The white shirt tale
Elizabeth and James at net-a-porter
White shirts are those things which save my hideous days when I feel like throwing away every single clothing piece in my closet. These days, I usually put on my white shirt and jeans and just forget about fashion for couple of hours. This way I stop myself from doing something very very horrible – like actually throwing away my entire closet and as a result regretting doing so just couple of hours later. As you might conclude my white shirt is an absolute must in my closet – it’s the only thing that keeps this closet intact and save.
But there also these days when I feel like throwing away stuff just because that day I consider that stuff an old stuff. During one of those days I destroyed my only-favorite white shirt convincing myself that I’d run into the store the next day and replace it with a newer version of my white shirt! We all know what happen then… Then there was school and school and many other oh-so-important thing to carry about. For some weird reason I’ve manged to survive without my savior white shirt and never got it replaced.
I can’t explain my “method of selection” of white shirts but there is one, and it’s not explicable in human words… only feelings – I have for specific white colors and specific shirt silhouettes. But those colors and those silhouettes are never on the store shelves…
… and this is my sad tale of my search for THE perfect white shirt…
PS: and I have to get it until my entire closet will be gone… and I feel that this day is not so far away. ;(
Russian Fashion! Denis Simachev
I figure out that it’s one of those days when I feel like writing and hollering out everything what ’s on my mind. Plus the fact, that I was too busy during the past two months and could not write here as much as I’d like to, gives me the reason to attack my blog and post a massive amount of posts lately!
Here is my newest find – the hands belt discovered while checking out the creations of Russian designers.
This piece is by Denis Simachev, and I must say that he’s got what it takes to explode the western fashion like a Molotov cocktail! His infamous Russian folklore prints on the inside of parkas are ridiculously cool! Love his usage of bright colors and mix of sixties/seventies/eighties styles which give his creations that perfect modern touch! Can’t say more – better check them out yourself!
2009 in perspective.
This passed year (still not used to the fact that 2009 is already in past) brought a lot of buzz in fashion industry. 2009 was full of scandals, fiascoes, discoveries, collaborations, excitements, intrigues and a lot more to enumerate.
It’s hard to pick up a starting point which will describe this kaleidoscopic year, however I think that Alexander McQueen’s fashion show will do the trick the best. It has every aspect f the past year – it was grandiose, the clothes were eccentric and made a bold statement in fashion history.
(I’ll highlight the shoes later, there will be a separate section devoted to 2009 shoes)
Monsieur Decarnin blew up fashion community with his revival of Balmain. This worldwide obsession with this brand gave birth to the bold shoulder trend which translated into enormous number of runway shows for the last 4 seasons.
Vogue’s fashion explosion with their Fashion’s Night Out gave the world an approximation of how united nations are in front of fashion industry! Globalization in its pure state, thought we liked it!
I can’t forget about Lady Gaga who has been constantly taking her style to the extremes – every her appearance is a small spectacle. We like it!
The glam rock/goth trends have not given up their positions in 2009: Balmain, Givenchy, Rodarte, Alexander Wang, Zac Posen and many more shown their versions of darker side last year.
Yet another set of seasons eighties were ruling over the runways. Bright colors, bold accents, neon jewelry, acid washed denim were and still are the huge hits!
Chanel’s Paris-Moscou collection will stay in my memory for a while – Russian chick and lavishness with classic Chanel touch! I love!
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One of the huge disappointments/scandals was the infamous Olivier Theyskens leave from Nina Ricci. Nevertheless, his collection for this high fashion house will be remembered!
Yet another scandalous depart - that of Martin Margiela from Maison Martin Margiela.
Shoes and cool collaboration sections are yet to come! 
Toywatch gone Timex
I have couple of minutes on my hands until I party hard tonight, so I decided that I have to post this one this year and leave/save the job of picking up the 2009 highlights for the 2010!
It’s been 5 months since the last time I wore handwatch. Let me tell you, I am highly punctual person who has been wearing handwatch since I was in grade 6. (it must give you a perspective on how hard it was for me to give up on handwatch) But then I met an interesting man in Europe who told me the story of how time worn on hands (his way of saying handwatch) affects people’s natural aura, how people set time on themselves - I found this thought extremely profound and decided to give up on wearing time on my hand. However, I must say that this decision did not bring me any good during those 5 months I was late more times that I was late in my entire life. I felt that I missed something and now I understand that it was my handtime- so I am back to my handwatch with no regrets what so ever. Though, it’s a great opportunity to update my watch collection with one new piece.
For the past month I have been obsessed with this cool yet not over-popularized trend of white plastic/ceramic/men watches. In my search for the prefect watch, I went straight to ToyWatch website where I was pleasantly surprised with their great collections of watches just in right shapes and colors and prices. And of cause there must be a BUT and there was one huge BUT. There did not deliver to Canada – I thought then I’d stay enthusiastic and check out the proposed retailer points. Again, me being slightly naive. When I went to couple of the places where they supposedly have to have ToyWatch, all I got were those idiotic looks saying :”Hmmm ToyWatch? Maybe you should try ToyRus instead?” And then I gave up on ToyWatch… I am rather sad because I am absolutely in love with their purple plasteramics. 
Then I had that eighties fever and started obsessing about Timex digital watches. Timex80 is the last season’s brand’s update which features metal and plastic digital watches in amazing colors! I don’t know how is that I was not aware of that cool collection before. Nevertheless, I found almost perfect (to me) substitution for ToyWatch – Timex80 Indiglo white metal digital watch! And oh boy, they look great! My strategy to get them? Is of cause eshopping. To my huge surprise (detect sarcasm here), Timex80 website does not have shipping policies for Canada, ie no delivery here. I was devastated! In my despair moment my absolute favorite shopping portal came to my survival – net-a-porter.com is the only place where I can find everything I am looking for! There they were Timex80 white metal digital watch for only $60! I was over the moon. As a side note: quick delivery(literary 2 days) got here, in Mtl, my watch right before all the New Year parties!
Now I am back on track with my time on my hand and now my time is my new white Timex80!
image of ToyWatch taked from fashionbloguk.files.wordpress.com and www.frenchtruckers.com
Happy New Year! It’s 2010 after all!
Wish you all the best!
In the next couple of days I will prepare the sum ups of all the best fashion moments of 2009!
Teletype: PHI goodbye…
Sad news, it’s been announced that fashion brand PHI (founded only in 2003) will no longer exist staring this spring. I just started to notice it this fall and thought that it might be worth spending that much money of their structural dresses. Recession is not over and we only start seeing its effects on our industry. Once more, it’s sad.
MY wish list 2010.
Even though I hate shopping, I still enjoy the process of finding the truly great gifts not only for myself but also for all my relative (and believe me I have a lot of them all around the globe). So I decided to put together a list of gifts the I find the best/coolest:
1. Emma Cook’s ankle boots from Topshop
2. Sony camcorder – my personal choice, hopefully I’ll get my hands on it this NY.
3. postal cards kit (my grandma’s favorite)
4. gold bracelet with red fiber by Monica Vinader ($115 on net-a-porter)
5. Yohji Yamamoto’s men’s underwear collection for the loved one.
6. a cuckoo clock – loved this one in white from Zone.
… To be continued. I will now resume my virtual search for the rest on my wish list/ gift list for this season.
Online shopping – wish lists.
It’s not surprise to anyone (except for me – I was out of sync for the last couple of week – why? – final exams period) that the next 2010 year is only 2 weeks from today. What does it mean? It means gifts and resolutions and parties and for some of us – freezing cold outside (hello Canada, Russia, Finland, Iceland!). Oh and I forgot to add stress to the list, but it’s rather pleasant stress (not like the one you get from finals). So there are couple of things during the holiday season that make you feel stressed, and yes, I am talking about holiday shopping. I love fashion and clothes and cool designers but I DO NOT love shopping. I am not the kind of person who finds it’s pleasant to run through all those stores trying to find something special. I’d rather stay inside, at my desk and shop online – no pressure, no stress – only the comfort of my own chair. That’s why I love this great feature which is present in almost all the cool online store this now – wish list option. Not only you can pick everything you like and put it in a list, but you can also email it to the right person (I mean the person who really needs to know what’s on your mind when it comes to gifts). And your wish list comes with the right visual props, now you don’t have to worry that you loved one will get you the wrong thing, or may be just minimize the chances this happens when they have colorful pictures to help them. Or may be they are as smart as you are and will just order so-much-needed gift straight from that online store.
This year I definitely will take advantage of this cool/smart feature. So, my friends, check your emails more often!
The ears.
Topshop
It caused controversy when Madonna wore them to the MET Gala – Luis Vuitton’s “ears”, well I see them as ear-wings actually.
After that there were couple of more people who spotted some sort of earish hair accessories.
What can I say? I like it. IT seems like a new funky trend – why do I say so? Simply because when something is being reproduced by such a mega street fashion mogul as Topshop – it becomes THE trend. Yes, Topshop now offers a headband in form of ears (they call it bunny ears) featuring three different color to match your New Year’s party outfit! I would run and grab their Bunny Ears in all three colors…only if Topshop existed in Canada… (Luckily I have connection in Moscow, so if I need something really badly, I can get it in Moscow)
PS: lately I have a total obsession with Topshop – it’s genius.
Pure by Alfred Sung
Zellers
We all hate those crazy emails sent to your inbox by all these spammers – but do sometimes look at least quickly over the titles of those potentially boring (or even incoherent) emails. I’ve found out just recently that I subscribed to one amazing service offered by sweetspot company. Their emails turned out to be highly interesting and entertaining, and informative! (I love this combination)
I learned from their emails that Canadian designer (who is better known for his perfumes than for his apparel) is collaborating with Zellers. The results are not that bad -it’s Zellers after all: all the classics – black cashmere blend cardigans, white shirts, lots of variants of silkish tops and couple of suits.
I went to check the collection in the closest Zellers – I would say that the quality is better that the regular stuff they sell at this store. The best two pieces of this entire collection are the jeweled necklace and their “jacket d’ecolier”. Could not resist – I got them both… jacket was only $10 – it was on sale, I found it amusing that the only thing worth spending my money for was actually on sale – it does not usually happen that often!
But now I am thinking that I had to pick up one of their boyfriend blazers as well! And I think I will stop by that store tomorrow to get my hand on that tailored blazer – it’s only $39! Can’t miss!
Go Zellers Go!