PRETTY PAIRS

ph: Marie Claire | Amica

Pretty pairs in pretty dresses! For the first look, try this dress- just add a peter pan collar.
The Stella McCartney + Isabel Marant dresses from the second shot can be found here + here.

THE SECRET OF CARVEN'S SUCCESS AND THE ALEXA CHUNG FACTOR

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Fashion dynamite: Alexa and Carven's Guillaume Henry (image from http://blog.shoppleasedonttell.com/)

Ask any journalist and they will tell you about the stories that got away. I'm not talking about the missed scoop (there are those too); I refer to the stories that get commissioned and written, and then for whatever reason - be it bad timing, more urgent news coming up, advertiser commitments or a combination of all three - they get repeatedly put on hold until they become out of date.  In others words: spiked.

Any passionate journalist with a bee in their bonnet about a story likes to get that story written, out the door and in print asap. Time is of the essence, so I have been getting increasingly teeth-grindy about a very timely piece I wrote for Grazia in February about the resurgence of the Parisian label Carven, with personal insights on the label's rightness-for-now by its self-confessed Number One Fan, a certain Miss Alexa Chung.

Mr Carven a.k.a Guillaume Henry (image from vogue.fr)

To my mind Carven's designer Guillaume Henry is a significant talent, and his work for the house is so on-the-button for fashion now because it is playfully cute as well as elegant and modern. The way he throws his looks together is pure fashion magic; and we can lay the trend for bejewelled collars, pinafore dresses and flatforms squarely at the door of his Parisian atelier.  It's little wonder he has been the bestselling label of the season across retailers including Net-a-Porter, my-wardrobe.com and Matches.

The story has been with the magazine for three months and has been scheduled numerous times, only for a more of-the-week story to usurp it at the last minute.  I'm sanguine about it all of course, because I have my beloved blog through which to share it with you. 

Alexa in Carven SS12 (image from http://blog.shoppleasedonttell.com/)

Following is the story exactly as written for Grazia; you'll see the way I write on here, and the way I write for Grazia are markedly different. House style shifts dramatically from publication to publication, and Grazia's tone is very specifically upbeat, informative and fun. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did to write it.  Interspersed through the copy are Carven's best-sellers of this season. And FYI, retailers love carven right now. Harrods' Head of Womenswear, Helen David told me

'Since the arrival of Carven at Harrods earlier this year, the brand has been phenomenally popular with our customers. Several pieces from the SS12 collection sold out within hours of being received, so we have reordered almost every style a few times over.  Carven has been so successful in-store and online as the collections are versatile, intricately crafted yet without the designer price tag, thus appealing to a very wide audience.’

WHY EVERYONE LOVES CARVEN
By Melanie Rickey

You’ve got to know a label is seriously happening when two of the world’s most influential fashion women are not only wearing it, but telling everyone how much they love it. Step forward Carven, and its designer Guillaume Henry; or as he tells us Brit girls, “just call me Guy.”

When Net-a-Porter founder and its chief fashionista Natalie Massenet first clapped eyes on the brand three years ago, it had zero stockists and the business consisted of three people in a dusty room in Paris looking for a break into fashion. This fact did not deter her from buying the collection immediately, and pronouncing that 32-year-old Henry had “the talent of a young Yves Saint Laurent.”

Cropped tweed jacket £550

For Alexa Chung, arguably the chicest 20-something on the planet, her Eureka moment came, typically, on a fashion shoot. “I was on a shoot for L'officiel magazine and the stylist had brought some detachable collars for me to use,” she told me. “The story was a 60s theme and not all the dresses were right so I ended up using the collars on everything. It was super weird because that item was exactly what I wanted at the time. I was thinking of making them myself before I saw his more perfect version, now Carven is my dream label.”

Now you’re probably thinking, “why have I never heard of Carven?” The reason is, of course, its relative newness to the 21st Century marketplace. In its present form it is three years old, still a baby, and only known by fashion insiders. A fact that is about to change this spring, as it hits its 500th stockist with a hit Spring collection chock full of pieces from zig-zag fit-and-flare dresses, cute poufy skirts, and neat little jackets creating waiting lists all over the world.

Mountain shorts £550 at Matches

Fashion buffs will know, however, that Carven has history. The diminutive 5 foot 1” tall Madame Carven inaugurated her Haute Couture house in Paris in 1945, and her elegant fashion was designed expressly with the petite chic of Paris in mind.

Over the years the label ground to a halt, until all that remained was the house perfume, Ma Griffe. When Guillaume Henry was hired to the job in 2009, he had literally nothing to take inspiration from expect the little trademark Peter Pan collars and cuffs Madame Carven and now Alexa Chung and her fashion fans love to wear.

So what is going right with Carven? Guillaume Henry is what. This young designer who trained at both high fashion house Givenchy and everyday fashion label Paule Ka has truly got the knack of understanding how to walk the line between creating clothes that look like fashion, yet you can wear them all the time for any occasion.

As worn above by Alexa... Lace dress £590 at Net-a-Porter

Just ask Alexa, who says she wears Carven “24/7”. In fact I’ve never heard her speak more passionately about a fashion label. “Carven really is my dream label. I love how they layer things, how they make ugly cropped sweaters in strange prints, how everything is new but classic. I adore their shoes, I live in their coats and I'm always very very excited to see what he does next.”

The feeling is mutual of course. “I LOVE her. She’s fantastic and super inspiring. I saw her the first time and you see her body and then you hear her husky voice. I love contrasts. I love that is chic and tough, and doesn’t do that whole “sexy girl” thing.“

“The thing with Monsieur Henry,” continues Alexa, “is he knows what modern women want. His clothes are practical but beautifully crafted and quirky enough that you feel amazing wearing them and as though you look interesting.”

Cute jacquard dress £575 at Harrods

Another thing: they are not outrageously expensive. Carven fits into the “contemporary” fashion category between high street and high fashion.

So what is Guillaume Henry’s secret? I ask him what he thinks it is. “Well, for me Carven is about freshness, spontaneity, smiling elegance. You know, some designers create and imagine a woman, a customer, and that’s great – but it’s not for me. I design for my mother, my friends; someone going to work, with children, going out at night – women I know.”

“I am always asking myself: who is the girl? Where is she living, how is she working? What’s her face? What kind of life does she have? At the end of the day, I want my products to have their own life. I love it when I hear about different people wearing the same pieces. Recently, with the same dress, we dressed Rihanna and Isabelle Huppert. They’re so different. Once I had a call from a friend and she was at the supermarket and she was wearing a cropped jacket and she told me there was a lady near her who was about 60 and she was wearing the same jacket. It’s fantastic!”

Pink contrast skirt £304 at Matches

I can’t help but agree. If you look at the Carven pieces available on net-a-porter and my-wardrobe.com, you can see exactly what Guillaume Henry is trying to do. It is cute pieces – a flecky knit with a peter pan collar, a sweet peplum T-shirt, a shrunken yellow blazer - that have the touch of high fashion and a touch of the everyday; and they’re just a bit geeky too which means they can go in the direction the wearer takes them.

We can’t help agree just a little bit she Alexa says of our new best friend Guy Henry, “I hate him....because he's perfect.” We dare you not to fall in love with his clothes.

Ends

Now you're in my way ...

                                                                                               CLICK TO SEE MORE

                                                                                                shoes: mango,
                                                                                                pants: bershka,
                                                                                                t-shirt: primark,
                                                                                                sweater: stradivarius,
                                                                                                bag: parfois,
                                                                                                hat: h&m,
                                                                                                sunglasses: ray-ban,
                                                                                                ring: lovely,
                                                                                                bracelets: stradivarius, ringeraja,
                                                                                                watch: michael kors,
                                                                                          ph. Branislava (Divine world of fashion) and me

Monday had hysterically mood swings, probably worst then woman before her cycle, cold and warm, rain and storm, and at the end of the day, we had chance to see the perfect sunset above the river. ;)
Luckily, i was with these two lovely ladies Branislava and Jovana, so we survived somehow! Bruschetti, pasta, tiramisu, viva Italia! Perfect match for me, i even got my zebra shot! ;)
Huge thanks to Brana for these lovely photos!

p.s. don`t forget to enter the Romwe giveaway Here!

p.p.s.yesterday i hit my knee at one of the street pillars, so this is the song for today, Play it! ;)

EASY SUMMER

ph: Style Lovely

LOVE Candice Swanepoel's easy summer look! The boots are the perfect touch.
Click below to find out how to get the look...

Get the look...
+ Rag & Bone Alexis Top
+ Alexander Wang Marion Mini Sling Bag
+ ASOS Leather Skinny Waist Belt
+ Ksubi Alberceque Cutoff Shorts
+ Stuart Weitzman Taupe Snake Boots
+ Stuart Weitzman Taupe Snake Boots with Dark Wooden Platform

Edwardian lady and ladybugs

Where: Alexandra park

Outfit:

Apron-esque top: Edwardian embroidered portrait of a lady with fabulous earrings singing to a bird with a frame and flowers everywhere.  The sides tie into bows with dotted pink embroidery!
 From one of my favorite stalls at Spitalfields market
Hat: Late 1930s from Blitz
Shirt bra: Old banana republic lingerie (when the designers at banana republic were inventive)
Shorts: Primark (they were JUST the right color, couldn't resist)
Shoes: Primark (I still have an unhealthy addiction to the shoes at Primark, these ones especially, they new had my size until one day.....)

Outfit post - Looking for the Summer

We've been having 2-3 quite cloudy and rainy days.
I'm missing the sun and most of all warm Summer days
and magical Summer nights.
I've put together an outfit which is in my mind perfect
outfit for a night out in Summer time.
Even tho I love finnish Summers, my favorite ones are
croatian ones. Can't wait to go visit my family there
and get to swim in the most beautiful and cleanest sea,
see my old friends and eat tons of watermelon :)

Since our outdoor activities are quite limited atm,
I've decided to bake some muffins with my daughter,
yesterday afternoon. They turned out SO GOOD that
it's a sin to eat them :D
Maybe one day I get a chance to open a small patisserie
in Helsinki... You never know!

I'm wearing: Sandals - Accessorize, Shorts, jacket & scarf - Zara,
Bag - H&M, T-shirt - Mango, Jewelry - HOH1960

GLOBAL FASHION REPORT: FARFETCH IT FOR ME FROM BRAZIL...

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

When you hear about BRIC countries there are one of two things that cross the mind: 1) what is a BRIC country? 2) Lucky b'stards.  If question one flashed through your mind, here is the full explanation. To precis, BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China, and by 2027 these four developing and emerging economies are predicted to have overtaken British, American and our fellow developed G7 nations.

If you want to experience a boom economy - remember what that feels like? - then brush up your Portuguese/Russian/Cantonese/Mandarin or Hindi and get the hell out of here to the happy land of a BRIC.  In BRIC countries fashion is a high priority. As developing nations accelerate into the global fast-lane so their inhabitants appetite for and output of luxury goods and fashion shoots right up. This is what makes them so interesting (and fabulous) to me.

In fact, from my vantage point in London I've become increasingly intrigued to discover what fashionistas in the BRIC economies are up to.  So it showed great smarts for one of my favourite fashion shopping websites, Farfetch.com, to organise Ola Brazil, which puts together nine leading fashion designers from its fashion capital Sao Paulo and brings them to our attention. Ola Brazil launches on the site tomorrow.

With many of the high fashion websites starting to feel a bit homogenous at times, I like how FarFetch continues to take risks in its quest to innovate on sourcing hard-to-access product and give it a global platform.  Much as I would like to be flitting around the boutiques of Sao Paulo making local discoveries, it will not be happening in the near future, so this is the next best thing.

In the press release FarFetch talk about their highlighted designers being "emerging"; this is not strictly true. The majority are fairly well established locally in Brazil, but there is an experimental edge to their clothes that feels refreshing and young. Where they are emerging is here in Britain and across Europe and the USA, and to me that is something worth talking about.   One of the designers Reinaldo Lourenco has been going since the 1980s and it is his prodigy son Pedro Lourenco who can officially be monikered as "emerging".  Pedro has been showing in Paris since the tender age of 19 and is still only 22. Still, that's just me being picky.

The exuberance, colour, texture or should I just say just pure Brazilian-ness of the pieces FarFetch have chosen fits exactly with the summery mood ushered in by the glorious heatwave we have been experiencing this last week. It makes me think dressing in bikini bottoms and a cropped red lace top is perfectly acceptable. It also reinforces my belief (well, that and all the swimwear shows going on this week at Rio Fashion Week) that Brazil harbours the best swimwear designers in all the world.

So, may I introduce you to Lino Villaventura, Reinaldo Lourenco, Juliana Jabour, Copa Club and Brigitte. I hope this is a success so that FarFetch may be inspired to dig a little deeper next time; and hopefully they will have some emerging designers from India, China and Russia coming soon.

Brown and green dress by Lino Villaventura £554

Red lace top by Lino Villaventura: £242

Printed blouse by Reinaldo Lourenco: £761

Jumpsuit by Juliana Jabour £364

"Maya"swimsuit by Brigitte £135

Snakeskin swimsuit by Copa Club: £167



OLA BRAZIL! Launch date: 31st May 2012 at www.farfetch.com

IN MY DREAMS

In honor of the MAJOR sale going on over at Net-A-Porter, I thought it'd be fun to do an outfit collage with some of my top picks from the sale... Hope you like!

1. Vanessa Bruno Puffed-shoulder crepe top
2. Jil Sander Paisley Crystal Earrings
3. Current/Elliott The Ankle Low-rise Skinny Jean
4. Stella McCartney Polished Gold-Tone Star Necklace
5. Proenza Schouler PS1 Leather and Canvas Bag
6. Chloé Lily leather and brass wrap bracelet
7. Mulberry Animal-print calf-hair pumps

THAT FACE + THAT BOD

ph: Tush Magazine

That face + that bod! Serious work-out inspiration!
Loving the simplicity of this editorial, both in the beauty + the knits.
Click below for more + to find out how to get the look...






Get the look...
+ BB Dakota Roa Crochet Tank
+ Diesel Golden Vest
+ Étoile Isabel Marant Calice Crochet-Knit Dress
+ By Zoe Lurex Tank Top
+ Warehouse Sequin Cami Top With Floral Detail
+ ADDISON Crochet Lace Dress
+ Eternal Child Top Pointelle
+ Ella Moss Crochet Tank
+ Dallin Chase Kyros Crochet Tunic Dress