MaryWantsAPurleDress s/s 11

Mary Wants A Purple Dress new shoot is out, bringing Spring a step closer:MaryWantsAPurpleDress is: Dimitris Kaidantzis
Make Up: Morfe
Hair: Manolis Oikonomou
Styling: Marli Aliferi
Model: Tina (VN Models)

MWAPD s/s 10 preview

I'm excited. This is a preview of Mary Wants A Purple Dress s/s 10 collection, making it's first ever public appearance through this blog. Dimitris Kaidantzis, the designer who is MWAPD, is already a personal favourite for his toned down avant-garde shapes and immaculate fits.

Apart from the two exclusive shots from his look-book, I have another reason to be impatient for his collection. It's called "Milkofil". It's the white fabric pictured above, consisting of milk proteins (!). The designer chose this high-tech, new age material as the basis of his collection.

I was told it feels like powder upon touch, it's friendly for the skin as well as the environment and has undergone no chemical processing, thus the pure white colour it only comes in. Can't wait to touch it!

Saying that, latest addition to MWAPD selling points:
21 The Fashion Market in Kifisia, Athens.

Tee with a twist

We all love a good jersey t-shirt with a design twist. I guess the right length as well as the fact that it's handmade are all precious bonus points for me. Apart from the quirky two faces of this one by Mary Wants A Purple Dress, the freestyle vertical frill that stands in the shape of a suit-jacket lapelle with the help of a tight belt, is such a playful detail. I think I am officially over message tees and plain tees. Hello design twist tees!

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Reminder: THIS giveaway ends tonight, at midnight;)

I am back

Or Ich bin zurück if you like. Forgot you not. It's just that so much was happenning in so little time, I had to save posting for my return. And here I am with tons of material to share, really soon.

In the meantime, this is a photo taken outside Premium exhibition in Luckenwalder Strasse. I was lucky enough to be sharing this experience with two seriously creative people, fashion designer Dimitris Kaidantzis and costume designer Marli Aleiferi. The first was there charging his baterries before diving into his SS 10 collection and the second had just finished the filming of the Greek movie "Four Black Costumes" by Renos Charalambidis and was escaping. This is so fresh, will tell you all about it in a future post.

Hummel was having this very clever promo, taking pictures of visitors infront of this huge jacket worn on a street sign. Agreeing to have your pic taken meant 30% off your next purchase, but we did it anyway 'cause the jacket was so imposing and also the promoter was fun.

-Man, you can dress a small team with all this fabric...
-He! Indeed. You can dress it using the fabric for the hoodie alone! Now smile.

Mary Wants A Purple Dress

Mary Wants A Purple Dress is Dimitris Kaidantzis. First thing you notice about this collection is the difference to anything mass market. Second, the perfect fits. Third, the expert handling of the fabric. I could go on and on about this limited edition line with endless styling potential but I think I'll leave it to the designer himself...

Alecca: Why did you choose such a complicated name?
Dimitris: I had been looking for a name that captures this line’s vibe for a long time. One morning I woke up and it was nailed in my head: Mary Wants A Purple Dress. "Mary", because she could be any woman. "Wants A Purple Dress", because she knows what she wants no matter if it’s in fashion. She wants exactly that and she won’t stop till she gets is. Strongly determined.

A: For how long has this line been around?
D: I’ve been designing for 11 years but it’s for the last 7 seasons that MWAPD has come to life. It combines couture elements (both technical & visual) with every day wearability. It’s a limited edition line created to project my own sense of creativity and personal point of view on design.

A: For which women do you design?

D: Romantic, sensitive, independent, sensual, creative, decisive and assertive. She knows what she wants and how to get it.

A: What is fashion to you?
D: I don’t think you can describe fashion in words. It could be all or nothing. Fashion in the sense of “trend” is to me a guideline of what not to follow.

A: What do you mostly pay attention to in clothes?
D: Pattern, shape, texture and price.

A: Where can we find MWAPD?

D: At the boutiques Frock’n’roll (Varnali 4A, Halandri), London Fashion (Sofokleous 1, Peristeri), Above (Vironos 31, Lamia) and for more particular, personal orders at afterstudio (Sarafi 6, Petroupoli)

Dimitris has captured the vibe behind the brand in a poem. In a way, it's a story about not compromising when it comes to personal style. When you wear what you truly want, it's naturally perfect:

MaryWantsAPurpleDress

I remember that girl running naked through the crowd in a very busy city
Everybody was looking at her and she is anxious
not because her nudity though...she seemed as she was looking for something.

And the time flows like clouds
She is away from the city now
up to the sky
and down to earth again
with the wonderful smell of hers(like spring)
And the summer comes
and then fall
and winter
and spring again.
And there she is finally staying still in a center of a big land of violets
(purple violets everywhere)
where she lays down, facing the sky
feeling beautiful as violets are covering her body.

and how wonderful everything is...
now that Mary found her dress.

*original shoot: Kelly Filiou. photoshop magic: Mary Wants A Purple Dress.

London's party last night

Sofokleous str. in Peristeri was unusually lively last night. At number 9, London Fashion Store was holding a party inside the store as well as out on the street. Cocktails, beats & late night shopping: perfect for a warm May evening.

London Fashion is a boutique, in the '60s sense of the term. Someone once said about BiBa in London: "you'd go there to see the latest fashions, avant gard design, listen to music, talk about fashion and hang out". LF puts me in that sort of mood. The merchandise is a very carefully selected blend of new generation Greek designers and fresh brands from abroad, both womenswear and menswear. Unless you live in the neighbourhood, this store to this day is one of the best kept secrets of fashion's young & restless.

In their own words: "London Fashion is an idea, that Eugenia and Kostis came up with. It started as one of those plans that everyone makes for the future, on the first day of 2007. In less than one year, this excited idea became reality, thanks to our willingness never to give up" - London Fashion blog

DJ doing his magic at the front window.

Great aesthetics: everything seems to be so carefully placed.

Filep Motwary's sky-high heels on display.

Designers Katerina Alexandraki (Katerinalexandraki) and Dimitris Kaidantzis (Mary Wants A Purple Dress) in a seriously good mood.

Detail: velvet touch black hangers.

Vintage wooden closet turned into a lit display unit. Just like sneaking into a dream wardrobe.

Moi, stunned by Kostis' fab newspaper dress. Creativity blossoms.

Eugenia, 1/2 of London Fashion, adoring Dimitris Kaidantzis. Dress: Mary Wants A Purple Dress, Shoes: Filep Motwary.

Kostis, the other half of London Fashion, showing off his band new tatoo.

quotes:
*"Letter pie (π) stands for 3,14. It is a stable (constant) number and connotates my name: Konstantinos, Constant" - Kostis. Somehow the sight of a Greek letter tatooed really got me. The fact that there's a story behind it too was a bonus.

*"This dress is making love to your body" - Noideawho. He meant it really suits her. Styling commentary doesn't have to be boring.