H&M Magazine: Summer 2012

Shoes, Patrizia Pepe. Trousers, DIY

Thank you hubby for helping with the shots

Next time you’re out shopping for a pair of scarf-print trousers, you know, with dodgy stitching and a waistband scrimped out of an old pair of jeggings, I recommend you pop into H&M and pick up a copy of the summer issue magazine. Then come home, dig out an big old scarf, and give your sewing machine (or mum) a good rattle. I personally was like this through the entire procedure but I promise it was a lot of fun. Best bit? Use the leftover fabric to do Erica’s (of the emporium that is Honestly…WTF) satchel DIY that’s on the other side of the spread. I’ll pop the full DIY up live next week, so go dig up a big scarf in the meantime!

AW12 Paco Rabanne at Totem PR Paris

The Paco Rabanne Office

When it comes to fashion history I can just about recognise the decades thanks to Disney princesses (gets a little fuzzy when it comes to Mary Poppins though) (Does she even count as a princess? I always thought she’s more of a witch…) so I’d like to apologize first if you’ve spent a week in a dusty library memorizing the influence of Alberto Giacometti in the work of Schiaparelli for your fashion exam. I say this because I had no idea who Paco Rabanne was, even when I was buzzing up to the showroom in Paris I was in the dark as I hadn’t had a chance to look anything up. Mind, this is highly irregular, for someone who even looks up her postman in Google. This is also irregular, for someone who owns MANY bags of jumprings and pliers.

Paco Rabanne, simply put, is the father of unwearable, fantastic, otherworldly garment concepts. Think dresses pieced together with metal chips, paper, plastics, rubber. Think early 60′s, the novelty of the decade is tie-dye and shorter skirt lengths – the architect turned designer produces dresses out of metal sequins so that the light catches the texture brilliantly on black & white TV. If your dress breaks, the tools you have in your bag can also fix your drainpipe. After years of hiatus in the design front, the brand is designing again with Manish Arora leading the creative. I’m loving how he’s managed to take all that history and character and translate it into such a sleek wearable collection. Chainmail and fuzzy knits, so Joan of Arc.

...and what's a visit without a box of Laduree Macarons!

The iconic 'Le 69' bag made out of stainless steel chainmail. If you look closely, you'll see that the straps are actually inspired by the classic toilet flush chain!

A DIY Paco Rabanne wedding dress kit that was sold as a supplement of an issue of ELLE in the 90's. Complete with plastic discs, jumprings, piers, full directions... and even a bag of rice! (I sense Health and Safety agents gearing up...)

(Source)

DIY Paco Rabanne dress kit fully-pieced (Source 1, 2)

A big thank you to the Paco Rabanne team for the warm welcome, and Ykone for the organization.

Leather shorts – Vintage, Shoes – secondhand Alexander Wang viaVestiaire Collective, Trench - Uniqlo, Bag – Marc Jacobs via Monnier Freres, Stripe Top - Uniqlo, Last pic necklace - DanniJo

Let me just answer that tickling question – did I peel off my striped-top and give it to Carrie while she waited topless on my bed? No. Not in that order anyway. I mean, no. We just happened to bring one top and they both happened to be striped – but picture us walking around Milan looking like girls who ran away from mime-school; amusing is one way to put it.

Anyhow. It always feels wonderful to be back in Milan, the intensity and… ubiquity of sunlight is really something here. Whenever someone tells me how a country’s climate make all the difference in a person’s temperament, I like to wave my cynicism stick at them (shaped like a frantically-purchased, over-priced corner-store umbrella, naturally), but in Milan I always stand corrected. I stood, in fact (but no miming, I swear), in awe of the well-dressed, well-groomed men and women, while happily soaking in the beauty of the sun-kissed city. It wasn’t necessarily hot or anything, but I loved the fact that light was so abundant until one moment around 9pm you look up to realise the sun has just quietly melted away. Whereas in London the sun is really just a matter of abruptly switching it ON or OFF – at  7pm the sun goes OFF; in October, the sun goes OFF. Sometimes it does disco-hour and does ON-OFF-ON-OFF for half the day, like how we all played with the light-switch when we were seven or eight. I tell you, if I find that kid who’s behind this perverted weather I will put it in a box and send it to Korea.

Thank you Ykone and Bottega Veneta for the much needed break away from cold & wet London; thank you Carrie for the shots of me.

More to come in Part II & III with Bottega Veneta Initials concept and a peek into Salone del Mobil!

(Left-to-Right)1    Leather Coat – Gift from mummy (Massimo Dutti), Stripe Top –Uniqlo, Jeans – Replay, Khaki heels – Primark, Necklace –DanniJo, Cross-body Bag- ASOS
2    Black neoprene jacket – H&M, Parachute Dress - All Saints,  Stripe Top – Uniqlo, Bag – Barbara Boner, Necklace – Brook & Lyn, Booties – Missoni
3    Leather shorts – Vintage, Shoes – secondhand Alexander Wang via Vestiaire Collective, Trench - Uniqlo, Bag – Marc Jacobs via Monnier Freres, Stripe Top - Uniqlo

Boys, look away, go play with the lawn sprinkler please. Girls, should I be afraid the Uniqlooks monthly recap is synchronizing with my release-the-Kraken time of the month? Like clockwork! I hate you! I love you. Nowadays this seems to be the only thing that helps keep track of time… this and an evil pile of bills that clog up the mailbox but never-mind that because I don’t believe they exist, realllllllly, it’s just a fantasy. (Hubby says he’s got it, such a man) Anyhow, just a quick one for today – the classic striped top that just about goes with anything, done up in three ways. Mind, I might’ve butchered the fail-safe classic with the parachute-dress, but right now that floats my hormonal boat so please let’s just call it an outfit.

Thank you TCS for the organization and the lovely people at Hermès for the warm welcome & tour. 

In school I had a friend who could draw a straight line without the help of a ruler – we called her a witch back then – mind, this was few years before the revelation of Harry Potter wherein witches carry ruler-like things called wands that might’ve made the name unsuitable. She also knew how to fold origami swans with a blade-sharp edge and tear pages out of her notebook without ripping out that bit at the end. We were always in awe – especially me (derpina) with a wad of ‘swan’ that looked like it was chewed on – because none of it was brain surgery and everyone technically knew how to fold a sailing boat by the 5th grade. Being in the Hermès Atelier Sacs reminded me of her, and I do realise this connection is somewhat far-fetched but as we entered the ateliers I was fully expecting to be told off for photographing certain things that might be classified as ‘brand secrets’. But get this, we were free to roam around –  they even explained the details in the techniques and process of creating a Birkin (average 48hours production time!) although I must confess, in most part I was sneaking around in the far corner where the Constance bags were being made and heard only about half the tour (so professional).

That got me thinking, and this is where my witch friend comes in – by now everyone in the leather industry knows how to technically make a bag, but Hermès clearly proves that it takes the talented, adept hands of artisans and a brand ethos that embraces quality to make a great bag. Granted, a bag that costs a lot of months in a London flat and throw in a few kebabs while we’re calculating, but now I’m convinced it really is worth it. The ‘secret’ of Hermès, is not in a mystery beeswax or a particular stitching machine, but the magic of attention and care by skilled hands, not to mention the history of the brand’s relationship with leather. It’s undeniably a perfect strategy on Hermès‘ part to highlight – not hide – this craftmanship aspect and invite certain people to experience what might be considered as secret lair to other brands that like to keep everything under lock and key. Who knows, perhaps in the future I’ll be able to fill a few thousand piggy-banks and grow a patience-bone for the waiting list, then finally get a bag that might be handed down generations until a great-great-great-great-granddaughter accidentally leaves it in a space shuttle on her way to Mars.

Celebrating their 175th year and the brand’s unique relationship with leather, Hermes will be opening a public exhibition on the 8th May (~27th May) at 6 Burlington Gardens where some of the artisans will be present making bags. I’m so in, are you?

Barbara Boner Fringed leather bags & accessories at Pfeffer PR Pressday

Welcome, new visitors! You who searched for a certain naughty term and Google and some SEO magic told you this might be the place you were looking for. Oh don’t leave so hastily, do look around, you’ll spot a patch of skin or two if not a sat-wrong pants-bulge that might answer your search needs.

If that’s not a riveting name I don’t know what is, (except maybe Ben Dover) I swore to myself not to bring up the name issue but as it turns out that she’s 1) Italian hence the name is probably pronounced ‘bonnnner’ or ‘pineapple’ (Italian is a mystery language for me) 2) obviously gone over this many times before she decided to settle on the name and therefore clearly is embracing it. It got you reading, didn’t it? That’s all that matters – I too might change my name to Park & STRIPTEASE. I spotted Barbara Boner‘s fringed bags at the Pfeffer PR press day and I must’ve been looking for a boyfriend or soul mate* or something that day because clearly her work has everything I don’t have - boho-chic, rockstar-chic (if I say chic again please slap me), and really nice soft leather. Overall it’s charismatic – if it were a person she’d chew gum, jump over fences and go out of NO EXIT doors.

* Pffft soulmate in a bag, taking antisocial to the next level.

Leather Coat – Gift from mummy (Massimo Dutti), Stripe Top – Uniqlo, Jeans – Replay, Khaki heels – Primark, Necklace – DanniJo

Over the weekend I had a chance to dig at the blog archives, that token a-day-in-the-attic tour where you peel open just about every dusty photo album and realise how much has changed in the years past. It really is about time to acknowledge that this blog has entered into the latter years of toddlerzone (fwee years old and some) and has so far learnt to use the potty and has grown a decent set of milk teeth; this mummy is also gradually starting to patch together what might resemble a life. Amidst pockets of embarrassing moments (defined by outfits wherein enthusiasm was far from curbed) I realised how much my attitude to dressing is now vastly different. The so called life I’m patching now involves mornings of a regular alarm+snooze pattern, and attempts at giving the wardrobe a rattle yet falling straight back to the fail-proof outfit of jeans and a top of some cotton variety. The transport option: bicycle, dictates what I wear, and the common jeans happen to be the only thing I own that doesn’t get caught in the back wheel. On other – enthusiastic – days I get a few honks from bus drivers who are either trying to alert me of the skirt-in-wheel situation… or to make me disappear from the road altogether, both likey. So over the past 6 months or so the number of jeans have tripled, and when Replay got in touch with their Laserblast jeans (always read ‘laser’ in Dr. Evil voice), I must confess – I revelled. Not just because at the time all my other jeans were pickling in the laundry basket, but it so happens the Laserblast technology eliminates chemical treatment and ensures there’s 85% less water involved in production; green jeans, in other words. This also means no blue smudge on my white accessories or this chair I now sit in for 8 hours a day. (They also sent over the Trailor for the Laserblast but other than the model’s butt, please know that my sentiments to the video can be summarized with one word: Cringetastic.)

Above is a collection of images from previous blogposts and other sources (sources linked – photos 2,3,6,10), to highlight the Giorgio Armani Acqua for Life water awareness campaign

If I’m visiting a new city the first thing I’ll Google once connected to the hotel wifi is ‘can you drink tap water in [insert city]‘, then sometimes I’ll double-check with ‘but are you suuuuure‘ and Google will ask me ‘are you suuuuure you’re wearing the right size bra?’. Just about drops the issue every time. However, the question whether tapwater is drinkable in Warsaw… still not answered after 16 years. The hubby who looked over my shoulder to read this just said ‘yeah, you wouldn’t die, but I honestly wouldn’t’. Growing up in Warsaw, thirty 5-litre bottles would be delivered every other month and the biggest chore for me and my brother was to carry them all into the house because we’d find them dumped at the bottom of the porch one random morning. You don’t leave twenty bottles of water in the lawn with the tigermum prowling in the kitchen. So my brother and I would compete whoever can carry in more at once and we’d hobble in and out carrying 6 bottles at once (30kg); and of course the next day we’d wake up and feel all the muscles in our arms torn and absolutely refuse to go to school. (Then we’d spend the free day swinging broomsticks ‘lightsabres’ and end up being schooled by mother with one, or both.) I guess my point is, 30L is undoubtedly a hell of an ordeal to transport for an average person, but get this, through Giorgio Armani’s Acqua For Life campaign, one ‘like‘ will deliver 50L of safe water to those in real need. So unhide yo kids, yo wife, and yo husband and tell them to get clicking. Unless you’re planning on doing it personally (and challenging airport security with 50L of water in your suitcase on your way to Bolivia) a click will do.

Shirt – Zara, Jeans – Levi’s, Sweater – Geiger

Will you hold my gurgling bag of cynicism and misanthropy for just a little while longer while I go titter looking at these photos again and occasionally squeal some? Mind, I’m doing this all in an ill-fitting (Age: 12-14 to be exact) Belle dress, but you couldn’t tell anyway because I’m also twirling like a maniac. Usually I’d trust the hubby to half look up from his Dungeons & Dragons game to tell me to snap out of it, woman, and go fetch him a sandwich but this time he’s also quite preoccupied with being prince Aladdin. ‘Prince Ali, fabulous he, is going to use the bathroom!‘ et cetera. It’s been nearly 2 weeks since we’ve been back from Disneyland, courtesy of Vienna International and Dream Castle Hotel, but the magic’s stuck with us, like it’s stuck with me for the past 20 years or goodness knows how long since my mother found out a Disney VHS is the best pacifier man has ever made. We had about 5 hours to play in the park (by we I mean the Jen & Fred couple + the hubby and I), so we busily fluttered around from ride to ride, getting salt-shaken here and spun around there… yeah, there really comes a time when you realise your body is not as compact and nimble as you like to think and that time is while you’re rattling up a dark tunnel and the rails suddenly disappear further up. Then it’s spit flying everywhere (think dog’s head out the window at 120kmph) and wondering if all your limbs are still intact. At the end of the day the stomach just seems to let go of any notion of what’s North or South and resigns to happy napping after being fed some cotton candy. It really was the most fun since watching girls trip on 5 inch heels on the cobblestones during the fashion week season and that’s saying a lot! Now give me back my gurgling bag. CACKLE.

Thank you Vienna International & Dream Castle Hotel for the best idea for a presstrip ever.

1    Cotton Shirt - Uniqlo Men, Jeans – Zara, Shoes - Friis & Company (via Zalando), Bag – Marc Jacobs via Monnier Freres, Boyfriend Watch – ASOS
2    Black trench – Calvin Klein (gift from mummy!), Cotton Shirt - Uniqlo Men, Trousers – Uniqlo, Shoes – secondhand Alexander Wang via Vestiare Collective, Diary – Filofax Enigma
3    Leather Cap – Ebay, Cotton Shirt – Uniqlo Men, Dress – ASOS, Jacket – H&M, Leather trousers -ASOS, Shoes – Chloe Sevigny x Opening Ceremony

The irregular geography of the warehouse conversion that is our flat lends a lifestyle not unlike a 11-year-old’s birthday party held in one of those kiddy indoor-playgrounds with rubber obstacles and plastic-ball pools that generally smell of feet and pee. OK, the latter probably not so much – on most days, at least – unless I once again decide to be clever with the pantry arrangement and place a melon on the top shelf and then 5 weeks later find out it’s leaked pee-like substance throughout the entire shelving unit. Rotten melon reeks of sweaty feet, why naturally! Anyhoo, from the mezzanine level I have a sweeping view of the entire flat, so by default anything that needs to be taken down to the lounge, or the general direction of the exit, is simply thrown down over the rails. With an accompanying ‘weeeeeeeeee’ noise at that. Said items either land on the bicycles or squarely on the couch, which is in fact where a haphazard pile of junk now lives – aka my new closet. Consisting of this Uniqlo Men’s pink cotton shirt, a few crumpled ‘silk’ tops, two pairs of jeans, a jersey dress, four jackets for the daily season-change and of course socks of unknown cleanliness sprinkled in between… these are things I’ve been pulling out for the past how many months I’ve had the day-job. If I’d known growing up was to be this messy I think I’d have followed the boy out the window when I had the chance, but then again looking at the state of the flat I’ve clearly convinced him to marry me and sign Neverland over in a prenup. From time to time I slide down the stairs’ handrail fireman-style and wail siren-noises to alert the hubby that I’m hungry.

Please do check out Uniqlooks to see what I’ve been up to and join in on the Uniqlo dress-up fun! Thank you Kit for helping with the first outfit and hubby for the rest!