Un pavé d'argent...

Pour fêter..les 40 ans de Mai 68...Dinh Van nous offre une réédition de son célèbre bijoux en forme de pavé.
Ce joaillier, d'origine vietnamienne et bretonne, grand militant de l'impertinence, anticonformiste notoire, ouvre son premier atelier dans les années 60, avec un seul objectif, faire descendre le bijou dans la rue. La Place Vendôme ne l'intéresse pas, il préfère distribuer ses collections au Drugstore Publicis.
En 1976, il ouvre sa première boutique rue de la Paix, invitant de nombreux artistes (notamment César) à venir exposer leurs créations dans sa boutique. Dans les années 80, grand révolutionnaire dans l'âme, il sera le premier a distribuer les montres Swatch, cassant ainsi la renommée luxueuse de la rue la Paix .
Depuis il ne cesse de nous surprendre par ses créations, devenant de véritables phénomènes de mode (bracelet sur cordon, menottes, Pi chinois, lame de rasoir en or etc...)


C'est donc tout naturellement, que ce personnage hors du commun , s'était approprié dans les années 68, le "pavé", symbole incontestable des revendications étudiantes, pour en faire une création libre , urbaine et contemporaine. Composé d'argent, ce bijou mêle creux et pleins, formes rondes et carrées, se portant ainsi de multiples façons.

Cette réédition sera mise en vente, à partir de Mai prochain, espérons qu'elle ne soit pas lancée à tout va, comme dans les années 68...quoi que...celle qui la rattrapera en sera la plus heureuse !

Man Fashion: 10 Deadly Fashion Crimes for Business Attire

When was the aftermost time you take a good look at yourself in business attire?

In the corporate world, the way your abrasion in the appointment and added chiefly your fashion sense is critical, this could be behind the eyes of your colleagues and foolishly endangering your career! I do received some comments from my friends that their superiors have very high standard on their business attire especially when your work need to deal with customers.

But again what are the accepted mistakes (or some you could alleged this as crimes? Up to you) that best of the men faced in their appearance sense? I have summarized the most common fashion crimes along with tips on how to avoid them:

* Backpacks. OK, maybe this is aloof a misdemeanor, but you're aggravating to ascend the corporate ladder, not backpack up a mountain. Carry a briefcase or agent bag -- and if you charge article for your gym clothes -- advance in a nice-looking gym bag.

* Clashing or too abounding colors. A covering of abounding colors may accept formed for Joseph, but you, my friend, should absolute anniversary accouterments to aloof three colors or shades. Stick to complementary colors (those adverse from anniversary added on the blush wheel) or colors from the aforementioned pallet. Match anemic clothes with light-colored shoes and dark clothes with dark shoes.

* Stained clothes. Don't be that guy who's accidentally walking about with red booze on his shirt. Make it part of your daily routine to inspect your clothes when you take them off and when they come out of the wash to make sure you don't miss a spot. Watch for yellow circles below the armpits, decrepit collars or cuffs. You may alike appetite to accumulate a stain stick in your board at work.

* Ill-fitting pants. Alike if you're abiding of your size, consistently try on pants afore affairs them, because altered brands accept altered lengths. Jeans can be beat to the basal of your heel, but your khakis or dress pants should end at the top of the heel. Accomplish abiding they don't acknowledge any beat as you walk-- or added than a brace of inches of beat back you sit. Too bound or too billowing won't cut it either.

* Ponytails. You're neither a astrologer nor a bedrock star. And alike if you were, accept it, doesn't Michael Bolton attending abundant bigger now that he's cut his hair? If you charge accumulate your bristles long, accomplish abiding it's accurate and apple-pie and doesn't abatement accomplished the abject of your neck.

* Novelty ties. It's accept to accurate your individuality through blush or pattern. But stick with the archetypal amplitude of about three-and-one-quarter inches and accomplish abiding the colors and patterns accompaniment the shirt you are wearing. Not make people scratch their heads and say, huh? And one more thing: When it comes to how a tie hangs, it should reach the top of your belt buckle and have a dimple in the center of the knot.

* Too much cologne. If you charge abrasion cologne, get a affection brand. And back the aforementioned cologne smells altered on anniversary person, accomplish abiding to analysis it out and get some opinions. Beware of bond too abounding smells at once. Remember, if you abrasion an anti-perspirant or aftershave, the scents can admix for an abhorrent effect. And don't be too advanced in your application. The safest bet is to abstain cutting cologne all calm and let the apple-pie aroma of soap do the talking

* Funky facial hair. If you're activity to do facial hair, do it right. Accumulate any mustache or bristles trimmed. Don't wear a soul patch (that little rectangle of unshaven hair beneath your lower lip) or uni-brow (try waxing or laser hair removal). If you're prone to stray nose or ear hairs, please invest in a special trimmer.

* Too much jewelry. A simple watch is all you need outside of a wedding band or class ring, if appropriate. Save the gold close chains, bracelets, pinky rings and facial piercings for afterwards hours.

And the best abhorrent abomination of all:

* Comb-overs. Draping or contrarily "arranging" those nine hairs on top of your arch into an busy comb-over doesn't absolutely assignment for Donald Trump. He alone gets abroad with it because he's the boss. If you are follicly-challenged, embrace it. Keep your hair cropped short, or shave it all a la Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi or Howie Mandel.

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Technorati Tags: Man Fashion, Business Attire, Men Fashion Mistakes, Fashion Crimes, Men Fashion Tips, Briefcase, Backpack, Tie, hairstyles, Men Fashion Jewelry

How Often Do You Wash Your Hair?

NYT's Thursday Style Section has a rather erm, weird article called, Of Course I Washed My Hair Last Year (I'm Almost Certain). It basically describes a beauty phenomenon in which people don't wash their hair anymore, or at least more infrequently. The article has interview quotes from various people and the reason for not washing their hair include things like, it's more convenient and fun to get it washed and styled professionally once a week (obviously a girl,) or that oily hair has more shine and texture, and finally, shampoo is evil and is a part of the evil consumption plan. The writer also explains that 'textured locks and full hair' are now in vogue again (compared to straigtened hair,) and that dry shampoo sales are up.

The main reason why I called the article weird is because it is very one-sided. The whole article had two short paragraphs about scientists being sceptical about this. (I'm not a good writer myself, but I'm clearly a product of an education system that has brain-washed me into writing pros and cons for everything.) Anyways I want to say, first of all, the people who get their hair washed once a week must not have super oily hair because I know girls who wash their hair in the morning, and by night it already looks oily. By the next day, said girls would look like they've got 80's-era type of hairgel combed in. Secondly, isn't part of the reason we shampoo is to get rid of the dead skin cells that are already littered around in our hair, ie. dandruff? Unless you have white hair, dandruff is probably visible to anyone who is near you. And doesn't dandruff fall onto your black coats?

And there are other things that I don't get. For example, in the middle of the article, there is an interviewee who washes her hair every seven days. In between the days, she uses dry shampoo, blots and combs. And to her advantage, she can now get ready in 30 minutes instead of 2 hours of shampooing, drying and styling. Talk about extreme. I'm sorry but if you really thought taking 2 hours to get yourself ready is too long, couldn't you just shorten it?

Clearly, that interviewee has been out of universtiy life for too long. On the days that I do wash my hair, it takes me 30-40 mins to get ready (-This includes brushing my teeth, taking a shower (includes hairwash and facewash), applying body cream, throwing on jeans and tee, applying skincare products, styling my hair and putting on makeup.) And even I don't think I'm fast enough. Now don't get me wrong, I try not to wash my hair everyday because I really do think it prevents my hair from going dull. I have always been an every-other-day type of gal, (although I do sometimes wash the front/fringe bit everyday.) And on the days I don't leave home, I can go through a couple of days with dirty hair. Usually by the 3rd day, my mum tells me my hair smells and I should wash it, of which I ignore her until I have to actually go out. So hey, most people who know me well think I'm lazy about my hair-washing too, but even I think completely abadoning shampoo is not the way to go. I'm all for people washing their hair as frequently or infrequently as long as they don't smell.

Questions for you are, how often do YOU wash your hair? And what did you think about the whole not-washing-your-hair 'trend'? Opinions wanted!

Man Fashion: 5 Fashion Tips for Bulky Men

Although Thomas Jefferson mentioned that "all men are created equal" but when it comes to body type, clothing and fashion sense, then this statement basically is not applicable.

Knowing how to dress for yourself especially to suit your body type with style is the key success to our personal fashion style. Here I will highlight some of the key points that will help you to figure out how to choose the right dress for bulky body type.

• People always said this cloth is not suitable for you, not because of color, but just the fitting. So remember, if an expensive jacket just isn't right for your body, it's going to look bad no matter what the price tag. Price is not the determination factor even thought we always perceive price equal to style and quality.

• Many gentlemen here might have the perception that tight clothing will smother imperfections and flatten out pudgy shapes. But, hold on. Tight clothing will only draw attention to your flabby bits. Similarly, other plus-size men believe baggy clothing will hide bulges. Not quite right. Overly large clothes will only make you look even bigger. The secret to looking slimmer is to choose clothes that are neither tight nor baggy. So do remember that starting from now onward, you should look for clothes that just skim your body without hugging it too closely.

• Always stay away from horizontal stripes as well as diagonal stripes. Both draw attention to the span of your chest, and what you should look for is the vertical stripes instead.

• I always not in favor of turtleneck clothing. So if you are bulky, avoid turtleneck and similar kind of clothing. This type of clothing will only shorten or hide your neck.

• Wear a belt and if possible, go monochromatic. Both will create a slimmer impression visually.

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Technorati tags:
Fashion Tips, Fat Man Fashion, Man Fashion, Men Fashion Tips

Hemorrhoid Cream for Dark Circles?

No matter how long I sleep, I seem to have permanent eye bags and puffiness. So a while ago, my mom suddenly very excitedly called me and told me that I should go buy myself some hemorrhoid cream for my eye bags. And I was like, WHAT? She swore that she saw it on a beauty TV show, hosted by quite a reputable dermatologist, and that everyone used it. Disbelieving, I told her if it truly worked so well, they'd have made that into a proper eye cream by now. Then the other day, I was re-watching Miss Congeniality (one of my favourite movies!) and I've never noticed before, but in the scene where she was preparing for the swimsuit competition, Victor (her pageant consultant) hands her a tube of hemorrhoid cream, and she says,

"Hemorrhoid cream? Do you really think they'll be looking that closely?"

And he replies, "Its for your eyes bags."

This made me think, maybe hemorrhoid cream for the eye bags is not such an obscure, random and completely ridiculous concept after all! Intrigued, I googled it up.

Turns out that I am quite behind in the game, and indeed hemorrhoid cream has been a model industry (not so secret anymore) secret for quite some time! More scientifically, it contains shark oil and live yeast cell derivatives, which are believed to be the ingredients that shrinks the eye bags. However, these ingredients are said to have been removed from the American version of Preparation H (the most common brand containing these ingredients), but can still be found in the Canadian and European versions.

From online reviews, there seems to be a lot of conflict regarding this issue. Some swear by it, while others claim that it stings. Personally, I am still hesitant to try anything that wasn't specifically designed for the eyes. Has anyone used this method to treat their dark circles and puffy eyes before? What has been the results?

Milan Fashion Week F/W08 Wrapup II

As always when we're in the midst of Fashion Weeks, all the clothes shown just look like a bunch of clothes with no direction to me. (It's why magazines like Vogue and Elle exist, and why they publish runway guides at the beginning of every season.)

Prada

THE show of Milan. I'm always half in awe and half in annoyance that Miuccia Prada shows collections with completely different themes every season. Half in annoyance because it hurts to spend the money to update our wardrobe so much, (although it's not like I buy any Prada clothes anyway,); Half in awe because Prada's shows are always so... thought-provoking. I've read many online reviews on the Prada shows and the key words seem to be: perverse, erotic/ seudctive/ fetish, Switzerland and lace. The interesting thing is that while most reviewers seemed to love the creative aspect of the collection, (no one dared to not like the collection,) everyone managed to come up with their own interpretation of the clothes. The clothes were impractical as always, but I think we're all so used to seeing artsy, unwearable clothes from Prada shows now that it's not mentioning.

The show started off with nun-looking dresses, then the clothes moved onto lacy, see-through skirts.

Lots of lacy dresses. It's very hard to decide whether the dresses are prim or erotic isn't it?

Collars and turtlenecks were there throughout the show. The collars seem reminiscence of Miu Miu S/S08.

Out of the collection, I think the LBD in the middle is my favourite. Hey, at least it's a bit more wearable than the lacy trouser (on the left).

And since we're looking at Prada, we must take a look at the shoes. The shoes sort of remind me of Miu Miu, and something Japanese anime girls would wear after they transform into their ever-impractical outfits to fight against evil.

Miuccia explained that females wear lace in all ages, from babies to marriage to widowed. Maybe it's the I grew up in a non-lacy period of time, but I really don't see lace featuring as a big part of a young, contemporary wardrobe. (I may just be brainwashed by the pictures from ShopBop, Barneys and Neiman Marcus.)

Jil Sander

While Jil Sander has always been all about minimalism and simply cut clothes, it's always bordered on being boring. But I can honestly say I like this collection.

I LOVE the coats. The coat Vlada is wearing -I can't stop staring at it! I love those artistic folds and the fabric wrapped around her shoulders. SO stylish and modern.

And the jackets look way cool too. Though as style.com mentioned, the suits looked a bit crinkly.

And the simple, work-women-type of looking dresses in all shades of grey.

Image credits: www.style.com

APC sous l'oeil de Weber...

C'est au célèbre photographe et cinéaste américain,Bruce Weber, que l'on doit la campagne publicitaire de la nouvelle collection printemps été d'APC.

Jean Touitou, créateur de la griffe l'Atelier de Production et de Création et styliste de nos uniformes chéris, à la fois basics et intemporels, a tout naturellement sélectionné ce grand maître de la photogaphie contemporaine, pour shooter ses modèles. Les marques de vêtements Calvin Klein, Abercrombie & Fitch et Ralph Lauren ont déjà fait appel à ses talents artistiques pour leurs campagnes de publicité.



Les prises de vue ont été réalisées à Montauk (Etat de Neyw York)la ville de résidence du photographe et mettent en scène trois jeunes mannequins, sorte de trio amoureux, évoluant dans un décors sauvage, le tout baigné dans une ambiance naturelle, avec un zeste de sexy attitude. Thème de cette campagne :« Envoie-nous des cartes postales de ton Amérique ! ».


Notre adepte de l'anti-mode, se laisserait-il aller aux figures de styles?? Pourquoi pas? En tout cas le résultat est concluant, campagne visuelle fortement tendance et glamour!!