Sunday brunch in Shoreditch

A Saturday at Trunk Clothiers in Marylebone

First two pictures from yesterday, when we finally had a lovely sunny day in London. The above one is from a few weeks back where I’m combining Ebba’s pleated leather skirt with my leather jacket and a white frilled blouse, contrast – I like subtle contrasts and I love the combo of black and white.

Two of many Raspberry Mojitos at Aqua with lovely Lina

Me and Emma are currently looking for a new flat close to where we live in Notting Hill now to move in to during the summer. Me and my lovely flatmates decided to hand in the notice for the flat we currently live in, to find something smaller and get a change of scenery, so me and Emma decided to look together. New place means new interior so I’m currently following many interior tumblrs/blogs. Any tips?

Hopefully it wont be too difficult to find a new place considering the Olympics is just around the corner.

I started my internship (which i’m really enjoying) at Monocle magazine two weeks ago! It’s quite a lot of work and research, especially for the round-the-clock radio service Monocle 24 which was launched six months ago but it’s a really nice environment, lovely people working in the offices and I’m learning new things every day! Look out for issue 53 which should be out soon. If you wanna know more about the brand  – watch the short video above of Monocle’s first five years.

I’ve been very bad lately with taking photos, will get better with it this next-coming week and post lots of new photos.

Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Lanvin, mix of textures, black, gold, metallic, leather, feathers – I am loving the styling of this editorial.

Photo // Amy Troost Styling // Alastair McKimm
Models // Julia Frauche, Karlina Caune, Daga Ziober and Maria Bradley.

Planning a long trip to New York this summer with Emma! Can’t believe it’s almost two years ago I was there last.

Quote above from King of fashion himself, Karl Lagerfeld. One of my dear readers, Elly, commented one of my previous posts the other day and pointed out the fact that I mainly wear black and that I should try to wear more colours, this is not the first time I’ve recieved a comment like this from my friends or readers. Most of you probably know by now that almost 90% of my wardrobe is black. In my current (London based) wardrobe I have at least 20 black blouses and 20 black dresses 90% of them are in some kind of sheer material. I have 10 black blazers in different lengths, shapes and materials. I have 5 pairs of trousers that are black, and I have 12 black skirts. You do the maths. Black is my favourite colour, it’s so powerful yet subtle. You can dress it up, down and wear it all year around. You can easily change a black day-outfit to an evening outfit with a pair of high heels (black of course). You can style it up with big statement accessories and jewellery and you can contrast the colour with the texture of the fabric.

Believe me I’ve tried to add colours to my closet over the past few years, but I always end up with non-colours such as white, beige and grey. I have three red items, a dress, a skirt and a top. That’s it. I’d like to see black as my uniform. As distinctive as Mr Lagerfeld is in his uniform and Anna Wintour in her hair I am in my black outfits!

Apart from my High School graduation day back in 2007, my wedding day might be the only day I wear white, however be sure that my bridesmaids will be wearing gorgeous little black dresses.

Carrie: The gay straight man was a new strain of heterosexual males spawned in Manhattan as a result of overexposure to fashion, exotic cuisine, musical theater, and antique furniture.
Samantha: Well, hopefully he’s a gay straight man, which means he’s straight, with a lot of great gay qualities.
Charlotte: I am so confused, is he gay or is he straight?
Carrie: Well it’s not that simple anymore, the real question is, is he a straight gay man or is he a gay straight man?

- From Sex and the City season 1, 1998

Today, almost 15 years later, women all over the world are still asking themselves the same question. Forget the Metrosexual, that is so 2002, I call this the revival of Bateman (the fictional character of Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho) but without the split personality disorder. It’s February 2012, all those Champagne bubbles from December’s parties have barely left your body, and we shouldn’t even mention that gym membership you still haven’t signed up for. You wake up to get ready in the morning only to be pushed away by your male partner. What he’s fighting for? The mirror. It’s 2012 and the men of today are not only caring more about their looks but also what specific beauty products they’re using for their skin and hair (organic, aloe vera and paraben-free of course). It’s not just the wardrobe, shoe closet, or bathroom space today’s men are fighting for. Women are loosing space on a daily basis – not only in front of the mirror, in the shops (menswear shops such as Trunk Clothiers in London and MrPorter.com have quickly gained popularity), or on streetstyle blogs, but also on front row of the Fashion Weeks.

Should we be worried?

The recession of the 21st century has made the aspire-to-be-Gordon-Gekkos of the world to close their eyes and ears to the years of crisis laying ahead of us. Perhaps they are seeing more interesting things in the fashion horizon. Leave the Yuppies back in the 80′s together with Cher and Culture Club, 2012 is the year of the Young Urban Fashion Flock, Yuffies, these young men are not only working hard for the money to gain attention from beautiful women through conspicuous consumption but for the gaze of other men through their perfect soft skin, pretty cashmere scarves and polka dotted bow-ties. Think Oscar Wilde goes Kanye West. The greed for women has changed to the greed for the latest fashion collaboration  – not only does the Yuffies of 2012 want to be first with new products, they want to be innovators and trendsetters. Heterosexual men are taking front row seats on the fashion weeks of Milan and Paris and the menswear shows are gaining a vast amount of visitors from press and buyers. The recent Pitti Uomo tradeshow in Florence saw well dressed men walking up and down outside the Palazzo Corsini competing for the most flashes by street style photographers.

We’re seeing a new modern dandy growing out. Regardless of sexuality, he is best described as a man about town and a gentleman with (hopefully) refined manners and elegant clothes. He follows his own trends in fashion, try to produce the unexpected but finds his inspiration from many things.

Dear Yuffies I embrace you with open arms. However, In this war of space and vanity, until you’ll start wearing 6-inch heels, don’t you dare coming near our sacred shoe closets – the rest we can lovingly share, but also remember this means you need to book in those regular waxing appointments as well, after all I thought 2012 meant equality on every level?

Photos above: Tommy Ton for GQ.com

Gentlemen in 2012? Dressing like one is surely not enough, I am not the only one who feel many men today are in need of guidance when it comes to interacting with the ladies, especially with someone special whom they are seeing. Well my friends, frenemies and lovely blog readers these are the 10 deadly sins of dating (except the obvious thou shall not cheat of course):

• Thou shall not lie (she will see right through you in a heartbeat)
• Thou shall not like nor comment on other womens half naked photos on Facebook (classy? no!)
• Thou shall not watch porn and forget to remove your browsing history (especially applies if you have wierd fetiches!)
• Thou shall not ever act in a rude manner towards her (very important!)
• Thou shall not get shit-faced drunk and make a fool out of yourself (very un-manly I must say)
• Thou shall not ask if your lady would like to split the bill (if she’s a lady she will pay the next one)
• Thou shall not fish for compliments and not return them
• Thou shall not forget to get her something for her birthday (at least give her some flowers)
• Thou shall not walk in front of her or talk behind her back – ever
• Thou shall not lie (felt this needed to be repeated)

Am I right or am I right?