Monday 31 January 2011

Korres

This is my personal Korres make-up artillery.

Along with liquid eyeliner - which Korres doesn't carry - these are my few absolute essentials.
I feel compelled to confess a couple of things though.

First, if you have been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that I'm not really a cosmetics person. I mean, half the time I leave the house completely bare-faced (today is one of those days actually), I skip the make-up section in magazines and I really find cosmetics stores claustrophobic. Hell, I never even paint my nails. All that doesn't mean I hate make-up. I just don't feel compelled to use it all the time and I treat shopping for it the exact opposite way I treat shopping for clothes and shoes, meaning I use very few things and only replace them when they run out. Generally the things I use the most are compact powder and mascara. These last couple of years, I have also taken on using blush and I have replaced eye pencil with liquid eyeliner, as I find the clean-cut cat's eyes line more appealing than the smokey effect of smudgy kohl. However, when I find a soft pencil in a shade as great as this blue petrol above, I give in.

Second, I'm sure many of you are wondering "why an all-Korres make-up bag"? Here is the part where I must admit I actually didn't pay for all these. My mum is a pharmacist and I shamelessly take advantage of that. And I know that's probably a waste of resources for a person who's not that into make-up. Life is unfair, what can I say?

Thursday 27 January 2011

Turquoise in winter

fashionarchitect.net_turquoise_tights_feather_print_dress
Feather-print dress, ASOS. Black cotton coat, A.L.E. Scarf, PULL&BEAR. Turquoise tights, ACCESSORIZE via Factory Outlet. Black leather belt, grandma's vintage. Tan tote bag, MANGO. Aviator sunglasses, RAYBAN. Black plastic flats, Vivienne Westwood Anglomania for Melissa.

Turquoise is generally considered a summer colour.

However, I woke up one morning in the dead of winter and decided to pair my bright turquoise tights with two totally different prints and a black coat et voilà! I quite like the result. I guess it helps if you live in sunny Greece.

photo by my personal Sartorialist, Elena Pakou
I think Alkistis would be proud

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Reporting: 1st Fashion Business Forum

Sorry this post took so long to write, but exhaustion was constantly upon me this last week. I'm still not over it, but working on it.

So, one week ago on Monday, we found ourselves inside a chandelier-lit room in Grande Bretagne Hotel, in order to participate in the 1st Fashion Business Forum as guests of buldoza.gr and Boussias Communications.

The conference started a little after 9:00 and lasted until 18:00, so don't expect me to pass on absolutely everything that was said there. However, here is a recap of the things that managed to stay with me, according to speech title and speaker order of appearance.

Warning, it's a text-heavy post ahead:

"The loveless relationship between Greek design and industrial production"
The legendary Greek fashion and industrial designer Giannis Tseklenis (seen in the pic above) talked about how Greece lost numerous opportunities to become a leader in the cotton and fabrics industry during the 70's and 80's due to the poor business skills of those in charge, as well as the complex state politics and bureaucracy involved. On the bright side, he still believes in young Greek designers coming through all these obstacles that remain and believes there's still hope for Greek design.

"Is the luxury fashion business model broken?"
The Savigny Partners investment banker William Plane who specializes in big luxury business deals, talked to us mostly about - what else - the business part of things, like the fact that merchandising is an increasingly important aspect in the contemporary fashion business models, that fast fashion / big designer collaborations aren't that profitable in money, but a great aid in brand recognition, that resort sells more because it's more wearable whereas the main collection is more theatrical and used to set a "mood" and that womenswear is an over-saturated business, whereas men customers are harder to recruit but tend to be more brand-loyal.

"Fashion Leaders: Challenges and perspectives in the fashion business"
Vice President and CEO of Attrattivo Pantelis Avramidis, CEO of Adidas Group NE Europe Kyriakos Kofinas and Owner of Rakas Retail And Distribution Aris Rakas were the panel members discussing the hot subject of the dreaded crisis, the ways it has affected fashion businesses in Greece and how those businesses can overcome it. Mr Rakas very wisely said that now is the time for everyone to re-evaluate the way their companies function, cut unnecessary expences and set their priorities straight. Mr Avramidis mentioned, amongst other things, that Greece doesn't produce clothes any more, something we know for a fact that is not true. And by claiming that, I don't mean just Greek fashion designers making sur-mesure for their limited clientele, but actual mass-production fashion businesses that still chose to have wares produced here in this country.

"Private Shopping - An alternative way of selling on the web?"
brandsGalaxy.gr CEO Alexandros Rigas and Commercial Growth Director Dimitris Theofanous presented their private online shopping fashion retail start-up, a business model we've already seen in the examples of Gilt Groupe and Reverse. Personally, I expected more from their presentation. Seemed like they didn't take in to account the fact that they were addressing people from within the industry, not potential retail clients, and by doing so they failed to give us a clear image of their business model and company ideas. Plus they didn't answer the question I posed publicly in a serious manner, which was even more distressing. But more on that in one of the posts to come...

"Textiles and Apparel 2010: Power to the people means power to the brands"
Global Fashion Director of GFK Retail & Technology Pascal Bollon (seen in the pic above) talked about how fashion businesses must keep learning from their customers, much like the very successful fast fashion model, where companies keep an eye on what people buy in their stores, in order to know what sells and to produce more of it. We also heard that the more expensive an item is, the less chance there is people will be willing to buy it online. People still need to have real-person reassurance instead of a lifeless computer screen in front of them, when making an big and important investment buy. Makes sense.

"The characteristics, lifestyle and perceptions of fashion consumers in Greece"
Ally Managing Director Nopi Romanidou (you've seen her before in this blog here) presented a research on the habits of fashion consumers in Greece. Great idea, bad execution. For starters, we were told the research was conducted through fashion-oriented websites. Not exactly a great way to secure an objective sample. Plus we didn't hear any info we wouldn't have guessed ourselves, which was kinda disappointing. Ms Romanidou also dedicated a hefty chunk of her speech presenting us her own fashion-oriented PR business.

"Fashion retail & consumer psychology: Looking for optimism lost"
Notos Com Marketing Director Nikos Aidinis, McArthurGlen Hellas General Manager Giannis Kasimatis, Raxevsky Commercial Director Konstantinos Koutsoumpos and Progressive PR General Manager Fotini Mpampanara were the panel members who took talked about what consumers are currently thinking and how brands must act in order to stay relevant to their customers. Among the things mentioned was how important it is to build a brand's identity and how difficult it is to do so in times of crisis. Brands attempting to build their own identity now are in a much more difficult place than those have already claimed their place in the consumer's mind. We also heard Ms Mpampanara say that fashion blogs have a long way ahead of them to prove their efficiency to PR firms. Well, I say that there are great examples of product placement in fashion blogs abroad that have already proven that. All it takes is some googling.

"Informed decisions and growth strategies"
Entersoft Commercial Manager Tasos Patsilinakos and Digalakis IT Manager Antonis Motsovoleas gave one of the most useful presentations of the conference, presenting what an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system is and how important it is for the retail fashion businesses nowadays. Really people, if you're a fashion business professional - even if your company is relevantly small - you are not allowed not to know what an ERP sytem is. If you don't, the wikipedia page is here.

"Is fashion relevant to today's consumer?"
Sunday Times Senior Fashion writer and fashion business superstar Colin McDowell was the most entertaining speaker of them all. Mr McDowell said tons of quotable stuff like "we are all insecure, that's why fashion is so important [...] we use clothes to impress others" and "fashion is about giving people confidence, strength and the feel-good factor" and "it's not what comes down the runaway, it's what photographers and stylists can do with it". Everyone in the room must have enjoyed his presence, his brit wit, even the constant name-dropping, but I personally didn't find his speech all that useful for professionals.

"Online fashion business"
Founder of The Online Fashion Agency and The Online Fashion 100 Leon Bailey Green spoke about the way the internet has revolutionised the fashion business, by showing numerous interesting examples of real, successful fashion e-businesses. Not only retail-oriented ones but also some new ideas, like sites that rent designer wares. However, I was very disappointed when at some point during the speech, I turned my head around only to see that most Greek retailers were looking bored and uninterested, like the things being told were not relevant to *them*. Really?

"Online fashion in Greece: buldoza.gr"
Buldoza.gr CEO and Co-Founder Panayotis Gezerlis and Fashion Product Manager Christina Lardikou presented their start-up fashion e-tail company and the ideas behind the whole concept, like having no stock of their own, offering free returns and the most impressive of all, "sell lower than retail or no-deal". Mr Gezerlis was the one who kindly invited 15 fashion bloggers to the conference, so extra kudos for that!

"Consumers of today talk through the internet, do you hear them?"
Fashinating CEO Alexis Mpallas presented how his site (that basically works as an intelligent aggregator that learns from the user's choices and manages to understand their taste through a complex patented algorithm) can benefit the retailers as well, by working as an online market research for their products. A brilliant Greek start-up that makes us proud!

"Virtual Flagships - an evolution in luxury brand communication?"
London College of Fashion Principal Lecturer Tim Jackson talked about how big brands are transferring their presence online and shared many important trivia like the fact that 8 million people become a fan of a brand on facebook every day. I was pretty much wasted till that time, so I didn't catch much.


My conclusions:
Greeks are stubborn. They absolutely hate being told how to do business, even if they actually paid good money to hear it from the best in the trade. Also, we must stop whining about what the government doesn't do for us and try to work around it. And frankly, I'm sick and tired of hearing that internet is the "next big thing". It's not . It has been here for a while and those referring to it as the "next" thing are probably those who have been left behind. To those I say: hurry up, chop-chop!

As for me, well, this is how I looked on that day:
I probably struck some people as anti-social and weird, having my nose buried inside my laptop all the time, reading other people's tweets from inside the room and tweeting about the conference myself.

At least I had great company, with all the other bloggers there!
fashionarchitect.net_photo_by_lfof.gr_fashion_business_forum_athens_3
No, we didn't plan to colour-coordinate, it just happened!

Don't forget to take a peek at the official Boussias tweets and twitpics and also to check out the posts of Life Full of Fashion, Alecca Rox, Fashion Algorithms, Little Stylist, Life In Athens, The Way I Do, Wardrobe Recycle, Smells Like Fashion, SpottedM, EyeCandies, Posh Fashion, Ordinary Style Pulse, Sugahspank! and Ffffashionmixxxx.

Also Elena was asked to write not one, but two great reports on the Fashion Business Forum that were published in xblog and LiFO, so if you can read Greek, click away!
all pics in this post kindly provided by Elena of LFoF.gr
my camera is still at the camera doctor :(

extra big thanks to Irini for having us there

Sunday 16 January 2011

Stripes and trinkets

Why am I laughing?

Because of this guy.

And my new Strigles necklace.

He thought it was his new toy and attacked it with no mercy.

Very funny, Spyros.

The fact he managed to bite one of the trinkets off is not that funny though. But fixable.

And anyway, there is still plenty left where it came from.

fashionarchitect.net_stripy_dress_strigles_necklace_1
Stripy knit dress (originally maxi but worn gathered at the waist with a belt) STRADIVARIUS. Hot pink cardigan, (really old) ZARA. Charm necklace, handmade by STRIGLES. Mango butter lipstick in Fuchsia, KORRES.

Friday 14 January 2011

Arkkanoid



Something for you kids to listen to while getting dolled up to hit the town tonight. Have fun!

Arkkanoid by Expert Medicine
Directed and Edited by The Core
Dancing by Elpiniki
Styling by Mandy Papadaki

Thursday 13 January 2011

Thanks for asking

fashionarchitect.net_garance_dore_photo_by_the_sartorialist
Seriously now, what about those emails asking me if I am “dead” each time I disappear for one minute? Those are freaking me out!!! Yeah. Ok. I’m sorry for disappearing without telling you, and no, I wasn’t dead, just sleeping, actually.
Garance Doré
on not blogging for a while

I just couldn't keep myself from sharing this quote.
Photo by the Sartorialist of course.

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Fashion virals jumped the shark?



The fashion viral post category here in the blog is starting to get really crowded. Google, Intel, GHD, Chie Mihara are just the few favourites I chose to feature in the past, but there are tons more going around in the interwebz, like Karl Lagerfeld for Volkswagen and the Gucci Guilty ad directed by Frank Miller.

And now it's Kate Moss for Balmain.

Frankly, this is one of the most boring things I've ever seen. Granted, the MTV-aesthetics graphic animation is quite nice, but that's it. Plus, if you're willing to fork out the cash and book Kate Moss, you shouldn't screw it all up by failing to show her face, the most powerful fashion sales tool of our age and probably the main reason you booked her in the first place. Big mistake.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

1st Fashion Business Forum


Great news for all fashion business professionals in Greece:

The 1st Fashion Business Forum with the tagline "get your shoppers back" will be held this Monday, January 17th in Hotel Grande Bretagne in downtown Athens, organised by Boussias Conferences.


The speakers selected really are the big guns of the industry. Take a look:
Colin McDowell Senior fashion writer at The Sunday Times, founder of Fashion Fringe. Author of 16 fashion related books. Recently launched his own website.

William Plane Investment banker at Savigny Partners, specialized in fashion & luxury industry business deals. Founder of the UBS Warburg global luxury goods team, and also the business mind behind Burberry going public in 2002, Selfridges' repositioning in the British retail market and the evaluation of Gucci for PPR.

Pascal Bollon Global fashion director at GFK Retail & Technology, with 15 years of experience in market research.

Tim Jackson Principal Lecturer at the London College of Fashion, specialised in luxury brand management και fashion retailing. Author of Mastering Fashion Buying and Merchandising, Mastering Fashion Marketing and The Fashion Handbook. Freelance reporter for Financial Times and International Herald Tribune.

Leon Bailey Green
Web consultant specialising in online retail. Founder of The Online Fashion Agency and The Online Fashion 100, an online fashion think-tank featuring the most prominent fashion retail professionals, consultants, entrepreneurs, journalists and bloggers.

Yannis Tseklenis Legendary Greek fashion designer, whose work you can see here.

See the conference programme in Greek here.

The tickets are a bit expensive, but if you're a fashion business professional this is definitely not to be missed.

And for last-minute updates and useful info, follow @boussias_conf on twitter!

Monday 10 January 2011

Chie Mihara talks shoes, again



We've seen Chie Mihara talk about shoes before.

Here's her new video and this time it's even better! See how the creative process works for Chie, plus how her designs get hand-crafted by local people in the company's own factory in Spain.

Inspirational on so many levels. Seriously, watch it now.

Saturday 8 January 2011

Borders, frontiers and fashion bloggers

Borders&Frontiers Kingdom Of Style "True" T-Shirt
€19.85 on ASOS (original price €39.71)



Borders&Frontiers Style Bubble "Diamonds" T-Shirt
€19.85 on ASOS (original price €39.71)


Got both as soon as I spotted them on sale.

Along with Queen Michelle of Kingdom of Style and Susie Bubble of Style Bubble, other fashion bloggers who designed t-shirts in collaboration with Borders&Frontiers were Rumi of Fashion Toast, Tavi of Style Rookie, Elizabeth Spyridakis of White Lightning, Danny Roberts of Igor and Andre, Hazel of Bonjour Girl and Fake Karl. But all that must already be considered ancient history in this fast-paced world.

Well, posts may come and go, but t-shirts stay.

Thursday 6 January 2011

Fashion for geeks



I'm not gonna say much about Scott Schumann himself, as everything there is to say has already been told.
Just watch this above.

However, I was puzzled to see The Sartorialist advertising Intel, since he is known to be a MacBook user (as illustrated in the pic above, a still from the A Month In Fashion video by Garance Doré).Well, after some googling, it all started to make sense. Word is out that in 2011 Apple will be replacing the NVIDIA graphics processor in their MacBook models with Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processor. Don't ask me to analyze any more of that tech mumbo jumbo though, it's all Greek to me.

What I do know is that this video is, without doubt, a very smart move from Intel's side. Virals that you truly enjoy watching over and over again are the way to go.

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Girl with red hat

fashionarchitect.net_girl_with_red_hat
I spotted her a couple of weeks ago while waiting for the train. Red hat, green coat, tan boots, brown leather bag, overall vintage feel. Good thing I had my iPhone in hand and ready to shot. If you happen to know her, please congratulate her on my behalf.

Monday 3 January 2011

Lucy and Bart

Lucy and Bart is a collaboration between Lucy McRae and Bart Hess described as an instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. They share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. Unconsciously their work touches upon these themes, however it is not their intention to communicate this. They work in a primitive and limitless way creating future human shapes, blindly discovering low – tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.
Pics and text are fraction of what's on display at lucyandbart.blogspot.com, so head over there for more of the that stuff.

Saturday 1 January 2011

First of the year

Maroon knit dress, ANNA RISKA. Flower brooch, LOUKIA. Black flats, TOPSHOP. Grey tights, MARKS & SPENCER. Two-finger bow ring, Erica Anenberg.

Happy 2011 everyone!