EARTH HOUR: 5 fabulous ways to protect the earth

Gisele Bundchen, Supermodel and environmentalist, is the Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment for EFW.

Earth Hour has grown from a one-city initiative in 2007, to a 5,251 city strong global movement, last year reaching 1.8 billion people in 135 countries across all seven continents.

Other than fashion, care for the environment is my second passion. I am working on organizing recycling in my office building and earth week activities in my company this April so I was interested to see how my two passions collide. What can all have us fashion lovers do, on a daily basis to protect the environment? I made a list of 5 things from my daily life, with some of which I am sure many of you might relate.

#1 Waste recycling.

Duhh..You might say! It is so very much important to separate your trash! I made myself separate named baskets for paper, plastic, organic waste, glass and cans which I once a week dispose in my buildings containers.

#2 Food & water.

The change I am trying to make it to buy groceries in bulks, bigger packages, cause this way I reduce the quantity of trash I create. I always carry my own bag and avoid plastic bags, fruits and vegetables I buy is always per piece so I can avoid those wrapped packages. Also, I got rid of the microwave, I try to eat as much as possible raw fruits, vegetables and nuts and drink water from the pipe rather than juices.  When I am going for a run or to the gym, I use BPA free plastic water bottle rather than buying disposable water bottles.

#3 Hair, makeup & clothes care.

Although I rarely use hair styling products, I always try to avoid aerosol deodorant sprays and hair sprays due to the damage they make to ozone layer. I rather use leave in conditioners and ion hair brush with rechargeable batteries and deodorant sticks rather than sprays. If you check out the back labels of leading detergents, you will see that there is no need for warm wash on high temperatures anymore. I always use liquid detergents for whites, darks and delicates and the highest temperature I wash them on is 60 Celsius. On top, make sure you find out how and out of which fabrics is your clothes made when you are shopping! Best quality fabrics are indeed the organic ones!

Zoe Bradley is an awesome artist. 

He creates astonishing things with paper and he even worked 

for McQueen!

#4 Energy & lights.

During the day I am sure I use up a lot of energy since I am on my computer a lot. When I leave the office I try to turn off the power strip bellow my desk which powers on all of my devices so this saves some energy during night.  When at home after work, I don’t cook much and I relax under candle light and I have installed LED bulbs which save me money cause they last much longer and are more energy efficient.

#5 No printing or writing on paper

I love planners, so I used to write all of my TO DO lists, contacts, ideas, and sketches in my planners but then when the calendar year ends and I am out of paper, I needed to copy all important info in my new planner. Now, I use iPhone apps for all of my disposable lists, contacts, shopping lists etc. and my planners are used only for ideas and sketches which make them last longer!  I travel a lot, so I save some trees by not printing any tickets; I use online or mobile flight check-ins.

Earth Hour 2012 will take place at 8.30pm – 9.30pm on Saturday 31 March

Unplug concert in Zagreb, park Zrinjevac @ 8:30pm

International supermodel Miranda Kerr has been announced as an Earth Hour global ambassador for the second consecutive year to use her voice to inspire people to participate in the new “I Will If You Will” campaign.

The model, entrepreneur and eco-advocate is the first celebrity to publicly announce an “I Will If You Will” challenge, which encourages people to go beyond the hour and take positive action for the environment. Miranda has pledged to conduct a free yoga class if 500 of her fans upload their own “I Will If You Will” challenge to www.youtube.com/earthhour. View her challenge bellow.

To make your “I Will If You Will” challenge and accept Miranda’s challenges visit www.youtube.com/earthhour

To follow Miranda’s story and join in the conversation visit http://www.koraorganics.com/blog/

For more information on Earth Hour visit www.earthhour.org

What will you do to contribute?

My top 10 fashion brands: Salsa jeans.

All photos from: www.salsajeans.com 

Salsa is the main woman & man Jeanswear brand of the IVN Group from Portugal, founded in 1994. Today, the brand is sold in more than 35 countries. The brands states its mission to be „your second skin and empower your constant renewal!“ meaning that Salsa wants to inspire and empower people all over the world, by providing the most innovative and exciting jeans, tops and accessories.

The reason why I picked Salsa to be one of my top 10 favorite brands is the perfect fit of their jeans. It is very easy to find your size from Salsa's size guide.

Before I used to buy my jeans in Diesel or Ralph Lauren because I am 6'1'' and it is was very hard for me to find skinny jeans which are long enough that I can wear with high heels but also my size (27) and not to wide in the waist and at the same time not to tight on my butt to flatten it, cause I do have a butt and I was looking for a pair of jeans that will fit just perfectly.

The first pair of jeans I got in Salsa a year ago were black, skinny fit, push up model size 27, I needed a pair of black jeans to wear to work but also the ones which whose color will not fade quickly and which will not get loose fast. This is exactly what I got in my Salsa jeans. On top, all of a sudden everybody started noticing my perky butt, my boyfriend loves them!

About 3 month ago I got my second pair of Salsa jeans, same size but in dark jean color and with a bit of a flare on the bottom, I absolutely love this model as well and highly recommend it!

Bellow you can see the new collection SS 2012. Salsa collection. I am thinking about getting the red pair this time around and some shorts as well J

If you like Salsa jeans or just want to try them out and learn more about the brand, they have an online shop and free delivery internationally on orders over 45 Euros. Also, you can check out their Facebook and Twitter sites for latest updates.

Where do you get your favorite jeans from lovelies?

Mimoki - Spanish word for a lady!

Since my boyfriend works here in Madrid I truly spend a lot of time here so during this visit I am taking time to explore fabulous multi brand stores, hopefully another small vintage shop like Templo de Susu which I found the last time I was here and I am hoping to discover talented local designers just like the Juan Vidal whose work I absolutely adore!

As you could have seen from some of my previous posts like: Wrap it your way and So many hats and only one head, I really love to buy and wear hats and head wraps, in two just mentioned posts I also shared a tutorial on how to wrap it if you are curious to try it.

My new discovery is Mimoki an original headdresses, which also sells shoes and bags in the brand's signature style. Amazing boutique, absolutely gorgeous hats, hat covers, head wraps and accessories to match are just some of the reasons why you should visit Mimoki when visiting Madrid. World famous fashionista and since recently fashion designer herself Victoria Beckham loves and wears Mimoki hats, but Mimoki pieces are also regularly featured in top fashion magazines including Spanish Vogue.

Here is how these amazing little works of art look like; I am sure that when wearing Mimoki piece lady simply cannot go unnoticed! I want them all! J

All photos from http://www.mimoki.es/tienda.html

Would you dare to wear one of these fabulous pieces lovelies? 

"A hat is a flag, a shield, a bit of armor, and the badge of femininity.

A hat is the difference between wearing clothes and wearing a costume;

it's the difference between being dressed and being dressed up;

it's the difference between looking adequate and looking your best.

A hat is to be stylish in, to glow under, to flirt beneath,

to make all others seem jealous over, and to make all men feel masculine about.

A piece of magic is a hat."

Martha Sliter

Romantic darkness FW 2012.

Photo source: http://www.allvoices.com

Fall 2012. Collectionsoverall announced quite a serious season, darkly romantic. The common theme was harder age look, a lot of layering as if layers were there to build up to a protective shield, defending women from hard and unpredictable economic times coming up. Renaissance inspired romantic darkness was contrasted with excessive, escapist urge of more couture pieces showed – creative double reality for women, the one we live and the luxury, dreamy one we strive for.

CAVALLI swapped last season mink with crocodile, there were a lot of amazing 70’s inspired pants shown and lovely animal print sweaters. Overall, he created rather rich, powerful, excessive and sexy collection.

PRADA presented virtual princesses army, girls looked powerful and otherworldly, a bit like robotic avatars. Pieces were decorated waste upwards, skirts were styled over pants, focus was on structure, ornament and print but romanticism was still coming out as PRADA’s signature.

FENDI designed collection with modern amazons in mind. I really loved the iPad bags, wild orchid motive, spring bulk power women suits – truly fashion for digital age career women.

VERSACE. Donatella was facing her demons as she said with this collection. For me, collection was very much “girl with a dragon tattoo like”, prime motive was byzantine cross, very Goth, rock & roll feel. My very favorite pieces were chain dresses.

BOTTEGA VENETA’s Tomas Maier has showed the dark side of fashion. Collection is quite shaped; peplum bottoms were added to soften up tailored pieces with the goal to enhance the body.

MARNI showed structured perfectly tailored pieces, some great shoes and overall quite linear collection.

MISSONI sang ode to mother nature with amazing natural color shade and with its signature knits by fusing different fabrications adding innovative crystals, metallic, marble stone, latex, leather, suede and knits in layers of colors and textures.

D&G’s collection was inspired by romantic baroque with respect to Italian tradition and celebration of Italy featuring embroidery over lace, beautiful floral prints, and marzipan like shoes in a spirit of shameless earthiness. This is a “money in the bank” collection for sure.

ARMANI reinvented his style with gorgeous evening wear shorts and girlish looks in forcefully strong colors.

PUCCI designed strong women dresses showing less skin, classic and sexy with graphics expressed through fabrics and lovely pajama print suits.

All photo source: http://www.style.com

What will you remember FW 2012. Runway season by lovelies?

Envy Room FW 2012. collection

Photo by Matija Habljak

Last night I saw the FW 2012. of one of my two favorite Croatian brands – Envy Room. Designer duo Vjeko and Nikica have yet again proved how well they know exactly what Envy Room women wants to wear. Not only they are quite in touch with their clientele, but I like them for knowing where to talk to their customer.

Copyright: STEFANO FIORENTIN

They are far the best designers in Croatia when it comes to using social media and digital media overall to scan the market and lead daily conversation with their customers. They are personally engaged and replaying to their customer questions on their website, Twitter profile, Facebook page, blog, guest column on one portal and they recently opened account on Pintrestas well.

Hereyou can see the interview I did with the boys couple of months back.

Envy Room designer team followed their SS 2012. collection theme which was inspired by glamorous retro 40's transitioning into 50's with darker and bolder color pallet, where they played with color blocking, floral prints and fabrications ranging from playful and romantic floaty sheer maxi dresses to naughty pin-up inspired, tailored strict lines Dominant colors were red wine, petroleum, cream and deep purple accessorized with gold and silver details.

Photo by Matija Habljak 

I really love the contrast they did with mixing day wear pieces with glam maxi skirts. My very favorite was a tight floral piece which I find day wear office appropriate and of course gorgeously romantic floral dresses perfect for spring and summer nights for tall girls like me J

What is your favorite Envy Room piece for FW 2012? 

Croatian designers FW 2012.

LINK BY OGI and MRVOŠ are two Croatian fashion designers who joined to open a boutique together and to kick off the start of their collaboration they presented their colaborative collection last night.

 Minimalism, neopunk, high tech and clean cuts were inspiration for both mens and womenswear pieces. Their collection featured many closet staple pieces such as little black dress and clean cut blazer and leather jackets but they were taken from day to night with layering, combining and playing with different  fabrications such as leather, see through fabrics and heavier knits.

CLASH of 9 is a young designer group freshly came out or still in fashion school who joined forces to create one quite mature and compact collection, which I am sure was not easy having nine young creative minds working together. I loved how wearable and concrete their pieces came up to be, although quite hipster motived and contemporary.

IGOR GALAŠ is known to be a king of knits which he definitely proved once again working on his now third collection for Croatian fashion house Arena from Pula. I apsolutely love his chucky knits, amaying quality soft wool mixtures, and architectural shapes and volumes he is able to produce out of knits. I can wait for next winter to cozy up in one of these!