When I grow up, I wouldn't mind being Daphne

Many of you probably heard that Daphne Guinness - one of the most stylish women in the world and one of those very few consumers of Couture - was auctioning part of her wardrobe.

Now, things have to be put in perspective. I am normally shocked by the amount of stuff I end up with on my Spring cleanings (which, truth has to be said, only happens every five Springs...).

But oh, the sheer amount of stuff that came out of Daphne's closet (250 lots to be more precise). And the quality of it (a who is who in the top of the fashion food chain.)

I decided to go have a cheeky look at the auction on my lunch break yesterday. As a precaution, I didn't register to bid, especially as most of everything wouldn't fit anyway. But oh, the temptation! I initially thought that everything would go for at least 5 times the estimated price, and most of it did...

But while I was there some shoe lots went for much smaller fortunes, like 120, 150 pounds. They still would not fit, but it could be the beginning of my becoming a millionaire on Ebay career...

Oh well, next time...

(Sorry for the amount of "ohs"...they are necessary when talking about this kind of wardrobe...)

In the family...

I have recently discovered that my cousin Márcia has a blog. I knew she was an amazing photographer, but was blown away by her stuff. Her wedding pictures make me want to get married all over again and in Brazil. Maybe...baby? Huh, new wedding? By the beach?










(Pictures Márcia Charnizon)

Dark circles?

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From Belarus with love

I have to confess I don't know much about Belarusian fashion. And that the name of its capital, Minsk, only rings a bell because that's where Phoebe Buffay's boyfriend went to in one very old episode of Friends.
So I was pleasantly surprised to see some very cute looks from the Belarusian Fashion Week on fellow blog Slacker Chic. Loving the dusty colours on the first look bellow and proportions (ok ok, also the balloons) on the second. And wondering about the exchange rate…

Open letter to the British weather

(Un) Dear Weather,

Let me start by reminding you what a good girl I have been in the past few years.

I learnt how to wear scarves and woolly tights and polo necks even though they itch;
I made sure to talk about you every time I found myself in an elevator with a stranger;
I even got myself a hot pink umbrella and a trench coat and cute Topshop wellies.

So I was a bit disappointed when you decided to take our long lost friend the sun to the Bahamas last year and leave us here with that joke of a summer.
2007 came and went and I still didn’t wear half the cute sundresses I so lovingly and impulsively bought.

But hey, I thought, everyone is entitled to mess up once in a while and maybe you had more important things on your mind, like global warming and greenhouse gases and maybe even girlfriend problems as well.

So imagine my utter and complete shock when I found out today that you might not be sending us the sun this year again.I am trying very very hard to remain calm and not threaten our beautiful friendship.

But, helooo? Is it personal? What has Britain done to you to deserve this?
Did we call your mum a whore? Did we beat your team at cricket? Don’t you like Queen Elizabeth? What about Queen Westwood, for God’s sake?

Sincerely yours,

Guerreira

(P.S. This letter was edited after being posted as, on a second look, the original version did not make much sense. Blame it on the anger. Or the wine)

Help...anyone?

First there were my knitting attempts. On my defence, I have to say that I learnt by myself, with the help of the brilliant book Stitch and Bitch. And that, although I am left handed, I learnt how to knit as a right handed person (even though that was because I couldn’t figure out how adapt the instructions of the book and do everything the other way around, but don’t tell anyone so I can look all cool and skilled!).
So, anyways, knitting was fun, but I never quite managed to increase and decrease stitches and for that reason could only knit scarves.
After the 5th scarf, I got pretty bored.

For a while now I have been toying with the idea of getting a sewing machine to do a bit of customizing and, if my lack of coordination allows, even some clothes from scratch. Thing is, after researching the market, I realize that it all sounds like Greek to me…drop-in bobbins, free-arm, 1094857 stitches…heeeeelp!

If anyone out there has any recommendation, please! I don’t want to spend too much, was thinking around £100. But not sure of which brands are best and which features I should look for.

Any old advice will be much appreciated and paid back with my first-born (wonky skirt, that is).

The cabbie made Prada

Saturday night, we hop on a cab to go home after a great dinner party at our friend S’s house. With his great ability of getting into deep conversations with just about everyone, Gringowlindow-the-hubby starts chatting to the cab driver who, turns out, used to own a clothes factory on my street which made pieces for brands such as Jaeger and Nicole Farhi.
He told us that he had to close his factory when more and more of his clients moved their manufacturing elsewhere, more specifically the Far East.
It was surreal and funny to talk about the quality of garments and the beauty of a well-made coat with the cab driver.
But it was also interesting and sad to see the real impact of all the stuff we see on the news on someone’s life, especially as I had an enormous bag from Primark between my feet which I tried very hard to hide!
I guess moving production to cheaper countries is an inevitable step in this day and age for some brands to remain competitive, and I am guilty of enjoying the benefits of affordable clothes that fit the unequal equation of my love of style X my payslip.
Still, it broke my heart a little that a man who seemed to have such a love for clothes is now behind the wheel and not the sewing machine.

Fringe benefits

I love shopping (duh). But I rarely feel the need to brave crowds or run to shops to get me hands on so called “must-have items”.
So it was a total accident that I managed to buy a pink fringed dress from H&M which I later found out is pretty sought after. To be honest, I had seen the dress once and didn’t even buy. I initially thought they were a bit meagre on the fringe quantity, but later realized it was just enough, fringe-wise and went back for it. Now that I have it, though, I feel pretty smug, especially as I have been lusting over a dress like that since a D&G version a few years back (does anyone remember? I think Naomi wore in on the catwalk).

So I wore the dress at my birthday and it was a hit! Thing is, now it unleashed the I-want-all-things-with-fringes monster. Aren’t they fun? And they remind me of my mum's main airplane outfit, a fringed blue suede trouser suit (it was the 80s people...and she has the most amazing blue eyes and great figure so it looked pretty good...i swear!)

My incredibly stylish fellow bloggers seem to have jumped on the fringe wagon a while ago…here are some pieces I have been lusting over!

(Beautiful Agathe's boots)



(Rumi's darling bag)



(Miss Woo's great Tokyo find)