Lesson learned...

Today I remembered a girl I wrote a post about several months ago. She was tough from the outside but scared and alone from the inside. 

She still had her childish naiveness about her than, the goofiness and that naughty smile - although it was overpowered at a time with fear and loneliness of the situation she was in which went from excitement to fear, and than back to greatest happiness and love, and then back to the worst kind of pain and a heartbreak. 

This girl was a tough cookie, used to do all sorts of stupid things like: wrote love notes on post-its and sprinkled rose petals for a romantic evening, she worked hard and kept smile on her face all the time, loved to joke around and race down the street in heels, sang under the shower and walked around like a crazy person in the morning, more than anything else - she believed in true love and honesty, she put her 100% in it. But it wasn't enough.

I don't remember the last time I saw her. I heard she is doing really well. She still works a lot. She is still strong. There is a great looking guy who likes her and she just goes with a flow, maybe she gets married...without giving her heart in it. There is another guy who she likes - who is definitely a heartbreak potential. 


 If you look at her closely these days, you might notice that naughty spark in her smile once in a while, although she doesn't smile much anymore and is scared to ever take that chance again.
       
She gave up on believing in love, I guess this is the time of growing up when you realize that painful fact that relationships and marriage are just norms and expectations of the society and have nothing to do with lifetime long love and faithfulness. Just like you painfully realize that Santa never really existed and that when somebody dies, you will never see that person again. 


Hopefully...maybe...some day...somebody....
                                                          ...will prove her wrong...and she will be her kooky self again. 


Xoxo,


Kat

" I don't hate you. I am just disappointed you turned into everything you said you'd never be." 

WTF are your Jeans?!

Goodbye to the time of plastic nails, under the chin pushed up boobs, stick-on eyelashes, blond straightened hair, spray tanning and tons of make up - soooo passé! 



Hello to the natural wavy hair, pastel color nail polishes, natural make up tones, nipples showing on T-shirts, soft blazers and boyfriends jeans with your favorite Manolo's!  Show of your natural beauty and let your personality and your brains shine threw! Geeks are sexy! 


How sexy?! So fuckin' sexy they designed they own brand of jeans called - WTFJeans. 
Sanja & Peđa are two computer nerds (Serbian born living in France) who really like their iPhone's safe and handy and really wanted a comfy pair of jeans to wear while doing what geeks do.


Being smart, not only they designed a dream jeans for geeks but also managed to create brand for themselves and make money - all with their laptops in their laps & their iPhones in their hands.

Sexy geek essentials:

Short sleeve t-shirt, $420
Day Spring Suit Blazer by Day Birger et Mikkelsen, 200 GBP
Elizabeth and James Mason at Zappos.com, $355
Authentic Chanel Pink Salmon Raw Silk 
Double Flap : MALLERIES
Miss Dior Cherie

WTF Jeans 79 E


WTF Jeans - is a brand of Jeans completely created virtually. With help of their Twitter friends the pair has decided on the best suited name What The Fuck Jeans. They found a local designer in Serbia, gave her the specific instructions on design and made a simple website.

Limited edition of WTF jeans (100 pieces) to be delivered to the orderer's addresses within a month has virtually vanished due to the buzz that has been created around it in social media: Twitter, Facebook & YouTube alone. 

        So much so, that they faced numerous technical difficulties due to vast number of orders that arrived within just couple of days from website going live.The whole process from idea about the need for such jeans to the first orders has been recorded and published on above listed social media networks.

What's so special about them? 

WTF jeans have a special pocket compatible for iPhone. Within the pocket the designers have inserted microfiber lining so not only your iPhone is safe and easily accessible in your pocket but it also gets cleaned. The other fabulously geeky thing about them is the Twitter blue color of the tread they are sewn with and for the boys there is some extra room and padding to keep their package cozy on the right side - as 90% men do :)

For women, the next best thing would be to make a virtual dressing room - so I can actually see how the WTF's will fit around my bum and decide. Or the sizes could be more elaborate - and explained in details in cm's so I can be sure they will fit perfectly, but I am sure the geek squad will sort that part out as well! Can't wait to order me a pair!

As Peeches Gerdof said in her article in Nylon magazine "In the end, most of us just seem to want someone who can be self-depreciating-someone who knows his shit and isn't hiding behind a cliched macho front. Nerds are the lovable mavericks of an overbearingly masculine society that is driven by old-fashioned ideals. These Dungeon & Dragons-loving, Einstein-quoting, chunky spectacles-wearing guys are the true catches."

Xoxo,

            Kat

Lets talk Croatian fashion

In Croatia there are plenty of fashion events. Considering the size of the market we have more fashion events that any other country in the world. 
CROATIAN CULTURE

As having a good car, being well dressed, being spotted on all of the events worth coming to, including sipping our Saturday morning coffee in the city center are of the crucial importance, it is not surprising that supply of such events is vast. This is neither bad, nor good - in the time of economic crises, this order of priorities seems ironic,but its part of our culture.

Love it or hate it, its certainly better than drinking Prozac with early morning fat free late from Starbucks in NYC at 6am and coming home to your fancy apartment in Soho at 11 pm from work to an empty bed (Ralph Lauren silk sheets mind you) at the age of 35, to tired to sleep, and than running this on repeat 24-7.
        Not being trendy, not wearing a branded clothes for all to see (with brand logos on most visible places - on ones forehead if needed) and not following such events is like not being registered on Facebook - you practically do not exist. 
Most mainstream people do not resist being part of this stereotype, peer pressure seems to be way to strong...ahhh...but some do, and they are more fabulous than any New York trendy kids, because they have to be twice as much creative (with financial situation as it is and weak local  fashion industry) to show off their full potential. 


 FASHION EVENTS

In next couple of weeks two of such fashion events are taking place in Zagreb. 
Zagreb as the capital of the country  hosts three big ones: Dove fashion.hr, Nivea Cro A Porter and Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb. All are sponsored by three leading skin and beauty care/home goods companies: Beiersdorf (Nivea),  Unilever (Dove) and Procter & Gamble (Dreft). 
While only the last -  Dreft Fashion Week is licensed fashion week  for Croatia and has the longest tradition of the three, competition and quality between the main three differs year in and year out. 

Most are showing collections for upcoming seasons as other world's fashion weeks, however none of the three has shown a continuous progress in quality, somewhat due to finances and organization but seems mostly due to competence of the people organizing these events and the fact that there is way to many of them considering the size of the country and talent available. 

There are also a few other new and up coming fashion events in other cities : Modni ormar in Zagreb also, Fashion Inkubator in Osijek, Split City fashion  in Split and Dubrovnik Fashion Week in Dubrovnik.

The coastal ones seem to be a good tourist attractions, while Modni Ormar and Fashion Incubator are a bit less commercial and more design focused (launching many young designers) - which is great for creativity but not as good for their sale potential and media coverage.


FASHION DESIGNERS

Majority of fashion designers in Croatia are educated to create art. i.e. not a wearable pieces. In addition to that, fashion design schools in Croatia seem  to be missing the business and communication classes so even the talented designers who are creative enough to make it nationally and internationally lack the business sense and fail to sell their creations to end consumer and do not know how to communicate to media, buyers and organizers to their advantage. Lastly, most fail to create brand of themselves, do not have the clear vision,  no website, catalog or business card for that manner - so they end up selling to their family and friends and a hand full of local celebrities.

I will write a different post on selected few who actually are the full package and thus make money of their creations.


CELEBRITIES
So it happens that we continue to see the same faces in front rows over and over again, all to show and self promote - none to buy, we continue to see same designers many of who continue to copy their international counterparts and their recently shown collections. Media seems to look for sensations and yellow press is blooming while not much is written on design and fashion itself. 


THE ORGANIZERS 
It seems like most of the organizers have the : "take the money and run" mentality. 
Not many of these event's websites other than Dove Fashion.hr which has a really well organized fashion portal: fashion.hr are maintained and running throughout the year. 
      In addition, impression is that organizations are mostly done last minute and collection selection is not done thoroughly enough, which results in overall poor quality.
This is due to the fact that all of the sides are very much polarized, there is a lack of cooperation,  fair play and mutual support for well being and development of fashion in Croatia. 


THE FASHION EDITORS
The editors of fashion media in Croatia are not attending these events at all due to the quantity over quality ratio, or attending some of the events and reporting on them based on personal friendships and clan separations. Many in fact are rather copying already written reports from the international editions of their respective magazines that putting an effort and helping to develop local talents. 


Your readership and sales are skyrocketing downwards! Don't you think its time to step down from your editor's throne, stop writing about super expensive pieces most of which your average reader can't afford to buy or cannot find in local boutiques and start to support local talent and do something to wake up or even create fashion industry locally all while supporting local economy rather than copy pasting international fashions?


Take the idea from US Vogue's Ana Wintour who organized "Fashion's night out" to give a necessary boost to fashion industry, to excite people about fashion and motivate them to shop again.


     There is a noticeable lack of direction and long term vision. Collections are created,  events are organized, if collections are any good - some pieces are sold within couple of weeks/months and than there is struggle to make it until the next fashion event. Local buyers, showrooms and Croatian designer boutiques are rare to none existent.


So lets revise, shall we?


Objective: to create/strengthen Croatian fashion industry and exploit existing creative potential.

• Who: designers & models/event organizers/fashion editors & celebrities/boutique owners & buyers
• What: Fabulous original fashion pieces! - made in Croatia 
• When: A season ahead
• To whome:  fashion conscious Croatian people/public!
• The goal: To sell! Sell! Sell! 

To summarize all the above, seems like the best thing would be to create one central event and combine the vast creative talent to one place - let the most creative and most competent ones prevail to build the Croatian fashion industry which very much needs a kick in the butt! 


The key to longevity is to keep doing what you do better than anyone else. We work real hard at that. It's about getting your message out to the consumer. It's about getting their trust, but also getting them excited, again and again. My clothes.. the clothes we make for the runway.. aren't concepts. They go into stores. Our stores. Thankfully, we have lots of them. 


~Ralph Lauren~


   Xoxo,


              Kat

Splitting up in Split

The undercover geek that I am, whenever I fail to verbally express the emotion residing in my PMS-al self, I consult the charming old, Mr. Know-It-All Webster, so he said:

Inflected Form(s): split; split·ting

Pronunciation: \ˈsplit\

Function: verb

1 a : to divide lengthwise usually along a grain or seam or by layers  

b : to affect as if by breaking up or tearing apart 
2 : to divide into parts or portions: as 

a : to divide between persons

b : to divide into factions, parties, or group

Once I read the definition above painful "Auchh" slipt down my lips automatically. To be honest with you, with all due respect to my PMS feelings. Spending the weekend in Split was nothing I was afraid it might be, it was quit lovely actually.

My hotness friend surprised me and picked me up from the airport, we spent most of the day walking around, catching up and drinking coffee. Once he left to go to basketball practice I walked around a bit on my own, many things did brought back the memories of my ex, but everything seemed so distant now. I finally realized that now, somewhere he was not the same person who I used to know and loved anymore. 

I was not sad at all.


 I smiled, passing by the cafe we first met last summer at pretending to be cool and totally over each other, while couldn't wait to rip each others clothes of first moment we got, as it happened later in the day. 


At that very second, I missed everything about him, the smell, his messy hair,his stupid jokes, the gap in between his teeth, the nasty comments unique to him only, which at a time I found adorable. 


Then the reality hit me and I remembered that that guy no longer exists. He stayed frozen in time in July,2009. in Split, and shall remain there forever, I still fondly remember that man,love him and always will.

    I also did a bit of a vintage shopping and exploring, I got a really cute pair of shoes and a bracelet imported from Mexico. When I got hungry I stopped at a super cute home made Nadalina Chocolate shop with specialty chocolates as: olive oil chocolate, orange peel covered chocolate, lavender cream chocolate, aphrodisiac chili peppers chocolate etc. I got one of each, ouu yes I did! 

When my friend Armina arrived we had a fancy dinner and got a lot of attention from men and boys walking down the street. Sadly, many stores were closed on Sunday so we went street art browsing and met many interesting new locals.

We walked around a lot, took many pictures and really tried to let go of all the pressures waiting for us back in our offices at home. The weather was great and we enjoyed doing absolutely nothing, sitting around, sipping coffee, eating croissants and commenting on the way people passing by are dressed. It seems to be the favorite thing to do of the locals.

Two of us would not be as fabulous as we are if we haven't spotted fabulous and flashy things all around us, so we have seen a Karl Lagerfeld look-alike passing by, we found fabulous floral dress shop when we got lost in one of the "space for one person at a time" streets, and last but not least we have seen fabulous shoes I wanted to break in the closed store to get to.

Armina took some good pictures and could not help but criticize my amateur frames when I attempted to play the photographer role, as she also absolutely loves to have photos taken of her. 

On the other hand, my basketball friend was happy to see us and he enjoyed the show and all the commotion around us :) We had another delicious sea food dinner and went out for some drinks.

All in all, we had a lovely time! We managed to relax, gossip, we got our fashion fix for the week and I think I finally managed to split it and let go in Split! 

Xoxo,

          Kat

.....I am beginning to think, I imagined you all along....

Coffee with cream some sugga & a necklace anyone?

As you might remember several posts ago I have introduced a small monthly gathering where with your Saturday morning caffeine fix you can also get a cute piece of accessories, a purse, designer T-shirt or piece of unique hand-made jewelry. 


This time I am announcing this event ahead of time, so you can go there sometime tomorrow and get a feel of this unique cafe fashion showroom! I hope you like it! See ya all there!


 Next,one of the young and up and coming Croatian designers Igor Galaš won a award for an iD emerging designer in Dunedin, New Zealand. By winning this award Igor got the invite to prestigious Mittelmoda contest in Milan expected to start at the beginning of April. 


 Igor will also participate at Dove fashion.hr Croatian fashion event where he will present his Fall 2010. Collection.


This was the first time he entered this competition and he won! Igor's collection is full of hand made wollen pieces, it took him a week to knit each of the garments. They are soft and voluminous yet wearable, floaty and impeccably designed. 

Bellow you can see the winning collection:

"Galas' range consisted of woollen headgear with long woven dreadlocks hanging almost to the ground, and ruched backs, similar to dinosaur ridges.

Many of the ranges were reminiscent of the 80s, with pipe-leg pants, exaggerated shoulder pads, jodhpur pants, riding boots and lots of black and white.

Neutral colours were also prominent, with the exception of several fluorescent red and pink mini dresses.

There was greater diversity of individual garments and designers showed a lot of creativity, using buttons, can tear-tabs, curtain rings and doilies."

I am excited to see more of Igor's work soon!

"My weakness ... is architecture. I think of my work as ephemeral architecture, dedicated to the beauty of the female body."

~Christian Dior~

Xoxo,


Kat

Pro's & Con's

Every time I see your face,

You take my mind to a better place

But every time u don't take of that bling,

I remember there's nothing good this can bring

Than again you make me smile,

And I forget about it all for a while

And than again you don't call much,

So I really start missing your voice and your touch

I realize that to you I might be a passing thing,

but we're both cool and its just a fling

I love the fact that you are a man and a boy,

but I hate it when you treat me like your little toy

Its so silly how your jokes are corny and stupid,

so why do I laugh so much? Did I got hit by a cupid?

Ouu hell no Cupid! Please skip my ass!

This taken man is not getting my heart's pass!

Than again you make me smile,

And I forget about it all for a while

And than again you dont call much,

So I really start missing your voice and your touch

I love that you are artistic and strong,

So why does it then all this still seem so wrong?

Every time you call we talk for hours,

But we can't go in public and you don't send me flowers

You wrote me a song, the sex is bombastic,

I'm happy around you and feel fantastic

I miss you often but feels stupid to say,

I know you always travel, and that you have to play

I date other guys, they're nice, I make excuses, I get serious with some...

....but than you make me smile, and I'm yours for a while....

OMG WTF is going on with us? LOL

  




 Since the first rays of sunshine peaked out I can see new bloomed optimism on peoples faces around town. Its like they are carefully and suspiciously taking of their layers of protective clothing they were wearing all through the viciously cold and dark winter. 


However, in part due to natural disasters and in other part due to economic crises (thank you Wall Street- not only you messed up my boyfriend but you also f...up the economy) people are less enthusiastic and more careful about not only investing, falling in love, planning families, booking vacations and buying fabulous clothes and shoes but also people are distancing themselves more from each other in this age of financial uncertainty by spending more time on the internet and communicating via social networks than in person.


   Lets face it. I mean, I am registered and actively using all social media there is, but I do feel the lack of face to face communication. Online, SMS and even video communication simply is still to primitive to replace the tone of the voice, facial gestures, the smell of the perfume, body language and the touch which are crucial for human existence and procreation. Thinking back, I used to be sad. But now I am still confused on WTF has happened and what is that I wrote or didn't write in my text message in the middle of the night to my ex to make him hate me so much and never want to talk again. Gotta love long distance SMS relationship and breaking up by changing relationship status on Facebook - very mature! 


 I am sorry, but facebook hug and kiss is not gonna cut it for me!I freaking hate those! Whenever somebody sends me one, I think to myself: Pick up the damn phone and call me you cheap jerk!
Whats next? SMS proposal? Twitter weeding? Giving birth to facebook baby via artificial IM insemination? I can see my husband asking me whats for dinner by adding comment to my blog or facebooking (yes its a word now) me that he paid the bills or forgot to pick up the child from school! 


Are all these cool new technologies bringing us closer and making the communication easier or pulling us apart? Who will you hug to sleep tonight your girlfriend or your iPhone? Will you wake up to kiss somebody or to check your facebook updates?

Xoxo,


                    Kat