Arena Centar blogger challenge!

As some of you already know, I am participating in Arena Centar fashion blogger challengetogether with 7 more lady bloggers, challenge will start on April, 18th and last until mid June. As part of the project introduction, all participants did the short interview to create their bloggers ID’s, here is mine in English.

 Since many of you saw the link to this challenge and said “English please” J Bellow you can see all of the info about this contest.

Organizers are Arena Centar - currently most comprehensive shopping mall in Croatia which partnered with Krpa.hr awarded fashion portal (idea originator) which focuses not only on sharing latest fashion news but also on supporting young fashion talents so prospective models, fashion designers, makeup artists etc. from the region are invited to open their profile & virtual window and have their work featured on Krpa.hr.  

Arena Centar fashion blogger challenge is basically a shopping challenge where 8 participating fashion bloggers are split in pairs two by two, each pair shops on a different weekend, one at the time, on a limited budget, in Arena Centar and is followed by Krpa.hr camera crew during this 1 hour time shopping spree on a given theme (for example. business look, casual look etc.) in participating stores.

Each bloggers clothing selection is finally evaluated by 3 member jury where one member of the jury are online voters who will be able to vote on Krpa.hr Blogger challenge minisite for duration of this contest.

Final 4 contestants will continue to compete in shopping challenges until mid June when we will have the winner.

First episode will air on Krpa.hrportal on April 18^th @ 20:30pm. I am going first as an ice-breaker! J

Hold your fingers crossed for me please!

DSquared backstage report - Milan Fashion Week

On the pic I am wearing: 

Prada butterfly sunglasses

Longchamp Le Pliage tote

Rugby Ralph Lauren classic blazer

Lei Lou by Alex Dojčinović double-face body tube top

Top Shop skinny jeans

Tory Burch ballerina flats

Thanks to my fabulous collegue Anita I was recommended to go to Milan to watch DSquared show, so I took couple of editors with me. Although sickish and feverish, after celebrating my postponed B-day celebration until late Saturday night with my fabulous girlfriends, I was excited to pack and get ready for Milan Fashion Week. 


Early in the morning, despite couple of traffic violations and a downpoor of rain, I managed to pick up one fashion editor and meet second one on airport and not miss the flight.


 As soon as we came and dropped our bags in the hotel we (read I) decided to explore Milan and find good local restaurant for lunch. Weather was beautifully sunny so walking around was a pure joy! Both of my editor guests had some original Italian pasta and I had pizza with rucolla and mozzarella. 


Then, I took the ladies to interview Pantene's global ambassador, celebrity hair stylist Sam McKnight who not only is a great hairdresser of many celebrities like: late Lady Di, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman, Madonna, Uma Thurman, Sienna Miller, Drew Barrymore and Penelope Cruz, but also makes a great organic strawberry cake! 

 Sam designed hairstyles for many designers shows during recently finished fashion weeks. He did: Tweenty8Tvelve, Moschino Cheap and Chic, Brioni, Jaeger and most importantly DSquared which we went to see on that rainy Monday morning.


We hang out with Sam in the backstage.
Bellow are Sam's selected messy bow look for DSquared show which is not that hard to do at home. :)

If you want to try any of Sam's looks, there is a video tutorial of some on a side of my blog posts.

Dean was also getting beautified before the show.

Hair and make up girls were multitasking, while general mood in backstage was very calm and relaxed but also buisy (maybe cause of the parties night before and we were all sleepy).

We had couple of hours to shop and to see Milan, to shop and visit Corso Commo the whole city was living for fashion these couple of days, you could smell it on the street, see it in the store windows and see it in fabulously dresses Milanians. 

On the pic I am wearing:

Gray fedora from H and M

Doors T-shirt

Jean Top Shop button up shirt 

Top Shop skinny jeans

Naf-Naf sandals

Earlier mentioned Italian food was not all of the great food we ate, the following day we found great Sushi restaurant and after we missed our flight back we decided to comfort ourselves with some great Asian and Indian food.

Although we missed our flight back to Zagreb due to traffic jam in Milan and had to get up at 3am to be back in the office on time, we had a lot of fun, we interviewed Sam and had a short coffee with photo blogger Facehunter and managed to see the show and feel the fasion rush during Fashion Week in Milan.


Xoxo darlings,


                       

Searchin' Croatian fashion bloggers...

Since I moved back to Croatia I tried to identify some Croatian fashion bloggers. Just to get to know the blogosphere around here a bit better. Partially it was work related and partially I was just curious.
I found a couple I started to follow.


CROATOR.NET
One Saturday last winter, when I was saying goodbye to a friend after a long coffee on a main square a young lady, she was a photographer, told me I had interesting look and took photo of me.
 Later through one fashion portal editor I found out that this girls name was Antonija, and she was a "Croatian Sartorialist". A young photo blogger who was getting inspiration on streets of Zagreb. Antonija recently got in the final round od Vogue's competition for young street photographers. 
Be sure to check out her blog, its fabulous!


CHOCOHOLIC
Tonia seems to be a student living in Split. One of Croatian coastal cities. Her blog is more personal. She takes pictures of herself in various combinations, writing about her style, cosmetic and her style inspirations.
I liked her last post about bow rings she makes.


I hope to find more Croatian fashion bloggers! If you are out there, email me!


Xoxo darlings...I got to go write another post...I just got inspired for an outfit!


p.s. Good luck to Antonija on Vogue's contest!

BOOK REVIEW: "The end of fashion" by Teri Agins

Inspired by the lack of daily intellectual activity and the pile up of thoughts and ideas in my rather creative head with the limited information storage space (and probably inability to find a person who would be willing to hear all of the above, other than my boyfriend who doesn't count as he has no other choice)I decided to start writing this blog. This way, I can bother all of you willing to read it, with my daily dilemmas, worries and observations.

So,today, on my day off work I woke up 100% PMSal ready to scream at, cry to and complain to the first person I see, as my boyfriend ran out to work before I fully regained my conscious my first victim was my mother. Which is great since she must always understand and forgive, she has to! That's her "mother duty"-Mother's Law 1252.1 :"Never take anything your PMSal daughter saids to heart".

Next, I talked to my GF and BFF, we discussed rather important issues with finalizing her wedding plans and she educated me on "The American Weeding Traditions" which are soooo damn confusing! Gosh!!!! I miss Croatian good old "cash in the envelope" kind of gift giving.

As I finished my conversation I finally started reading Teri Agins's "The End of Fashion" and sinfully indulged in my 654 Calorie Grande Fat Free Pepermint Mocha (God Bless Starbucks on the first day of PMS and damn you New York City officials for showing the calorie count in my face).

Recently, I started to research fashion history and fashion business to help me decide if I should go to fashion graduate school or not. So far, the more I read the more I am realizing that my view of fashion is very naive and romantic. I have been living in an "isolated bubble".

In my little bubble, fashion is still painfully gorgeous, impractically fabulous and totally unwearable, and I love it like that! I seem to be one of a dying kind. I learned that those who would agree with my views and who would share my mindset died in 60's (Dior, Chanel) or are alive but severely drugged and medicated (but still very successful) and have no connection to the reality what so ever (John Galliano).

Please don't get me wrong, I am not comparing myself with their geniusness but simply realizing that I myself think of fashion garment as little pieces of art, rather that a pieces of fabric stitched together by a 10 year old factory worker in China. As Teri Agins realistically noted the fashion has ended as it existed before and became a mass-pleasing part of entertainment industry :(

Obviously, I have just started reading this book but I am hungrily turning its pages, praying to find a thread of hope to grip on, hoping to learn that it is not all about money and catering to couture illiterate sloppy dressing masses and that there is still interest in fashion in form it has once existed: exclusive, reserved for sizes 6 and under ,fabulous, expensive, glamorous, uncomfortable and painful to wear but stunning to look at and a privilege to wear.

PUSA.

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.

IN PRESS

 In 2008. when I started writing my blog in New York City, it served as a tool to exchange the creative thoughts, feelings and ideas with my colleagues and friends who I worked with in showrooms, A&F and later in Rugby Ralph Lauren.

My primary intention was not to make blogging my full time job so I always took it as a hobby of mine which allowed me to have full creative freedom. I used it as my growing up diary entwined closely with fashion at each of my life stages.  So far, I haven’t been to keen communicating my blog through press as I felt I am still searching for my voice as a blogger.

My daily interactions with media through my work in P&G allowed me to better recognize which media to interact with as best fit to my blog.

INTERVIEWS on fashion portals:

KRPA.HR

MODA.HR
CROMODA.HR
LaCOUTURE

NOMINATIONS:

KRPA.HR - nominated as a blogger whose autobiography one would like to read!

REPORTS and REVIEWS on online portals:

FASHION.HR – Fall looks

FOTOFAHIONART.COM

FASHION.HR – Ladylike

PUSH IT MAGAZINE - Top 5 Croatian bloggers

REFERALS from fellow bloggers:

MAYBESNEWSTART.BLOGSPOT.COM

Black-and-white-heaven.blogspot.com

Trendywhite.blogspot.com
Stilueta style//fashion blog

BLOGGERS CONTESTS:

Arena Centar Bloggers Challenge 

- Fashion ID

- Video of the 1st shopping challenge

- Announcement of the second finalist

WEEKEND STYLEBOOKS on FEMINA.HR portal:
Weekend easy chic stylebooks

La Kat biography

PRINT MONTHLY COLUMN BUDI.IN MAGAZINE:

PRINT COOPERATION:                                                           ELLE INTERVIEW:

VEČERNJI LIST Sunday papers about Arena Centar Bloggers Challenge!

More press here.

CONTACT

La Passion pour la Fashion does not take money for writing regular blog posts, each sponsored post will be stated as such and it must fall under category topics of my blog.

Opinions stated on this blog are my private ones and in no ways reflect the opinion of the company I work for - Procter and Gamble. Original materials contained on La Passion pour la Fashion are proprietary and should not be used without La Passion pour la Fashion consent.

For advertising and other cooperation inquiries within categories covered in this blog please email me at: katarina@lapassionpourlafashion.com.

Opportunities to work with online and print media as freelance contributor, providing expertise or quotes, or as part of a feature story are always appreciated, for such inquiries please select one of the bellow listed contact options according to request urgency.

Katarina Štimac

Founder & editor
Email: katarina@lapassionpourlafashion.com

www.lapassionpourlafashion.com

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ABOUT

I am a passionate fashionista writing lines of life, lyrics of passion and lines of passion for fashion.  Fashion is indeed very important and influential part of my personal aesthetics. All of the categories I cover in this blog are luxuriously illustrated and viewed from personal à la mode point of view shared in a way I would share it with my girlfriends over a cup of skinny peppermint mocha.

MISSION 

To share my growing up life and love lessons, my commentary to current fashion trends, developing local fashion industry and business of fashion all through the eyes of a true fashionista.

LINES OF LIFE  are posts which reflect emotions and life lessons I learned and  went through in different stages of my life, these are the lessons of growing up which based on your feedback many can relate to and find comfort in.

LYRICS OF PASSION are the impulsive, spear of the moment lyrics that come to me randomly when I am in love.

LINESOF PASSION FOR FASHION are posts related to current fashion trends which I recommend to follow, fashion events reviews and commentaries from business side of fashion with a special focus on Croatian fashion industry and eco-friendly fashion.

INTERVIEWS are quick interviews I did with young and talented fashion designers, editors and business people from fashion world with intention to get better picture of what is happening in backstage of fashion industry.

I SPY is the collection of my travel diaries and reviews of various fabulous places I recommend you to visit worldwide.

URBAN GENTLEMAN  is the collection of posts which refer to current trends in menswear but also talk about male-female relationships from female point of view.

I hope you will enjoy reading and commenting my posts as much as I enjoy writing and sharing them with you lovelies. 

Love,

Katarina Štimac, La Kat

Founder & editor

Email:katarina@lapassionpourlafashion.com

www.lapassionpourlafashion.com

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