The best souvenir from Miami

We've all seen the images with the beaches and palms from Miami, the movies with dancers on Ocean Drive (Step Up of course) and the videos with the cool skaters in South Beach. These are the images we associate Miami with. So when I went there on a few days' holiday not long ago, I had to try at least one of the above.

So I took pictures of the beaches and the palms. 

 

 

And I got one of these skateboards, because it was just very Miami. It was not only amazing to skate in South Beach along the pro skaters (they were very supporting of my learning by the way), but it was also the perfect souvenir that I can carry with me all the time to remind me of the beach, the sun and the ocean.

So for this post, I want to share with you the newest of my passions from Miami and one way you can make it work even when you are not in the Sunshine State anymore. Let's skate!

 

  

Thank you to my wonderful boyfriend for having the patience to not only teach me how to skate, but also to take the photos! More of his work is available here.

They Don't Do Dresses Like These Anymore

Hello darlings,

Recently, I was on a trip to New York and went to see a fashion exhibition at the Met that everyone was talking about. There was good reason to talk about it, as the exhibition celebrated 20th century couturier, Charles James and his sculptural take on designing clothing. The exhibition inaugurated the opening of the Anna Wintour Costume Center within the Costume Institute in New York.

Charles James is renowned for using scientific and mathematical approaches in tailoring ball gowns and his creations truly look like works of art. The hems, the combination of fabrics, the cuts, the shapes, the flow...awww, breathtaking. The complexity of his designs was just incredible and what was more astounding was the fact that in spite of their complexity, the ball gowns looked easy and wearable. I think that is what truly makes a great designer, his/her ability to play with shapes and fabrics to create exquisite pieces of clothing and still make it look easy. And these ball gowns were flawless.

You are probably wondering how I know that these designs are elaborate (since I don't study design and all)? Well, besides the fact that one can observe that, the details that were not easily seen were explained through a software that took the dress apart into its components. This way, we could actually see how the dress was made and put together. And let me tell you, some were just incredibly creative. A video that shows this is available here.

If this sounds intriguing, more information about the exhibition can be found here.

I will now let the dresses speak for themselves. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

See you soon!

Sonia

Copyright @Metropolitan Museum of Art

Copyright @Metropolitan Museum of Art

Copyright @Metropolitan Museum of Art

Copyright @Metropolitan Museum of Art

Copyright @Metropolitan Museum of Art

Who Decides What WE Wear Next Season?

Hello darlings,

I am sorry to have been gone for such a long time, but I have been extremely busy with school and work while also writing my dissertation and finishing my degree (hooray!!!). I have to say it was one of the busiest and most tiring periods of my entire life, but it is finished now and I have time for the things that I truly enjoy: marketing and fashion.

So to open up the new season, I want to make this post exactly about that: fashion marketing. Working in Soho and being 5 minutes away from Oxford Street is very entertaining, but also intriguing, as I have had more time than before to observe fashion brands and their marketing campaigns. For months, I have seen window displays changing, collections replaced and slowly have seen the fashionistas mirroring the fashion on display. Then it dawned on me that indeed, fashion is subjective on what we like to wear, but we are definitely influenced by people we rarely think of at all: fashion buyers. It is not the brand that brings the collections to the store, but the visionary people who can envision and predict what we will like to wear.

Then I was amazed because these people have so much power! Yes, they are brilliant in influencing fashion trends that impact an entire generation and generations to come (if you are a fashion buyer reading, no pressure!), but their marketing skills are truly extraordinary. Just think how well they know the market and their target so that they can come up with an original message that will trigger our need for that pair of shoes from the new collection. However, the job of a fashion buyer is not easy as they need to know the past, the present and predict the future of fashion, so they need to keep their eyes open at all times. In spite of that though, how amazing would it be to be in this business and work with creative people all day long, to not only find and select the best fashion out there, but also to create the right piece of marketing that will get customers hooked. It gets me excited only thinking about it.

So, to express my enthusiasm, I gathered some of the most interesting window shops and ads that I could find on my way to work (and a sneak peek to the summer collections because I just couldn't resist).

See you soon!

Sonia