Trend BOUTIQUE

SPRING Fling – Printed Denim

We know that you can’t wait to show off your light clothes in lovely spring outfits. Therefore, we decided to show you that some statement jeans can do magic this season. This is because the spring of 2012 brings prints to max, and they are everywhere: on shoes, dresses or shirts, and now on pants.

Printed denim is not new, but maybe now is the time for them to develop as a face-lift or an extension of the – palazzo trousers.

Matched to your favorite t-shirts and worn with the coolest blazers of the season, printed jeans will save you when you want a relaxed, but still fashion-chic look.

Are you ready to rock the stage among all those popular pastels?

Get inspired from the gallery with the freshest pair of selected flowers and exotic prints.

 

 

MultiMEDIA

Order on ASOS.com – EASY AS ABC

At first glance, ASOS.com seems like a miraculous oasis of clothing, accessories, shoes and cosmetics. Many of the products are in-house collections such as Black Asos, Asos Premium Collection or Asos, but there are also many other brands (Aldo, Oasis, French Connection, Vero Moda, River Island) and famous designers (MCQ, Michael Kors, Missoni, Vivienne Westwood, Zadig and Voltaire).  There still are people who have their doubts about online shopping on an European e-shop, but we are here to make this simple.

Strategy

Create an account and subscribe to the Asos newsletter. This way you will get the most important offers and discounts in your inbox. Asos always has some kinds of category that benefits of sales, but there are also multiple discounts for different holidays or mid-season sales, where prices are usually significantly lower.Asos Sales

Browse wisely. Asos has perhaps one of the most flexible navigation I’ve seen in online stores. The site is divided into categories, collections and has navigation by trends and news. You only see what’s on sale if you select “Sales“ or “Outlet“ (only the foreign brands are included here). What is particularly useful is that you can filter out (by size, price, color) and sort (by price ascending, descending or after what’s new). Asos Saved Items

Add to “Saved Items” the things you like. The Wish-list in your Asos can bookmark a product for 30 days. This is not reserved, and it depends on the existing stock. For example, if you like 10 things, but do not want to buy everything at once, you can keep some in the Saved Items section, from where you can access them later. The best thing to this feature is that you can check from time to time to see if the products you have added have been discounted in the meantime. It’s like a store that has everything you like and what you intend to purchase at some point. Note, however, that the traffic of the website is quite high and the most coveted products go fast.

Ordering and Paying

Fill in the correct address and phone number. Create an account and fill-in all the fields. Do not forget your phone number and ZIP code. If you want to order at your office address and want to share the delivery cost with several colleagues (as we do), add the address and company name and floor. It will be easier for the package to get to you.

Add method of payment. Assos accepts any card. I tried and guarantee for Visa, Visa Electron or Mastercard, but also for other payment (eg credit card or Paypal). Although the currency was local, is automatically converted to GBP/USD – and there is really no big difference.

Choose method of delivery of the package. Because it is a site that delivers all over the world, prices for transport are more than convenient!

If you choose Standard Delivery, the delivery is free and your package comes to the post-office that belongs to the address you have chosen. The delivery time is within 2 weeks. The only drawback is that this delivery method can not be monitored. For the orders that I’ve placed where I selected this delivery, I experienced only 1 situation when that the package has not arrived. In this case, I contacted the site and I said I did not receive the package. Their promise to respond within 4 hours on any question related to a parcel, and they usually solve the problem by sending another replacement order. Although I do not know if and how Asos recovers these packages that have never reached the recipient, the fact is that this doesn’t impact the customers – the company knows if you picked up a package according to records from the Post Office or Royal Mail (United Kingdom).

For Express Delivery, you will be treated as a VIP if you pay £ 10, and the package will be delivered by carrier within a week. The courier service is used by Asos.com DPD Pegasus. This type of delivery can be tracked and you can follow the cities where the package has been received before it gets to you. So, this method of delivery is very reliable. If you think that maybe it’s not worth paying £10 for delivery, this about splitting the delivery costs with a friend or some colleagues. It becomes very affordable. 

Placing an order

Look at the products. Because you cannot touch or try the products, it is very important to think twice. Before you order certain goods, especially the more expensive ones, I think it’s better to do some in store research beforehand. Go and touch some fabrics, read the labels and know your prices. Questions such as: Is it worth paying this much? Could this be my size? Is this farbic too transparent/ thin? – become justified we are talking about a designer piece or other expensive one.

Essential details. Once you have decided to buy a particular product, check the detailed description, all the pictures and the video. They will give you an idea about the fit and the feel of the item. The composition of the product is the one that makes the difference. In terms of texture, you want to read description and see if the product has lining or cups or other details – they are usually mentioned. Try looking at clothing items with higher quality fabric – cotton, silk, organza, brocade, leather shoes and bags. There are lots of leather shoes to buy at good prices during sales. Asos Product Details

Sizes. Keep in mind the fact that models have a height of 1.75m to 1.80m and they are usually dresses in  UK size 8 – 36 EUR. What is essential is the type of the cut. For example, if a very tight blouse or top fis the model just fine, then go for a larger size – instead of 8 UK – 36, take 10 UK – 38 – so that you will be sure it will fit you and will not be too small (eg shown in picture above). This also works vice versa: for a large style, if you are in doubt about two sizes, choose the smallest one. The safest is to measure yourself and see if you fit the dimensions of the product from the site. You can also consult and guide measurements “Size Guide” to see equivalent measurements from the US.

Good luck! 🙂

Style Know-How

CHEERFUL SOLES – Shoe Trends

Faster than we estimated, The Spring CEO takes control and begins to order wardrobe cleanup. The furry boots are rushing into technical unemployment and in their place, cheerful pastel ballet have been hired. They are chatting friendly to peep-toe assistants and looking towards to the strappy sandals that run errands throughout the city.

Discover this spring’s trophy workers!

Ballet Flats

The ballet flats fit for 2012 are no longer conservative. Seek those which have cutout accents or exotic leather decorated with bright prints. Pastel shades look chic if they have a different fabric or a metal cap. This detail fits better with sharp tip shoes – which are back in action in 2012. Sharp Toe Shoes

Summer Boots

You can still counting on summer boots while the weather is still undecided!  Ankle boots are probably the coolest and comfiest style this spring. For 2012, look for suede booties or stud accents and wear them in  feminine. Lace boots five you a sporty touch and adds enough cool sophistication even to a casual look.

Sandals and Platforms

This season’s favorite sandals are almost RETOUCHED. Combinations of materials, prints and strong colors create vitaminizing effects. In terms of shape, it is interesting to see that platforms do not dominate the show as last year, but leave room for sandals with thin and feminine straps. These are nevertheless boring, as they are also decorated and in line with the general trend of 2012: non-conformism.

Style Icons

Beauty – SUPREME

“Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things. Those are the one I call cultivated. for them there is hope.”                                                    Oscar Wilde

I often wonder how the standard of beauty got to where it is now, how we began to admire models, structures and meanings that until recently were completely inaccessible to us.

Starting with muses, new faces and overflowing personalities, there is beauty all around, it depends only on how we highlight it.

You could call it niche, or the synergy of some traits that suggest the idea of beauty at a certain point in time in the human evolution. The spectrum of beauty has always concealed, l’air du temps and a certain type of promotional context. Sometimes this relied on a qualitative trait, such as figure or hairstyle, but most of the times beauty was a concept, an ideal, an aspiration.

Umberto Eco seeks in his book “The history of Beauty” evolutionary patterns of beauty in painting and sculpture, but it is very interesting what he states in his book. I can not remember the exact words, but it meant that beauty artifacts are passed to the next generations through art, evident by poets, artists and writers who can find muses in the subjective experience. It’s too bad that we can not see what ordinary people, not artists, considered beautiful.

These barriers are all forgotten in the digital era. The new millennium gave everyone a voice and made possible the step by step beauty spotting everywhere near us. Fashion Bloggers, independent photographers, talented make-up artists or fashion lovers make history everyday.

This is a manifesto for all who contributed to the evolution of beauty and fashion.
Now and in the Past.

Thank them. We owe them so much.

Photos : Pretty wild things  via Fashion Served
Outfits

April LOOKBOOK – ZARA

Zara continues the show of the new collection and reveals the lookbook with outfits for April 2012. The clothes and the colors are perfectly in tune with the collections of the runways: more white white blazers,  bold colors, lace accents and digital print. What’s not to love?

MultiMEDIA

Fashion Star – AUCTION your Designs

For all aspiring designers who think it has become impossible to follow the dreams in this fierce competitions – there is light! With the tagline “Look at it today, wear it tomorrow”, NBC created a show where young designers can showcase their creations in front of the leading buy-officers. And for the impact to be maximized, several American VIPs are mentoring the designers: Nicole Richie, Jessica Simpson and Elle MacPherson as show presenter.

Although the idea of these reality shows is not a novelty, the difference is that in Fashion Star the effects are immediate. After each episode, the chosen piece of clothing is already available through retailers. The process is simple. The buyer “jury” from Saks, Macy’s and H&M bid on the design and grant for it to be available online and in stores.

Fashion Star - H&M Saks Macy's

Dresses bought by Macy’s / Skirt bought by Saks

Here brands are involved directly in the show as channel activators and subsequent promotion of the product, so somehow the barrier between the commercial and TV show is removed. The TV is directly connected with the online environment, so that inevitably you end up looking up the products and even buy them.

I already found the H&M Fashion Star website promoting the first two products of the show, a jacket and the palazzo pants with prices between 20 and $ 50. Interestingly,  Saks also has a web-page dedicated to Fashion Star, but clothing prices here are in tune with the prices charged by U.S. retailer – $ 280 for a skirt made by a participant of the show. As for Macy’s, a dress sells for $99.

Pants and Blazer - bought by H&M

Pants and Blazer – bought by H&M

Multi-functional skirt - For sale at Saks

Multi-functional skirt – For sale at Saks