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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Wrap (me up) dress

I’m back in Bucharest so I’m going to update the blog a lot more from now on!

That’s the last pre-vacation outfit, in fact I wore this the day before the trip. As you may notice I was feeling very Balcanic hoochy momma that day and choose to wear a tight chocolate wrap dress with a pair of animal print peep toes. I’m anything if not classy and I will keep telling you this until you really start believing it.:))) Pictures are clearly not enough!

Seriously now, Diane Von Furstenberg really had a stroke of genius when she created the first wrap dress – they are so easy and cool, you feel like a gift wearing them! I’m so hooked!

You might also notice a new bag – an instant summer favorite. I love the mix of yellow and cream with gold hardware and the extra long shoulder strap.
I went with red accented jewelry for an extra bit of color.

 I’m wearing: 
dress / rochie  - random brand
bag / geanta - random brand
  peep toes / sandale -  New Yorker
  gold earrings / cercei - Jewelry Box
   bracelet / bratara - New Look
ring / inel - romwe
   

Friday, July 27, 2012

And they had stars in their eyes


As you might imagine, the last days before the much expected vacation to Cyprus, I was in a very good mood and felt like dressing up. And so I wore this light, star printed, blue dress as soon as it came – straight from the box if you wish.

The turquoise base color makes it a perfect summer dress. As for the studded black sandals - I scored them in the sales and can’t stop wearing because they go with everything and also happen to be quite comfortable. In fact they are the only pair of heels I packed for my trip – so you are about to see them a lot in the future holiday outfit posts.

The long tassel earrings are handmade by yours truly and the rest of the jewelry is a mix of silver, turquoise and black – I just had to stick with the initial color palette, it just felt right.

I also got this hilarious pair of red sunglasses that are way too big and make me look like a crazy bee and couldn’t take a photo with them on - I just wasn’t able to keep a straight face while wearing them, but I guess I can wear them to a fun party and that way provide the free entertainment. :)))))

  I’m wearing: 
dress, sunglases / rochie, ochelari  -  random brand
  sandals / sandale-  Deichmann
  spiked blue bracelet / bratara tepi albastra  - romwe
tassel earrings / cercei franjuri - Alice&Sara (handmade by me)
   bag, belt / geanta, curea - vintage
ring / inel - forever 21
black&silver bracelets / bratari negre&argintii - random brand

Thursday, July 26, 2012

What to wear this summer?

Hello guys! I'm sunbathing/dancing on a sunny beach as we speak, so go ahead and hate me, but no that much because I felt inspired and made a few outfit collages that you can recreate using what you already have in your wardrobe.

Let me know which one is more of your style!

wild horses tshirt, double zippers bag, denim shorts, studded flatform trainers, spiked bracelet, fish spine ring, black stone ring


 spiked denim vest, peter pan collar blouse, lace sandals, tie-dyed skirt, cream preppy bag, feathered gold bracelets, triple blue ring


 leopard print shirt, metallic sandals, bird print tank top, studded cut offs, red tassel bag, chain bracelet


lace asymmetric dress, scalloped short dress, lavender pink pleated dress, neon pink necklace, nude embellished sandals, arrows necklace

What's your favorite item and set from the ones I made?
I'm kind crazy about the wild horses t-shirt - the digital print is amazing!

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Monday, July 23, 2012

Cosmic business


I recently jumped on the cosmic print bandwagon and I have no regrets about it. It just looks so awesome when it’s done right! Take this long, see through, oversized dress I wore as a blouse because I can’t go to work looking all naked transparent and stuff – the color and the galaxy print are simply beautiful.

I don’t really do business attire but I thought it would be interesting and unusual to pair it with a pencil skirt that picks up one of the base colors in the dress. But as I can’t really stick to serious all the way  I added I pair of huge feathered earrings and a gold, spiked bracelet. 

At least I color coordinated the shoes and the bag – promise not to do that again too soon (but I have to admit it kinda works for this particular look).

What I have to wear more often it’s the bright orange lipstick as I'm not all that adventurous with my makeup – I was actually surprised how good it looks.

 I’m wearing: 
dress worn as blouse / rochie purtata ca bluza - random brand
  skirt / fusta -  random brand
   bracelet / bratara  - random brand
feather earrings / cercei cu pene - New Look
   bag / geanta - Debenhams
shoes /pantofi - Lenardo

Friday, July 20, 2012

Marina and the Diamonds – quirky pop and yet another change of face


All I ever wanted was the world
I can’t help that I need it all

There’s a new bubblegum bitch girl in town! I’m talking about Marina and the Diamonds! The Welsh singer - songwriter’s full name is Marina Lambrini Diamandis and her added stage name - the Diamonds - doesn’t refer to her backing band, as many of us would think, but her fans (as she explains - "I’m Marina, you’re the Diamonds").


She has something called a synaesthetic condition that involves seeing musical notes and days of the week in different colors – a very artistic affliction if you ask me.

Marina is half Greek and spent two years in Greece with her father (her parents divorced when she was 4) after graduating from the exclusive Haberdashers’ Monmouth School on an assisted place. She seems such a normal, middle class girl so far, right? Oh well, wait for it!

She then moved back to England at 18 “delusional with drive” and started intensely pursuing a music career and even dropped out of university (4 of them in fact) to concentrate all her energy to this sole purpose.


She’s been trying to make it big in the industry for quite a while and for someone so clearly talented and fiercely ambitious she’d been flying under the radar for a long time! Before signing with 679 Recordings (a Warner subsidiary) and officially making it into the big leagues Marina used to be a "DIY musician” writing all of her lyrics (still doing that), while also recording and producing all her songs in her room using only the Apple software application GarageBand, drum beats and her keyboard.


She is now 26 years old and her new album “Electra’s heart” is a huge success. Her debut album, The Family Jewels, was a modest success in 2010 – so here’s a hell yeah for a steady rise to the top. The question around town is – did she have to create this whole new persona to really make it big?

The songstress describes her sound as an alternative to mainstream pop music. Talking about how she doesn’t really have a musical background and nobody really knew she could sing until she was 20, Marina once said "I probably have a bit of a different sound because I don’t really know what I’m doing"
Paul Lester (The Guardian) wrote that “her songs are hard to fathom. They veer between simple keyboards-based ballads and more upbeat and catchy, quirky new wave-inflected numbers enhanced by percussion, guitar and drums."

As a whole Electra’s Heart is a bit confusing lyrically and hard to digest because of the dramatic vocals and the interesting mix of electro pop and piano sounds.

I think that’s ultimately the “problem” – Marina uses her powerful voice as a gun and sometimes overpowers the melody by making more noise than necessary (it’s like she’s trying to be weird). My favorite songs are the ones that are the simplest, striped of all the excess noise like Starring Role, Fear and Loathing, Valley of the Dolls and Teen Idle. And yes, I’ll addmit that much: I also love Primadonna, it’s just such a catchy song!


The obsession for Hollywood, the American Dream, superficiality, materialism, all these clichés archetypes of women: the bitch, the cheater, la femme fatale, the prom queen but also the artificial, doomed and sad truth about love, dependency, narcissism, vulnerability are all recurrent themes of Marina’s lyrics and part of the imagery for her songs.

I think what I find disconcerting about Marina is all the contradictions I’ve seen in her – from her style/image, to the lyrics and even the interviews I’ve read. Electra’s Heart is supposed to be an ironic point of view on all the worst parts of Marina Diamandis that she didn't want to become, but then she appears in a blonde wig, with a black trade-mark heart on her cheek, dressed in 50’s inspired pastel get ups – such a change from her original striking brunette look and fun, cartoon inspired outfits! 

She explains it a bit by saying (Popjustice): "The whole idea, the whole notion of pop culture and especially pop music is ALL based on illusion. And portraying yourself as something more exciting than you are. And my heart is always against that. So that’s why I’m doing it. I’m SO against it that I almost have to play the part. Does that make sense to you?”

No, it’s doesn’t (for me at least) – I’m a fan of vintage and retro, but find this change extremely artificial and unnecessary! I preferred the old Marina as far as her image goes – the dark hair and childish/kitschy outfits seemed more like her than this Americana plastic femme fatale. 


I feel she’s trapped between wanting to stay true to herself and the certainty that he can’t if she wants to be a huge star and have an impact in mainstream. I guess it’s mainly the industry’s fault: you have to be someone else and stir some kind of controversy to get noticed. She sais it herself in an interview for glamourmagazine.co.uk:

R: "What's the one message you're trying to get out with the album?"
Marina: "I guess the main message is centered around what we all think love should be. What we expect from it, and what the reality of it is. There is some questioning of identity in there. I changed my look so radically. Partly to become someone else and separate myself from being that love-lorn person. Partly because I wanted to see how differently I would be perceived because of it. I was interested in the power of image - it's what pop stars are built on. And how weak that image simultaneously is. For example, you take it all off when you go to bed at night."


I don’t want to sound like a preachy, pretentious asshole – after all said and done I like most of Marina’s songs and I recognize her talent and even understand that in order to became famous and appealing to the masses she had to change her appearance (ironically or not) while keeping her sound and message as original as possible given the circumstances. 

It would be hypocritical of me not too do so as I had no problem with the even more radical transformation of Elisabeth Grant into Lana Del Rey even if Lana’s persona  it’s a better, more glamorous change of face. But I still feel the prom queen themes are somehow more appealing coming from Lana Del Rey.

 What do you think? Are you a fan of hers?


Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Jeweled Heels


Believe it or not this dress is one of my favorite – I love how simple it is, I like the shape and print and the lovely semi-backless detail. That being said it’s still a cotton sun-dress and the only way to dress it up is to add a bit of sparkle which is exactly what I did! 

I love my jeweled sandals: all the rhinestones and silver studs make these heels pretty cool – too bad they are not the most comfortable shoes I own – still they are bearable for a few hours now and again.

I added the spiked necklace and the bright lipstick for a splash of color – that always makes things more fun. 

That’s basically my way of transforming a day outfit into something appropriate for a summer night out with friends. What do you think?

 I’m wearing: 
necklace / colier - random brand
 shoes, belt / pantofi, curea -  random brand
   bracelet / bratara  - New Look
  dress, bag / rochie, camasa - vintage

Monday, July 16, 2012

Hats and spikes

I have nothing interesting to report – in fact the weather is so hot it’s pretty hard to even think coherent thoughts. 

This Indian summer is definitely not a friend of fashion – we’re talking more of a “how can I wear less clothes without looking like a hoe?” type situation. 
That being said chiffon skirts, silk shirts and hats are great weapons in the battle against the heat. 

There’s also ice cream which I personally abuse – there’s really no better excuse to do that than right now, the way I see it it’s about surviving not gluttony.:)))

One thing I can’t give up no matter how high the temperatures are is my jewelry – the spiked gold and green necklace from Romwe is my latest crush!

 I’m wearing: 
necklace, ring / colier, inel - Romwe
 shoes / pantofi -  random brand
   bag, bracelets / geanta, bratari  - New Look
  skirt, shirt / fusta, camasa - vintage
hat / palarie - H&M


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