Love.Live.4.Life

Marni for H and M!!

After the rumours that the next H and M collaboration will be with Tom Ford, this has been put to the side as it has been announced that MARNI will follow Versace as the next label to create a collection for H&M.

The Italian label’s founder Consuelo Castiglionihas designed a spring collection for the high street brand which will land in 260 stores worldwide - as well as online - on March 8.

The designer expresses “I wanted to create a true Marni wardrobe by revisiting all our favourite pieces in signature fabrics and prints,” Castiglioni said. “As always, I love juxtaposing prints and colours, mixing modern tribal with Bauhaus graphic and adding sporty utilitarian elements.”

The menswear and womenswear offering will showcase all the elements that the Marni mainline has become famous for, from vivid colours to all-over prints. Highlights from the women’s collection will include full pleated skirts, dresses, cropped trousers and jacquard knits, in fabrics range from silk to crisp cotton.

Versace for H and M Pre Spring Collection!

Versace for H and M is back for another round!

Donatella Versace has developed a Pre-Spring 2012 collection for H&M , complete with fruit prints. This collection will be available exclusively in countries with H&M online sales (currently only Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway) from Jan. 19. Unfortuately the Americans will have to wait or if you are smart ebay will become your best friend.

Versace for H and M…

The thought of Top designers designing for high street stores doesn’t excite me I feel it takes away the exclusivity of the brand. In reality the collection is not Versace it is H and M. However fashion is fashion and looking through the collection I can see big and bold designs typical of Donatella Versace. The range hits stores on 17 November 2011 and will also be available online.

Below are some of my favourite pieces from the collection:



Kanye West attened the NYC launch.The jacket is a mixture of velvet and is printed, giving the illusion that it’s silk. The sleeves are a mixture of animal prints in green and black at the shoulders, and gold and blue from the elbows to the rest. The gold is in the shape of a dragon.

 

What do you think of the collection? Remember if you are going to the UK store launch shops open at 9AM (not 10am) and the purchases are limited to one piece per customer, so bring all family members and friends! It is going to be absolutely crazy!

Vintage Shopping!

Vintage Fashion

Everyone Loves vintage, Brick Lane, Camden, Ladbroke grove… but there is a thin line between vintage and tat! So ive come up with a few pointers on how to shop vintage…


Don’t buy tat

Check prices for stains, tears and repairs and think carefully about how much stain removal and stitching you’re prepared to do before buying.

Try it on

Size labels can be deceptive, many retailers and designers have revised their sizing over the years so for women, a 1970s size 10 may not fit in the way 2010 example does.

Obey your body shape

 

Don’t be a slave to labels

 

Caring for your clothes

Fragile fabrics don’t always stand up to wear and tear in the way modern ones do…

Hanging and storage

1) Never hang vintage items on wire hangers. Instead use padded hangers to spread the weight of the garment.
2) If your garment is delicate or beaded, wrap it in acid-free tissue and store it flat in an airtight plastic box.
3) To avoid discolouration store clothes out of direct sunlight.
4)  Don’t store clothes near radiators.

Minimising moth damage

1) Moths adore hot, sweaty areas so inspect your items for infestation before purchasing
2). Moths hate movement so it’s a good idea to shake and refold yours clothes regularly

Cleaning and repairs

1) Always wash after wearing perspiration and soiling will indelibly stain over this time.
2) Domestic linens and cottons were intended for boil washes, starching and hot irons so they are pretty hand wearing and can usually be washed at home.
3) Delicate fabrics such as vintage organza, silk or lace need to be cleaned by professionals.
4) if you have a garment that is damaged, get repairs done before taking it to the cleaners.

 

“Look for pieces that transcend time such as YSL silk blouses and classic Valentino pencil skirts- or prints that just speak for themselves Pucci, Missoni, Sixties’ Lanvin. Check out obscure labels through research that might not be as high priced as household names. And look to future collectables- that last Roland Mouret collection, Alexander Mcqueen show pieces, Rochas, new Lanvin, Hussein Chalayan and Giles Deacon, Criteria- does this design say something interesting about the fashion world today? Is it at a high point of a designers work?”

 

Harriet Quick
Fashion features Editor, British Vogue

“Wearing vintage liberates one from the dictates of the contemporary fashion machine. Season after season, vintage continues to influence contemporary designer’s collections. The trendsetting, vintage-wearing fashionista embraces this ideology and enjoys mixing modern and old into a refreshing individual style. In a world of cookie-cutter copyists, it is vintage that sets on apart and creates the new mystery in ones personal style. It is the ultimate in exclusive dressing.

Cameron Silver
Decades vintage, consultant, Loris Azzaro

So Who Had The Best Halloween Costume?

Ive never been one for celebrating halloween. My mum would not allow me and my brother to go out trick or treating the most we would do is watch “Are you afraid of the dark?” on nickelodeon.

Nevertheless there is no harm in having fun its an excuse to come out the comfort zone and go wild!

So which celeb had the best Halloween costume?

Runner up is Kim Kardashian who chose to go as Poison Ivy.




But the is winner HANDS DOWN! Heidi Klum!…

Klum showed all her guests how it’s done on the red carpet for her Halloween party at Tao in Las Vegas last night. She made a grand entrance on a stretcher in her elaborate,”dead body outfit” which had to be partially painted on her body and took hours to complete.

Its all about the entrance…

Happy Halloween!!? Night of the living dead?

Background Knowledge…..

What is Halloween? Is it worshipping demons? Is it spirits walking the earth?

The word “Halloween” is derived from a few things; All Saints Day (1st November), Eve of All Hallows (All Hallows Eve) or Hallow Even.

The celebration of Halloween was originally the New Years Eve of the Celts, the eve of Samhain or “Winter’s Eve”. It was generally believed that the dead or disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. All who were alive of course didn’t want to be possessed by these lost souls so on the night of October 31st, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes to make them cold and inhospitable then dress up in ghoulish costumes and parade around the neighborhood making as much noise as possible to frighten away the spirits looking for a live body to possess. Food and drink (which I’d say accounted for the crazy actions of the villages, not the fear of being possessed) would be left out for these costume wielding villages.

TRICK OR TREAT

It was believed in ninth-century Europe that after you died, your soul remained in limbo. To send the souls up to Heaven the Christians used to go “souling”. On 31st October, All Souls Day, they would go around to all the villages and collect “soul cakes” - a cake made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The relatives of the dead would pass the cakes on to the Christians who would promise to pray for their relative which in turn would send them on to heaven. The more cakes given - the more prayers said. This is one custom which was thought that trick-or-treating originated from.

It is also thought that trick-or-treating came from Britain where it was know as “Mischief Night”, it is particularly popular in parts of northern England.

JACK-O-LANTERN

The Jack-O-lantern came from Irish Folklore. A man named Jack who was a drunkard and known for his quick temper got really drunk at the local Pub on All Hallows Eve. As his life began to slip away from him the Devil appeared to claim his soul. Jack wanted to stay alive and begged the Devil to let him have just one more drink before he died. The Devil agreed. Jack was short of money and asked the Devil if he’d assume the shape of a sixpence so Jack could buy a drink and after that the Devil could change back to himself. I don’t know why the Devil is suddenly so stupid, but he agreed to do it (silly Devil). Once the Devil assumed the shape of the coin Jack seized it and shoved it into his wallet which (amazingly) had a cross shaped clip on it. The Devil was now stuck in Jack’s wallet. He went crazy - yelling and screaming - ordering Jack to release him at once! Jack did a deal with him (oh yeah, smart move Jack) where he would release him if he agreed not to bother Jack for an entire year. The Devil was so anxious to be released he agreed.

Jack was ecstatic to have escaped the Devil and have a whole new lease on life. Jack mended his ways, for a little while at least. He was good to his wife and children and began attending church and giving to charity. But Jack slowly and surely slipped back to his old ways.

The next All Hallows Eve the Devil appeared to Jack again. He demanded that Jack accompany him to his death. Jack thought he could once again outsmart the Devil and somehow managed to con the incredibly stupid Devil into getting an apple out of a nearby apple tree. Jack even went so far as to hoist the Devil up the apple tree. Once the Devil was up the tree Jack took out a knife and carved a cross into the trunk of the tree - therefore trapping the Devil. The Devil went spare and started demanding to be released and yelling and screaming. He promised Jack that if he was let out of the tree he would give him 10 years of peace. Jack decided that wasn’t good enough and demanded that he never be bothered by the Devil again. The Devil agreed and was released from his apple tree trap.

Jack went back to his drunken and angry ways and after almost one year his body gave out and Jack died. He tried to enter Heaven but was refused entry because of his evil ways. He then tried to enter Hell - but the Devil would never forgive Jack for the tricks he played on him. The Devil decided to be helpful for once and threw Jack a coal, he said it was to help him find his way in the dark of limbo. Jack put the piece of coal in a turnip and it became known as a Jack-O-Lantern. It is said that on All Hallows Eve if you look hard enough you can still see Jack’s flame burning dimly as he searches through the darkness for a home.

The use of Jack-O-Lanterns as festival lights for Halloween is a custom that descended form the Irish who used carved out turnips or beets as lanterns. On Halloween these lights represented the souls of the dead. When the Irish immigrated to America they found that pumpkins were far more easier to come by than turnips. The Jack-O-Lantern then became a hollowed-out pumpkin lit with a candle.

In general the whole custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840’s by the Irish immigrants who were fleeing the country’s potato famine.

The evil side of Halloween was pushed forward mainly by the church. The church maintained that the gods and goddesses and other spiritual beings of traditional religions were diabolical deceptions and manifestations of the devil. Therefore the customs associated with Halloween were always represented by the church as being evil - ghosts, human skeletons, symbols of the dead, Satan and other creatures such as witches.