Sunday 29 April 2012

latte break


As I write this I'm taking a latte break from packing and cleaning; most of the packing is done and there is a moving van outside with most of our furniture and stuff. There is quite some cleaning left and the home-made biscotti I made earlier today before packing my kitchenware are keeping me going. What is also keeping me going is the fact that Hubby is making gyros again for dinner. yummy

I would like to say two things:

  Thank you all for your kind comments on my Luxembourg post. Once we have settled I'll grab my camera and start showing you the beauty of the country

  Thank you to everyone who has entered the ELLA fragrance giveaway and those of you who have shared the giveaway and/or ELLA's design. The first winner of four will be announced next Friday

I hope you're enjoying a wonderful Sunday!

photo credit:
Jeanne-Marie Lanvin 1926 fashion illustration
via soyouthinkyoucansee/Tumblr

Friday 27 April 2012

ella iceland & ella fragrance giveaway


This Fashion Friday post has a special meaning to me for two reasons. First of all, I'm taking you to my home country Iceland to introduce you to the slow fashion label ELLA by Elinros Lindal and its Autumn/Winter 2012-13 collection, called V for Victory. Secondly, this post is a giveaway. ELLA is giving four lucky followers of LatteLisa the chance to win a bottle of the ELLA Day or ELLA Night fragrance.


Who is Elinros Lindal of ELLA and what does slow fashion mean?
Elinros Lindal is the founder and creative director of ELLA, she's the company's CEO and production manager. Basically, she is someone who had a dream and worked hard to make it come true. Before launching her own label in 2011 she entered the MBA program of Reykjavik University and along her studies she assembled a team and worked on creating her first clothing line. Her goals and priorities were clearly in order because it was only one year after her graduation that ELLA was launched, and welcomed by Icelandic women looking for timeless and classic items to add to their wardrobe.

Slow fashion is about respect and integrity. It's about manufacturing quality clothes in limited numbers, within ELLA's economic zone, which is Europe, causing the least damage to the environment. Every item has a traceability and it is made with respect for the person who designs and creates it and the woman who wears it. Sophistication, respect and responsibility are an integral part of ELLA.

The head of design at ELLA is Katrin Maria Karadottir, who is also an adjunct professor at the Iceland Academy of The Arts. She has a degree in tailoring from Iceland and studied design at Studio Bercot in Paris. After finishing her studies in Paris she was an assistant to Anja Vang Kragh at John Galliano and Christian Dior.

V for Victory - ELLA Autumn/Winter 2012-13 Collection
ELLA showed the beautiful and feminine V for Victory collection at the New York Fashion Week earlier this year and at the Reykjavik Fashion Festival in March (above photos). Elisa Pervinca Bellini covered RFF for Vogue Italia and wrote about ELLA: "On the catwalk there are outfits, suits and little black dresses that wrap the body without constricting it, with neutral colours such as grey, black, white but also orange and antique blue." She also quoted Elinros Lindal: "Our collection’s focus is on quality of fabrics, that are all made in Italy and created by Loro Piana ... while the silhouettes are inspired to a classy woman, that travels a lot.” Elinros and her team were inspired by the post-war years and '70s glamour when designing the AW collection and actress Lauren Hutton was their muse.

Below are a few photos from the ELLA look book that now contains the V for Victory collection. I find the grey outfits very elegant and classic, I love the cape (also shown above) and the black pencil skirt. I wouldn't say no to the black suit and I would love to add the belted cardigan to my wardrobe for next winter. Do you see something that appeals to you?


We are now moving closer to the giveaway.

ELLA Eau de Parfum
ELLA offers two fragrances that were created by ELLA's founder, Elinros Lindal, and experts in Grasse, France, and are mixed in the north of Iceland. Icelandic women have embraced both and so have women around the globe, as they have been featured in various beauty sections of newspapers and magazines. Later this year, ELLA is launching the third fragrance, called V, which Elinros created with the legendary perfumer Pierre Bourdon.

ELLA Day is described by ELLA as a fresh and exhilarating scent, at once light, sweet and sharp. The scent has light notes of lemon and verbena, and a grounding base note of patchouli. Think lemons and the blue Mediterranean Sea. ELLA Day is a lively perfume for the modern, energetic woman who leads by example and charms without effort. (size 100 ml/3.4 oz)

ELLA Night is described by ELLA as a soft and sensuous scent, at once heady, sweet and hypnotising. It's the ultimate evening scent with notes of sweet almond, vanilla and cinnamon. Think deep red roses and dark brown fur.  ELLA Night is deliciously dramatic and seductive. (size 100 ml/3.4 oz)

Would you like to own a bottle of either of these two? Then please continue reading.


GIVEAWAY

ELLA is giving away four bottles of the fragrances to lucky followers of LatteLisa, two bottles of ELLA Day and two of ELLA Night. The giveaway is open to all followers and we welcome new ones. On every Friday in May we will announce one winner, starting 4 May.

Anyone can enter the ELLA fragrance giveaway and here is how:

Simply follow LatteLisa on Twitter or Facebook or Google+ (you don't have to follow everywhere, one place is enough) and leave a comment below this post telling us which fragrance you'd like to win, ELLA Day or ELLA Night. If you cannot decide then simply say so. It would also be nice to know what you think of the AW collection. If you are a new follower of LatteLisa or not a regular visitor on the blog then please say where you are following so we can look you up and contact you if you win.

To have a chance of winning the first bottle of ELLA fragrance you'll have to enter the giveaway at the latest on Thursday 3 May. The final day to enter the ELLA fragrance giveaway is Thursday 24 May 2012.

The first winner will be announced Friday 4 May, the second Friday 11 May, the third Friday 18 May and the fourth and last winner Friday 25 May.

• • •

Good luck and have a fabulous Friday!


ELLA
Ingolfsstræti 5, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
tel: +354 551 5300
website: English / Icelandic
photo credit:
1, RFF: Fridrik Orn Hjaltested via ELLA
2-4, RFF: Fridrik Orn Hjaltested via Vogue Italia
16-17: via ELLA

Thursday 26 April 2012

goodbye baby


By baby I mean Antwerp. Yes, I have got news for you, I'm moving to Luxembourg after the weekend. It all happened very fast. Suddenly the opportunity was there and we grabbed it and decided to embrace changes and new adventures.

What made this decision not too difficult to make was the children's reaction. They had already fallen for the landscape of Luxembourg when this came up and didn't even protest when we first mentioned it. Then we found a new home with a garden and I think we are so excited about the thought of having our own garden again that we're willing to move between countries to make it happen! The garden even has a cherry tree and it was in full bloom when we saw it. sigh

It's in my nature to be optimistic, I see no point in worrying about something that hasn't even happened yet. We simply have to meet life as it presents itself. So the only feeling I'm going through these days is basically this one: OH MY GOD HOW BORING IT IS TO PACK ONE'S STUFF! (Did you notice the use of capitals?) I know my kids, I've seen how resilient and adaptable they are so I'm not going to worry about a new school and a new language.

Well, in this case it's new languages as there are three in Luxembourg: they have French and German and also Luxembourgish, which is a spoken language (a High German language). The girls are already learning French in school so it won't be as hard for them as when we moved to Belgium and none of us had ever learned Flemish/Dutch. Kids are amazing when it comes to picking up new languages. It'll be much easier for me to help them because I've learned both German and French. I just have to polish my German and now I'll welcome the opportunity to become fluent in French. (I'm staying away from Luxembourgish as I see no reason to complicate my life any more than I already have.)

I feel like I need to say a proper goodbye to my darling girl Antwerp - I owe her that. So, I dug into my photo album to find the most touristy photos I could find, of the area around the Cathedral of Our Lady. I'll miss Antwerp, definitely, but the city won't be very far away.


Tomorrow I'm posting the Icelandic giveaway and I have to admit that I'm very excited about that one. To you bloggers out there, I'm a little busy packing and I'm using my latte breaks to browse through blogs but not always leaving comments. There should be an I-was-here box to tick on blogs!

Have a wonderful day!

photo credit:
Lisa Hjalt

Tuesday 24 April 2012

photos + daydreams


What is it with roses or peonies in buckets that almost makes my heart stop beating for just a second? I cannot get enough of such photos. Speaking of photos. That top photo is by LizRusby who has a beautiful Flickr account (think Paris and flowers). I discovered her only this morning and realised that I had seen some of her work online without being credited. That girl deserves a credit!

How is life treating you these days? I'm busy but finding time to daydream while enjoying my latte. The daydreaming is mainly about travels. Some time ago I told you that I was reading about Spain and lately I've been longing to visit Andalucia. It seems like all my blog friends have been there and they're just killing me with photos. Igor of Happy Interior Blog has been there and Franka of ... meine Dinge ... spent her Easter holiday there. One day it'll be my turn!

photo credit:
1: liz.rusby on Flickr via Encore! Life/Tumblr
2: Kevin Wu on Moto-Mucci via Pinterest
3: Café Constant via Pinterest

Monday 23 April 2012

dreaming of...


careless moments like these.

I'm a little busy today so I just wanted to wish you a good start of the new week and let you know that later this week I'll post the Icelandic giveaway.

photo credit:
unknown source via Positively Stylish/Tumblr

Sunday 22 April 2012

sunday blooming sunday


Yesterday was mainly about home-made pizza and red wine with friends, coffee and chocolate. I also got a beautiful bouquet. Today there was a walk in the park, soup and bread in the park, coffee and chocolate. Hubby is trying to persuade me to make pizza again for dinner and I'm trying to decide whether I'm too lazy to do so or not. Tough decision!

How has your weekend been?

photo credit:
Lisa Hjalt

Friday 20 April 2012

danish editorial & raf simons to dior


The editorial you're looking at is called 'Breathless' in English and appeared last autumn in MS, which is a fashion and lifestyle magazine published every Sunday with the Danish newspaper Berlingske. I've kept it in my inspiration folder all this time and it's about time I share it with you. I'm especially fond of the three photos above. The models are Julie Mikkelsen and Martin Sobral, styled by Ann-Mari Klæstrup Jagd and photographed by Morten Germund. (For those of you interested in photography you may want to take a look at the portfolio of this Danish talent. He was recently awarded by POYi as the second best newspaper photographer of the year for his work for Berlingske, which he has now left to work freelance.)


Raf Simons to Dior
By now most of you interested in fashion know that the Belgian designer Raf Simons has been appointed the artistic director of Dior and will present his first collection for them in July at the Haute Couture Week in Paris. I meant to talk about this last Friday but as we were on the road a lot I decided to skip all extra links.

Because of my hard drive crash earlier this spring I never did a post on the Milan Fashion Week and I find it much too late to write one now. However, I cannot leave out Raf Simons's final collection for Jil Sander, the beautiful AW12-13 collection he showed in Milan last February. At the end of the show he received a standing ovation and the moment was very emotional (short video). Below are close-ups of some of the outfits that impressed me.


One of my favourite bloggers, Garance Doré, wrote in her post after the final show that "everybody says he's going to Dior." Her man Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist mentioned the possibility in a post in December.

In light of what has happened it's interesting to read again Hamish Bowles's review of the collection for Vogue US, who described it as "elegant, nuanced, and thoughtful as the designer himself," and added that Simons's "final show for the house of Jil Sander proved an exquisite coda to his remarkable career." In another paragraph he wrote: "In this collection, Simons has continued his engagement with the style of those iconic “haute couture” ladies and their lifestyles and couturiers that have intrigued him for several seasons. The strapless or off-the-shoulder evening dresses, with their full, swinging skirts of origami complexity, for instance, evoked the midcentury masterworks of Charles James, Christian Dior, and Jacques Fath." [black text, mine]

I guess there was something in the air and probably there were some people who knew more than others. I don't know about you but I cannot wait to see his first haute couture collection for Dior. I think it'll be quite something.


Finally, here are a few fashion related links just for fun: 

  Kate Moss shines in the TV commercial for MANGO Spring 2012
  Carrie of WishWishWish was in Antwerp and shared a few fabulous posts, my favourite was 'Clowning Around'
  Chiara of The Blonde Salad wore this yellow MSGM coat that I found pretty awesome
  If you're into Hollywood wardrobe I think you should take a look at the latest fashion in film post of Ada of Classiq

Have a fabulous Friday!

photo credit:
1-8, editorial: Morten Germund for Berlingske MS via Fri.dk
9, Raf Simons: Garance Doré
10-13, Jil Sander AW12-13 close-ups: Marcio Madeira for Vogue US