Shopping Post : NO.ME Studio

 By: Unknown    00:00  No comments

Some weeks ago, in Valletta, I stumbled upon a shop that transported me immediately to Rome or Barcelona. The layout of the merchandise is spectacular, the entire shop reminded me of a visual exhibition. The shop stocks a mixture of clothes and artistic ornamental pieces, all handmade and designed exclusively by the owners. When I visited, one of the designers was present and he explained that this was actually a 3-person collaboration NO.ME Studio is a team of three individuals: Matthew Attard, Michele Cadelano & Deborah Rossetto.

I sent them an email asking for more info about their project and this is what they told me:

"Taking advantage of discarded resources, and therefore recyclable material - from simple thrown away and unused objects to elements found in nature - we produce unique design objects.......

Interior design, objects/gadgets of any type can all be reutilised, customised, deconstructed and reassembled in order to be reinvented. Always in the same concept, all our clothing items are designed and hand-produced from industrial textile leftovers."

Check out some pics of this lovely, inspiration shop

The shop is just down the road from Casa Rocca Piccola - 91B, Republic Street, Valletta

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NEWS FLASH : MYME SHOPPING EVENT

 By: Unknown    12:05  No comments

Recently, you may have heard some noise about a six-day shopping event called MYME SHORT SALE. A lovely lady Mariele Isodoro is curating these events. Having lived in different countries, a fan of art, interior design, architecture and fashion, she has developed a real love for clothes and beautiful things. She did live in Malta at one point for some time and loved it so much, she set about finding a reason to keep visiting.

This is the second event of its type, the first one was last March and was a huge success.


What's the Event?

The basic need-to-know info is that on Wednesday the 6th of May until Sunday 10th May in the stunning Palazzo De La Salle ( 219 Republic Street), Mariele will be hosting a temporary short sale. Time : 10 am - 8:00 pm.

What to Expect?

On sale there will be handpicked items from different high quality designers and brands from all over the world. The prices will be discounted for the occasion and there will be summer clothes, gorgeous party outfits, jewelry, clutch bags and even vintage items.

Also, expect to be offered some wine, a friendly chat and genuine, helpful shopping advice from Mariele herself, she believes in happy customers and hates seeing someone buy something that doesn't look good on them.

Pencil in those dates ladies - I'll be heading down there a day before to update you with some stock photos so watch this space. You can also look at their facebook page for more info.


*UPDATE -  I stopped by the place yesterday, whilst she was setting up and here is ataste of what is on offer ..more photos to come

MISSONI SKIRT

GUCCI TOP

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Outfit & Event : My Wedding

 By: Unknown    15:36  No comments

You could say I'm a bit late in writing this post - 4 years too late to be exact.

4 years ago on this very day 4th December 2010 I married the _> corny alert _> love of my life. The person I refer to on this blog as - the hubby and the person who puts up with all my moaning and takes all my photos.

It actually seems kind of strange that I've never written about this day, I talk about so many events and outfits and then I've never dedicated a post to what I wore as a bride and to what went on on one of the best days of my life.

So..... the DRESS

I've always wanted a princess-style dress. Ever since I was very little, the romantic idea of big puffy dresses and long veils appealed to me, I day dreamed about my wedding dress and the minute I tried it on I knew it was for me. I also wore a custom made headpiece of ganutel that was beautiful and really, really heavy. I left my hair somewhat curly looking according to the hubby-to-be's request.

The wedding was a church wedding at Ta Giesu in Valletta and the subsequent reception was at Hilton Hotel (hats off to Chef Joe Vella for the incredibleeeee food),  I had a whale of a time dancing and chatting to everyone but for me, the best part was the 'first dance' to one of my fave songs ever - A Whole New World of Disney's Aladdin.

My wedding day was one of the most magical days of my life and I continued to dream about it for many nights after. This blog didn't exist back then but I think it only fitting that such an important day in my life is somehow linked to what has now become such an important thing in my life.

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Events : KAREN MILLEN IN MALTA

 By: Unknown    01:16  No comments

If you haven't heard, Karen Millen came to Malta or at least her store did with all its fantastic, brilliant clothes. The store is in Valletta, right next to Tico Tico a bit further down from Marks and Spencer. It has been brought over to Malta by Retail International Group and both they and Karen Millen themselves are super proud of this amazing location.

The clothes and accessories are wonderful, the quality, which is made using Italian materials, Italian skins and a huge attention to detail is pretty impressive. I hadn't seen this collection yet and I wasn't expecting it to be quite so amazing. In Malta, Karen Millen has always had quite a high reputation, especially as regards dresses but it's really a lot more than dresses, there are some truly lovely pieces - coats, shirts, sweaters, beaded tops, lovely bags and lots more. As regards pricing, the prices here are actually the same as in the UK which means we don't need to feel exploited in any way, as sometimes happens. The prices are in general great, for what you're getting, in terms of quality and design, the price points are really very decent.

The fashion bloggers got a chance to meet with Mike Shearwood the CEO of Karen Millen and he mentioned some interesting facts : Karen Millen never buy prints - their printed pieces are hand-drawn or hand-painted, exclusively for them. Most of their items run in very limited quantities and in Malta especially, around one in each size or even less is being brought over of each item. Karen Millen employs its own pattern cutters which is quite unusual and attention is made to ensure that clothes fit perfectly across all the different sizes.

New stock will be arriving each week and we actually have quite a large part of the collection - sometimes due to space limitations, in Malta we tend to have limited stocks of certain brands but this is  quite a large shop.

The occasion wear is impressive, hand beaded garments, intricate designs and apparently lots more will be on its way in the coming months. 

For some photos of the launch party and more clothes to be seen check out my facebook page

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Events Post : Sif Jakobs & 202 & Valletta

 By: Unknown    02:51  1 comment

Recently, on a random day, I spent an hour simply walking around Valletta at night, with no particular destination in mind. I love Valletta so this isn't about some revelation as to how beautiful Malta's Capital City is but for a Sunday evening I was impressed by how lively it was, how many people were out and about, how music was playing in various places..just what fun it was. It truly reminded me of parts of Rome, a city that I adore, Valletta has really lifted itself out of the social black hole it had once become.

It's no wonder that Sif Jakobs fell in love with Malta and Valletta whilst on holiday in Malta last November, so much so that she decided she wanted to work with Malta and even more so when she stumbled upon 202 Jewellers in Valletta, a beautiful shop that's really put an effort into stylish decor and excellent lighting. They got in touch and started dealings only last February but her jewellery is already here at 202 Jewellers Santa Lucia Valletta and last night 202 Jewellers organised a lovely reception which spilled out onto the streets of Valletta, excellent food and all the works. The jewellery is super stylish and very chic, some lovely pieces..so let's get cracking and see some photos.

I really enjoyed meeting Sif herself, born in Iceland and educated as a goldsmith in Sweden she cites her various travels as her inspiration, in particular Italy which she refers to as her second home. The jewellery range has a sense of minimalism and reminds me very much of Nordic design. I particularly love the leather bracelets, they're a popular trend in general but I see so many ugly, cheap-looking ones, these are really stylish and the quality and finishing of the products is top notch.

Sif and The Venere Girls, Shelley, Janice, Sarah, Jade

Adrian Mizzi and Sif

Marisa Grima and I

 And some fooling around with the Venere girls

 

*NEWS until Sunday 3rd October they are offering a 20% off discount so get yourself down to Valletta and see the range with your own eyes.

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My Styling Work : ILSIEN IN-NISA & CHARLES&RON

 By: Unknown    07:38  No comments

For my Maltese readers, local designers Charles and Ron should need no introduction, they are without a doubt currently, Malta's hottest designers. The duo have been producing beautiful collections for many years, with their latest ones being instant sell outs. On the same vein of thought, the local television programme ILSIEN IN-NISA should also need no introduction, with very engaging beautiful hosts and a varied weekly programme, including interesting weekly guests, it's been a success story for them.

At this point, you may be wondering what Charles and Ron, ILSIEN IN-NISA & Caroline's Fashion Styling have in common - here it comes - the new winter season of ILSIEN IN-NISA is soon approaching and there have been some changes -  it seems a male presence is now coming on board - guess who ?.

A new season means a new photoshoot and I was asked to style these fabulous ladies. One of the first photos has been published and the girls are wearing none other than CHARLES&RON's latest collection.  The Charles & Ron’s Spring/Summer 2015 Collection was presented at Malta Fashion Week last May and their concept and underlying theme was our beautiful capital city Valletta (Humilissima Civitas Valletta). 

Their idea for this collection was, that they wanted the woman who wears their clothes to feel proud to wear her capital city, a city of splendor and magnificent architecture, just like they want a woman to feel when she wears their clothes. Charles and Ron was the natural choice of designer for the ILSIEN IN-NISA photoshoot. First off, these women all have close blood ties to the city, they are also lovely, lovely people who although proud of who they are and what they have achieved through this programme. They are also very humble, just like our capital city and on a side note,are very easy to work with - although they aren't 6ft tall like the models at fashion week,  they certainly pulled the outfits off.

Photoshoot Credits
Makeup : Mateja Camilleri
Photos : Kurt Paris
Styling : Caroline (meeee)

The ILSIEN IN-NISA ladies definitely have enough character, talent & style to give the heart the collection merits. 

Now what we want to know is 

- WHO is the MAN?

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Outfit Post : Welcoming the UGLY SHOE Trend

 By: Unknown    04:59  No comments

First off, apologies because this post should have been published a few weeks ago but as you may have noticed, I'm on a bit of a downtime at the moment - trying to take some more time off and enjoy life's little luxuries like football, a good book and sun and well of course a spot of shopping here and there. Relaxing time notwithstanding though, I decided it's time to publish this post before it expires - so here goes.

You maybe have noticed that there are a lot of 'ugly shoes' floating around this summer...well not really ugly imo but that's how the trend that encompasses Teva, Birkenstocks and Prada sporty-type sandals has been nicknamed. 

I've actually always had a soft spot for this style of shoe and I think it works wonderfully with certain outfits, infact I bought my first pair of Birkenstocks back in 2008 when celebrities had made them a bit popular (nothing like this season's popularity though). 

Jogging your memory to a post I wrote a month of so ago, when I featured a shoe shop that sells comfortable shoes (Anastasi in Valletta), I did mention that I went home with something to wear backstage at Malta Fashion Week and wear them I did...these photos were all taken backstage during one of the events I worked in. 

I'm also wearing a striped top under a denim dress which I think is actually quite cool ..what do you think ?

Dress : Vintage
Scarf : Jennyfer
Shoes : Picadilly (Anastasi Shoe Store in Malta)
Bag : Florence Artisan
Top : Asos

Get The Style

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Shopping Post : Comfortable Shoes - Yes they EXIST

 By: Unknown    01:00  No comments

Along with what shall I wear to this wedding I have, one of the questions I get asked most frequently is ...Who sells comfortable shoes? My first instinct is to frown, followed by a laugh - I'm not one to put comfort before fashion and as such own a variety of uncomfortable shoes that pinch/hurt/are-way-too-high/aren't-even-the-right-size. Yes that last part is true, I have been known to buy shoes that are three sizes too big for me simply because it was the last size left and in case you were wondering, yea I've done this with expensive shoes too. It might actually be the case that I might own as many wrong-sized shoes as right-sized ones..must check one time.

However, nonetheless, I appreciate that not everyone is abnormal and some people enjoy being able to walk properly on their shoes, after all, I think shoes were originally designed for walking ..right? With this in mind I've decided to put forward another shopping post this week (aren't you guys lucky - you got TWO) dedicated to a store that has been putting comfortable feet first for many many years. 

My older readers might be more familiar with Anastasi Shoe Store in Valletta, round the corner from, but not affiliated with the ultra famous panini sticker store. This store is one of the Valletta originals and has always had a reputation for comfort and quality, and therefore for this shopping post, I decided to collaborate with this store.

Now let me be honest, the main reason I decided on this post,  is to see whether there were any comfortable shoes that were fashionable and trendy looking. See there was me thinking that whilst working backstage at the million and one fashion shows this month and malta fashion week, it might be a good idea to be wearing shoes that don't hurt. I was also told by a little birdie in the sky that they stock a trendy brand called Piccadilly, that is renowned internationally for comfort, I was still sceptical but I decided to keep an open mind.

My scepticism was rebuffed, there's actually a lovely choice, from the right on trend high heeled mules (photo above), to gorgeous beaded flats (photo below) and baby pink Birkenstock-style shoes...and whilst of course, I'm not about to hang up my 8-inch stilettos to dry, even I must accept that there are days when practicality comes first and a 4-inch chunky heel or a pair of flats should be worn.

The shop is small and they stock A LOT of shoes, so upon entering, you might be initially a bit overwhelmed, and not see anything you like, to be honest that's what happened to me initially, but give yourself five minutes to have a good look around and the different styles will start to stick out.

There's shoes for men too but they're less important...they're always comfortable....

SELFIE TIME!!  OUTFIT DETAILS : COCCINELLE CHUNKY BRACELET / ALDO AIDS BRACELET / COCCINELLE LEATHER BRACELET/ TOY WATCH / JANE NORMAN JACKET /ASOS SHIRT /JENNYFER JEANS

I did walk away with a pair of shoes, but as usual I don't like to divulge and you must await an outfit post to show off my new acquisitions but this time you aren't going to wait long - they are going to see me through malta fashion week backstage - watch this space for outfit post inclusions :D

Ah and before I forget, the shop owner; a lovely gentleman obsessed with making sure shoes fit and feel right; while I was taking photos, informed me that they've coincidentally recently set up a facebook page and they're offering anyone who likes their page 10% off (you receive a voucher).....so long folks.......Happy Shopping :)

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