Fashion and architecture. Huh?

[pic BKRW]

You want fashion and architecture? I'll give you some.
Hell, I'll even throw in a pop star and a dose of avant-garde art, while we're at it.

So, here's Lady Gaga debuting her new ballad at the MOCA's 30th anniversary party, wearing a hat designed by Frank Gehry and a dress by Prada, while playing on a Steinway grand piano painted pink with blue butterflies by Damien Hirst.

[pic Nicola Formichetti]

MOCA stands for the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. Read the whole story and see more pictures here:

WHORANGE
Nicola Formichetti
BKRW

Grey matter

Nice, but not quite "me".
Shift dresses are amazing, but I still don't feel they could be part of my everyday wardrobe.

Not yet.

Grey wool shift dress with matching belt, ZARA.

Can't get enough of da Sugahspank!

Last night we had a special music gathering with ma girlz Alecca and Bianca at Stavros Tou Notou club, hosted by the incredible, the invicible Sugahspank!

Whatta night!
I can now officially say that Georgia is a true diva on stage, and a real sweetheart off it.

The first part of the show was inspired by Voodoo and New Orleans, with Sugahspank singing gospel, soul and the blues, along with the amazing Swing Shoes band. I'm totally on a nostalgic summer mood now, after seeing that amazing flower hair ornament on her.

She definitely put a voodoo spell on us.

And then, the second part of the show was totally groovy, with Sugahspank bringing da hip to da hop along with DJ Oxocube.

And our diva totally delivered sartorially in her pink leopard-print dress, yellow sneakers, trucker cap and impressive bling bling.

And don't forget to check Alecca's post on our amazing night. She also managed to grab some vid aaaaand two pics featuring me and ma girlz. And as always, she got her post up in the speed of light. Girl, you are the flash-blogger!

I officially declare Tuesdays as the new Saturdays!

Blue. Also, pink is the new red

Meet my new babies! Aren't they beautiful? Got them at good old Dorothy Perkins, during my recent trip to the UK. And no, they did not cost an arm and a leg. Unless you are willing to sell aforementioned body parts for 30 quid.

I'm seriously contemplating putting them on display in my bookcase instead of wearing them outside, where the beautiful soles will be destroyed in a second. One step too far?

Anyway, judging by the number of comments on this post lots of you agree on my view that forgotten stickers on the bottom of our new shoes look vile and disgusting, so I decided to do a mini tutorial on how to remove these suckers fast, easy and without any glue residue.

First, blast the bottom of the shoe with hot air from your hairdryer. About three minutes will do. The glue will soften and you will be able to remove even the peskier ones. Gently start to peel off the stickers. Just remember that if you take too long, the glue will cool off again, so you might need to use the hairdrier once or twice more to finish the job.

I was rather lucky, as the shoes had a protective film that took all the other bad boys with it, once removed.

Still can't get over those pink soles. Christian who?

Secret weapons

Sometimes when I'm down, knowing that I can randomly flash a stranger with my floral coat lining or make someone do a double take of my pink soles, are enough thoughts to make me feel a bit better.

Coat, INSIGHT. T-shirt, PULL&BEAR. Scarf, H&M. Sweatpants, VIPS. Shoes, CAMPER.

Three shoe lessons learned at AXDW

LESSON 1

Girls, you are more than welcome to choose Zara over some other fancy designer label, that costs an arm and a leg. After all, we are not all pop stars with wardrobes full of Louboutin, Jimmy Choo and YSL, right?

But please, do remember to peel off the red "alarm system" sticker all Zara shoes bear. It's not pretty and it's definitely not supposed to stay at the bottom of your new shoes.

My friend Angela - who is not shortsighted like me and is really good with details - actually spotted one of those stickers on the sole of a model's shoe on the actual runway. The horror!

LESSON 2

We all get that warm fuzzy feeling in our hearts when we discover something we just bought is an exact match for something else already in our wardrobes. We let ourselves get silly-happy for a moment and then we resist the urge to wear them together just to prove they match. That's what I do, at least.

And let us not deal with the red plaid pants issue now. No need, right?

LESSON 3

Actually, the orange mary-janes above (spotted right after the Andy The Ahn show) are a great example of cute, edgy and fun shoes a young woman can wear at fashion week. And further more, what an inspired combination the teal tights are!

I was very pleased to see that example.

But apparently so was the wearer herself, as she wore the exact same combo five days later, on Wednesday November 4th, at the Tassos Vrettos "Athens: City and Cinema" photography exhibition opening party (my twitpic from that evening) at the Benaki Museum.

I'm neither condemning nor condoning it. I just happened to be there to document it. As a matter of fact, I'm guilty of doing the exact same thing with my grey peep-toe booties and black tights. But I got away with it, as no-one took a picture of me on both days... Did they?

See more shoes from AXDW chez Alecca Rox here and here.

Digitaria Winter Gathering

Just came back from K44, where DIGITARIA held their WINTER GATHERING party, releasing the DRAGGING THE FORTIES Men’s & Women’s Collections. Famous for the same-name cult boutique in Soho of London (Style Bubble posted about it back in June) DIGITARIA is actually a Greek fashion label, created by Eleftheria Arapoglou and Stavros Karelis.


Some one-off pieces - exclusively made for the evening - were up for sale at the showroom. A gorgeous full-length illuminated mirror and a spacecraft-looking white changing booth, as well as Eleftheria herself (wearing her own amazing tulip-shaped shorts, below) were there to help anyone who wanted to try on the clothes.


I suspect Alfredo didn't resist a little DIGITARIA something. Although I left too early to know, I'm sure he went home with that black lace men's scarf.

DIGITARIA's showroom at K44 (Konstantinoupoleos 44, Gazi) is open Monday-Wednesday-Friday afternoons. Better drop an e-mail to Eleftheria first (ria@digitariaworld.com) before you pop in to admire the clothes!

[first two pics are by Yorgos Mavropoulos for DIGITARIA]

Too posh to tweet?

Thankfully, not everyone thinks that way! Glad to see bryanboy made quite an impression at Milan Fashion Week...

[link link link]

This is how it all works now.

So, dear too-posh-to-care fashion designers, take notice: It's called social media. If you don't embrace it, it's gonna eat you alive. Still not convinced? See this and that. Oh, and let's not forget WWD. By the way, hello Anna, love you! Happy 60th birthday.

I die.

Miltos SS2010 show at AXDW

Miltos presented his SS20101 collection at AXDW last Sunday. It was a virtual time-travel to 1940's Paris and we loved it! Τhe music of Édith Piaf was masking our gasps, as we admired the luxurious coats, classic blazers, fitted pencil skirts and amazing evening dresses made with velvet, silk and feathers.

The press release reads:

Born in Athens, Miltos' first contact with fashion was as a production and sales manager in a well-known company with silk garments. His experience in raw materials together with his love for high quality resulted in starting up his own studio 17 years ago, while studying fashion at Veloudakis Fashion School. Feminine lines, all time classic elegance, fresh style with high class, would be a close description to his work. Miltos currently works at his studio in Kolonaki, where he creates pret-a-porter and haute couture collections, as well as unique bridals.

Some may argue that there's no innovation in re-introducing fashions from past decades. I say, sometimes a designer who is a master in handling quality materials and haute couture techniques and who can deliver that old-school glamour we all love, is all we need. N'est pas?

[All pictures mine. Do not use without permission.]

Andy The Anh SS2010 show at AXDW

His name might still be quite unknown in Greece, but one thing is for sure, Andy The Anh makes great dresses. I'm pretty sure I heard some people go "AAAAHHH" when the long turquoise gown with the oversized black flower boutonniere appeared.

I'd love to know how much do those dresses retail for. And who stocks them in Greece? Me thinks, a phone call to the AXDW PR office is on the cards, in order to answer my questions...

More info coming soon!

[All pictures mine. Do not use without permission.]

Celebrity Skin SS2010 show at AXDW

Quite appropriately titled iMMortaL ExtRaVAganZa, the Celebrity Skin by Dimitris Strepkos and Eleni Mparla Spring-Summer 2010 show was spectacular to watch.

The show started with the projection of footage from a photo-shot. The model was so perfect, we could cry.

And then, the show started...

...and quite a goth-glam iMMortaL ExtRaVAganZa it was!

However, several people I talked to after the show, were left quite puzzled as to whether these clothes can be worn in real life.
I say who cares?
Does anyone question Alexander McQueen's extravagant shows full of probably-unwearable-in-real-life clothes? No, because they ARE a show. I think that's what the Celebrity Skin duo tried to do here. Create a feel for us, give us an insight on what they're trying to channel for next summer, allow us see their vision and their skills.

I say me likey!

PS1 Me likey the press kit CD too! Hand-packaged along with loose black sequins in black tulle and fastened with a safety pin, for that extra punk factor. Rock on!

PS2 I tweeted this pic above as I was waiting for the show to start. You can follow me on twitter to see all my runway tweets!

[All pictures mine. Do not use without permission.]

Front row of Angelos Frentzos at AXDW

[click to enlarge]

6th Athens Xclusive Designers Week

We still haven't caught our breath from FWA, and AXDW is already here! Visit the official site for more info and don't forget to check out this video.

The shows start today, so we'd better hurry up!

I have to say, one of the things I'm really looking forward to this time, is the Open Forum.

The invitation above reads:

The interaction and give-and-take between fashion and architecture are the main points of focus of the 6th Athens Xclusive Designers Week, which starts on Friday October 30th 2009 and supports the 1930's Modern Movement Architecture in Athens.

With common interests, like design and aesthetics, the Greek Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage and Athens Xclusive Designers Week
are inviting you on
Monday, November 2nd at 14:00
to an Open Forum on the subject of
Fashion and Architecture.

Speakers:
Alexandros Tobazis (architect)
Ekaterini Katsampe (ETOAA chairman)
Giannis Tseklenis (fashion designer)
Konstantinos Tzoumas (actor)
Katerina Chatzikonstantinou (architect)

Can you guess how excited I am?

French Bird

Just two days ago I ordered two brooches from Naked Tile's Etsy shop...

...and today the postman came!

Yeah, I know that apart from the image inside, they're identical, but I wanted them both.
I'm a greedy girl, what can I say?

Thanks Natalie, they're amazingly cute.
Gonna show them off in an outfit soon, me thinks.

Fashion Week Athens SS2010 - Overview

So, Fashion Week Athens ended this past Sunday. You've probably already read all my other FWA posts and I guess you're a bit tired of the whole thing by now (like I am), so let's wrap it up!

Due to my recent traveling schedule, I missed the two first days, namely Thursday and Friday. But when I did get myself down to Gazi last Saturday, the image that greeted me was this:

The cataclysmic rain had flooded the courtyard of the Technopolis building complex and the FWA people were anxiously trying to pump the waters out and make the place fashion-worthy once again.

A wet fashionista is an unhappy fashionista - no one wants that!

Anyway, things were a lot dryer inside the hair-and-make-up room. And waaaay crazier. Those MAC make-up girls sure know how to yell right next to your ear. Ouch.

And then there were the shows... I myself only got to see the Next Generation show on Sunday as I was either absent or running around backstage, so I'll have to base my opinions on the photos I borrowed from the kind people over at JGK.

It's not hard to observe that the dominant colour of the season was white. It was widely present in almost all the collections and I loved the innocence and pureness it evoked.

[Giannetos - Ugo Zaldi - Victoria Kyriakides]

Other than white, pastels were major too, but in a more subtle, non-kitchy palette and combined with black details. Très chic!

[Katerina Alexandraki]

I have to say, I was very happy to see that all three of last year's newcomers each had their own proper show, and with great success and acceptance from the fashion crowd.

[Dimitri Zafiriou - Dimitris Petrou - DElight]

I specially loved Dimitri Zafiriou's styling.
So retro-modern!

[Dimitri Zafiriou]

And the way DElight use block colours by sewing their pattern pieces together will never cease to fascinate me.

[DElight]

But if I had to choose one outfit to wear all summer long next season, it would be this simple skirt and white top ensemble. Pure summer perfection!

[Samantha Sotos]

That's what I thought of the actual clothes.

But overall, this FWA left me feeling numb. As I said before, I had expressed my initial concerns in this post, published on October 13th. That was 10 days before the opening date and even then only a handful of people knew it was going to take place! Trouble in Paradise did cast some light on the situation, but still... I really hope this time the HFDA will take advantage of the six month break till the next fashion week in March, and get rid of their inner problems once and for good. It would be a shame if Greek fashion continues to suffer because of such silly reasons.

If you still feel hungry for FWA scoops, one of the most thoroughly researched reports on this FWA - both on the shows and the organizational drama - was that of fellow blogger and fashion insider Alecca Rox. You can read all her posts on this year's FWA here. Other Greek fashion/style bloggers who covered the event were Shopping Therapy, Fashion Paths, Stylesheet19, Life in Athens and reporting from backstage Queen B and The Soho Symposium.

A big thank you goes out to Alfredo Saltiel, the organizational mastermind behind the Julia Bergovich, Katerina Alexandraki and DElight shows. Without him, we wouldn't have got the chance to experience all this sweet madness that is the backstage of fashion week. And I have the feeling we're gonna start hearing his name a lot more often from now on.

Until next time... or AXDW!

[Alfredo, QueenB, Lopi]

[all catwalk photos in this post by JGK and further edited by me]