couldn't think of another to be represented in my first Top 7 post.

3. Style Icon: Kim Kardashian

 The recently engaged Kardashian has the most awesome style. I love the way she dresses. She's not perfect & her choices are not always the best. But I still adore her. Go Kimmie!!!

4. Fashion Blog: 7 Inch Stilettos

I mentioned this blog above, 7 it is definitely a favourite of mine. Veena is only in her teens, & is still in school, but she has a fab blog. Keep up the great work :)

5. Lust Item: Christian Louboutin heels

 I would absolutely love to own at least 1 pair of Christian Louboutin heels before I die. I thinks his shoes are to die for. And how awesome is his website!!! Yummy!

6. Music Video: Beyonce - Run the World

 The Queen B is back. Yes, if you have been under a rock & have not heard, Beyonce is releasing a new album. The first song released is Run the World. A tribute to women of course. Great video!

7. iPhone/iPod Touch APP: Stylebook

This App allows you to organise your clothes & plan looks for different occasions. Its really a great tool. All you do id take pictures of your own clothing & organise them into different categories within this app. Very simple. 

So, what did you think? Be sure to leave your comment below. Also, don't forget to follow via Google connect or Bloglovin' found on the right sidebar of the blog. xoxo

Met Gala: Worst Dressed

Christian Ricci: Zac posen
Kirsten Dunst: Chanel Haute couture
Freida Pinto: Chanel Haute couture
Beyonce: Emilio Pucci
Demi Moore: Prabal gurung
Leighton Meester: Louis Vuitton

Racism in Fashion

This past week saw British designer John Galliano (pictured below) being suspended from Christian Dior, after an alleged anti-Semitic verbal assault by the Dior designer in a Paris bar. A video emerged of him ranting about Jews and women. "I love Hitler. People like you would be dead today," he tells two horrified women. "Your mothers, your forefathers, would be f***ing gassed and f***ing dead."

Fashion people everywhere rushed to check their hair before joining the chorus of dismay, almost as if racism and sexism were not the stock-in-trade of their industry. In fact, it is an open secret in high fashion that black and minority ethnic faces - alongside women whose ribs cannot be counted through their rattan tops, or "fat mummies" in the phraseology of Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld - are not welcome. The few working black models accuse fashion houses of declining to hire them on the basis of skin tone - model agencies recently suggested that perhaps consumers just don't like looking at black people.


Diversity in fashion is going backwards. The recent fashion week in New York, one of the most multicultural places on the planet, featured 85 per cent white models, a proportion that has hardly changed in a decade. French Vogue famously showcased white, Dutch model Lara Stone in blackface (pictured below), and when real black models do make it on to the pages of magazines, the airbrushing invariably lightens their colouring and straightens their hair into more marketable, Caucasian styles (see picture below). Then we wonder why anxious teenagers across the world are using dangerous toxins to bleach the blackness out of their skin.

What should shock is not just the substance of Galliano's comments, but the fact that it took a man being caught on camera explicitly saying that he loves Hitler for the fashion industry to acknowledge a teeny problem with racism. The rabid misogyny of Galliano's outburst has hardly been commented on because, while most people now acknowledge that anti-Semitism isn't very nice, the jury is still out on institutional sexism.

The misogyny of fashion culture, however, exceeds its apparent conviction that any woman with the temerity to do more than silently starve herself is abhorrent. Silent complicity surrounds the rapes and sexual assaults that are routine in the industry. When the designer Anand Jon was last year found guilty on 16 counts of rape and sexual battery of models as young as 14, the only surprise expressed by fashion insiders was that his victims had dared to come forward at all.

The pearl-clutching piety of the response to Galliano's ugly outburst is a primer in tasteful hypocrisy. High-profile fashion colleagues eventually expressed discomfort with his viewpoint, if that's an appropriate term for the sort of drooling monologue normally delivered by a park-bench pervert with two hands down his pants. The problem with racism and sexism in fashion, however, goes far beyond one slurring fantasist.

COCO CHANEL

For me, Coco Chanel is the ultimate, supreme designer that ever lived. Born on August 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. With her trademark suits and little black dresses, Coco Chanel created timeless designs that are still popular today. She herself became a much revered style icon known for her simple yet sophisticated outfits paired with great accessories, such as several strands of pearls. As Chanel once said,�luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.�

Opening her first shop on Paris�s Rue Cambon in 1910, Chanel started out selling hats. She later added stores in Deauville and Biarritz and began making clothes. Her first taste of clothing success came from a dress she fashioned out of an old jersey on a chilly day. In response to the many people who asked about where she got the dress, she offered to make one for them. �My fortune is built on that old jersey that I�d put on because it was cold in Deauville,� she once told author Paul Morand.


In the 1920s, Chanel took her thriving business to new heights. She launched her first perfume, Chanel No. 5, which was the first to feature a designer�s name. Perfume �is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion. . . . that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure,� Chanel once explained.

In 1925, she introduced the now legendary Chanel suit with collarless jacket and well-fitted skirt. Her designs were revolutionary for the time�borrowing elements of men�s wear and emphasizing comfort over the constraints of then-popular fashions. She helped women say good-bye to the days of corsets and other confining garments.



Another 1920s revolutionary design was Chanel�s little black dress. She took a color once associated with mourning and showed just how chic it could be for eveningwear. In addition to fashion, Chanel was a popular figure in the Paris literary and artistic worlds. She designed costumes for the Ballets Russes and for Jean Cocteau�s play Orph�e, and counted Cocteau and artist Pablo Picasso among her friends.

The international economic depression of the 1930s had a negative impact on her company, but it was the outbreak of World War II that led Chanel to close her business. She fired her workers and shut down her shops. During the German occupation of France, Chanel got involved with a German military officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage. She got special permission to stay in her apartment at the Hotel Ritz. After the war ended, Chanel was interrogated by her relationship with von Dincklage, but she was not charged as a collaborator. Some have wondered whether friend Winston Churchill worked behind the scenes on Chanel�s behalf.



At the age of 70, Chanel made a triumphant return to the fashion world. She first received scathing reviews from critics, but her feminine and easy-fitting designs soon won over shoppers around the world.

Coco Chanel died on January 10, 1971, at her apartment in the Hotel Ritz. She never married, having once said �I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird.� Hundreds crowded together at the Church of the Madeleine to bid farewell to the fashion icon. In tribute, many of the mourners wore Chanel suits.



Three decades after her death, designer Karl Lagerfeld took the reins at her company to continue the Chanel legacy. Today her namesake company continues to thrive and is believed to generate hundreds of millions in sales each year.

Some of My Favorite Pieces at the Moment

I'm  loving nude and beige toned pieces like crazy, nail polishes in these colors are a must!

Great Shoes

I like these shoes very much, I think that they add a lot of personality to her outfit!

Gorgeous in Chanel

Classic Elegance

By the way even if you cover it up, we know exactly what it is!

Monaco Style

Don't worry about missing anything from Monaco during the Grand Prix, I will be keeping you posted!

NYC

Chanel Bag, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, J brand jeans, a simple jacket and a t-shirt.  This girl was particularly cool because she kind of has my same style! (There is a difference though... she's got long legs that look ten times better in those jeans than mine :)