no images, no typing error corrections, no automatic capitalization!
not my computer, not my country
nothing to do...
well, holidays in moscow are going slightly more cheerful than expected. this city has absolutely everything 24/7, and there's something about the sleepless lifestyle that attracts me. i'm excited like a child about the long metro rides, reading a magazine 'afisha', drinking liters of take-away coffee... little pleasures in a big city.

17. 05. 09

So finally it’s here – the last week before I set off to Russia! I can’t call it excitement, but there’s definitely a feeling inside of me that doesn’t let me sit still. I’m afraid I have read through all Russian sites/blogs to prepare myself mentally for a trip that I haven’t taken in 5 years, so in my head I am already half-way there.
Hopefully I’ll come back with loads of inspirational images, they might turn out sad and melancholic, but at least inspirational. I’m also curious to find the specifics of the Russian style (and I’m not talking matryoshkas here) – the certain style aesthetics acceptable in one country and not in the other. So far I’m prepared to see a lot of resemblance to Stockholm and Berlin, but on 10 cm heels!
As for the trip to my hometown of Ivanovo, where the scenery is always poignant, and rivers are poisoned – it shall be an utter confrontation with my long-term absence from that part of the world and with the harsh reality that takes its toll on the deteriorating cityscapes. A former city of socialist importance turns to ‘peel’…
So please, don’t take me for a pessimist, but where else would I go biking as a kid through a thin path between an artillery testing field and a cemetery just to get to a popular holiday resort of the Voldayskoe Lake?

(these have nothing to do with Russia - just some sketches I've been making...empty clothing racks and stuffed bags)

EDIT: This made me laugh almost through tears. Here's an excerpt from a web-site that suggests a guided tour through Russia's Golden Ring:

"Ivanovo is still one of the main textile centers of Russia, a big industrial and polluted city. Russians half-jokingly call this place 'the city of brides', because there are more women than men working at the city's textile productions.

THE MAIN SIGHTS

Ivanovo is a grey and gloomy city, with relics of the Soviet times on every step. It'll be enough to pass it through by bus going between Vladimir and Kostroma, just keep your eyes wide open: the central noisy and dirty street with grey residential buildings and a big red church in the middle of all the mess; the faded impressive mosaics to glory the Soviet heroes, left here from the 70s; a dirty and noisy bus station with an old man playing accordeon to cheer his fellow babushkas.One of the main streets of the city is F. Engelsa street where you can find a supermarket, a currency exchange, an internet access, and a railway station in the end of the street.Another important street is Lenina street, where there are many restaurants, cafes, and a hotel.In case you're stuck in Ivanovo and feel sad that the trip that was teaching you so much about architecture and history was abruptly paused in this town, you should visit Palekh village, one of the centers of Russian icon-painting, 60 kilometers east of Ivanovo to the direction of Nizhny Novgorod. "

I just love how they basically tell you to get the hell out of there!

the inauguration

Here we are at the Mapp. inauguration! And this time around I’ve got tasty visuals for your viewing pleasure.

They’ve got a plenty of great mags to choose from, including Pin-UP – an entertainment/architecture magazine which is read on one breath. Metal is there too, and I love the articles dedicated to contemporary artists, as the interviews are always incredibly well structured, they do not deviate from the topic, nether ponder on about the same old thing like others do.


This is the Henrik Vibskov rail, I did snap it together with the mirror reflection, as I want it to be absolutely endless!




Celine’s work is also presented here. From lovely stripy t-shirts to ochre-coloured tops with back cape details to tapered trousers with high waist and front pleats – to die for!

mini weekday market

This is not the new news, but I just wanted to share and constate once again the fact of my eternal love of everything Scandinavian. Here’s a small collaboration collection between Minimarket and Weekday. It’s a small capsule collection available at Weekday stores under the name Mini Weekday Market.

The collection for women consists of three tops in either glittery black or white photographic print, a dress and amazing wedged high heel shoes in either black or leopard (!). There are men’s t-shirts too, and in fact these are the first pieces of men’s clothing ever designed by Minimarket’s sisters Sofie, Pernilla and Jennifer Elvestedt.

This collection is sold in all Weekday stores, including the Copenhagen one, which I shall definitely visit on my August trip, so just one more point to keep me absolutely egg-sited about it.

platform sole physics

Is anyone familiar with a term ‘critical mass’? A critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (e.g. the nuclear fission cross-section), its density, its shape, its enrichment, its purity, its temperature, and its surroundings. Right?
Now hopping over to my world…What will happen if I shall own a pair of these, these and these?

…alongside with these, these and these:

Will I be able to walk up the walls? Teleport myself to Stockholm on lunch breaks? Or walk on water? As the amount of platform soles in my wardrobe/wish-list reaches the critical mass, something definitely must happen!
…I might also just twist my ankle…

A good reason to type some addresses in Mapp.y!

let's talk about the weather

At the times when the Belgian weather is behaving like the REAL Belgian weather, i.e. rain-rain-rain on my window pane, I’m longing for some sort of a huge and very much exhibitionist-style trench coat to hide me away from this misery. How wonderful would it be to get back from work all covered-up and dry, looking refreshed from a light drizzle and a brisk walk (…how wonderful would it be not to go to work at all), instead I got drenched, watching the rain-drops dripping off my nose and discovering my favourite black coat (yes, the batwing one) shrinking to two sizes smaller, going wavy at the lapels and all that. Oh horror!
An urgent fitting of Burberry trench-coats is scheduled for tomorrow at Spullenhulp, but in the meanwhile, admire this:


The clever people of Portland know how to deal with the rain. This is a piece from a small collection of rain-wear by Slow and Steady Wins the Race/Stand up comedy colab.

it's a small world

27 of August, two days before my birthday, and right smack-in-the-middle of my holiday an interdisciplinary exhibition shall open in Copenhagen. Henrik Vibskov will take part, and I’ll be at the vernissage. Holiday plans are settled from this moment on!

Mapp.ed out!

So here it is: the fabulous Mapp. I dare you to take a peek and enter and you shall experience the unseen (ok, let’s mute the epic tone right here…unseen in Brussels) before. What you are most likely to find is a very tasteful selection of Surface to Air clothes and shoes, Opening Ceremony clothes and shoes – must add that this is THE first retail point for Opening Ceremony in Belgium. Alongside with wonderfully chosen Henrik Vibskov attire – yes, I am very picky on the selection when it comes to Vibskov’s work, that’s where I want to see a statement piece next to a cult piece, diluted just so slightly by simpler, wearable kind. At Mapp. you find exactly the right amount, colour combination and variety of cult/statement, all matched so nicely to the Opening Ceremony shoes!
Honestly, this little tasty boutique has blown me away (all the way to Copenhagen where I’m dreaming of getting in to a fashion show for a pack of cigs, wearing a gorgeous trench in papery cotton, stomping in my lovely OC platform sandals worn over printed socks…and what was that thing with food colouring for sausages that are forbidden in the rest of EU?).

My initial confusion of a short-term disappearance has been cleared away by friendly Emmanuel – Mapp. is here to stay, and the pop-up store as it was before has turned into a permanent store and platform for young design, music and art. Worthy to mention is that Emmanuel’s background is in visual merchandising, and Celine is…um…Celine Collard, needless to say more. You should have a full confidence in this duo to come forward with the most tasteful objects to fill your lifestyle and educate your curious mind, as well as propose the intriguing sound for your listening pleasure and dress you head-to-toe. Do you want to sell furniture from Huh/Karel, guys? And the list will be complete all the way.
So the verdict, as it is already clear – Do you imagine your life without Mapp.? I don’t. Not anymore!

Here's a rather blatant resemblance to my humble 'origami...' header. All in all it's Mapp - a temborary shop on Rue Leon Lepage 5, here in BXL. Shall I utter the same old words: immitation is the gratest form of flattery?
http://www.mappstore.com/

They do claim to stock Opening Ceremony, Surface to Air and Henrik Vibskov. Blah!

please,

Thank you!

mock-, -esque, -ish

The fact that we now have All Saints in Antwerp is not new (it’s on Kammenstraat 35), but the fact that I never considered the design aspect of it is rather surprising. One question is still remaining though: how come it resembles so much a sum up of various brands that I adore?
Do you want to have a bit of mock-Complex Geometries?

Or some Natalia Brilli-esque stuff?

...or an Arielle De Pinto-ish necklace?

Makes you think, doesn’t it? Yet if I don’t find a second-hand all black leather back-pack come mid-June, I’ll be bagging mine at All Saints sales for sure.

supply my need!

Hold me, tie me to the chair, someone, please! I will not get up, I will not get my Visa out of my wallet! Oh why has God created a calculator watch?

Tease me, tease me Need Supply!

two steps to escapism

As I’m contemplating a temporary escape to Berlin, these are the two landmarks that I wanted to share. My escape might not happen before that dreary trip to Russia to face the downside of the burocracy, but at least these images keep me inspired and hankering for that moment when I’ll be holding the precious plane tickets in my hands. For now, they are only images…
Temporary showroom is an ever-changing store. It seems like every season there’s a new way of presenting the collection, still keeping the raw white walls and the shabby façade. It intrigues me! Adding the fact that they stock Boessert/Schorn, Odeur and Damir Doma among plenty of others, might just make it one of my top priority places yet to visit. You can find more images on their page as well as the full list of brands and designers.






Apartment – this shall be the third time I put up a post dedicated to the mysterious Apartment in Berlin. They have a magnificent selection of Fabrics Interseason and Noir, alongside with Rick Owens footwear and Undercover accessories. It bears some resemblance to Reborn and Dover Street Market, but the uncompromising Berlin architecture sets it far apart from the conventional concept stores – it stands somewhat on the darker side.

Temporary Showroom is on Kastanienalle 36a, 10435 Belrin
Apartment is on Alexanderplats, Memhardstrasse 8, 10178 Berlin

ANN-SOFIE BACK

...HAS BEEN APPOINTED HEAD DESIGNER OF CHEAP MONDAY WITH FOUNDER ORJAN ANDERSSON

some more green stuff

So there’s a way to be stylish and eco-friendly at the same time, yet I still believe that the eco-friendly interior design has progressed way more than fashion. Is it because those who choose to recycle, eat bio and use renewable sources of energy tend to discard fashion at its ‘throw-away’ approach?
I’m not going green or anything…although I do eat bio, have energy-saving bulbs, decorate my house with second-hand furniture and clean it with nature-friendly products…and use Paraben-free cosmetics only!...hm, and the toilet paper is eco too, it’s packaged in special degradable plastic. Should such fact be shared with the whole wide world? Anyways, there’s a trend. I don’t admit to it every time, but if we were to have recycling centres like in Finland where you get clothes for free just for the sake of recycling, I might have become a fan.
Going back to the interior part, I’ve got luck in my pockets! As this time last year we (at COS) had beautiful high summer windows composed out of cardboard structures in shades of green and olive. Then those got taken down and only one year later the news have arrived that the cardboard must be recycled. So the good employe that is me decided to recycle it by dragging every single remaining box to my home. Why? Here’s an image:


And here’s a link:
http://www.mioculture.com/

Have you figured out why? Well, it’s not only for a price tag (I’ve got 7 packages), but the entire installation and versatility of this amazing product is overwhelming to me. It’s like a giant puzzle, but incredibly rewarding in the end, because the construction looks like some architectural details from the 60’s, it reminds me of shopping malls somehow, only that it’s light and airy, colours are lovely, but most of all it’s made of recycled material. I am busy constructing a wall that separates the staircase from the room and blocks out the window slightly, as I want to get rid of the curtains, and still have some light while being obscured from the curious stares of the passers-by. It shall be the weekend fun!

Coffee, cakes and online shops

On a day when a nasty illness has taken me down and locked me out, I’m sipping on caramel coffee, devouring amaretto cakes and dreaming of decent summer days. It’s been so windy lately that I cannot deal with my hair going all directions, which means staying indoors is not so drastically bad, especially as I’ve got my coffee, cakes and fashion blogs! And here comes the first result: the pastel summer has caught my fancy lately. It started with the fact that I’ve somewhat unofficially decided to abstract myself from colour onto a palette of black white and nude, so the pastels are the immediate logical development, as they are not real colours and work so well with nude and black.


These come from an on-line store Pixie Market. I’m so surprised at the recent bloom of online boutiques which seem to sell such wonderful clothes that I never find in physically present shops. I do know almost all the brands they stock, but have given up on finding anything similar outside of Stockholm or London. On top of that my current obsession with West Coast fashion and music is driving me nuts as I discover more and more wonderful names every day. And such route to discovery is facilitated by the numerous online stores, of course. Here are just to name few:
Opening Ceremony
Creatures of comfort
Candystore collective
Stand Up Comedy
Need supply( ok ok, it’s from Richmond, but oh so lovely)







By the way, all those are included into ‘the daily browsing’ routine. Would you like to know more? I have a humongous international list:

Acne studios (Sweden)
Pixie Market (US)
Mint&Vintage (Sweden)
Doshaburi (Spain)
Amelie Boutique (UK)
Cronicles of never (Australia)
Reborn (Canada)
Freudian Kicks (Norway)
ForwardForward (US)
Tjallamalla (Sweden)
Grandpa (Sweden)
I'm forgetting a plenty, so I'll keep adding to this list...in the meanwhile try guessing which one stocks these:

another kind of magic

My heart stopped…stopped…ok, fingers are still typing though, possibly in a jerk reflex, like when you tear a spider leg off and it’s still twitching…or like when you chop a rooster’s head off and it’s still running around…this is not about kind of black magic! It’s about these beauties:


I will not tell you where I found them - very selfish, or how much they cost – pennies actually! So I’m panting of excitement.

we <3 outfit posts pt.2

And that’s where a second-hand floral blazer helps to rock a Minnie-Mouse-meets-Princess-Diana look…not too sure to the beat of which drum I was getting down on this photo…

we <3 outfit posts

Very bland and boring post, and when it comes to credits - all COS head to toe. Lazy work outfit it is.

Experimental Dental School

Here’s the one we’ve been all waiting for! Experimental Dental School is at the Strip on Wednesday, may 6! And if you have any chance to go see them in other cities, like Cologne on May 5, or London on the 9th, please do so. Trio became a duo, but nevertheless this Portland wonder band is absolutely worth the trouble of travelling out to any of those peculiar locations….for the unaware ones, the Strip is in Kortrijk – a cool temporary venue apparently…shall find that out.

Edit: They also have a lovely blog, it's up on the links list!

eco-friendly origami

I’m very much surprised to find these images. So apparently I’m not too familiar with eco-fashion, because it always had this intolerable hippy connotation. I do not stand essence flavoured surroundings, goa music, rasta hair and colour orange. Yet there’s a strange shift taken by an eco-label Osklen which claims to use recycled materials, environment-friendly fabrics and dyes from renewable sources. It does sound ideal but such concept has never managed to look ideal nomatter how hard I look…up until now.
If only we could have more development into this field I would wear eco-fashion with pride, eat bio and do my laundry with Ecover. I swear!