Matalou@home

No doubt, Matalou's bags and accessories make a statement. They are always top of my list and it was great to have the chance to see her new desings at Tell a Story #5. Sharing:



Matalou herself is such a positive, seriously creative person that's so into "happy" irony. Here posing for my lense wearing a mask she made for fun. The whole flu issue is not funny, but all the frenzy around it can be quite ridiculous. Being cautious is one thing but if you are to walk around in a mask, let it be a cool one!

Busted! Matalou is a walking explosion of creativity. Had to take a picture of what she did to her jeans. If you are to recreate, plz credit:) (Matalou, not me!)

And whilst we are at it, here are some shots from her stand at the previous Tell a Story. Never got a chance to show them before and they are good examples of her style and spirit. No Sir, you "don't f*ck with Bruce Lee"! Notice the variety of colours and materials she uses. Also note that she gets personally involved in the production process. Each Matalou@home item you fall in love with, the creator has personally put all her love and attention on first. Thumbs up.

High

Bed jumping is such a stress killer.
Floral tights? A/W 08, in case they seem familiar. Was Tell a Story's final evening, a bit chilly and/but wearing something with Spring connotations to match the theme felt right. Prints on tights are always interesting, provided you choose some that don't look like some strange leg disease... (off to more bed jumping).

I'd wear this fox

It's no secret, I see nothing fashionable in wearing real fur, let alone the entire dead animal wrapped around me. This cotton fabric scarf by aforest-design I saw at the Tell a Story shop, is simply genius! A fox-like wrap, what a tongue-in-cheek message! And what a difficult piece to make. Complete with a tail.

Meet the Cat

More Tell a Story: Exquisite accessories by Meet the Cat. Had never thought of a zip like this before. All this work and creativity put into necklaces, rings and bracelets, had me trying stuff on and off for quite a while! Sad they were only display samples, it was love at first sight...

Alexia Kirmitsi

I really liked Alexia Kirmitsi's collection for ss'10. Got my hands on it yesterday at Tell a Story and was impressed by the rounded loose lines in soft cotton, the unexpected cuts and the emphasised shoulded pads. Here's a peep, as the collection will remain under wraps till next February.

Rykiel for H&M

Ok, seriously: Breaking News.
H&M and Sonia Rykiel president and artistic director Nathalie Rykiel are proud to announce that Sonia Rykiel will be the next guest designer for winter 2009 and spring 2010.

(Nathalie Rykiel, President and Artistic Director at Sonia Rykiel - photo credit: Photographer Matthieu Salving)

The French house founded by the “Queen of Knits” represents the distinctive, modern and impertinent spirit of Paris. This marks the first time that H&M has extended its designer collaboration to the world of lingerie and related accessories for women, with exclusive pieces to be launched in-store on December 5, 2009.

The collection will be launched in 1,500 H&M stores worldwide and at the same time, Sonia Rykiel will make this lingerie collection available in Sonia Rykiel’s major boutiques around the world – another first for H&M.

Ever fans of surprises, H&M and Sonia Rykiel are pleased to announce a second collaboration for spring 2010, featuring an iconic knitwear collection for women and girls (1.5 to 8 years old) accompanied by playful accessories. This second collection will be launched in around 250 H&M stores on February 20, 2010.

Happy Monday.

It's a...dog!

Breaking News: Mushi, mentioned as being a cat in this post, is actually a dog! Heh.. em.. or a cat that looks amazingly like a dog? Nah.. it's a dog. Sorry dear audience for misinforming you. Turns out the brand Akira Mushi in named after two dogs. No cat, I repeat - no cat.

Cutest thing ever, was at the stand too... guarding the collection. (See how I went around she/he specifications there?! I was so surprised it was a dog, I skipped finding out the gender - does it matter?) It's clear now Akira is Olga's dog, Mushi is Anna's D-O-G.

And here is Olga (left) and Anna (right), obviously camera-shy like me.

Apart from their clothing line for Spring/Summer '10, I noticed Akira Mushi earrings on display with the usual card featuring them worn (the only way you wear earrings, no surprises there!). Beautiful.

And since I had the chance, I shot a close-up of that needlecraft print tee. I guess if it was the '50s, the message would be something like "let's hold hands"...


I am knackerred. Tell a Story #5 ended tonight but keep checking this space, as of tomorrow I will unleash the contents of my camera... New week ahead, sleep tight.

Tell a Story Sunday

These past few days have been "Tell a Story" days for me. Yesterday, Bios was packed full of buyers and people discovering new brands. Posting a glimpse and on my way there as today is the last day. Having a coffee surrounded by creation and friends is how this Sunday afternoon is gonna be.

Image from the Tell a Story shop.

Vasilis Barbarigos in excellent mood, stamping friends and strangers.

Ooops! got stamped too!

Lego brooch by 2D. Honoured to have one placed on my tank top, will cherish it!

The Tell a Story bag. If you are coming today, pick one up at the entrance.

My postcard inside the bag! Proud-as-a-peacock to be among this year's communication sponsors. Made a postcard as I feel that saying online "hellos" is good, but there's nothing like dropping a hand-written line to a friend.

Image from the rehearsals for tonight's play. Scheduled to start at 19:00, see you there!

Christopher Shannon vs Eastpak

(continued from this post)
Finally! Visual has arrived from Shannon's Eastpak project for next Spring (LFW, MAN). I totally <3 collaborations.

Meet Akira Mushi

At the moment, Akira Mushi are showing their ss10 at Tell a Story, in Bios. The brand, named after Olga's dog, Akira and Anna's cat, Mushi, was presented in Paris a few days ago too and I shot a few preview images whilst having a chat about the collection. The duo, previously Lost Toys and Blanket Lo, have come together for a second season, creating fashion with a twist.

You couldn't miss the Mini ouzo on the exhibition table. And I couldn't miss the chance to comment about it. "We felt like bringing a piece of "home" with us" said Anna, "the only one that's never betrayed us!" added a friend. I found this colourful detail as witty and comforting (?!) as their clothes. *fun: the next day I saw an identical bottle on the table of their French neighbour-exhibitors. It seems they did a great job as embassadors of Greece in more than one ways at Who's Next!

Alecca Rox: How come you are here?
Akira Mushi: It may only be the second season this brand is in life, however it was decided from the very beginning that it would not be limited audience-wise. We felt this exhibition has the ideal profile to introduce Akira Mushi to the world.

AR: What makes Akira Mushi so special?
AM: The clothes we make are one-size and can be self customized by features like elastic bands and flexible bows. They can all be worn in various ways depending on the mood and the occasion.

*fuuun: each piece came with a card showing all different ways each garment can be transformed!

AR: Which fabrics have you used?
AM: We chose materials appropriate for the temperatures of the European summer, which also bring out the best in our designs: cotton, shirt-fabric, silk, linen and satin. Print-wise we fell in love with these pixel, atari-like shapes but also used descreet stripes.

(continued) Alexis Marinis created especially for us a silkscreen of a two-headed animal, supposedly being Akira's head on one side and Mushi's on the other. He also did this retro feel needlecraft print for our t-shirts. (Anna is wearing one in the picture below)

AR: What have you gathered from this experience so far?
AM: The mood here is great, we are surrounded by some of the coolest international brands and this exhibition is like an ongoing party with a lively audience. Funny enough, the first three eager potential buyers that approached us were Greek, so we must be doing something right for the Greek market! Buyers from Turkey and Portugal followed.

AR: Any surreal moments?
AM: Has got to be the guy with the cat! At some point we saw a guy wondering around wearing something that looked like an interesting furry collar. Taking a closer look we realised it was actually a living cat!

*you wouldn't happen to mean this guy, would you? (!)


Akira Mushi, Olga and Anna, are looking forward to meeting you at Tell a Story. It's been a while since I last saw such playful wearable fashion, I'm on my way for a second shot!

The September Issue

It's only been a few hours since I watched "The September Issue" at the "first screenings festival" of Athens. My honest opinion? By watching this trailer you've more or less watched it all. However, do go and see it just to shape your own opinion. Only part not obvious in trailer, is how influential she is, in the sense that she can and obviously does give an extra push to particularly talented designers like Thakoon.

"Why is the September issue such a big deal?" was whispered to me during the documentary. The answer came from the screen: because September is January to fashion.

Another point that should not slip through the seams is Anna Wintour's relationship with Grace Coddington, the creative director of U.S. Vogue. At first look, Wintour seems to be the hard-to-please editor that sets boundaries to creativity. However, truth is that creativity needs those boundaries which make the difference between tattling and perfection. And it takes a great deal of experience to do that successfully in seconds.

Somehow I feel the real documentary is not what I watched last night. I remember saying this before, the real documentary is "The Devil Wears Prada"...

Touching moment, the part where Wintour's daughter states on camera she wants to become a lawyer instead of going into fashion and Wintour adds something like "it's still too early, we'll see". At the end of the day it doesn't matter who your mother is, she will always want you to follow the only profession she understands, her own!

The closest I have been to Anna Wintour is this:

(image borrowed from this post, belongs to me, all rights reserved, blabla)
The picture was shot at LFW, at Aquascutum's show AW '06. I was sitting at least 50 metres away from notorious Anna but still, chills were going up and down my spine. Next to me was a dear friend, fashion features editor back then for Vogue Brazil. "What did you think of the show?" she had asked me in the end. "I liked the revamp" was my answer. "And what do you think Anna thought of the show?" was her next question. If that wasn't a tough one!

*it was nice to see Lifeinathens and Streetgeist at the cinema...

More LFW! Christopher Shannon

Why does this look like a screen-shot? Well, because it is! Christopher Shannon is showing today at LFW where the fashion world will see for the first time the fruit of his collaboration with Eastpak. It seems that lucky guys at POP had a chance to see it (and wear it) first, showing it off exclusively at their blog (screen-shot).

Here's the official press release, including Shannon's view on the project:

EASTPAK is stepping off the catwalk and onto the high street. The American brand, famed for its innovative and durable luggage and daypack collections, is working with the London-based designer Christopher Shannon for his SS'10 catwalk line at this season's London Fashion Week, before a joint product collection hits the stores.

The pair have previously joined forces on a smaller scale for Shannon's FW'09 line, and the new collaboration, to be shown at London Fashion Week on Tuesday 23rd September, will be introduced into selected stores worldwide in January 2010. It will consist of special editions to EASTPAK's iconic products, such as the padded pak'r and the pinnacle, in new fabrics and colours with special hardware and unique embossed branding designed by Christopher Shannon.

Graduating from Central Saint Martin's in 2008, Shannon has worked with some of the most directional and innovators in fashion such as Kim Jones and Judy Blame . Christopher presented his debut collection at LFW in September 2008 and has gone from strength to strength since. The collaboration with Eastpak is the first time that the two have commercially brought product to market together, with the line due to be stocked in key retailers in the UK, including the Eastpak icon store on London's Carnaby Street, along with some leading fashion stockists around the World.

Christopher Shannon on the collaboration:
“Eastpak have been massively supportive of me and my work since I was on the MA at Saint Martins, its now really exciting to develop our relationship into a full range of collaborative bags. Following in the footsteps of some really amazing designers has been daunting but I think we've created a really fresh take on the range, it will be great to see the pieces presented as London Fashion Week”

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- Update: photos have just got in ! (here)

The day I found my heart - Update!

Wondering what Ziad Ghanem's collaboration with Firetrap looks like? These images have just hit my inbox from London, shot at last Monday's show during LFW. It's all Ghanem's funky couture filtered into Firetrap's streetwear coolness! All denim pieces are the result of this collaboration. Styling detail: notice the moccasin-like shoes.