Pre-Fashionweek: PURE London

Waking up at 7 am on a Sunday? Might be absolutely unimaginable for many people but in fact was the best I could have done yesterday: I got the amazing opportunity to attend the first day of PURE London, UK's favourite fashion buying destination with a fair number of over 1000 brands presenting their collections. And what a day that was.

The morning started off with a great fashion show of various brands (Cannisse and Mado et les Autres among others) representing womenswear F/W 2012 and indicated, besides from all the different trends, some amazing pieces I'm now craving for so badly (coming back to this in following posts). Lucky as I am, I got the chance to sit in the first row, so trend predictions were easily to do and although I'm still lacking of professional photography skills, I captured a good selection of displayable photos for Pulcinella. A definite thing I can already tell is, that Fashion Istanbul (The Fashion Atelier Project from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce) and their different creations were my absolute favourite. The patterns, the cuts, the materials - it seemed as if I'm starting to build a further interest and enthusiasm in middle eastern designers (I can tell: The ladies of Istanbul Fashion simply rock).

As this is my first time attending Pure event, one can imagine how blown away I was with all the variety in accessories and high street clothing. It's just simply overwhelming and fascinating what a fine line there could be between high street and high end clothing, which got even reinforced by Lorna Hall's, senior retail editor of the world's leading trend forecaster (WGSN), fashion forecast talk for F/W 2012/2013. Avoiding the possibility of total boredom while reading these lines, I will leave out all the different trend predictions but some points I recognised while flipping through all the different designs, were the strong contradiction of wild patterns being mixed up with clear cuts and on the other hand, minimalism in unexpected shapes. Wherever you look at: It seems to be all about the tricky game of demonstrating total style consciousness in blending unusual patterns and cuts. I'm still not sure about the whole overall flowerprint trend, which can be clearly referred to Céline as the initiator but it might possibly be that I see myself in such a blazer or trousers some day. Never say never. (Oh just to mention one thing by Mrs. Hall: Lace won't leave fashion for the upcoming seasons .. which especially makes me happy although I guess it's such a timeless material.. it just could barely go out of any trend). 

As time went by (and it went FAST), I also attended another fashionshow, the Young Fashion Catwalk. Presenting another compilation of brands with a younger spirit, this was quite different from the womenswear in the morning. Due to the quite edgier way of looks, the atmosphere seemed much more relaxed. Here, my absolute favourite was definitely Forever Unique with their glitzy and shiny creations. I will do an extra post about them just like for Istanbul Fashion as they really impressed with outstanding creations and just lovely pieces. 

This day was finally completed by a talk about "Successful women in fashion" featuring Rita Britton (Polyanna), Janet Thurston (Janet Thurston and Mary Skinner Agency) and Pamela Schiffer (Pamela Schiffer Boutique, North London). 

You might notice my little lack of describing the rest of the day in proper words but as I had so many different impressions of the day the moment I turned myself around (and I'm not exaggerating), it is hard to put everything in just one post. I therefore will talk about specific labels and their designers the following posts and I will surely keep up with other updates. 

I will now rush off to day two of Pure London, the exciting event just before London Fashion Week begins.. . 

Fashion Forecast A/W 2012/2013 by L. Hall 

Womenswear F/W 2012 

Istanbul Fashion (extra post following + the dress...no words for this! I'm in love)

Derhy

Pomodoro 

Young Fashion Catwalk

Iron Fist (extra post following) 

Glamorous 

Yumi (the left dress.. i like) 

Angel Eye (the jacket above...another favourite piece)

Rinascimento

TWITTER @LaPulcinella

After refusing it for a long time, I finally fluttered into the nest of twitter.

(Right, sheer and simple peer pressure.. and that hint from my journalism tutor to get it. "NOW"). 

I actually have this account for three years now but never went back to it after registering in 2008 and waiting for something exciting to happen (you probably get the time for my patience to give up on something I don't understand the moment I see it). 

But from "now"on,  you're more than welcome to follow me through another social platform. Surely, I will update it as much as I do my private Facebook page and whatever I find absolutely unavoidable not to share via twitter. 

Let's see if this is really as much fun as everyone says...

 https://twitter.com/LaPulcinella

Keep calm & stay classy

Isn't it sometimes just weird how you change your views on certain places and parts of a city once you visit them after a long time?! At least, this was my thought when I went to Covent Garden yesterday. A few years ago I refused to wander around this place (the closest I thought of was Leicester Square.. not least because there's one of my favourite restaurants and hotels located). It just felt so packed with all the tourists and artists showing their unnecessary acts (congrats, you idiot are able to drive an unicycle) over a place, which I always found way too nice to be taken over by the massive crowd (an utopian imagination not be taken over by the mass in a world metropolis). 

However, there's that habit in all of us which leads us to forgive and forget negative impressions and so it happened to this place for me. As I was having a walk, I realised how original it is (even if a Japanese senior group and a bunch of little underbred kids are crossing your way). The old English spirit punched with young people and simply cute (there's no other expression for this) cafes (and I hate to describe something like this as "cute" but I can't help it) build up an amazingly relaxed atmosphere. I guess the secret I came behind (so clever) is that I rather should spend some time during the week than on the weekend. 

So after shooting more than 300 pictures (yes, there's no shame here.. my camera is super quick), I had a short visit at the small Ladurée store over there. 

Is it just me or are there eventually some other people out there who just simply hate macarons?

I never ever understood the hype about them. What the hell has been gone wrong with all the bloggers, fashionistas and other highly important people who adore these little dumb coloured pieces of overrated sweet crap?! I somehow got the feeling that either you have to be in possession of a neon coloured satchel bag, Jeffrey Campbell's Litas or these macarons to be totally cool for street style. Nevertheless, I'm always fascinated by the way Ladurée people try to trick you with the delicious way of serving you macarons. Pink, yellow, brown, pink with white cream, brown with dark cream, green (ew ew ew ew ew ew ew simply ewww) and purple - let them be put in a cute little box in houndstooth design and show your fashionable way of eating sweets. Next time I get convinced to at least try one, I will take a picture. My face always looks like a wild mixture of biting on a lemon and eating something really nasty. :D  

But besides from the little repetitive discovery of my macaron aversion, I spent a wonderful day. Just how I like it. :) 

Coat: Remy Hall

Fur Vest: Vintage

Cardigan: Hallhuber

Knit-Dress: Rare

Bag: Chanel

Ring: Cartier

Hat: H&M

High heeled overknees: Vero Cuoio

Hakkasan Mayfair

A few weeks ago, my beloved friend Nikki turned 21. A special age for enjoying the US and an unexciting age for any other country? Not at all. As we found out that she is not familiar with one of London's hottest spots, the Hakkasan Mayfair, we thought that this would be the best occasion for an introduction to one of the most delicious places West End offers. Euro-Asian cuisine at its best with the flair of London's chic part: I simply love it. Crispy duck salad as well as soft shell crab as a starter and chicken claypot as a main are a simple must for everyone visiting this place. I enjoy being there every time. There's another Hakkasan located at Hanway Place (with interior designed by Christian Liaigre) but I'm much more attracted to the Mayfair one (although there's no dramatic difference in the food selection). The loud atmosphere together with a cool mixed public made an incredible evening. 

For this occasion, I chose to wear my Isabel Marant inspired jacket by Zara. I bought it in summer and couldn't wait to wear it during the cozier seasons. In contrast to this choice, my friend Loren is a little more impatient with the different seasons and temperatures and therefore pulled his shirt by Givenchy of this year's spring/summer collection. The only person who remained rather coy was the birthdaygirl... you little shy deer ;)

Jacket: Zara

Top: H&M 

Trousers: Cheap Monday

Necklace: present from Granny
Clutch: Topshop

Ring & black stone: Vintage

Ring 2: heirloom 

Bracelet: Henry J. Sillam

Shoes: Guess

Black & Yellow Black & Yellow Black & Yellow

I can remember the first time I stumbled over polyvore.com. That page where you're able to create your personal simple outfit constellations or moodboards (if you want to look like an absolute professional). 

Oh how I was excited about this and as I'm not really creative in the sense of putting together any stuff with all these templates they offer you on the site (maybe this is just because I'm not bothered to try it once in a while), I always go for the easiest: White background and items neatly put in an order. 

So while I was thinking back of my very first creation at Polyvore, I recognised that I went for an all black and yellow combination (*yeah aaaha you know what it iiis black and yellow black and yellow black and yellow*). 

And what did I choose this time? The same colour combination! I can't even explain why I go for it every time I search for cool items but it seems to attract me more than I thought it would do. Normally, you would never see me in something yellow as I'm pale enough and just not the typical yellow-looking-good-on-me type (at least you should be a little bit tanned). 

The tribal patterns of McQueen's dress appear wild and sexy, which gets even reinforced by the simple black H&M leather jacket (I'm sure this material will look absolutely cheap in real life but thanks to this polywhore EVERYTHING looks amazing). Generally, I never go for some bootees in combination to a dress (especially not to a night out dress) but these ones looked simply gorgeous. 

For the accessory part I chose one of my current favourite jewellery labels - Mawi. The earrings as well as the the ring are both having these lovely studded details and still look precious. I thought this would perfectly go with the McQueen dress. As a little detail for the wrist, I took a bracelet by Nialaya which seem to be the absolute boom over here in the UK (and in the US..). A little glitzy, a little shiny - exactly what I like (which remembers me that I should take out mine soon and wear it!). 

I wish I could buy this outfit as it is.. but as I'm back to the nasty British pound I guess this will remain a dream... 

Dress: Alexander McQueen

Jacket: H&M

Earrings: Mawi

Ring: Mawi

Bracelet: Nialaya

Suede Platform Ankle Boots: ALAÏA 

Casual Friday

It's simply amazing what you find over a longer period of time of being back home. 

My Viktor & Rolf boots are not the only pair of shoes I recently discovered again. No, these high heeled bootees are another example, which showed me once again that I maybe (JUST MAYBE) have too many shoes and that this is exactly the reason for forgetting, searching or missing some of them time after time. Nevertheless, I was quite happy of this re-discovery (great how easily you can make me happy) and so there was no other chance for them than to be put on my feet and feel these freezing temperatures.

And just because I am who I am, I decided to put on some very short pants and some very thin tights. Not that nephritis or a cystitis would be the most possible thing to receive instead of some usable pictures for a blog post... noo, never! But in case you worry about my health, which I doubt as most of you people out there don't care that much about my bubbling...just waiting for someone to recognise these lines..., I'm still not suffering of any of these two named sicknesses *keeping my fingers crossed*. So while I was freezing like hell, I promised myself to never ever going to do this again! At least a model would get paid for freezing her butt off but me...? Where is my reward for my supermodel poses at midnight when temperatures are far below 0 degrees?! (this world is just so unfair).

My mother would have possibly killed me if she would have seen me leaving the house like this (you ALWAYS remain the child...especially when you're at home) but I just couldn't help it. What a badass I am. 

Oh and maybe you noticed that wonderful, long-wished-for-and-never-thought-of-possessing-it-someday-bracelet I put on... my classy silver bracelet seems to have a new friend. I don't like. I LOVE. 

Parka: Hugenberg

Cardigan: Bruno Manetti

Top: Donna Karan New York

Shorts: Zara

Bracelet: Hermès 

Earrings: Butler & Wilson

Bag: Louis Vuitton

Shoes: Manas Lea Foscati

Oh and PS: I'm not going to excuse myself for these wild hair conditions you can see above. As I said: It was windy, freezing  and felt as if I was posing somewhere on the North Pole. NO hair will look perfect unless you take the time to comb through it a 1000 times. It is what it is.

Why do all good things come to an end? Arrivederci D&G!

picturecredit: style.com

Sadly but surely Dolce & Gabbana's daughter line D&G comes to an end with their very last collection for the upcoming spring/summer hitting the stores.

As the the last show in September ended, the designer duo announced D&G's closure after more than 15 years. At first, I thought it would not hit me that much but while I was reviewing the line's most lovely pieces of different collections, I realised how much D&G has inspired me over the past years. Although Domenico & Stephano said that they "have a lot of new projects to start in the same way as many years ago" meaning to integrate D&G into the Dolce & Gabbana spirit of their main line, I still have my doubts about their upcoming collections. I'm sure one will be able to find the on or another D&G sign as Men Fashionweek in Milan has just proven it, yet I'm not convinced how D&G's classic characteristics will find themselves in Dolce & Gabbana again. Possibly, I will be overwhelmed by the absolute unquestionable ability of the maestros to put a line into another context. But for now, I'm just in a little fashion sadness about the disappearance of D&G's official independence. 

Loud, flashy and always with a strong statement made in Italy, the line has left us all behind with a completely different view of the sexy and elegant mother. Being described as "a fashion journalist's dream" by Alex Fury, D&G is "a single theme, served straight-up with no muss or fuss. That kind of energy and exuberance really feels as if that's what the best of Italian fashion is all about." 

And I just agree. There was no other line that represented that young and fresh mixture of various trends and future styles better than the duo's former baby. 

However, I have already noticed that slight change from catchy coolness and loud patterns to some "calmer" notes as I'm one of the lucky girls who got two of the fall/winter collection's pieces (last minute but better late than never): A wonderful lace dress featured with a woolen element and a matching coat, which I've been already presenting about a month ago. A tribute to these two wonderful pieces will be surely shared soon. I'm just waiting for the occasion to come. 

Nevertheless, I'm curious of how the upcoming seasons will reflect on this "fusion" of mother and daughter line (if there actually is one) and can't wait for them to be presented at Milan Fashion Week in a few weeks. Although it is said that you have to let go of your children at some point (here it would be the 17 years old D&G-teen), I can somehow feel that little hurting twitch inside when looking back at older days. 

F/W 2009

S/S 2010

F/W 2010

S/S 2011