Happy 2015!

wearing American Apparel dress, MADE (via ASOS) necklace, vintage Moroccan duster, belt/wtach-gift

Happy 2015 everyone! Hope you had a great NYE party - I know I had fun with friends, fireworks sparklers and disco music.

In retrospect, 2014 has been a really good year - apart from a few hiccups, I finally got my MFA from Beaux Arts, had a lot of art projects and happenings, refined the store aesthetic, got on a healthy exercise routine (hello swimming pool and yoga studio) and of course my DJ career has been booming.

On the lows I would say being a lazy blogger, still working on a healthier diet/sleeping schedule, procrastinating too much (don't we all?) and gaining weight. Well, last one is really not that bad since I've been mostly putting on some much needed muscle. Thoughts?

This is an older photo from my last gig at Glass, one of the coolest Pigalle bars with a mini dancefloor, open all night.

Funny thing is it turned out to be more festive than my actual NYE outfit.

2015 resolutions? Make everything bigger, better, faster, brighter. Basically do more art projects, record an album, expand the shop, tour Europe djing and try and get closer to my dream job in fashion.

What do you guys have in mind for the coming year?

Autumn SALE! And a cool plants pic

After enjoying a very hot summer and a surprisingly warm September in Paris, the cold wave has finally struck - last Saturday temperatures dropped from 24 to 10 C within a few hours!

It's been super rainy and grey all week, so what better things to do than stay in? And maybe shop online for vintage?

So I'm having a little sale over at Last Tango in Paris - 20% OFF with the code COLD20, going on until Monday 13/10.

Still a lot of cold weather wares left, but I'm planning an update by Monday with a lot of cool '70s stuff, including an amazing red mod coat!

In the meantime...

SHOP HERE.

PS - this photo with ultra cool plants wall (I want one!!) was taken in YOLKA Bar in Cluj, on my trip back to Romania this summer. It's a really cool place, definitely worth the visit if you're in the area :)

White Magic - Jardin Albert Kahn

The Jardin Albert Kahn is probably one of those infamous Parisian hidden spots you keep hearing about; sure, we all love Bois de Vincennes, Buttes Chaumont and Jardin des Plantes, but this little garden is really something special. Or maybe less so as more and more French bloggers started using it as a backdrop for outfit photos.

It's a story of a romantic banker who wanted to travel the world but instead he sponsored other people to do it , strongly believing that knowing other cultures would lead to peace and understanding among people.

The garden comprises six carefully planned regional environments, from a Vosgian forest (the guy actually had boulders and rocks transported from the actual mountain for authenticity!), a Japanese garden buiolt under the supervision of a real stone mason from Japan, complete with koi pond and an English rose garden.

It is pretty much pure Victorian eccentricity, only a few decades later.

It is a very quiet and nice spot, not to mention complete with an entire museum celebrating his life and work that displays an impressive number of autochromes.

Autochromes are like a gateway drug - they're super pretty and show Edwardian fashions in color and David Hamilton hues, so they appeal to the fashion geeks but the process is also super freaky and fascinating ( colored potato peel dust anyone??) so the tech/photography geeks are all over it.

For some reason the contemporary art world remains skeptical; maybe it's because ''beauty'' has been a pretty unpopular concept for the last two centuries.

This late '20s-early 30s eyelet dress complete with my 30s boater hat seems like the perfect outfit for my first garden visit; it was just one of those places I've been planning to go to for over 2 years now but alas it only happened this year. I like to believe I've been waiting for the right outfit.

And seeing the photos on this film roll, I like to believe I did.

The dress is very old but in perfect condition and it will be in the shop next week; I think it would make a wonderful bridal dress!

Also for some reason they let me in for free with my student card, so I should be all the more motivated to return!

You can read more about the fascinating story of Albert Kath here.

The English version is pretty poor unfortunately, but I will try to write more about it, especially since I have another batch of photos to post.

Enjoy!

The most perfect mod velvet pants and fancy gloves (now in the shop)

...you might remember this outfit from a while ago.

Now the time has come to finally accept that these pants have become too small for me and they belong in the shop.

Things are getting particularly busy here, with my bday, a group show and big performance coming up!

Having a non-functional computer doesn't help either, but I've been stacking pretty dresses for the shop and can't wait to list them, probably next week.

Paris is getting rainier and warmer, it almost feels like April. It's rather nice.

You can get the pants here. And the green gloves are also in the shop!

Monday Musings : Winter uniform

We all have our favorite wear-all-the-time items. To me, this cold season (I'm talking Parisian cold here - no snow, drizzly and mostly above zero C temperatures) it's been the Belleville shawl. Looking through recent film snapshots from this past couple of weeks, I seem to be wearing it pretty much everywhere.

Warm, thick and pretty much adding that extra something to every outfit, it's been a pretty amazing companion. Still no photos from Belleville tho, haha!

But yeah - beanie or turban scarf, leather gloves, grey coat and this shawl. And my oversized clutch which is a pretty stylish carryall. For some reason getting dressed up has been a drag during those busy days. Just simple winter chic, no fuss. Can't wait to get my feather boa back and have time for lipstick and heels again!

Tara-Lynn is having a sale in her knits shop at the moment, so if you think of getting one, now's the time!

Shop here.

Disposable Diary : Villa Savoye (and an outfit. sort of)

I first heard about Villa Savoye reading Alain de Botton's Architecture of Happiness; to my great shame, I have to admit my knowledge of architecture are fairly limited. Maybe that's why I respect architects so much.

By the time our class trip to Le desert de Retz was planned, I had completely forgotten what Villa Savoye standed for - I was convinced it must be some boring old-ass bourge building.

Then I remembered it was this beautiful modernist building with a tragic story; Le Corbusier imagined it as this extremely minimalist, functional, clean space.

The story says that the family who commissioned it couldn't live in it because the roof was leaking ; at the time, construction materials weren't developed to build flattop roofs and this was the first of its kind.

And, of course, I was among sculptors who were pretty smitten with it. Personally, I was quite confused by this living space that is not a living space. But I loved the details- the sinks, the armchairs...

It's pretty amazing to think how popular this kind of design is nowadays and pretty impossible to imagine how much of a shock it was back in 1929 when it was designed. Just think Victorian houses. Exactly.

I guess it's also less impressive for someone familiar with the aberrations of Corbusier-inspired architecture, like all the Romanian housing complexes I grew up in. It was quite eerie to see how much the kids' rooms looked like trashy Communist student dorms.

Now I regret not having taken more photos, but in the end it's such a well-documented building it seemed almost redundant.

There should be a shop update next week, I've been crazy busy with exams and school deadlines lately...

Art Show Abstraction (outfit)

kaleidoscope  '70s shirt : vintage

skirt  : vintage Sonia Rykiel (borrowed from the shop)

coat : thrifted

shawl : Goodnight Day

boots : thrifted

It's been a pretty crazy week; however, during these busy days, the week debuted with almost a pattern - going to a thrift store in the suburbs (that's where you can find the cheapest/nicest stuff), then coming back to ENSBA in the evening for a group show opening (and free drinks).

I guess that pretty much sums up the broke art student lifestyle - eating at CROUS, trekking into the banlieu for Christmas shopping because the only gifts you can afford are at the thrift store, then coming back to school for a free lukewarm Kro (pretty much the French equivalent of PBR) at the opening of someone you vaguely know.

As I haven't seen my friend Viktorija in FOREVER, hearing about her group show was a good excuse to hang out. You may remember her from last year's look book.

She snapped these photos of me with parts of the artwork, so I thought this would be a good excuse for an outfit post and a little peek into ENSBA student life.

I just received this beautiful shawl from Goodnight, Day and it's become an instant favorite! I makes me look like some sort of Abstract Expressionist witch and I love it! Sure it's raw yarn and it sheds a little, but it's also super warm, soft and comfy. Not to mention unique!

I also can't abstain from wearing this Sonia Rykiel skirt every now and then, so someone better snatch it quick before I change my mind about selling it! It looks perfect with my crazy Louis Wain shirt (don't tell me you can't see the comparison!).

Good luck getting all those last minute holiday things ready everyone!

Winter Magic Hour (outfit)

velvet '60s pants: vintage

60s cashmere sweater : vintage (Ebay)

cape : thrifted

 gloves : vintage (Etsy)

beanie : Goodnight Day

boots : thrifted

cat pin : DIY 

necklace : The Solarium

I know I always complain about the weather, but truth is we've been enjoying quite a bit of sunshine lately, which could be seen as a little miracle.

This winter has been particularly warm, although temperatures do drop dramatically once the sun goes down and we still get that icy wind blowing everything away. At least it still looks pretty much like autumn, despite all the Christmas decorations.

These photos are actually taken during the last 20 minutes of sunlight, during a run to the post office after I came back from school. Lucky enough there's this park nearby that's a little higher than the general level, so we managed to get this beautiful magic hour light (and the devastating winter wind).

Unfortunately the guard kicked us out at 5.30 as the park was closing (they close parks in the evening in Paris, it's a really strange concept), but we still had a decent backdrop by the outer fence.

This is my first cape ever that I used to wear a lot until I found two more; when I dug it out of storage i realized I had spent the entire last year without wearing it, so it had to go back into rotation! It also has pockets and my squeaky baby toy turned into a pin (I should stop telling people it squeaks, they can totally abuse that).

 These velvet pants are an old favorite, but unfortunately they barely fit me anymore, so you'll probably see them in the shop. Come to think about it, they were pretty tight back when I was super skinny, so it's no wonder they seem to tight now.It's just such a pity, as I can never seem to find new pants that fit me right and these were perfectly high waisted! Plus they had this beautiful deco details instead of pockets and were made out of soft cotton velvet...

The sweater is an old Ebay buy that just proves my theory about modern knits - this 30$ cashmere sweater from the '60s that has been previously worn and that I've been wearing constantly for two years has no piling whatsoever. My 80$ acrylic American Apparel cardigan that I got for 18$ on sale is FULL of piling and unwearable after two weeks. My Goodnight, Day beanie is still looking swell after almost a month tho.

It's been a crazy week out here(I was supposed to do another two posts at least!), but I'm sure everyone feels the same before Christmas and on the last week of school. I'll try not to let it die completely during the holidays.

So good luck getting ready everyone!