Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Fall in love this summer with a pair of green tooled leather clogs
with a hidden platform, by Gianmarco Lorenzi.

The high heel that helps elongate the female silhouette is not without its price, as ABC News reported in 2006. And while we may know this to be true with some experiencing knee and ankle injuries, the high heel as a fashion accessory is still loved by many, helping bring out the femme fatale in us.

The heel however, wasn’t all too sexy or “femme fatale” in its beginnings as demonstrated by this pair of 17th century Venetian Chopines by the Met Museum. Continue reading “The wooden heel: a summer staple” →

The Agua Preciosa, a young, fun, one piece cut out crochet top and multi-coloured bottom by Agua Bendita.

It seems that 1951 thereabouts was the last years in which the one piece swimsuit was seen as ‘tasteful’ for young women to don, after which a bikini clad Brigitte Bardot in Et Dieu… créa la femme (1956) and Brian Hyland’s song, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yello Polka Dot Bikini (1960) created a locomotion for the two piece so strong that even the Vatican’s denouncement of the garment in 1964 did nothing much to slow down its popularity. Today, a search for “one piece swim suit” will currently render 1,472 hits on the US ebay site alone in the women’s swimwear section, whilst that of “bikini” renders 17,320 hits on the same site. From the two piece’s popularity, it seems the two piece (and its micro version) are most vogue these days on beaches around the world.
Continue reading “Revisiting the one piece swimsuit” →

Emilio Pucci ad campaign s/s 2008. Malgosia Bela by Juergen Teller.

A pick-me-up designer label for me is Emilio Pucci. The ad campaign above is what closest describes my view of all things Pucci and that is, a burst of colours when all things are bland, a burst of energy when you need it most. A nobleman by birth with a fascinating biography, Emilio Pucci (1914-1992) would spend most of his life at the Pucci Palace in Florence, Italy. Most of us would recognize his signature geometric prints in a kaleidoscope of colours.

Continue reading “All things Pucci in summer” →

The Chanel 2.55 Classics and Reissues, my favourite colour being the one in ivory with gold chains.

What you put in your bag is very important to you…Traditionally, for a woman, a bag holds the things you need for the day, but it’s also your little beauty factory, which is very important to the identity of the woman. …the modern bag …by 1920, …became a symbol of women’s independence. It said she could go where she wanted to go, and didn’t need a man because he held all the possessions.

~ Farid Chenoune, author of Carried Away: All About Bags (2005)

Chanel bags have previously not appealed to me because I found the quilting too much mademoiselle. But I love bags with a story to tell and the Chanel 2.55 Classic quilted flap is one such bag. Launched in February 1955, hence its name 2.55, the quilted flap bag draws its inspiration into being, from many threads of Coco Chanel’s life, most of which came from the orphanage and convent, Aubazine in the south of France.

Coco Chanel wanted a bag that was hands-free, thus the double function of the chained handles to the bag, where one could wear the bag across the body or on the shoulder. The burgundy coloured lining in the original design for the black quilt flap 2.55s, came from the colour of Chanel’s school uniform at the Aubazine convent and the inspiration for the quilting came from several sources, including the stained-glass windows of the abbey at Aubazine, jockeys’ riding coats as well as her own light-brown suede cushions in her rue Cambon apartment in Paris. The open back pocket of the bag was where she stashed extra money and the zippered pocket was where she had her love letters. The original bags came with a Mademoiselle Lock because Chanel never married and the honorific mademoiselle was the custom. The bags with the interlocking Cs are today known as The Classic Flaps, whilst versions of the bag relaunched by Karl Lagerfeld in 2005/6 are known as Reissues. The Reissues have a twist lock without the Chanel logo on the outside. Continue reading “The Chanel 2.55 Classic” →

Before the rains came, there was a rather dry spell for south of Sweden. Watering the grass hardly made an impact, but the activity of it was no doubt, fun!

The grass is recovering well these days. Continue reading “Drizzle” →