Posts from — August 2009

The 80’s are back with a blast! Yes, Boys and girls this year the ruling trend in fashion is the denim shirt from the eighties. So take out that acid washed worn out blue denim shirt that was tucked into a dark corner of your mom’s closet. Hunt it down from thrift shops or vintage departments ‘cos it is high time that you fashionistas wore it What was once considered classic 80’s signature: the black leather pants/jackets and floral slip dresses worn with the blue denim shirts or the ripped jeans is now back in 2009 and it’s a big hit as a street style in the big fashionable capitals of London, Paris, Milan, Stockholm, Berlin and Tokyo. As I update myself through Vogue and blogs such as the Sartorialist and Bare Style the only pieces of clothing that keeps recurring in them is the denim shirt and the ripped jeans. Needless to say, they are the key pieces that everyone and anyone can wear, and it has an individual feel about it that is irresistible:). Match it with leather pants or black skinny jeans and a white tee –and look stunning!

image via Bare Style

image via Bare Style

This fresh revival of the denim does not leave out our boys. In fact, guys could wear the denims shirts in dark and ice blues. You could pull off the denim look by wearing the double denim: with a blue tone denim shirt and black denim jeans or an icy blue shirt with a darker navy pair of denim jeans.

image via ASOS Diesel Shighy Denim Shirt

image via ASOS Nudie Gunnar

Alors, I have been wearing the denim shirt for quite some time now, with a white tee and some chunky jewellery: if you want to give this look a try u can accessorize with silver, rusted gold or bronze necklaces. And I have been getting the ‘what-the?!’ stare when I am on the road ( I look like a blast from the past I think, hehe) but reviving our old mate the denim is quite something. Why don’t you give this trend a try?

found out this morning that my vintage denim was hanging outside!

blue denim shirt , black skinny jeans accessorized with a bronze chain

wore it with a fringe necklace i recently made

How often have you heard that phrase: “…the white sandy beaches” or “…the pearly white sand” when it comes to Maldivian tourism advertisements? Well, I can bet your bottom dollar that you must have heard them so often that it is now finely drilled into the brain. Anyway, I am about to bring up the same element again –Though, I am not about to prove how white the beaches of Maldives are. Have you ever heard of ‘Sand art’? Yes, that is my topic for this post. Today, artists don’t exactly restrict their mediums to oils and water colours instead there’s a variety of mediums for the modern artist and it is endless (they even use toilet paper and cow dung!!)  But no worries, sand art does not require smelly or sticky work, instead all the artist needs is a thin layer of fine sand and a light table to create amazing paintings that metamorphose into several artistic sceneries. Art has taken its many forms throughout the years and now it’s about experimenting on the wildest. Though, sand art can still be considered as an amateur form compared to the most bizarre– it too has its beauty when performed by a skilled artist.  A video of Kseniya Simonova’s winning sand art performance at a Ukrainian talent show is the talk of many sites, channels and YouTube now. Her one is more of a story teller than art; portraying a story at the time of WW2, with music at the background and lit candles on the stage creating an atmosphere that brought most of the female audience to tears. I however, love the sand art performances that present fantasy portrayals, with images that are reminiscent of dreams.

(So the ‘white sand’ of Maldives does come in handy after all eh?)  ;P

Some videos of sand art performances  Enjoy

I’m sure most of you would have seen on telly the sand art work for the animal planet

sand artist Robert Schinkel gives some amazing performances in this one

a japanese art

Kseniya Simonova’s moving presentation at the Ukraine talent show

"say miaow girls!"

Strangely, most women of Maldives choose to wear the burkhaa in a style that is paradoxical to what it is expected of burkhaa attire. Slim Pencil jeans, body-tight jersey tops, shiny accessories and a tight chiffon burkhaa around the head are ‘stylish’ according to them. But ‘stylish’ can be in a decent form too, like the Arabs or the Malaysians: they do dress fashionably and in a modern sense yet they do not look like they are going for a swim in their ‘burkini’. I believe that these Maldivian women should realize that the whole point of wearing a burkhaa and abiding to the Muslim dress-code is to cover the figure in a decent manner and not expose every curve of the female form in a body suit similar to the cat woman!

Above  are some decent burkhaa styles (pictures taken from Hegab-Rehab blog). I like the beige pants with the kaftan (ideal for work too). It is elegant and sophisticated, the black one suits well for evening occasions. Hegab-rehab blog has some really helpful uploads of how-to’s of wearing burkhaa with some of her own colour coordination’s for you girls. Check out the link

Ok, so this might seem a bit wierd, but i made some origami brooches. And they seem to have come out pretty well. It is one of my crazy creations. I was going through some how-to-make-origami books in my library rack and it just struck me that these intricate geometric patterns in 3D can be very ideal for brooches and accessories alike. My brother and mom helped to  fold the origami i selected  and the next 3 hours or so I spent on putting some embellishments on the objects. It’s a more  fantasy/futuristic  look i wanted to give with black paper (yes, paper-it’s origami afterall) and some beads – I see them as a very flexible accesory since they can be worn with different coloured shirts and tees too.  I’ve worn it with a black and white shirt so far.  As for the material of the brooches, who knows, paper might become the next it-material for accessories

origami brooch inspired by a spaceship

black was the colour i prefered to play with, to get a more unique look

the brooches on a white shirt

black on black - the brooches give a subtle elegance when worn with black

"hold on missy, i'll get this for ya"

Talking about corsets in the post on Chanel, I thought of illustrating a scene (in a more ironic way of course) that was typically seen during that era (mainly from the 18^th till the 19^th c.) when wearing a corset was considered fashionable and beautiful. It was worn to accentuate an hourglass figure for the ladies, and a slim waist with a lot of tight lacing was achieved with the help of an extra pair of hands. And it is common knowledge that the corsets tend to be the worst enemy for women, since a lot of women faint during the summers and never engage in active sports when in their corsets. I suppose the saying is true ‘beauty comes with a cost’.

I should have talked about this ages ago, but I have been stuck with brainstorming a header for Famushu (it’s still under construction), and after all this time I have come with absolutely n.o.t.h.i.n.g.  Pfff! Anyway, I had shared a New York Times link about the film on my facebook page some weeks back. Alors, ever since the movie ‘Coco avant Chanel’ has been out, there has been an endless amount of Coco Chanel everywhere on the net: people are talking about her life and her works and Chanel’s famous quotes, pictures are spread across sites and blogs: its Chanel fever!  Perhaps this is the intention of Anne Fontaine, director of Coco avant Chanel (Coco before Chanel)- To make people talk about the legendary lady, to once again bring back to life, the Chanel who once lived on the face of this earth.  After three whole decades since the death of the world famous designer, we get to see her in flesh and blood (well metaphorically, at least). Her love affairs, her struggle towards achieving an ultimate goal, all those little personal details of this diva of a designer is now possible to be seen on the silver screen . A mademoiselle who kicked away the word ‘suppressed’ and brought ‘liberation’ to women in the 1920’s: her flapper dress was the symbol of liberation for women encouraging them to throw away their claustrophobic corsets and swing their hips to jazz and ride automobiles with their new ‘bob’ cut. It was a complete revolution for such a time. I’m sure we all must have heard of the iconic ‘Chanel jacket’ a tailored jacket with an elegant grace mixed with a hint of masculinity in the design – it has evolved since its early beginning in the 20’s and today Karl Lagerfeld and the Chanel house presents a wide array of designs to choose from plus a huge number of faithful celebrity fans . Although Chanel lived large during her time of success, her journey to the lap of luxury was not as smooth. Audrey Tautou (you must’ve seen her in “Da Vinci Code” and “Amelie”) plays the role of Chanel and portrays her rags-to-riches story with a lot of emphasis given to Chanel’s love affair in the movie. Although Chanel is known to have had numerous affairs with men especially from high places, the movie mainly focuses on the relationship of her and Etian Balsan the aristocrat, who financed to launch her fashion career. Chanel’s strong and independent flair went along with her career, booming into a mega industry and leading to the first ever perfume named after a designer: the infamous Chanel No.5. still dominates the perfume industry. Chanel is said to have stated: “A women who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.”

the no.5 perfume was known to be a fav of marilyn monroe

With her strong statements Chanel had always influenced womens sense of style and way of living. So the movie is an essential to any fashion student or anyone who is interested in the history of fashion and Coco Chanel is a name that is always associated with the industry. I certainly recommend it as a must-see to you all

Thought i'll illustrate a carricature of Chanel

…Et ensuite Il y avait Chanel.

Glamour.com has come up with their list of the most glamorous women of 2009 and queen of the wrap dress and the president of CFDA (council of fashion designers of America) : Diane Von Furstenberg, tagged along with the rest of the powerful beauties like Iman and Tyra Banks–first ladies of America and France, Michel Obama and Carla Bruni Sarkozy were nominated too!Alors, what really interested me was the fact that Diane Von Furstenberg took her place in the list, she is an inspiring designer, the wrap dress which Furstenberg is known for, had made its splash in the fashion scene decades ago and it’s still ruling our wardrobes as a must-have classic piece! The wrap dress is timelessly elegant, truly feminine and chic:). And since I’ve always wanted to sew a wrap dress and had to put my newly learned sewing skills to test too, this was the perfect timing. With a stretch of jersey fabric I had recently bought, it was time to cut out its pattern. It needed some hours of sewing and voila – it’s a wrap!

I felt like the seventies for a moment, drifted away to a time when Halston, Yves   Saint Laurent and Diane Von Furstenberg ruled the fashion industry. Bravo to Furstenberg who is still going strong: making women feel feminine and independent.

Girls!  Here are some facts about the wrap dress:

*A wrap dress is a dress with two front panels which cross over and is tied with fabric cords or ribbons; much like a dressing gown. It is originally made of jersey material and falls to the knee with long sleeves.

*You could wear it on any occasion, for parties, meetings with friends to work (in decent neutral colours) it goes along with formal and informal occasions very well.

*You could wear it with colours like black and white or even with floral prints and ethnic designs with rich colours.

*Be careful to avoid wardrobe malfunctions by wearing the proper underwear. And make sure you have tied the cords tightly before going out.

A casual videoing of the famous super model’s day-to-day life by her ex-boyfriend Ole Schell, for a period of five years, led to the controversial documentary “picture me”. The movie shot by a simple handy-cam star some of the famous models and friends of Sara Ziff like; Tanya D, Olga and Sena Cech along with famed photographers and designers. Sara Ziff started modeling at the age of 14 earning a handsome income and travelling around the globe doing fashion shows and shoots in exotic locations. Although this seems like a fantasy job, the reality is grim as model veteran Ziff portrays- the ugly side about anorexia and drug abuse as just being a small tip of the iceberg.


The fact is that a models job is highly demanding and she is most likely to be sexually leered at or taken advantage of by photographers during shoots and criticized by agencies and designers during castings for runway shows. One model in the documentary recalls being slapped on her thigh in a casting and being told “Ooh too fat” in Italian or French. Girls at the tender age of 12 and 13 are told to ‘do sexy’ for runways and shoots and are constantly pressured to be thin and look perfect all times. (Remember the highly publicized size zero issue after Ali Michael spoke publicly about her weight issues ) Ziff also talks about a recent case of a 16 year old girl who was sexually assaulted by a well known photographer; these incidents heighten the issue of the unknown ill-treatment of young models. The industry’s unglamorous exploitive side is hardly known to many and TV shows like America’s next top model attract a large sum of young women into working in it and encourage young girls sitting in front of the TV screens to muse the image of a model.


However, it is a fact that the models are the one’s who exhibit the clothes created by the designers and since they are meant to be shown to the public they are expected to have gazelle-like features with long limbs and a lean body. I’m sure that no one would want to see a bunch of big overweight figures stomping down the runway – after all it is about the looks and a slim tall figure is always pleasant to look at plus shows the sleek creations better! Moreover professional casting agencies like Elite and Storm accept girls who are naturally thin , lean and most of all healthy; they do not force teenagers o starve to get the job. But then again, designers and agencies should remember that the models working for them are humans and that they should be a little more sensitive to them.
Sara Ziff and Ole Schell go on to say that their intention of making the documentary was hardly anything about revenge or retaliation to the industry but it was about telling the people what a model’s life is really like. That it is not exactly about glamour all the way. Ziff adds in a clip “as far as the modeling question I would say, think why you want to do it. It’s a lot more empowering to be behind the camera, than in front of it.”

It’s been a while since I bought these shoes and they are my babies now. I was so swept away by the platform/wedge shoe rage that’s been going on lately in the fashion scene that I decided to get a pair myself. Gaping at the shoes photographed on the JAK and JIL blog and the stunning heels flooding almost every blog and fashion week runway for the past few seasons: made me feel like not having one is a sin!  But the problem with these shoes is that they are not exactly practical since one cannot escape without a sore heel or ankle after walking around in them! However they look fantastic with a pair of pencil jeans and ideal for an evening party (where you definitely won’t have to walk around ).