H&M's Tribute to Marimekko

If you've been up-to-date with your online fashion news, you would have read that various blogs and sites are anticipating H&M's 'Tribute to Marimekko'. You may have wondered what the heck is Marimekko. Well, at least I did. According to H&M's press release, Merimekko is "the Finnish textile company that has thrilled since the 50s with its bold, bright colour." It's apparently "well known for vibrant bold simple prints," and oh, get this: "It was fashion icon Jackie Kennedy that put Marimekko on the international map when she wore their dresses during her husbrand's 1960 presidential campaign."

And if you were anywhere near an H&M store over the weekend, you would probably have noticed that the collection is out. Actually I don't think anyone could have walked by an H&M store and not notice the collection -the collection basically consists of a bunch of crazy, colourful prints. My friend and I went into the Reagent Street store on Friday night and all I thought was, as if H&M wasn't hard enough to navigate -now these crazy garments are making the store layout even more confusing! You can obviously tell that I was not impressed by the window display or the clothes inside the store.

When I got home, I checked it out properly online and let's just say it didn't look any better online. Now I admit I am not a particularly creative or crazy dresser, but I'm usually pretty open to old and new designs out there (as long as I'm not buying it.) But all the clashing colours and the prints were just too much for me.

These pants are just crazy! They look more costume-perfect for a music video or Halloween. I hope I actually see someone wearing them on the streets just so I can see how they look in action!

And the designers seemed to really like the maxi-dress -a silhouette that I'm not too fond of, and the maxi-skirt. I just think the manequinns look like they have bedsheets or curtains wrapped around them! Plus, I'm really not a fan of the combinations -I can't stand that shade of army orange and green together!

I did find this pink and blue blouse, and black and white dress to be ok. (Although certainly not ok enough for me to buy them.)

I thought the best items out of the collection were the swimsuits, although that doesn't say much for the collection since I don't even have much of an opinion on swimsuits to begin with.

This collection is meant to "take you all the way from the city street to the heat of the beach." I can only picture myself on city streets and possibly small cities in the EU, so obviously I am not this collection's target customer. Maybe that's why I don't like this collection. I just don't understand why some of the blogs and sites out there were so excited about it. Am I the only one who isn't impressed with the collection, or do I simply not know how to appreciate it?

Image Credits: http://www.hm.com/

Thank You Gifts

Due to limited resources and unlimited wants and the fact that we can't read each other's minds, a few years ago, my friends and I decided that the best gift to give each other was no gift at all. By canceling each other's presents out, we effectively saved each other the trouble of thinking of what to get and wasting resources on something that we do no want. Instead we can concentrate our resources on what WE want, which makes complete logical and economical sense to us.

But on occasions, gifts to friends are warranted. Thank you gifts for example. More specifically for me, thank-you-for-letting-me-stay-at-your-place-rent-free-while-I-visit-the-city gifts. Getting something for your host in that case seems like the polite thing to do. But what to get? That is always a huge headache. Ideally you want to get them something that they'd want/use. Some of my ideas.

For the two times that I stayed with HG in London in the last two years, I've given her the Benefit Realness of Concealness set (left) and the Caudalie eye cream (right). Do be careful giving away concealment make-up though, because anyone not so close to you may think that you are giving them a hint about their zits and dark circles. HG and I don't have this problem, but I get the feeling that it was fun to try out but not so useful in the long term. I understand. Its hard to beat the YSL touche eclat when it comes to dark circles. Ultimately I think she liked the eye cream better since it is more useful. Something more useful and in the moment, would be just to offer to pay for something that you're doing together. For example, I treated my friend to a day at Six Flags this Thanksgiving when I visited her in San Diego (yes, I went all the way to SD just so we can drive 2 hours away to LA for Six Flags). I thought she appreciated that more than if I'd given her something like face cream- especially when I don't know which one she uses!
Even easier, you can take a page from HG and my friend T's book from when they visited me in Chicago last fall, and just treat to a meal. They treated me to my favourite thing of all- steak. A genius, clean, practical and easy gesture that is MUCH appreciated. If your host is a huge family and treating them all to steak is not economical for you, try breakfast. Any meal is appreciated.

But if you encounter a super super super nice, warm and friendly host/family who would simply never let you pay for a meal (and so probably no point trying), you can always resort to chocolates. When it comes to such a situation and there is more than one host, something that everyone likes and can be shared, like chocolate, is the best one can do. These are from See's (above). Usually I'd say go for Godiva, but their site was acting weird.
Always aspiring to be personal etc, I decided to give the more personalize gift another shot. For my weekend in Boston (this weekend), I got my friend E a black and a white kohl eye liner from Mac. I know, it sounds weird. Here are two pencils, thanks. Not exactly a very present looking present. But I like to think that they will be super useful. Who does not need black eye liner? And HG and I personally think that the Mac kohl pencils are the best (we've already converted so many of our friends to it). They go on so smoothly and it smudges less than other brands that we've tried. And the white eyeliner would be perfect to try out the white eye liner trend from last season and to just subtly open the eyes. Fingers cross she'd like it!

And those are my ideas so far. What do you all generally give as thank you gifts to people? Or am I just thinking too much about this topic?

Image Source: Sephora, Mac, See's Candies and Ruth's Chris

S/S08 Trend: Translating the Lanvin Ruffles

Lanvin's S/S08 collection was one of my favourite S/S08 shows. I liked the vibrant colours, the ruffles, the way the silk dresses seemed to flow around the models -everything was just so gorgeous. Unfortunately, Lanvin's not exactly the most accessable brand -its designs are admired by the fashion crowd but they don't get copied too much by highstreet stores (compared to other brands like Balenciaga and Miu Miu,) and of course, most people can't afford Lanvin clothes -maybe some people can afford the accessories.

The huge ruffles was one of the main features. It came as part of a one-sided top and dress.

Ruffles sashaying on both vertical sides of the dress.

Ruffles becoming the main feature of the dresses.

The beige, one-sided, ruffled dress by Lanvin is available at a Zara near you! -In linen (or some other rough material) rather than silk though.

So when I first thought of ruffled clothes, the first thing that came to mind was Rebecca Taylor's ruffled camisole -it's one of the most wearable item, and it's kind of affordable yet still looks classy because it's made of silk. If only I had 212usd to dish out.

Rebecca Taylor's also got this tie-dye dress. Normally I am nota fan of all things tie-dyed, but I love this dress! It's got just the right amount of ruffles and the way it 'ruffles' downwards in the direction of the changing colours -it's so pretty! I imagine it would be such a great day or night summer dress -I want!

For something very casual, Ella Moss's Abbey Tank Dress is a daydress candidate -although I'm not too sure about the elastic band in the middle. For something more girly and that can be for both day and night, I like this purple, layered dress by Madison Marcus.

Top Shop's got these one-shouldered, chiffon-like material, girly dresses. I'm always not sure about these dresses because they seem too formal, or black & white for daytime, I'm don't know where I'll wear them to for nighttime either.

I just think they're so pretty!I really like this Top Shop Boutique dress because the colours are so 'now' and the design is so wearable. Too bad I wasn't in London when it was released because they've run out of sizes online, as usual!

This black dress by Ong is from last season, but I like that it's simple and doesn't scream 'girly', yet the fabric on one side makes the dress more interesting.

Always on top of dress trends, AKA already has a one-shouldered, ruffle top and ruffled, strapless dresses available. They do kind of remind me of the Lanvin style!

This is one of Lauren's more interesting dress choices -usually her choices are sort of boring -and I really like it! I think this Geren Ford dress has got just the right amount of ruffles along both sides to liven up the basic dress, but the dress still feels unfussy. The colour is vibrant and it looks young (short dress) and fun -how very The Hills!

PS. Yes, I realise not all ruffled clothes were inspired by Lanvin, and some of these clothes don't look particularly Lanvin-inspired, but it's convenient to group them all here!

Image Credits: http://www.vogue.co.uk/, http://www.pinkmascara.com/, http://www.activeendeavors.com/, http://www.topshop.com/, http://www.shopbop.com/, http://justjared.buzznet.com/