Brandsgalaxy.gr blog is an official communications sponsor for the coming Athens Fashion Week (30.03 - 01.04) and has kindly offered a front-row seat for all shows, for one lucky Rox reader!
For a chance to win it, email me at aleccarox[at]windowslive[dot]com, stating your name and contact number, subject: AFW.
*Givaway ends this coming Friday, March 18th, at midnight - winner will be notified shortly after*
-------------------------------------------- This year's participating designers: ANDRIA, ASLANIS, CHRISTINA NITOPI, CORINA VLADESCU, DIMITRIS DASSIOS, DE LIGHT, DIMITRI ZAFIRIOU, EVANGELOS KAVATHAS, KATHY HEYNDELS, LUKAS, MAKIS TSELIOS, MINA STONE, NIKOS – TAKIS, PANOS APERGIS, Soo…KATERINALEXANDRAKI, SOTIRIS GEORGIOU, PARIS VALTADOROS, VASSILIOS KOSTETSOS, ALICE CHATZIPANAGI and students from various Greek fashion schools.
Came across it on Etsy.com, had to post it. Creative genius behind it, user taraduff, mother of three, who according to profile learned to crochet by step grandma while she watched Dallas and Dynasty.
You've had a taste at Dukas s/s 11 video. Here's the actual campaign and sample of the collection. For a better look you can always visit Dukas' website, here.
Know-How has a new website and a sales clip. To celebrate its new home online, it's come up with a special collaboration with eshop buldoza.grwhich gets to sell the clip's outfits exclusively for the web.
The brand has been around since 1994 and it is one of the very few that still manage to produce locally. Its own eshop will be ready sometime in Spring. If you'd like to be among the first to be notified of its arrival, you'll find a special box on the website to leave your email for a timely alert.
Clip credits: Direction: Tina Sardelas Model: Alena Dudnik Production: Know How Team Filmed at Ino Mei's studio
With the fantastic Spring weather we've had during the weekend, it feels quite appropriate to post more s/s 11 news. Greek brand Toi&moi is introducing part of its Sping collection in the 'Just IN' section of its e-fashion store and it looks like this: Featured items' prices range between 55 and 65 euros and are all brand new. Half-price winter sales are still on too.
Toi&moi eshop is online since last season and could well be a case study as it openly based its launch publicity on fashion blogs, introducing the section 'For Fashionistas'. Numerous Greek fashion bloggers posed their own way featuring part of the brand's collection. The aftermath was great news and Toi&moi travelled through its eshop to many Greek islands -among other locations- such as Ikaria, Corfu, Rhodes and Chios.
So you have to go to this event/gala/ex-boyfriend's wedding and it's imperative that your handbag is a show-stopper/a show-off/ better than anything the bride owns. Pickle is, no way does your budget allow such an investment.
No worries, Starbags.gr (click here for English) has got you sorted. You can rent a bag like, let's say the above McQueen arm candy, for a fraction of its retail price and depending on how long you'd like to keep it for. Special occassion or not, this website gives you the opportunity to bring home some of your dream bags. You can rent them - which is a fantastic concept - but you can also buy them at yummy prices, slightly used or brand new. If you don't feel like buying but fancy selling one of your own, again, it is a good url to click.
Check them out, maybe your object of desire is closer than you think.
Shoko was 'born' in April 2009 and you can see it's carrying a Spring happy mood as a brand, at a glance. All clothes are handmade and designed by Daniela Koch at her Athens studio at Ermou str., Athens. She often models her designs (see cute blonde below) and collection photos are snapped by her boyfriend Manos, which makes her call it a 'family business'.
'Shoko' is short for 'shoppingkotsch', a nickname friends used to call her at school. 'We aim for the clothes to offer a feelgood sensation with happy colours and a combination of selected fabrics' she explains. Part of the aim is to sell at affordable prices too, that's why Shoko is only available to purchase online here. Good stuff.
Stripes'n'Buttons has got a new webspace for showcasing her lovely accessories: www.stripes-buttons.com. For now you can only place your orders by email, but I've been told this is about to change very soon. Whilst browsing, don't miss out on her just in, handmade reusable lavender sachets.
En Vit Ekorre is apparently a stage designer as well as a costume & accessories designer. She's the one responsible for most performance outfits of Filmfeaturing Etten gigs (including last night's at Gagarin, see below). As there aren't many local live shows of such costume attention, thought it's worth dropping a line about it. En Vit Ekorre features 'Athens - Stockholm' with a brief about note saying the brand stands for recycling vintage fabrics, clothes, as well as all kinds of materials spotted at flea markets in Athens, Stockholm and Berlin. It's all about mixing fashion and ecology, and looks like the outcome goes down well on stage.
I thought her item presentations are quite special too, so here's a peep before you click on to check her out.
Gotta give it to them, Google Chrome has got quite a collection of stylish skins. No matter what's in your wardrobe, your browser can dress in some flashy designerwear for free, here. Have you seen? by Anna Sui by Matthew Williamson by PPQ by Vivienne Westwood by Oscar de la Renta by Dolce & Gabbana by Donna Karan
Net-a-porter.com will be celebrating the arrival of new season Acne with an Acne extravaganza in its online magazine, tomorrow, Wednesday the 19th. Alongside the main fashion shoot there will be two videos of Acne founder and designer Jonny Johansson –a lifestyle film of his favourite places in Stockholm and a profile interview. A sneak peek arrived in my inbox, sharing it below:
Looking forward to tomorrow's full version release. Great idea, be inspired.
Some say this post should have come about a year earlier (or maybe just a week?). Doesn't change the fact that these are 5 really important things that happened in the past decade. Plus they make a good Sunday post! 1. Second hand / DIY It seems that the decade began with the remains of the '90s obsession with second hand clothing (think Kate Moss) and ended with the widespread acceptance of DIY clothing and accessories as something you can wear in public (think Yourself, etsy.com). This shift is a good example of how fashion really is for the masses and not just for celebrities or the elite: DIY is free, everyone can do it at home.
2. Designers went highstreet Speaking of fashion for the elite and the privileged, about mid-decade and with WTO shifting most barriers for global production, dominating design houses are faced with a pickle: their styles are being 'borrowed' straight from catwalk and produced in thousands for a fraction of the price their collection sells. People no longer want to pay a fortune for a top with their name on.
They try to fight is with law suits and more affordable diffusion lines. In November 2004 though, a bomb is dropped by Swedish H&M: a limited edition line signed by Karl Lagerfeld, priced by H&M. Collaborations between mass production companies and eponymous designers become a standard ever since. Finally the latter found a way to grab a piece of the cheap fashion pie and shoppers are happy with the amounts they are spending.
3. E-shops With the first e-shop, boo.com, being such a famous massive disaster in the late '90s, many were quite sceptical of the possibility to ever sell clothes successfully online. At 2004 British Fashion Awards, net-a-porter.com proved a point by winning the Shop of The Year Award and causing a stir. Now there are thousands of profitable e-shops and online shopping is a big industry with what seems to be a bright future.
4. Fashion blogs Here's a new term that's emerged in this past decade. Much more than a term actually and you know it. For me, fashion blogs' contribution during these years will always be described best by Suzy Menkes' words in thisclip: it finally turned fashion monologue into a dialogue. Shoppers have a voice too. According to wikipedia, 'Fashion blogs first appeared in the blogosphere prior to 2002, and Kathryn Finney, of The Budget Fashionista, was invited to New York Fashion Week as early as September 2003'.
5. Hellenic Fashion Weeks (obviously this one's for the Greeks!) Fashion shows and exhibitions have been taking place in Greece for as long as fashion exists. However, it was in 2004 that Greece officially announced the launch of a fashion week that... soon became two. 'Moda Athena' took place in October 2004 and 'Athens Collections' was established around the same time, with the first, featuring among others the likes of Doukas Hatzidoukas, Angelos Bratis and Vassilios Kostetsos and the latter listing Hellenic Fashion Designers Association members.
I believe 2004 was the year 'Fashion Forward' started in Thessaloniki too so it would be fair to say that mid-'00s were a fashion week era for Greece overall.
'Athens Collections' was based at Zappeion whereas very short lived 'Moda Athena' at the Hellenic World Cultural Centre. I was present at both as a... foreign correspondent, will try to find their booklets in my archive and show you at some point since there's not much available on the web about it.
Athens would not stay without a second fashion week for long though(!): in May 2007 'Athens Xclusive Designers Week' came to stay.
I guess all 5 somehow changed the way we see fashion today, in the year 2011. What remains to be seen is what the future holds for them.
Flash mobs are such a spontaneous, cheerful shout in the otherwise predictable city life. I don't think this has ever happened to Greece before, so check out how the team of buldoza.gr brightened this bunch' day. Crazy!
'Giving away joy and cheer to people, that's what Christmas is about, that's what our flash mob was about. Enjoy & share'. Oh, I'm sharing alright! Joy to the world;)
Greek eshops are on fire these days. Setting the prices on fire might be more accurate. Here are three spots I most recently visited, with amazing discounts and great variety:
buldoza.gr Clothes and gift ideas, literally for all. Topped up with a recipe for Christmas sweets. pinkcaro.com Stocks Greek designerwear and even though its Christmas bazaar just ended, the sales section is going strong. ninebelow.gr Greek eshop, mostly filled with international, hand-picked brands, currently on a Christmas -50% off mode. *Two days to Christmas.
Top Chef/ Master Chef/ Lord of the Chefs era it is, and lately I keep noticing fun kitchenware in eshops I usually visit for wardrobe top up. I came across this snowman baking tray for cakes whilst gift spotting at buldoza.gr and I must say for 9.1o euros this ain't bad at all. Not to mention that in the right hands it may return to me as a delicious, edible 'thank you' some day (ok, cheeky).
I have something similar that occassionally spices up my... eggs cooking: I'm often asked where I got it from but it was so long ago, I'm only guessing it was Urban Outfitters when I was still living in London. Best I could find at UO now is these ninja shaped cookie cutters(11 euros or so?). Anyways, browse around. This stuff is affordable and another name could be off your listsoon.
Since we are all in the search for some unusual yet affordable pressies right now, let me suggest... stitching embroidery patterns. The one above is currently featured at Tatty Devine's* devine eshop, for 4 quid. You can check it out or go for a hella lot more at Sublime Stitching, including stitching kits and tools. If in Athens, you can always walk in at one of the many shops opposite Syntagma square (direction Monastiraki) for a blast-from-the-past (yet so now) experience.
I'm sure this crosses out at least one name off your list...Does it?!
*Reads 'Art jewellery handmade in England' right at the top. English stuff handmade in England. You know how excited I go about declarations of local production:)
Occhi store at Prurri Athens is getting ready for the festive season. As from this coming Sunday (5/12) and just to get you in the festive mood, Occhi invites you to join them for some red wine (Sunday 5th of December from 14.00 - 20.00). Their theme is "red splash". 'Wear or hold something red to match the red wine' says the email that's just landed. Occhi doesn't sell online right now, but you can always have a peep at some xmas pressies ideas, here.
Brandsgalaxy.gr blog is an official communications sponsor for the coming Athens Fashion Week (30.03 - 01.04) and has kindly offered a front-row seat for all shows, for one lucky Rox reader!
