The best of Fall Couture 2012. Fashion Week

The common theme for the Fall Couture 2012. Fashion Week was surely this new Noir we are seeing across collections. This is what I loved the most - gorgeous luxurious gowns made of expensive French empire lace flirting with vintage silhouettes. 

ELIE SAAB

Known by his red carpet gowns didn't disappoint. Collection consisted solely of gowns and cocktail dresses rich with Chantilly lace, sequins and crystals. Collection was mostly black smaller number of pale pink, blue and gold lace pieces. 

ZUHAIR MURAD

This Lebanese designer has entered the "red carpet star dressing" world by dressing young actress Blake Lively and singer-actress Jennifer Lopez on her tour. His bellow shown Fall 2012. couture collection is obviously targeting 20+ young starlets with shown cocktail dresses and red carpet gowns with emphasized waiste, high cut maxi gowns and long lace numbers. I particularly love the old Hollywood 50's glam one can sense from this collection. Murad did not forget about his more conservative a bit older clients, designing a nice versatile range of gorgeous, finely embroidered gowns. 

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA

This "Artisanal" collection was about reinventing, refurbishing vintage pieces by hand into new designs. Collection was rich with silk, lace, row cotton and beaded pieces embellished with destroyed and "refurbished" pieces like crystal doorknob, windsurfing sail and vintage baseball glows - far right on the photo. 

My favorite (of course on top of mysterious crystal masks) were simple French lace straight trousers worn on couple of models while most of the attention was drawn by comprehensive pieces worn on top of the body.

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER

Inspired by 20's, 30's and Metropolis JPG showed us quite an interesting collection featuring metal headbands, top hats and perfectly cut garments. For my liking, it was a bit to much this time, it was a bit to over the top and confusing with having to many men's pieces overlapping with women's insinuating androgynous look but in a quite annoying and over the top way. All of the individual pieces are made with amazing precision and craftsmanship and can definitely look brilliant worn separately.  

Photo by Delfine Archard via www.wwd.com 

ALEXANDRE-VAUTIER

This collection is clearly made for "look at me" kind of girl, reminding on as one fashion journalist wrote "golden age of disco" however I liked the elements of it very much and find them quite wearable, well at least on special occasions and naturally if you have body for it.

I particularly liked the sporty fabric mixes (Neoprene) and lovely tailored peplum jackets which I would wear with skinny jeans and plunge-necked cocktail long sleeve dresses which could be pulled out by girls with not so big chest. 

                                          All photos source: www.wwd.com; www.style.com

 I am really looking forward to seeing these pieces in magazine editorials! Which collections was your absolute favorite lovelies?

Summer whites

Although white is consider a none color, this Summer it really made a splash and it has been widely present in various fabrications on runway, on the streets and in numerous editorials. No matter if you are not really a person to wear totally white outfit, you still might like to experiment with various shades and fabric patterns of white (if they can be called like that). My very favorite are sheer white fabrics and white lace, as well as the 100% organic cotton. 

So far I haven't been sporting much whites this Summer but last year I got a lovely white lace dress in Forever 21 and year before an amazing curve hugging crochet dress from Ralph Lauren which inspired me for one of my previous posts - Romance by crochet.

My manicurist also said that white nails are totally in this Summer season (as the SS runway report confirmed).

My male friends also said that there is nothing sexier and/or more distracting when they drive then a girl wearing white skinny jeans or shorts on her tanned body.

If you are totally against wearing full blown white outfit, you can just use the white piece as a canvas and play around with make up and/or accessories. 

This Summer neon and bright colors are very much IN so combining dramatic red velvet statement jacket with gentle white lace piece or brown belt or leather jacket with white jeans for more casual-prep look is also very effective.

Lovely white Summer sandals are amazing as they go with everything and your neon colored nails can stand our nicely :) These are my top pics.

How much of white are you willing to wear lovelies?

Where to store your jewelry?

As I already mentioned in some earlier posts, I really love costume jewelry. I developed this love (read: obsession) while working as an intern at probably worlds most amazing high fashion jewelry company - Erickson Beamon (Showroom Seven NY). You can read my wonderful experience of working there here. 


I own a lot of jewelry and until recently I have been storing it in a number of various decorative boxes while most valuable pieces (which are also gifts and great memories) I keep securely locked.


 Since I learned that I will soon be moving to another country, I have started collecting various storage boxes and even making my own DIY solutions for storing my seasonal clothing pieces, hats, other accessories and lastly jewelry. Jewelry storages I am sharing with you today are actually a great buy and not really a creative DIY solutions, but since some of you requested more DIY posts, I will be soon sharing my "traveling with style", moving and apartment storage DIY tips with you in upcoming post series. 


So lets jump to the point, I got the bellow two amazing jewelry storage boxes from JYSK store in Zagreb  (this is a Danish company I think, which has store locations all over Europe so you can check out their site to see if they are located near your neighborhood). Here is the list of their stores in Croatia.


I went to JYSK store to get this white metal jewelry stand (price: 89,95 hrk) which fits lovely in my shabby-chic decorated apartment but then I also got this see-through box (99 hrk) for my smaller jewelry. 

Once I arranged part of my jewelry on these, I realized that I have much more jewelry left, so I am planning to get another see-through box for my make up and then another but this time silver metal stand for rings (price: 59,95 kn).

Ladies, this is not a sponsored post, I was just thrilled to finally resolve my jewelry storing problem and thought I should share it with you all. How do you store your jewelry lovelies? If you have any DIY ideas, please do share! :)

Colors of Summer

Every Summer for a while now I write a post about new Summer styles or key items I love and wear. Naturally, I never follow all the trends, rarely any, I select a couple of items per season which suit my body form and play with different colors, patterns and new accessories. This Summer I love bright color maxi dresses and skirts (these styles are my closet staple year around but fabrication and color vary), my favorite are neon yellow and pink.

Also, I try to decorate my home with fresh seasonal flowers, fruits and light Summer sweets, as all of this bring special touch and positive vibe to Summer time, be it at the city or closer to the sea. Try it lovelies, trust me it will work :)

Usually I am not very fond of nail art or multi-colored nails, but this Technic of "grading" I love, both for nails and lips. First I saw it on the last fashion weeks runway shows and now on couple of blogs, I tried it myself and indeed it looks lovely, especially in combo with jeans short, bikini, solid bright color summer dresses, naturally tanned skin and lots and lots of sunshine ! :) For my now very long dark hair, I choose mostly different kinds of braids, or I simply put my hair down after I held it in a braid over night - that gives it that soft Summer curl. 

Would you dare to wear these Summer brights on your lips, nails and body? I dare you! :)

p.s. Don't forget, always have water with you and wear a sun block day and night to keep your skin younger longer! 

My week in a review...

Last 10 days or so I was slacking with posting regularly due to busy work schedule which I tried to balance with couple of days of vacation and finally spending some time with my boyfriend. I had a lovely press event planned for one of my companies brands last Wednesday in the gorgeously luxurious Radisson Blu Resort & Spa in Dubrovnik, so I used the weekend before that to spend time visiting my boyfriend and his parents who also live in Dubrovnik.

On Saturday we went to the amazing island of Lapad, where we were swimming in the lake at the very centar of the island, had amazing Mojitos on the beach and spend our time at the island surrounded by gorgeous peacocks. 

Naturally, I used the opportunity when my boyfriend was working out to ask his mum to show me his childhood photos. Wasn't "she" cute? ;)

Late at Wednesday night I got back to Zagreb to work, so I had to calm down my after mini-vacation depression with some lovely neon nail polish I got in H&M Madrid a month ago when visiting my boyfriend at the end of his play season. So, this was marked as neon Thursday. ;)

On Friday I naturally had to catch up with pilled up email on my blog email account as well as on the work one so I worked late but also had to catch up with cleaning after arriving back to my apartment so I did a little valet cleaning and emptied my change to fill up my Shoe fund (yes my boyfriend has one to, his sneakers collection is almost as vast as my heels collection).

After my Spanish class on Friday evening I was dead tired but still had to work on preparing games and decorations for my sister baby shower (she is pregnant and due beginning of August with little boy who's name will be Lovro). This is the Pampers cake I made for her.

After fun baby shower my mum used the opportunity when I was visiting her (shower was held at her house) to pile me up with cooked meals, cakes, fruits and vegetables from her garden to feed a small army. :) She is especially proud of her spices and berries.

Today, Sunday I planned as a relaxing day so I invited my friends Iva and Ljiljana for coffe and cake, I also managed to do a small shopping and to color my nails with H&M's "Blue my Mind" shade of blue for next work new work week adventure. :)

How was your week lovelies?