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New York street style video (part 1)

Here is a little video I made after interviewing a very stylish girl name Pearl Taylor whom I met on Columbus Circle, NY.

I had to stop her as her outfit was just so fresh. All dressed in black with just enough bling to make people notice her but not too much to be tasteless.

That’s the thing I liked about NY, people don’t care about what other people think which let room for self expression and creativity. Also I haven’t met yet a New Yorker who wasn’t ok with me taking their picture for the blog… On the contrary they were always up for a little chat…

I have many more pictures and video to come about New York street style so keep following… 😉

6 October 2010 By Valentine

13 In Fashion Events Archive

The Louise Night Out…

You know how Vogue had its night out on September the 8th and then there was “Fashion night out” on the 10th…? Well in Belgium we never do things at the same time as everybody (so not cool), we do them after…! So yesterday we had our Brussels night out in the area called Louise. You could compare it to Paris Champs Elysee’s and Avenue Montaigne, only much… much smaller. It was called The Louise Night.

I started with Mont Blanc, no not the mountain… They had some nice things going on, but more specifically cute little cupcakes. I was so busy taking the pictures that I forgot to taste one… Silly me!

Then I headed to Zilli, the luxury menswear boutique where I saw a “purse” I wouldn’t mind getting for myself… (Why do men need bags anyway?) And after a glass of champagne and a little scampi’s and mango appetizer, I walked down the Boulevard de Waterloo with fellow Belgian street style blogger Rollin from The Fashionalists whom I bumped into earlier. The streets were full of happy people… Blame it on the free drinks.

We went to Sonia Rykiel which served some nice little desert that deserved a A+.

There I bumped into another friend, Valy, co-owner of Ramon et Valy, the chicest vintage shop in Brussels. Last time I went there, well, I bought those Courreges pants which was a fashion contradiction as I didn’t want them to fit me but as they did I “had” to buy them… right?

Then off to Dior, which I gave a a good grade to for the champagne with raspberry. Good thing no one had a Carrie Bradshaw moment…

But the real party was happening at Uterque, located on Avenue de la Toison d’Or, this brand is the newborn from the Inditex Group (Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka,..). What a better way to open your store than on The Louise Night?

Photographers, barmen, cocktails, cool music… All the ingredient for a great party!

There I met fellow Belgian bloggers Tom and Stijn from I Love Belgium. In time like this having a blog called as such makes more sense than ever. Contrary to popular belief, Belgian people are united and have no intention to split up, too bad politicians haven’t been invented to make the people happy… Anyway in the meantime we can all do like Stijn and wear a cute little “I love Belgium” pendant.

Then for at least two minutes, Rollin and I were wondering, “what on earth are those for”?

Obviously it wasn’t a bracelet, to big to be a key holder and too small to be a horse saddle!

So we asked the sale assistant and she told us the secret, it was a belt. Well… half of a belt as you need to tie a scarf to it to make it complete. So I tried… not a bad idea at all!

Our last stop was Y-Enzo. The original Italian shoe dealer…

There in a Dolce Gabbana bag I met Max. Max is, as you can see, a real fashionista.

I always wondered when I saw dogs being carried in handbags if they sometimes do their “things” in the bags, but apparently Max can tell the difference between a designer bag and a poop bag… Which was good news…

On and all it was a very nice evening… As Agnès B wrote in her boutique:

“I am really happy to feel at home in Brussels, city that I love, thank you.”

1 October 2010 By Valentine

7 In My Diary Archive

Looking Back

Taking a break at Colombus circle – Trousers: Courreges – Shoes: Ash – Top: Cos – Cardigan: BCBG

So here I am, back in Brussels after a two weeks amazing trip to New York City. A lot of things happened, so many that I now truly understand the meaning of “in a New York minute”. Everything that happen here does indeed happen faster than in the rest of the world.

I will tell you all about my adventures in several post but first things first…

After a seven hours flight in what I would literally call a flying icebox, two subway ride and one night of sleep, my friend and I went completely jet lagged to a blogger conference organized by the Independent Fashion Blogger network. It was taking place at the Hudson hotel on 58^Th and 9^Th.

The place was easy to spot as they were plenty of fashionable or/and eccentric people standing outside the hotel. We went inside which was really amazing. As I have discovered through the year, the best way to judge a place is to visit its toilet. So that’s were we went… In there we met a few other fellow bloggers so we started chatting about fashion, blogs… One of them, Monica Seggos, hand makes incredible jewellery. She was wearing one of her creation, a three fingers ring named: “heart pouring out”.

After an improvised photo session in the ladies room, we all went down to the basement to join the group.

Then the conference started, with appearance from Lucy Lau (Style Bubble), Bryan (Bryanboy) and Rumi Neely (Fashion Toast) to name a few.

It was nice to be able to chat face to face with people you only know virtually. I found them all very friendly and down to earth, “Style Bubble” gave me a little interview that you will see later. I especially loved Bryan’s humor and simplicity.

Then I ran into Kelly from The Glamourai. I love her blog not only because it has amazing outfits but also especially as she makes her own jewelry. Such as the necklace she’s wearing and her rings…

The day went well. Like New York, full of colors and amazing people. And the cherry on the cake? A goody bag full of “Benefits“… What more could I ask for…?

26 September 2010 By Valentine

6 In Collaboration Archive

New York New York…

Some of you may know that I am currently in New York for fashion week. I will update my post very soon but until the, for the french speaking you can follow my adventures in the big Apple on ELLE Belgique as I had the amazing opportunity to work with them on this special occasion.

Retrouvez-moi sur le blog de ELLE Belgique pour la New York fashion week.

xxx

15 September 2010 By Valentine

4 In My Diary Archive

Suitcase and mathematics…

Sometimes packing a suitcase could be as tricky as putting barbed wire though the eye of a needle… So many options so little space. You have to be very selective in choosing the “essential”…

But then again, I do believe that from the moment we own at least two of everything (can it be shoes, shirts,…) the rest is luxury.

I can think of three ways to pack a suitcase.

1. The optimistic way: pull out everything you like regardless if it’s “necessary” or not and see if it fits.

2. The mathematical way: suitcase=x² (visually scan your wardrobe to determine how many items will fit in your suitcase.

3. The cautious way: prepare a small selection with your must have and add the less essential pieces as you’re packing.

I did a mix of the two first techniques. I visually scanned my wardrobe to see how many items could fit in my bag but it turned out I was being way too optimistic… My main problem were the shoes… I had crazily evaluate that I could fit 12 pairs in my bag (no need to say they were all absolutely “necessary”) but turned out I could only put 9… The elimination was at least as hard as X factor finals. Which shoe did perform the best, which one could do better…? Thanks god I had two girlfriends with me acting as the jury.

In the end I managed to close my bag without the “I sit on it while you pull the zipper” exercise.

At customs when they asked me “Any sharp objects?” I thought “Well i have some killer heels from…” But I just said “No” …

She wouldn’t have understood and I would have probably end up in the airport police department…

10 September 2010 By Valentine

35 In Fashion Events Archive

Antwerp Fashion Night …

Yesterday I was invited by the AFA (Antwerp fashion agents) to a event celebrating the work of two very different fashion icon: Madeleine Vionnet and Roberto Cavalli. The exhibition took place at Verso, the concept store. Throughout the store static mannequins were dressed in Vionnet and Cavalli which made it easy to look at the clothes… Well most people were just sipping champagne while standing next to the clothes but that’s just part of the process…

I was wearing one of my design, a electric blue silk satin shorts overall…

Trench: BCBG Max Azria

Combi shorts: Valentine Avoh

Shoes: Mellow Yellow

Bag: Bimba&Lola

Vionnet who founded her fashion house in 1012 became famous for a number of things; she was the first to develop the creative and commercial strategy which can be seen in most fashion houses today and she invented the bias cut (coupe en biais) which is widely used today, especially in haute couture.

She closed her atelier in 1939. Now, exactly 70 year later, the brand has been brought back to life by Matteo Marzotto (first time I heard about him too). These are pieces from the new Vionnet collection…

Cavalli on the opposite is known for it’s extravagant animal prints and sexy ready to wear… True Italian bling! He has been in the business for exactly 40 years and that’s why he was chosen for the exhibition.

And because there is no party without an after party…

Direction Strantwerpen… Situated on the docks, a beautiful artificial beach with palmt rees, sofas and real sand… To bad the weather didn’t get the invitation so we spent most of our time inside doing my favorite activity in these type of events… eating canapés and petits fours!

“When a woman smiles, her dress should smile too” Madeleine Vionnet

31 August 2010 By Valentine

19 In My Designs Archive

The beauty and the field…

Dress: Valentine Avoh

Collar: Mais il est où le soleil

Wristbands: Mais il est où le soleil

Dress: Valentine Avoh

Here is the last set of pictures from the photo shoot I styled about a month ago. The first two and last pictures include my latest designs. It is always nice feeling to see something you have made on someone other that yourself. So I guess I will stick with my little designing technique for now… “If it doesn’t fit me, forget about it!”

As you could see in the video but not in my last post there were two girls during the session. Now you can have a little bit more of Shanice (first and last two pictures). Although most of us are aware of the fact that models are usually around 18 years old, I always find it surprising how clothes, poses, and make up can instantly transform a beautiful girl into a beautiful woman…

Cardigan: Natan

Dress: Sarah Pacini

Dress: Ramona Brussels

Earrings: Reminiscence

This dress above was hand crocheted by a woman called Ramona, she has a little boutique in the heart of Brussels. It’s the kind of boutique which you wouldn’t probably go in deliberately but actually is worth having a look at. A dress like this takes about one week to make… Obviously the price is equally proportional to the efforts it takes as it costs about two weeks salary…!

Images courtesy of Charalambos Gagalis

The rest of the photographs can be seen on his Website

23 August 2010 By Valentine

22 In My Designs Archive

I do…

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Yesterday my cousin and I went to wedding. Even though she asked me about a month ago to make her a dress (picture below) for the ceremony and two men shirts for some family members I decided to do it “McQueen” style… aka… one week before. And to add some excitement to the task I though I had to make a dress for myself too… (above)

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African wedding equals African wax prints and color fusion… The print I used for her (above) was mandatory for the bride’s closest family member. As my cousin is pregnant, I decided to go for the ultimate maternity belly friendly shape, the empire line. I highly recommend this shape if you are pregnant of if you are planning to kill the buffet… For my dress I went freestyle with the print using a fabric I had at home and went for a heart shaped corset mini dress… Or as I called it that day a “don’t eat, it won’t fit in anyway” dress.

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She was happy with her dress and I was happy with mine until we bumped into an old man who was passing by the church carrying a huge cross (I swear I am not kidding) who told us that we would look much more pretty if we had covered up… For half a second we felt like the Antichrist in stilettos…

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After the church we went to the dinner party (note that we were both wearing “eat all you can” dresses). So we ate… Later I met that really cute little girl which I thought was very nicely dressed up to her little sandals… So I adopted her for the evening and took her to the dance floor…

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15 August 2010 By Valentine

31 In My Designs Archive

Cross Road

So here are some of the photographer‘s pictures from the photo shoot

I styled a few weeks ago (video). I had the opportunity to mix some

of my designs with the clothes I borrowed which was great.

I like the way he contrasted the images. More pictures coming soon…

Dress: Valentine Avoh

Crucifix: Flea market

Dress: Sarah Pacini

Petticoat: Mais il est ou le Soleil

Belt: Mais il est ou le Soleil

Necklace: Reminiscence

Bracelets: Reminiscence

Parasol: Rubbrecht/Frans

Ring: Flea market

Shoes: Dune

Shirt: Valentine Avoh

Skirt/: Valentine Avoh

White collar: Mais il est ou le Soleil

All photographs courtesy of Charalambos Gagalis

9 August 2010 By Valentine

17 In My Designs Archive

Seven hours in windy July

Here is the little video I made from last week shooting (just below).

You can see that it was really windy… Not easy to be a model, you have to walk around in the cold pretending to have fun (or in this case that your husband is dead but it doesn’t affect you as he left you loads of money…). While the girls were freezing their *ss off we were standing behind the camera with our jumpers telling them to take a walk or lay on the grass like there were having a picnic… Not easy either to walk with high heels in the mud but they managed to do it head high.

The pictures are coming soon…

1 August 2010 By Valentine

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