shoe surgery (the result)

The glue is still drying, but the shoe trouble is as good as over. To treat the back I found a strap of bronze-coloured leather and fixed it on the heel to disguise the seams and scars. I actually glued several overlapping layers of leather before making the final top layer to even out the shape of the heel where it meets the wedge ( you may remember, the upper happened to be way bigger than the sole). So here it is, a bit wobbly on the side, but that’s ok – I’ll be walking with those, not taking close-up pictures). Can’t wait to wear them out!

this is what i do when i love what i do

Busy week is always good to set my mind onto one particular subject and think of nothing else unnecessary or unpleasant (we’ve got Saturday night for that, right?). But working 6 days out of 7 is quite hard, hence the lack of posting (thank the Calendar-god for Sundays).
Here’s the shot of the merchandising I did last week.

the details

Sometimes there can be just too many accessories, or at least I can never make my choice, so I always leave empty-handed. Just a thought of how much extra you need to pay for a belt to go with your new dress makes me choose dresses that don’t require the use of a belt. But today I found one that doesn’t really have a purpose yet. It’s just a belt on its own – no styling ideas, no particular outfit in mind. I like the matte leather body and a tassel-fringy strap which is a bit unusual (seeing leather tassels on loafers, shoe-strings and zippers).


Does marbling technique really exist when it comes to painting leather? If so, then I want to know all about it. This harlequin pouch has the most beautiful colours ever and I’m imagining, leather leggings, skirts and sofas painted like this. It would be fantastic if Natalia Brilli made her designs in marble leather too.

shoe surgery (work in progress)

This post contains violent imagery, scenes of abuse and mutilation, so if you are of a sensitive character, please look away. And if you in any ways admire shoes, I strongly advise you to change the blog. This one is not for the faint and the feeble at heart.
It started at the post-office – the Emma Cook for Topshop wedges arrived! Knowing myself how I like to buy at once the entire outfit, I passed by a second-hand shop to get the new shoesies some friends, well, you’ll meet the belt and the bag later.
I fitted the shoes at home and was very disappointed, they were way too big, although I’m always size 6 at Topshop, my foot was slipping out because the cut was too straight, and most importantly I missed the fact that those are higher than 5 inches/12cm. Basically, I could stand in them, but with a first step I risked tripping over or losing my shoe…or both, the wedges were also very flat at the sole, so I could only stomp in them, not even walk. Gladly I was feeling rather lethargic due to lack of sleep and did not notice how a strange thought crept up: I wondered whether it is possible to cut the wedge down to a wearable height. Cutting at the bottom wouldn’t help – the arch curve is way too high anyways, so cutting at the top of the wedge looked like a solution…

Enter the knife.

I did a bit of shopping, but these are far from all tools I had to use. In the end I used a drill, a set of screw-driver heads, scissors, nail file, superglue, the wood cutter, screws, a large hairclip, manicure scissors, masking tape and a cleaning cream for leather.

Cutting down the wedge was surprisingly easy. The shoe was spitting dust; the wedge was lower, but…
I had a look on Luxirare earlier on to see how the shoes are made, and through all those fabulous images I missed out on the most important– the failed shoe. I only saw the importance of it when my shoe started to resemble it just a bit too much. I don’t know anything about the materials that are used for the soles and arches, but I had to drill a row of holes to be able to break the insole off – it’s almost 1cm thick!

Another issue was that the wedge got too small for the upper, so if you ever attempt something similar ( yet I really hope you don’t) you need to have a shoe at least 2 sizes up. Why? Well, as you pull the shoe down towards the new heel, it twists and becomes a size smaller. It would have fitted on top of the new wedge, but then I wouldn’t get in the shoes, so you can see that the upper is sticking out of the wedge, and there are some pull marks on the side. This is the best I could do stretching the leather after having removed the inner sole – don’t really have any pictures of that, as it was pretty intense and took two hours.
So the front came out intact, and the stretch marks are barely visible when I put the shoe on. The biggest problem here is the back, but tomorrow I shall pass by H&M to look for a golden belt of a sort. It would be nice to attach a pretty frilly strap made from a belt, and have the buckle fixed in place at the centre back, so that it gives more volume and hides well all the scars. So more on this shoe when I find a worthy golden strap and some studs to attach it… yet there’s the second shoe to pull through the shoe-hell – this will be my mission of the week.

holler at the filler (susie was right)

Have I written about anything interesting lately? I’m too busy playing with clothes after work and thinking of new DIY ideas, that’s the way I relax and unwind these days.
So I got my WoodWood shirt out of a package today – I love it. It’s strict and relaxed at the same time, and as I said I’ll wear it buttoned up. It’s also very long and wide, so it will be perfect in the summer with sandals and a tan leather belt (yes, I'm that kind of a hippie when it comes to hot weather).

WoodWood shirt, DIY necklace, H&M golden lurex tights, Zara boots

I also got myself on a ‘necklace over a buttoned-up shirt’ train and have already tried all combinations possible in my wardrobe. Unfortunately there are not too many that work. The African necklace that my dad brought from Nigeria goes with absolutely everything ( you can see it in the work outfit picture). A self-made frill necklace is an easy one to combine too, but it’s huge and needs loads of layers at the neckline.

the boring work outfit: Comptoir des Cotonniers shirt, H&M blazer, COS skirt, african necklace, Opening Ceremony shoes

The WoodWood shirt also has a double collar, so all the ideas mixed in one look good with a trench, but I’m not too happy with the a-line shape of the coat, so I’m showing you only the neck and the shoulders. I don’t have any courage to chop this trench, but the more I fit it (don’t really wear it out much), the more I am convinced that it needs to be shortened and the bottom has to be more rounded…well, you get the picture – it’s THOSE kinds of ideas floating in my head. Nothing too clever, nothing too constructive – the filler for the short evenings!


Wood Wood shirt, DIY necklace, second-hand trench

sunday dress up

I know it’s 1AM, but what is a sleepless one to do? So here’s another mirror shot of a simple outfit from earlier on. And as the mirror-shot permission has been granted to me (thanks to those who bother to comment! I always love to hear what you guys think about all this silliness) I’ll try not to forget to take a picture. Tomorrow after work I shall run to a near-by second hand shop where I saw a huge men’s shirt with a ditsy flower print – I don’t even want to fit it, it’s ugly, but I really feel like playing around with some flower-print and white silkscreen paint.

COS sweater

second-hand trousers and necklace

Veronique Branquinho heels and belt

african necklace

H&M satin headband

Casio watch

http://www.openingceremony.us/products.asp?menuid=209&productid=13765&cn=menu209
my lost and found twin sister....grrrr

some random inspiration from the www: facehunter, park&cube, topshop, minimarket...

space odyssey 2010

Decisions taken together with pain-killers and antibiotics…Bye-bye bowl cut! See you in a couple of months when I finally (for the millionth time) realise that only a bowl cut really suits me. But yesterday I googled for a picture of a nice haircut, trying to find what to do with the back: model, undercut or let it grow out… the unexpected numerous references to all sorts of b-listers and headings genre ‘bowled over’ got very seriously on my nerves.
In a momentary lapse of reason I pulled out a picture of Lotta Volkova and a pair of scissors… scream: “Copycat!”, that’s alright. I’m happy with a short bob with a longer ponytail.

Today I went outside on a mini-shopping spree with no purpose, because the sun was shining and I’m feeling so much better. Yet I can’t really call my mini-purchases sunny, as I managed to pick up some cheapo black lipstick. The logic behind it was to try the unnatural lip colour before buying the blue or yellow. It’s a shame there’s no other colour than black, but at least I can now surely go for the Shu Uemura yellow (still think that the blue will look too futuristic, unless it’s a deep inky shade). I love the effect of black lips, it’s such a relief that almost feels like I was forced to wear pink or red clothing all my life and now I can finally choose real colours. My issue with makeup is that I don’t understand the natural look – I prefer to feed myself healthy things to get flushed cheeks and even complexion rather than wearing a ton of makeup faking the healthy skin. Naturally, I end up owning sky-blue mascara, green eyeliner, red eyeshadow, orange blush and now black lipstick – the less a certain product is associated with that colour the better.
Well, a little experiment is always good.

online adventures of a shopaholic

As I missed yet another package and I feel like strangling the UPS girl on the other side of the phone line, I thought I should write a little review about the on-line shops I had a pleasure (or none) of dealing with.

Need supply:
Unless I’ll discover an amazing treasure, I’m afraid I won’t be shopping there again. There’s nothing wrong with the site, but unfortunately they use US Postal Service, which is initially not too expensive, but the custom fees are the absolute horror. Here in Belgium (and back in the days) I paid 21% of total cost, plus I waited for 8 weeks for my package to be delivered! The reason behind this is the process at the Belgian custom, since the transportation from the US only took one week.
Now the product tax has been lowered to 12%, but still the time you have to wait is inappropriate.

ASOS:
It’s incredibly straightforward, and the Royal Mail Service can be trusted! The payment is made easy with PayPal and therefore more secure than just typing your credit card number. They also have a tracking number for all orders, so even if it’s a regular snail mail, you can follow your package. No approximate delivery date though, but if you are not at home, the local postman will leave a pick-up notice for your local post office, which in my case is just around the corner, and picking up a package after work has already become a habit. So ASOS is a pleasure to deal with, I just wish their product would be a bit more intriguing.

Topshop:
Get ready for a packaging horror story. I believe I already shared that one before, but here it comes again. I guess there shouldn’t be too much trouble with t-shirts and alike, but I ordered a bowler hat, easy checkout, PayPal, tracking number – all as it should be. A few days later arrived a flat cardboard box. Well, as oppose to a beanie, a t-shirt or a pair of socks, stiff bowler hats should never be folded! But apparently Topshop is not entirely aware of that. Good news though I got a refund, and luckily it was the Royal Mail again, so not too expensive to send back (as the continental deliveries accept returns, but you will have to pay the postage back yourself). And even the initial postage has been refunded to me. So at least this story has a happy end.

ACNE:
I bought some sale items only once and quite a long time ago, but there was absolutely no problem with this purchase. I remember the delivery took about two weeks, the garments were sent in a thick envelope, so they arrived safely – very creased though, but that’s ok.

Opening Ceremony:
No PayPal, UPS, and no size charts…make the shopping slightly complicated. Many online boutiques give measurements of the model and which size she’s wearing on the pictures as a rough guideline. Many brands provide you the garment measurements: chest, waist, hips...
But unfortunately at OC it is very hard to judge how the garment is sized as they provide no info whatsoever. So you either have to know the brand or do some research.
The fact that there’s no PayPal is just a little bit annoying, as I don’t like to fill in my card number every time. PayPal is like an account, so I can keep track of what I spend easily, so any store that uses PayPal gets thumbs up.
The UPS is the biggest issue though – it costs a fortune and their tracking is never up-to-date. The OC package arrived one day before it was scheduled, and it wasn’t even myself who collected it. They don’t check the ID, so it could have been my neighbour and I would never see my Chloe Sevigny shirt (saying this, the Royal mail, for instance delivers to your local post office if you are not able to prove your identity, so the pick-up is only possible when you show your passport).But more on UPS later.

WoodWood:
No size charts either, and I never fitted a WoodWood garment before, so I’ve made an educated guess ordering a shirt. I would have actually bought many more items, but I did not want to risk ordering the wrong size and then having to return them all – no exchanges on reduced orders is no good! No postage refund either, since they are using UPS.
It only took one day to be shipped, one day in transit and here it was this morning...just when I went outside to get some stuff from a pharmacy! Great! I called the customer service (had to google for the number, as they don’t show it on their site), explained that I wasn’t there, and I’ve been given two options – collect it myself in Diegem( that’s like an industrial/office village on the outskirts of Brussels, at least an hour drive from here, and no public transport going that way) or have a delivery rescheduled for Monday. I asked to change the address (which was basically the same, I just had to give my mom’s name), and it took the operator about the quarter to fill it in, getting every number wrong, and she couldn’t even spell the street name in French, saying that she cannot change the delivery address to The Netherlands. Where the fuck did that come from?
She asked: What’s the name of the recipient?
I spelled my mom’s surname: b-r-y-s-i-n-a
She answered: Sorry, the shipment address can be only within Belgium, I can’t change it to The Netherlands.
I thought: Dumbass!
Well, after three delivery attempts they will return the package to the sender. And how am I supposed to be there to collect it as the approximate delivery date is not given and the package status says: ‘Exceptional’ ( the pop-up explanation window says that there’s something wrong with the package, but this is the most up-to-date info). The driver operates from 8am to 6pm – that’s when all the decent people are at work, unless they’ve got mumps…

eBay:
Every time it’s a different seller, so just look out for clear descriptions and avoid dodgy photos. I prefer to see the object rather than an image of it from internet. But so far I had stuff delivered from UK (always pleasure), Honk Kong (the Chinese are smart, they mark the package as a gift and you don’t pay any custom fees), France and Canada(the only place where I paid the tax). If you are transparent and honest, and communicate with your buyers and sellers everything goes very smoothly. I used to have a vintage shop up there and had only happy buyers.

random colour

Pastels or primary brights? Anyhow I’m addicted to colour. And by this I don’t mean the nu-rave revival, although my new visit cards are made in fluo yellow…but by being interested in colour, I pay more attention to colour coordination rather than simply the presence of it. I love when the colour prints in the magazine match perfectly the canary yellow pages of an article, and when my nailpolish matches my shoes – that’s only the beginning, folks! The cover of the Topshop’s spring lookbook caught my eye, and indeed there is some similarity to the autumn web images on their site: the coloured lipstick! For the autumn they’ve been using blue, and for the spring there’s yellow – that is just the critical mass of the coloured lipstick being unconsciously advertised to me, so I went (optimistically spoken, still sick and at home – so I virtually went) on a little research. The two shades bellow are courtesy of Shu Uemura! So easy it was! And of course, adding to the list of the places I want to go to and the things I want to do when the health will finally grant me a possibility to chew, turn my head and generally look like a normal human being, I will pass by the Shu Uemura shop in Antwerp to try out the blue and the yellow. The lightest lipstick I ever tried was a bright orange one, very matte, so I’m endlessly curious.

via Kingdom of Style

Lego sculptures via WoodWood blog

I love the multi-coloured nails. For me this can be just enough colour in the otherwise muted outfit. (via Park&Cube)

Henrik Vibskov mittens

shirtmania

Today another tail shirt won my heart in a very predictable way. Well, it has got massive chest pockets, rounded longer back, double collar and it’s made in blue pinstripe cotton – probably the most flattering fabric I know. Luckily Wood Wood has a massive sale; luckily eBay throws up treasures like these Emma Cook for Topshop boots in the most unflattering shade of greige – but that’s exactly the point!

I also found a picture of this gorgeous blanket-coat which strongly reminds me of a BLESS jacket, only that it’s better because a trench is taken as a base.

Not sure whether I’ll proceed onto chopping my huge second-hand trench, it may have been a bargain, but where will I find a new one? But the idea of a garment that fuses blanket and a coat (ok, maybe it’s the sickness in me talking) sounds incredibly appealing. It’s almost like in Russian fairytales where Ivanushka Durachok would ride around the place on top of his warm stove that also served as a bed in the olden days.
It’s easier to find a trench that doesn’t really fit, because all you need is the shoulders and the yoke. I’ll let the idea rest until the Wood Wood shirt arrives, but a quick look through eBay gives yet more inspiration. I’d rather go for a complementary shade of beige with some mint or blue stripes, the royal blue can look just as good…or a black&white IKEA plaid? Alright, I should definitely let it rest or I’ll end up looking like a bag lady wrapped in a blanket.

I’ve just posted about a strict unisex outfit, and here are the complementary elements that seem so right.

Akira Naka jacket via RA13

Cosmic Wonder shirt via Walter

Carin Wester trouser

OC shoes

the odyssey of a buttoned-up shirt

Have you noticed the third post for today? That’s right, I’m sick with some sort of mild version of mumps, miserable, grounded at home. And what better circumstance for blog-reading and wish-list making can one be caught in… and the fact that I haven’t posted about any resolutions for 2010, blaming it on lack of time is no longer valid. I do have a small boutique to merchandise next week, all content of the magazine to re-read for final edit, a trip to Amsterdam for the ‘by AMFI’ winter 10 presentation, and a random idea of making new visit cards from fluo yellow cardboard – all floating around out there somewhere. But instead I’m focusing on various garments and outfits I would like to try out when the weather gets friendlier.
There’s a general trend in my wardrobe towards pastels and volume for spring, as I’m incredibly tired of dark and androgynous styles since last summer, when wedges ruled the pavement and the slashing was ubiquitous. It’s a predictable cycle, so nothing’s wrong with that, for only the over-saturation will lead to the opposition, therefore the dark and androgynous will make the way for elegant with a twist, and finally Stockholm will give in to Milan. And while being stuck somewhere in-between, the Central-European folks are free to choose.
Lately Belgium is surprising me with all the novelty on the fashion market: Mapp., RA13, ACNE Studio, Hunting and Collecting – we suddenly have the power of choice granted to us, and no longer does one need to spend hours on Internet looking for the favourite garment. You want Opening Ceremony and Henrik Vibskov? – welcome to Mapp., you want Slow and Steady Wins the Race or Anntian? – drop by H&C, or maybe some Gareth Pugh? – RA13 is open on Sundays. Making the choice is made easy.

Now what?

It has never been down to the possession of a designer garment – a great outfit will only become great on its wearer. Yet I’m someone who always stays true to the designer’s vision and I believe that wearing a cardigan as a skirt or a skirt as a cape destroys the purpose of why the garment has been created in the first place. Neither will I pick up some grey shirt and some black skirt to copy the editorial look from a magazine, because the alternative garments of cheap fabric, lack of finishings or poor quality may give you the look, but can never give you the character. I can’t stand people going to a shop like COS, picking up a pair of trousers and uttering: ‘oh this is so Balenciaga!’. The smart sales person in me will surely add a shirt, sculpted jacket, a pair of killer heels and some iridescent plastic and metal jewellery into the Balenciaga wannabe cocktail and tell the girl to pull her hair in a sleek ponytail. But the smart fashion blogger will think: ‘c’mon, go get yourself the real deal…eBay, Labels INC, whatever shall suffice!’. There’s no reason why we should be running after a look and based on experience I can easily say that the most treasured garments in my wardrobe don’t really work with much else rather than on their own – mostly stocksales buys which date several years back – they are like fashion moments frozen in time. So no prescribed looks for me, and maybe this explains why I never really look put-together. I wear the clothes for what they are until they are worn out, or until I decide to repaint the walls of my apartment for the millionth time getting paint spots all over my favourite blouse – there were times during the studies in art academy when I would purposefully not wash the paint off my hands, because it reminded me of a boy at school who’s been painting a self-portrait and walking around with his hands covered in oil colours. Such a shame he doesn’t paint anymore. Such a shame the fashion is so look-oriented. For me it has always been the fractions of memory, past events, fused together and translated into the fabrics, cut, details. Memory is where I get my inspiration, but please don’t misunderstand me for a retrograde! None of that! I look forward, just at times through a prism of past events.
So where is this massive rant going to, you may ask? Well, certain changes I envision, and an explanation of why those changes are about to take place…and may be they are so personal that to any of you they may not seem like changes at all.
The first subject is related to the masculine/feminine ideas of style. By this I do not mean androgynous. The concept of unisex is way more attractive to me, because we’ll always be what we are, given by nature, no matter how much fashion likes lean and mean…well, I’ll remain mean, but lean is pretty much out of question, so any boyfriend denim makes me look like a RITS student, and a boyfriend blazer and a hat like a cabaret dancer, and a men’s shirt…well, the men’s shirt!

I have never thought about wearing a shirt. Imagine one buttoned up, tucked in a trouser. Imagine a denim or chambray version, chest pockets, rolled up sleeves. Red lipstick, messy hair, but a strict outfit, so no cut-offs or leggings – a shirt tucked in a voluminous trouser that sits high on the waist. It sounds incredibly boring, but that’s exactly the challenging part – how do you wear such a boring outfit? The answer can be found on the lookbook photos of Celine Collard’s a/w 09/10 collection. I have never tried to be the preppy casual kid, but I’m endlessly tempted. And since the ‘full denim look’ post I’ve been looking out for a similar style sans denim. Just as usual the solutions are easier than the problems – the preppy or the strict, it’s always up to the unique garment to make the perfect silhouette, and up to your own attitude to show it. I’m pretty sure there is a shirt which can give me enough inspiration, I just have to dare to wear something I never tried before. So yes, I have a shirt in mind – it’s an old COS number that is still hanging in a shop reduced to 50% - I saw it for the first time in London last year and have been shoving it around my own shop ever since, because the last remaining pieces in the smallest size have never been sold. On Thursday I’ll take the poor fella home – so look out for an outfit post!

girls from omsk

Here’s a great one for the Brussels kids! The Brussels-based label Girls From Omsk invites you to the private sales this Saturday at 21 place du Chatelain.

I might look out for a tshirt with a Viktor Tsoi print…it just evokes the images of the late 80’s troubled times…can’t help it.

Material Boy winter 2010

One more enchanting evening at RA in Antwerp has passed. Every time I’m surprised at the simplicity and cosiness of every event, yet the chosen styles are far from simple.
This time being lead through the corridor with the festive chants resounding and models posing on the either side of the passage, I felt like an inhabitant of the Middle Earth. The scenographic choice highlightened even more the folkloric and rather rustic elements of the clothing – mysterious and fairytale-like. I don’t know if such style is coherent with the current off-mood in fashion, when we are looking for elegance as oppose to statement, but I’m pretty sure we’ll soon see the effect of the designers’ longing for the ceremonial, Celtic and medieval elements on the greater public.

I bet you already noticed the fur and the horns being praised here and there, the skulls and bones are having a comeback (now completely split away from any rock’n’roll connotations) as precious jewellery. And honestly, there’s something way more humane about the home-spun yarns than about a Burberry trench.

It seems there’s a similar aesthetic value in the Material Boy collections as, for instance, in Cosmic Wonder Light Source, and I’ll be happy to find both under the same RA roof come autumn.

call of duty

Are we still allowed to post crappy mirror shots and wardrobe confessions in 2010? Suddenly this post seems to be so 2006! Great, isn’t it, how bloggers evolved, armed themselves with tripods and professional digital cameras. Yet the sad truth is – this is my very first mirror shot ever, and I’m pretty happy indulging myself into the ‘vintage’ blogging techniques, a second before I run out of my house to catch the train for Antwerp. Totally forgot to advertise, so I hope you all know that there’s a lovely presentation evening at RA tonight. Material Boy autumn/winter 2010 it is!

Chloe Sevigny for OC shirt
COS leather leggins
Dries van Noten lace-ups
secondhand necklace


The minimalist Christmas tree turns the spring wardrobe tree.

EDIT:
from top to bottom:
BLESS sac dress
ACNE chambray dress
Zara bleached denim shirt
Cream silk dress from Berlin
Toga dress
Bernhard Willhelm swearshirt
vintage dress with golden buttons
Pieter Pilotto tights
Tim van Steenbergen pleated skirt
Bernhard Willhelm jacket
Henrik Vibskov beige coat-dress
Henrik Vibskov cream silk dress
stone print tshirt dress from RA
Cathy Pill assymetric dress
Henrik Vibskov cut-out shoulder blouse
Bernhard Willhelm pink skirt
Cathy Pill white shorts

Hunting and Collecting

This isn’t a proper post/article/press release. It’s just me who’s falling off the chair while reading through my mails. Soon, 17 Rue des Charteux shall become your primary need, your instinct, your desire! The new store shall serve as a mega-playground for the fashion-picky ones, carrying Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Annitian, Cosmic Wonder Light Source, Stine Goya, Carin Wester, Maria-Francesca Pepe, Petar Petrov, Perks and Mini, Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, Hope, Saskia Diez and BLESS to mention few....Pheeew!

anomaly #2: a watch as a jewel

Warning: you won’t find any Swarovski crystal watches here! The idea of wearing the watch as a jewel started with a simple practical idea of having something that tells me what time it is while I’m running around at work. My golden Casio is exactly that practical item. Yet lately I’ve been torn in two at the discovery of a gorgeous white watch, which basically looks identical to mine, but the metal body of it is painted in white. I felt like I was cheating, because the tender Mr. Casio is hugging my wrist every single day since we’ve met, and I’m longing for another. But then these images appeared:

...followed by the latest Facehunter shot of an overly decorated watch.

Watches are getting piled on people’s wrists like bracelets, I guess we all have too many iPhones or equivalent of such that we have forgotten what the wrist-watch is for, so we are just using them as decoration. I might be oldfashioned, but I still check the time on my watch rather than on my phone, so in the beginning the watch-negligence made me frown. Yet somehow I’ve become more loyal to the decorative use of something that has previously been practical (well, going back to the denim issue – it was THE workwear fabric in the past). So the fashion seems to have a fool-proof method of evolving through the cycles. Workwear into the basic garment for the preppy kids, practical time tool into the decorative bracelet – predictable! I hope fashion shall never seize to exist, because I just found a perfect excuse for the purchase of my second (and by no means last) wrist watch!