Arene Centar bloggers challenge #1

Couple of days ago I wrote about entering Arena Centar blogger challenge which is organized by www.krpa.hr portal. First, I told you about the challenge as soon as I was invited to join in, then, I told you about my hard learned speedy shopping lessons, and now I am finally able to share the video of my first challenge.

The first shopping challenge was to choose the outfit which I would wear to a Jazz concert with my boyfriend, with intention to blend in (I was never good with blending in J ) but to stay true to our own personal style.

 We had to choose a dress as a central piece and shop in predetermined Arena Centar Zagreb stores in each of which we had set limited budgets and total of one hour of time. The stores were: Bellisima(up to 1,000 HRK), S ‘Oliver (up to 700 HRK),  Shoebox (up to 1,000 HRK), Argentum(up to 250 HRK) any other store (up to 350 HRK) but not exceeding the total set task budget of 1500 HRK. We also had a chance to choose outfit fitting Sephoramake up in the amount of up to 300 HRK.

The first store I went to was intuitively shoe store – Shoebox, I liked 3 different pair of shoes and finally picked elegant BCBG skinny, black, soft, suede wedges with net looking top. Although they didn’t have my shoe size, my feet worked with me and shrunk in this stressful situation ;)

Later, I picked sleeveless, black and white interesting print, button up, knee high dress with fabric belt and lovely black square buttons in Bellisima. This was my biggest challenge as I never shopped in this store before and they didn’t have the dress I liked in my size, so I took the size bigger.

At the charming jewelry stand – Argentum, I picked classic pearl earrings not to distract and overload the outfit due to the business of the dress.

For “any other store” I picked Zara, where I was not sure if I should go with a purse or a hat, but the hat was more me, so I picked large black straw hat to add some glam and mystery to selected outfit.

Lastly, I picked simple lacy white scarf in S ‘Oliver which can serve as a detail to be tied around the hat or over a shoulder when it gets cold after the concert (I imagined my Jazz concert to be in Dubrovnik, outdoors, in summer).

All photos by Mario Poje: www.pojemario.hr

You can see more photos of this challenge here.

If you like the look I put together you can VOTE for me one bottom of the article here and enter to win a Skybowling award. J Good luck lovelies and thank you for your vote in advance!

Arena Centar bloggers challenge: 5 speed shopping lessons

Photo source: www.pojemario.com

As you might remember from my previous post, recently I entered an adventure called Arena Centar bloggers challenge together with 7 other Croatian ladies, also fashion bloggers. Yesterday, I had my first challenge; I was paired with Ana, the author of Psycho Couture blog.

I can’t say I was nervous, but I was surely excited and anxious to kick it off. After short interview session, with some navigation help from lovely ladies from Krpa.hr (and one gentleman – Filip), guys from camera crew and charming lady from Arena Centarwho was our host, I kicked off the challenge first, running around from starting point to designated store locations trying to put together an outfit according to task Ana and I pulled out of the hat.

                                                  Photo source: www.pojemario.com

Since I cannot show you the photos of the final outfit I managed to put together according to set task, budget, one hour of designated time & pre set store locations, I decided to share a bit of an atmosphere from the challenge itself, thoughts that went through my head while searching for outfit pieces and final learnings I pulled out of this shopping challenge experience.

 #1 - Go with your gut feeling.

This challenge has showed me that I really learned have a sense of what I like and know what kind of fabrication, size and fit I feel comfortable in and which suits my personal image, so I should always just go with the first thing that catches my attention and definitely prior to going shopping, set some budget amount for myself and stick to it. I learned that it is possible! J

 #2 – Choose a key statement piece and work the outfit around it.

Knowing that I might have a hard time finding shoe size in designated store (although it is 39-40, so US size 9) I focused on finding a good quality, stylish statement shoes right on task and I worked the rest of the outfit around it.

 #3 – Stay true to your personal style.

Set themed outfit tasks can also set some new expectations, I was afraid that I will need to compromise my usual preferences for good quality fabrication of key pieces for quantity in order to create a complete styling with accessories and all within a tight budget and pre-set stores. This wasn’t the case, I still went for natural fabrication mixes although it cost me more money.

 #4 – Explore new stores.

This challenge has made me shop in some stores I wouldn’t necessarily instinctively go to for the type of the clothes asked by the set task. However, it taught me to browse more and yes, go with my gut feeling and first instinct but not to buy right away, but rather go and check other stores and come back, which due to lack of free time for shopping I don’t often practice. I mostly shop when on vacation or in between flights on airports.

#5 – Use accessories to show your personality (but don’t overdo it).

With this being a bloggers challenge I felt like the pre-set expectation might have been to “dress like a blogger” whatever this might mean, although they weren’t. However, I am a firm believer that a lady should show her playfulness or her personality trait with accessories but not to the point that she looks like she just wants attention. Accessories and clothes should just be an extension of the person; if they undermine the looks of the lady herself then they are definitely in excess. 

I would like to especially thank my friend Ana Mandekic the author of most fabulous beauty blog and vlog Maybe’s New Start for the support and encouragement & Mario Poje, an amazing IT help and even better photographer who took all of these photos of me.

Arena Centar bloggers challenge ID: La Kat

Where do you see your blog in 5 years from now?

Formally I see it as it is now, but with even more visits and readers. My blog is my only diary which honestly and trustfully describes me and my growing up experience in the last 5 years I am writing it, I want to keep it personal. My blog is profitable for a while now, I have signed with UK based publisher couple of years back and I am very happy with our cooperation so far. My readers are wonderful and I communicate with them via various channels daily. I founded my blog 5 years ago when I lived in NYC; most of my readers is from US while about 30% is from Croatia currently.

How long does it take you to get dressed?

Ugh..I am not a morning person, so until like 10am I am not totally awake. In average I need about half an hour to get dressed and ready to leave the house. I have a lot of clothes which I collected shopping in various vintage stores in NY and traveling around the world, I also worked for Rugby Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie & Fitch so I have a lot of their clothes as well. My clothes is well organized in 2 closets, one with work and one with casual clothes obviously adjusted to season of the year.

Would you say that person is what he/she wears?

I don’t think that person is what she wears, but I think it shows person’s personality somewhat. First impression is very important, especially in work setting, and clothing is obviously part of this first impression. Looking at persons outfit can tell you a story about the person, just like a tattoo.

What is your favorite fashion creation ever?

Red dress, pencil skirt and stiletto heels! These pieces are the basics of my daily work outfits, a tad of color, skirt that perfectly hugs the curves and good quality comfortable heels in which I can run around completing my daily work tasks. In ideal world, I would rather wear couture gowns every day, but from practical reasons I don’t do it really. ;)

When I was little I thought I was a princess and it wasn’t an issue for me to stand out with the way I dressed. For a long time I was wearing a crown, it was very hard for my parents to persuade me to stop wearing it.

If you can have a one day in fashion designer studio, which designer would you choose?

With absolutely no doubts – Alexander McQueen! For me, couture is the definition of fashion, and Alex for me represents the definition of fashion designer, he was a true artist! Each of his collection pieces was a unique piece of art. I loved his contrast of royal lady in rich luxurious nightgowns and leather RTW pieces with sculls. I am less interested in retail store ready to wear lines.

If your blog was a song which one would it be and why?

Hahaha...it would probably be one of Edit Piaf’s songs, something French for sure.

I was always interested in true ladies, bit wild, hardheaded adventurous ladies, strong, independent, secretive and gentle.