Maxi trend.

Extra magazine Croatia editorial.

photos by Goran Matijašec. Model: Helena Šopar.

 Dresses: Lei Lou by Alex Dojčinović

As I have promised yesterday, I am continuing my holiday wear posts with my favorite model of the dress, the maxi dress. My favorite maxi dress this year was Zigman’s sequins maxi dress with open back which I have showed in this post of my Christmas recommendations.

 I made a selection of Croatian and international designer maxi day to night dresses, choosing Lei Lou by Alex Dojčinović who trully triumfed with dazzzling wearable collections she presented in the past year, big brand comercial cooperations and vast numer of celebrities appearing wearing her dresses in numerous media events confirms that she designs clothign for women of different sizes, ages and income levels. 

Maxi for the day.

I would recommend wearing these amazingly comfortable Lei Lou maxies during the winter work day or weekend with short leather jacket, biker boots and a thick woolen scarf or with a thin belt and high heel boots with a comfy coat for the more dressy look. The price for these lovely dresses is 1500 HRK or 200 Euros while the belt goes for 500 HRK or 66 Euros.

Extra magazine Croatia editorial.

photos by Goran Matijašec. Model: Helena Šopar.

 Dresses: Lei Lou by Alex Dojčinović

Maxi for the evening.

For the evening, there is a lovely selection of black and cooper colored sequin tube maxi's which can be worn with or without belt. The price of these gorgeous dresses is 2000 HRK or 266 Euros.

Bringing the sexy back!

Other then maxi dresses, sequence pieces and lace I absolutely adore backless dresses and shirts, not so much summer shirts as the cashmere backless winter dresses and/or sweaters, just like the black one I got from Rugby Ralph Lauren two years ago. This sweater actually motivated me to look for maxi backless dresses and inspired me to write this post.

Holiday season is therefore great for me as I got to wear flashy pieces I like on all of these Christmas and New Years parties J Bellow I have selected some of the lovely backless pieces. Tomorrow I have scheduled a motivational post with gorgeous photos of maxi dresses which I definitely recommend for all of the tall girls out there – I am telling you, maxis are a guaranteed stand out.

Do you own any open back pieces lovelies? What do you like about them and how do you where them? If not, why not?

“I feel very strongly about dresses on every level - a dress feels like underpinning.”

Donna Karan

La Christmas.

Today on a Christmas Eve, although I am sick with a fever, I am not giving up on positive Christmas spiritJ So I wanted to share some of my own Christmas habits or what makes my Christmas more complete and joyful for me and people who are most important to me…not necessarily in the order of importance.

Warm up with some hot chocolate & sweets.

This is my favorite part of Christmas J Not that I don’t eat sweets over the year, actually other then shoes, Starbucks coffee and some other fashion pieces this is another one of my addictions. Hereis where you can find a recipe for my favorite hot chocolate.

Sparkle & Shine.

Fashionably I find myself to be a quit bipolar person wearing all from black & gray rockerish style things up to proper Ralph Lauren scholastic wear for work and lots and lots of dresses, but sometimes I do indulge into seasonal sparkly accessories and clothing. Las time I was in Madrid I bought a cute silver sparkly stilettos and miniskirt which I can wear on dark tights and flat boots with t-shirt as well once the holiday season is over.

Swap some gifts.

My theory in gifting is quite random. I actually only gift people I know and when I do, I always get them something that reminds me of them or what I know they need while browsing the shops through the year and I store it for Xmass and/or birthday.

This is a good way to avoid nervous holiday shopping and going over your budget or buying random useless stuff. On top, I always also make something for extra special people, so this Christmas I have made a cookbook for my boyfriend where I wrote down various simple meals adjusted for athletes, added photos I took in his kitchen making these recipes step by step, using groceries from store next to his house so he knows what to buy while making these himself in between recipes I added lyrics from my blog for writing of which he inspired me.

Slow down & really talk with your true friends & family.

Most of the time, work day troubles, stress and rush prevent me from spending quality time talking to my friends and family because for me it takes more than a couple of hours to unwind from work and then it’s usually to late in the night to call anyone J

This is why holidays should be the time we will spend with people who we want to celebrate with, those people who truly mean the most to us right now, not only following expectations and traditions and doing what is expected from us. We should use this time to fill our batteries and help fill the batteries of people we care about.

Take a Me minute…or two.

Take some time to be alone as well, don’t get lost in the holiday mania and rush. Take time to see where you are at now, where you want to be in the future, listen to the silence and take time to be thankful for the people who surround you, all that you yourself have accomplished so far and use the batteries you filled as power which will fuel your future successes.  

“What is Christmas?

 It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.

 It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal,

 and that every path may lead to peace.“

Agnes M. Pahro

I wish....

Since I was a child, I knew what I wanted. 

I was not good in planning how to get to it as I can't keep my focus on one thing for a long time, but I always mutlitask. Most of the times I would improvise and I do most things last minute (which I would like to change) but I always know exactly what I want and I achieve it sooner or later.

My family used to call my plans and drawings “rich imagination” or “dreaming” but recent discovery of my “map of life” which I drew when I was 14 and theatrically and romantically burned a bit at the ends to make it look more vintage.

Finding this forgotten map in my room surprised my family quite a bit, every single point of this map was very precisely completed, from my life and studies in US, my basketball career, my choice of a certain type of men for boyfriends (tall menJ ), career focus on fashion and working in big company afterwards.

So…I decided to use this post as my "grown up map", as there is obviously some truth in the fact that you accomplish things easier when you put them down in writing (I am the living proof as it seems :)).

Just to explain...I am not making a to do list here…God knows I have to many of those. I am meerly writing this as an inspiration board and as a draft of my plans for the next couple of holiday days ahead with an overal guidelines for what I would like next year to look like for me. I hope you will to find it inspirational or at least calming :)

I wish…

....for a stress free,work free Christmas dinner with my family.

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.”

 Anthony Brandt

...I wish to spend more time and give more of my undivided attention to my attention craving and human childlike acting dog Papi…

“My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet.“

Edith Wharton

I wish to continue to grow and learn doing the job I love every day, exploring my interests in fashion through my blog & my column while learning to be more patient and open with people and slowing down a bit now and then…just to be at peace for a while and clear my thoughts here and there...

“It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts.”

K.T. Jong

I wish everything goes well and we welcome the first baby in our family in about 8 months from now (no its not me but I like the suitcase)...

“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten,

and the future worth living for…”

I wish to have a great relaxing fashion crisis free first New Years evening with no special expectations with my boyfriend.

"We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.

We are going to put words on them ourselves.

The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."

Edith Lovejoy Pierce

I wish no one would ask me again why do I do it or if it’s hard…cause they just don’t understand…yes I am sure, yes I like it and I choose it to do it my way...

“Missing someone gets easier everyday because even though you are one day further from the last time you saw them, you are one day closer to the next time you will.”

All I want for Christmas is....

Many of us are kind of planning Christmas shopping for weeks and then all of a sudden some anomaly in scheduled week happens its like the black hole in time continuum and all of a sudden - upsss…tomorrow is Christmas Eve and you still don’t have all of the presents and you are terrified to enter the stores because all of those nice-mannered fashionistas all of a sudden start acting like they have been let out of prison early and didn’t have time to adjust back to civilization so they are pushing and pulling each other while waiting in lines to pay or to try on stuff.

So, if you don’t have time to look around or you are scared to get hurt during Christmas shopping mania you can be sure some of my recommended gift ideas bellow, all made by Croatian designers will  look fabulous under every fashionistas Christmas tree!

All Croatian designers:

Elfs / Lei Lou by Alex Dojčinović / Juraj Zigman / Ledenko shoes / Fensice / Ženski rokovnik

In my next  post, tomorrow, I will write about some quick and simple ideas on how each of you very busy working girls can decorate your home in a bit of a less traditional and less expensive way for holidays as well as about some cool ideas on how to make some of the presents on your own. J It is 2 am now and I am finalizing one of the 2 presents I am making for my boyfriend.

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.

Roy L. Smith

I SPY: at Mimi's in Madrid.

One of my now favorite places in Madrid is most definitely at Mimi’s.

Mimi’s Craperia with its old fashion exterior and more modern interior with crystal chandeliers, 80s cooking appliances, proudly displayed huge jars of everyone’s favorite crape topping – Nutella and most importantly friendly staff from Balkan countries, tons of positive energy in the room and the crapes to die for is definitely a place I open heartedly recommend you to visit when you are in Madrid. Kind warning! – You might get hooked and come back again the same day!

This cool little café in very center of Madrid close to plaza Mayor in the building of the oldest hotel in Madrid, serves amazing crapes of all kinds: salty and sweet, with fresh fruit, ice cream, Nutella, cookies, various nuts or any other toping you can think of appropriate to be eaten as a full meal morning to evening. You can also purchase your crape as part of the daily special with a cup of coffee and a soft drink on a side if you wish.

This is where my boyfriend and I come after his games when I visit, hang out and eat our favorite crape with Nutella, banana, cookies and coconut with vanilla ice cream on a side!

p.s. My friend Zoran saids their Tiramisu is also amazing!

What's yours favorite place in Madrid?

El hogar es donde esta el corazon....

The worst thing about going away 

is fighting every little piece of me which just wants to stay.

The hardest thing to do 

is leaving without being sure that giving my all is good enough for you.

The worst thing is the day before, 
when sadness silently floats around the room, 

next morning you come home to an empty house and can still smell around what's left of my perfume.

All the feelings which are left unsaid 

keep spinning around in different forms in my head.

While I am walking towards the plane 

trying to silence my heart and listen to my brain...

...I kind of wonder where is home?

….with you where my heart is …or there where I’m from….

Fancy Giveaway winner!

 I am happy to announce the winner of my Fancy Giveaway which ended December 5^th at midnight. The lucky giveaway winner is Andrea with a nickname Little Miss Sunshine and she named her Fensica sheep – Barbara!  The winner was selected via list randomizer.

Andrea I hope you will send us the photo of the outfit you put together with your Fensica sheep!

Thank you all for participating, keep following La Passion pour la Fashion and participating in my upcoming giveaways!

Xoxo from Madrid

Día dos: YSL Restrospective @ Madrid

I was thrilled to go and see Yves Saint Lauren Retrospective exhibition here at Madrid’s La Central yesterday! I felt like walking into fashion Narnia. There was about 20 minutes wait to get it although exhibition is open since the beginning of October, seems like the interest is vast. The entrance was free as the exhibition was sponsored by the Pierre Berge Yves Saint Lauren foundation.

Exhibition was shown on three floors and it was organized into 11 sections that display about 150 examples of haute couture and prêt-a-porter, shown together with various photographs and films and with about 81 sketches, 46 toiles and models for hats showing the work and life of this remarkable designer from his first creations in Dior in 1958 to his last collection presented at the Centre Pompidou in 2002.

Through this exhibition one can see many garments that revolutionized the traditional definition of the elegance with garments like: tuxedo and jumpsuit…. all still relevant today, which provoked scandals in their day. As they say, Coco Chanel has liberated women, but YSL has liberated fashion.

The other focus of the exhibition was the process of creation on its own, showing personal universe of YSL and places and things out of which he pulled his inspiration like Russia, Morocco and Spain.

As YSL’s partner Pierre Berge said about YSL:

“His work went far beyond that of mere fashion designer. It was created by an artist who revolutionized his own time.

It is true that his work is not sculptured in marble but it changed the life of women, empowered them and gave them confidence and self-esteem.”