Rainy days

"Some people feel the rain, others just get wet."

Good morning everyone! Isn't it beautiful when it rains and everything smells like rain and freshness? I really like it, but still I have to admit that when it's too much it's too much... I don't have photos of my trip yet because I was smart enough to forget to pack the cable connecting my camera to my laptop... Maybe I'll find a solution for that today, but in the meantime I can still tell you something a bout my trip.

I'm one of those crazy people that really enjoy traveling by train, so my roadtrip consisted of a lot of trains! The first two stops were kind of short - Vienna and Frankfurt - just enough to get to smell the air and look at some lovely Christmas decorations or insane skyscrapers in the financial area of Frankfurt. The first major stop was in the lovely city of Maastricht where I was living last year. It was so beautiful with the Christmas market and all the holiday spirit (I'm looking forward for you to see the pics I took!). The only weird thing about Maastricht was the rain - as always it rained and it was really insane: one moment it rained, the next moment it was sunny and clear blue sky only for it to start raining again with HAIL in the next moment. At least it was sunny during the afternoon! Last night I arrived in Paris, one of the most magical cities for Christmas and it's also raining a bit now, that's how I got inspired for that photo. Have a great day everyone!

Braided hair

Here I am, just arrived in Maastricht last night and tired as hell, but it's going to be a great day! While still waiting for exciting news and photographs, here are some incredible photos of boho-chic and indie inspired hairdos. I hope you'll like them as much as I do!

What do you usually do to your hair? Do you wear it long and braided, plain and simple long or is it short and scruffy and full of attitude?

Wise words

Here are some wise words to get you started with a new week! As for me, today I'm heading off on a little road trip through Maastricht, Paris and Vienna so my posting patterns are likely to be a bit off, but you're definitely get to see some cool pics and hear loads of funny stories in the next few days!

Sunday illustrations: Paris vs New York (3)

The Novel

Sunday is already here and with it your weekly dose of illustrated sarcasm and laughter: the Paris vs New York series continues! Sleep a lot, drink a great cup of tea, read a book, go for a walk in the park - in other words: enjoy your Sunday!

The Singer

The Conversation

The Director

The Sky

The Engineer

Old People

The Snack

Tennis

The Tip

The Tourists (1)

The Tourists (2)

My favorite cliché of this Sunday must definitely be the one about the tourists - they're simply everywhere in Paris riving the locals nuts! How about New York? Have you been there, is it as full of tourists as it is said here?

100% RO Couture: An Haute Couture Collection

Today is Romania's national day and I've been saving this post especially for this day for a couple of weeks now. When I say Romanian traditional costumes and haute couture this probably doesn't resonate with a lot of people and many of you may still not understand what I mean by juxtaposing these two seemingly different concepts! Well, this meant a lot for the very talented French designer Philippe Guilet who fell in love with Romania and decided to showcase its wonderful costumes and traditions in an haute couture collection.

Prior to moving to Bucharest and creating this collection Philippe Guilet has worked in Paris with some of the greatest designers, such as Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler, now he designed a 100% couture, 100% modern and 100% Romanian collection with the help of 5 Romanian designers and over 50 skillful craftsmen from all over the country. The collection was first presented at the French Embassy in Bucharest among other haute couture designers, politicians, designers, important people in the cultural life of both Romania and France and representatives of the French and Romanian media. Moreover, the collection will also be presented in the beginning of next year on the Paris runways during the Haute Couture Fashion Week. Such an honor for the local craftsmen!

Virginia Linul, one of the craftswomen working on the collection said that she was "very excited about the event. It's something different from what we have been doing until now. Out tradition, sewing with beads, is presented in a new vision, fascinating and glamorous because of this French designer. I'm not an expert in fashion, but I am convinced that today's presentation will be something that one hasn't seen so far on the runways in the entire world. I'm very glad to have participated in this project that, maybe most importantly, will present a different, beautiful facet of Romania that needed to be discovered."

The French Embassy was transformed to receive a winter village scenery and the models presented the garments walking from room to room among the guests. Some of the craftsmen were also honored on the catwalk and were very nervous during their first walk on the runway. If you want to find out more about the collection you can visit the official website 100 - 100. In the end, enjoy some photos from the runway:

Inspired from the traditional painted Easter eggs

City woman: inspired from the electric cables in Bucharest

One of the craftsmen walking the runway with a model

One of the craftswomen walking the runway with a model

Philippe Guilet

Local craftsmen

Shoe detail: the heel represents Brancusi's sculpture "The Column of the Infinite"

Philippe Guilet and some of his craftsmen

What do you think about this initiative of the French designer? Do you like the designs? I know I can't wait for the collection to be presented during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week and to hear the comments afterwards!

Photos: adevarul.ro, stylereport.ro, Forbes Romania

Marni for H&M

Another amazing collaboration is in sight: Marni for H&M! After this whole Versace-mania created around the capsule collection they launched not even two weeks ago featuring daring colors and cuts, party dresses and insane prints (some of them maybe a bit too insane), this announcement comes as a breath of fresh air for me. I wasn't such a great fan of the Versace collaboration, because I didn't really relate to the aesthetic of the collection or of the brand for that matter. Of course, there were some pieces that I really really liked (I'll show you in another post!), but the overall collection was too flashy and crazy for my taste and it didn't make me fall in love with the clothes and do whatever it took to have at least one item in my closet, like it happened with last year's collaboration with Lanvin! 

The collection designed by Marni couldn't be any more different from the Versace one. Marni is known for its art-school-teacher-fashionista aesthetic and aims towards a more intellectual way of dressing, a sensuality of the mind and not one as obvious as Versace. Everything that the Italian brand is known for will be present in this collection for H&M - knee-length skirts, great prints, bucket hats, dropped waists and amazing accessories that can dress up even the plainest white t-shirt you have hanging around in your closets. Chic, but also fashion forward we can expect some amazing pieces for women and also for men.

Creative director for Marni, Consuelo Castiglioni, describes the collection as "revisiting all our favorite pieces in signature fabrics and prints. As always, I love juxtaposing prints and colors, mixing modern tribal with Bauhaus graphic adding sporty utilitarian elements". The collection is said to hit the stores on March 8th, so keep that date in mind for some insane shopping!

Here are some photos giving you a glimpse of the working room and of some of pieces from the collection:

Some stills from the video:

And finally the first presentation video:

What do you think about this collaboration? Are you as excited as I am?

Photos: H&M, thevine.com.au