First of all, please excuse for the slight negligence to this blog lately – the sale preparation, the odyssey of the broken heating in the middle of the winter and the general seasonal mood swings are pretty much directing my energy towards more quiet and personal way of spending time. Gift shopping is one of those activities – it’s more like taking time to understand something about the person for who the gift is meant to be, because I don’t like to give silly useless things (just as much as I don’t like to receive them). The practical note: I might seem to be late talking about gifts, but Russians celebrate Christmas in January and give gifts only for New Year, so my gift period is yet to come.
Of course, making gifts for myself is the great part of this season’s shopping, and since there’s already plenty of gorgeous clothes on sale in many on-line stores…
The first choice and the first placed order is the Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony tail shirt. I loved it since the very first time I saw the collection, so I’m happy that the shirt is on its way.

Now I’m looking for a pair of high-waisted shorts, which I may just create by chopping some cheapo second-hand jeans, and eventually a pair of jersey trousers that bare some tailoring details like passepoil pockets and zip-fly. Well, I’ll be scouting for ideas.

this is what i do when i love what i do

Master at work - Kris De Smedt

missing gary

If you may prefer to entertain yourself with an old track by Les Georges Leningrad “Missing Gary”, go ahead. Yet here I tell you a short story about something else that went missing.
Prologue.
Yesterday I held a wonderful piece of clothing, hardly believing that it is from a high-street brand COS - the cropped acid yellow jacket from the spring/summer collection. The texture of the fabric is very unusual, synthetic, rigid and transparent. The cropped cut with narrow long sleeves is incredibly graceful even when this piece is futuristic and sporty. The main focus of the shape is on the shoulders – the extended shoulderpads are applied to the outside of the garment held by huge metal clips, breaking all rules of proportion and dressmaker’s modesty. I was in love with it – just how gorgeous it looked against blue background on that blond model (from the yesterday’s shoot).
Chapter I
This morning among the mess that the Brussels store becomes time to time I discovered a newly matched rail of black and acid yellow garments. It didn’t really fit into the space…well, at least it got my attention. I grabbed the yellow jacket and switched some garments around, and only after a while I realised that my hands are holding an object of the familiar texture…hesitation…frown…more hesitation…
In my hands I was holding a jacket. It was acid yellow, synthetic, rigid, transparent. Yet it had an awkward boxy body and flat shapeless shoulders …frown… it did not have any shoulderpads – the plain, boring, ugly blob of disturbing colour it was!
Epilogue
We are often living in the world of editorials – admiring the perfect styles on the pages of glossy magazines, yet never trying to live those styles, knowing that most of the garments are meant for the editorials only and will never go in production. I can bet you’ll never see a girl walking around with the Alexander McQueen spring-summer 2010 shoes on, jumping over pools of water and doing her groceries shopping…but that’s OK.
What’s not OK, is when a high-street brand makes sample pieces that will be used in editorials in all sorts of girly magazines, and then those girlies will go fishing for the particular shoes, dress or jacket just because it appeared in a mag on the ‘Weekly Fashion Fixes’ page – just imagine her surprised expression when she finds that the real garment that she can actually purchase is only a crippled sister of the image in the glossy. I understand that sample pieces can be slightly different form the production, but SO different is a no go. When the reason for the existence of that jacket is the shoulderpads, then ‘cost conscious’ production piece (genre ‘Let’s get rid of those shoulderpads – we use less fabric and simplify the production process by 3 steps) doesn’t really deserve to exist.
I believe design has to be honest.

Well, here you had it – the long rand without any images. I’ll upload the shoot I styled yesterday in a couple of weeks, and then you are all welcome to discover the infamous yellow jacket in any COS store. Untill then, don't forget to listen to 'Missing Gary'

if walls have ears...

...then I might also tell you this jewellery has teeth. They are of 18k gold and courtesy of Beetle&Flor.

I’m pretty surprised how all this different stuff arrives in my mail, because I rarely (if ever) write about jewellery, shamefully admitting to simply not knowing enough about purposes and processes behind this form of self-adornment. I used to consider any precious stones and metals superfluous to any outfit, yet coming back from today’s photoshoot I realised how much I missed jewellery and how many images could have been made stronger if I used a precious little something in the styling.

So here’s yet another carnivorous ornament: by Bittersweets NY.

Lodown DTP issue

Here’s a sneak peek into my favourite new find among the magazines – Lodown, a Berlin-based magazine which uses the outdated publishing techniques to create the most up-to-date issue dedicated to people behind the stunning visuals. Every page is a catalogue of yet another artist’s work, presented in a continuous flow of images. Some projects are created exclusively for the magazine, other document an installation, a happening, an exhibition or simply show a set of paintings and drawings. I’m amazed at the tactile quality of each image as it almost feels 3dimentional – you see the edge of paper, something vague at the background, and the glow-letters as titles. For once I feel that he layout is not the statically put text on a flat page, but an interaction between the most extraordinary and unexpected elements floating over the page in a constant state of flux.
I got my copy some weeks ago in Amsterdam, but since a short while it is available at Mapp., which is very exciting news, of course. I already can’t wait for the next publication.

candy candy candy

Have you noticed how this blog is turning all pastel candy-coloured bright? If not, then here comes another injection of canary-yellow, baby-pink and mint. The latter is very kindly provided by my recent eBay purchase (the former two are just bunch of paper) – the 10£ worth Marc Jacobs heels have arrived today. Rejoice the happy feet that happen to have a mint-coloured nailpolish to match (no, not Chanel! It’s a cheap and chic UO one)!
The shy beauties in black are courtesy of Surface2Air. Heaven in a shoe, and you should be getting yours at Mapp. store.

a sketch by Vika Lebedeva

minimum

I’m a crude minimalist when it comes to decorating. Close your eyes and pretend that the wooden bar is the tree and the plywood cut-out figures have something to do with Xmas.

a Sunday playing a Santa

Here comes a bunch of quickie posts just to keep everyone happy. To start with the good news – I’m getting Internet connection as a gift for Christmas, so my overindulgence in blogging is imminent! And even if I haven’t got anything substantial to write about, well just like today, I will be posting with a frightening frequency in the new coming year.
Yet today the temperatures have dropped below freezing, the Christmas is just around the corner, and I spent the entire working day gift-wrapping all sorts of ridiculous stuff that people buy for eachother. Don’t get me wrong - I love giving gifts, just not for Christmas! This time of the year people are out on a hunt for all sorts of decorative paraphernalia, and I prefer to bestow my dear ones all year round without any seasonal obligation. Gladly for now the list of those who are dear is short and practical: 3 cats, mom, dad – I can sign myself up on it too. The result follows:On Sunday I embarked on a journey to Antwerp to visit RA’s Christmas markets. Don’t mean to make it sound so epic, but that one trip felt like an odyssey – prior to getting there I spent a few hours on a broken down train, revised the entire Oneida discography from Secret Wars through to Rated O, stumbled upon the age old Les Georges Leningrad album, got through that one as well just on being thrown up from the train guts in Berchem. I did finally get to RA, and I must say, those guys did a great job! Everything looked so incredibly cosy in a mix of wooden stalls filled with Cosmic Wonder Light Source, BLESS and Vibskov goodies.

After an hour (or two) of touching and trying on all the lovely clothes I walked away with this jersey dress from Lutz. It’s actually a curious take on a t-shirt dress – just imagine two t-shirts being born partially fused together, like Siamese twins! Two sleeves on one side, one on the other, two bodies, one hole to put your head through - the marvellous monster.



the Lutz dress



the guardian beast

the DIY RA ad

One thing to mention – it may be on a contrary of what people imagined – RA is the kind of place for the incredibly laid-back and cosy shopping. If the prices could bite, you’d walk away with a limb missing, but all the sales are so down-to-earth friendly. I’m loving every experience so far. And even on realising that once upon a time I learned to mumble in British and that no one can really understand me for the first couple of minutes, I can still admit to having a lovely chat with the RA kids (all while some ageing Flemish tourists have been trying to figure out on which part of the body you are supposed to wear the BLESS hat).

dusturbance

There’s a new light.
The kind of light that glows through dust.
The shaping light, the sculpting light.
The light that creates new vision.
The vision is set not to defy or contradict.
It is set to re-consider.
The new vision on fashion.
It is as daily and as banal as it is confronting.
The vision to redesign the conventions.
The conventions are of a recent making.
Those which blur the seasons and shift us few years forward.
Or backwards.
Or in a circle.
In a vicious circle of fashion.
Welcome in the world of Dusturbance.

anntian spring

The days are passing so fast. Here’s another weekend and here’s next week coming soon. I need more time. I need a day that lasts 72 hours, 12 of which will be spent sleeping, 8 at work, 3 getting to and getting back from work, 5 reading – I would finally get through the thrilling and fascinating issue of Pin-Up, 4 eating…the rest which sums up 40 hours I would spend out and about – writing for the magazine, travelling, going to every gig and exhibition possible to gather the material, doing interviews, taking photos, having my photos taken, designing, sewing, knitting, looking for a commercial space to rent, and being busy with million other exciting projects. But NO! the day is only 24 hours long…5 of them are for sleep, 8 for work( if I’m lucky), 3 for in between, 2 for eating leaves 6 hours in between sleep( or rather the lack of it) and work for the upmost dull activities like groceries shopping, laundry or washing up. 1 of which is left for blogging, 1 for staring at a wall and thinking how tired I am to move a muscle.

So here’s the uneven equation to the creative thinking and progress, so let’s turn it around into something positive, shall we? When days are flying by, it means the next season will be coming soon, because as oppose to the lucky folks in Australia and South Africa I am freezing alone in cold cold Belgium, making lists for spring. Today I even contemplated upon a pre-spring clean, hoping to gather enough goodies for eBay, but on seeing the monster that my wardrobe is, I receded in fright.
Imposed ban #1: no more black
…and this is the inspiration:

Knowing myself and the fact that I don’t take any bans literally, the Anntian’s (by the way, another name combo like RA) spring season does bare traces of black – well, indeed traces. Their printed fabrics are of uneven colour which can be mistaken for texture, but no – those are just coats and coats of paint, all hand-printed in the duo’s studio.Have a read through a tiny interview for Vice blog… I just wish I could ask Anna and Christian some extra questions, because I love the unisex appeal of their clothing, the use of colour without particular restriction and strong asymmetry in the cut. I also wish there would be a retail point to stock them over here in BE and a press agent to borrow the lovely clothes from for photoshoots. I did say I’m making lists for spring!

bits and pieces

Tiny treats to top off my shopping list – and it’s all about details! I love fringy socks because they make me think of fringed table and pyramid chairs from HV’s Fringe Projects. The blue zipper earrings remind me of those from A’n’D, but of course I’m a cheater and these are some cheapo high-street finds, but that’s good enough.

I also equipped myself with a pair of snake-skin printed tights, won a pair of Marc Jacobs mint-coloured heels for 10£ on eBay and currently looking for my new fetish item – a vintage Moschino purse. I’m afraid that very soon my wardrobe will look like a multi-coloured monster full of fringes, tassels, stripes and lurex.