Last day of 2010 and I found myself checking again all the posts I did during this year! The collage above captures some of the highlights such as..
- the trip I took to Zyrich for the exclusive preview of the Ebay Greek market.
- the backstage of the DElight show and all the shows I had the pleasure of viewing and covering...Designers such as Angelos Bratis, Yiorgos Eleftheriadis, Dimitris Petrou, Sotiris Georgiou and Alexis Barrell were some of my most loved ones this year!
- the interviews I did with some of the most admired newcomer designers and stylists. Alexis Barrell, Myrto Stamou and stylist Celestine Cooney thank you from the bottom of my heart!
- The Toi x Moi video (that has 3.455 views the moment we speak -MAJOR WOW!) and of course the collaboration for the Toi&Moi x SoHo Symposium tote bag.
- Another D.I.Y that I'm really proud of are the tees I made along with other fashion bloggers for the Stylewatch Fashion Playground event.
- The magazine photoshoots and interviews. Glamour, Lucky, Tachidromos, Big Fish, Look and Close Up among other mentions in Free Press and Internet. Most of all I'm feeling lucky that through this blog I was able to talk with photographers and journalists I really admire.
- Last but not least, the pleasure of meeting young Greek fashion designers like Pavlina of Ippolito, Paul Sarz, Georgina Skalidi, discovering new brands online like LP33.3, Karla Spetic, Scanlan & Theodore and Lauren Moffatt and of course having the pleasure to speak to renown designers such as Loukia! I seriously feel blessed!
Out of the list now, I want to thank you all for your comments, tweets and mails! After all we're all here because we love fashion/style and we want to discuss everything about it in this SoHo symposium! Hope 2011 will be even more fashionable and exciting! Happy New Year!p.s. for all the links mentioned above just scroll down and click on the blog archive!
These holidays are very special for me as I'm about to leave abroad and I try to spend all my time with my friends and family! Excuse me for the lack of posts but I promise everything will go back to normal once I settle down to my new home!
Till then, I wish you a Happy New Year and as Lopi said in this post Relax, eat, drink and be merry! One of the greatest things that have happened these days is that I received some of the most precious gifts! Maria was one of the Toi&Moi x SoHo symposium tote bag winners and she was kind enough to send me a pic of herself holding the bag! Her saying that she carries every day her laptop to work inside my bag was a true gift for me! Thank you girl!Happy Holidays to all of you!lanvin snowball pic source: anothermag
You are already familiar with Alexis Barrell from this post. I was introduced to her work during the previous Fashion Week and I loved it! When I learned that she had studied and worked in Italy and New York but decided to present her very first collection in Greece I found it intriguing enough and I decided that it was actually time to meet her in person!
So, SoHo symposium friends and family...in this post you get to see exclusively the mood board and some sketches and fabrics from her next Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection! I was lucky enough to see some of the new clothes of the collection and I'm already loving them all! 
Let me just give you a hint of what to expect! Some of the fabrics used are digitally printed, meaning that you won't find them elsewhere as Alexis designed them all by herself. This technique is quite common abroad but here in Greece -correct me if I'm wrong- is not so popular and it's a shame as designers have the possibility to create garments that are theirs 100%.
Another small hint is that Alexis loves Swing so the Fall/Winter collection will be a little bit influenced by that! That's all I can reveal now and the fact that you can expect some accessories, too! 
For more info you'll have to be patient and wait and in the meantime enjoy the Q&A that Alexis gave to me!
Alexis, you lived and grew up in South Africa, then went to Paris, New York and now Athens. How can the style of each city be described according to you and what was it that you loved the most about Greece that made you come and live here at last?Paris has a traditional elegance, New York an open, more unique form of expression. Athens possesses a certain freedom and depth which I really identify with.
Do you believe that a designer can start a fashion business in Greece as successfully as abroad?
I believe that as the world becomes a 'village', the place in which you work holds increasingly less importance. In any country, starting a business takes extreme determination. With the economic situation as it is, I think Greece could benefit from young entrepreneurs with a positive attitude.
Your Spring/Summer 2011 collection is full of ethereal and delicate clothes- ideal for the warm summers in Greece. What were your inspirations and which is according to your imagination the lifestyle of the woman that wears Alexis Barrell?
The inspiration for the collection was a Greek island summer - crisp colours, clean lines, geometrical patterns, casual elegance and freedom of movement. The woman who wears "alexis barrell" is a traveller, an explorer, a cultured and feminine character who is not afraid to show her soft side.
You presented your first collection at E.Δ.Ω. gallery, a very modern and new place around town. Do you find that smaller places like galleries can express a designer's aesthetic better?
I used to have my showroom at EDW, so I have a personal connection with the place. I feel that designers should choose venues which emphasize the meaning of the particular collection. It seemed that this collection fitted well in a clean space, filled with sensitivity and free-thinking.
Describe your style in 4 words. Which is your favorite piece of clothing right now and where do you go for shopping in Athens?
Feminine, poetic, sensitive, decontracte. At the moment, my favorite piece of clothing is a beaded dress with a 20's silhouette from the new AW/11-12 collection. I do not go shopping, but if I did, I would go to Shop in Monastiraki, or Ippolito in Plaka for her lovely handbags.
Alexis Barrell
Skoufa 50
10673 Kolonaki
Athens – Greece
Saw the Divine Comedy yesterday night and today I woke up with the thought that Neil Hannon must be one of the smartest people I recently saw. He managed to make everyone laugh in a concert that no one went thinking that would happen... (if you haven't heard "A lady of a certain age" yet you should do it now link.)
As for the fashion note of the day...I cut my hair short 4 days ago but I was so shocked that I couldn't even stare at myself in the mirror! Now, I must admit that I like them this way. At least, it's a change after more that 5 years of long hair!
So here comes the second post as promised totally dedicated to the girls that work with Loukia! Each one of them has a different task to do. Some combine Loukia's designing team and some others work for her marketing! One thing's for sure... They are all really young and their style is unique, modern but also with a twist (as expected)!
I particularly loved these three looks for three different reasons! In the first look, the girl is wearing a bow in her hair. A bow that as I learned later was bought from H&M Kids! Who said you are too old to buy accessories from the childrens' section?
The second look combines in the best way street wear and couture! What lies beneath the knitted dress could be your everyday outfit but this girl through on top a Loukia creation and the total outcome was simply adorable!
As for the third girl, Androniki... I just couldn't leave the showroom without taking a pic of her Miu Miu's! This collection will haunt me forever and this girl proved to me that you can wear designer shoes even when walking around the streets of downtown Athens!
There are certain occasions that make me feel so grateful for having this blog… The fact that I meet new people that tell me they already knew my blog and liked it, the trip I took to Zyrich for the exclusive new that Ebay was opening a Greek market, the designers that have allowed me to capture their shows backstage, famous stylist Celestine Cooney that talked to me about her view on the fashion world, the bag I designed with Toi&Moi team…well the list can go on forever.
The last days, I’m finding myself more and more emotional when thinking about this blog. I started it just because I wanted to keep a virtual diary of the things I loved the most online and almost two years later, this “baby” has grown up and is mature enough to start making its own very personal steps…Sometimes I’m feeding it with news, some others by itself it takes me to places I would never thought I could go.
If you keep old magazines, now it’s the time to go and search for the March 2005 Greek Vogue issue. It was the first time that my name was ever mentioned in a magazine. I never shared this with anyone before, but that issue will always be my most loved one. No one knew me back then, I had just returned from London where I had taken a short course in fashion design at St Martin’s college and I was struggling to find a balance between finishing my economic studies and keeping alive my creativity and fashion love. I had read an interview fashion designer Loukia had given in a previous Vogue issue, and I was so touched by the fact that she had told that she would love to see younger designers take up her work…I had found it amazing for such a successful and important designer as her to be so open-minded and not at all selfish to go and say publicly that she would like others to continue her work. In fact I was so touched that I had to send a letter to Vogue and write down all those feelings and thoughts… And that letter was eventually published!
Last Friday, me along Christiana, Lopi and Elena, we found ourselves invited at Loukia’s showroom. I was so anxious to meet Loukia in person that I was thinking about it for days! When I wrote that letter 4 years ago showing my admiration to her, I couldn’t believe that one day I could actually meet her in person! When we entered her showroom her designing team welcomed us and showed us around.
Mia Kollia was also there and informed us about everything! Loukia is preparing some new projects that involve a brand new much more accessible prêt-a-porter line, an art de la table line and an accessories and menswear small collection. Also Mia is writing a book about Loukia’s life and designing history that will be published during the next year!
All this time, Loukia was standing a few meters away, but I was so busy absorbing everything that was around me that I didn’t even see her! After Mia informed us about the new projects we tried on some of Loukia’s creations (wait to see Elena wearing that purple dress…you’ll love it!) and then the designer came and sat with us!
Well…words are not enough to capture her personality. She is one of the most down to earth and calm-looking persons I have ever met. Mia even had to remind her of certain –important- events such as the fact that she had dressed Melina Merkouri! I asked her about various things…The other girls, too! Some of them were if she cares about trends ( a yes), if she reads news online (a no as she has so many things to do and time doesn’t allow her) and what does she do for getting continuously inspired. She told us that she reads a lot, she likes going to the theatre and that she really enjoys watching movies.
When we entered her working space her team informed us that Loukia likes it to be a little bit “untidy” but not in the wrong way! She gets inspired when mixing different garments that lie around the tables and all this “creative chaos” is actually liberating for the team as well! I was really impressed by the fact that her team is consisted of very young people! It shows that she stays true to her believes!
I always love to see inspiration boards!
Hmmm ok! I think I’ve written enough! Now you’ll have to visit the other girls’ blogs and read more there, too! Also, the next post will be dedicated to Loukia's team I’m mentioning above! Their personal style was so unique that I decided they deserve a post of their own!
Here is happy me wearing a Loukia dress!... Me in full bloom!
Last but not least a big thank you to Demetrios Papadopoulos and Mia Kollia for this wonderful invitation and of course to Loukia for welcoming us at her personal showroom!
Lately I have to admit that I receive various invitations for events. Most of them are concentrated on the products and you just enter the room, photograph everything you're interested in, chat a little bit with the organizing and pr team and an hour later you leave the building full of pics, press releases and free goodies (oh-yes-here's-another-canvas-bag!). Don't get me wrong. I'm not implying that these events are boring at all! It's actually fun as you get to see familiar faces and most of the times, collections that aren't out yet!
All this intro is actually written because of a different invitation I received some days ago! A Thanksgiving dinner organized by Kiehl's cosmetics. Well, to be true the first thought was to say no as this blog is only fashion related and I wasn't sure I was the most appropriate person to write about beauty products. I mean I don't even use a facial moisturizer and my beauty case consists only of one make-up, one pencil, one eye shadow and one blush! You see?
The thought of the Thanksgiving dinner though was quite appealing! I have only seen Thanksgiving dinners in my favorite American teen movies and...well it sounded quite appealing!
So here I am at the lovely space of Ε.Δ.Ω. gallery where a large table was placed in one side! The art de la table was just amazing full of candles,pears, tree leaves, walnuts and chestnuts and I later realized that everyone invited was a blogger! (Mr Yatzer below)
The Out of the Box pr team and the Kiehl's people welcomed us in the warmest way and I felt comfortable from the very beginning! Also the idea of the stickers with our names and blogs on (see Thalia's sticker here) was just what we needed to start talking to each other as it was easier to remember the names and spot some blogs we were reading but never knew the blogger behind!
We then got introduced to the Kiehl's cosmetics, the philosophy of this brand (the minimum of conservatives, ecological packaging and no animal testing) and the people who work there. They all sounded so happy for being involved with Kiehl's that all this positive energy was transmitted to us and I was actually convinced of trying these products (yes, little Haritini will start using her Creme de Corp daily from now on). Then the -biological- turkey and the cranberry sauce were served and the dinner started with us chitchatting with each other!
And this is how I spent my first-ever Thanksgiving night! Thank you Kiehl's!
Mulberry is one of my most favorite and most...lusted brands of the moment! It's amazing how a company with such a history and trademarked English style succeeds in reinventing its own name and by sticking to it's basic roots is never out of fashion!
So, you can now understand my excitement when I received the invitation for the SS11 collection press preview! All bags were peeeerrrrfect, there wasn't one of them that I wouldn't want to carry around (and yes I saw and touched each and every one of them). 
This was my personal favorite, the "Large Edie in Powder Beige Heavy Grain Leather". Sigh..just perfect, simple and elegant! What more would you ask for?
Another perfection, the "Piccadilly in Powder Beige maxi grain leather". (Oh yes she'll be mine when I'm more mature and business-looking)
...and this is a small detail of the bag that almost every girl in the room gasped when came closer! The "Jewelled Lily in Camel Suede" that as I read in the press release, is a mixture of over three-thousand Swarovski crystals, rivers and studs that have been delicately applied by hand! (...darling, take me to the Oscars)
And last but not least, we wouldn't be good bloggers if we didn't capture our outfits! In the first pic you see me photographed by Lopi (that's how a girl looks just after 8 hours of work) and in the second, Elena capturing Lopi's outfit! Check their blogs and discover their favorite Mulberry bags! 
p.s. another thing I really loved was the inspiration of this collection that was the film "Grey Gardens" and the children's novel "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
The Secret Garden book is one of my all time favorite and despite the fact that I don't usually recommend the movie edition of the books, this is actually really good...Well, now you know one more thing about me!
