A magpies dream; BaubleBar

You know those suggested pages that Facebook keeps throwing out on your timeline, well mine are usually for Cypriot property developers, holidays abroad and some wonderful beauty cream that has goodness knows what benefits since i'm to bored to google translate from Greek. And then one day, one actually caught my eye for all the right reasons.....because it was about beautiful shiny things like statement necklaces and earrings (not that I wear earrings but you get my point). The name is BaubleBar and they are a fantastic New York based jewellery business. 

Ever since I have spent hours gazing through the pages and pages of wonderful creations, wishing that I lived in New York so I could go visit their showroom and gaze in person. They do ship internationally, but the countries are limited and this little island did not make the list. Which kind of works out well for my bank balance huh!

That doesn't mean I cant spend the hours browsing their website without any real purpose. Although this blog post is my sole reasoning behind said hours wasted on the internet. But when the necklaces are this good, who can judge.

Emerald Palm Bib $48

Pastel Feather Bib $36

Amber Renaissance Collar $42

Torch Blossom Bib $36

Alaqua Bib $36

Pink Phoenix Necklace $36

Find their full collection of necklaces, rings and bracelets at their shiny website here, and be prepared to loose a few hours of your day!

Autumn Style

So it turns out that I like the colder seasons more than I thought. Maybe that has something to do with the several sweaty years I have spent on this sunshine island. Or maybe it is just a case of wanting want you can't have. But this expat girl wants skinny printed trousers, jumpers, wintery dresses and cute shoe boots. Unfortunately the weather is more fit for sandals, cropped trousers and t shirts. 

And the new collections in-store at Zara are teasing me to no end. I am lusting after so many items right now that I have mentally spent next months paycheck. I can live off bread and cheese for one month right!?

The Trouser

The Dress

The Top

The Boots

all items from Zara

fashion education

It has been a long time since I wrote about fashion.

Which, thinking about it, is quite odd since it is my roots. It is where I started. I guess the whole expat side of my life on this sunny island took over a little. Apologies if any of you couldn't give two hoots about fashion. But I am kinda excited to tap away at my laptop about this one. And you never know, maybe this will interest more of you than you thought. 

Fashion. A perpetual minefield of controversy, culture and couture. Yes fashion is pretty clothes, brightly lit runways and glossy magazines. Yes, people think it is superficial, materialistic and I guess sometimes vulgar. And yes fashion is an influential industry.

But I think fashion is seriously misunderstood. I guess that is easy for me to say since I studied it. My Writing Fashion and Culture degree taught me to write, taught me the sociological theories behind fashion and taught me the practicalities of the fashion industry from photography to photoshop editing.

So I was over-the-moon to read this article about a new initiative from British Vogue editor Alexandra Schulman. She wants to educate young girls about the tricks the fashion industry uses. She wants the 10-minute film to highlight the process of a creating a fashion image, from make-up, to shoot, to post-shoot editing, to magazine. The film will be sent out to 1000 schools in the UK.

Ms Shulman told BBC Radio 4's PM programme: "The idea was to try and demonstrate all of the skill and resources that go into making a fashion image, so young girls can see clearly how the model is changed by Vogue magazine."

I think this is a good step forward because the fashion industry for me is a very misunderstood place. People assume the industry is a negative place and has nothing but a negative effect, but if you start to dig a little deeper and understand the foundations of fashion, you will see it is more than pretty clothes and airbrushed magazine covers. I guess Meryl Streep says it best in The Devil Wears Prada.

season style

I think I am having a season style meltdown. 

I braved a thin-knit sweater for work yesterday. Yes it looked cute with my little spike necklace, but oh no it was not cold enough for even thin-knit sweaters just yet. The weather is playing tricks on us. 

Picking outfits for work has become increasingly tough as the weather begins to change in Cyprus and we enter that limbo period of not-quite-summer-definitely-not-winter-maybe-autumn style weather which often leaves way for many 30 degrees days that surprise you into thinking actually summer is still here.  

I am not the most decisive person at the best of times, let alone in the mornings when I haven't had an caffeine, so I usually end up standing in front of the wardrobe with little or no clue about what the days outfit will look like until a variety of garments have jumped out at me and have made their way onto my body or been discarded on the floor in a pile. 

And then I end up in sandals and a thin-knit sweater. My style is definitely a bit a hybrid at the moment. 

Photography: Hollie Fernando

Hollie Fernando is one multi-faceted photographer. She has this great documentary approach which means her images are filled to the brim with light, colour, texture, detail and depth. She shoots in colour and black and white and her images always retain a grainy depth to them that draws you in.

And her mixed images really fascinate me; by combining two images, the whole notion of capturing a moment in a photograph changes. 

visit http://www.holliefernandophotography.com/ for more. 

men & style

With the impending nuptials of our closets friends in Cyprus, I have been thinking of outfits for months and months. And now mine is coming together, it is time to turn our efforts towards the boyfriend.

When it comes to style, my boyfriend has oodles. Well, its kind of a prerequisite when your a visual merchandiser for Adidas. Even before that, when we were living in London, he would always bring home these obscure and cool underground street style brands; it is just one of his passions. 

However when it comes to formal attire it's a bit more of a minefield. I mean, he has worn the same Zara suit to every wedding, christening and semi formal occasion for the past 4 years. So its about time to invest in an update. 

And where better to seek inspiration than the internet. 

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girl of the MOMENT

olivia palermo is a Manhattan girl with a stylish heart and a fashion head on those rather dainty shoulders. Spotted at many a London Fashion Week show, olivia is best know for her socialite status and for her part on the cast of American reality show following fashionable twenty-somethings, "the city". 

style icon and upper-east side socialite titles firmly in the bag, palermo's sights seem to be set on LONDON - a love affair which is already in full flow after talk of a move across the pond. 
With fashion, seemingly running through her veins, she has now been crowned the spokesmodel for MATCHES label FREDA. have a look at their smart and stylish photo shoot with the new queen of FREDA and a Q&A with the American sweetheart. 

http://www.matchesfashion.com/fcp/content/fredaoliviapalermo/content

images from the internet

Florence and her unstoppable MACHINE

Best known for her style and her soul shattering tones, 
florence welch 
and her MACHINE  have achieved a remarkable amount since 2008. Thanks to the gusto of the BBC, who hailed her as a talent and broadcast her voice from the rooftop as part of BBC Introducing, a flurry of festivals sets followed, with her charming personality and style credentials proving her as a successful all-rounder.  Her albumn LUNGS was released in JULY 2009 - finally reaching the well deserved no.1 spot on the 17th JANUARY 2010. Starting off 2010 with a big BANG, miss Welch continued full steam ahead into the BRIT awards winning Mastercard British Albumn and stopping the show with a collaboration with DIZZEE RASCAL re-working her classic 'you got the love cover' for 'you got the dirtee love' 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxdWGdsLhFw&feature=related

images from the internet

http://www.florenceandthemachine.net/index

rachel bilson flaunts it

She may be best known as her on screen teen counterpart Summer in American drama the OC, where she portrays a stereotypical American princess, sunkissed and super-sweet (well almost). But now look at her. In this photo shoot for the November issue of Flaunt, Bilson does sex siren so effortlessly, the grainy, soft focus images oozing sensuality.

 

 

Christmas time.

I've seen the coca cola advert therefor christmas must be upon us. In a furious attempt to be organised this year (unlike every other year where most of my christmas shopping gets done on christmas eve) I have already started my present shopping bonanza. 

The women in my life are not a problem; generally anything i'm lusting ...after around christmas time, they will be too. Men on the other hand. Im totally baffled. I need detailed christmas list with specifications of technological requirements and chest sizes (shirts from uniqlo always go down well with my other half). 

Appropriate then that The Times mistress of fashion, Lisa Armstrong has compiled a few pointers for us women in search of the holy grail of christmas gifts for the blokes in our lives.

"A titch more than a smidgen, but slightly less than a finger"

"Our aim is to showcase and share new, emerging and existing talents from around the world, in the hope that you may find it entertaining, informative and inspirational."

Squidge Magazine is something special. It's slogan says it all really. Well it doesn't actually say much, and it's slightly cryptic, nevertheless, it conveys the dynamic creativity and imagination which is being propelled into this quirky online magazine for lovers of all things, art, photography, culture, music and film.