Embalaje para España: 5 traveling tips.

After spending last five days here in Dubrovnik with my boyfriend at his parents house, our Summer holiday is slowly coming to an end. Tonight we are traveling to Barcelona where we need to find an apartment, furnish it a bit and make it a home for him/us for next couple of seasons. For both of us next month or so will be quite stressful, important and tiresome transitional period with moving to new countries, settling in new apartments and a new working environment. 

Since I am a quite an experienced traveller, traveling abroad in average 1-2x a month or more depending on business needs and having lived in more then 3 countries in last ten years, I decided to post 5 easy traveling tips for all of your frequent fashion travelers. 

1. Carry on luggage. 

Carry on luggage can weigh up to 10kg with most airlines but it is always useful to check on your flight carrier website before the trip. Since my daily Lei Lou purse is quite big I can fit all of my carry on items in it. I usually carry my laptop in it, passport, valet, phones, camera, books, business cards, planner, toothbrush and toothpaste and more valuable jewelry. Also - when I have a transfer flight I always bring a spar outfit in carry on for the cases when my transfers are cutting close and there is a chance my luggage can be lost. If you are flying with discount carriers like easy-yet or Ryan-air bring some Euros in cash since they charge food and water in the plane separately. 

2. Dressing for the trip.

What you wear for the trip will obviously depend on the time of the year and nature of your trip. When I go to business trips and I need to go straight to the office from airport I travel in heels, shirt and pencil skirt with a cardigan, however when I travel on private arrangement like today, when its warm I travel in flats - chucks or ballet flats with jean shorts and button up or I just put on a t-shirt and bring cardigan or a soft scarf like the scull McQueen one on the photo bellow.

3. Key fashion pieces. 

What you bring at any trip again will depend on the nature of your trip but there might be some staples which are always useful. This is what I discovered to be the safest things to pack as a base: dark skinny jeans, white chucks, denim shorts, one pair of tights and one pair of light sweats. Little black dress, floral dress, one blue or white cotton button up, navy 3/4 pants, blue and white striped t-shirt, gray t-shirt and white and black tanks tops, 2 bikinis (black and one in color), leather jacket, 4 pairs of heels, flip-flops, 2 cardigans, 2 purses black and brown, black cotton pencil skirt and on top of all this couple of additional items which add personality to your look like jewelry, scarves, hats etc.

4. Packing luggage. 

I think after all these years I can say that I have became a pro in packing. I always bring one big red suitcase when staying somewhere for 5 days or more. I pack each of my shoes in a separate cotton bag, my underwear, bikinis and bra in its own cotton bags. First I fold the clothes (leaving a chunk of space for my cosmetic bag which is huge) and then I fill the spaces in between with wrapped shoes. I put purses and belts in  the big compartment in closing of the suitcase. 

5. Unpacking at destination. 

It is important to immediately unpack at destination, obviously not all of the suitcase but at least those pieces which wrinkle easily. Most of the hotels have spacey closets, iron available in the room, little net stand to lift up your suitcase and a clothing stand which helps keep your clothes which you plan to wear for the next day wrinkle free.

EXTRA TIP! 

Traveling with your pet.

Since I am moving to a new country where nobody will be able to babysit my dog while I am traveling, Papi will need to fly with me each month to Barcelona. Papi is a 14kg mid size dog so I am not able to bring him up with me in the cabin, he rather needs to travel in his cage as a luggage. I don't give Papi any food on the day of the flight, just water, I also don't give him any medicine to calm him down as I am not sure how the medicine would affect him during flight. It is important not to put any toys or any other items in his cage ( I suggest the one with plastic screws not the one with clips).

 If you plan to fly with your dog he needs to have a valid passport, update vaccinations and he needs to have a vet check (signed and stamped in his passport) done no longer then 7 days from the flight date. Here is where you can get all of the detailed guidelines for traveling with your pet. 

I hope you found these tips useful lovelies! :)

Nautical inspiration

Nautical trend featuring navy or light blue horizontal stripes has become a classic trend marking all from casual wear transitioning from Spring to Summer, casual business wear in combo with khaki pants or shirt, to yachting resort collection and editorials on fabulous tropical retreats. 

Designers who does nautical best is for sure Ralph Lauren as you can see on the photos bellow taken from www.ralphlauren.com. 

Even though many are scared of wearing horizontal stripes as they may add to the width I can resist to wear them. 

My favorite nautical look is often the classic one in combination with khaki bottoms, ropy accessories and red make up. In terms of accessories I try to combine one statement jewelry piece with Chanel red lipsticks and nails and that is it.

Net-a-porter

Victorias Secret

Also, I love wearing straw hats and clutches or beach bags with maxi cotton dresses and just a swimsuit to complete all I will need through the day. 

Lucky magazine editorial

Coral jewelry can also be a great statement piece which will showcase the dark skin and the rested glow we all tend to have during vacation. :)

Vogue Australia 2011.

I believe there is no excuse for ladies to down dress on vacation as this is the time that you actually have time to play around with clothes and maybe try new things.

Do you feel like you give yourself more time then usual to dress up and look your best during Summer lovelies?

BOOK REVIEW: "Elegance" by Kathleen Tessaro

“Elegance is a sort of harmony that rather resembles beauty, 

with the difference that the beauty is more often a gift of nature and elegance the result of art. Elegance is rare in the modern world, largely because it requires precision, attention to detail, and the careful development of a delicate taste in all forms of manners and style. In short, it does not come easily to most women and never will.”

This is the second book titled Elegance which I read in the last 3 years. My friends often tease me that I have a funny way of picking books (based on the way the cover looks). Ok, it's true that I gravitate towards fancy font, pink colored, girly covers which mostly means that I go for so called chic-lit tittles.

The first book titled Elegance by madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux I purchased on a yard sales when I lived in Towson, Maryland and went to many yard sales with a lovely lady who I babysat for at the time- Mrs.Deb.

When I came home I parked it at the shelf and didn't get to read it until I moved to NYC to work in fashion industry. I can say, without exaggeration that this book positively contributed to my transition from a young lady to a women, in that particularly sensitive age from teen years to twenties. This book is a complete guide for woman who wants to be well and properly dressed for every occasion, it is a true style bible. 

The second book titled Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro is inspired by the original Elegance by French madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux. It is an interesting and witty real life trial and interpretation of Dariaux's style rules from the original book written in the 1960's  by an English lady author Kathleen Tessaro.

I highly recommend you to read this book so I will not tell you how it ends.At first, I felt sorry for the main character Louise Canova, she reminded me very much on a Bridget Jones type of girl, so I had some prejudices as such character is a polar opposite of my own personality. However, as I continued to read, I started feeling as I was her friend, she pulled me into her story and I could relate on many situation she was going through, despite our character differences. I was very proud of her at the end of the book. :)

Here is a short video summary of the book by Kathleen Tessaro herself. 

Next, I would like to share a couple of my favorite quotes and style rules from madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux which I memorized and have continued to ensure myself into as I go through my life adventure, so I hope these help you lovelies as well.

"Being beautiful is no guarantee of happiness in this world. 

Strive instead for elegance, grace and style."

“To be elegant is first of all to know oneself, 

and to know oneself well requires a certain amount of reflection and intelligence.”

"Refuse to be seduced by anything that isn't first rate!"

"When comfort becomes an end in itself, it is the Public Enemy Number One of elegance."

"Always shop alone. Women who shop with their friends may be popular, 

but elegant they are NOT."

"Underwear. Do not confuse beautiful lingerie, the kind that supports well and remains fresh, with the cheap, vulgar stuff of men's magazines. Fascinating? I'm certain. But elegant it is NOT."

Voguepedia.

I am sure most of you who follow fashion know about this amazing tool, but if you don’t, I highly recommend checking it out! 

Style.com combined all of the key points and personas currently in fashion industry, identifying the best of the best who appeared in Vogue into one online encyclopedia called Voguepedia. This tool is nicely searchable with clean design. It contains a number of key categories: beauty, brands, designers, editors, models, personalities, photographers and turning points.

It seems like this tool is still work in progress and focused on US Vogue and US market mainly as many important people are not even mentioned for example, there is no Anna Wintour, nor Anna Dello Russo and Carine Roitfeld in editors category. There is no mention of fashion bloggers in turning points or personalities categories etc. but I am sure all will be added eventually.

My favorite sections so far are:

- Photographers

- Eco fashion

- Brands - McQueen 

Photo source: Photograph by Steven Meisel.Published in Vogue, May 2011.

I would also love to see the photo galleries of best or most memorable editorials and some business info on history of Vogue overall.

Although, when it comes to books I am totally old school, I have and continue to buy more and more fashion books on my travels and here in Croatia. I have to admit that continuous changes and extremely fast pace of fashion industry makes most print editions overdue just weeks and months from purchase, so in such a fast paced environment I highly support online editions which are not only eco friendly and better organized, but you can also view them via many different gadgets virtually as well as store and access info from it when you need it on your iPad, iPhone etc.

What do you think of Voguepedia?

Smile, sparkle and shine!

„Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.“

John Jakes

Most of you who have seen the  Fall/Winter, 2011. fashion shows and recent magazine editorials have probably noticed all of the shinny sequins, sparkles and glitter pieces styled to be worn from day to night, mixed and matched with velvet, cotton, leather and suede on absolutely everything from make up to dresses, shoes and accessories.

Jessica Stam for Vogue Turkey by Patrick Demarchelier

Not until recently have I started to mix my metals (gold and silver) on rare occasions when I considered it appropriate, until I have seen the latest editorials and various sparkly shoe designs which have inspired me to try to mix in some stand out sparkly pieces in my day wear.

Last year in Milan I found an amazing tailored cotton black (office appropriate) short sleeve knee length tailored dress with sequins embellishment on the emphasized shoulder pads which I have worn a fair number of times; while this year I am thinking about mixing sparkling metals into more casual wear, like the set bellow featuring Balmain mini, cool TOP SHOP boots and simple gray T-shirt by Wang.

As it’s the case with most of you my fabulous shoesoholic followers, I suspect I will spend most of my disposable income on adding some fabulous sparkly shoes to my winter closet as well– my favorites are silver glittery oxford flats (pair of which I already have in silver eco-leather) and these fabulous Miu Miu suede pink meets with silver glitter gorgeousnesses J

Do you dare to shine this winter lovelies? What will be your sparkly investment?

„As we let our light shine,

we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,

our presence actually liberates others.“

Marianne Williamson

Día #1-3: Todo el día siesta!

Those who follow my blog know I don’t write about private life much (at least directly) nor I post my outfit pictures as it is not the concept of my blog, rather my blog is focused on three topic pillars which I continue to explore and are my three top interest which I choose to share: lines of life, lyrics of passion and lines of passion for fashion. I guess this series of blog posts will fall under the lines of life category.

 I choose to share this because some of you according to your emails have found comfort or motivation in this type of posts. This is the series which is written in Madrid which will be my short travel journal where I am sharing my most precious moments of exploring Madrid and spending much needed and most valuable time with my boyfriend who plays here, currently we are in a long distance relationship so each moment spent together, and all the little things we do are that much more precious to us.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, 

the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… 

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… 

they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” 

Steve Jobs

RIP you fabulous special man! You have changed the world!