Alejandra Guilmant by Nelson N. Castillo

One Last Summer Splash!

SHINN, above, is for maximum sun exposure and showing off that tan in style.  The bandeau top is adorned with jewels in the center while the tiny bikini boasts ties on each side.  

Perfect for the ultimate day in the sun!

SUZANNA, above, offers style and femininity while playing in the sun.  The strapless print top is banded by strips of color while the bikini bottom sports ruffles along the lower edge.  

Sassy, style, sun! 

BOTH available only at *VoguE* Mainstore, each available in six colors.

Got it Covered: Ginta Lapina

Model Ginta Lapina for Elle France 

Beauty & Beau: Miranda & Orlando

Introducing Spanish fashion house CHULA: a featured interview by Style TV

Jessica Minh Anh at CHULA's showroom in Hanoi

Spanish fashion house CHULA was a part of J Model Management's latest phenomena on PETRONAS Twin Towers' Skybridge in Kuala Lumpur in March and the Seine in Paris in July this year. The label, which was created by designer and architect Diego Cortizas, amazed the fashion world when it turned each and every dress into a unique piece of art using bold colours, striking patterns, personalised touches, and famous embroidered quotes which added the humorous elements in the collections. CHULA has definitely gone beyond the usual catwalk trend to create a youthful brand that is widely available and appealing to fashion lovers from different backgrounds. 

CHULA at J Spring Fashion Show on PETRONAS Twin Towers' Skybridge in March 2012

CHULA at J Summer Fashion Show on the Seine, Paris in July 2012

Style TV crew visited CHULA's main showroom in Hanoi with model and global fashion show organiser Jessica Minh Anh to explore their production activities and the inspiration behind their many collections. Let's take a look at some behind the scene photos. 

CHULA's entrance. Diego and his wife Laura greeted Jessica Minh Anh

The colourful designers at CHULA's

One of the design rooms at CHULA's

CHULA's customised collection for PARIS show

CHULA's design garden

Jessica Minh Anh and Diego enjoying their conversation in the garden. The colourful chairs are part of CHULA's expansion to furniture design

Filming on CHULA's tower with a beautiful view of Hanoi

Diego, Jessica, and Laura at CHULA's filming for STYLE TV

We are looking forward to seeing CHULA's new collections in the upcoming seasons

CHULA at J Spring Fashion Show on PETRONAS Twin Towers' Skybridge

BY J Model Management

Places to Eat: Pod

Happy Friday guys! 

As I'm heading out Saturday night for a friend's birthday, I thought it might be an idea to eat healthily today - I'm hoping it'll act like a pre-emptive hangover cure ;)

Pod is a chain of eateries (think Pret-a-Manger or Eat) that span most of London. I think they have 22 Pods now, ranging in locations from Cheapside to Fleet Street.

If you're after health food, these guys know what they're doing.



All packaging is sustainable, they embrace Fairtrade, low food miles, sustainable fishing, Rainforest Alliance, and just about most ethical food movements out there.

Their food contains no additives, preservatives or colourings, and they base their menus on seasonality and UK farm produce.

Basically, if you eat here, you're more than justified in smiling smugly at passers-by while polishing your halo ;)

I tried their Salmon Avocado Detox Box, and was quite impressed. 

The food on offer has much more interesting flavours than I've come to expect from traditional "health food". Rather than lettuce leaves and dressing and maybe a few stray carrots (health food, rabbit food, geddit geddit?) Pod uses ingredients like kelp pickle, edamame beans, and apricot kernels. 


My Salmon Avocado box looked like this: 

Aren't the colours gorgeous? It was like a pick n' mix of colours and tastes!

It contained Scottish smoked salmon, avocado, spinach, seeds & apricot kernels, kelp pickle, smoked salmon nori wrap an beansprout salad with a chilli soy & sesame dressing.

And it was a meager 397 kcal with 4.7g saturated fat. I won't lie to you, it didn't replace a Big Mac (or Quarter Pounder with Cheese for me) but as far as healthy lunches go, you could do a lot worse than this.

That's half an avocado with seeds and smoked salmon on top, which was a really nice combo. The vivid purple next to it is the pickled kelp, which is far tastier than it sounds, trust me. 

I had a nice pot of edamame beans to go with it, which came with a light soy dressing. good value with a pot costing £1, but it didn't have the fun of popping the beans out of their pods yourself. Ironic considering the name...maybe it should be called Podless Pod instead? (I'm on a roll)

The Salmon Detox box was £5.95, which for a London lunch wasn't horrific. Considering the amount of exotic ingredients in it, and the freshness of the ingredients, I think this is a reasonable price, but it's still not exactly bargain bucket territory.

In all though, a nice place to eat if you're looking for something health-conscious and a little different. 

For more info their site is HERE.

Emma

xxx

My favourite Galliano collection for Dior

If I was a tsarina from Imperial Russia (or, as Galliano imagined, a young lady living in an English countryside, which is almost me) I would like to be born, raised and sent away on the last day of my life wearing these clothes. 

It’s been two years since the Christian Dior Fall/Winter 2010/11 show, and I still want to touch the fabric, admire every detail, the fur, the delicate prints, silk flowers and ribbons, and the peachy soft leather. I long to feel the whisper of organza on my skin. I want to wear pearls and hear their flirty soft clinking.

I want to open my wardrobe, pick one of these gorgeous creations, the dress, the boots, the bag and all, and run outside feeling like an princess (or still that young British lady in a countryside) in a warm cloud of bliss. Totally impractical and so hopelessly romantic.

The words can’t describe how much I adore this collection. It took my breath away. It’s so me, I want to cry… As if Galliano saw my dreams, read my mind and made friends with my soul. This isn’t just love… this is a pure desire for beauty, sensuality and femininity.

 

P.S. The week isn’t over just because it’s Friday. Tomorrow I will share a story and on Sunday – a very special article you would not want to miss.

Photo source: Christian Dior Ready-to-Wear campaign Fall/Winter 2010/11, style.com

Happy Birthday Blake Lively!

Here is a look at the Birthday Girl's top 10 looks. The 25 year old fashionista definitely has way more than just 10 great looks as we all know but we'll start off with my personal favorites--More often than not Blake always stuns on the red carpet, so there were just way too many great fashion moments to fit into one post!

Falafels' Reunited

This is my amazing sister, she was in Melbourne for almost a month and I can't believe it's already two weeks since she left. Time flies when you're having such a great time.

We had a rough plan of what we wanted to do and what places we could check out, but as usual, all of our plans changed. I mean, everytime you travel you have to be open to change the original plan, because that's what makes your trip the best, the spontaneity of it. And you know what? Works everytime, and this time we had an amazing time together.

I'm glad to say that she came just in time to celebrate her birthday here, despite being a bit jet lagged, we went out to celebrate. That was also my first time going to a Roller Derby match (which I absolutely enjoyed!). And thankfully this gal (my sis) was open to trying new things, such as food from different countries (count that Indonesian, Malaysian, Japanese, Chinese).

It was a bit harsh trying to manage time for work and to be on time for going places with my sis (considering that everything closes at 5.30 pm unless it's Thursday or Friday). But despite the cold weather, and other unfortunate things, we had the best time. You try to take the best out of every single thing, and that's why we were rewarded with awesome sunsets and sun flares and glorious photo moments (photo geek here!). And you can't count with weather in Melbourne, so to be in time for a clear sky during the golden hour to take skyline photos or for having a bit of sunshine after a very cloudy day, then we can say we were pretty lucky.

We are a couple of simple gals, we don't make too much fuzz about where we eat or with whom. We don't care about what the rest think of us, we do our thing if it makes us feel comfortable. We don't go for the 'fancy' stuff because, bleh, you can enjoy more things for less. At the end of the day, we just enjoy each others company disregarding of the place we are. And geez, if we can laugh! I bet my housemate was tired of our constant laugh attacks. 

But now it's just quiet house, no more constant laughing around. But that's just for another 3 more months, until I go back home !! And then, well ... beware world. I'm very thankful for having someone to share my insanities, and I'm very lucky to have two amazing sisters that I love so much (and that are waiting for me)!

Have an awesome day people, go hug your sisters/brothers or friends that are like the sisters/brothers you never had. We all need people like them in our lives!