Helsinki Fashion Stock Sales SS2013

25 of May from 15:00-17:30

The day is bright and light so it’s lovely to take a mini trip to central Helsinki, while heading to Design District by Tram 10, suddenly I spot Fashion Stock Sales dark pink balloons welcome fash-diggers on Mannerheimintie 3. After some boutique shops visiting on Uudenmannkatu, very soon I was stuck inside of Helsinki University Student Union Hall for more than 2 hours ever since.

Sponsored by Lumi, ELLE, napakka and Make Up Forever, the 2-day (24 & 25of May) crazy sale provides Finnish local designers and boutiques a platform to interact and communicate with new clients. After circling around 30 minutes and chatting with this super out-going salesgirl from Ovvn, I just couldn’t help but trying on Tyra Therman silk lingerie, though I love to collect the whole set, I prefer push-up bra to swimsuit style, still I treat myself this high-waist underpants for June. I also choose one pair of baby pink heart-shape Hankala earrings, a lavender-purple and a black-ink leather coin purses at Lumi. Awfully there is no suitable Poola Kataryna tops or Minna Parikka mules for me……..later on, I take a walk at Kaisaniemen Park and enjoy free music and huge crowd, yet again, I have another great fun satisfying beautiful sunny Saturday.

For more info,follow Fashion Stock Sales on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/102209726493105/?fref=ts

Photography:

Mindy Yuan, Fashion Stock Sales 

Pre Helsinki Fashion Squat Party 2013

23 of May from 20:00-22:35

Summer sale season is still in a (not that long) distance but fashion events in Helsinki are ON! On May 23 rd, Pre Helsinki, a new Finnish fashion event organized by local designers and professionals, holds a mini fashion show at Tulli Pakkahuone at Helsinki seaside. The focus is about ‘discussing, exploring and discovering the new possibilities and boundaries of fashion’ in Finland, and the networking for Finn fashion internationally.

From May 22-25, the 4-day seminar of Pre Helsinki Event has ‘open door’ and ‘press only’ activities. Luckily enough I got show ticket at ACOLYTH Boutique previously, and provided free CHAMBORD raspberry wine and Happy Joe apple cider at Thursday night. Beginning at 20:00 to public, Siloa & Mook, ensæmble, Sasu Kauppi and Lepokorpi are capturing audiences’ eyes for 45 minutes, and to my surprise, my favourite design Siloa & Mook just has its very début in April 2013!

Siloa & Mook collection combines smooth and rough+ light and dark colours and materials altogether. One of the dark forest green tops has very sophisticated hollow carvings, along with black weather up-knee skirt, simply elegant! Another ivory white outfit performed by this slim tall African model, the clean cutting pants contrasting over-sized sleeves, modernly metropolitan! Unfortunately, between shows, the location swaps connect confusingly, audiences can only blindly follow the crowd but view poorly.

While ensæmble’s petrified pale-haired models exhibition plus horror film soundtrack is too abstract to me; SASU KAUPPI models with raw-sewn denim hip-hop styles are trapped inside of an old industrial lift shining neon blue lights, hindering many of our observation; and LEPOKORPI makes models walking around a small square on grassland with in-house material prints, unfortunately the runway is too narrow to hold enough capacity.

Though some dissatisfaction, the music is inspiring, the space is amazing, the people are merrying and the atmosphere is relaxing. At first I was wondering if my (still very lousy) Finnish ability can survive the night, but later I found out English tongues are at almost every corner, besides GQ Editor-in-Chief Germany, there are a lot more international buyers nearby. This squad party keeps me and new friend lingering until 22:35….Hyvää yödä!! Pre Helsinki!! 

More info about Pre Helsinki please go to:

www.prehelsinki.com

Photography: Mindy Yuan 

Magazine Madness: ELLE May 2013, Kate Hudson, Almost Famous

ELLE UK May 2013

Kate Hudson is almost famous in Cameron Crowe’s film, and shows her ability on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, earns quite some Fool’s Gold and catfights gracefully in Bride Wars, while still lights up the whole flick in Le Divorce.

Since March 2013 issue, ELLE UK has a drastic change apart from the previous edition: with the multiple cover fonts, on page layouts, pics are much tinier but more crowded, those make visions pleasurable and facts fun. In order to attract both paper and digital readers, there are twitter-blue URL links and captions to indicate the further viewing experiences. As the founder of magculture.com Jeremy Leslie points out: ‘That complex grid allows items to float loosely yet still hang together. As a result, pages are intensely busy yet structured, and spacious with strong horizontal and vertical elements.’ The new face of ELLE UK feels more accomplished and sophisticated than just a few large photographs. All in all, an appealing magazine, in my perspectives, should own sexy-without-tacky cover girls/boys and worth-considering texts; especially for a fashion magazine, the amazing art of monthly fashion campaign is the key.

And Kate just nails it. From the front cover of rosy red flowery dress to the polka dots chiffon, the nearly monochrome along with ELLE’s signified black-and-white shooting, to the conversations with writer Louise Gannon, Kate shares her calorie counting and culture impacts in England, delightedly and effortlessly. Though I am not satisfied with what Gannon wrote herself ‘is still horribly jealous of that (Kate’s) midriff. After two kids…..it doesn’t seem fair’ (Gannon, 184). While writing a profile of an interviewee has no need to share interviewer’s inferiority complex in public, if a journalist holds doubts toward the subject, she/he shall not be assigned to a certain interview session; yet at the same time, it shows how contrast between Louise and Kate.

Still then, page by page, ‘New York State of Mind’ campaign pages convey romantically post-modern Jazz Age style. My favourite picture is on p.204, model Julia Hafstrom wearing wide-fringe black hat, Rochas silk and cotton briefs and cardigan, looking down, with skyscrapers as background. The soft focus and nude colours produce a very left-bank Parisienne touch, and it’s nice to know the photographer is London based Emma Tempest.

Works Cited and Photography: 

Gannon, Louise. ‘Princess Kate.’ ELLE UK May 2013. London: Hearst, 2013.p. 182-191.

http://magculture.com/blog/?p=16613#more-16613

http://www.emmatempest.com/

www.elleuk.com

Helsinki Late Night Shopping Event May 16 2013: #IVANAhelsinki

IVANAhelsinki at 19:00

Greet and grill, DJ and drinks, enjoy and eat at IVANAhelsinki!! Outdoor of the space, snow-white balloons, Nordic tricot collection and hand-written blackboard are welcoming; while indoor of the shop, Designer/DJ Paola Suhonen, sandwiches/salad buffet and summer deco are home-coming feeling. It’s very 70’s encounter of the nostalgic music chosen by Paola, and it’s another great experience to see those vinyl records queuing on the floor one by one, get waiting, and been playing.

Following the celebration 15 years of establishing in Finland, IVANAhelsinki in 2013 first held Home Coming Exhibition at Design Museum, then short film premiere session, this weekend the Grill Party, and surely there will be more upcoming events step by step. We just have to wait and see, and later, yes, come again and feel free.

More info about IVANAhelsinki please go to:

www.ivanahelsinki.com

Uudenmaankatu 15

00120, Helsinki

+358 50 505 1624

Photography:Mindy Yuan 

Helsinki Late Night Shopping Event May 16 2013: #Design Forum Finland

Design Forum Finland At 18:00

Moikka Toukokuu! Helsinki Design District celebrates Late Night Shopping Event after Vappu, and yes, which means at designed stores/bars, there are free champagne and cider to enjoy!! Taking Tram no.10 after Finnish class, first I visited Erottajankatu 7, where actively promotes the varieties and development of Finnish industry and culture through the means of design. This medium-scaled storefront is more like a petite museum, combining gallery, café and exhibition. From May 17-August 15 2013, Design Forum Finland holds Jewellery and Accessories Show, among almost 30 Finnish designers, works of art from beautiful silver to trendy pearls, complemented with bags and shoes. My eyes beam when seeing CHAO & EERO Bubble Long earrings, Lumi bags are always nice to try on shoulders and hand-carry, and Jatuli is learnt by my heart now because of its unique prints.

While enjoying sparkling wine and glancing around, not forgetting to relax a while on leather-braided chair 611, designed by well-known architecture Alvar Aalto.

More Info on Design Forum Finland please go to:

http://www.designforum.fi

Erottajankatu 7

00130 Helsinki

+ 358 9 6220 810

Helsinki Late Night Shopping Event May 16 2013: #miun

Miun at 20:00

Pinky prints, good champagne, lovely staff and rosy carnations, miun just owns them all. Founded in 2002 and launched its collection in 2004, designed by Ilona Hyötyläinen, this family owned brand produces every piece ethically in studios of Finland or Estonia.

Miun women’s clothing collection is clear cutting with romantic touch. With designer Hyötyläinen’s hand drawing and later finalizing the fabric in Tampere and Aitoo, A/W 2012 collection shows the black/white contrast knitted coats, while S/S 2013 performs peachy, fuchsia, raspberry and evergreen dresses. Since I have collected a miun’s multiple-used purse in 2007, it’s quite difficult for me to choose the one this time-----since EVERY purse has its very unique print and clothe!!! Finally I decided this layering hues mixing with apricot, lilac and green plus baby pink linen, and my Helsinki Late Night Sopping Event of May 16 2013 has quite an eventfully perfect ending.

Adore this, good-mood furnishing Miun. 

For more info about miun please go to:

www.miun.fi

Uudenmaankatu 14

00120 Helsinki

+358 50 352 8893

Tue-Fri 11-18

Sat 11-16

Photography: Mindy Yuan  

Magazine Madness: Cosmopolitan USA May 2013 Rachel Bilson

Cosmopolitan USA May 2013

When Asian girls try to be as pale as Snow White, Europeans/Americans tan their best to get sugar Brown. While knowing whitening skin products ranking top sale due to most Asians want to pop up their facial features, highlight the colourful cosmetics, and look more like ‘exotic westerner’, it’s quite astonishing to read on Cosmopolitan May issue article ‘Are You a Binge Tanner?’ by Nicole Catanese. A lot of North Americans want to ‘look 10 pounds thinner’ since ‘a darker skin tone reflects light off skin evenly and can give an insta-skinny illusion’ and ‘teeth and eyes look brighter when offset with a tan’ (p.218). 

It is quite recognizably known that ‘beauty is in lovers’ eyes’, but since Catanese points out that ‘Tan is beautiful’ due to ‘watch any awards show or open any celebrity weekly and there’s no question where society stands today’, which, those sentences still portrait the ‘tanning beauty’ concept is based on constant peer competition, a fashion trend, more a skin-deep idea than a true belief.

According to Stanford Cancer Institute research, 73% that females increase risk for basal-cell carcinoma when lying in a sun-tanned bed 6 times in a year, and for women ages 18-39, melanoma diagnoses are up an 800% amount (p.218). While quite some readers confess that the addictiveness to tanning salon is much more healthier than taking alcohol or drugs, we have to question if craving for sun yet an another kind of suicide, but a bit brighter way?? For Nordic views, while sunshine hours only last 26 hours monthly in December, it’s a demanding need to take a certain amount of natural ultraviolet in summer time, since many Finns suffer Fat-deficiency Dermatitis or SAD in winter season, even though Finnish milk contains Vitamin D based on EVIRA (Food Security Bureau of Finland) law.

So, to tan or not to tan? That’s a big question. Nevertheless, there is alternative way to get glow and shine, but you just have to fake it. L’OREAL self-tanning mist, St. TROPEZ Bronzing Mousse or CLINIQUE face tinted lotion can give you a lot of wrinkle-mole-free bakes. For me, healthy skin is more essential than chasing certain tone. I prefer beach activities to mountain climbing, so I would brush myself CHANEL VITALUMIÈRE ÉCLAT (SPF 10)before going out, and take a long-sleeves shirts with me, and put on light layer of SPF lotion every 2-3 hours. Parasol? Out. Ray Ban? Check. Straw hat? In! Physical sun-blocking is better and safer than chemical method, eh!  

Works Cited and Photography:

Catanese , Nicole. ‘Are You a Binge Tanner?’ COSMOPOLITAN USA May 2013. New York: Hearst, 2013. P.217-21.

www.cosmopolitan.com

Magazine Madness: Leigh Lezark at Company May 2013!

Misshapes DJ + Fashion Enigma=Leigh Lezark!

Leigh Lezark goes (back) to blond from black! And COMPANY magazine has her very golden premiere cover. From New York DJ trio band to fashion frow regular, her indie Gothic styles turns to pinky rock ‘n’ roll. Our salutes to hair dresser Louis Byrne, make-up artists Adam Burrell, nail artist Lea James, journalist Kristy Hathaway, art director Tanita Montgomery and photographer Paul Farrell, that from the front cover to shooting pages, this monthly campaign brings us pretty Valentino ‘Acqua Floreale’ atmosphere, yet a different aspect of this Miss Misshapes.

From page 44-54, regardless of Q&A stereotype, the interview is more like a self-confession: toward the nickname ‘coldstare’ from press, her fashspiration Jeremy Scott, the role of Chanel Ambassador and 150-shoes hoarder habits. Three things that Lezark can’t live without are Chanel light-bulb heels, bags and dresses…..and some ‘vintage pieces from when Tom Ford was at Gucci.’ Ugrrhhh….that’s a bit too heavy, Leigh, even though we know that you don’t pack light…..

It’s always good to see fresh faces on bookstore shelves, while ‘Riri, Cara, Rita’ these recent tabloid fames tend to imagine the world is surrounding them, that readers desire to read everything trifles from their every moves…well, at least quite a lot of us are surely totally awake, and some magazines have their very own guts.

Works Cited and Photography:

Hathaway, Kirsty. ‘We Want to be Leigh Lezark’. COMPANY May 2013. London: Hearst Magazines, 2013. P.44-54.

http://www.company.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/TheMisshapes

Magazine Madness ELLE France: Vanessa Paradis, Nouvelle Vie, Nouvelle Voix

3-9 May 2013 Vanessa Paradis

Since her self-titled Vanessa Paradis released in 1992, this French chic has been capturing my gazes for a long run. Happy gap as she is, Vanessa is not so much a singer/actress rather than an ELLe icon. Her close-up and garment posing photos always give me great inspiration on outfit ideas, and under the lens of photographer Dusan Reljin, smoky eyes, airy hair and half-opened Chanel jacket, Miss Paradis graces the ELLE France cover again.

French girl can match herself very unique style with high-low apparels, and Vanessa is no exception, being Chanel spokeswoman since 1991, she also performs at H&M Conscious Collection 2013 campaign. From H&M commercial video, Vanessa shuttles back and forth in a green house, when the mirror brings out another space of viewing, at the same time the new lives growing swiftly as the magic bean. Though I hold my suspicion toward the sewing quality of H&M while I constantly question if its commercial budget is extremely high in order to conceal H&M poor fabric sustenance, still, I have to admit that Vanessa portraits the fairy tale aura both romantically and successfully, just as if we already witness the paradise.

Another essential reason that Vanessa chosen to be the cover girl on ELLE May issue, is that the major theme of the week is ’40 Ans Enfin Moi’. Time is unstoppable, ripeness is inevitable, but Miss Paradis (1972), Eva Herzigová(1973) or Kate Moss (1974), they are, perhaps, not enough launching thousand ships, but still beloved with billions of eyes. Thanks for their modeling experiences and confidences, the maturing never grows old, the aging never becomes a taboo. Their gracefulness breaks the rules of youthfulness among fashion magazines, and forces the media to discuss the reality that most females don’t dare to: At the age of 40, how will you change? What will you do? Who will you become?

Photography: ELLE France www.elle.fr 

Magazine Madness: Henna Lintukangas on COSTUME May 2013

COSTUME Finland May 2013

My First Costume Magazine is Danish edition, since I insist on collecting various language fashion magazine while traveling. While browsing around at Akateeminen bookstore in Helsinki, Finnish edition May 2013 Issue, its sky-blue background colour contrasting coral-red COSTUME title, caught my attention immediately; and I admit that Finnish model Henna Lintukangas makes me discover Nordic trend more, niin, in Finnish.

Published by Bonnier Media Group, COSTUME Suomi pens Trendy, Inspiration, Fashion News, Interviews, Styles, Shopping and Beauty columns, which, is no less different than any other available fashion magazine around the globe, but fresh faces and new photographers on fashion campaign-pages indicate its very own perspectives toward vogue. Though I still find at Kevät Laulu campaign, that Birkenstock sandals matching with Acne and Marni outfits super awkward; but at Suosikki campaign, I am quite surprised that under Jen Carey’s lens, Romanian model Irina Lazareanu portraits both elegant and mystic aurora.

I appreciate magazine pages printed by glossed higher pounds paper with diverse fonts (COSTUME at least uses Calibri, Courier and Verdana) with a few repetitive ads, since this kind of magazine is more artistic and collectable but a disposable tabloid. Now COSTUME Suomi can definitely keep me awake while I am struggling on those countless long vocabulary at suomen kurssi.

Photography: www.costume.fi

Happy Holiday! Vappu 2013: May the Day to be With You!

1 May 2013 Happy Vappu! May the Day to be with You!

From Swedish term, May Day is known as Vappu. It is an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring/summer festival, usually a public holiday among European countries, and Finnish has its very special traditions: devouring tippaleivät and sima, (no matter young or elderly) wearing student caps, carrying colourful balloons and picnicking at parks under lovely sun.

Tippaleivät translated as May Day cookies, but the shape is more like a spiral-ball doughnut; sima is made from yeast, brown sugar and lemonade, which contains a slightly amount of alcohol, so even children can drink some at Vappu. Those can be either made at home or bought at supermarket. My cute mate and I replace tippaleivät to salted tortilla chips, along with 2 cans of Finnish beer, 1 liter sima and 500 ml. apple cider as snack treats, and then we step out to watch Finnish eat, drink and play.

The earliest May Day celebration appeared in pre-Christian times, with the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers. Though the air is still a bit too chilly for the blossom in Helsinki, while various balloons, colourful paper streams, sweet candy bars, park food stalls, fashionable trends decorate cheerfully even yellow-brown grasslands. The crispy light-blue sky contrasts with countless student white caps, vintage or brand-new, spicing up the first day of May. 

Special Thanks: JMH