Bohemian Like You Long Necklace with Buttons in Flower Colors

The new EST challenge theme is currently 'Spring Colour Trends' and is hosted by Eva, of creationsbyeve. You can see the relevant post here, and the entries here.

To take part in this challenge, I created a long colorful necklace, for which I used old and vintage buttons. The colors that are fashionable this spring are named after flowers, so I really enjoyed this theme. Thanks Eva!

Bohemian Like You Necklace

Vassilios Kostetsos Spring Summer 2011 Collection at NYFW: Vases and Amazons

Vassilios Kostetsos is a very talented, hard-working Greek designer, who actually lives in Greece -though rumor has it that he is currently looking for an apartment in the Big Apple, since for the last three years he has been showing his collections in New York Fashion Week.

For Spring Summer 2011, Vassilios created amazing clothes, inspired by ancient Greek vases and the Amazons. Forget cliches, Kostetsos gave us a collection which is so gorgeously fresh! These creations are based on the terracotta and black of ancient Greek pottery, all the colors of the earth, and the blue of the Aegean sea. There are vase prints on fabrics and accessories. The fabrics are fine jersey, satin and shantung. Elements like the asymmetric drapes, the geometric sleeves and the armor-like effect of the embroidered metal beads bring out a wonderful strength and dynamism. See for yourselves, and watch the video here if you want to see the whole collection, which I strongly suggest!

I really loved most of the collection, but I would love if you entered your comments and let me know of what your favorite part was, especially if you watched the video too!

Colorful Spring Shoes

Those of you who have read my Start Wearing Flats post will know that I am against high heels. And now is the time to prove my point even more, that you can be sexy and feminine without wearing high heels. Actually, I think mid heels are the best for looks, and I'm so happy they are trendy this spring (and I definitely do not agree with the writer of that article, that kitten heels are the ugly sister of the heels family! If they were, they wouldn't be the shoes women wore in the '50s and '60s, which epitomized elegance, grace and classic beauty). Combined with the current bold color trend, the following pairs are indeed some awesome finds!

Hot pink pumps size 8

Bright orange kitten heels size 7.5

Electric blue heels

Kelly green heels, size 9.5

Light purple pumps size 7

Butternut leather flats, size 7.5

Knotty heels

 Navy blue polkadot pumps

Papaya leather pumps

Teal leather pumps, size 8

What do you think? Let me know in your comments!

Women's Spring 2011 Fashion Trends: Mary Katrantzou's 3D Prints

Fashion has been old-fashioned for quite a while now. With exceptions of course, every now and then designers seem to remember the '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s... It offers a kind of safety, I suppose, to present clothes that remind us of something, which is perfectly OK -don't get me wrong here. I'm just saying that revolutionary things could easily be deemed 'non-wearable', and thus whole collections could go either wasted, or straight in a museum.

But now the waters seem to be moving. And the person who is largely responsible for that is London-based, Greek-born Mary Katrantzou. Mary attended Rhode Island School of Design and then completed both her BA and MA at Central Saint Martins. She has previously worked for Sophia Kokosalaki and freelanced for Bill Blass, amongst other designers. Since 2008 she has been doing shows and taking part in Fashion Week. So how exactly is her work different?

Mary's design signatures are a hyperrealist aesthetic, bold graphics and industrial jewellery. But it's probably the most sophisticated thing you have ever seen!  Katrantzou said after her SS 2011 show that she worked in three dimensions for the first time while designing her prints. There is definitely an almost hallucinatory depth to the images, as they are laid over the fitted silhouettes! The images are literally depicting rooms on women, and as the designer explained: She was looking at the highly stylized seventies photography of Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, when it occurred to her that the interiors in the pictures were just as important as the models. Now, it's no accident that her trademark piece was the lampshade skirt! Her 3D prints have already gained her fame in the fashion world, and there's much more to expect from Mary in her AW 2012 collection...

See for yourselves!

Photos courtesy of IMAXtree.com and Matteo Volta

As you must have realized by now, I could kill for a Mary Katrantzou... I found many pieces at Polyvore. And her collaboration with Topshop this February is also a fact!!!  So... could I please hope for many many sales at my Etsy shop?????